Chapter 303 36. This Issue Deals with Miso Sauce
The Hojo family lost more than they gained in this attempt, but after experiencing the great defeat of Hachioji, Oishi Ujiteru immediately regained his composure.
Unlike his brothers, Oishi Ujiteru is a man who has the style of his father. Although he is not as good as his father, Hojo Ujiyasu, he is fully qualified if he only wants to maintain the status quo.
Ota Ujisuke was killed by the four Hojo brothers. Although Uesugi Terutora rescued Ota Sukemasa, he failed to break Iwatsuki Castle and Edo Castle. Ota Sukesuke died a long time ago, but Ota Yasutoshi is still alive.
Oishi Ujiteru was very good at it. He turned around and gave Hojo Ujinao's brother to Ota Sukesuke, who had been dead for who knows how many years, as his son. He changed his name to Ota Ujifusa and became the head of the Iwatsuki Ota family. At the same time, Ota Yasutoshi and Fujita Ujikuni served as the later.
This immediately turned the largest number of people in Minami Musashi into a group. Ota Ujisuke died without a son. The Ota retainers who followed him in the rebellion dared not go to Ota Sukemasa, and could only follow the Hojo family to the end.
Moreover, a wave of Ota's capable retainers died, which just made it convenient for the Hojo family to frantically interfere.
Although Uesugi Terutora's reputation in Kanto has risen again, the Hojo family, which suffered a great defeat, only lost a Matsuyama Castle, but completely digested the Ota family.
Now the entire Minami Musashi is like an iron barrel. Next time, Uesugi Terutora doesn't know how much effort it will take to break in again, or even that he may not be able to break in.
The so-called blessing is hidden in the disaster, and the disaster is hidden in the blessing, it is nothing more than this.
Another major event is that the famine predicted by Kobayakawa finally broke out.
The barley and wheat in the fields have sprouted and ears, and it can be seen that the crops in the fields will be harvested in a few months at most. But the surplus food in almost all of Kanto has been used up.
This year's feng shui is still good, with the expected rain and the expected sun. But the drought last year affected all provinces and counties, and Kanto was in chaos at the beginning of the year.
Now even the rich Yamanouchi Fuchu Town has begun to experience a shortage of food. Fortunately, last year Yamanouchi Yoshiharu was thoughtful and did not sell food to the outside world. Now the Yamanouchi army has grabbed a lot of money, and with two dollars in hand, they can barely survive.
Kobayata only asked about the price of daily necessities in the market, mainly food, and knew that the crazy miso price increase was approaching.
At the moment of the fierce battle of Kawanakajima, Sukezaemon, who stayed in Yamanouchi, began to cooperate with Kobayata's operation.
Because most of the necessary materials were purchased before the New Year, the amount of soybeans purchased alone was as high as more than 20,000 stones, and there were also thousands of stones of salt, as well as a small amount of wheat, koji, wine, beans, and dogwood.
The men in Yamanouchi put on armor and carried guns, pushed carts with food, and went to the front line. But the samurai women in the town were not needed to go to war, and they had no land to farm. Previously, the government-run workshops recruited some of them, but there were still hundreds or thousands of samurai women who could only stay at home to take care of their children.
This time, Sukezaemon saved money and hired people with the cheap grains he brought from the west. He offered a price of five ko of refined wheat per day, which was easier to hire than paying directly. If someone brought their own iron pot, they would add a few more ko of refined wheat depending on the situation.
As a result, many men and women in the town who had nothing to do came to apply. Five ko of husked wheat could feed a strong man for a day, let alone a woman.
Anyway, it was work, working for Sukezaemon, and earning food for the children at home.
Nearly a thousand people came. When everyone heard that it was to make miso, they said it was simple and thought it was something else. It turned out to be just washing beans, carrying jars and buckets, drying koji and grinding fine salt.
Which woman has not done it? In the feudal society, housewives who could not cook or mend would be laughed at. Now, making miso is a piece of cake for them.
First, they put it in a big pot. There is no advanced gadget like a pressure cooker. The method used now is to boil it in a big pot, using clean mountain spring water and soybeans for more than four hours without stopping. At the same time, the soybeans must be stirred continuously during the cooking process until they are cooked.
The cooked soybeans are placed in a wooden mold, pressurized with stones and manpower to make bean cakes, and the excess water is removed at the same time. In order to ensure that they do not mold, the bean cakes must be hung up and exposed to the sun for two days.
Hundreds of people along the entire Lianchuan River are women who use straw brushes to wash. The bean cakes must be repeatedly washed with running water to wash away the bean smell before making miso.
All the large animals in the mountains were conscripted by Yoshiharu Yamanouchi to supply the logistics of the army of more than 20,000 people. Now there are no large animals to pull the mill.
Since labor is not valuable anyway, Zuzaemon arranged for people to push the mill by hand and hit it with a wooden hammer, grinding the coarse salt into fine grains and the fine grains into fine powder. Only the fine powdered salt that does not stick to your hands when you put your hands into the salt is the best and the best salt.
These merchants in the old times still had business ethics. Although they oppressed cheap labor, the products they made were indeed genuine materials, and they were afraid of ruining their reputation.
When the moat of Kaizu Castle was almost dug, the miso on the Yamauchi side was basically done. A barrel of 30 liters was stored in a cool warehouse, waiting for it to slowly change and become the Shinshu miso sold in the East.
Zuzaemon's messenger also followed the Yamauchi family's military station, delivering the news to Kobayata on the front line one by one. Let Kobayata know the movements of Yamauchi at any time.
After the army withdrew to Yamauchi and rewarded the merits, Kobayata also began to manage this speculative activity after everything was done.
Both of them dismissed their attendants and stayed in a horse-viewing pavilion where no one was around but it was open on all sides and could not be eavesdropped on.
"How much does it cost to make one liter of miso?"
"No more than three sen."
"It's usually priced at four to five sen, so it's really a small capital and thin profit."
"Nowadays, Tansho has a lot of capital and double the profit." Sukezaemon could not fail to see that Kobayata was being hypocritical.
Kobayata waved his hand and turned his head away. That's not what he said. According to history, the price of miso this year will soar to more than 17 sen per liter. He is helping the people out of their difficulties.
The people in the inland areas are already short of salt. The heavy-tasting Shinshu miso is a must for them, and it is also the most basic and lowest level of food demand. If Kobayata can sell it at a fair price, it will not be like saving the people from hanging.
Moreover, Shinshu produces hundreds of thousands of stones of wheat and beans a year, and Kobayata only has 20,000 stones of beans. It's a dream to want to suppress the miso market in the east with this little miso.
It is better to sell it at a price of 10 or even 12 sen per liter, so that the civilians who suffer from high prices can reduce their expenses a little, which can also benefit the people.
"When will Danzheng be ready to ship it?"
"No hurry, the miso in other people's hands has not been sold out. When the market is empty, it will be time to sell it."
I don't know when Xiao Pingtai also had such a face as a ruler.