On the banks of the winding Chikuma River, Li Xiao joined the people of Takeda Shinfan's headquarters after walking a mountain road. When Takeda Xinfan and Li Xiao rushed to the riverbank, they were almost in time for the meal, and the people and horses belonging to Xinfan were temporarily stationed on the riverside, and the soldiers were busy fetching water and cooking rice.

Kai has always been poor, and food is often not enough for self-sufficiency, so the common people in the country often do not have enough to eat, and the situation of ordinary samurai is slightly better, but they can only barely fill their stomachs.

In the past, when the soldiers of the Takeda family went out to war, they all brought their own food, and the types of food were all kinds of miscellaneous grains, such as mustard flour and millet flour. Therefore, at that time, for the Takeda family, conquering Shinano Province, which was rich in rice and grain, and eating fragrant rice had always been the dream of everyone from the top to the ordinary soldiers.

The Takeda family was poor and the second generation of Shingen was the governor, and it took 20 years to finally completely control Shinano, which not only meant the expansion of the territory (Shinano was more than twice the size of Kai country), but also made the Takeda family complete self-sufficiency in food.

Since it was a march and it was impossible to set up pots and bowls to cook rice in a hurry, the soldiers took out the rice balls that had already been prepared from the 'waist stool (i.e., dry food bags) that were tied to their bodies.

Then the soldiers made a fire, forked the rice balls with branches, and roasted them on the fire, while boiling some hot water. From Takeda Nobuyoshi to low-level peasants and soldiers, from the chief general to the soldiers, they all ate the same food and ate together.

Li Xiao felt quite fresh at first, his chestnut war horse was led to feed the grass, and after distributing the rice balls, he learned to put the rice balls on the fire and barbecue them like ordinary soldiers. Li Xiao saw that many people burned the skin of the rice balls to blacken, so that it smelled of a burnt aroma that aroused people's appetite.

After Li Xiao roasted the rice ball, he put it in his mouth and chewed it, and there seemed to be plums in the rice ball, and when the rice grains were chewed in his mouth, there was a sour plum juice taste that seeped into it, which had a unique flavor.

"March."

The herald signaled, and Li Xiaonan swallowed the remaining half of the rice ball like a date, this bit of food was only enough for him to lay the foundation, and he was not full, so he went on the road.

But it seems that the other soldiers have only one rice ball to eat, but they all seem to have eaten enough to regain their energy, boost their morale, and get back on the road.

I have heard that I am basically malnourished in this era, and for the peasants and soldiers, they only have rice to eat during wartime, and they usually eat some miscellaneous grains. Therefore, their meals are basically very small, and they belong to the type of eating less and doing more.

In order to consolidate Shinano's rule, Takeda Shingen built a straight road from Kofu to Kawanakajima, along which it took 160 kilometers to travel from Kofu to Shinano, and the cavalry could reach it in six hours.

Despite this, Shingen also built many beacon towers along the way, using wolf smoke to convey the enemy's situation, once the Uesugi family sent troops to Kita-Shinano, it only took two hours for Takeda Shingen of Kofu to learn the news and make a quick judgment to send troops.

Takeda Nobuyoshi's troops advanced silently, because of the heavy rain not long ago, the road was very muddy, and the small convoy behind the troops was very difficult to walk.

The rugged and narrow mountain road and the bad road conditions made Xinfan's team travel less than 1 kilometer per hour, but at this moment, the pack cart was stuck in the mud and it was difficult to pull it out, and a dozen peasant soldiers on the side could not pull the pack cart out with all their might.

Although several urging warriors shouted loudly and punched and kicked repeatedly, they still could not force the dozen or so peasant soldiers to burst out with their divine power to pull the pack cart out.

So the march of the Xinfan team was delayed. At this time, the rear team's Anayama Nobuyan Department had also caught up, and was also blocked on the mountain road by the front team, and could not advance a single step.

How is this good? It's not enough to miss the lodging, but it's the problem to slow down the march of the army. Takeda Nobuhiro was quite embarrassed, and at this time, the centipede banner had already brought Shingen's instructions and ordered Shinshiro to speed up.

Seeing this, Takeda Katsuyori hurriedly suggested to Takeda Shinshihiro: "There is no way to go on like this, the only way to do this is to cut the rope on the pack cart and unload the baggage off the cart and carry it on each other's backs, which will definitely drag the wheels out of the mud." ”

After listening to Takeda Katsuyori's suggestion, Takeda Shinhiro shook his head and said: "No, it takes time to cut the bundle and unload the goods, not to mention that even if it is successful, this mountain road is difficult to walk, is it difficult for our soldiers to trek with food?" ”

Seeing that the sky was getting darker, they were all saddened and delayed the military order, which was a great crime.

At this time, Li Xiao jumped off his horse, came to the pack cart stuck in the mud, and said loudly: "Tie the rope to the horse and pull the cart up with animal power."

Seeing that the people around him were at a loss, Li Xiao thought that he couldn't understand words. So Li Xiao personally untied the rope from a soldier's shoulder and tied it to his chestnut horse.

There were no horse-drawn carriages until the Meiji era, and horses were so scarce and precious that no one used them as animal power. The so-called pack carts are all manpower.

None of the soldiers of the Takeda family thought of using horses to tow the cart, the idea was too extravagant. And the samurai who rode the horse cherished their war horses even more, and even if they thought of it, they would not use it for the trailer.

Seeing that Li Xiao, who was a samurai, took the lead and contributed all his horses, how dare the peasants and soldiers not sell their strength, and for a while, everyone fought bravely to be the first, and worked hard to pull the cart.

The moment the car was pulled out, all the troops erupted in cheers, as if they had won a battle. Li Xiao could feel the admiration on everyone's faces.

"Li Xiaojun, it's really hard for you." Xin Fan's face was also full of joy.

Li Xiao replied: "How dare you, but I see that the road below is also not easy to walk, I see a bamboo forest on the mountain on the left, it is better to cut some bamboo, cut into bamboo pieces and take turns in front of the wheels, so that you don't have to worry about falling into the mud again." ”

"I see."

Xin Fan touched his beard and showed a look of sudden realization, and then Li Xiao's suggestion was carried out as an order.

In the evening, Xinfan's team set up a large camp, and its own soldiers took the initiative to set up a tent for Li Xiao. Now Li Xiao's deeds have been admired by all the soldiers, and Xin Fan is also very important to him, but Shenglai is still on the side, and he is not very convinced to say that this level of things can be easily done by himself.

Li Xiao was lying comfortably on the straw pile of the tent at the moment, with the grass roots in his mouth, looking up at the stars in the sky. At this time, Takeda Nobuyoshi and his eldest son, Takeda Nobutoyo, suddenly visited.

Takeda Nobutoyo is about the same age as Takeda Katsuyori, and he looks quite easy-going, and his temperament is quite similar to his father's kind of dignified feeling.

Li Xiao hurriedly saluted, and Takeda Nobuya smiled and said, "Li Xiao doesn't have to be polite, if it weren't for you, my team wouldn't be able to pass through the valley quickly, thanks to you." ”

Li Xiao said with a smile: "This is a matter of subordination, in our Ming Dynasty, there are countless war horses, and the wealthy farmers in the countryside will also ride horses to travel and trailer trucks." But it seems that you don't have this habit. Li Xiao has never been stingy with his praise for his hometown.

Takeda Shinfan listened to the expression that Ming Guo was really powerful, and then said: "Yes, this war horse is scarce, and the cost of raising a war horse is enough to supply the expenses of five samurai, and ordinary samurai can't ride horses at all, so even if we are rich in war horses and have the support of Jinshan, we have formed a red reserve cavalry team of five hundred people." ”

Li Xiao was taken aback when he heard this, it turned out that his chestnut war horse also had to pay for it himself, which was a lot of expenses. With his current low-level samurai, he will definitely not be able to raise him for a long time, so he must quickly make war exploits to improve his salary. If you can be made a direct minister by the Takeda family, or even a fief, it will be cool.

Takeda Shinfan didn't know what Li Xiao was thinking in his heart, he laughed, and then said: "Li Xiao, since you are already a samurai of our Takeda family, then I will directly appoint you as the general of my army." ”

Li Xiao was stunned when he heard this, during the Warring States period, low-level samurai all started from the head of the Ashigaru group......

Li Xiao didn't expect Takeda Nobuyori to appoint himself as the head of the ashigaru at once, giving him such high expectations.

Since the Takeda family did not separate soldiers and peasants, they relied on peasant soldiers recruited during zero hours to fight the war. The combat effectiveness of the peasant soldiers on the battlefield was slightly poor, so the low-ranking samurai were like junior officers in the army, and they were also the middle and main force of the battle.

To use an inappropriate analogy, a low-ranking samurai is equivalent to a non-commissioned officer in the army, a low-ranking officer at the rank of squad leader. As everyone knows, in modern warfare, the combat effectiveness of a unit is largely determined by the quality of low-ranking officers.

Li Xiao said at the moment: "Thank you, Xin Fangong." ”