The Self-Cultivation of Warring States Warriors

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The Self-Cultivation of Warring States Warriors

Author: Fallen Leaves in Silence

Summary:

Tags: Japanese Sengoku period

Synopsis: "The most powerful daimyo of the Sengoku period must be one of Oda, Toyotomi, or Tokugawa!"

“Japan’s Vice-Prime Minister Miyoshi Nagayoshi truly deserves his title.”

"I can accept it if it's given to Motonari Mori."

"It can't be Takeda Shingen or Uesugi Kenshin, can it?"

"Holy crap, who is Shinzaburo Kubo?"

Works related

Kubo Family Roster (Updated Regularly)

House Governor:

Yoshiaki Kubo, the protagonist himself;

Wives, concubines, and children:

Adou, the principal wife, is the illegitimate daughter of Master Mingzhou, a high-ranking monk of the Daitokuji school of the Rinzai sect.

Kendojimaru, eldest son, born to Adou, in May of the third year of the Hongzhi reign (1557), a twin;

Nawakichiyo, eldest daughter, born to Ozu in May of the third year of the Hongzhi era (1557), was a twin;

Chizuru, a concubine, is the wet nurse of Toyowakamaru, the young master of the Amago Shingu faction;

Changfukumaru, a concubine, was born in the eighth month of the second year of Yonglu (1559) from Qianhe;

Mizu, a concubine, was the younger sister of Wakasa Itsuki;

Ayane, a concubine, is the older sister of Wakasa Nagai Gaiki;

A-Chuan, a concubine's daughter, was born to A-Yuan in September of the second year of Yonglu (1559);

Ishimatsu, a concubine, was the daughter of Wakasa Matsu-no-miya Uma-no-yun;

Ashou, the concubine, the daughter of Kuemon Kuemon, Kuwada County, Tanba;

One Sect Members:

Kinbei Kubo, the protagonist's father, formerly known as Otsuna Kubomura, rose to prominence through his son. (Original character)

Hiroaki Kubo, Shingoro's younger brother. (Original character)

Fellow clansmen:

Kubo Kumataro, a relative in the village, is sallow-faced and thin. His original name is Kumakichi. He is a storyteller, singer, and comedian. (Original character)

There are virtuous people underground

001 Traveling back to the Warring States period to become a local notable

September 7th, 22nd year of Tianwen (1553).

Tanba Country, Funai County, Noguchi Township, Kubo Village.

It is surrounded by Xishan, Doushan and Wutiaoshan to the west, north and south respectively, and borders Tushichuan to the east. It is a fertile valley, but transportation is not very convenient.

At dawn, in the most spacious house in the village, an old man and a young man, both shirtless with coarse cloth clothes tied around their waists, each holding a "Tang zhuo" (a type of wooden pole), were threshing the freshly harvested rice in the yard.

(Tang Zhao refers to a flail)

The young Shinzaburo weakly swung the wooden handle in his hand, looking at the old man's back beside him, and couldn't help but sigh.

To be honest, as a veteran player of Koei Tecmo games and a heavy reader of online novels, it's not surprising that I would be transported to the Sengoku period of Japan.

However, the family they were dealing with was neither a prestigious Gao family with a powerful background, nor a local strongman, nor even an ordinary warrior.

It turned out to be just a farmer in Kubo Village, Noguchi Township, Funai District, Tanba Province, under the jurisdiction of the Naito family, the Tanba governor.

(Incidentally, although he was the deputy governor, the Naito family could only truly control Funai District; as for the Hosokawa family, who were nominally the governors of Tanba, they had almost no directly controlled territories in Tanba.)

Although he had some ancestral property, including four plots of paddy fields, two and a half plots of dry land, and twenty chestnut trees, he was somewhat wealthier than the average farmer. Moreover, his father was quite respected in the village and was always elected as the "second best" by the villagers...

(The first part is approximately 991 square meters.)

(The name "Yi" can be understood as the village chief.)

But in the end, he was just a nobody who didn't even have a proper family name.

Even though the Warring States period was a time of chaos, the distinction between "samurai" and "commoners" was not as clear-cut as it was in the Edo period, but it still required a great deal of effort to bridge that gap.

Imagine, before time travel you were just a nobody in the 21st century, and after time travel you're still a nobody in the 16th century. Wouldn't that be a wasted time travel?

Therefore, after sorting out the memories left by his "predecessor", Shinzaburo's first thought was that he might as well just follow the "main storyline" and go to Owari to join the Oda clan, which was not yet developed.

However, this plan was quickly abandoned.

why?

This all started with Shinzaburo's name.

Actually, he had an older brother named Shintaro, who went out to buy supplies a long time ago and never returned. Later, a group of bandits in the vicinity were wiped out by the Naito family, the guardians of Tanba. Shintaro's personal belongings were found among the loot, and the bandits confessed that they had killed him with a single stab.

Then he had a second brother named Shinjiro. Two years ago, while chopping wood in a mountain stream, he was attacked by a wild boar and seriously injured. He crawled home, but a doctor couldn't cure him and he died within two months.

Shinsaburo is the third son, and he is currently sixteen years old.

There was originally a fourth brother, but he died mysteriously a few months after birth, before he could even be named "Shin-iro".

Currently, his nine-year-old younger brother named Shingoro and his twelve-year-old younger sister named Oguri are still alive.

The old man's name is Kinbei, the current Otsuna from Kubo Village, Noguchi Township, Funai District, Tanba Province. He is nearly fifty years old and has never remarried since being widowed.

She was raising three children, and the four members of her family depended on each other for survival.

From the tragic experiences of his two older brothers, Shinzaburo learned that the world was not peaceful in those days, with thieves and wild beasts roaming the mountains and fields, and it was extremely dangerous to travel alone to other places.

Tanba and Owari are hundreds of kilometers apart, making it highly unlikely that one could reach them safely.

Until I have sufficient resources, I can only try to survive and make a living.

So... since he didn't dare to run away from home, he had no choice but to obediently become someone else's son.

When Jin Bingwei's father called him to do farm work, he naturally had no way to refuse.

However, they definitely lack any motivation whatsoever.

She even felt a little envious of her younger siblings.

Shingoro is only nine years old and has been in poor health since childhood, so he can't do heavy work. As for Ari, she's just a little girl, so there's no point in expecting anything from her.

The two little ones also had to share household chores such as starting the fire, boiling water, cooking, washing, and cleaning, but they certainly didn't have to thresh rice under the scorching sun in the late summer heat.

……

"You're so listless! How can you start the morning like this? How can you inherit the family business if you're this lazy?"

A sudden roar from Kinbei's father pulled Shinzaburo out of his daze.

I got scolded... but I was too lazy to explain, so I just pretended not to hear it. I straightened my posture and made a slightly more forceful gesture with my hands, just to get by.

Slacking off? I was a pro at it before I transmigrated!

"You brat! What's gotten into you? Your older brothers were much more hardworking than you when they were alive! And back when your great-grandfather fled to this Jiubao Village, our family didn't own a single piece of land. It was only through the hard work of several generations that we managed to accumulate this little bit of wealth. If you squander it all, how will we face our ancestors?"

This old man, Jin Bingwei, was a typical "traditional strict father," readily scolding his children, and his words quickly escalated to the point of offending their ancestors.

But Shinsaburo, having been a corporate slave in his previous life, had seen countless PUA tactics in the workplace and was completely immune to these conventional tricks. He neither listened nor talked back, but simply ignored them.

"How much grain did it take to feed you until you grew so big and strong? If I had known you would be so useless now, I would have preferred to feed you a horse back then! Horses don't slack off!"

Indeed, Shinzaburo's physique in this life is similar to that in his previous life. He is 170 centimeters tall and weighs 140 kilograms. In 16th-century Japan, he would be considered a giant, standing out from the crowd. He is regarded as a "giant" by the villagers in the vicinity.

If he were to focus on farm work, he would be much more capable than his short and old father, Jinbingwei.

But as a time traveler born in an industrial society, he had long been alienated by consumerism and was suffering from terminal laziness. Unless you held a knife to his throat, he simply couldn't muster the energy to do farm work.

No matter how much you preach, it doesn't seem to bother them at all.

This greatly worried Jin Bingwei's father, who immediately raised his hand to slap him, preparing for a "fatherly and sonly" exchange. However, perhaps considering the physical difference between them, he hesitated for a long time before lowering his hand, shaking his head and sighing helplessly, "Sigh, alright, if you don't want to do it, take a break first. I need to talk to you for a bit. It's time to tell you the truth about things at home, kid..."

"okay!"

Shinzaburo heard half of it, then immediately put the flail on the ground, rubbed his arms, and slowly sat down on the haystack.

Seeing this, Jin Bingwei's father was furious again. He coughed several times, took a moment to catch his breath, and then patiently said, "This year's autumn harvest, the village delivered a total of thirty-three and a half shi (a unit of dry measure). Fifteen shi were the annual tribute for the Naito family, which has already been transported to Yagi Castle. The remaining eighteen and a half shi are our family's profits. If we take them out to sell when we have time, we should get seven or eight kan (a unit of currency)..."

Ah...ah?

This is out of proportion; it's more than half full, isn't it?

"Wait a minute?" Upon hearing this, Shinzaburo instantly woke up: "The Naito family only collects fifteen koku of annual tribute, but you've made the villagers pay thirty-three and a half koku of grain? You, as the 'Otomi no Na' (village head), are truly deserving of your position... How could the dignified Naito family, the deputy governor, just sit idly by?"

"Heh, a dignified guardian..." Old Man Jinbingwei grinned, revealing a proud expression. He casually grabbed a straw, picked it up and played with it, shaking his head and saying, "When was the last time you saw the Naito family patriarchs in our Kubo Village?"

This……

Upon closer reflection, Shinzaburo realized that he hadn't seen the local lords, the Naito family, at all during his time here.

If we search for memories of the previous life again...

"It seems that at the beginning of spring, a few samurai gentlemen on horseback came and posted some kind of notice, and then... they never showed up again... They've only come once in the past six months?"

Shinzaburo was a little surprised by what he said.

As a history enthusiast, I knew that the old-style "shigo daimyo" had very little control over the grassroots, but I never imagined it could be this low.

"That's it." Old Man Jinbingwei proudly raised his head and said, "The lords of the Naito family stay in Yagi Castle all day long and don't care about our remote Kubo Village at all. As long as we hand over the annual tribute roughly and don't cause any trouble, they don't care how much I actually collected!"

He then explained in detail that this method, in which the daimyo did not send anyone to supervise and the villages paid their taxes themselves, was called "underground tax collection"; conversely, when the daimyo sent an official to the village to collect taxes, it was commonly known as "guardian tax collection".

It's easy to imagine that villages would want to maintain the "underground order," while daimyo would try their best to promote the "protection order."

"Well..." Shinzaburo understood the situation, but then another question came to mind, "Why aren't the villagers making a fuss? Surely they can figure out the score, right? Why didn't they oust you? Why are they still letting you hold this position?"

"Well..." Old Man Jin Bingwei deliberately slowed down his tone, his expression becoming increasingly smug. He pointed south and said, "For over thirty years, our family has been offering candied chestnuts to Guangfu Temple in the south every year. You think it's just a free gift? These candied chestnuts have been praised by generations of abbots! Otherwise, how could our family members go to the temple to study with the monks? How could you brothers have the opportunity to learn more characters?"

"You mean..." Shinzaburo recalled that his "predecessor" and several of his brothers had indeed gone to Kofukuji Temple for literacy education. "Besides teaching, did Kofukuji Temple help with other things?"

"Although the Naito family didn't send an official, they're not fools. If I hadn't repeatedly pleaded with the high monk, how could they have kept taxes from increasing for so many years? By becoming a local official in Kubo Village, I'm only collecting twice the amount. If I hadn't become a local official, the lords might have collected three or five times more!"

"Oh……"

Shinzaburo understood.

Since the Naito family, the deputy governor of Tanba, had a very weak foundation and could not reach the grassroots level, the remaining power space was naturally occupied by "energetic civilians".

Kōpū-ji Temple, located in the southern part of Funai District, Tanba Province, belongs to the Rinzai sect and is the most famous temple in the surrounding area. The Rinzai sect is a branch of Zen Buddhism and enjoys scholarly pursuits. However, they are not simply closed-door scholars; they also have political aspirations.

The villagers' "Yi-ming" (a type of person) can get in touch with the temple and shrine, and then they can bargain with the lord.

These individuals, who do not possess samurai status but wield power at the grassroots level, are academically referred to as "underground virtuous people." "Underground" refers to those not incorporated into the samurai system, while "virtuous" refers to those who possess assets and power.

In 21st-century terms, isn't this a typical example of the influence of "local gentry"?

Before his time travel, Shinsaburo was a rural boy in his previous life. He had encountered local bullies who harassed men and women, and at the time, he felt nothing but hatred.

Unexpectedly, after transmigrating, I became the very thing I hated most.

This is truly... a very unique experience.

After some thought and digesting what his father, Kinbei, had said, Shinzaburo began to calculate: "The Naito family receives two annual tributes each year, one for rice from the autumn harvest and another for miscellaneous grains from the summer harvest. In addition, there are also special allowances and allowances... Do you, sir, ever embezzle from all of these?"

(The "building fee" and "section fee" can be understood as property tax and land tax, respectively.)

"Hey, you've got a knack for it, you get it right away." Master Jin Bingwei nodded with a look of satisfaction. But he immediately straightened his face and sternly rebuked, "It's certainly good to put in more effort, but you also need to be diligent. If you only know how to cheat and slack off, you won't get anywhere. Our family's roots are still in the land; we're not businessmen who do business without being cunning..."

"Ah, right, right..." Shinzaburo replied carelessly, then continued calculating, "Just this autumn harvest alone, you can make seven or eight strings of cash. If you add up all the annual tribute and corvée wages..."

“Eleven or twelve strings of cash!” Old Man Jin Bingwei pretended to be calm and lowered his voice to say, “After all, we are all from the same village, and we will see each other all the time. Moreover, your great-grandfather fled here when he was in trouble. He was kind enough to be taken in by the locals, and he married and had children, which is how we are where we are today… We should still show some consideration.”

Good guy!

The annual harvest from the family's rice paddies, dry fields, and chestnut trees, when converted into copper coins, was worth no more than four strings of cash.

However, Jin Bingwei's father's gray income as village chief was several times higher than his legal income.