Chapter 92 16. Lu Wen Heard that Shimazu Started His Expedition
The prosperous Sakaimachi is the largest town in the world. In addition to being the largest trading town in Izumi, it is also a famous post town. If travelers from the East and the West want to find a place to stay, Sakai is definitely the first choice, safe and prosperous.
Aji and Tatsuzo were stunned. The huge city with a population of 100,000 made their eyes dazzled. Although Kyoto is also a large city with a population of 100,000, its main population is still more than 2,000 nobles and high-ranking families of the shogunate, which accounts for half of Kyoto's population. The rest are all kinds of townspeople and merchants.
Sakai is very different. Almost all of them are craftsmen who make a living here. It is almost all-inclusive and all-inclusive. Almost all the handicrafts in Japan can be found in Sakai. Stable and prosperous, lively but calm.
Kobayata was also very interested in this large-scale commercial town in the Middle Ages. A modern city with hundreds of thousands of people is considered a small city, but in ancient times, hundreds of thousands of people were very exaggerated. Eating, drinking, defecating, and urinating all require planning and handling by people with great wisdom and courage.
This Sakaimachi really has great people. At the beginning, the association of Sakaimachi was composed of ten wealthy merchants, and later the number expanded to thirty-six people, forming a commercial republic representative system. Then the huge town was divided into several parts, and the association appointed the town representatives to manage.
At the same time, these wealthy merchants showed their power. Some made friends with Awa Miyoshi Yoshitaka, some made friends with Honganji Shojo, and some made friends with the nobles Sanjo Nishi Sanetaka. There are also previous people like Hosokawa Harumoto, Hosokawa Takakuni, Rokkaku Sadayasu, etc. The wisdom of businessmen is really visible, and there are countless umbrellas. Look at the people they make friends with, from the emperor and nobles to the powerful people, using money to open the way, without any taboos.
On the one hand, Xiao Pingtai despised the collusion between officials and businessmen, and even between businessmen and teachers, and on the other hand, he envied the big bosses who monopolized the market and goods and made a fortune every day.
Anyway, after a not-so-strict inspection, we crossed the artificial river that was used as both a moat and a canal. The wide wooden bridge, which was well-maintained and painted, did not make any creaking sounds when walking on it. Passers-by automatically left the middle road and walked on both sides of the road.
After walking a few steps, Xiao Pingtai found several inns and settled down in one of them at random. He was not afraid of black shops or anything like that. If you dare to open a black shop in Sakai and invite people to eat knife-shaped noodles or wonton noodles, you probably don’t know how powerful the people in the meeting are. You can be tied to a stone and sunk into the Seto Inland Sea that night. You dare to steal money and kill people. The big guys in Sakaimachi don’t have any face!
After being settled, Kobayata didn't have any connections in Sakai. He probably couldn't get in touch with the big merchants, after all, his status was still low. If Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu came, they might come out to receive him. After all, he was the companion of the shogun, the one of the Ashikaga clan of the Seiwa Genji, and the young master of a powerful and famous family with more than 300,000 koku.
If it was Uesugi Terutora, Kobayata dared to guarantee that the meeting would organize at least 30,000 to 50,000 people to welcome him along the street, holding small flags, beating gongs and drums to boost momentum. Then they would build a colorful tent, pave the road with yellow soil, and clean the streets with clear water, giving you enough face as the first in the East.
Kobayata himself was still not qualified enough. He thought about it and decided to find a local maintenance person (grassroots town people) on the road tomorrow, find the place of those big merchants, buy a cannon and leave.
That night, Kobayata continued to display his good virtue of getting along with the masses, chatting with the waiter boss of the inn and the ronin merchants who came and went. As for the two children, they should each have a bunch of apples and sit there and watch. Don't bother the eldest brother to flirt with the masses. Just learn how to act cowardly. How to come from the masses and go to the masses. How to take root in the masses and serve the masses. (Okay, I'm getting off topic.)
This inn is considered to have a relatively good environment. Look at his two younger brothers (how can the eldest brother work while the younger brothers eat apples and watch the show? Ignore the red hair). There are two iron cannons in the luggage (they are so long and big that they can't be hidden), samurai swords hanging on their bodies, and their clothes are also made of silk. I guess Xiao Pingtai is also a local tycoon who came to Sakai to see the world and buy iron cannons. Or he is a newly promoted foot soldier or a hatamoto soldier who was arranged to check the market.
The small merchants who traveled all over the country have seen many small local tycoons, village chiefs, and little samurai like him. They called him "brother" and told him stories about people and geography in all directions. There was even a merchant from southern Kyushu who said that Tadahisa of the Shimazu clan had been exiled and had fled to seek refuge with Otomo Yoshitsugu. The various branches of the Shimazu clan in southern Kyushu gradually united, and only Shimazu Sanehisa of Izumi was still not dealt with.
Shimazu Tadayoshi, who was born in a commoner family, completely supported his son Shimazu Takahisa to inherit the name of Shimazu Tadahisa, and with the help of the Ijuin clan. He fought against the coalition forces of the Kidauin clan, the Togo clan, the Yingwa clan, and the Iriruin clan, sweeping away the situation of domestic heroes competing for supremacy, and the Satsuma Kingdom was about to be unified.
On the other hand, the Shimazu clan also married the Kanfu clan of Osumi Province and the Sagara clan of Higo Province to create a good external environment for themselves. Lay the foundation for unifying the Shimazu branches in the three states of Satsuma, Sumi, and Mukai.
Koheita thought that the Shimazu family, which would dominate Kyushu in the future to compete with the world's Hideyoshi, was still struggling for the unification of the Satsuma Kingdom, which now had more than 100,000 people. So the four Shimazu brothers were still liquid or children. Tsk tsk tsk, I traveled through time too early. But I will have the opportunity to meet these big guys in the future, unlike the dead Saito Dosan, who didn't see Mino Viper after traveling through time.
Aji and Tatsuzo watched Xiao Pingtai holding a wine pot and blowing the bull for half the night, and he found out everything about Sakaimachi. They nodded thoughtfully, indicating that they had learned something.
The next day, Xiao Pingtai took the two of them to Naya and Tennojiya. Fortunately, the two places were not far away. Of course, the main purpose was to go to Tennojiya. This Tennojiya was originally a business supported by the famous Tennoji Temple in Kinki, but now it has basically broken away. It even hooked up with the Honganji Temple, the mortal enemy of Tennoji.
But it is also because of this relationship that Tennojiya can buy Zaga iron cannons, so it is not troublesome to buy them along the way.
As for Naya, it is mainly for Nanbando. Naya has a lot of exchanges with the daimyo of Kyushu, and has many contacts with merchants in Hirado and Hakata. It is convenient to buy one directly or order one.
I was thinking about it and arrived at a large business with an eight-width door and a two-story frame. I guess it must be the store of Tennojiya.
Just as I was about to go in, I saw a few guys kicking and beating someone in the corner. Xiao Pingtai, based on the principle of less trouble, quickly pulled the two children to the store.
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