Chapter 23 first quarter

"Is it really a dream?" My brother whispered in my ear.It was the third month of the lunar calendar in the eighth year of Yonglu (1565), and Xiaoichiro and his elder brother were standing on the observation deck in the center of Yimu Mountain City, which had just been built, overlooking the east Meinong mountains extending north. "Oh……" Koichiro didn't understand what his brother meant by "dream", so he just responded casually. The scenery in front of me is as magnificent as a dream.The Kiso River meanders at the foot of the mountain, and on the other side is the continuous land of Higashi Mino.The mountains are dotted with young leaves and flowers, the wind blows softly with thin mist, the sun is warm, and the air is filled with the fragrance of soil and green leaves.Such beauty is indeed intoxicating.

However, my brother has never been the kind of person who knows how to appreciate the beautiful scenery.Besides, the enemy is so close at hand, it is probably impossible to have that kind of leisure. (Does it mean himself?) Indeed, these three years of prosperity are like a dream.Last autumn, my brother and Matsukura Castle lord Tsubouchi Kitaro Toshiden teamed up to successfully pacify the rural samurai in the Higashi Minogawa River, and further persuaded the Unuma Castle lord Osawa Kiyasu to surrender.Because of these achievements, Nobunaga has now handed over the management of the Imu Mountain Castle that was just built in Mino territory to his brother, and let him serve as the castle representative.

However, Yimu Mountain City is euphemistically called a city, but its scale is very small. It is just a cottage with several fences around the mountainside, and several sets of watchtowers on the back and peak of the mountain.At that time, leaving the city was almost like this, and there were no white-walled castle towers, strong walls, or moats that emerged when people in later generations thought of "castle".Especially this rush-built Yimu Mountain City is only the base of the front line, and even the mansion where the city generation lives is very simple. Even so, thinking of the summer three years ago, when he first went to the longhouse where his brother lived in Qingzhou City, Xiaoichiro couldn't help but feel as if he had passed away.At that time, my brother lived in a nine-foot-two-room Ashgaru longhouse, without even a door, and only hung a mat of straw curtains at the entrance; his whole family belongings included an old straw shield, a gun, and two pieces of old cloth used as bedding. The annual salary has just risen to five consecutive years.

But now, his salary has reached three hundred guan, and he has a decent mansion under the city of Qingzhou, so he brought his mother Ah Zhong from Zhongcun to take care of him, lived there with his wife, and invited several servants The servant girls serve them.Of course, in Xiaomaki, the new base of the Oda family, he also has a spacious mansion built in a hurry.Although his current status and income are not as good as the elders, they are comparable to high-ranking generals and warriors. Even Koichiro, as his brother's entourage, owns a single-family house that is comparable to the ashigaru general.The elder brother will also distribute 10% of the 300 guan salary from the eldest lord to Xiaoichiro.This ratio, the elder brother will stick to it all his life, as Koichiro's reward for joining the Kinoshita family.

Not only that, the actual authority and authority that the elder brother has in the Oda family far exceeds his income and status.Because he is not just an ordinary military officer in combat, but also responsible for the task of "hearing and seeing", that is, playing the role of the person in charge of intelligence.Moreover, the Yimu Mountain Castle that Nobunaga entrusted to him to govern also has the function of attacking the bridgehead of Dongmino.Located at the junction of Mino and Owari, this city is responsible for defending the Saito family of Mino, monitoring the samurai or Unuma Castle who had recently surrendered, and it was also a military stronghold and supply station when attacking East Mino.

Because of this, the strength of my brother's banner is far more than that of ordinary generals and warriors.In addition to the 300 ashigaru directly distributed by Nobunaga and directly under the Oda family, Nobunaga also brought in another 300 people from the Hachisuka Xiaoliuyi Party and Kawanami's rural samurai who were recruited by his brother, and returned them to him as backup. There are as many as 600 soldiers in total, accounting for about 4 to 5% of the overall mobilized force of the Oda family.Judging from the number of commanders alone, my brother should already be listed as one of the top ten of the Oda family.This is because Nobunaga has always been regardless of family background and experience, and believes in abilityism, so he always allocates a large number of troops to talented people for management and command.

Of course, my brother's right to speak in the Oda family has also increased. Recently, he can even be the last seat in the meeting of veterans. He no longer has to be close to Nobunaga without leaving a trace, or entertain everyone by pretending to be crazy and flattering. "Thinking about my current status, it's really like a dream." Koichiro replied respectfully.As long as he is in this city, the elder brother is the generation of the city, and he is the retainer. Even if they are blood relatives, the etiquette of master and servant cannot be neglected.And just because it was his elder brother who suddenly rose to prominence, he should treat his elder brother with extra respect.

"What, you say that your current position is a dream?" The elder brother looked at Koichiro with a strange expression, his eyes were sharp and serious. "Hahaha... the dream I'm talking about refers to the things in front of me." The elder brother regained his plain and hearty expression, with his slender arms pointing forward. "Everywhere in front of my eyes is Mino. There are countless places where you can make meritorious deeds. It doesn't matter how big your dreams are..." "Oh I got it." Koichiro still nodded respectfully in response, but he felt extremely bored in his heart, and wanted to reply to his brother:

(It should be enough. Why are you in such a hurry?) The elder brother Tokichiro is always rushing forward as if his butt is on fire, pursuing credit and fame without stopping.This has indeed contributed to his success today, but it also made Xiaoichiro, who is behind him in charge of management, miserable. For example, simply trying to get people living in cities to live in harmony is not an easy task.The Kinoshita Group hastily formed an army, which was different from the main military group at that time, that is, the troops formed by the Hao clan based on villages. The members had neither geographical nor blood relationship.Especially the ashigaru assigned by Nobunaga, most of them are tramps or orphans who have gone through vicissitudes of life, are homeless, and just want to make a living.Although they are indeed braver and better at fighting than ordinary troops, they are also extremely difficult to manage.

In addition, there are rural samurai of the Hachisuka Party and Kawanami.It is not easy for them to get along well with the ashigaru group directly under them, and friction occurs frequently.Moreover, the spies of the Saito family often mixed in with the rural samurai, so they must be strictly guarded.However, if they are over-prepared, they will attract resentment. Once they realize that they are not trusted, they might turn their heads and really rebel.At present, there are constant rumors that Osawa Kiyasu of Unuma doubts Nobunaga's sincerity and is shaken. (Under such circumstances, don’t be in a hurry to make meritorious deeds. The top priority should be to consolidate leadership first.)

This was Koichiro's idea, but his brother only wanted to climb up, so he went to Komaki, where Nobunaga lived, to collect information about Mino, and to find out if there was any place where he could make a contribution.He rarely sits in the city at all, and almost 70% of the internal management is left to Xiaoichiro alone. (Don't just look up, calm down a little, slow down, and take care of your home first.) Koichiro was about to express a similar opinion, but unexpectedly, his elder brother took the lead and said in a low voice: "Xiaoichiro, thank you for your hard work." The perfect time to thank him, with an irresistible friendly smile on his dark and thin face, the same smile that will deceive hundreds of enemies in the future. "I also know that our Kinoshita family must find some capable retainers who can share your hard work..." The elder brother changed his tone and said with a lonely face.Koichiro felt very relieved that his brother was able to understand his dedication, and at the same time correctly grasped the problem, because the biggest dilemma facing their Kinoshita brothers now is that the quality of the retainers directly under the Kinoshita family is obviously insufficient. In the samurai society at that time, people with a little bit of status had a group of directly subordinate retainers, that is, they had independent legions in the villages handed down by their ancestors.Therefore, the Kinoshita group, which is composed of the ashigaru group assigned by the Oda family and independent rural samurai as a reserve force, is a rare new type of corps.Of course, my elder brother's salary has already reached three hundred guan, and he has a few retainers, but it is not enough, because he has not been able to find any manpower. Fujikichiro himself was just a foot light three years ago, he didn't have any hereditary retainers at all, and his family relatives were unusually few.Koichiro is the only brother, not even an uncle or nephew.In addition, he left the village when he was young, and he didn't have many acquaintances and friends in Zhongcun Township.Speaking of it, my brother didn't like to work and was naughty when he was young. He had a bad reputation in the village, and no one liked him at all.All in all, Fujikichiro lacked hereditary master-slave relationship, blood and geography, and these were the basic conditions for building a samurai group at that time, so it can also be said to be a fatal shortcoming for a samurai who wants to make a fortune. My brother is very smart, and he also noticed this.Three years ago, he coaxed, deceived and pleaded to bring out his younger brother Koichiro, just to make up for this shortcoming.Now he is still running around in search of talents, and such efforts have somewhat paid off, and he has recruited many retainers.Originally, only Xiaoichiro's family came here a year ago, but now there are more than ten people who can be called "scholar points". Like Ningning’s uncle Kinoshita Shichirozaemon, Ningning’s elder brother Kinoshita Sunheiwei, the rural samurai Saji who recently married Koichiro’s sister, and even the husband of his sister Agong, Yasuke who works in agriculture in Dataka Village were all brought in. , Training to become a warrior.Because family members are limited, as long as there is a little relationship, my brother will not let it go. However, Fujikichiro came from a humble background, and there were no remarkable figures among his family members.Among the people mentioned above, only Sun Bingwei was responsible for taking care of the Ashgaru family members who stayed at Kiyosu Castle. My elder brother is also well aware of this, so whenever he hears that there is a shrewd and intelligent ashigaruto, he often runs away immediately and sincerely invites him to become the Kinoshita family's home. Some people were invited to come because of the sincerity of my brother, but there were still no particularly talented people.Those who directly belong to the Oda family, as long as they have a little self-confidence, are seldom willing to demean their status and follow the "Ashiru" who was the Oda family not long ago.What's more, the status and status of the direct followers of the Oda family and the retainers of the Kinoshita family are completely different. Only recently came across an example that just illustrates this situation.That's what happened when the older brother tried to recruit a young man, Yahei Asano.He is the adopted son of Ning Ning's adoptive father. He was eighteen years old and married Ning Ning's younger sister.In other words, he is not only the younger brother of Ning Ning, Tokichiro's wife, but also the foster brother of Tokichiro because of his in-law relationship.This can be regarded as a very close relationship for the elder brother who originally had few relatives. The elder brother thinks that Yahei is a talented person, so he specially asks Yahei's adoptive father, and of course his own adoptive father Asano Nagasaki. "I implore you to entrust Yahei to me. I will train him and my younger brother Koichiro to become the two pillars of the Kinoshita group. Please agree to my request..." Even though his older brother begged modestly, Nagakatsu Asano, who was the head of the Oda family's Yumi group, refused without hesitation. "Yabei has joined the Oda family, and will be the successor of my Asano family in the future. If I allow him to be reduced to a vassal, how can I be worthy of his ancestors?" Later, it was renamed Asano Tanshobee Nagamasa, and Yahei, who became one of the five ministers of Toyotomi's family, did not start serving Toyoshiro until Toyoshiro got Omi Yokoyama Castle a few years later. (Still not working?) Koichiro, who longed to have a right-hand assistant, was more disappointed than his elder brother in this matter, and once again sadly experienced the shortcomings of a humble background, but his elder brother had a different idea. "Xiao Yilang, if you want to invite a good family, you must show the potential of the Kinoshita group, continue to make contributions, increase your salary, and at the same time give your family a high salary, so that talents will naturally come." "But what should we do before that? Can my brother carry it all by himself?" Unknowingly, Koichiro returned to his usual familiar tone. "I still have you!" The older brother laughed heartily again, but Koichiro couldn't. "Can it be done with just my brother and me?" Koichiro asked again. "Of course it can be done." Brother said very simply.Then he said something softly, revealing the anxiety in his heart: "There's only one person in Yiyi." Yiyi is Takigawa Kazuyoshi, who was originally just a tramp of unknown origin, and later made great achievements with his extraordinary wit, and now he has been promoted to a position where he can receive a salary of two thousand.My brother has always regarded this man, who is similar to his background, as his opponent and role model. A few days later, Yiyi made another contribution.A notice came to Yimu Mountain City: "After Takigawa-sama's hard work and mediation, the situation in Kita Ise has improved. Lord Nobunaga will go out in person, please accompany him."

---

Notes: