As the summer draws to a close, the town of Niigata in northern Echigo begins to warm and cold, the temperature difference between day and night is gradually widening, and the cold current from the northern sea continues to erode the warm coastline, this season is the most important harvest season in Echigo, and tens of thousands of farmers wearing straw hats are wielding scythes to harvest grain in the fields, their faces are full of joy, which is a praise of the harvest.

Nobuyuki Matsui stood on the terrace of the castle tower and looked out at the golden rice paddies swaying in the wind on the edge of the river in the distance, and the pride in his heart was indescribable.

Li Ding walked over step by step, saw the smug look and smiled and quipped: "Xin Saburo always can't see enough of this wheat wave all day long, if you really want to see it, it is better to let someone take you to the field to have a look, so that you don't have to think about it day and night and always be unstable." ”

Seeing his brother-in-law coming, Matsui Nobuyuki smiled embarrassedly, both of them grew two dignified mustaches, the Kira family's commission is too young will always make the villagers have some sense of distrust, the villagers are simple and honest and always feel that the mouth is hairless and unstable, so in addition to acting safely, the only way to make himself appear mature has become a necessary means.

Nobuyuki Matsui shook his head with a smile: "I'm not worried about this year's good year, I'm just thinking about when I can open all the new fields on the Echigo Plains, the faster the new fields are developed, the better our life will be." ”

Niigata Town is a much better place to stay than it was when it was newly built a few years ago. The newly built Niigata Castle three-story castle tower stands at the mouth of the sea between the Shinano River and the Agano River. Towering dikes block out the turbulent rivers on both sides. Rows of young willows are planted under the embankment, and a thick layer of alfalfa grass is planted on the embankment, which is a high-quality grass with deep roots that is in great demand for nourishment of the river, and planting on the embankment not only stabilizes the embankment, but also increases the yield of alfalfa grass, and several horse farms near Niigata have been established with the support of forage provided near the two long rivers.

Li Ding admired the beautiful scenery of autumn and said lightly: "This is in a hurry, the river defense project has to be inspected and rested every year, and several new Horikawa rivers leading to the dry river have just been completed. The saline-alkali sand dug up from the dry lathes should be transported to the river and sprinkled into the river, washed by the river water for a few years, and then dug up the silt with a dredging boat is a good natural fertilizer. ”

The Echigo Plains are second only to the Kanto Plains, and even larger than the Rim of Lake Biwa, but because of its remote and uninhabited location, no one has ever set their sights on it for more than a thousand years, and even the local indigenous Shimo-Etsu people do not feel that such a dense network of rivers and large plains have any benefit, and the cold current from the Sea of Japan blows to Echigo, and the cold sea breeze mixed with the salty smell makes the hottest time of the summer in Echigo not exceed 278 degrees Celsius all year round. In a hundred years, you may not have encountered a summer with a temperature of 30 degrees.

At the end of autumn, the cold wind is raging and the blizzard engulfs with it. Although the scenery of the northern country is beautiful, it greatly affects the development of agriculture, in fact, the biggest problem that Echigo has to face is not the development of new fields, but the increasing pressure of fertilizer supply, not to mention the agricultural areas with a high degree of development in Joetsu and Chuetsu, there are dozens of large and small farms within a radius of 100 kilometers in Niigata Town, as well as horse farms run by the Kira family, etc., so much land has not yet had time to be developed, it is better to build a farm and increase income.

So much manure produced by so many cows and horses in a day is only so much, even if you count the human production, it will not be too much, and the fertilizer obtained by collecting it through high-temperature composting is very limited, and it cannot support the increasing number of new fields, so at the beginning of this year, the survey director Hosokawa Fujitaka proposed that it is appropriate to slow down the development of new fields.

Echigo had just exceeded 700,000 people, of whom more than 180,000 were under the age of 15 and more than 100,000 were under the age of five.

The population of 700,000 seems to be quite a lot, excluding the old, weak, sick, disabled women and children, there are less than 300,000 strong men, these people are scattered between the ages of 15 and 55, they are the economic pillar of every family and the main labor force in the family, symbolizing the standard of whether a family is rich or not, the standing reserve of the Kira family is 25,000 people are unwilling to expand, that is, they do not want to break this population red line, once the military exceeds one-tenth of the existing strong labor force, it will affect the economy and agricultural production.

The more recruits there are, the worse the quality of the soldiers declines, the more time, energy and financial resources it takes to train these soldiers, and these soldiers may not be able to smoothly convert into elite standing reserves, more than half of them will die on the battlefield, and once the soldiers die pension, it is a lot of financial pressure.

Nowadays, Echigo uses soldiers everywhere, and every time they use soldiers, they have to reward the soldiers before they are willing to work hard, otherwise there is no profit in the war, and they risk death, and the samurai and ashigaru have no heart to fight, and after the war, they have to calculate the merits and convert the merits, and the dead and wounded have to be medically treated, cremated, and bereneficial, and other expenses, although the food is not worried, the money is absolutely not enough to pay.

Fortunately, Echigo's gold and silver mines are abundant, and Sado silver mountains are still in absolute secrecy and are not known, such as the Nanyue mine rich in lead ore and copper ore, the Narumi gold mine rich in gold and silver, the Iibyo mine with rich gold, silver, copper and lead production, and the main output of gold, silver and lead Hashidate mine have been discovered one after another, and a large amount of gold, silver and copper output can bring 800,000 yuan of pure profit to the Kira family every year, which is still the data when the production has not reached the peak due to the serious shortage of technical experience and manpower, so you can imagine what kind of situation will be after full development.

Without the support of this wealth, how dare Kira Yoshitoki repeatedly offer huge rewards, let alone let the samurai of the Kira family become famous in Kanto, just like the samurai of the Hojo family once commented sourly: "Where they fight, it is clear that they use real money to smash out victories." If we had so much money, we could still win big battles. ”

Looking at the sky, the sunset is gradually falling. In the twilight, the peasants still did not stop their work. In such a good season, you have to harvest grain day and night, and the fear is that I don't know when a storm will delay the time of drying and threshing, and the steps after one step will be delayed, and it may snow half a month later.

Matsui Nobuyuki glanced at him and said casually: "It is said that the country's encirclement and suppression of the Japanese pirates has increased, and Wang Wufeng withdrew to the East China Sea with his fleet, but I don't know how long he can hold on. ”

"I went back as early as the beginning of last year, and I heard from my family that this Wang Wufeng was going to surrender. It is said that he was killed by General Qi and was cold, and he also heard that the patrol and supervision envoy Hu was Wang Wufeng's fellow countryman, and he released his family to treat him favorably and hoped that he would return to the imperial court, this Wang Wufeng really believed it, and went back with the fleet. ”

Seeing that Li Ding's expression was not unusual, and he seemed to be very dissatisfied with Wang Zhi's performance in his words, Matsui Nobuyuki breathed a sigh of relief and said: "The lord hates this Wufeng captain very much, saying that he colluded with a group of samurai scum from the Western Kingdom and Kyushu to cause trouble along the coast of the Ming Dynasty, so that the shogunate's survey tribute was forced to be interrupted, and this person is the thief of the Ming Kingdom, and the powerful rank of Japan. ”

Li Ding's eyebrows were raised with a strange expression. He smiled and said, "Oh? Is it good for the town government to ban the Japanese and rebuild the old with me? ”

"Ugh! This is not to be said nonsense, this is the duty of His Royal Highness the Shogunate. But let us and our servants not speak nonsense. Matsui Nobuyuki was frightened in a cold sweat and hurriedly closed his mouth.

He was afraid of this sharp-toothed brother-in-law, and often said some deviant remarks that made him very distressed, but Li Ding didn't care about their set of rules, and said disapprerovingly: "What is there to hide when the town government intends to win the world, there is a saying in our Ming Dynasty that the prince will be Xiang Ning, there will always be heroes born when the world is in turmoil, and the town government will definitely be such a big hero and must be such a big hero." ”

"Eh! Please be cautious! The Lord has never said such a thing, although the Ming Kingdom and my Japan are not the same, my Lord is the royal family of His Royal Highness today, and he is a loyal minister and famous general of the shogunate, and he will never do disobedient evil things, Wenju just said that he must not spread out, so that others can misunderstand the Lord's mind and will be in big trouble! ”

Li Dingwang saw Matsui Nobuyuki's panicked appearance, and thought that he was in his mind, so he said triumphantly: "I still save the weight of the extraordinary things of the town government, and I can't say that the things that kill the head can be done, just like my Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty once asked Mr. Yu Lin to get the strategy of 'building a high wall, accumulating grain, and slowing down the king', so I have been in the Ming Dynasty for two hundred years. ”

……

Autumn is the busiest season in Echigo, as well as the busiest harvest season in Naoetsu, with caravans pandering to and from Shimoetsu Niigata, Uonuma Tokaichi and Kariwa Kashiwazaki Port, and Echigo's rice, soybeans, potatoes, corn, and other crops to Echigo's main logistics hub.

With the rise of several textile towns that started in Naoetsu last year, the townspeople of Echigo took the lead in enjoying thick and warm autumn clothes, and the widely planted ramie in Echigo was harvested and processed into thick clothes here, and the relatively wealthy townspeople began to wear fashionable fur clothes, in fact, fur clothes have always existed, and fur is the most common gift among the goods shipped from Tohoku to Kinai every year, and Takeda Shingen once gave bear skin as the main gift to the shogunate.

The textile industry was the most profitable industry in the Middle Ages, and it is important to know that several major countries that dominated the world in the future have experienced the rapid development of the textile industry.

There are a large number of women and elderly people in Echigo, who can only help with some work as the secondary labor force of the family when the farm is busy, but the busy farming season is only a few months, and there is a lot of time left to find something to do, some villages are organized by the old underground people to weave rattan baskets and straw hats, some are planted fruit trees in the mountains, and some people are organized to go into the mountains to hunt, kill the prey, take meat and eat it secretly, and then take out the furs and sell them.

In recent years, Echigo's affluence has attracted many tourists from all over the world, and some clever farmers have started to act as guides, and they can make some money by accompanying wealthy travelers throughout the journey. If you serve well, you can also get a good reward. The rambling to rebuild the village has also faded with the arrival of visitors of all kinds. Because they find a good deal to make money.

The increasing number of visitors brought a fortune to the villages, the farmers relied on their ancestral skills to attract customers with wooden crafts, animal skins, and strange stones, or opened a few shops to make some food to attract popularity, and some large villages with a population of tens of thousands gradually became small towns, and the old underground people from all over the country built many vacant rooms for rent, and as long as they paid a small amount of land money every month, they could stay here for three months to six months, and this method was also called experiencing the life of Echigo.

Kasuga Yamajo Castle Ohiro is solemn, and the hall is filled with samurai from the three kingdoms of Eshishin. Today, the first major assessment of the Echigo autumn harvest period was held, except for the samurai who were out of the expedition and could not take a break, the samurai of the three kingdoms basically came together, and the meeting was held from the hour to noon, and after lunch, it was held until the evening, and as the territory of the three countries increased, the number of government affairs accumulated also increased geometrically, so the great assessment was held until dark.

Hosokawa Fujitaka rubbed his swollen head, and said in a hoarse voice: "This year's autumn harvest is in a good form, but there are still big problems. With the further widening of the shortage of fertilizer in farmers, the growth of stone high in Echigo has entered a bottleneck period. Further expansion of the output of the farm is far from enough to meet the demand of the field, if the consumption of related chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep is nearly saturated, and then put into more markets can not be digested, and overgrazing will also make a lot of undeveloped land into barrenness, so His Majesty suggested that the development of new fields should be suspended, just keep the current state, and then develop new fields when the population further increases the consumption of related resources. ”

No matter what era, food and population are hard indicators of the degree of development, the country is people-oriented, the people take food as the sky, the warehouse is solid and knows the etiquette, the food and clothing are enough to know the honor and disgrace, the full meal has the strength to pursue the truth, goodness and beauty, the hungry eat a meal without the next meal will not care about these things, now Echigo is facing the adjustment after eating, some wealthy farmers have higher demand, chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep will occasionally enter the table has become a reality, even if ordinary people occasionally go to the noodle house to eat a "mountain whale meat" noodles is not strange.

Kira Yoshitoki was very concerned about this issue and asked, "How are the decrees in Ueno and Shinano being implemented?" When will the aquaculture industry be promoted? ”

Matsui Yuxian bowed unhurriedly and said: "The implementation of the decree is very smooth, the population of Ueno Province has recovered to more than 250,000, and the population of Shinano currently in our hands is more than 200,000, but there are still certain risks in the promotion of related aquaculture. ”

"Yes! According to the current situation, there is only a limited number of new fields that can be developed in the two countries, and according to the current territory of Shinano Province, it is expected that 23,000 towns can be developed, and 15,000 towns can be developed in Ueno Province. ”

"Lengthy? How long will it take? ”

"Fifty years or more!"

The samurai of Ueno and Shinano couldn't help but gasp, and Nagano Yoshimasa repeated with a look of disbelief: "Fifty years? How could it be so long! Didn't Echigo go go from 400,000 to 2 million stone in just three years? Hosokawa Bingbu isn't going to make fun of us old guys, right? ”

The samurai of the two countries also showed similar expressions, and said in their hearts, don't coax us to tell the truth, but Hosokawa Fujitaka did not show the expression he was looking forward to, and said with a serious expression: "I didn't coax the gentlemen, Shinano and Ueno terrain and landforms, I think the gentlemen live in the two countries and also have some understanding, although Shinano country has many mountains and hills, and it affects the development of Nitta, but because the place is large, it is slightly better, and the place of Ueno is not big and it is really difficult to face the staggered hills, and the Echigo area is large and there are large plains, so there is such a high stone height." ”

At this time, the samurai of the two countries are also dumb fire, Shinano people still dare to compare territory with Echigo, Ueno country does not have this confidence, although Echigo has many peaks but more plains, a Echigo Hirano is fast to top a Musashi Plain, I heard that Echigo Hirano only developed a small half and stopped, if all of them are developed, how many stones will be high.

Honjo Minoru thought for a while and asked, "Then please tell me how many new fields can be developed in five years, or ten years." During this period, how much can the improvement of improved varieties and the standardization of cultivation increase the two countries? ”

Hosokawa Fujitaka patiently explained: "I haven't made any plans for the time being. It is not possible to give Misakuru an accurate number. If we look at the current situation, it is no problem to open up one-fifth of the total amount of wasteland in five years, and at most double it in ten years, two-thirds of it should be completed within 20 years, three-quarters within 30 years, and almost all of it should be developed within 50 years. Even the timing of spring sowing and autumn harvest is not the same, and it is very likely that there will be a large error. ”

There is no doubt about the professionalism of the head of the Kira family, whether it is the high position of Kira Yoshitoki or the hundreds of samurai in the hall are very convinced of the data he reports, he is the leader of the agricultural reform of Echigo, the name of two million stone has his decisive credit, Omi Sakamoto also has an important credit for the brilliance of Omi Sakamoto, there are many trades in the internal affairs that he is not proficient in, he can really be said to be the first able official in the eastern country.

"About half of the Echigo autumn harvest is completed, and according to the grain income of half of the autumn harvest in previous years and the grain income of various places, His Majesty drew a trend map and roughly estimated that the stone height of Echigo will be between 2.8 million and 2.9 million stone. For the first time, there has been a significant increase in crops such as potatoes and corn that have been severely depleted of fertility, following the suspension of the cultivation of crops that have seriously consumed fertility. As the Soldier Hall said, it may be difficult to see more growth in the next few years until the population swells further. Matsui Yu was idle, and his deputy, Mitsui Takayasu, took a chart and posted it on the pillars on both sides.

Although most of the samurai in the hall can't understand this kind of thing, they still can't help but applaud one after another, and they don't know what it means, and it doesn't matter if they don't understand it, it's very powerful.

Just as the samurai were enthusiastically praising him, a ninja quietly approached Mochizuki Yoshicho, who was covering half of his face, his movements were very light and fast, and he quickly bent down and swam towards a snake, so careful action still attracted the attention of most of the samurai present, only to see the ninja stay next to Mochizuki Yoshicho for a moment and then hurriedly leave, such a strange movement aroused the curiosity of many people.

Mochizuki Yoshicho coughed, bowed out and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty got the latest news about the Imagawa family, two months ago on July 19, the Imagawa family Kamirako army broke out in the territory of Owari Province in the barrel narrow area, the Imagawa army was raided, more than half of the three thousand generations were killed, Imagawa Jibu Daisuke died in the barrel narrow Tian Leping, and the remnants of the Imagawa army retreated to Sunfu. ”

Mo said that the people of Shinano Province who were close to Suruga were surprised, and even the people of Ueno Country were also shocked and got up one after another, and Hosokawa Fujitaka from Kyoto, Matsui Tomokan and others couldn't help but change color, and whispered: "Nani? Imagawa Osabe Daisuke died in the battle of the barrel Sayama? This...... How is this possible? ”

The prestige of the Suruga Imagawa clan is well known in the sea, and even the old farmers who are closed to the news know that the current shogun has a powerful kin, the Imagawa clan, and the Imagawa clan is subordinate to the Ashikaga clan and has made great contributions, and the second son of the Imagawa clan has been greatly influenced by the Imagawa family because of his role as the Kyushu detective for the shogunate's pacification of Kyushu, and has made great contributions to the unity of the northern and southern dynasties, and the prestige of the Imagawa family has spread far and wide.

At the time of the Onin Rebellion, Hosokawa Katsumoto, the general of the Eastern Army, in order to win over the Suruga Imagawa clan, married the adopted daughter of the deacon Ise Sada's relatives to Imagawa Yoshitada, so there was Ise Sakumo-an Sorui as the Imagawa family tree generation elder, opening the precedent of the Sagami Hojo lineage, the Suruga Imagawa clan, Imagawa Yoshimoto father and son dominated Tokaido for nearly 80 years, but planted on this small Owari barrel narrow room, it is really sad and lamentable!

Kira Yoshiro got up for a long time, and looked at the sky outside the big wide room with deep eyes, the scenery of Spring Mountain under the sunset was very beautiful, but unfortunately the beautiful scenery of the good day was finally over, but it was a scene of cool breeze and strong autumn mood, and he sighed for a long time and muttered to himself: "The barrel is narrow...... Barrel Narrow ...... Imagawa Osabe is dead! Is it finally going to change? Yonglu, Yonglu, the one who keeps the world and keeps the family, and the one who is blessed forever! The sky has been shattered, the building will fall, how to protect the world? (To be continued......)