Chapter 73

In the council hall of the Fujiheijo Castle.

"Your Highness, although our main family has harvested thousands of stones of grain this time, based on the current stone yield of the domain, it can barely sustain the expenses of 2,200 people. We need to continue developing more farmland," said Tōgō Heiji.

"Indeed, based on the consumption rate of 1.8 stones per person, the domain's income is indeed very low. Heiji, starting from tomorrow, you will be responsible for promoting the new domain laws in the newly occupied territories, accelerating the organization of manpower to carry out the farmland development corvée. The corvée expenses will be temporarily set at 500 stones. The newly cultivated farmland will fully promote the crops from my experimental fields," Masahiro replied. "Additionally, for the foot soldier who died in this battle, provide his family with 10 stones of compensation. For those in need, provide regular relief monthly. Uninitiated male children will be arranged to serve as my attendants. The two injured foot soldiers, since they can no longer participate in battles, will be assigned to the village as village heads to assist in daily management, with the same salary as when they were foot soldiers."

"Yes, Your Highness, I will convey the gratitude of these foot soldiers to you," said Tōgō Heiji.

"Your Highness, will this policy be applied in the future? It will greatly increase the burden on the domain," said Ōnishi Kuniyoshi in a low voice.

"Hmm, Heiji, add these to the domain laws. As for the increased burden on the domain, it is indeed a concern, but this will greatly boost the morale of the foot soldiers and samurai, enhancing the combat effectiveness of our troops, which is worth it," Masahiro nodded, affirming Ōnishi Kuniyoshi's concern and explained, "Lords, although our domain has expanded several times, it has attracted the attention of the surrounding powerful families. Therefore, please remain vigilant. Now, Kuniyoshi, please report on the defense situation of the domain."

"Yes, Your Highness," Ōnishi Kuniyoshi bowed and said, "After two days of repeated investigations and propaganda, the newly occupied territory has basically stabilized. A total of 36 spies and loyal retainers from the three families have been captured, of which the retainers have been executed, and 30 spies from other powerful families need Your Highness's confirmation on how to handle them."

"Reduce them all to slaves," Masahiro decided without hesitation. Among these new slaves, 20 were reported by the domain residents, for which Masahiro rewarded 100 stones of miscellaneous grains at a rate of 5 stones per report. Masahiro felt a pang of pain, so he had already made up his mind that if these new slaves could not generate 200 stones of income, they would not regain their freedom. "At the same time, all the residents of the town below Fujiheijo Castle will be forcibly relocated to Nogata Village. The newly recruited refugees will be arranged to settle in the town below Fujiheijo Castle. Each relocated resident will be given a certain amount of compensation, and they will be provided with seeds for free to plant after settling in Nogata Village."

"No, Your Highness, this may cause unrest among the relocated residents," Tōgō Heiji immediately advised.

"Hmph, all those who participate in the unrest will be reduced to slaves, and severe cases will be executed," Masahiro said sternly. "Among the 30 spies, 13 were from the town below Fujiheijo Castle, which is inseparable from the intentional protection by these residents. To avoid worse consequences, we must act decisively." The ministers looked at each other, realizing that the current situation of the domain was not as stable as it seemed on the surface.

"The Chōkura and Ota families, who border our domain along both sides of Fuji Lake, have always intended to invade our domain. The Taku family on the opposite side of Fuji Lake is related by marriage to the Ota family, so we cannot be complacent," Ōnishi Kuniyoshi continued. "The Sō family to the south has even gathered peasant soldiers to form a confrontation with us at the border."

"Whoa," the excitement of the ministers over the expansion of the domain immediately plummeted to the bottom.

"Lords, to deal with the adverse situation our domain may face, I have decided to recruit 103 more foot soldiers, forming a 200-strong foot soldier unit with the original 97 foot soldiers. As for the recruitment of new foot soldiers, we will follow the previous selection method, giving priority to the peasant soldiers who surrendered to our family in this battle," Masahiro paused, seeing that the ministers had no objections, and continued, "The 200 foot soldiers will be divided into four teams of 40 spear foot soldiers and 10 archer foot soldiers each. The first team will be stationed near the Nogata Village lord's residence, serving as the domain's mobile force, directly commanded by me. The second team will be stationed at the border with the Sō family, commanded by Ōnishi Kuniyoshi, who will report to me. The third team will be stationed along Fuji Lake, commanded by Tsuda Masahide, who will report to me. The fourth team will be stationed at the border with the Dōno family, commanded by Tadajirō, who will report to me. Tadajirō, you must also strengthen supervision of others to ensure the supply and maintenance of agricultural tools and weapons in the domain." After the adjustment, the Rō family will have 40 intermediate samurai (the cape-wearers), 160 spear foot soldiers, and 40 archer foot soldiers.

"Yes, Your Highness," the four appointed men immediately bowed to accept their orders.

"The original 97 foot soldiers will be dispersed and assigned to the four teams to help the new foot soldiers train faster," Masahiro continued. "The spring planting season has passed, so we will cancel the previous half-day training and half-day farming routine for the foot soldiers, adopting a full-time training routine like the samurai until the autumn harvest, when adjustments will be made. The domain's training methods have been proven effective in several battles, such as the rapid defeat of the three powerful families and the lightning blockade of the domain's borders. Each team must strengthen their training. Sōhachirō, Kishirō."

"Your Highness," the two men immediately responded loudly.

"I hereby appoint Sōhachirō as the military inspector for the second and third teams, and Kishirō as the military inspector for the first and fourth teams. They will be responsible for recording military achievements, confirming rewards and punishments, and calculating them, as well as the ideological education of the teams. Their salary will be 25 stones. Stay after the meeting, and I will personally guide you on how to execute these tasks," Masahiro appointed. In fact, Masahiro intended to establish a system similar to political commissars to strengthen the army's loyalty to him.

"Yes, Your Highness," the two men immediately responded in unison. They were deeply grateful, both for being entrusted with important tasks and for receiving the salary, which would solve the problem of their families' livelihood due to the lack of main labor.

"Yakunō," just as the two men were still distracted, Masahiro issued another order, "immediately form a 20-man spy team with Ōnishi Kuniyoshi, responsible for infiltrating the territories of the powerful families surrounding our domain to gather information. These spies will receive a salary of 10 stones."

"Yes, Your Highness, I will complete the task," Yakunō, who did not expect to receive such an important task at his first evaluation, was emotionally stirred, secretly thinking, "Is my spring finally coming?"

"Your Highness, forcing the foot soldiers to change from half-day training to full-day training, and not allowing them to return home for most of the month, may cause dissatisfaction among the foot soldiers," Ōnishi Kuniyoshi advised at this moment. "Most of the foot soldiers in the domain have families. With a salary of 4 stones, even if their families work hard, it is clearly insufficient to ensure the annual food needs of a household, so the foot soldiers need to return to the fields to manage the farm."

Masahiro frowned and thought deeply. Indeed, based on the annual need of 1.8 stones per person, a household of four would need at least 7 stones per year. "This is the most critical period for our family to establish itself. Increase the salary of all foot soldiers from the original 4 stones to 7 stones, but change all part-time foot soldiers to full-time foot soldiers, following the military system of the samurai, allowing them to return to their fields for four days each month," Masahiro finally decided. "In addition to the samurai and foot soldiers, all male residents between 15 and 40 years old in the domain must participate in one day of training organized by the village heads in the middle of each month." According to Masahiro's idea, the domain's military forces would be divided into three levels: the first level being the full-time samurai, the second level being the full-time foot soldiers, and the third level being the reserve peasant soldiers, as all peasant soldiers would need to be mobilized in case of an external invasion.

"Your Highness, this will greatly increase the domain's food burden," Tōgō Heiji immediately opposed. Based on a foot soldier's annual salary of 7 stones, if 200 foot soldiers were recruited, the annual military expenses would be 1,400 stones, equivalent to the domain's current annual income. In addition, there were the salaries of the samurai and ministers, the expenses of the lord's residence, and the daily construction expenses of the domain. The domain's harvest this year was only about 1,600 stones, and with the average agricultural tax of seven parts to the domain and three parts to the farmers, the domain's tax revenue was only about 1,100 stones. Such income could not even cover the salaries of the foot soldiers, which meant that the 4,000 stones of grain in the warehouse (after deducting the grain consumed by Masahiro's recent arrangements) would continue to be consumed.

"Heiji, this year's salaries have already been allocated from the captured grain. Currently, we only need to allocate the increased part of the salary, which is about 700 stones," Masahiro first corrected his mistake. "Of course, if the domain's harvest remains the same next year, there will indeed be a problem. But as long as we get through this difficult period and everything in the domain gets on track, things will improve."

"Will it improve?" The ministers looked at each other, unsure of what else could be done besides relying on the captured grain to get through this period (but even more grain would eventually run out).

"Ha ha, just expand the domain's territory," seeing the ministers' expressions, Masahiro did not intend to keep them in suspense and smiled lightly.

"What? The lord is planning to continue expanding?" The ministers were stunned and speechless.

(PS: The new book has entered its fifth week, already A-signed, with over 200,000 words updated, and will not be discontinued, with at least 1.5 million words. It has been running naked for two weeks, entered the Three Rivers Potential List in the third week, the New Book Recommendation List last week, and the Historical Category Strong Recommendation List this week. Next week, it will be on the Historical Category New Book Selection 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 it flops, I will write at least 1.5 million words, flopping spectacularly! Enjoy writing, enjoy solitude.)

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