After ending the meeting with Xiangzong and my pro-Thai department, the helpless Yu Qiuping walked aimlessly in circles in Maple Mountain City alone. Xiangzong's pro-Tai was obviously unwilling to give up, and expressed to Yu Qiuping that he was willing to make more concessions in exchange for the support of the Yu Qiu family. However, Yu Qiuping did not want him to make this concession at all, and he had no choice but to give up after taking into account political factors.

But he knew in his heart that what Xiangzong and my pro-Tai said was absolutely reasonable. If the Changzong family is wiped out, the pressure on the Yuqiu family will be much greater. Therefore, he was very eager to help the Changzong family, but there was no way.

Yu Qiuping has shared the current predicament with Shigeharu Takenaka's staff, but although Shigeharu Takenaka has an extraordinary talent in commanding battle formations, he is almost ignorant of politics and can't come up with any solutions. Yu Qiuping consulted the other four in Yuqiu Wubingwei, but there was no good way. Time passed day by day, and Xiangzong's pro-Thai became more and more anxious, but Yu Qiuping never had a good way. He had already sent a letter to Oda Nobunaga, and Oda Nobunaga's reply was simple: no way. The original words are as follows: "Which is more important, a bat on the island of Shikoku or the prestige of the next governor of the Oda family?" ”

Just when Yu Qiuping was at a loss, several unexpected visitors brought him hope. It was none other than someone else, but after hearing the rumors, Imai Munehisa, Tsuda Munekazu and others came all the way from Sakai Town. After a night of secret talks, Yu Qiuping immediately met with Xiangzong's pro-Thai tribe the next day.

·

After Xiangzong and my pro-Tai were summoned by Yu Qiuping again, they excitedly went to the castle tower of Maple Mountain Castle. Yu Qiuping naturally called him over, and it must have taken a turn for the better. However, to his surprise, what he thought was a secret conversation was arranged in the parlor of the castle tower of Maple Mountain Castle. In addition to Yu Qiuping, there were several people who looked like merchants and craftsmen waiting for him.

"His Royal Highness Xiangzong and my department, after internal discussions within the Yuqiu family, it has been decided not to rule out the army supporting the Changzong family." Yu Qiuping's first sentence was like a basin of ice water poured directly on the heads of Xiangzong's pro-Tai. His face turned pale suddenly, could it be that Yu Qiuping called him here to see off guests this time?

"However, we decided to use another way to assist the Changzong family, and this time we called His Highness to discuss the feasibility and specific plan." Yu Qiuping's next sentence once again rekindled the flame in the heart of the Xiangzong and my pro-Tai, but it made him feel a little confused, "Another way? ”

"Yes. I wanted the bosses to introduce you, but they unanimously asked me to speak. Yu Qiuping smiled helplessly, the merchants of this era still had some restraint and humility in front of the samurai - even if the plan they proposed was so crazy.

"First of all, I would like to confirm that the method of mobilization of the Chozong family is sufficient, which means that anyone who owns more than three towns of land must prepare a pair of armor and armor for each household to fight when the lord calls for it. The poor peasants, who could not prepare their own equipment, became auxiliary soldiers and went out to fight. I'm right. ”

"His Royal Highness Zhibu is right," Xiangzong and my pro-Tai couldn't help but nod proudly when they mentioned the idea of the main family, but as a mature diplomat, this pride was appropriately concealed by him, "Otherwise, with Tosa's barren land and meager taxes, where can nearly 10,000 soldiers be mobilized?" The only way to do this is to mobilize the people's own strength. ”

"Yes, but as far as I know, the mountains and forests near Tosa Province are dense and the terrain is complicated, and if there are 10,000 troops, it is completely possible to hold off the 40,000 Miyoshi Army by holding the danger, why do you need support?"

Xiangzong's pro-Tai face turned slightly red when he heard this, but he still replied without humility or arrogance: "Don't hide what His Royal Highness said, although a collar can mobilize a large number of troops, the combat effectiveness is uneven. The quality of the equipment and weapons prepared by the farmers themselves is also very poor. Some of them were already in tatters, and they barely took them out after painting them. The pikemen's bamboo spears were moldy, their swords rusty, and the arrows from their old bowstrings were weak. The combat effectiveness of the entire army is far from being the opponent of the elite soldiers of the Miyoshi family, even if it has the advantage of the terrain, it cannot stop the tiger and wolf division of the Miyoshi family. ”

"That's good." To the surprise of Xiangzong's pro-Tai, Yu Qiuping nodded with satisfaction after hearing this, "Your Highness, do you think this is okay?" Changzong's family is out, Yuqiu's family is out, and we will arm the entire army with sufficient strength for you and turn them into an elite army. Then, this rejuvenated army will go to meet the Miyoshi family! ”

·

The solution given by Yu Qiuping shocked Xiangzong's pro-Tai for a long time - providing equipment for other people's armies is an unheard of attention. However, this is a good way to circumvent the orders of the Oda family. The Yuqiu army did not send troops during the slack time, and it was Changzong's family who fought the war, but Yuqiuping provided equipment support.

"That's... These equipment... Want money? Xiangzong and my pro-Tai tentatively asked this question, which amused everyone in the room at once, even himself.

"Your Highness Xiangzong, wake up, I'm not a philanthropist. That piece of equipment costs a lot of money, so how can it be given to you for nothing? Yu Qiuping smiled and shook his head, "Besides, the treasury of the Yuqiu family is not up to me." You've probably heard of it, too, that is to be voted on by Congress! More than half of the current tax revenue in the national treasury is the hard-earned tax paid by the bosses of the Congress, so how can it be given away in vain? ”

"That's what His Highness said." Xiangzong's relatives also smiled and nodded. But even though it costs money, it's also good. With the number and technology of Tosa craftsmen, there was simply no way to mass-produce equipment. Even the equipment of the samurai and the flag is mostly old goods handed down from the previous generation. It's not easy for someone to sell them equipment. "But Your Highness, you also know that Changzong's family is shy in his pocket, and I hope His Highness will be accommodating."

"Don't worry, the equipment sold by the Yuqiu family to Changzong's family is calculated at wholesale prices." Sena Yoshiyoshi, who was sitting behind Yu Qiuping, took over the leadership of the dialogue at the behest of Yu Qiuping. He smiled so hard that his eyes narrowed, and at the same time handed a bill to Xiangzong's pro-Tai, "This is the list of equipment required by the 10,000-strong troops, the list of prices has been paid, can you take a look?" ”

Sena's smile made Yu Qiuhei shudder. Sure enough, after taking the bill and taking a hasty glance at it, Xiangzong's pro-Tai was petrified in an instant. The black letters written under the white sheet of paper were astronomical to Tosa.

"This..."The expression on the face of Xiangzong's own Qintai was a little stiff. He understands that the opportunity in front of him has not come easily, but even if the Changzong and my family sell the crotch cloth of the Changzong and my relatives, they can't make up the money, "Some... It's too expensive. ”

"It's okay, we expected it a long time ago." The smile on Sena's face did not decrease, and he took out a second stack of paper from his arms, "Your Highness, please take a look at this." ”

"What is this?" The suspicious Xiangzong and my pro-Tai took the second piece of paper and found that there were four big characters written on it, "Loan Agreement".

"To put it simply, the Yuqiu family is willing to lend a sum of money to the Changzong family to buy equipment. However, how to spend this money must be supervised by the Yuqiu family's management account. The general principle is that this money can only be used to buy equipment, and the seller is also locked into the military industry department of the Yuqiu family. "Xiangzong and my pro-tai read the contents of the paper while listening to Sena's explanation, "But please forgive Your Highness." Although the Yuqiu family, who is a samurai, trusts the character of the Chosho family who is also a samurai, after all, this money has to be approved by the bosses of the Diet. In order to avoid the risk of the Nagamune family defaulting on their debts in the future, it is necessary for the Nagamune Ibu family to send the eldest son, Chikumamaru, to the Diet as a hostage. ”

"Naturally, there is no problem with this, as promised before. As long as we can save the Changzong family from fire and water, the lord and the young master have already come to their senses. "Xiangzong and my pro-Tai promised without hesitation - anyway, this is not the first time, didn't Yu Qiuping also send his son to the merchant as a hostage?

"There are other conditions, which are written below." Sena continued to say, "The Nagamune family needs to allow the merchants of the Yuqiu family to invest in and set up factories in Tosa, and hire Tosa people as factory employees. The Chomune family must not obstruct the normal employment and business activities of the merchants of the Yuqiu family, and should also cooperate with the merchants to sell their products to Tosa and Shikoku. ”

Yu Qiuping and the merchant representatives behind him smiled when they heard this—this was the real purpose of the Congress this time.

·

As the businessmen in Congress grew their businesses bigger and their factories opened, they encountered two major problems—rising salaries and a saturated sales market. Akihei Rain once visited the merchants' factories in Sakaimachi – a dense London street scene with chimneys removed from the history books.

However, this is ancient Japan after all, and the population is not that large. Soon, the supply of strong labor in the region was in short supply, and the wages demanded by the laborers also increased. At the same time, merchants are finding that their sales market is becoming saturated. After all, this is an era of low average income, most families do not have much spending power, they can't buy much, and the goods produced by merchants are soon faced with nowhere to sell. While a benign business mechanism has been effective in slowing market saturation – the workers who earn wages from the factories themselves increase the purchasing power of their families, this increase is clearly not commensurate with the quantity of goods produced.

As the market saturated, merchants had to sell their goods at lower prices, and the rising wages of the workers made the merchants less and less profitable – even though this was much more profitable than they had been in the past. But the people were not satisfied, and the merchants of Longwangshu urgently needed to open up new sales markets and at the same time obtain more cheap labor to support production.

And the Tosa crisis has provided them with such an opportunity. Tosa has an abundance of cheap labor, and the market on the island of Shikoku has been controlled by Miyoshi in the past. The Miyoshi family imposed high tariffs on passing merchant ships, which made the Diet businessmen very dissatisfied. If there is an opportunity to open the Shikoku Island market from the inside, it will be a lucrative deal.

The merchants had already calculated that the benefits from investing in Tosa and opening up the Shikoku market far exceeded the price of the equipment that was astronomical for the Nagamune family. Therefore, the merchants who were watching the Shikoku market and Yu Qiuping, who was in urgent need of rescuing the Nagasho family, hit it off and jointly formulated this plan.