Chapter 216 20. Matsushita Yale Is Worldly-Wise

The samurai who were sitting in the large hall had stood up and were ready to leave, but unexpectedly, Yamauchi Yoshiharu suddenly said, "Wait a minute."

Everyone was confused, but when the boss spoke, which employee could not listen? They all stood still and waited for Yamauchi Yoshiharu's orders.

But Yamauchi Yoshiharu did not say anything, but called all the retainers to follow and stood on the castle tower of Ejiri. There were 14,000 troops in and under the castle that had not yet been disbanded. Everyone saw Yamauchi Yoshiharu standing on a high place and stood up and looked up at him.

Yamauchi Yoshiharu cleared his throat and announced loudly that everyone would be given another 300 yuan in reward money. It seemed that the city had already been arranged, and many loud attendants repeated Yamauchi Yoshiharu's decision loudly. It was passed on for more than two minutes, and the soldiers on and under the city could hear it clearly.

Everyone burst into fierce cheers. After all, it was a pie in the sky that gave money for no reason. In the past, meritorious men would be rewarded after the war, but this time, even the soldiers and servants were included, and all were given 300 coins. All the soldiers knelt on the ground and praised his generosity loudly.

So the tens of thousands of soldiers under the city did not disband, but gathered under the Ejiri Castle to wait for thousands of Yongle coins to be transported from Yamauchi.

The retainers of Yamauchi were surprised that the money-saving Yamauchi Yoshiharu suddenly became so generous. On the one hand, they praised Yamauchi Yoshiharu for being supported by the army, and on the other hand, they secretly guessed what he was going to do.

When everyone sat down again, Yamauchi Yoshiharu smiled at the Ejiri samurai who were sitting.

"Do you remember the document issued many years ago?" Yamauchi Yoshiharu smiled and looked happy.

"This? I wonder what your highness is talking about?" An Ejiri samurai asked cautiously with courage.

Here we have to mention an old story. Many years ago, Xiao Pingtai was just a small infantryman with a flag. It was also when Xiao Pingtai just crossed over. Yamanouchi Yoshiharu mobilized more than 6,000 people in Yamanouchi, bribed the navy of Fangzhou, and advanced by land and sea, and finally destroyed the Shirakawa clan who occupied Jiangjiri at that time.

Since Yamanouchi Yoshiharu ascended the throne, he has launched four attacks on Jiangjiri, and each time he retreated with hatred for various reasons. Therefore, ten years of his life were actually consumed on the road to attack Jiangjiri. He spent a lot of time to pacify Jiangjiri. Not only recruiting soldiers and preparing for war, but also actively inciting the rebellion of the powerful families and bribing ambitious elements. Finally, six years ago, he spent a huge amount of money and got what he wanted.

The two sides have fought for so many years, and there must be many local samurai in Jiangjiri who are resentful and dissatisfied. In order to quickly stabilize the place, Yamanouchi Yoshiharu once issued a large number of peace letters, and even bloody oaths. Some people who had good foresight and joined Yamanouchi Yoshiharu early on even got the privilege of not being inspected and not being allowed to enter the county governor.

Of course, these are minor details. The most important order for Yamanouchi Yoshiharu to stabilize Ejiri was to announce to all the lords in Ejiri that the public and private lands in Ejiri would not be inspected for five years.

This order was unanimously recognized and praised by everyone at that time. From the lords with thousands of kan to the small landlords with 20 kan, they destroyed the land inspection books and deleted and modified the military service documents during that chaotic period. They even directly concealed the land and tenants and made countless profits.

The most essential places in Totomi are three: the plains along the Hamana Lake, the river beach along the Tenryu River, and the tea forest of Kakegawa Castle. The first two are first-class cultivated fields with sufficient water and fertilizer. Almost all the rice in Totomi is produced in these two places.

Later, during the Keicho land inspection, the country of Totomi had a total of 260,000 koku, or 65,000 kanmon. Now that Yamanouchi Yoshiharu has taken all of Totomi, how much territory is on the books? A mere 35,000 kanmon.

Even though the arable land was not fully developed due to the war, the population was not sufficient, and the water conservancy facilities could not be prepared on a large scale year after year, although the business was prosperous, it was only in its infancy. But how could the gap between the two be as huge as 30,000 kanmon? This number is already equivalent to the territory of some lower countries.

Fortunately, last month, Kobayata mobilized the troops of Ejiri and, through reverse calculation, roughly estimated that the hidden real estate of Ejiri was more than 10,000 kan. Yamanouchi Yoshiharu certainly knew about this, which was one of the main reasons why Kobayata took the initiative to mobilize the army without authorization and Yamanouchi Yoshiharu was not blamed at all.

Kobayata helped him complete half of the land inspection (one is to increase income and the other is to expand military service). Now the military service account books of 9,200 people have been fully cleared, and the details are down to the village and person.

Horseback riders, bowmen, long-legged soldiers, flag bearers, formation men, small soldiers, and miscellaneous servants, from top to bottom, are complete. No one can escape next year. The military service of about 6,000 people in Ejiri is settled.

Although they had expected it in their hearts, when Yamanouchi Yoshiharu said that he wanted to inspect the land, the samurai of Ejiri completely ignored etiquette and suddenly exploded with a "boom".

Some people immediately stepped out and knelt in front of Yamanouchi Yoshiharu, asking for a delay of one or two years, while others looked solemn and kept arguing with familiar samurai.

Matsushita Ichima, the flag bearer of the Ejiri clan, had a lot of thoughts in his mind. He already understood why Yamanouchi Yoshiharu gave money to the Ejiri clan. Now all the 9,200 armed men of the Ejiri clan were at the foot of the Ejiri castle. At the same time, the 5,000 Yamanouchi clan occupied the castle and set up camps for security. To put it bluntly, these 9,200 people were the lifeblood of the Ejiri lords, even more important than the dick between their legs.

Without these 9,200 people, how can we resist Yamanouchi Yoshiharu's land inspection request? We are not even qualified to negotiate! Even if we return to the territory overnight, we cannot mobilize soldiers to start a rebellion. Yamanouchi Yoshiharu, this old shaman, used a plan to destroy the whole family.

Now the land must be inspected, no one can escape. Matsushita Ichima looked at the unpredictable faces of his colleagues, smiled bitterly in his heart, after all, this day has come. But is he kidding that he can be the flag bearer? His mind is so fast, he will not sit and wait for death.

"Your Highness, relying on your illustrious military achievements, my territory has opened up 500 and 15 kan of land and forests in five years without war, and I am willing to inspect them together." Matsushita Ichima was shocked.

Kodaira, Yamauchi Yoshiharu, and the town magistrate Kitabatake University looked at each other, and the three of them thought at the same time, "This Matsushita Gagakusuke is really a talent!"

Others either cried poor or got angry, but he immediately figured out the whole story, and then reported a decent number with both zeros and integers, revealing his true colors. Moreover, the number reported by this person still left room, and there must be something hidden.

But he was the first to come out and bow his head. No matter how much he had hidden, Yamauchi Yoshiharu had to temporarily suppress it and set up this example.

So Kitabatake University immediately took out a new book and wrote down: 2,015 kanwen received by Matsushita Gagaku of Touda Temple in Enshu Toyota County.

Safe!