The Self-Cultivation of Warring States Warriors

Page 21

Master Mingzhou smiled and said, “In recent years, since the beginning of spring, Guangfu Temple has taken in some farmers who fled from the west with their families. They are all honest and law-abiding people. How could they be picky? As long as they are allowed to cultivate the land, even if it is barren and dry land, they will be extremely grateful. If it is convenient for you, I will send someone to deliver a few over on a chosen day.”

Shinzaburo Kubo was delighted to hear this and quickly expressed his gratitude.

The money and provisions previously received from Kubo Village were "fixed wages" extracted from taxes, and were unlikely to lead to any further development.

The ten silver coins reward I received this time, though quite valuable, were a one-time offer.

But the "Gokurakuji Job Training" is different; you can play a farming game where all the harvest is yours.

Although it's just a remote, desolate mountain village right now, who dares to say it won't develop well in the future?

Of course, if you really develop this land into a prosperous area, the authorities will most likely reassess Zhixing. But even then, it's impossible to take all the benefits.

039 Different Prices of Life

After witnessing what he saw at Yagi Castle during the evaluation meeting, Shinzaburo Kubo realized that Matsunaga Magoro's behavior was just a microcosm.

Since Matsunaga Nagayori took control of Yagi Castle and announced reforms, he appointed a total of twelve local magistrates. These magistrates unanimously prioritized land surveys, some with great success and others with less. However, the overall trend was to purge the local gentry, strengthen control at the grassroots level, and recruit some "virtuous men from the underworld" as samurai.

The final result was that the expected annual income of the Naito family, the guardians of the region, in Funai County increased from more than 1,300 kan and 7,600 koku of grain to more than 1,400 kan and 8,500 koku of grain.

The ratio was clearly one of less money and more grain, because the Naito family's tax collection targets were almost entirely rural areas, where villagers had only grain and little money. Furthermore, the commercial territories under their jurisdiction were already limited, and were mostly controlled by temples and shrines—primarily Kofuku-ji Temple, a major transportation hub in the south. The twenty or thirty shops in front of Kofuku-ji Temple were undoubtedly the most bustling trading center in the vicinity.

Just by looking at Master Mingzhou's attitude towards 150 strings of cash, you can tell that they must have earned a considerable amount.

Since taking office, Matsunaga Nagayori has not shown any intention to dabble in commercial interests.

In addition, the local gentry and powerful families in the three counties of Amada, Hero, and Kuwata, who refused to obey orders under the pretext of the Imperial Court, the Shogunate, or temples and shrines in Kyoto, have not been punished at all.

At the central level, the investigation into the "absconding with funds" incident served as a pretext to punish a large number of veteran officials, and several officials from the Miyoshi family were brought in as replacements.

Shinzaburo Kubo doesn't stay at Yagi Castle often, and it's unclear whether any "old guard" members are unhappy about it.

All I heard is that the cousin of the former guardian deputy Naito Kunisada, along with the current nominal head of the Naito family—five-year-old Naito Sadakatsu—visited the castle of Miyoshi Nagayoshi once. Afterwards, he seemed to be in a good mood and became a staunch supporter of Matsunaga Nagayasu, never raising any objections again.

They might have been bribed.

It seemed that there were no more opponents in Yagi Castle, but Matsunaga Nagayori suddenly announced that he would "become a monk" and gave himself the Buddhist name "Hōunken" to show that he had no intention of usurping the Naito family.

Of course, like most military generals during the Warring States period, this act of becoming a monk was merely a formality and did not necessarily mean he would actually live in a temple. Generally speaking, however, after going through this process, he would no longer pursue worldly fame and fortune.

In conclusion, Matsunaga Nagayori's series of actions gave Kubo Shinzaburo the impression that he was "half-hearted".

Compared to the previous loose rule of the Naito family, this was indeed a solid step forward, but it was only one step, and it seemed that they had no intention of taking a second step.

It's unclear whether this was his personal decision or in line with the overall strategy of the Miyoshi family.

In any case, the various policies in the general direction have nothing to do with Shinzaburo Kubo for the time being.

His main concern was whether the management methods for the villages under his jurisdiction would change.

Therefore, I specifically asked Matsunaga Magoro: "Now that the land survey has yielded initial results, are you considering taking further measures? Or are you considering establishing explicit regulations regarding military service and labor service based on this?"

Matsunaga Sunroku's reply at the time was: "These are not urgent for now. Spring plowing is coming soon, so ensuring the smooth operation of agriculture and sericulture is the top priority. After spring plowing is over, the most urgent thing is to find a strategic location to build a small fortress as a defensive stronghold, and to guard against small groups of rebels such as Hatano and Akai attacking from the west."

Shinzaburo Kubo then asked, "What are the plans after the fortress is built?"

Matsunaga Sunroku only said one sentence: "After the spring plowing is over, we can conscript farmers from each village."

Judging from this, domestic reforms may have come to an end, and the focus will now shift to military operations.

Having lived in Funai District of Tanba Province for so long, Kubo Shinzaburo had not experienced many battles and had not witnessed frequent conflicts. Therefore, he subconsciously felt that there was no need to rush the construction of fortresses.

But the truth soon proved them wrong.

……

In early March, two men, suspected to be samurai of the Hatano family, rode to a village under the control of Matsunaga Magoroku, killed a farmer who was hoeing the field, and then quickly fled.

At this time, Shinzaburo Kubo was on leave, planning land reclamation with the monk Jōjō near Gokurakuji Temple. Meanwhile, Mōroku Matsunaga and Hachirō Shimizu were having heart-to-heart talks with the villagers in Maruyama Village.

By the time everyone arrived after receiving the news, half an hour had passed, and the murderer had already fled.

Matsunaga Magoroku was furious and wanted to take his followers to carry out a reciprocal revenge. However, when they reached the border, they discovered that the Hatano family had already set up a small fortress on the road, with several archers inside.

They had no choice but to give up.

Currently, everyone is in the busy farming season and cannot mobilize a large army for combat. Although there are several hundred elite soldiers of the Miyoshi family stationed in Yagi Castle, that force is extremely valuable and will obviously not be easily mobilized.

The Hatano family deliberately chose this time to provoke, probably in an attempt to disrupt spring planting.

Previously, during the Naito family's period of independence, the animosity between the two sides wasn't as strong. It seems that with the involvement of the Miyoshi faction, the political situation in Tanba has undergone a new shift.

In theory, defending against attacks from individual mounted samurai is not difficult.

Both territories are located in hilly areas, making transportation inconvenient. There are only four or five roads suitable for cycling, with only one passing through Noguchi Township. As long as outposts are established along the necessary routes as planned, and a small number of people are stationed there, attacks can be defended.

However, Matsunaga Sonroku had no spare money to buy building materials, and it was the busy farming season so he could not mobilize laborers. He had no choice but to rush to Yagi Castle to apply for supplies and manpower.

Unfortunately, they failed to gain support and only received instructions to "strengthen inspections".

A few days later, three mounted samurai from the Hatano family attacked another village, killing a family of four. They then attempted to set the house on fire, but the fire was not severe due to the weather.

This time, Matsunaga Magoro, Kubo Shinzaburo, Shimizu Hachiroza, and others were much more vigilant and quickly arrived at the scene after receiving the news, but they still didn't have time to catch up with the enemy.

After all, you can only be a thief for a thousand days, but you can't guard against thieves for a thousand days.

Matsunaga Magoroku went to Yagi Castle again to request reinforcements, but failed once more.

As mentioned above, several regions bordering Hatano's sphere of influence have experienced attacks, making it impossible to allocate funds to each one, nor is it appropriate to favor one region by allocating funds to another.

Not long after, the third attack came.

Unfortunately, on that very day, Master Myoshu of Kofuku-ji Temple sent a young monk, protected by five warrior monks, to deliver to Shinzaburo Kubo the documents for accepting Gokuraku-ji as a subsidiary temple, as well as a new monk's certificate for the monk Jōjō.

Jingcheng the monk finally escaped his predicament of being an unregistered resident. With his identity resolved and meals provided daily, he was content to serve as Shinzaburo's attendant, though he often lamented that he was temporarily unable to help the widows in the neighborhood.

But after delivering the items, the young monk, who seemed to rarely leave the temple, showed extreme curiosity about the outside world and insisted on taking a stroll around the area, ignoring any attempts to dissuade him.

Although he was protected by five monks, Shinzaburo Kubo was still not at ease and had to personally lead his men to follow along.

Unexpectedly, they were attacked by two mounted samurai from the Hatano family.

Both sides were surprised when they met.

Here, Kubo Shinzaburo rode on horseback, fully armed, like a giant; "Pig-slaying Hero" Oi Shigeie was slightly shorter, but much more robust; and there was also a burly monk named Jōjō, also carrying weapons.

There were several monk soldiers nearby, and apart from the young monk, they all looked like they were not to be trifled with.

For this reason, the two mounted samurai of the Hatano family stopped on their horses and did not approach immediately, but instead sheathed their long swords and switched to bows and arrows.

Oi Shigeie was very experienced in battle. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he took out his heavy rattan bow without thinking and shot an arrow, hitting an enemy warhorse in the neck.

The beast fell in pain, then struggled and ran around, throwing the rider off its back and causing him to fall headfirst to the ground.

Another mounted samurai from the Hatano family, seeing this, cursed "What bad luck!" and fired an arrow haphazardly in response before pulling on the reins and turning to flee.

Shinzaburo Kubo was about to give chase when he discovered...

Although no one on their side was hit by the arrow, the young monk was startled by the sound of the bowstring and rashly jumped to the side of the road—which was downhill—and tumbled all the way down, losing consciousness.

How can we care about anything else when we're at that point?

He quickly left Oi Shigeie to deal with the fallen enemy on his own, while he, along with the monk Jōjō and the monk soldiers, went to rescue the person.

Upon closer inspection, they discovered that the young monk only had superficial injuries, including bruises and swelling, and was not in any danger. Only then were they relieved.

As for the fallen Hatano samurai, he unfortunately broke his neck and, though still clinging to life, was beyond saving. Kubo Shinzaburo, being kind-hearted and unable to bear seeing others suffer, ordered a swift and merciful end, and took his head back to examine it.

……

Several civilians had died and a farmhouse had been burned down, and Yagi Castle had consistently refused to expedite the construction of defensive outposts.

However, the parties involved this time are different.

The injured young monk was quickly sent back to Guangfu Temple.

Master Mingzhou was furious upon hearing this, and angrily said, "He is a learned monk from Kyoto, not an ordinary novice! The Hatano family dared to injure him; they are truly lawless! It is not easy for the Rinzai sect to cultivate a learned monk!"

In fact, the young monk did not reveal his identity, and the injury was not directly caused by the samurai of the Hatano family.

But the old monk didn't care about any of that.

Then Matsunaga Nagayori of Yagi Castle swiftly approved the first phase of the budget of 120 kan, ordering Matsunaga Magoroku to build a stronghold at a strategic border location as soon as possible, sufficient to defend against attacks by a small number of cavalry.

040 What caused Hosokawa Kyōchō to become emotional?

Matsunaga Magoro was overjoyed to receive the budget of 120 kan.

This means that he doesn't have to wait until the busy farming season is over to recruit farmers in the village for the "general labor" work; instead, he can directly hire professional "craftsmen" to handle it during the spring plowing season.

These days, construction workers in the Fusang region are generally referred to as "Fanjiang," which mainly refers to carpenters, but also broadly includes bricklayers, stonemasons, and excavators, etc.

The Tanba Naito family was certainly not like those wealthy daimyo who could afford to maintain their own private "banjōshū" (traditional Japanese artisans). Fortunately, there were commercially operated "banjōshūya" in Kyoto, Sakai, Ishiyama, Amagasaki, and other places. These businesses were very well-established, and you could get things done as long as you paid.

The current daily wage for construction workers in the Kinki region is approximately 40 mon.

One hundred and twenty strings of cash, based on a ratio of half materials and half labor, can hire twenty-five workers for sixty days of construction, enough to build a small outpost. The remaining money will also be sufficient to purchase building materials such as timber, stone, and iron nails.

Matsunaga Sonroku was a well-educated man, but his education was a bit off-track, with too much emphasis on martial arts, military strategy, tea ceremony, and poetry. He wasn't particularly good at arithmetic, and it took him quite a while to figure out even two-digit arithmetic operations.

Logically, it should have been Shinzaburo Kubo who helped make amends.

But before the project could officially begin, a document suddenly arrived from Yagi Castle, urgently summoning Shinzaburo Kubo to the castle for an audience.

So Matsunaga Magoro had no choice but to take the plunge.

Fortunately, there's still that newly promoted Shimizu Hachiro, the old gambler who knows a bit about addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

With this guy keeping an eye on things, Matsunaga Magoro shouldn't be fooled by unscrupulous merchants.

As for whether Shimizu Hachirozusa will collude with unscrupulous businessmen to take kickbacks... it's hard to say in the future. At present, Kubo Shinzaburo thinks that such a bold move is unlikely to occur.

……

In short, Shinzaburo Kubo arrived at Yagi Castle with his entourage.

After giving their names, they were led directly to the main hall of the citadel, and without any waiting, they met the strong and agile acting head of the Naito family, Matsunaga Nagayori.

But I don't know why they are in such a hurry.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Matsunaga Nagayori got straight to the point: "The other day, a scholar monk from the Rinzai sect came to my territory on business and was nearly murdered by the traitor Hatano. It was truly shocking! Fortunately, you shot and killed the assailant, which saved face for the Naito family, the deputy governor of Tanba. Excellent!"

Upon hearing this, Shinzaburo Kubo was taken aback, thinking that this was quite different from the actual events.

Furthermore, it's okay to obfuscate some other details, but some crucial information cannot be easily glossed over. It wouldn't look good if the truth were to be revealed later.

Kubo Shinzaburo then feigned shame and said, "Actually, it was not I who shot the perpetrator of the Hatano family's attack with a bow. It was one of my attendants who struck the enemy's horse with an arrow, causing the enemy samurai to fall from his horse."

Matsunaga Nagayori sat on the tatami mat, calmly shaking his head and smiling, "It's alright! The achievements of the troops are also the leader's credit. Shinzaburo has only been a samurai for a few months, yet he has already found such a fierce general. I wonder who this person is?"

Kubo Shinzaburo truthfully replied: "This man's name is Ooi Saburo Shigeie, a native of Shinano. After his master's family, Ogasawara, was destroyed by the Takeda, he fled to the Kinai region to make a living. I hired him for a high salary, and he is currently being paid in cash. No contract of employment has been signed yet..."

"What?" Matsunaga Nagayori couldn't sit still any longer and stood up abruptly, exclaiming in surprise, "A ronin from out of town? And not even a member of the Naito family, just someone hired with money? He hasn't even signed a pledge, so how can he be considered a member of my family's faction?"

Seeing this, Shinzaburo Kubo was stunned and didn't know how to respond.

Matsunaga Nagayori fell silent, pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back. After frowning and thinking for a while, he shook his head and said, "No, no! This matter has already attracted the attention of Zen Master Soto of Daitoku-ji Temple in Kyoto, and Lord Miyoshi Chikuzen (Miyoshi Nagayoshi) has also inquired about it once... We have already sent someone to reply that it was a brave warrior from Funai District in Tanba Province who shot down the thief and rescued the scholar monk..."

Feeling helpless, Kubo Shinzaburo could only say, "Actually, the situation that day could not be called a 'rescue'. The scholar monk did not have time to reveal his identity, nor was he truly threatened. He fell and injured himself in a panic."

Upon hearing this, Matsunaga Nagayoshi revealed a meaningful smile and slowly said, "But that scholar-monk, after returning to Kyoto, claimed that he couldn't remember the details, but roughly that he encountered bandits, fought with them, and was injured in the fall. The accompanying monks also confirmed this."

This……

This is human nature.

They certainly wouldn't want to admit that they were terrified by the sound of the bowstring and jumped onto the slope, only to fall and get bruised and battered.

After all, they are Zen Buddhists, and they also cultivate concentration, emphasizing the so-called "remaining calm even if Mount Tai collapses before you."

Sometimes the facts aren't that important.

Hmm... the facts don't matter... so, what Matsunaga Nagayachi meant just now was...

Shinzaburo Kubo looked up and met a gaze filled with expectation.

Then Matsunaga Nagayori said politely, "Now that things have come to this, changing our story would only embarrass many people. Shinsaburo, please bear with it for now and accept the credit for killing the Hatano samurai!"

Look at what people are saying!

It's so satisfying to hear them tell you that they've wronged you by falsely claiming credit.

If the leader has already made his point so clearly, what else is there to say?

Kubo Shinzaburo then bowed and said sternly, "I will follow Lord Nagayori's arrangements!"

Matsunaga Nagayoshi nodded and said, "That warrior, what's his name...? Did the Oi Shigeie come to the city today? Make sure to appease him properly. If there are any other people present, give them instructions as well."