Moreover, in history, it was indeed the Miyoshi family that came to beat the Hokitate Family; it's just that the Miyoshi family ended up collapsing on themselves as they fought, otherwise Oda Nobunaga wouldn't have gotten lucky and taken Ise Province so easily.

Ise Province was also a powerful domain producing nearly three hundred thousand koku—not much less than Owari or Minoh… At least for now it's comparable. Owari's fifty thousand koku production would come later, after further development; at present, it's just over three hundred thousand koku, and when Harano first arrived, Owari was even less developed than Ise—at that time, Owari had only about two hundred sixty or seventy thousand koku.

So, Hirata Fujimori can't be blamed for being so cautious; at this point, he really doesn't dare to reduce the annual tribute rashly. At the very least, he must ask for instructions from Kitahata Giyou before making any decision.

Yasuda Katsushi didn't say anything more, as he understood the practical difficulties. Still… without some reduction in the annual tribute, he couldn't shake off his unease.

But he truly had nothing more to say on the matter. Sometimes there's just no way out, and the commoners have to bear some suffering. After all, their ancestors were useless, and they were born as lowly people!

That's not his fault!

Yasuda Katsushi returned to prepare for the autumn harvest, gathering his lower-level magistrates and Lang Faction together to carefully instruct them. He also reorganized a unit of Ashigaru assigned to them, feeling that this year's collection of tribute would be a huge problem. Forcing those lowly commoners to scrape together the tribute would probably require the hanging of dozens of them; without that, it might not get done. There was even the risk of violent resistance, so he must proceed with utmost caution.

And things developed just as he expected. A few days later, the order to reduce the annual tax did come down, but it was only a token reduction—just a gesture. For example, that piece of direct-managed land, which should have paid just over three hundred twenty koku, was reduced by only a bit more than nine koku; the rest still had to be paid in full.

But Yasuda Katsushi's own situation wasn't so bad. Mainly, the two villages under his charge were both located in the Luling Plain, where the land was fertile and irrigation convenient. Even if the commoners here suffered a disaster, the harvest would still be relatively high. Though very reluctant to fill the gap from their own stores, under the threat of death they'd grit their teeth, think up a way, maybe borrow some from a temple, or pledge their children to the monks, and could still scrape enough together for now.

As for what to do in the future when the interest piled up… that would have to be left for next year!

For the commoners, as long as there was still a way to survive, they could endure and wouldn't really risk their lives. So after Yasuda Katsushi hanged one or two troublemakers in each village and then softened his tone for a while, he really did manage to collect all the tribute he was responsible for. No doubt, when it came time for assessment, he'd get a glowing letter of thanks—and if he collected a few more like that, maybe he'd even secure a fief of his own someday.

However, after finishing with each village and returning happily to Daheicheng, he found the atmosphere along the road tenser than ever. Mounted Samurai were constantly passing by on the road, and Daheicheng was ordering all the Lang Factions from various estates to assemble, while also conscripting additional Ashigaru from nearby villages.

He quickly stopped a passing Mounted Samurai and asked, "What's going on this time?"

The messenger was so exhausted from riding that he nearly forgot himself. Reining in his horse, and dirty-faced, he recognized Yasuda and said tiredly, "Oh, it's you, Lord Yasuda. Um… do you have any water?"

"Yes!" Yasuda Katsushi immediately told someone to bring him water.

The Samurai had somehow lost his own water skin—having ridden hard under the blazing sun in late summer and early autumn, he was parched. He grabbed the water and gulped it down, then after a long pause sighed, "A riot's broken out in Lower Curve County—a lowborn named Jin Wuman led some people and killed Lord Mito and his men, then ambushed a force from Wushan City. Now several towns and more than ten villages in that region are in chaos, all rioting. Our Lord is demanding Daheicheng send support."

The term "Iki" originates from "Mencius: Li Lou Part Two," which says: "The lands are separated by over a thousand li; the generations are separated by over a thousand years. If their actions in China fit together as keys and seals, then the sages past and present are essentially the same." In other words, even if times and circumstances differ, the deeds of sages are always identical. Later, the term "Iki" came to refer to "the same principle."

In Japan, "Iki" came to mean "banding together and taking collective action." So whenever people agreed to jointly pursue a goal, it could be called an Iki-zu. Farmer uprisings against taxes and forced labor, for example, became known as "such-and-such Iki."

Now, Ise Province was experiencing the "Lower Curve Iki": some commoners in Lower Curve County, unable or unwilling to pay tribute any longer, finally snapped and killed the tribute-collecting Magistrate Samurai. The unrest spread, and villages all around began rising up, collectively refusing taxes and forced labor.

The Hokitate Family had been rooted in Ise Province since the era of the Northern and Southern Courts of Japan, and over half of the large cities in Ise were built by them. Over so many years, they'd certainly experienced farmer uprisings, but because natural conditions on the Ise Peninsula were pretty decent, such large-scale, fast-spreading peasant revolts were truly rare.

At the same time, the Hokitate Family was experienced at putting down such disturbances. They knew that these things couldn't be allowed to drag on; any delay and the Iki-zu would immediately swell several or even dozens of times over. So they mobilized all nearby forces at once, converging from all sides to strangle the troublemakers of Lower Curve County.

This absolutely could not be allowed to get out of control. They had to kill as a warning to others!

Overall, the high-level response of the Hokitate Family was solid—Yasuda Katsushi couldn't fault it and was immediately reassured. After bidding farewell to his colleague, he continued back to Daheicheng, debating whether he should apply to join the fighting—after all, this was just a bunch of village bumpkins who'd grown up swinging hoes and didn't even have armor. How could they possibly hope to defeat Heavily Armored Warriors? These were battle honors just waiting to be grabbed. Even as a Magistrate with merely average Martial Arts, usually not on the frontlines, if he led a few Lang Faction men to scatter a mob of a hundred peasants, it'd still be a walk in the park.

He was pretty tempted. With his current tasks all finished and nothing else urgent, why not grab some more easy merit? But just as he got back to Daheicheng, he immediately heard bad news.

Farther south in Upper Water County, more Iki uprisings had erupted—one group on the east, another on the west. The local garrison only managed to disperse the western group; the eastern one took refuge in the Ise Mountains, with signs of turning into full-blown bandits, raiding via the mountains and trying to coerce even more people to join.

This, of course, could not be tolerated by the Hokitate Family and had to be crushed quickly. Daheicheng had no choice but to urgently redeploy troops toward Upper Water County to assist local Samurai in swiftly exterminating these rebels.

Now Yasuda Katsushi didn't have to decide about volunteering—he was already included in the redeployment, heading south with the troops. But after just a few days on the road, barely reaching Upper Water County, someone came racing after them from the rear with new orders.

Emergency, return immediately to Luling County! A large enemy force has suddenly appeared along the coast and is already landing in waves; there's talk they might attack Daheicheng!

Return at once!

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.