Ozu was originally a large flat alluvial plain, and the transportation in this area is very developed, and the water and land transportation from east to west, north and south, and along the Asahikawa River to the north, you can directly reach Takada Castle in Oniwa County, Mimasaka Province, and it has always been an important transportation hub of Sanyo Province.

Speaking of Ozuhara, readers will be quite unfamiliar with this title, but decades later, due to the construction of a giant city, the name of Ozuhara also changed, and the new name Okayama Hirano will become world-famous with the development of Okayama.

In the old time, it was the Bizen lord Ukita Naoya who made Okayama Hirano famous, and in this time, the Ukita Naoya was discredited by groveling in the Battle of Tenjin Mountain Castle, and was beheaded on the banks of the Yoshii River after the war, while also implicating his clansmen.

Today, in this land of beauty is the political balance of the Date family, and it is more correct to say that his wicked man stands on the embankment of a great city under construction. It is a large castle with a slightly rectangular shape in the center of the continent, and the construction is still ongoing. However, the most important defense against the flooding of the Asahikawa River is the tall embankment, especially the downstream section of the Asahikawa River, which has almost been completed.

Ozuhara has been hit by floods for many years, and if you want to build a castle here, the first thing to do is to control the water conservancy projects of several large rivers, and it is obviously difficult to manage it successfully in a short period of time, and you can only control the most important Asahikawa in advance. At this moment, Zhengheng was standing on the embankment under the stone mountain, and the heavily armed soldiers lined up in an orderly manner to greet him. On both sides of the walkway, there are the same number of flags as the soldiers, with the family crest of the bamboo feather flying bird painted on them, and when the wind blows, a large sea of flags is formed.

The wind blows from the direction of the Seto Inland Sea, carrying a salty moisture. Blowing all the way over the castle under construction. Then head towards Kibi Kogen. Zheng Heng really likes this kind of all-encompassing vision. The city of Heshou where he originally lived was more like a small isolated mountain city.

The main city of the Date family, Tsurushou Castle, was originally the residence of the Mimura family, and after the fall of the Date family, it was once used as a temporary main city, and it was originally intended to move after conquering Matsuyama Castle, but after the fall of Matsuyama Castle, it was impossible to master, so it was only after thinking about repairing Matsuyama Castle before transferring. Where did I think that by chance, the Date family was once the original head of a country. It has become the overlord of the four countries today. Both Tsurushou Castle and Matsuyama Castle were built in the Kibi Plateau, and the roads were inconvenient, making it difficult to rule the new territory.

In addition to the above problems, as the territory of the Date family expanded, the population tended to be the center of the government, and the samurai town and the craftsman town expanded, the problem of transportation became an urgent problem. By all accounts, it was clear that Tsurushou Castle did not meet the needs of the Date family.

As the main city of Bichugoku, Matsuyama Castle, which guarded the important places between Boqi and Bizen Province, was suitable, but it was the main city of Kibi Shikoku. Obviously, the same problem as Tsurushou Castle is difficult to solve. The question of finding a place to build a new city gradually became a theme.

Throughout Kibi Shikoku, a large alluvial plain formed by the estuaries of the Takaliang River, Ashimori River, Asahikawa River, and Yoshii River. It became the most suitable location. As a traverser, Zhengheng, on this alluvial plain, under subjective assumptions, quickly marked Okayama Castle in the old time and space.

The western kingdom has now reached the stage of the final reshuffle, the Niko family is in turmoil, the Maori family has been in a slump since the death of Maori Yuan, and Ouchi Yoshinaga is no longer as strong as the old time and space, and can only rely on the two countries of Zhou Fang and Nagato. In, Miyoshi Chokei is gradually reaching its peak, and if there is no civil strife, the confrontation between the Date family and the Miyoshi family will become the theme for the next ten years, and these small families between the two families will probably be annexed sooner or later. This is why Shoheng decided to build a new city in Okayama, because he has already set his sights on the future in one or two decades.

Zhengheng walked slowly on the embankment, followed by more than a dozen retainers, waiting carefully, since the strength of the Date family, their attitude towards Zhengheng has become more and more respectful. Zheng Heng frowned slightly, suddenly stopped, and asked, "Have General Takei and Ma Zuimu Mountain City returned?" ”

Yoshida Masanari, who was not far behind him, responded: "Takei Shogun and Ma Zukiyama Castle Commander have not returned yet, and the calculation time should be over Inu's narrow wall, and the handover has begun, and I want to return in the evening." ”

Zheng Heng nodded, suddenly thought of his proud work, smiled slightly, and said, "Akagi, are there enough people to build the city?" ”

Akagi Takao replied: "Yes, at the invitation of Tennojiya, the 300 cave Taizhong in the Omi area, and nearly 1,000 captives to build the stone wall, and recruit 3,000 to 4,000 farmers in the vicinity for work relief, the part of the trench and the stone wall should be completed within this year, and a large amount of manpower will be required to speed up, will the remaining 2,500 prisoners be pulled out of the military cantonment?" Apparently he was obsessed with the 2,500 captives who remained in the military cantonment.

Anatai is an excellent architectural group living in Omi Province that is famous for building stone walls, and was revered as a valuable treasure during the Warring States period, and daimyo from all over the world hired them when building towns. Masahiro was not exempt from vulgarity, and led to the Tennoji Temple, where nearly 300 cave people were hired to build a new city.

Zheng Heng shook his head slightly and said, "They are still useful!" ”

After a pause, Zheng Heng continued: "You can expand the manpower to all over the country, now is the agricultural slack period, the sword hunting order has been implemented, if the labor without military training cannot be released, I am afraid that something will happen, and it will be a good year for the people to work for relief." ”

Akagi Takao said with a bitter face: "Yes, it's just, in this way, I'm afraid it will cost a lot more money and food?" ”

Zheng Heng looked at the mountains in the distance with a relaxed expression, and said lightly: "Didn't Nizi Qingjiu send 300,000 taels of silver just now?" The Ako Prefecture Navy was unable to use up the funds in a short period of time, so it was just used for the construction of the castle and the expansion of farmers to the land of Shikoku, so that there was no need to worry about manpower, and secondly, it could also increase the flow of population, so that the people would agree with the rule of the Date family, and inform them of the Date family's policy and the rest time, and these people would spread to Shino after returning to their hometown. ”

Due to the submission of the salt-saturated navy, there was no need to rush to build a navy in the short term, and the special funds for the construction of ships were diverted to the cost of building the castle, and 300,000 taels of silver could be used to buy enough grain through the Guò Tennoji Temple House as a reward for work. Sakai Town has always been a hub for the sale of money and grain, and there is a large amount of grain in stock.

When the decision is made, someone immediately goes forward to carry it out, which is the advantage of monopolizing power. When the Date family was created, only Noyama Yoshitomo and Nikaido Nobuhiro were the only important ministers in the family, Noyama Yoshitomo was loyal to Masahiro, and the less loyal Nikaido Nobuhiro was refrigerated, jumping up and down during Masahiro's expedition, and once he returned, he died, and now this batch of powerful retainers are almost all direct retainers promoted by Masahiro one by one. The system of collegiate ministers, which was the most common among the Sengoku daimyos, obviously did not have a chance to form in the Date family. In Ida's family, political balance can be called arbitrary. In this way, the appraisal meeting sometimes becomes a hall of political balances.

Zhengheng stayed at Mingzenji Temple near Okayama Castle.

In early May, the first group of 1,200 people from Hokubi arrived in the Okayama Plain. The group of people from Beibei Hou were arranged to live in an empty camp in the east of the city. However, in order to check whether there are cheaters and knife bearers, an inventory must be carried out before moving in.

The national forces of the four northern counties of Bigo Province, Sankei, Huisu, and Sangami have always sought to survive in the cracks, and when the Izumo Niko clan was strong, they threw themselves to the Niko clan, and when the Maori Yuan rose, they took refuge in the Maori Yuan, which was the stormy of Qin Muchu.

After successive victories over Mori Motogashi and Niko Haruha, the forces of the people of the four northern prefectures of Bigo Province took advantage of the situation to express their intention to surrender to the Date family, and each family sent hostages and oaths, and it was clear that Masahiro could not refuse them.

At a certain time, the people of the four northern counties of Bigo Province still maintained a semi-independent state, and unlike the wealthy families of the Misaku country, they were not subdued by the political balance, and in the northern four counties, the Date family obviously did not have the authority of the local people.

In Mimasaka Province, due to the reasons of subduing, the sword hunting order and land inspection were still very smoothly implemented in the territory of various wealthy clans, and entering the four northern counties of Bigo Province was blocked by the locals in various ways and secretly, and it was difficult to proceed. As soon as Okayama Castle was built, Shoheng stepped up propaganda on the recruitment of people in the four northern districts of Bigo Province.

The sword hunting order and land inspection can be stopped, and the recruitment of people in the city is obviously unable to refuse, especially under the temptation of rice, more and more young adults go out of the countryside to work and eat in Okayama City. More and more news came that the relationship between the Mori family and the Ouchi family became closer. Once the two families merge, the people of the four northern counties of Bigo will be a hidden danger to the flanks of the Date family, and the recruitment of people is obviously to castrate them, without strong labor, they obviously have no manpower to make a mess with the integration of soldiers and peasants.

These 1,200 people will be the first batch, and there will be two or three more batches to follow, from May to August, three months, through guò work relief and rest time condolences, will recognize the rule of the Date family from the bottom of their hearts, and through guò them, the influence of the Date family in the four northern counties of Bigo Province will be greatly expanded.

Under the long-term system of integration of soldiers and peasants, all the people had undergone a certain amount of military training, and they were divided into small groups according to the different places of residence, and they had their own order in the chaos. And when the ashigaru in bronze armor appeared, they all fell silent, obviously they thought that the one in bronze armor was the samurai lord, and in the scolding, in a few clicks, even the queue was lined up.

After a while, under the leadership of Ashigaru, they were divided into four teams to go to the camp to get four mouths, and after walking dozens of miles, they obviously didn't eat well, and when they saw brown rice (that is, brown rice), all of them showed a green light, if it wasn't for Ashigaru's scolding, I was afraid that they would immediately come up and scramble.

On May 7, when Zhengheng was bathing in Tomada Hot Springs, a retainer who had stayed in Heshou Castle hurriedly came: "My lord, the special envoys of the Ouchi family, Ryozumi Takatoyo and Uda Takaji, have come to ask for a meeting. (To be continued......)