Chapter 534 34. All Parties Compete for a New Election

The aftermath of the Hojo clan's opening of the port did not seem to affect Yamanouchi, and Fuchu Castle was still bustling. There was no military service today, but representatives of the public servants and military service from all over the country gathered in the playground under the castle one by one.

It was the day for the re-election of the samurai reserve fund kandei-yaku positions. According to the rule that the maximum term is three years, the six military classes began a new election.

The people under the castle are now accustomed to seeing the samurai masters and the foot soldiers who usually carry swords and guns, chirping like sparrows, electing new kandei-yaku every year.

There are even small vendors and peddlers carrying loads and pushing carts to sell some small things and snacks around the playground. Some representatives of the public servants and military service from Mikawa, Totomi, Suruga and other countries even brought their wives and children to Fuchu. As a famous large town in the East, Fuchu has gathered more than 30,000 people and is very lively.

The playground was crowded with people of all kinds, chatting and laughing with each other, talking about the weather this year, how the rice in the field was growing, and who in which village had converted to Nanmanism.

Due to the expansion of the Yamanouchi clan's territory, not all seven or eight thousand military conscripts could come, so an indirect election method was adopted, with about one representative elected by the military conscripts of one township. There were also more than a thousand public servants, and they also elected representatives in units of townships.

But even so, hundreds or thousands of people gathered. As a training exercise, Yamanouchi Yoshiyasu stood on a large cart, holding a paper tube, and loudly called out the names. Register the voters and confirm their identities.

Yamanouchi Taro also expressed his solemnity, showing his care for the Yamanouchi samurai, and sat in the pergola to accept the cheers and admiration of the soldiers.

This would not change because he was young. People had followed his grandfather and father to fight for decades, and they had a deep-rooted belief that the Yamanouchi clan was the ruler, even if the ruler was a child.

"Ichimonshu will nominate Izumo Yamauchi (Yoshiyasu) this year?" Koyata tilted his head to look at Hosokawa Kane.

"It's already been decided, in order to give him more experience."

"What about Totomi-dono?"

"He should succeed as the general director."

"My brother is very popular among the hereditary retainers, so I'm afraid he will be elected?"

"It's hard to say, Isshiki Miyano seems to want to be elected and build up his popularity, and his youngest son Isshiki Mankimaru will come of age next year."

"If it weren't for Isshiki Hyoe (the eldest son who never appeared) dying in Uehara, Isshiki Miyano would have retired and abdicated by now."

"Who says it's not? My uncle, A-ling's father, also died in Uehara, which is a pity."

The two sat in another shed and talked in a low voice. They were not afraid that Yamauchi Taro would hear them, after all, they were still far away. And the environment was so noisy that it was hard to hear clearly.

Just as they were talking, Hosokawa Harunomiya came over, and A-ling came over with a bamboo basket and a wooden box of rice balls.

After the roll call, the soldiers who finally lined up in line also received lunch in an orderly manner. Who said that the election process could not be automated and was very lengthy?

Using secret ballot (because not all military servicemen could read), the samurai of the same class who were interested in serving as kantei-yaku stood up to sign up in the form of differential election.

Those who supported him threw a soybean into the bowl in front of him, openly and fairly, one soybean per person.

The three military classes with the largest number of people, the ashigaru-yaku, the military servicemen, and the bōkō-koku, took the longest time. They used the county fellows to win over each other, and those who were related to each other also united.

In addition to being able to receive a large salary after serving as kantei-yaku, everyone also realized that serving a term of reserve fund kantei-yaku was equivalent to being a good person for a term.

Who doesn't like false reputation these days? People with a good reputation can get a good meal everywhere.

"Koyata, have you seen the accounts of the matchlock?"

"Wasn't this agreed upon at the beginning? It is independent of the feudal government, and even His Highness cannot interfere?"

Koyata only saw the accounts of the wild mountain burdock fine wool matchlock, which was the source of funds, during his first three years in office. He knew that this was a big business and had always sold very well.

If it weren't for the fact that no farmer had yet learned to cultivate wild mountain burdock artificially, resulting in the inability to expand the annual output, the income might have been even greater.

"The (Kitabatake) University who just resigned told me that in the account of the reserve fund, there were 11,000 taels of gold, 2,000 taels of silver, 15,000 strings of Yongle money, and more than 30,000 strings of bad money. There were 21,000 strings of Yongle money on loan."

"So much?" Koyata was also surprised by this number.

The capital back then was only 3,000 strings, but now the cash plus debt is worth 50,000 strings.

"Didn't you see that the reserve fund office built another earthen storehouse in the city?"

"Ah, that turned out to be an earthen storehouse!"

I never expected that the Yamanouchi family was not poor, but too rich. They had too much money to spend, so they could only build a warehouse to store it.

"It would be great if I could withdraw it..." Hosokawa Harumiya said this with a deep meaning.

"The original regulations..." Xiao Pingtai stopped talking halfway.

The original intention of the reserve fund was to ensure the basic living of the wealthy military class, to ensure that the middle and lower military classes would not go bankrupt, to stabilize the source of military service and to strengthen the rule of the Yamanouchi family.

At the beginning, they consciously prevented the money from being misappropriated, so Yamanouchi Yoshiharu personally wrote the judgment and all the retainers confirmed that except for lending to the Yamanouchi samurai, even the Yamanouchi daimyo could not spend a penny.

"What do you mean, old man?"

"If the Yamanouchi family is short of money, can we follow the example of the samurai and borrow the reserve funds, calculate the interest annually, and repay in installments?"

Isn't this the prototype of today's banks in Europe!

A major advantage that Britain will have over France in the future is its short-term war loans and financing capabilities with relatively low interest rates!

That kind of war loan, which was borrowed for half a year and the interest was half of the principal, greatly hurt the French king's finances. France lost some battles because it could not borrow the money and the interest on the money was too high.

I would rather borrow short-term credit for three to six months from the big merchants in Sakai Town and bear high interest rates. However, Yamauchi's own reserves are not used at all, which is really unreasonable.

But who are the vast majority of feudal rulers?

Once borrowed, it is definitely not impossible to break the bones and absorb the marrow, and then default on the debt.

"Maybe we can borrow a good one now, but what about the future? His Highness Taro is so heroic and graceful that we don't expect him to be there, but what about the future of His Highness?"

"Now when we are fighting for victory in the Warring States Period, if we don't do our best to ensure the survival of our family, in the future..."

Xiaoping was too shocked to realize that he was bewitched. In his subconscious, the Yamauchi family was thousands of years old, but Hosokawa Harugong was more realistic. Their Hosokawa Kyōjo family was almost destroyed. How many powerful daimyo have disappeared? Even overlords like Ouchi have disappeared, let alone Yamauchi?

"That's what the boss said!" The old father-in-law had no choice but to accept it.

"Let me, a bad old man, do this evil thing. Anyway, I don't have a few more years to live."