Chapter 3

I've kept you waiting. This is a rare update.

I had scheduled the movers to come and pack up the house on the 27th, but I mistakenly thought it was the 28th, so I had some free time and was able to write.

I changed Tama-gun to Tashiro-gun. Apparently, in this era, Tama-gun was divided into Tashiro and Tashiro-gun.

August 9, 1549 (Tensho 18)

■Musashi Province, Tashiro-gun, Katsunuma Castle

"Hmm, the paper is still bad."

"What's wrong?"

"Well, the quill gets caught on the paper and tears it."

"Quill? Young master, you always come up with interesting things. What is it like?"

"It's a writing tool used by people who come from a faraway land called the Southern Barbarians, who have recently arrived in Hakata and Sakai. It's made by sharpening the base of a goose feather and making a slit, then dipping it in ink, which is similar to ink, and writing on paper."

Kinsuke looked at it curiously, but of course, he had never seen or heard of a quill pen before. However, with washi paper, it gets caught and is hard to write on. I really miss Western paper.

"But I haven't heard of Southern Barbarians coming to the castle town. Did you hear about them from a traveling monk?"

"Sorry, Kinsuke. I remembered it from my past life, but you can pretend you were deceived."

"Yeah, I forgot about it but remembered and decided to make it."

"Did you make the ink too?"

"Yeah, it's not much, just ground charcoal, so it's almost the same as ink."

Well, this knowledge is also from Jules Verne's "Fifteen Years Adrift."

"Amazing, what are you writing?"

"This? Our territory is mostly downstream of the Tama River, so there are only rice fields along the Kasugawa. Most of the land is for dry farming or mixed forests. If we can bring water to these areas, there's still a lot of land that can be turned into rice fields or farmland, so I'm designing an irrigation waterwheel for that."

"An irrigation waterwheel?"

"Yes, it seems that Prince Yasumaro, the son of Emperor Kanmu, made one in Japan, and the dragon bone wheel from Tang China is also used, so we should be able to make one too. If we can improve it, we can mass-produce it."

"Hmm."

"Well, I'll start with a small-scale experiment, so please ask your father for help."

"Yes, I'll tell my father."

Hmm, it was too difficult for Kinsuke, I can see a big question mark above his head.

However, washi paper is really rough. We need to start producing paper similar to Western paper. Well, wood pulp is made from mulberry branches, which are a byproduct of silkworm food, so it shouldn't be too difficult. If we can finely chop the inner part of the bark and boil it in a large pot until it's mushy, it should be worth experimenting with.

However, with washi paper and ink, it's hard to draw proper design plans. The roughness of the paper might be one of the reasons why old Japanese design plans were so rough.

However, I told Kinsuke that the largest waterwheel has a diameter of 20 meters and can pump 95 liters per minute, which is too little. The best option would be to create the Tamagawa Waterway. Although it would cost over 6,000 ryō, the route is known, and with the family's finances, it should be possible. The problem is that while Hachimura is in our territory, the rest of the river is not, so it would be difficult to get other families to fund the project since there's little benefit for us.

Hmm, there's no point in worrying, we need to start with what we can do. Thinking about it, our family doesn't even have a single arquebus, and we're in a state of "What's an arquebus?" Even at the time of our downfall in 1563, we only had one arquebus, which we received as a thank-you gift from a man selling amulets from the Ise Shrine. Our understanding of modern weapons is terrible.

At the same time, Oda Nobunaga had 500 arquebuses, either combined with bows or just 500 arquebuses. This year, he ordered 500 matchlock guns from the village of Kunimoto in Ōmi Province. We can't produce them domestically, so we don't have even one. That's why the Mita family is seen as an old-fashioned military family from the Kamakura era.

We need military reform. Our territory is about 10,000 koku, and we have special products like lacquer and timber, so financially, it should be possible. We need at least 100 arquebuses, but there's no production site.

I can draw design plans, and if we have a blacksmith who can manufacture them, we can make them, but we're still in a deadlock. Perhaps we should give up on rifled barrels and use the two major foundry masters in Hachimura, the Watanabe and Sakai families, to make bronze sand-cast barrels.

The 28 cm fortress guns of the Imperial Japanese Army were made of bronze, and bronze guns were also made in China, so it should be possible. If we make the barrel from cast iron, it might break due to strength issues, but bronze can be liquefied at around 1,000 degrees, so it should be possible.

I used to visit a foundry in Kawagoe, where my university friend's family was famous for casting, so I know a lot about sand casting. Since gypsum and beeswax are available in this era, the lost-wax method is also possible, so we might be able to make a percussion cap rifle instead of a matchlock gun.

A bolt-action rifle is impossible, but a trapdoor design might be possible. If we improve the breech and make a brass cartridge-like object to push in, we can minimize gas leakage. Without rubber, we can't use a rubber gasket to prevent gas leakage, but tanned leather might work.

Bronze can be obtained by melting down copper coins, and since currency laws are almost non-existent, we can melt down a few coins. However, with the current low circulation of currency, we need to mine copper from the Chichibu mines. Alternatively, we could develop the Ashio copper mine with the local lord, but that's not possible. If it's known that there's a copper mine in Ashio, it will become a battlefield.

We need to mine the Chichibu mines, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to establish contact with the Kurokawa clan. Even if I talk to the lord of Kosugi, Tōtōmi-no-kami, the scary Takeda Harunobu will appear. If I could contact the Kurokawa clan's Kusunoki family or the Tōki Funakochi family, it would be great, but without a trained ninja, it's impossible.

The Kusunoki family is said to be the descendants of the famous Kusunoki Masashige, who fled from Kawachi with the Funakochi family, who fought on the side of the Southern Court, and developed the Kurokawa gold mine using the mining techniques passed down from the Kusunoki family. This information might be useful in the future.

Of course, the biggest issue is my position. As a spare son, I can't interfere with the family's operations. The best I can do is ask Kinsuke's father to review and give his opinion, but most innovative policies are rejected. It seems to be a matter of pride for the old noble family, as they only follow outdated policies.

The tax system isn't like the 40% public, 60% private system of the enemy, the Hōjō, so the people might even prefer Hōjō rule. The southern neighbor of the Mita family, the Kōmi family, will eventually become the territory of the Hōjō family, which is not a good situation.

The ancestors spent a lot of money repairing temples and shrines, but now it's not the time for that. If we had that money, we could have modernized a lot. The Mita family is said to have focused on protecting art, but if the family disappears, it's all for nothing.

By the way, copper and iron wires can be produced in this era, and they have many uses. If we burn sulfur and saltpeter and cool the steam, we can make sulfuric acid. If we put a copper plate and a zinc plate in a baked clay pot with the acid and connect them with copper wire, we can make a Volta battery, but there's no clear use for it.

During the Pacific War, we made electrical wires by wrapping copper wire with paper and lacquer, so we could use lacquer or urushi instead. However, the best we can do is use it to keep monkeys away. If we put gunpowder in a waterproof pot with iron pieces and nails and use electricity to detonate it, we could make an electric detonator, but there's a lot of research to be done.

Hmm, the more I think about it, the more I realize there's too much to do. Moreover, in this era, these ideas are too far-fetched, and there are no engineers to help. If this were the Edo period, we could consult with engineers like Haga Tanenori or Kōkichi, but in this state, even if I met Nobunaga, I would be suspected as a strange person.

We can only use lime to make cement. If we stand out too much, the Hōjō might notice us. We can't start producing saltpeter either, which is a problem.

■Katsunuma Castle, Noguchi Kyūbu Shōsuke's Office

Noguchi Kyūbu Shōsuke, a senior retainer of the Mita family, was conducting official business when his son Kinsuke came to him.

"Father."

"What is it, Kinsuke? You should be with the young master."

"Yes, the young master asked me to make this."

Shōsuke grunted as he looked at the plans Kinsuke brought.

"Hmm, a waterwheel. Is this the young master's idea?"

"Yes, that's what I heard."

"I can't do it alone, so I'll tell the lord."

"Yes."

After sending his son away, Shōsuke looked at the plans and began to think that the Mita family had produced an extraordinary person. Later, he talked to Tamenobu, and with the lord's approval, a small waterwheel was built near the Salt Ship Kannon on the Kasugawa River. About a year later, it was confirmed that the waterwheel could lift water as the young master had said.

This information reached the ears of the Hōjō family in Odawara, which would drastically change the future of the Mita family and the young master, but at the time, he was only happy that the project was approved.

May 28, 1550 (Tensho 19)

■Sagami Province, Ashigara Lower District, Odawara Castle

The third-generation head of the Hōjō family, Hōjō Ujiyasu, was gathering information from various parts of the Kantō region using the Fūma clan. Among the information, he found that a young boy in Katsunuma, Mita, who had recently submitted to the Hōjō, was making an interesting invention.

"What is it, Sakyō-dono?"

His uncle, Hōjō Genan, who was also the abbot of Hakone Gogen, asked with a smile.

"Uncle, there's a young boy in Mita who's doing something interesting."

"How old is he?"

"Only eight."

"Hmm, two years younger than Fujikiku (Ujizane). What is he doing?"

Genan took the document Ujiyasu was reading and waited for his response.

"These are not the works of an eight-year-old boy."

"I'm impressed."

"Hmm, what do you plan to do, Sakyō-dono?"

"A person who can do such things shouldn't be left in the countryside."

"Indeed, that's true. The idea of diverting the Tama River to develop the Musashino Plain is quite remarkable. It's like the thinking of a Chinese emperor."

"Moreover, since Mita has only recently submitted, they were supposed to send their second or third son as a hostage, but I thought it would be interesting to call this boy."

"Hmm, you plan to assess his abilities."

"Yes, it might be interesting to have him serve as a page to Shinjiro."

"Hmm, if he has good qualities, I can train him."

"Uncle, you?"

"I've finished raising my children and have free time."

"Then, if he has good qualities, I'll ask you to train him."

"If he's not good, I can just send him back."

The young master, who had done too much and stood out, was now marked as a hostage.