The Self-Cultivation of Warring States Warriors

Page 46

The "Koizumiyama Castle Commander" only brought four subordinates, while Shinzaburo had six men with him.

Departing from Yagi Castle early in the morning, heading southeast through the Kameoka Plain, you can reach Nagaoka for the night before sunset. The next day, continue west along Yamazaki-dori for another day, and you will arrive at Ikeda Castle.

This place prospered because of the trade in wufu (traditional Japanese clothing), sake, and charcoal. Although the castle town only had a dozen or so shops, they were all built to look quite spacious and beautiful.

Perhaps it was because of the unique attire of "Koizumiyama Castle Lord" or perhaps because Shinzaburo's height was too conspicuous, but as soon as he arrived at the castle, he was spotted by the local lord Ikeda Nagamasa and received a warm welcome.

The Ikeda family is a powerful clan that has long resided in Settsu Province and has always maintained a high profile. The previous generation married a woman from the Miyoshi family and naturally joined the Miyoshi's ranks, and now they are considered important retainers with a certain degree of independence.

Their current head of the clan, Ikeda Nagamasa, is a middle-aged man in his forties. He speaks with composure and tact, appearing quite shrewd. However, the fifteen- or sixteen-year-old young master, Ikeda Katsumasa, is very restless and speaks loudly at the dinner table: "Kubo Genban made great contributions by capturing a flag in Tanba, yet he's been relegated to such a difficult position. It's so unfair! I think someone is jealous of his talent..."

His father coughed and tried to signal him, but couldn't stop him.

Even the seasoned Kyoto politician, Koizumi Yamashiro, was on the verge of losing his composure, and Shinzaburo had long since fallen silent in laughter.

In the end, Ikeda Nagamasa had no choice but to pull his foolish son away from the banquet early, awkwardly saying with a laugh, "My son must be drunk, please forgive him, gentlemen!"

Ikeda Katsumasa finally shut up, but his face still showed a look of resentment.

Actually, the servants have only just brought up the wine jug and poured the first cup; there's no way he could get drunk...

After this commotion, Shinzaburo's mood improved considerably.

The next day, after bidding farewell to the Ikeda father and son, we headed north into the valley, and at noon we saw the torii gate of Tada Shrine.

The "Tada Copper Mining Site" is located near this shrine, about half an hour's walk into the mountains.

I also paid my respects to the ancestors of the Ashikaga family to express my loyalty to the Shogun.

The "Kōizumiyama Castle Defender" solemnly stuffed six copper coins into the offering box; these were Beijing coins, not Yongle coins.

Shinzaburo thought to himself, "Why are the people of Kyoto so poor?" But to save face for them, he only put in three inferior coins.

Inside the shrine, one can also see private letters left by Hosokawa Ujitsuna and Miyoshi Nagayoshi for Shinzaburo.

The former explicitly stated, "I hope that 75 kan will be transported to the Imperial Treasury every year," while the latter said, "I hope to receive 225 kan of arrows every year."

The allocation ratio remains unchanged, but the required quantities have all been reduced by half.

The total amount became only three hundred strings of cash.

Compared to the initial "eight hundred kan" that Matsunaga Nagayoshi had heard about, and the six hundred kan that the "Kami of Koizumiyama Castle" had personally stated, the pressure was obviously much less.

The first impression is that the top leader still has empathy; it's just that the people below have added layers of bureaucracy and distorted the truth!

However, Shinzaburo quickly realized that this might be a kind of psychological manipulation technique.

Earning 300 kan per year would still be very difficult for the current Tada Copper Mine.

However, with the process of "layer upon layer of added pressure" beforehand, ordinary, simple-minded people might be too embarrassed to complain and would just diligently devote themselves to their work.

088 By-products of copper ore

Led by the "Kazunyama Castle Defender", Shinzaburo arrived at the copper mine and could see the vast complex of buildings from afar.

After the introduction, it was possible to roughly identify that there were workshops for smelting, different warehouses for storing materials and money, houses for employees and their families, offices for handling affairs, a large mansion for the magistrate to live in, and places for rituals of praying to gods and Buddhas.

The scene looks very large.

But upon closer inspection, it was discovered that some buildings were actually abandoned, and some corners were even overgrown with weeds.

In the residential area, one can see many elderly people, women, and children. Judging from their appearance and clothing, they seem to be more prosperous than the farmers in Tanba, but they still maintain the same vigilance of the lower class. When they encounter an unfamiliar "samurai lord," they will stay far away and run into their homes to close the door.

Further into the mine, a quick glance revealed that about half of the tunnel entrances appeared to be sealed off.

Then he turned back, went into the office, and was not greeted.

It seems the previous "Copper Mining Bureau Administrator" ran away before Shinzaburo could even take over, so his work experience was probably not very pleasant.

Fortunately, the relevant account books were stored in a bookcase, guarded by several elderly craftsmen. Moreover, they knew the "Kouizumiyama Castle Magistrate," otherwise the handover process would not have been completed.

These elderly men are the "sandsmiths" among the craftsmen.

The term "沙汰" originally referred to the process of selecting and sorting grains, but later came to mean rectification or disposal. "沙汰人" (shatairen) is generally used to refer to grassroots leaders spontaneously elected in non-governmental organizations.

They were neither officials nor samurai. But they possessed qualifications, connections, experience, and skills, making them an indispensable part of the management system.

The "satay men" were all wearing old clothes that were obviously faded and somewhat deformed.

Fading occurs only if the dyeing process has occurred.

In 16th-century Japan, being able to afford dyed clothes was considered a sign of being a "wealthy farmer".

Therefore, their standard of living must have been quite good when they were young. At that time, the scandal of "Ningbo competing for tribute" probably had not yet occurred, and the monks in Kyoto were also wealthier than they are now. The operation of the copper mine must have been very smooth.

However, the fact that the old robe has been kept until now indicates that decent clothes could not be afforded in recent decades.

Several elderly people, their bones frail and weak, knelt in a row on the ground, each one trembling with fear.

Shinzaburo felt this was inappropriate and ordered them to stand up and answer.

Then he took the ledger, glanced through it, and noticed that there were more than 120 names on the personnel list. He then suggested that he would like to meet all the workers first.

As a result, the elderly "shata" men looked at each other, hesitated for a moment, and then the oldest one with a white beard said awkwardly, "Please forgive us, sir! We didn't know when the new magistrate would arrive... so... it's harvest season here now, and apart from the elderly, women, and children, the able-bodied men went to the mountains to farm early this morning..."

That's strange. Aren't they miners? Why are they all farming?

Shinzaburo knew he was an amateur, and although he didn't quite understand, he didn't get angry. He calmly sat down, had his attendant bring him tea, and patiently waited for an answer.

It turned out that after listening to the explanation, they learned that when the copper mine was first established, it did not pay wages. It only allowed miners to cultivate land nearby in the name of the government, and exempted them from all taxes.

However, in the past, when business was booming, copper mines were in short supply. To prevent miners from neglecting mining for their own farming, they would actually receive a fairly generous allowance, making their farmland seem almost unnecessary in comparison.

However, now that the amount of money and grain that can be distributed has decreased, the importance of farmland has increased accordingly.

It was the same old man with the white beard who spoke: "Sir, in the best years in the past, each person received two and a half strings of cash and five bushels of rice, so everyone was able to marry, have children, settle down, and pass on their positions to future generations. But in the last ten years or so, we have only received three to five hundred coins and one or two bushels of rice. If it weren't for cultivating some land, every household would go hungry."

Another person chimed in, adding, "Please understand, sir! We can only sell 30,000 catties of copper each year recently, and it will be mined out in three months. We won't let farming interfere with our work."

Shinzaburo shook his head and sighed, "Since we all rely on farming for a living, aren't we no different from farmers?"

The white-bearded old man wore a bitter expression and said in a mournful voice, "The land near Copper Mountain is too barren. Each household can only harvest about two bushels of grain a year after working hard. Although we don't have to pay annual tribute and taxes, life is still very miserable! We have to do both farming and mining."

Shinsaburo did the math: each household received a stipend of three to five hundred coins and one or two shi of rice per year, plus about two shi of grain they grew themselves, and they didn't have to pay any annual tribute. Even if these "sand people" were telling the absolute truth, this lifestyle still exceeded the average for farmers of that era.

And I suspect they'll deliberately understate the numbers.

However, miners—especially smelters—require certain skills and physical strength, and cannot be confused with fieldwork.

It seems that the current standard of living can't be lowered any further.

"Cost reduction" is undoubtedly difficult; we still need to consider "efficiency improvement".

Back in its heyday, the miners were able to receive two and a half strings of cash and five bushels of rice, which was equivalent to the after-tax income of fifteen to twenty taels of land, enough to support even the lowest-ranking foot samurai.

Back when Kim Bing-e's father was a minor official, he colluded with temples and shrines to make money, and he could only earn a little over ten kan a year.

……

After flipping through the list of workers, Shinzaburo also glanced at the income and expenditure ledger.

Discovering from the yellowed old papers, it was found that in the most prosperous year of the copper mine, a total of 186,000 catties of crude copper were sold, bringing in nearly 5,000 strings of cash. That year, 1,200 strings of cash were provided as "transportation gold," 915 strings of cash were paid to the workers as "labor rent," 240 strings of cash were spent on sacrificial and celebratory activities, and 550 strings of cash were also collected as "official points."

That is, to give the “copper mining bureau’s staff” a year-end bonus of 550 strings of cash.

Five hundred and fifty strings of cash!

That was a really lucrative job back then!

However, in the last thirty years, things have been declining. On average, the sales volume is only a little over 30,000 catties. The annual "transportation fee" is basically between 100 and 150 guan, while the "tribute" is sometimes as low as 30 to 50 guan, and sometimes there are no records, so it is suspected to be zero.

Therefore, the 600 kan "transportation fee" mentioned by the "Koizumiyama Castle Governor" was an outrageous price, and the total amount of 300 kan requested in the later letters between Miyoshi Nagayoshi and Hosokawa Ujitsuna was still very unreasonable.

Shinzaburo then looked at the specific sales records.

As expected, their main clients in the past were wealthy temples and shrines in Kyoto and Nara. Among them, Todai-ji Temple once made a lavish order for 20,000 catties (approximately 10,000 kg), which makes one wonder what kind of project it was planning.

If you were lucky enough to come across an opportunity for Khmer Rouge trade, it was basically a matter of clearing out your inventory, taking as much as you could get. Copper was always in short supply in the Mongol Empire, and exchanging it for raw silk or porcelain there resulted in huge profits.

Unfortunately, such a good thing was not for Shinzaburo to enjoy.

Recently, the sales volume has been several hundred kilograms or even tens of kilograms. Last year, there was a transaction in which more than a dozen temples in Settsu jointly purchased bronze to cast Buddha statues. Each temple only needed a dozen kilograms, which amounted to about two hundred kilograms.

Shinzaburo looked at it for a long time and felt that it would definitely not work if new sales channels were not created.

And speaking of new sales channels...

He found a text entry on the sales list and asked one of the workers, a "shata," "Why is there a record of goods being sold to Ishiyama Ginza at the beginning of each year? Is it a typo? The copper mine should be sold to Copper Palace!"

Generally speaking, Ginza was responsible for refining gold and silver and exchanging currency, while Copperza was the place where copper ore was processed and copperware was manufactured.

The term "seat" refers to a monopolistic business organization.

The area around Ishiyama Honganji Temple, a branch of the Jodo Shinshu sect, is a hub for many artisans, and there are both silver and bronze bases, so Shinzaburo suspects it is a typo.

The same white-bearded old man reached out and took the ledger, glanced at it, and said with trepidation, "When mining copper, we occasionally find a little silver. As is customary, we save it up and sell it to Ishiyama Ginza at the beginning of each year."

I see……

Gold and silver are naturally used as currency, while copper needs to be minted to become currency. The latter may have times when it cannot find a market, while the former does not have this problem.

Upon hearing Satai's reply, Shinzaburo had a flash of inspiration. He felt that an important memory was buried and about to emerge, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

What exactly is it?

After finishing his previous statement, the white-bearded old man, fearing that it might cause a misunderstanding with the "sir," took a breath and quickly added, "Sir, although silver mines are occasionally found in the copper mountains, they are scarce, of low quality, and not worth much money. There's no point in relying on them."

Shinzaburo remained noncommittal, only saying that this was enough for today. He would wait for the workers to return from the fields, then check on the smelting workshop and mine tunnels tomorrow, and then carefully take stock of the inventory.

When the topic of "inventory inventory" came up, the expressions of the "sandwich people" didn't change at all; their accounts were probably auditable.

089 Memories of a Past Life

They hastily settled down at the magistrate's office that night.

The next day, Shinzaburo met with 120 active miners and saw that everyone's faces were full of fatigue and numbness, and they clearly had fear and suspicion towards the unfamiliar new magistrate.

There was no good solution at the moment, so he could only give a speech in an effort to make everyone remember him.

There's no need to study the issue of work efficiency, because the current problem isn't that we don't have enough ore to mine, but that we don't have enough sales channels.

After pondering for a while, recalling the inexplicable inspiration from yesterday and trying to organize his thoughts, he suddenly received a notification that he had seen guests coming from the south in the distance, but he did not know their identity.

Settsu Province is the core territory ruled by the Miyoshi family, and has basically achieved "unified control." Its security is much better than that of Tanba, and there is generally no need to worry about thieves or wild animals.

So Shinzaburo boldly led his men out to greet them.

Upon closer inspection, the visitor turned out to be Katsumasa Ikeda, the young master of Ikeda Castle whom he had met the day before yesterday.

He was that young man who spoke frankly at the banquet and stood up for Shinsaburo.

His clothes and hair were styled casually, and he walked with a carefree attitude, making him seem like a very simple-minded person.

At this moment, the young man, accompanied by seven or eight attendants and driving a carriage, shouted from afar, "Lord Kubo Genban! Ikeda Katsumasa has come to visit you with food and drink!"

Shinzaburo was slightly surprised and quickly went out to greet him, inviting him into the magistrate's office.

The guests and hosts took their seats.

Katsumasa Ikeda was only slightly more robust than average, not as tall as Shinzaburo, but his demeanor was quite imposing. He ordered his attendants to remove the wine and food from the carriage, then took out a silver ingot from his pocket, slammed it on the floor, and generously declared, "Buy a hundred catties of coarse copper!"

Looking down, I estimated that the silver ingot was worth more than two strings and five hundred coins. At twenty-five coins, it could easily buy a hundred catties.

but……

Shinzaburo didn't take the silver ingots, but tentatively asked, "Lord Katsumasa isn't a copper merchant, so why are you buying so much crude copper?"

The Settsu Ikeda family has a long-standing tradition of holding the official title of "Bingo Governor," but Ikeda Katsumasa is currently only the young lord, not the head of the family, and is not yet qualified to use it.

“Let the craftsmen make some bronze pots and mirrors for us to use!” Katsumasa Ikeda replied confidently.

Shinzaburo couldn't help but smile, shaking his head and saying, "How many bronze pots and mirrors could be made from a hundred catties of crude copper... Is there really such a large demand?"

“Uh… this…” Ikeda Katsumasa scratched his head, hesitated for a moment, and finally slammed his hand on the floor, saying loudly, “Then I will be frank! Kubo Genban made great contributions in the Battle of Tanba, but was sent to the Tada Copper Mine, which is really unfair. But I am powerless to change the decision of the higher-ups, so I can only buy 100 catties of crude copper as a form of support!”

"Haha!" Facing this young man who couldn't hide his feelings, Shinzaburo also became cheerful, waving his hand and saying, "Thank you for the food and drink, Lord Katsumasa! No need for financial support, I will find another way to deal with the copper mine's predicament!"

“…That’s true, that would be pointless.” Ikeda Katsumasa pondered for a moment, nodded, and took the silver ingot back without changing his expression. Then he smiled and said, “I came here today only to drink with Kubo Genban and, incidentally, hear about the story of ‘slaying two demons in one battle’!”

“No problem!” Shinzaburo thought to himself, except for the fact that the survivors of the Amago Shingu Party were inconvenient, he could just say that they were a group of mercenaries, and he could talk about everything else.

Before speaking, however, he subconsciously added a compliment: "I think Lord Shengzheng is also a brave man, and must be a veteran of many battles."

Hearing this, Ikeda Katsumasa sighed and shook his head, saying, "The Ikeda family has over eighty retainers, and can recruit over a thousand peasant soldiers within its territory. As the young lord, I have participated in several battles, but I have only followed my father to command, and have never had the opportunity to personally draw my sword and fight the enemy. What a pity!"

Upon hearing this, Shinzaburo immediately lost his composure.

Good heavens, eighty members of the royal faction and a thousand peasant soldiers—no wonder they are a powerful clan with a long history and control over the castle town!