Chapter 83

"Your Highness, frequent battles have been occurring in our territory, and the peasant soldiers are beginning to grumble. Moreover, the regular foot soldiers we currently maintain have gradually become a burden on the domain. Please, Your Highness, slow down the pace of territorial expansion," Tōgō Heijirō felt more and more that Masahiro's appetite for expanding the territory was enormous, even to the point of affecting the stability of the domain, so he had to harden his heart and advise.

In fact, Masahiro was also aware of the actual situation in the domain. According to the calculation that 100 koku of land income could support 5 regular samurai, the current regular military force of the Rō family had already exceeded the output of the domain. The entire eastern part of the Matsura clan, the dominant force in the Higashimatsuura region, with a branch of 50,000 koku, had only about 500 samurai. If it weren't for the large amounts of food and weapons seized from the mountain bandits of Yatake and the Tawara family, the Rō family would absolutely not be able to support such a military force. But the stored food would eventually run out, and in a situation where the domain's income does not cover its expenses, this is very dangerous. Thinking about this, Masahiro said, "Hmm, let's discuss the construction of the domain next. What are your thoughts?"

"The domain has already expanded several times. Although Yatake is located in the center of the domain, the road conditions from the mountain to the foot are not good. Should we consider moving the lord's residence to the foot of the mountain?" Tōgō Heijirō said. During this period, he had arranged for people to transport the seized supplies to the warehouse of the Yatake lord's residence, and he had truly experienced the inconvenience of the roads.

"No, the road problem is easy to solve. We just need to open two major roads from the lord's residence to the foot of Yatake and to Tawara Castle. Fifty slaves will be responsible for the road from the lord's residence to Tawara Castle, and 25 foot soldiers will be transferred from Hira Castle to the lord's residence to guard and monitor the slaves. For the road from the lord's residence to Yatake village, we will organize the villagers of Yatake to participate in the construction. There are many new refugees who have just joined, and the spring plowing is basically over, so it's a good time to organize them for work in exchange for relief," Masahiro thought for a moment and finally decided. The valley where the lord's residence was located was not really a mountain, but more of a high hill. As long as people were organized to open a straight road, it would take about a month with the current manpower. Moreover, Masahiro had just received news that cement had been successfully developed. Although its quality was only equivalent to inferior cement from the future, it was much better than the current mud, and it could be tested during the road construction.

"Your Highness, the 500 koku of labor reserves prepared for the reclamation of farmland have been used up by 50 koku after several days of intensive reclamation. Should we continue to increase the speed of farmland reclamation?" Tōgō Heijirō continued.

"Let's see how it goes. The territories of the surrounding powerful families will soon be in turmoil, and more refugees will join our domain. Moreover, most of the villagers have not yet reached the limit of 5 tan of land per household, and there is a lot of uncultivated land in the domain. It's better to continue expanding the reclamation of farmland. Even if the yield of the newly reclaimed land is limited now, the domain's income will increase significantly next year," Ōnishi Kuniharu immediately said.

"Hmm, Kuniharu is right. The scale of farmland reclamation does need to be increased. Let's expand the scope of the labor force. On top of the original 500 koku reserve, let's add another 500 koku," Masahiro finally decided. A 1,000 koku reserve for reclamation is a significant investment. Masahiro had two main reasons for doing this: first, most of the newly conquered territories were still unstable, and keeping most people busy would prevent those with ulterior motives from having a chance; second, participating in labor would be rewarded, which would benefit the villagers and strengthen their sense of identity with the lord, reducing dissatisfaction caused by food and clothing issues.

"Yes, Your Highness," Tōgō Heijirō immediately recorded Masahiro's orders.

"Oh, by the way, there are many rivers in the domain, right?" In his memory, there were at least ten streams with a width of more than 5 meters.

"Yes, Your Highness. Higashimatsuura is located by the coast, with plenty of rain, so there are many small rivers. Most of the farmland is concentrated near these small rivers," Ōnishi Kuniharu replied.

"Good. You should require that each field must have a small irrigation ditch, and adjacent ditches must be connected," upon hearing Ōnishi Kuniharu's reply, Masahiro immediately instructed his attendant Shin'gorō to bring a pen and paper, and then drew a diagram of a half-meter deep and half-meter wide ditch, and required everyone to enforce it in the domain. "Additionally, organize people to deepen the riverbed and raise and widen the riverbanks. These should also be organized as labor, with an initial reserve of 500 koku of food."

"Ah? Your Highness, raising and widening the riverbanks will prevent the farmland from being irrigated," Tōgō Heijirō immediately said. According to the current agricultural level, it was impossible to control the water level with small sluice gates. Once the riverbanks were raised, the fields below the riverbanks would not be able to draw water for irrigation and would have to rely on manual water carrying.

"Hmm, that is indeed a problem," Masahiro was taken aback, suddenly remembering this issue. "Here, I will give you some diagrams of water-drawing tools. Heijirō, give them to Yūbei and have him organize people to manufacture them as soon as possible. This will solve the water-drawing problem. Once the tools are made, burn the diagrams," Masahiro was preparing to draw diagrams of ancient simple water wheels. He couldn't remember the complex structure, but he could recall the simple ones. With these water wheels, the domain's farmland could even be expanded. Hearing Masahiro's instructions, Tōgō Heijirō bowed and accepted the order.

Why did Masahiro place such importance on water conservancy? First, it could increase the output of the farmland, especially paddy fields. Second, after hearing Ōnishi Kuniharu's explanation, Masahiro suddenly realized that this area was prone to typhoons, and the typhoon season was approaching. To prevent the loss of farmland income, it was better to prepare in advance.

The construction of roads, the reclamation of farmland, and the development of water conservancy would keep all the domain's residents busy for at least two months. The construction of the domain was already full. Masahiro silently calculated and finally said, "Heijirō, you will be responsible for the overall supervision of the domain's construction. Require Chūjirō of Yatake village, Kōsuke of Tawara Castle, Tsuda Masahide of Kuraki Castle, Heizō of Fuji Castle, and Ichinokami of Hira Castle to organize and expedite the digestion of the newly occupied territories before the surrounding powerful families react."

"Yes, Your Highness," Tōgō Heijirō bowed and accepted the order.

(PS: The evening chapter is 4,000 words. Working during the day and writing at night, maintaining two updates a day, it's really tiring. Everyone, please recommend and collect to comfort me! The new book has been released for a month, already A-signed, and has been updated with over 250,000 words, with no interruptions, at least 1.5 million words or more. Running naked for two weeks, ranking on the Sanjiang Potential List in the third week, the classification new book recommendation in the fourth week, the strong push list of the history classification in the fifth week, and the history classification new book selection this week. Everyone, don't leave after reading. Even if you don't have votes, put it on your bookshelf. I beg you. My principle is that even if I flop, I will write more than 1.5 million words, flopping spectacularly! Enjoy writing, enjoy loneliness. There is an exchange group in the home page introduction, welcome to join.)

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