The second person who came to meet him was a merchant from Shigaku. I wasn't going to meet him in person, but his name surprised me.

"He claims to be Mitsui Takayasu? A businessman? ”

"Yes." Yasutoshi Yamauchi bowed his head and reported, "As a businessman, it was originally not suitable to disturb the lord. But he offered a donation of 500 yuan, so His Royal Highness Yifeng asked his subordinates to report it. ”

"Then, let him wait in the meeting room, I'll be there in a moment." I agreed.

Yasutoyo Yamauchi took the order and left. I was lost in thought.

Mitsui Gaoan, if there is no duplicate name, this person should be the ancestor of the later Mitsui chaebol. The Mitsui family was originally from the Fujiwara family, and the first ancestor, Fujiwara Nobumasa, was the fifth generation grandson of Fujiwara Nagamune, the fourth male of Fujiwara Michicho, and because he settled in Omi Mitsui Village, he used Mitsui as the Miao character. Later, it was passed on to the fifteenth generation of Mitsui Noritashi, and succeeded Rokuro Sasaki Takahisa as his adopted heir, and this person was Mitsui Takayasu's great-grandfather. In the time of his great-grandson Toraka, he married the daughter of Fujido Tadaka of Fujido Village, inherited the Fujido family, and gave birth to Fujido Takatora, the ancestor of the Isezu domain. At this time, the Mitsui family of the main family fell, so Takatoshi, the son of Takayasu, abandoned his status as a samurai and became a merchant in Matsusaka, Ise, and established the famous Echigoya.

However, at this moment, the Mitsui family should still be in Chongjiang City. The castle was built by Mitsui Takahisa and has always been the residence of the Mitsui family. After the destruction of the Rokkaku family, Rokkaku Yoshiken and his son lived in the castle until 1573, when Nobunaga attacked him. After the destruction of the castle, Mitsui Takatoshi came to Ise Province......

With this doubt in mind, I met with Mitsui Takayasu.

When he saw me come in, he leaned down deeply: "In Shimomitsui Takaan, meet the lord of Kira Castle." ”

"Are you a samurai?" I asked when I heard him call himself "below".

In this day and age, self-profess is not used casually. Shinong Shogun, led by the public and samurai, was the name of the samurai, the peasants were called "villains", and if they were townspeople such as craftsmen and merchants, they should call themselves "contemptible".

"Yes. The lord of the castle, Mingjian, is a member of the Omi Mitsui family. ”

"Isn't it the head of the house?" I asked strangely. According to the genealogical records of the modern Mitsui family, he should be the head of the Mitsui family.

"Back to the city lord, the contemporary head of the family is the city lord of Chongjiang Mitsui, and the next is the Mitsui family......"

Oh, I say, how can a descendant be a businessman? Moreover, if it is really a lineage, then he should be the lord of Chongjiang City, and when Chongjiang City is broken, it is estimated that it will be difficult to escape!

"That's right," I nodded, "so why did His Highness Mitsui give a generous gift this time?" ”

"I was entrusted by the merchants of Shiyu City to ask the lord of the castle to protect the town," Mitsui Takayasu saluted again, "The town has always been maintained by Kaisan Castle. The previous castle lord captured Kaisan Castle, but there were no troops left, so the town is currently in chaos...... I implore the lord of the city to send someone to manage it, and the people of nearly 10,000 towns will be grateful for the great virtue! ”

"Why, didn't the Senju family send someone?" I asked, surprised.

"I heard that the Chikusa family is currently short of troops...... Moreover, he did not dare to come to the city of Shiyu to take up a post. Mitsui Takayasu replied.

All right! I'll admit that visiting every once in a while does put a lot of pressure on them. Although I strictly ordered that I should not harm the town, if I resisted, I would die. Moreover, in the process of being caught, it is inevitable to suffer some hardships, and when you go back, you will have to accept the punishment of the Lord's family...... It's a chore indeed.

In the same way, I don't like to have someone to manage it. If you send people, there are so many hostile wealthy clans around, and to resist their attacks, the number of people must not be too small. And the division of troops and defense are not suitable for my current strength and personal habits.

"Haven't you thought about self-government? Like Sakai-cho, Uji-Yamada-cho? I asked.

"The lord of the city thinks too highly of us...... The financial resources of those towns were huge, and they were able to maintain friendly relations with all parties through agreements, and they had formed a certain scale of escort forces, which was not comparable to that of the four municipal towns...... Even then, they have to be attached to some big power. ”

"That's right." I nodded. Sakai Machi relies on the Miyoshi family and Honganji, and Ujiyamada relies on the Kitabatake family and Ise Jingu.

"That's why I'm asked by all of you in the town to ......ask for help from the lord of the castle," Mitsui Takayasu hesitated for a moment, and then continued, "I'm scared, say something offensive...... I've heard that the lord of the castle has several houses in Tsushima, so I guess I think I can be more considerate of our situation. ”

"I can't send people in," I rejected his request after some thought, "We are an alien force, and we are currently at odds with the wealthy clans around Shiyu City. If you enter the town, you will be constantly attacked and harassed, and if you are tired of coping, it will not be good for the town! ”

"But the current state of the town ...... Anyway, please Castle Lord! Hearing my answer, he hurriedly fell to the ground and pleaded.

"Didn't I say that? You can be self-governing. ”

"But the financial resources of the town are low......"

"Have you ever seen the tribute under the Buddha statue on the side of the road?" I interrupted him and asked about a seemingly unrelated topic.

"Back to the city lord, I've seen it." He looked up, puzzled.

"If you're hungry, will you take the tribute?"

“…… If it was to save lives, probably the gods and Buddhas would have forgiven. But there will be a little thing left in the next place to be offered in front of the Buddha in lieu of tribute. He thought for a moment and replied.

"What if the Buddha statue is not on the side of the road, but in the temple, and there are other people around?" I asked again.

"Then I wouldn't do such a thing anyway." He replied.

"Si said that the city is like this, there are many forces around, but no one dares to do it casually, otherwise he will become the target of the public, and my Kira family will also attack him. So, despite the autonomy, you only need to maintain law and order, and you don't have to worry about the surrounding wealthy families. I said.

"The city lord is benevolent and righteous, and I say that nearly 10,000 people in the city and town feel the same way!" Mitsui Takayasu bowed to me, "But, if you dare to ask the lord of the castle, don't you want to rule the town?" Don't you need a shukumachi to serve the lord of the castle? ”

I smiled, this is the generation gap.

According to the concept of this era, the lord can dispose of the subjects of the territory at will, without any obligation. If there is territory, it will be occupied and looted first, and whether or not something can be done for them is not considered at all.

But I think there should be a contractual relationship between the two, and there should be a minimum of fairness. The lords served the lord and should be paid, while the lord was supported by the lord and should provide protection. So if I'm not sure, or if I don't think it's worth it, I won't just take a certain piece of territory. And when I prepare for mobilization, I will give a little reward; The robbery of the port is also only aimed at the rebels, and will not harm innocent townspeople.

"It's really abrupt, please forgive the city lord!" Seeing that I just smiled and didn't answer, Mitsui Takayasu quickly apologized.

"Well," I nodded, answering him as best I could, "and you're not mistaken, I'm half a businessman. Therefore, according to the credibility of the merchant, if I cannot pay the corresponding payment, I will not take the goods. ”

"The righteousness of the city lord is understood in Xia......" Mitsui Takayasu owed, "Then there is one more thing in Xia-since the city lord claims to be half a businessman, is he fortunate to cooperate with the city lord in Xia?" ”

"You go and talk to my Kan Commander about this matter!" I nodded casually. It doesn't hurt me to have one more industry.

……，……

Although Mitsui Takayasu is a historical celebrity, most of his fame comes from his grandson Mitsui Takato, and later Mitsui Grand Chaebol, who has not achieved much in itself. Besides, in this era, I have seen enough historical celebrities. Even compared to them, my own current reputation is not much worse.

The family character of the Tosa Yoshira family is almost above all the samurai families of the current Warring States, and the pedigree is clear. The first generation of Yuan Xiyi is the descendant of the Qinghe Genji and the Hanoi Genji. His father is the fifth generation pillar of the Genji family, Gen Yoshi, and his mother is Yura Gozen of the Yoshishomuro and Fujiwara families, and the only ones born in the same main room are the six generations of Genji Pillars, the founder of the Kamakura Shogunate, and the third brother Minamoto Yorito, and the ancestor of the Ichijo family, Ichijo Nohōbo. And the Ashikaga family of the Muromachi shogunate is just a branch of the three generations of pillars of the Minamoto family. Since all the heirs of the Minamoto Yoritomo were extinct, and the pillars of the Taira clan's samurai family were directly extinct, the Tosa Yoshira clan was the highest in terms of samurai family character.

At the time of the Pingzhi Rebellion, the fourteen-year-old Yuan Yoritomo served as the general (Khan!). In December of the first year of the Heiji era, he fought two joint battles with Kiyomori Taira, and the result was a defeat (naturally!). He was exiled to Izu Province on March 11 of the following year. Influenced by this brother, the eleven-year-old Gen Nobuyoshi was exiled to Tosa Province on the same day, where he grew up Seihito and was known as the "Tosa Crowner".

In the fourth year of Jisei (1180), Minamoto Yoritomo raised troops in Kamakura, and Minamoto Nobuyoshi echoed his brother and built anti-Heike forces in Shikoku, but on September 25 of the first year of Shouei (1182), he was killed by a surprise attack by Hei Shigemori's family members Hasuike Ietsuna and Hirata Toshito (as tragic as the last head of the family, Kira Nobunao!). ), the two-year-old second son, Gen Nozomi (Kira Nozomi), was hidden by the Yasu Sect. Afterwards, the Heike hurriedly held a grand funeral for Minamoto Nozomi, and offered his body to him, so that No. Shiyi's teacher, Master Linyu, could report to Kamakura. As a result, Minamoto Yoritomo was furious, and immediately sent a large army into Shikoku, annihilated the two families of Hasuike and Hirata, and then established Saiyoji Temple as his younger brother's Bodhi Temple.

After that, due to the successive wars, Gen Nozomi hid in Tosa until he became an adult, and then he went to Kamakura from Yasu Yukimune to visit his uncle and was given Tosa Yoshiraso. And the token he holds is Xiyi's saber "Haiyue...... Fortunately, otherwise, according to the surname of Yuan Laichao, Yuan Xiyi would definitely be killed like other brothers! And because they are both descendants, maybe they will die faster.

Well, these are all off-topic......

And Mitsui's high-level Shenma is even more of a floating cloud!

But this floating cloud did something amazing.

On the third day, Kazutoyo Yamauchi came to report to me. The note he sent me surprised me again for Mitsui Takayasu.

"Mitsui Takayasu persuaded several large merchants led by Shiyu City to unite with the family? Just hoping to use the family's water army? ”

"Back to the lord. It can almost be said that it is subordinate. His Majesty asked Mitsui, and he said that he hoped to use his family's water army to bring Shisai City and Ryokan Town closer to Sakai Town. Kazutoyo Yamauchi replied.

"But in that case, we may have to clash with the Miyoshi family's Awaji Army." I frowned.

I have to say, the idea is tempting. The supply of goods from Sakai Town, the port of Ise, and the trade routes of Owari can definitely bring huge profits if they can be connected. The Ise merchants, along with the Omi merchants and the Osaka merchants, are known as the three major merchants, and the vision is really good.

However, although I currently control Ise Bay, I am still far from being able to compare it to the Awaji Naval Army. If you go directly to grab business, I'm afraid there will be no good fruit to eat.

If someone were in the middle of the contact, it would be nice to have the Nanban merchants come directly to Ise......

I suddenly thought of someone.

"Yifeng, you go to see Mitsui Takahisa right away, and ask him to use his connections in Omi to go to Kyoto to find Li Fangliang, the shopkeeper of the Aoya. If you can get in touch, just say that Jiang Xuanjing of Owari has a very big business to negotiate with him! ”

"Yes!" Kazutoyo Yamauchi took the order and left.

Looking at his back, I almost wanted to laugh, I was worried about the lack of money, and something good came to the door. The fate that was formed occasionally at the beginning can now be of great help. Didn't Li Fangliang want to open up trade routes for Portuguese merchants, and there were ready-made ones here.

What follows is almost a logical one. Through Li Fangliang's agency, I got in touch with Portuguese businessmen in Macau. When I was asked to open up the Ise Trade Road, I immediately agreed.

In this era, although there were shogunate land trade routes, there were many checkpoints along the way, and daimyos, wealthy clans, temples, and robbers had to charge a toll fee, which greatly increased the cost of merchants. Therefore, it is far less convenient to travel by land than by sea. However, the sea route is not something that ordinary people can build, and it must be escorted by a large-scale naval army.

Being able to get my cooperation is naturally something that they can't ask for.

In order to handle these operations, I established Tsuya, which is responsible for logistics, import and export, and bulk trade, similar to the import and export companies of later generations. In addition, with Nobunaga's approval, I also opened a money writing house in Shigaku-cho. But this one is not only responsible for currency exchange, but also involved in pawnbroking and money lending.

Because of his merits in this matter, Mitsui Takayasu was hired by me as a retainer of the Kira family and served as the Tsuya Commissioner. His son, Mitsui Takatoshi, originally intended to go to the Zong's Chongjiang Castle, but naturally he couldn't make the trip at this time. I appointed him as the head of the money writing house and was in charge of the specific business. According to the original history, he ran a shikoya (pawn) and a sake brewery in Matsusaka, and the business was very large. I believe that with his talent, it is more than enough to run a money writing house.

In addition, the Tsushima merchants, led by Masada Horiuchi, were also included in the group. Tsushima became a major wholesale destination for Tsuya in Owari.

At this time, the stronghold of Shisai Yakucho is extremely important to me. In order to protect this place, I have expanded the standing number of more than 700 people to 1,000 and stationed them in the frontier of Haishan City. With an elite army of this size, it can be said to be as stable as Mount Tai in Mie County.

But in this way, the gap in the water army is even greater. To take on the task of escorting, to block the mouth of the Kiso River, and to monitor the Kitabatake family, the original 500 people recruited were far from enough. I can only expand the scope of recruitment again and try to tighten the control as much as possible.

At this time, the navy was divided into two parts: the inland river and the Ise Bay. There are more than 500 people in the inland water army, and they still operate water transportation in the Kiso River. Due to the increase in business, it gradually expanded to a scale of 800 people, and was led by four people, including Kiyasu Osawa, who was in the middle of the country. All of the original project groups remained in it, but their roles and functions were much weakened.

The Ise Bay Navy is the focus of the expansion. More than seven hundred men swelled to two thousand, and then swelled again to two thousand. At this time, the total number of standing and naval armies had reached nearly four thousand, almost catching up with the size of Nobunaga's own team. Fortunately, he has never paid much attention to the navy, and he will not be wary because of this.

In June, Nobunaga captured Inuyama Castle and exiled Nobukiyo Tsuda to Kai Province. Ikeda played an active role in this battle, serving as the lord of Inuyama Castle and was promoted to a general, becoming another important minister of the family.

Nobunaga then summoned all the important ministers and conducted an assessment at Komaki Mountain. Discuss the next steps of the house. Some people proposed to move back to Cheongju on the grounds that Komaki Mountain was just a front base for the attack on Inuyama, and many of their families remained in Cheongju until now. Now that you've done it, it's time to go back to Cheongju. However, Nobunaga took a fancy to the complete planning of Komakiyama Castle and the advantage of being less than 20 kilometers away from Inabayama Castle, and decided to continue to use Komakiyama Castle as his residence and launch a strategy from the direction of Central Mino.

Fortunately, I'm in charge of the Ise direction, so I don't have to worry about these things.

But Nobunaga didn't forget me. Probably because I haven't done anything lately, he announced the arrangements for me in the assessment.

"Keijiro, Mie-gun's strategy is going to be accelerated...... After the capture, you will serve as the county representative and take the land of this county! The original territory, with the exception of Cape Kiso, will be given to the family to govern the envelope. ”

"Yes!" I received the order, and suddenly felt a lot of pressure.