At this time, the status of businessmen in society was actually extremely low. This is evident from the fact that the shogunate issued from time to time a decree (abolishing debt relations and directly plundering the interests of merchants).

Even the more influential wealthy merchants (special figures who made friends with the daimyo and the shogunate with their economic power and became monopoly merchants of the imperial government) were driven at will by the daimyo elders and daishou. Those who can get a minimum of respect are usually because they have other literary and artistic identities, such as tea people, doctors, etc.

Even later, a semi-independent merchant town was formed. The most famous of these is Sakai Town. In the cracks of the princes, the merchants gathered around the wealthy merchants, forming a semi-independent merchant autonomous port. It is characterized by the payment of a fixed tribute to the daimyo; The Daimyo army was not allowed to enter. Such organizations also have limited autonomy, they still rely on the daimyo and do not defend themselves by force (merchants are self-interested, and they will not resort to force as long as there is no possibility of conflict); It existed for a very short time (for example, Sakai was outlawed after Oda Nobunaga moved into the region), and the autonomous towns usually decided affairs in the form of meetings of wealthy merchants controlled by the daimyo, and had no independence to speak of.

But now, they have been explicitly protected by law in the port islands opened to the outside world by the Luo family (at least there will be no situation where they will lose a lot of money by a German decree of the Daimyo), and they have even been invited by a Sengoku Daimyo to participate in a Daimyo tea party, which is a glorious thing for them. They feel respected like never before. So after the tea party, they fiercely bid for Hakata's house and warehouse, which allowed the Luo family to earn a sum of food.

As a politician from later generations, he was very aware of the role of these low-status merchants in history. And I also know how to play the role of these businessmen. This time, I invite these people here. It's a tea party, it's a legal protection measure, and so on. The purpose is to win over these merchants, and then organize them, and when the time is ripe, Masarashi will use them to launch some commercial tactics (such as commercial infiltration into the territory of the Ouchi family) to fiercely oppose the enemy with economic warfare.

After Togo Heiji led the officials of the Cabinet of Internal Affairs to organize the auction of these merchants, Masarashi then met with Kansuke Yamamoto, who had been waiting nearby.

"How, did the other party agree?" After Kansuke Yamamoto finished saluting, Masaro asked directly.

"Tell my lord. The Qiuyue family also had no choice, so they had to agree. Kansuke Yamamoto said.

What Masara and Kansuke Yamamoto said was exactly what the Akizuki family's territory had recently blocked by the Ouchi family's territory and merchants could not enter or leave.

Since the last failed attempt by the Ouchi family to attack Hakata, Masarashi sent an envoy to the Ouchi family to ask why the Ouchi family had secretly torn up the peace treaty and carried out a sneak attack on the Luo family. And asked the Ouchi family to send the families of the soldiers of the Ouchi family who were captured by the Luo family to the Luo family as an apology.

For the accusations of the Luo family, the Ouchi family is indeed at a loss, but after the last time the two families negotiated peace, the Ouchi family was no longer willing to send the population to the Luo family, after all, the families of these soldiers are also valuable territorial resources, and they gave these populations to the Luo family. Doesn't it mean that the noble Ouchi family bows to the Luo family, which has just risen, which is absolutely impossible. Whether it's the Ouchi family or the Otomo family who is struggling to survive. They all thought that they were nobles with noble blood, and they would never bow to the lowly Luo family.

So, in order to further put pressure on the Ouchi family, from April to the present, Shinnosuke Akabane, who was stationed at Hachibanaya Castle in Chikuzen Kunizaya County, began to follow the orders of Masayo, and constantly led the second standing ashigaru team to cross the border of Sogana County in the north, and entered Soxiang County to fight the autumn wind around it, making Soka County a miasma.

It is not that the Zongxiang family has not tried to annihilate the Luo family's troops that have entered their territory, but since the last time the main force of their own naval army and part of the family's army fell to Hakata, the Zongxiang family has not had many troops. What's even more depressing is that due to the lack of protection of the navy along the coast, and the Ouchi family navy of Monji Port is also difficult to support the coastal area of Zongxiang County in time due to the distance, resulting in the Luo family's navy often appearing in the coastal areas of its territory, so that the Zongxiang family was attacked by the Luo family's navy landing from the coast in order to avoid the emptiness of the city, they did not dare to go out of the city at all, but could only retreat in the city, watching the Luo family's army loot the population and resources of the territory outside the city.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the Zongxiang family immediately asked the Ouchi family for help. But at this time, Yoshitaka Ouchi was also anxious. Although it was the spring plowing season in April, and the Niko family in the east finally stopped attacking the Nagato area, the Ouchi family still had to deploy heavy troops in the Nagato area to prevent the Niko family from sneaking up.

In addition, in the southeastern region of Bunzen Province, the Ouchi family also had to deploy heavy troops to support the Otomo family, and at the same time, they also had to take necessary precautions. And the continuous conquest has also caused the territory to lose a lot of population, in order to ensure the smooth progress of spring ploughing, it is not possible to recruit peasant soldiers at will. As a result, Yoshitaka Ouchi would not have much to mobilize again.

What's even more headache is that the sequelae of the repeated battles with the Luo family since last year began to manifest themselves. A large number of families have lost their main labor force due to the war, which has seriously affected the spring ploughing within the territory this year, and these bereaved families have also become a factor of instability within the Ouchi family's territory. At this time, Yoshitaka Ouchi was a little grateful that Masara came, if it weren't for Masara ruthlessly exchanging a group of captive family members from the Ouchi family, it is estimated that the scope of influence on spring plowing this year will be greater, and there will be more unstable factors in the territory.

In contrast, the Luo family has a perfect pension system, and this impact is reduced to the lowest point (even if the family is unable to farm because of the loss of the main labor force, the Luo family will arrange paid conscription or slave teams to help them complete spring ploughing according to the territorial law).

Many problems and factors caused Yoshitaka Ouchi to not be able to spare manpower to help the Soka family, so Ouchi Yoshitaka ordered the Akizuki family near the Sogakata family's territory to send troops to rescue the Soka family at the suggestion of the new Nagato guardian generation Takashi Naito. The disaster of the Akitsuki family's territory being blocked by the Ouchi family and the merchants being unable to enter and exit was triggered by this order.

It should be mentioned here that the former Nagato guardian was served by Naito Takayo's father, Naito Xingsheng. After the fiasco to the Luo family last year, Naito Xingsheng went home to avoid the limelight due to illness. But later, he was stimulated by the rumors released by the Luo family that his daughter-in-law Nozomi Aso was robbed by the Luo family, so Naito Xingsheng directly changed from a fake illness to a real disease. fell ill directly on the tatami mat, and even had to hand over the position of family governor and Nagato guardian in advance to his sister-in-law, Takashi Naito, who wore a green hat. (To be continued......)