It's been a month since the tragic battle of Kawanakajima. Takeda Katsuyori, no, has changed its name to Suwa Katsuyori at the moment, and has officially inherited the Suwa family business. After inheriting the Suwa family, Suwa Katsuyori was named the lord of Takato Castle and the Ina gun, with a territory of nearly 40,000 koku.

On the way, Takeda Katsuyori, the new lord of the castle, was full of ambition and drove the horses under his crotch all the way. His entourage and the samurai guarding him were all left far behind the mountain road, and only Li Xiao and Yamamoto Kansuke, two 'high-ranking samurai' with war horses, barely fought for their lives, riding horses and chasing after Takeda Katsuyori.

Li Xiao's equestrian skills still have not made much progress, and the bumps along the way have tormented him, a modern man who has been pampered since childhood, and he has secretly scolded Takeda Katsuyori countless times in his heart, but he has to reluctantly continue to ride a horse to catch up. There's no way, this is the sadness of being a retainer, in case something accidentally happens on the road of Takeda Katsuyori, such as the horse stumbling on the front hoof or something, he and Yamamoto Kansuke can only apologize for the ending.

Cup, I really don't understand my own thinking, such a perverted thing as seppuku is still the glory of a samurai, Li Xiaoyang sighed, and had to use supreme perseverance to endure the pain in his hips and continue to catch up.

The three of them ran wildly along Shinano's mountain path, and when they turned a mountain pass, they suddenly saw the Ina Basin, in the center of which stood a large castle.

Takeda Katsuyori pulled the reins and stopped the warhorse, waiting for the panting Li Xiao and Yamamoto Kansuke to arrive. Takeda Katsuyori raised his horsewhip, pointed to the city in front of him, and said proudly and excitedly: "You see, this is my city, and my Katsurai is the city of Gaoyuan. ”

Takato Castle, also known as Doushan Castle, is located in Minamishinano Ina County, and was originally the residence of the Takato clan, a branch of the Suwa clan.

Later Takato Yoritsuki plotted the position of his own family, which happened to be used by Takeda Shingen, and as an internal response, he helped Takeda Shingen seize Suwa Prefecture, and forced the head of the family, Suwa Yorishige (who was also Takeda Shingen's brother-in-law), to commit suicide after being defeated. Later, Takato Yoritsugu rebelled again, was defeated by the Takeda family and committed suicide, the Takato family became the heir, and Takato Castle became owned by the Takeda family.

As the entrance to and from the Ina Basin, Takato Castle was extremely important to the Takeda family. In the 16th year of Tenmon (1547), Kansuke Yamamoto, who was known for building castles, was instructed by Takeda Shingen to assist the general Akiyama Nobuyo, known as the "Takeda family's fierce bull", to rebuild Takato Castle on a large scale, making it a strong base of the Takeda family in Minami Shinano.

Kansuke Yamamoto, who was a master of castle building and had built Kaizu Castle and Takato Castle, sat on his horse silently and stared at the castle he had designed with one eye, as if he had shown a little pride in it. Li Xiao followed his gaze and saw that under the blue sky and white clouds, Gaoyuan City stood majestically there, and in terms of structure and appearance, Gaoyuan City should be a Pingshan City.

Hirayama Castle is a castle built on a hill and a castle built on flat ground. The overall structure of Hirayama Castle is a castle built with a hill or hill as the main body. You must know that the castle of this book is similar to the castle of the European Middle Ages, and the role only needs to protect the daimyo or the family of the city lord, and the other people don't have to worry about anything, so the scale is not large.

It is said that most of the early cities were mountain cities, built on mountains that were easy to defend and difficult to attack, and defended by difficult terrain. However, the shortcomings of the mountain castle are also obvious, first of all, the transportation is inconvenient, the mobility of the troops is limited, and secondly, in the development of the castle town, the mountain castle is congenitally insufficient.

The flat castle was built on flat land, although the transportation is convenient, but the defense and garrison are relatively lacking, in contrast, the flat mountain castle is also a combination of the advantages of these two types of castles, more able to take into account the development of the castle town, and at the same time can be used as a military garrison needs.

"Let's go in first, we don't have to wait for those slow followers." Katsuyori Takeda seems to be in a hurry to take over his territory, so he seems a little impatient. Anyway, this is the hinterland of the Takeda family, and there are no hostile elements with bad intentions in the vicinity, so there should be no danger.

Li Xiao and Yamamoto Kansuke glanced at each other, and both agreed with Takeda's move.

The three of them walked slowly to the castle town of Takato Castle, and since it was still early, they could see farmers who had gone to the castle town to buy or sell goods.

Takeda Katsuyori and Li Xiao were wearing water dried with a long rope knotted with their necklines, and they were riding high-headed horses, and they knew at a glance that they belonged to the kind of high-level samurai. And Li Xiao saw that along the way, where the three of them rode by, the people of Shinano avoided the side of the road, bowed or knelt to the side, and respectfully waited for them to pass.

Until the Meiji Restoration, the samurai enjoyed this privilege, and not only that, but the samurai could also draw their swords and kill civilians without any responsibility.

Anyone who rides on a tall horse and looks down on these common people naturally has a sense of superiority. Katsuyori Takeda and Kansuke Yamamoto are accustomed to this.

Soon the three of them entered the castle town of Takato Castle, and Takeda Katsuyori suddenly changed his mind at this time, and did not enter Takato Castle to take over as the lord of the castle for the time being, but planned to find a place in the castle town to have a few drinks before going.

In the face of Takeda Katsuyori's repeated surnames, even Takeda Shingen himself dared to speak out and admonish, Kansuke Yamamoto, for a moment. But Li Xiao couldn't wait to agree at the bottom of his heart at the moment, otherwise his ass would really be turned into four pieces by the war horse.

The situation was two to one, Takeda Shenglai and Li Xiao had two votes, which caused Yamamoto Kansuke to look unhappy, and I don't know if Li Xiao had been divided into the category of ministers in his heart.

After the three of them found a 'travel cage' and tied their horses, the three of them immediately asked the boss for a large pot of sake, and then took a small plate and drank it slowly. At this time, the sake is already quite good, although Li Xiao is not good at drinking, but at this time, his mouth is dry, and he feels good after a few sips of sake.

Ryokago is a hotel in the general sense, which not only provides accommodation but also food, and in addition to travelers who travel from south to north, there are also many ronin samurai living in it.

The travelers passed on what they had seen and heard and the war in various places through drinking and chatting, so that the samurai could increase their knowledge and understand the general trend of the world without leaving home, and then decide their future prospects and directions.

Li Xiao and Takeda Katsuri were drinking and heard travelers tell all kinds of stories about different places, but the most talked about was the battle between the Takeda family and the Uesugi family not long ago, which was unprecedented and tragic in the history of the country.