Chapter 53

In the council hall, the various ministers carefully examined the legal codes in their hands, sometimes gasping in amazement and sometimes frowning. Fortunately, the current ministers had all received some education and could at least read, which greatly reduced the trouble of Seiryo's explanations.

"Your Highness, the agricultural taxes of our clan may provoke the hostility of the surrounding powerful families. Moreover, the Hukko and Haya families will not sit idly by," Tōgō Heijirō said with no small amount of concern.

"Heijirō, we will implement the law of sealing the domain and uniformly announce to the outside that we are adopting the 80-20 agricultural tax. If there is any leakage, under the current situation where entry is possible but exit is not, even if other powerful families suspect, they cannot confirm it. Besides, as long as we have enough time, the strength of our domain will eventually become so great that other powerful families will not dare to act rashly," Seiryo said with firm conviction. The other ministers also looked as if it were a matter of course. In less than a month, they had solved the problem of bandits that had plagued the domain for years, and the future of the clan was now bright.

"Your Highness, I once had the opportunity to understand the legal codes of the Sengoku family in Higo. Although the Sengoku family's codes are more detailed, our clan's codes are more practical and well-considered. Some of the codes are so profound that I could not fully understand their significance at first. Your Highness's planning is truly admirable," Ōnishi Kuniharu bowed and said. The others all echoed his sentiments.

"Then, my lords, from tomorrow, these legal codes will be officially implemented. The specific matters will be entrusted to you. Heijirō, make several copies and distribute them. As for the relief site, it will be set at the front gate of my residence. The汇总 will be handled by Tōgō Kiku, who will be responsible for the unified registration, and Matsumi will be responsible for verification and execution," seeing that everyone had reached a consensus, Seiryo continued, "At the same time, we will select suitable candidates to serve as village heads to assist in the daily management of the villages."

"Yes, Your Highness," the ministers had no objections to this arrangement. As the lord's wife, Tōgō Kiku assisting the lord in managing the domain was quite normal, and Matsumi had long been recognized as the lord's concubine. From the task assignments, it was clear that she was currently very favored by the lord.

"Furthermore, to support the implementation of these legal codes, we will announce to the domain residents that all current residents will automatically be upgraded to third-level residents, enjoying a 60-40 agricultural tax," Seiryo continued.

"Your Highness, will this affect the domain's tax revenue? The current harvest is not enough to meet the needs of maintaining the ashigaru troops," Ōnishi Kuniharu said with a furrowed brow, clearly worried about the financial strain.

"Hmm, so you must accelerate the recruitment of refugees and strive to cultivate more land and plant crops by mid-May. Although it is a bit late, at least there will be some harvest in the autumn," in fact, Seiryo was not at all worried about the food supply. The planting area of sweet potatoes had already expanded to nearly one acre, and after mid-May, the planting of sweet potatoes would be vigorously promoted. Sweet potatoes can be harvested in November, although the yield is slightly lower, but when mixed with other grains, they can solve the food problem.

"Currently, our clan has 40 ashigaru, who will soon be promoted to clan samurai according to my previous agreement. Additionally, our clan plans to recruit 200 ashigaru from the new residents. What are your thoughts on this?" After confirming the legal codes of the domain, Seiryo immediately raised the issue of the domain's military strength.

"The 40 ashigaru in the domain already account for four-fifths of the able-bodied male population. This time, when recruiting new ashigaru, please consider the needs of domain construction," Tōgō Heijirō said, "According to the ratio of the surrounding powerful families, it is generally one in five to one in three. However, recruiting too many residents as ashigaru will greatly affect the agricultural development of the domain."

One in five, according to the original plan, if 200 ashigaru were to be recruited, at least 1,000 able-bodied men would be needed. Including their families, the domain would need to recruit around 3,000 people. Without considering whether such a number could be recruited, even if they were, the 2,000 or so koku of grain remaining would hardly be enough to sustain these refugees until the autumn harvest. Seiryo's plan was to recruit several hundred refugees and then select most of the able-bodied men to form a new ashigaru force, which would be equivalent to one in three or even one in two, indeed greatly affecting other work in the domain.

Seeing Seiryo frown and think, Kōsuke whispered, "Your Highness, we can consider reducing the stipends of the samurai and ashigaru, reducing the number of ashigaru, and not maintaining them as standing troops, allowing them more time to farm. In the domains of the surrounding powerful families, the number of standing ashigaru and samurai is also not high. The Dōno family in the southwest, which owns two castles, has only about 50 standing samurai and no standing ashigaru; the Tahara family in the east has only about 20 standing samurai and no standing ashigaru."

"That's not true. Last year, when bandits invaded the Dōno family, they organized a force of nearly 400 to drive them away," Ōnishi Kuniharu objected.

"Most of those were temporarily recruited rōnin and mobilized peasant soldiers," Tōgō Heijirō said, "Your Highness, we can consider using this method."

"No, peasant soldiers generally gather once every five to seven days for half a day of training, and their combat effectiveness is low, far inferior to the warrior monks of temples. Rōnin, on the other hand, are a hastily assembled force with poor discipline, and once there is loot, they will ignore the battlefield situation and only focus on plundering," Zhongjirō, who had been silent, suddenly said, "I have carefully studied Your Highness's troops. Although the individual combat effectiveness is not high, they are very disciplined and fight as a team. If we follow the training method of peasant soldiers, it will be difficult to achieve the desired effect."

"Given the current state of the domain, peasant soldiers are the most suitable. Maintaining 40 samurai as standing troops is enough to deter surrounding powerful families and bandits. Once the domain has passed this year's autumn harvest, we can consider expanding the standing ashigaru," Tōgō Heijirō said.

The ministers began to discuss among themselves.

Seiryo raised his hand to quiet them down.

"My lords, our clan has no illustrious reputation, and even our clan name is not familiar to other powerful families. However, we occupy a domain with many rice fields. If you were in our position and found such a neighbor, what action would you take?" Seiryo slowly raised his head and looked at the ministers below, "It is almost certain that they would try to annex us. Therefore, before other powerful families and bandits discover us, we must strike first and deal them heavy blows, even annexing them, to show them that our clan is not easy to deal with. This will allow us to rest and recuperate. The decision to establish new ashigaru cannot be changed."

(PS: This is the fourth week of the new book release, already A-signed, with nearly 150,000 words updated, and I will not stop updating, at least 1.5 million words or more. Last week, it was on the Sanjiang Potential List, and this week it is on the Category New Book Recommendation. It is second on the New Historical Fiction List. Dear readers, don't leave after reading. Even if you don't have votes, add it to your bookshelf. I beg you, my dear readers. My principle is that even if I fail, I will write at least 1.5 million words, failing spectacularly! Enjoy writing, enjoy solitude.)

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