A tour of Japan's Warring States Period

I stayed in Kyoto for a few days and attended some parties. The dozens of taels of gold I gave away before seemed to have worked, and I got to know a few more people. After such a round of socializing, Koheta stopped and went to say goodbye to Uesugi Teruhora.

Uesugi Teruhora also wanted to make plans in Kyoto and the Western Kingdom. He needed to gain a high enough reputation in Kyoto, and it was even better to be able to intimidate all the powerful and famous people on his way to Luo. This would make it much easier for him to go to Luo. After all, his time is limited. Snow falls on the North Road in October and melts in March. There are more than five months in the year in winter, and he cannot waste all his precious time on cleaning up the salted fish along the way. Once he delays, he may not be able to get to Luo.

So he definitely wanted to stay in Beijing. When he saw Heita Xiao said he was going to Sakai, he casually asked Heita why he was going to Sakai. Koheita didn't have any secret mission, he just went to Sakai to buy a sample of the iron cannon, so he casually told Uesugi Terutora.

Uesugi Teruhu learned that Koheita bought the iron cannon to make samples in order to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the iron cannon, and he thought the same thing. Since you don’t have to spend a lot of money to buy one, if you can make one yourself, you must make one that has the best performance and is most suitable for your soldiers.

Xiao Pingtai also boasted with him, saying that there is a large fire gun in Nanman that can shoot more than 250 meters, and has a chance of breaking armor from 100 meters away. Moreover, it was Nanman's carcass that was broken. If it was other ashigaru's kind with light armor or cheap carcass, then it would be a big deal.

It can be said that Sugi Teruhu was shocked. For 200 meters, just riding a horse and slowly increasing the speed to the fastest speed, it would take less than half a minute to gallop over. If it were a walking samurai ashigaru, it would take at least several minutes to walk briskly while wearing a weapon and holding a weapon. This was enough for the iron cannon to fire several rounds. Even if his vision was limited, he still felt that it was a big killer.

If it can be set up high at the top of the city, facing the swarm of soldiers attacking the city gate, give them a few blows before attacking the city. These miscellaneous soldiers may even be beaten away before they reach the city gate. Even if they hit the city gate, their strength will be greatly weakened, which is great.

Moreover, the Echigo samurai were very elite, especially the samurai who directly belonged to Uesugi Teruator. They were the lifeblood of Uesugi Teruator. If we could fire three-round guns before they charged, the enemy would be weakened. Wouldn't it be great to fight? It was extremely cheap to exchange a samurai for twelve pieces of gold.

After thinking about it for a while, he thought it was a good thing, so he quickly asked Mrs. Xiao Ping where he could buy such a large gun. Once he bought it, he went back to imitate it. Little Pingtai didn't know where to buy Spanish Mushcote muskets, so she could only spread her hands and say, "I'm a hen." I still want to buy it, but I don’t have any connections and I don’t know where to buy it.

Then Koheta had no choice but to suggest to Uesugi Terutora that since you are so popular in Kyoto, all the ministers will come to flatter you. They know many Nanman missionaries and Nanman businessmen. You ask them to recommend it to you. Even if you can't get it right away, ask them to help you go back to Macau to buy it. At worst, you'll have to wait two years.

Yes, there are so many southern barbarians in Kyoto and Sakai, how can we get a Mushkot musket? Teru Uesugi said that he understood, and there was nothing wrong with Heita. He just asked him to get one more for him if he could get it. Of course, Teru Uesugi agreed wholeheartedly. His relationship with Xiao Pingtai was just a matter of words.

So Heita Xiao packed his bags and set off for Sakai, the largest commercial city in Japan at that time and a medieval free city with a population of one hundred thousand.

As a metropolis that brings together Eastern and Western cultures and commodities, Sakai Town is not even controlled by the Miyoshi clan that dominates Kinki. It is managed by the merchant autonomous group "Huihezhong" and exercises a considerable degree of autonomy.

There is a kind of order and democracy that is rare in troubled times throughout Sakai. His major issues were initially discussed and decided by the congregation of "ten people", which has now been expanded to "thirty-six people". At the same time, the entire city was divided into towns, and the town representatives were appointed as administrators. Under the town representatives, there were nenko. The entire Sakai is managed in an orderly manner, and I don't know how much better it is than many other daimyo.

And Sakai relied on its wide moat, thousands of jimbat thugs from big merchants gathered here, and at least a thousand iron cannons in stock. No matter how powerful the daimyo is when he attacks Sakai, even if the Sakai army is defeated, all his teeth will be broken.

Therefore, even the Miyoshi clan only charges them a fixed annual protection fee, and for such a Sakai town, the annual protection fee is as high as 20,000 kanfu. These are all genuine Yongle coins, which are circulated throughout the country like gold and silver. Iron cannons from the Western Kingdom, military horses from the Eastern Kingdom, and swords and guns from Kinki. One by one, they were attracted by this wealth and gathered into the Miyoshi family's army. .

Such a huge and enviable sum of money is enough to arm and maintain a standing ashigaru army of more than 6,000 people. It is the largest financial source for the Miyoshi clan to compete for hegemony in Kinki. This is not one of the largest financial resources, but it is definitely the largest financial resource. Even if there is a silver mine in Settsu, the output cannot exceed this number.

Coupled with the huge amount of gunpowder, weapons, armor, food and countless ronin gathered here in Sakai Town. As long as you have money, you can easily raise an army of 20,000 to 30,000 people in three to five days. It's quite a bit like the autonomous commercial city-states in Europe that rely on resources to recruit thousands of mercenaries and leave at a moment's notice.

Miyoshi Nagakei was really a wise ruler. After he dominated Kinei, he exempted a large number of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, protected the legitimate rights and interests of merchants, and eliminated numerous customs offices in the country such as Izumi, Hanoi, Settsu, and Yamashiro. Some of the checkpoints were even established by the former shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa and have a history of hundreds of years.

It also determines the amount of annual tribute, stipulates the proportion of currency and kind in the annual tribute, and allows grain, salt, and handicrafts to be used to offset part of the annual tribute. In this way, the rural commodity economy in Mihaoshi's territory has been greatly active, and farmers' enthusiasm for production has been greatly improved due to the withdrawal of transaction barriers. On the contrary, the basic annual tribute income of the Miyoshi clan has been further increased, and the lives of the people under the rule have also been improved.

Miyoshi Nagakei's open-minded attitude towards business also received continuous support from Sakai Town. The prominent figures among the merchants in Sakai Town even sang with each other at tea parties and poems with Awa Miyoshi Sanikyu and Awaji Anzai Toyasu. The military power figures of the Miyoshi family and the top economic bosses of Sakai are tightly bound together, and the two sides are now in a sweet period.

Sakai Town was also in its most prosperous and beautiful period.

Koheita took two oil bottles and walked for only a few days. He passed the mountain city of Shoryuji Castle and entered Izumi. He could immediately see the shadow of Sakai Town.

Today’s third update