Takamaru is an ordinary farmer in a small village in the southeast of Kuroda Castle, a family of five living in a small house, with such an acre and three points of land, although not rich, but life can still go on. During the New Year's holidays, the family can also eat a meal of rice and meat. Takamaru has always been grateful to the village chief and the clan elders, who he has always believed to be the village chief who has maintained the stability of the village, and the elders' monthly prayers have blessed the fields with a good harvest. It was the two of them who were immeasurably meritorious old men who could make Takamaru live his current life.

However, in the past few days, Takamaru has some opinions about these two old men.

The reason is simple, that is, Takamaru is very dissatisfied with the verdict of their second elder. And what is at stake in the verdict is the land that every peasant regards as his life. The Takamaru family has been cultivating their current land for three generations, and they are very familiar with every grass and tree between the ridges. When Takamaru was a child, he heard his grandfather say that these lands were wasteland that his grandfather had cultivated when he was young, and that they had been passed on to Takamaru's father when he was old. Now that Takamaru's father is old, it is natural for Takamaru to farm.

But just ten days ago, a family suddenly came to Minong's side, and they seemed to be members of the village chief's clan. They say that nearly an acre of land that Takamaru now cultivates used to be their family's land. And the elders of several surrounding families also said that they remembered that the family fled from the famine decades ago. So, the family reported the matter to the village chief, hoping that the village chief would decide who should belong to this acre of land.

In this kind of case, the village chief inevitably favored his own clan and awarded the land to that family. Although Takamaru was very dissatisfied, the village chief comforted him and said that he did not have this acre of land, and he could barely get by. But that family now has no land, and they can't survive.

Even if Takamaru was a hundred unconvinced, he could only listen to the village chief's words honestly at this moment - few people in the village dared not listen to the village chief's words, and the village chief's verdict was reasonable.

However, things have taken a turn for the better in the past few days!

Their lord Yu Qiuping, the great lord of Yeli County, was the great good man who had a good story about sending food to the enemy, and sent something called a "circuit court" on the grounds of "upholding justice for the people". The village magistrate and the one-armed judge repeatedly stressed that any incumbent who was dissatisfied with the sentence handed down within a year could appeal to the Circuit Court. Justice Amano Keitori will help everyone uphold justice.

To be honest, even with the existence of such an institution, Takamaru still didn't dare to appeal - because it was as if he didn't trust the village chief. But that acre of land was really important to his family, and the family wanted to get it back, so he mustered up the courage and ran to the makeshift camp of the circuit court himself.

The judge who received him was the judge in their village, and although Takamaru had never gone to this stranger he couldn't trust, he was very enthusiastic about Takamaru. Takamaru's case was scheduled to be heard a day later, and the family of the man who had robbed him of the land was also called. However, the circuit court made a strange arrangement to have a judge go home with Takamaru, who still didn't understand - but he understood right away.

After hearing that Takamaru had appealed, the village chief came to the door and persuaded Takamaru not to make any more trouble, to trust the village chief's judgment, and to be willing to return half of the land to Ryumaru. However, when the judge saw this, he immediately stated that Takamaru was already a person protected by the territorial law, and if the village chief insisted on letting him withdraw the lawsuit, he would not be able to get along with Yuqiu's family. The helpless village chief had to retreat in a huff, but Takamaru suddenly had a sense of security that was protected - he was no longer a common man who was bullied, and the Yuqiu family would protect the interests of every citizen!

The style of the circuit court is incomparable to that of the village chief's family! Defendants, plaintiffs, judges, and jurors, all of whom Takamaru had never heard of, appeared in the courtroom. They were asked to sit in different positions, and Amano Keitoku sat behind the desk in the center. After hearing the statements of both parties and the recommendations of the jury, Amano Keitoku handed down the verdict.

That acre of land was all returned to Takamaru!

The reason is very simple, according to the written law that Amano Keitoku had drawn up with the village chiefs before, the land without owners and land deeds belongs to those who have cultivated it for more than ten years! Although the family could prove that they had owned the land before, they couldn't get the title deed that had been lost a long time ago, and the land was naturally awarded to Takamaru! Although Takamaru had heard of a written law before, he didn't care at all, and he still listened to the village chief for lawsuits and everything. After learning that this written law could actually help him get his territory back, he immediately vowed to go back and study hard!

When the family saw this, they cried out and refused to give up the land they occupied. Judge Amano Keitoku was not ambiguous, and immediately called out the infantry platoon of Nakahide Mizensaki, and drove to the side of the field - the family had to obediently hand over the land. Amano Keitoku also threatened that if anyone dared to illegally reclaim Takamaru's land, Tokiwabi would defend the verdict of the law!

This trouble directly made the whole incident known to everyone. The people in the village asked about the trial, and Takamaru and the judge, the acting officer, and the expressive Mimasaki Nakahide immediately revealed the matter, and this exciting news immediately detonated the village! There really is a court that can change the village chief's verdict!

For a time, the people of the whole village who were not convinced by the cases flocked to the circuit court, and Amano Keitoku did not refuse, and tried 17 cases before and after, overturning 12 of them. As soon as the circuit court appeared, it immediately had a huge impact on the territory. The people spread the word from ten to hundred, and soon it spread throughout Yeli County. Many people who happened to encounter cases and disputes, seeing that what the village chief said no longer counted, went to the judge, who had been ignored before, to ask for a ruling. And the written law of the territory, which was originally ignored, immediately became a sweet spot for the villagers. Literate deputies and judges were asked to explain the miraculous written law to them, article by article.

Just as Amano's circuit court continued to travel, the angry five village chiefs also came to Yuqiuping's door. They pointed at the monk and scolded the bald donkey, and complained about Amano Jingde's arrogance in front of Yu Qiuping. And insisted that Amano Jingde deprived the village chief of judicial power in this way, and declared that the village chief's judgment was illegal, which brought them great trouble and led to the corruption of the people's morals.

However, Yu Qiuping played Tai Chi with them lightly. He first pointed out that his starting point was good, he wanted to help the village chiefs reduce the pressure and restore peace to the people. He then reminded him that the law used in the trial of Amano Keitoku was the territorial law that all the village chiefs had agreed to before. The village chiefs had already assured that all matters in the territory were governed by the written law, so there were so many judgments that were inconsistent with the written law, and the village chiefs should review themselves.

The village chiefs knew that they were at a loss, and they were embarrassed to ask Yu Qiuping to continue to revoke the circuit court. But they still felt that Yu Qiuping's judge had deprived them of so much power that their verdict was almost invalid — that they could be overturned in front of the circuit court without a judge's decision.

So, Yu Qiuping still gave in. He promised that after the village chief handed down the verdict, he could take the case to the judge for review. If the judge approves it, the case is valid.

·

The second half of the fifth year of Eiroku (1562) was an unlucky time for the Oda family. In order to exterminate Oda Nobunaki in Inuyama, Oda Nobunaga sent troops twice in a row after the autumn harvest to attack Oguchi Castle on Oda Nobukiyo's side, but failed to capture it. The reason is simple, Oda Nobukiyo gathered troops in Kiyoshu Castle and then drove to Koguchi Castle, which would take a lot of time. Oda Nobukiyo, who received the early warning, could calmly deploy defenses, and he could also apply for support from the Saito family, so that Oda Nobunaga would return in vain. Annoyed, Oda Nobunaga is said to have been hatching a plan to build a castle on Mt. Omaki seven miles away from Oguchi Castle and move his army to Mount Komaki so that he could attack without giving Oda Nobukiyo time to prepare.

However, the second half of the fifth year of Yonglu (1562) was a relatively easy year for Yu Qiuping. The Saito clan has become more and more chaotic due to the power struggle, and the contradictions between the central and local wealthy clans have intensified to the point where they cannot coexist, and they no longer have the energy to attack Yuakihei's territory. And the four small wealthy families bordering Yu Qiuping all have handles in Yu Qiuping's hands, and they are not Yu Qiuping's opponents, and they are very divided - not to mention that they are too late to count the money.

The caravan of the Sena clan, who had a lot of money, would go back and forth between Mino and Owari once a month, and each time it would bring in a profit of thousands of koku, and as many as 400 kan would be distributed to the four small wealthy families. They are gradually about to pay off Yu Qiuping's debts and are about to turn a profit. Excited, they not only provided various conveniences for Yu Qiuping's caravan, but also worked hard to clear the tax collection checkpoint of the Saito family, so that they would not embarrass the Mitsubishi caravan.

In September, Sena Yoshiyoshi also opened a shop in Mino and Owari to stock up on goods and sell them to the market for a long time, so that the caravan's business could be further expanded. Sena even planned to march into Omi, and Akihei also wrote to Asai Nagamasa, hoping that he would be able to provide some convenience for the caravan. If Asai Nagamasa agrees, the Mitsubishi caravan of Sena Clan's will become a super caravan with a territory market of nearly 2 million. The extra income of the caravan also gave Yu Qiuping the capital to spend a huge amount of money every year to support him. The ashigaru soldiers who used to be in the boat were all full-time soldiers, and with frequent drills, they had to consume a lot of food every day, and 4,000 people had to spend 4,000 kan a year.

In Japan's Warring States period, the composition of the army can be roughly divided into two types: the militia and the standing army. The militia were those peasants who served in the military, ploughing when they were busy, responding to the lord's call to participate in training or accompanying them on expeditions when they were not working, and often had to buy their own weapons and armor. Generally, the auxiliaries and some of the soldiers in the daimyo army were composed of these leading militias, and the poorer daimyo and even the war soldiers were basically led militia.

And the standing army, as the name suggests, is a shigaru that can go out at any time. They do not need to be engaged in production, they only need to train or fight every day, and their combat effectiveness is high. For example, samurai at all levels are standing soldiers. However, it was expensive to provide for the standing army, and it was necessary to provide daily food (the lord only needed food for the militia when they went out on battle) and a stipend.

Even Oda Nobunaga, who advocated the separation of soldiers and peasants, had only about 600 full-time soldiers, that is, standing soldiers. And the cost of these 600 people is far below the average of Tokiwa - after all, they don't need to train every day.

Since Sena Shiyi couldn't get away at all, this year's autumn harvest was all in charge of Naoe Tadahei. He has always been down-to-earth and responsible, and he has not made any mistakes, and has also completed the relief work for the poor harvest areas. And the Military Intelligence Department built by Sanada Masayuki is also slowly getting on the right track. He hired two more small ninjas, trained a lot of military intelligence personnel, and perfected his military intelligence team.

And the most surprising thing for Yu Qiuping is that Kaede Imagawa seems to be pregnant with another child! Realizing that Yuqiu's family would have another life, Yu Qiuping was excited.

In this way, the wheel of history rolled towards the sixth year of Yongroku (1563), and it also brought several troubles to Yuqiuping, who had been comfortable for half a year.