Vol. 1 Chapter 1.10 – 1565, Mid-October

Having completed the main harvest, Shizuko and the others would now have to live on sweet potatoes as their staple food.

That said, this would only last until the following year’s harvest. Continuing such a diet for too long would upset their nutritional balance in other ways.

Sweet potatoes were ultimately intended as emergency provisions and supplementary food. Rice was what should serve as their regular staple.

‘With two hectares, I should be able to harvest around twelve tons. That would be about 200 bales of rice… But that’s assuming a bumper harvest. Realistically, I suppose I should estimate around ten tons?’

In modern times, the standard rice yield was ten bales per ten ares, or one hundred bales per hectare.

Since one bale weighed sixty kilograms, that amounted to a total of 6,000 kilograms or six tons.

However, those figures came from an era several centuries after the Sengoku period.

Due to the rudimentary agricultural technology of the time, producing even one ton of rice from the same area during the Sengoku period would have been considered a good harvest.

That was, of course, assuming one relied on Sengoku-period agricultural techniques.

“Well, I’m sure I’ll manage somehow.”

“Manage what, Village Chief?”

Daiichi, the former village chief, responded to her quiet muttering.

“Hmm, I was just thinking that we’ll have to start producing rice next year.”

“That’s true. Those sweet potatoes are certainly tasty but I still want to eat rice.”

“I’d like to produce around a hundred bales, even after setting aside the portion we have to deliver to Oyakata-sama.”

“A hundred bales!?”

Daiichi cried out in astonishment at Shizuko’s casual remark.

“Um… Village Chief? Do you seriously believe we can harvest that much?”

“Well, we’ll have to abandon all our previous cultivation methods. But with my methods, a bumper harvest is practically guaranteed!”

“Well… If you say so, Village Chief, then I’ll believe you, but…”

“Village Chief! The potatoes are done roasting!”

Just as Shizuko was about to respond to Daiichi, whose expression remained somewhat doubtful, Kinzo’s voice rang out from afar.

“Coming! Well, I’ll explain everything about next year when the time comes.”

Seeing the rather delighted expression on Shizuko’s face, Daiichi found himself with a feeling that the following year’s rice harvest would be a bountiful one.

There were five large imo-ana storage pits, while more than thirty earthenware jars filled with dried sweet potatoes stood lined up on the shelves.

This year’s sweet potato harvest had been exceptionally abundant.

There was so much that they could confidently say they would have no trouble securing enough food to last until the following summer.

Moreover, the sweet potatoes were sweet and filling. It was only natural that the villagers were beside themselves with excitement.

After all, the Sengoku period was an era when merely possessing a sweet flavour was enough for a food to be regarded as a luxury ingredient.

“Ooh, they’re ready! They’re ready!”

Shizuko exclaimed happily upon seeing the roasted sweet potatoes piled high on a large serving plate.

The faint, sweet aroma drifting through the air stimulated her appetite.

The villagers were no different. They kept stealing glances at the mountain of roasted sweet potatoes, swallowing their saliva in anticipation.

“Looks like everyone’s here, so go ahead and grab a potato each!”

From the looks of it, Shizuko and her companions had been the last to arrive. At her words, the villagers immediately swarmed around the mountain of roasted sweet potatoes.

In less than a minute, the entire mountain of roasted sweet potatoes had completely disappeared.

“Village Chief! Please say a few words!”

Just when Shizuko thought everyone would start eating, all the villagers turned towards her.

Realising they wanted her to lead the festivities with a toast, she felt somewhat intimidated by the thirty pairs of eyes suddenly fixed upon her.

“Well, I won’t say anything too complicated or make a long speech.”

Despite saying that, Shizuko cleared her throat with a small cough. Surprisingly, she seemed rather enthusiastic herself.

“Everyone, thank you for all your hard work! Thanks to your efforts, we’ve had a bumper harvest of sweet potatoes. Today, we’re going to drink, eat and celebrate to our hearts’ content! Here’s to another bountiful harvest next year!”

“OOOH!”

As Shizuko raised her sweet potato high towards the heavens, the villagers thrust their own sweet potatoes skyward in response.

It was a rather surreal sight in its own way but maintaining morale was more important than anything else. There was no point getting hung up on such trivial matters.

That resounding cheer marked the beginning of the festivities.

“Now then, my lovely golden sweet potato. I wonder what you taste like~.”

Watching the villagers eat their sweet potatoes with the skins still on or stuff them into their mouths so quickly that they nearly choked, Shizuko slowly began peeling the skin off her own sweet potato.

With each strip of skin she removed, more of the beautiful golden flesh was revealed, filling her with a childlike excitement that was rather unbecoming of her age.

“Hooh, it certainly looks like a delicious colour.”

Just as she had peeled away about a third of the skin, a voice suddenly sounded from behind her.

She instinctively tried to turn around towards the voice, but before she could, the hand holding her sweet potato was forcefully pulled towards someone.

“Indeed. A pleasant sweetness. Most delicious.”

The person who had pulled Shizuko’s arm had, of all things, unceremoniously taken a large bite out of her sweet potato.

In an instant, nearly half of the exposed flesh she had painstakingly peeled was gone.

However, rather than complaining to the culprit, Shizuko was so utterly astonished that she began trembling uncontrollably.

“O-O-O-Oyakata-sama!?”

The person who had eaten Shizuko’s sweet potato was none other than her lord, Oda Nobunaga.

“Dried sweet potatoes, eh? Their pleasant chewiness and sweetness are quite delightful.”

“Ah…”

Shizuko stared at Nobunaga, who was eating the dried sweet potatoes piled on a plate, with a somewhat vacant expression.

And understandably so. She had received absolutely no advance notice of his visit. His arrival had been completely unexpected.

“Um, Oyakata-sama. May I ask what brings you here today?”

“I came to make use of the hot springs before marching into battle. And I also have business with you.”

‘Marching into battle… Ah, that’s right. It’s about time for him to launch another attack on Mino.’

Oda Nobunaga was said to have become the daimyo ruling both Owari and Mino in the tenth year of Eiroku (1567).

According to 『Shincho Koki』, the chronicle of Nobunaga’s life, he had brought Mino under his control around August of that year.

Although the exact date remained uncertain, there existed an imperial decree dated the ninth day of the eleventh month of Eiroku 10, in which Emperor Ogimachi ordered Nobunaga to restore certain imperial estates believed to have been located within Mino Province.

Considering these records, it was reasonable to regard Eiroku 10 (1567) as the year Nobunaga established his rule over Mino.

Naturally, numerous smaller skirmishes had taken place leading up to that point.

Shizuko understood that another of those skirmishes was probably about to occur in the coming days.

“…Huh? With me?”

She understood the part about going to war, but she could not understand why Nobunaga would have business with her.

Having no idea what he wanted, Shizuko could only tilt her head in bewilderment.

“The villagers here, along with the fifty additional farmers I shall be sending you, will not be taken to the battlefield. Instead, you are to use them to transform this place into a major centre of agricultural production.”

“W-Whaaat?”

“And I shall be taking these dried sweet potatoes with me.”

“Ah… I have no problem with that. But may I ask why you are ordering me to establish a production centre?”

Shizuko had already been planning to increase agricultural production from the beginning but that had been entirely her own initiative rather than something Nobunaga had specifically ordered her to do.

That was why she found it strange that Nobunaga had suddenly commanded her to turn this place into a major production centre.

“…What do you think of this country?”

It was a sudden question.

Shizuko found herself at a loss for words but Nobunaga did not seem to have been expecting an answer. Rather, it appeared that he simply wanted to put his own thoughts into words.

Thus, without paying any attention to Shizuko’s inability to respond, he began speaking.

“Even now, the provinces continue their endless skirmishes against one another. Both the land and its people must surely be utterly exhausted by now. We must unite this realm under one rule as soon as possible. Otherwise, we shall never catch up with the Nanban or Ming.”

After wearing a contemplative expression for a while, Nobunaga quietly added,

“That is why I have come to believe that we must first pursue the 『Enriching the Nation and Strengthening the Military』 you spoke of. Without a firm and unshakable foundation, bringing the entire realm under one rule would be utterly impossible.”

After saying that much, Nobunaga took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

“Shizuko, no one else may understand the significance of what you have accomplished. But I do. I understand how difficult it is to produce such vast quantities with so few people.”

“Thank you very much.”

“That is precisely why I now command you to begin mass-producing rice. I expect you to fulfil your duties without fail.”

Shizuko responded to Nobunaga’s words and gave a faint smile with a deep bow.

She found herself experiencing a rather peculiar feeling.

What he had said was unquestionably an order and there was no guarantee that she would receive any reward even if she succeeded.

Yet, strangely enough, she felt no resentment towards him.

Rather, she found herself wanting to know just how far Nobunaga would go.

“Once I have unified this realm, I shall develop it into a nation that surpasses Ming and the Nanban. And after that——”

Shizuko knew. She knew that Nobunaga, who was now speaking so passionately of his dreams, would never succeed in unifying the realm.

She knew that his life would come to an end when he was betrayed and faced a rebellion before he could fulfil his ambitions.

Even so, she wanted to know. She wanted to see just how far he would continue along his chosen path.

Shizuko sincerely wished to understand Nobunaga, a man who seemed to race through life itself in the blink of an eye.

‘Not the Nobunaga recorded in history. I want to know the Nobunaga standing before me right now.’

In the end, Nobunaga took home almost all the dried sweet potatoes they had prepared.

However, considering that the villagers were being spared from going to the battlefield in exchange, it was still a favourable arrangement.

Under ordinary circumstances, not only would their harvests be collected as taxes but all the farmers who constituted their workforce would also be taken away to fight in the war.

“Follow Shizuko’s instructions and increase your harvest yields. That is the duty entrusted to you!”

Nobunaga issued this command to the villagers from atop his horse.

Shizuko instinctively understood. Nobunaga intended to strengthen the very foundations of his domain.

‘Is he planning to establish a national foundation beyond anything considered possible within the few years remaining before his march on the capital?’

During the Sengoku period, the amount of rice and other crops harvested depended largely on the number of farmers and the amount of available land.

There was no mass production, nor were there effective agricultural techniques.

Unlike modern times, even maintaining a minimum harvest yield was difficult, and each year’s harvest was almost entirely left to chance.

“Oyakata-sama, please look forward to it. By this time next year, I shall present you with a rice harvest so abundant that it will leave you astonished.”

But Shizuko was different.

Within her mind lay knowledge of cultivation methods developed throughout the centuries between the Sengoku period and the modern era.

Simply applying modern agricultural knowledge would produce a dramatically different harvest yield.

“Hohoh! Now that is something to look forward to.”

Seeing Shizuko looking straight at him, Nobunaga broke into a broad grin.

That alone nearly caused several villagers to cry out in fright, but Shizuko merely smiled faintly.

It was not that she possessed absolute confidence in her success.

The machinery taken for granted in modern times was completely nonexistent during the Sengoku period.

Although she had brought certain pieces of modern technology with her when she travelled back in time, they were hardly so versatile that they could solve every problem.

If any of them broke, she would have to find a substitute, so she could not afford to use them carelessly until they wore out.

Even so, she continued smiling.

Because she was enjoying herself so much that she simply could not help it.

Cultivating vast stretches of farmland and using them to produce enormous quantities of crops was something she found endlessly enjoyable.

“With the knowledge I possess, I shall show you a kokudaka greater than that of any other domain, one that no other domain will be able to replicate.”

“Quite the confidence you have there, to make such a bold declaration.”

“If I were alone, I would never dare make such a grand claim. However, I have people who have stood by me for nearly half a year. If we combine our efforts, I am certain we will succeed.”

As Shizuko spoke, she turned her gaze towards the villagers.

Her previous harvests had not been successful through her efforts alone.

It was precisely because of the villagers’ cooperation that they had been able to harvest such tremendous quantities of sweet potatoes and corn.

Despite being a youngster not yet twenty years of age, the villagers had followed her without complaint.

At first, they had only cooperated reluctantly because she had threatened them, but now they were all bound together by strong ties.

That was precisely why Shizuko was certain that they would not fail next time, either.

“I shall look forward to it!”

With those final words, Nobunaga turned his horse around, as though signalling that their conversation was over.

Seeing this, Shizuko bowed deeply and the villagers, noticing her actions, hurriedly lowered their heads as well.

The sound of horses’ hooves continued to echo for a while but when it finally faded into the distance, Shizuko slowly raised her head.

Naturally, Nobunaga was nowhere to be seen.

“Phew, things sure are going to get hectic from here on out~”

Her voice carried a strangely carefree tone, making it difficult to believe that she was the very same person who had spoken so confidently to Nobunaga just moments earlier.

[Shincho Koki or Nobunaga Koki is a chronicle of Oda Nobunaga]

Ming (明) = Ming Dynasty China (1368–1644).]

[Kokudaka (石高) is a historical Japanese system used to measure the agricultural productivity and economic value of a territory, expressed in units of rice called koku (石).

One koku was approximately 180 litres of rice, traditionally considered enough to feed one adult for a year.

During the Sengoku and Edo periods, kokudaka was used to assess a domain’s productive capacity, wealth, and potential military strength.]