"For thousands of years, land is the lifeblood of all!" I stood up and walked to the balcony, and Nobukiyo followed me. "Since the beginning of the slash-and-burn agricultural civilization, land has been the center of human society, and no matter how many names the noble or lowly have changed, the most important criterion for judging them is whether they own land. The royal family and the imperial court fell because they lost their land; The samurai arose because they mastered the land; The biggest dream of the farmers, who are the basis of the country's functioning, is to own a piece of land of their own. I have a hunch that in the future the meaning of the land may decline or become unrecognizable and no longer necessarily associated with food production, it will be a long time before it is completely changed, and there is still much more to be written about the land! ”

"What else do you have in mind for this land inspection?" Xinqing also heard that little meaning.

"Yes, this time...... Twice to be exact! I nodded, but then corrected it slightly. The general inspection that I am going to start next year will have other more far-reaching purposes in addition to knocking on the mountain and killing a few people! ”

I turned around and leaned against a pillar, and Shinkiyo listened very carefully to what I was saying.

"The key this time is to carefully determine the boundaries of each domain, and to make a rough count of the area of wasteland!" I saw that he still didn't understand, so I continued to explain: "After a hundred years of war, there is a lot of barren land in various places, and the current population still has not caught up with the beginning of Yingren. This land inspection will cause some people's dissatisfaction, and then shouldn't we make up for it with some 'moral politics'? ”

"Do you want to lower tax incentives?" Xinqing asked tentatively.

"I'm just giving a policy, and what to do depends on those big names!" I said with great certainty: "I will not reduce the land endowment, but I will announce that there will be another land inspection in ten years, and during this period, all the newly cultivated land will be owned by whoever owns it." Ten years is not a short time, and presumably those big names will not be so taken lightly! ”

"Ten years of free exploitation? Wouldn't that greatly enhance their strength? When Xinqing heard this, his face changed slightly.

"Is it really possible? I don't think so! I said with a strong sense of confidence. In order to make effective use of this opportunity, it is necessary to attract as many people to their land as possible, and lowering their share of the land and giving compensation are the only way, so that in ten years they will not be able to accumulate any strength, and even a little lower, but even then they may not be able to achieve the desired goal. Don't forget that the territories under our direct jurisdiction are in areas with fertile land around, such as Hitachi, Ueno, Suruga, Musashi, and Kyushu Hizen and Bungo, which are in better condition, and are also in the hands of our cronies, and if we take the same measures as them, the population of their lands will not increase significantly. The main thing is that we control the commercial management of the whole country, and we will recover the bulk of the mining resources in a few years, so we are more guaranteed to have a significant advantage in this competition! ”

"And in order to exploit the wasteland and have more strong laborers, they have to cut off a large number of troops trained by war!" Xinqing sensed my train of thought and began to draw inferences. "A recruit is not the same as a veteran, but a veteran may find it difficult to adapt to the battlefield after holding a hoe for ten years. The main combat force of our Zhuxing family is those troops composed of professional soldiers, and with sufficient military salaries, money and food support, there will be no great decline in combat effectiveness! ”

"What you said is really important, and now the aging of those samurai should also be taken into account!" I nodded in satisfaction and added to him, "I'm forty-six years old this year, and fifty-six years old in ten years, which may be appropriate as a commander general, but a middle- and lower-level samurai who support the theme of the army is too old. After streamlining the system for 10 years, a group of people have been summoned from the grassroots level again, and it is difficult to say how much the capacity will be discounted! ”

"Could anyone see our intentions, like Tokugawa Ieyasu?" Xinqing is still a little skeptical, everything will be as easy as I said.

"Not only Tokugawa Ieyasu, but I guess Mori Terumoto, Shimazu Yoshihisa, and Date Masamune can understand it!" I laughed and realized that these were meant for them. "But I'm not afraid of them seeing it at all, because even if they do, there's nothing they can do!"

"Oh!" Xinqing was stunned again.

"Because if they don't move, the population of the territory will be greatly lost, and even if the height of the land does not decrease in the slightest after ten years, the relative strength compared to others will be reduced!" At this point, I spread my hands and made a gesture of helplessness. "Besides, even if they don't reduce their troops and retainers, how can they directly declare war on us and provoke a rebellion? Not to mention how much hope they can have of winning in the face of the armor horses, light horses, iron cannons, and iron armored ships of the Zhuxing family, just how many people can respond to their behavior of defying the world's condemnation when all the little wealthy families will frantically expand their family business? ”

"Father's is really far-sighted, those guys can only encourage the people to have more children!" Xinqing couldn't help but laugh.

"There is a saying in the Han book that says, 'Ten years of life and gathering, ten years of lessons', do you know what this means?" Although it was an inquiring tone, I didn't wait for him to answer before I said: "Ten years to increase the population, accumulate materials, and make preparations, and another ten years can we be indignant and strong, and train the army to form strength." Therefore, it will take ten years at most for them to spread out their stalls, and when the population is really about to see the effect of encouraging fertility education, our second confirmation of land inspection will begin, and this policy will be over. I will not give those people the opportunity to prosper and swallow Wu for twenty years, and they will be chained to the land for ten years and do nothing! ”

Xinqing looked at me for a long time and didn't speak, and he couldn't tell what kind of look it was, there was admiration and fear, but it was more unbelievable and incomprehensible. He did need a moment to digest and understand, and I just looked at the sun that was about to set, and the vast expanse of golden earth beneath it.

"I think...... I will never be a ruler as great as you! He sighed after a long time. In every way, I am thousands of miles away from you, leading troops into battle, dealing with ministers, and suppressing the daimyo. What makes me even more ashamed is that I can't figure it out after you've done all this until you break it open and explain it to me. You always seem to come up with those creative ideas, and now I'm losing faith in myself! ”

"You don't have to be presumptuous, at least your martial arts are much stronger than mine!" I made a joke and said, "We're in different circumstances; The things faced are also different; Naturally, the will, quality, and ability required cannot be the same. This is a helpless thing, and naturally there is no need to compare, I will not joke about this kind of thing, you are fully capable of smoothly advancing the cause I started. Your character is a bit conservative, but it is precisely in this way that you will stick to my line unchanged, if you change to a more flexible one, maybe you will change my century-old plan beyond recognition, this is the quality that you, the second generation of heirs, need the most! ”

"Yes!" Xinqing bowed his head and agreed, seemingly increasing his confidence.

"Judging from what you said, you have some plans for the future, which is very good!" I looked at my son in front of me and felt very grounded. "Now your son is not young, I can't treat you like a child anymore!"

Twenty-six years old may have been an ignorant young man in my previous life, but in this era I can definitely set up a household. His eldest son, Ko Miyomaru, is also almost eight years old, and his influence has gradually been established after all these years of governance.

"After the land inspection is over next year, or the year after, you are ready to take over as a general!" I turned around again and continued to admire the sunset and afterglow in the distance.

"Huh?!" Xinqing let out a soft exclamation.

"I want to leave Osaka Castle and go to Sakai Town, which is where I started!" My voice was full of emotion, and I fell into a state of memory. "Many years ago, when I first went to Sakai Town, Keiji and I got lost and spent the night on a mountain. I still remember very vividly the scene at that time, with the bright moon, the valley, the clear spring, the pine waves, and the lights of Sakai Town in the distance. I want to build a small town there and move in with your mother, and that's what I've always wanted......"

"Father, please think about it again anyway!" Xinqing's voice interrupted my YY, and said with uncontrollable anxiety: "Now is the time for my Star Family to build an immortal foundation, how can you say such a thing, father?" Only you can manipulate the heroes of the world in the palm of your hand, and I wonder if I have the ability to do so. Now I'm still immature and you, father, are in the prime of life, and it's not time to retire at all! ”

"Your sons are so old, it's hard to wait until they become grandfathers to be mature!" I reached out and patted him on the shoulder, he just lacked confidence. "With the support of a large number of retainers who have followed me all year round, and the strong strength of our Star Family, you have nothing to worry about. Besides, I'm not completely ignorant of you, and the distance between Sakai and Osaka is not unreachable. I just want to do something quietly, and these things are not suitable for doing as a general of Zhengyi! ”

"Please ...... again"

"Think again, won't you?" I said the following words for him, and my hand slapped him on the shoulder even more forcefully. His shoulders were strong enough to carry my burden. "Do you know why I chose this time to ask you to take over?"

Xinqing shook his head.

"Because it's the best time!" My hands and tone increased the strength at the same time. "I'm not too old to be behind you for a few years, and the order to allow the development of wasteland after the land seizure can greatly increase your prestige. Also, in two to three years, you will issue an order to take back the minerals when all the daimyo are at their weakest, and that is the power that has been created in you! ”