A samurai who doesn't want to be a daimyo is not a good onmyoji

Chapter 91 Qingzhou
While looking for a hotel to stay in, Asai Nagamasa also asked other small businessmen and traveling merchants to see their reactions to the "Happy City" promoted in the city.Although he was an unfamiliar face to the merchants, due to his warrior attire and unusual demeanor, the merchants responded one after another.

There is no doubt that all the responses are positive. They very much support Oda Nobunaga's "Happy Market", and more than one businessman lamented that if this kind of policy is also available in other places, it will be very difficult for small businessmen like them. , that is the real kingdom of heaven.

However, when Asai Nagamasa tentatively asked them what they thought of Oda Nobunaga's title of "Owari Fool", their expressions became a little mysterious.

Although they all quickly said fiercely that it was definitely a slander against Lord Oda Nobunaga, looking at their looks, they seemed to agree with it to some extent.
Upon seeing this, Asai Nagamasa stopped continuing this topic, not only because he had obtained the information he wanted, but more importantly, this was Oda Nobunaga's territory after all.
Since these small businessmen choose to live here and benefit from the local "Happy Market" policy, they will definitely have a certain bias towards Nobunaga. If they ask too many questions, they will go directly to Nobunaga to inform him. It's not impossible, but it will cause some trouble.

Following the recommendation of a businessman, Asai Nagamasa quickly took Axiu to a hotel. Compared with most wooden bungalows in the city, this hotel was extremely conspicuous in appearance, because it was clearly A three-story wooden house.

After entering the door, Asai Nagamasa found that there were indeed a lot of customers inside. Except for a few ronin, the others were basically dressed as businessmen or shop assistants. Needless to say, they must have been attracted by the "Leshi" Businessmen from out of town.

Probably for them, regardless of whether they will eventually settle here, it is necessary to at least inspect it.

The arrival of Asai Nagamasa and Axiu also attracted a lot of attention, but after looking at their armor and weapons twice, most of those sights disappeared immediately.

Businessmen are mainly seeking money. If it is not necessary, it is better to keep a little distance from warriors and ronin who take fighting and killing as their profession.

Asai Nagamasa didn't take it seriously. The legal status of merchants was far lower than that of samurai. Although they were rich, their actual status would be higher. But if they encountered a hot-tempered samurai, they would be provoked just because they looked at each other. It is not impossible for the samurai to be dissatisfied and stab someone on the spot.

He took Axiu to a seat by the window with a wide view and started ordering.

Then he discovered that the menu here was much richer than the hotels he knew in Xiaogu City.

In addition to multigrain rice, millet, pickled radish, boiled radish, boiled wild vegetables, miso soup and miso soup, there are also rice, sea fish, and pickled shellfish.

You must know that rice is of great significance to the Nibon people. Even though farmers grow rice in their fields, all the rice will be taken away by the lords and used as part of the warriors' salary and for the warriors to enjoy during wartime.

Farmers who are unlucky, or who are too timid to hide rice, may not be able to eat a bowl of rice until their death.

Those ordinary ronins who have lost their masters rarely eat rice a few times a year.

Even with the salaries of lower-level warriors, in order to feed their families and maintain their armor and weapons, they could not eat rice every meal, and most of the rice was mixed with millet and other whole grains.

But in this shop, anyone with money can eat rice, which is quite unusual.

In comparison, although those marine fish and shellfish are not common, they are a normal phenomenon here in Owari. After all, the sea is further south in Owari.

After ordering two bowls of rice and some sea fish and shellfish, Asai Nagamasa then asked casually: "Apart from the ones on the menu, are there any other fresh ingredients? Don't worry about the price, I can afford it."

He placed the bag of money from the small businessman on the table, just to test the purchasing power of the silver.

In fact, he didn't need to say much. After hearing the dull crash, the waiters had already roughly guessed how wealthy he was. Even for them, there was no doubt that the other party was a rare and important customer.

Just when he was about to say something, Teyo (similar to the shopkeeper) who had been looking at him for a long time behind the counter quickly came over with a smile on his face: "Sir, two wild ducks just arrived in our store today. I don't know. How do you want to eat it?”

Judging from his experience, the other party must be a samurai who had just entered the Yuan Dynasty and was traveling. Usually such young samurai are full of curiosity about the outside world and are the best fat sheep, so he asked the other party directly and very smartly. Eat how you want, not whether you want to eat or not.

It's a pity that Asai Nagamasa is not as stupid as the other party thought. He saw through the other party's tricks at the first time, but apart from feeling a little funny, he didn't care much.

As long as this guy is not stupid enough, he will never charge himself a price that is much higher than the market price. The reason why he is so eager is probably just because no one else can afford it, so he is in a hurry to get rid of it, right?
So he waved his hand directly: "No need to say more, bake both of them, a little bit brown, eat one now, and wrap the other for me to eat on the road."

After traveling for such a long time and walking around the city, he was somewhat hungry.

As a samurai, his appetite is much larger than that of ordinary people. He can even eat a roast duck, not to mention that there is Axiu who has a bigger appetite next to him, so there is absolutely no need to worry about wasting it.

Tedai nodded again and again: "Okay, my lord, do you need some more wine? Our store has newly arrived some sake from Shikoku."

This time, Asai Nagamasa shook his head and refused: "Forget it, we brought it ourselves." All sake and turbid wine are so bland and tasteless. After all, many people now don't even have enough to eat, and there is no extra food to take. If they don't have enough practice to make wine, their wine-making skills will naturally not improve. There are no famous wines in Nippon.

But it happened that I just got two bottles of red wine from a small merchant, and it should be good to go with the roast duck.

Taking advantage of this free time, Asai Nagamasa chatted with Axiu about taking a ride, while secretly planning the trip for the next few days.

When arriving at Owari, the first thing to do is of course to meet Oda Nobunaga, the future hero of the Warring States Period. The next step is to go to the countryside to find Tokichiro's younger brother, and then help him hire a few ronin, or let him follow a certain businessman. Team, go to Miyabe Castle together to stand by. This internal affairs-type talent cannot be allowed to run away.

In the remaining time, if possible, take the opportunity to meet those civil servants and military generals who have left their names in history.

Unfortunately, except for the two Tokichiro brothers, almost no one in Owari would choose to join him.

Not only is it because he is just the young master of the Asai family, but he is also the one who actively chooses to run away. More importantly, this is related to the strong local sentiment of the Nibon people.

This kind of complex is not bad when serving as an official, but it is most conspicuous in wars, especially wars that end in a complete defeat for one side.

For them, even if the local lord is incompetent or cruel, he is still a local and one of their own.

Even if the foreign lord behaves very kindly, or is very capable, and can lead the locals to live a better life, the locals usually do not appreciate it.

Even if the local lord is conquered, exiled, or killed, as long as he still has any blood related to him, whether it is a son, grandson, uncle, local farmer, ashigaru or samurai, They will never forget to be revived.

Because in their hearts, they are only willing to obey the command and drive of the local lords.

This kind of inexplicable loyalty is not accidental, but a common phenomenon throughout Nibon. Therefore, even though Nibon has entered the Warring States Period for nearly a hundred years, when the famous names from all over the country are fighting against each other, there are still very few winners who will completely defeat the losers. Killing them all, they usually confiscated most of the losers' land and wealth.

The cruel ones would have the head of the family commit seppuku, kill only the culprit, and then let his son continue to assume certain duties, in order to appease the local people in the conquered area. This can be regarded as a default rule of the game.

No matter how much resentment and ambition they have in their hearts, those defeated lords usually help maintain local order in order to continue to survive. This is also a way for them to express their own value.

If the victor did not do this, local warriors and farmers would have quarrels from time to time, and even set off an armed resistance called "Ikaku", causing trouble for the conquerors.

If other daimyo intervene at this time, it will become a bigger trouble. When it gets serious, it is not completely impossible for the land to change hands.

Although in Asai Nagamasa's view, this kind of behavior is unbelievable, you are almost out of food, and you are still arguing for the original lord?Are you afraid that others will have a bad life?Is your brain sick?
But it does exist.

The same is true when serving as an official. Unless they can no longer survive in the local area, or the rewards promised by foreign lords are too generous for them to refuse, samurai usually will not go to great lengths to seek refuge with foreign lords.

Thinking of this, Asai Nagamasa couldn't help but think of the reason why Oda Nobunaga was later called the "Sixth Heaven Demon King".

In addition to burning down the hostile Mount Hiei and the monks on the mountain with a fire, the biggest reason is that Oda Nobunaga did not abide by the default rules. He would kill all the hostile lords who resisted him and then reward them. to his subordinates.

Although this behavior allowed him to extinguish the fire of resistance as quickly as possible and made the rewarded subordinates extra loyal to him, it also hid hidden dangers. Many local warriors and farmers did not survive the death of the original lord. Instead of giving up resistance, he doubled his hatred of Oda Nobunaga, the conqueror and executioner.

This resulted in the "Ikaku" in Oda Nobunaga's territory being the most frequent and largest.

Coupled with the fact that he offended some Buddhist religious forces headed by the Ichiko clan, as well as the involvement of other daimyo around him who had long been dissatisfied with him, the nature of the "Ikaku" in the Oda family's territory became more and more complicated, and it appeared many times later. The resistance organized by Yixiang followers was known as "Yixiang Yikui" in history.

Compared with ordinary "Yikui", "Yixiang Yiku" lasts longer and causes greater damage, because religious forces like the Yixiang Sect are extremely rich.

Historically, the Oda family spent a lot of time, money, and troops in suppressing the "Ichijo Iku", and even more than a few famous generals died.

(End of this chapter)