"Is this it?" Keiji Maeda habitually took a long sip of wine. "The scenery is really good!"

"Hmm!" I nodded, agreeing with Keiji's point of view. The Yudan Valley is located at the junction of the mountains and the plains, and the outline of Gorito Inuyama Castle to the east is faintly visible among the peaks of the mountains, and twelve miles to the west is the Kiso River down the Sumamata Castle that we built not long ago. Mountains, forests, meadows, and the rushing waters of the Kiso River, combined with white clouds drifting in the blue sky...... What a fascinating idyll!

"Lord!" Shimakatsu rode his horse to my side. "Lord Murai should have already made arrangements, let's go into the village!"

"There's no hurry!" I waved at him. "Let's go to the river first, I want to look around first!" After saying that, I gently led the horse. OK! After a period of training, the horse gave me a good face as a beginner in riding, and after snorting, he slowly walked towards the river, and everyone followed. The first time the lord traveled, I asked myself, it was quite magnificent, although there was no honor guard queue, but it was also a front and back hug. In addition to Sadakatsu Murai, who had arrived two days earlier, I was followed by Keiji Maeda, Kanosuke Yamanaka, Kaji Caizo, Shima Katsutake, Kusunoki Hayato, the newly attached Nagano father and son, and Masuda Nagamori, who had not yet returned. Such a large group can be regarded as a large number of people, right?

When we came to the river, we dismounted, picked up a handful of river water, washed our faces, and it was really clear and pleasant.

"Lord!" Masuda Nagamori called excitedly. As for his true identity, I didn't hide it from the people around me. "There is a lot of land here that is not fully developed, and once it is sorted out, it should be no less than 3,000 stones! There is also this river that can also be used, and a canal on the flat land below can add a lot of paddy fields! ”

"Let's see!" I replied with a smile. Masuda Nagamori is indeed a master of domestic affairs, and he made quite feasible suggestions with just a quick glance, but my feeling is that the political significance of this land is far higher than his economic significance! It is actually a proof of my identity, and it helps to strengthen the sense of belonging and centripetal force of my retainers. "You don't have to all gather here, go around!" Hearing my words, a few younger people scattered away to see what they were interested in. Yoshimasa Nagano and Keiji Maeda sat down next to me.

"Teacher, what do you think?" I asked Nagano about it.

"Humph!" Keiji Maeda opened his mouth first. "Nobu's hall is too stingy! It's such a small place, I'm afraid I won't even be able to eat! ”

"Looks like when I'm hungry for you, yes!" I glared back at him. "Teacher, what do you say?"

"Ha, ha......" Nagano Yemasa laughed for a while and said, "Maeda-sama......"

"You can just call me Keiji!" Keiji Maeda said hurriedly. Although Nagano has only been here for a few days, several young people have great respect for him. (I even think Keiji Maeda has more respect for him than I do)

"Keiji is not bad!" He didn't make much modesty. "The area here is small, the arable land is limited, and there are Inuyama Castle in the east and Sumamata Castle in the west, both of which are important military towns, so it is difficult for us to have much room for expansion! In addition, it is located at the junction of the Oda family and the Saito family, and there are often troops passing by, so not many homeless people are willing to move here! But......" he paused for a moment, "this is just a starting point, and I am fully convinced that the myth of the lord will begin from there!" So you don't have to care about what others do, here you can let go and put your ideas into practice! ”

"My philosophy? …… Idea ...... "I began to think as I read these words.

"Lord! Don't be in a daze, the village is here over there! Maeda Keiji's shout startled me, and when I looked up, I saw Murai Sadakatsu walking towards this side with a few people.

"My lord, why don't you go into the village? We've been waiting to greet you at the intersection! Murai Sadakatsu trotted to the river. (He was appointed as an official retainer of the Oda family, so he was called my lord.) In fact, Keiji Maeda is also in this capacity at present, but his situation is more special! ）

"I just want to look around before entering the village, how do you know about the situation?" I stood up and walked in front of the group, and the peasants who had come with Murai Sadakatsu were all on their knees.

"It's been completely mastered! This is ......" He pointed to a thin old man in his seventies with white hair and said, "This is Zhuang Tou Tokuzaburo from Xiahe Village!" He pointed to a middle-aged bald man on the side and said, "This is Zhuangtou Yuanzhu of Shanghe Village!" Let them tell you about the two villages! ”

"Get up, I can't hear you well when you kneel like this! Come over here! I waved to them. Actually, it's mainly because I'm not used to seeing them kneeling so old, but if I want to say this reason, I'm going to be treated as a monster!

"Your Highness!" After a moment of silence, the older Tokuzaburo spoke first. "There are now three hundred and nineteen people in our village, but twenty-three young men are serving in the army of Oda Hall, and the main ones who remain in the village are the elderly, children, women, and wounded! Life...... Life ......" he didn't know what to say next.

"Then how much is the amount of land you handed in?" I saw his embarrassment and asked a question with an accurate answer.

"Yes...... Fifty percent of the harvest! He lowered his head and said awkwardly.

"My lord! Not only in our Owari, but also in other countries, basically this standard! Sadakatsu Murai added.

"And where are you?" I turned to the bald Motosuke again.

"Back to Your Highness! Our village has a smaller population......" Motosuke said as he wiped his sweat. "There are only 266 inhabitants, and the population composition is about the same as that of Xiahe Village! It's just that our Shanghe village is in the mountains, and the land is even more scarce and barren. ”

"Then let's see what we can do!" I stood up and took a few steps back and forth. "The standard of the field is set by the laws of the Oda family, and although I can adjust it according to the situation of the disaster, the scope is very limited...... In this way, according to my ability, let's change it to forty percent first! ”

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

"No need! Think about the other ...... "Seeing that they were about to kneel down again, I hurriedly stopped them." "I just heard Masuda say that there are still a lot of new fields that can be developed, will this help the downstream Xiahe Village?"

"Your Highness!" Tokuzaburo said with a sad face. "Thank you so much for your kindness! But there are not enough strong laborers in the village, and too many fields can't be planted! ”

"Hmm...... ...... like this," I thought for a moment and asked Murai Sadakatsu, "Is it feasible to build a canal?" ”

"Totally doable!" He replied in the affirmative. "I've surveyed and I can build a 6.3-mile canal on the lower plains! It costs about 2,000 kosa! ”

"Okay, that's it!" I said to Tokuzaburo, "I'll build a canal downstream, and you don't have to worry about the money and labor!" How about converting the dry land in your village into paddy fields, and reclaiming other land when the population increases? ”

"Your Highness's great kindness, we will never forget!" There were tears on his face for a moment.

"Let's talk about you there!" I said to Motosuke again, "You don't have much land there and you can't build water conservancy, so ...... Don't hand over the grain! After my manor is built, there will be some light manual labor in raising and planting fruit trees, so you can pay for the land with hard labor! ”

"Thank you, Your Highness!!"