The _samurai_ who had their abode in their lord's territory, however, represented the real strength of a _daimyo_, and were the soul and body of the whole military regime. The number of _samurai_ in a territory differed according to the rank and the resources of a _daimyo_. Some of the powerful nobles counted more than ten thousand regular _samurai_ under them, while minor ones could maintain only a few hundred as necessary retainers. In the latter case almost all of the _samurai_ had their dwellings clustering around the castle or camp of their lord. If there were any _samurai_ who lived outside of the residential town, they led an agricultural rather than a soldierly life. The relation of vassalage in such a territory was simple, for under the _samurai_ consisting of a single order there was no swords-wearer serving them. In the territory of the powerful _daimyo_, however, especially in those of the big _daimyo_ in Kyushu and the northern part of Honto, comprising an area of two or more average provinces in Middle Japan, the relation of vassalage was very complicated, sometimes forming a feudalism of the second order. That is to say, the most influential _samurai_ under those _daimyo_ had also their own small territory granted by their lord, just as the latter had his granted or recognised by the Shogunate, and held several hundred swords-wearers, non-commissioned _samurai_, in their service. It was not rare that some of these magnates surpassed in income many minor independent _daimyo_, and had in their hands the destiny of a greater number of people, for their emolument rose often to twenty or thirty thousand _koku_. Their rank in the military regime, however, was indisputably lower than that of the smallest of _daimyo_, on account of their being only indirectly subordinate to the Shogun.