Hida Country has ushered in the biggest snowstorm since the beginning of winter, and the howling mountain wind is wrapped in snow and beats everywhere without purpose, and the snow powder rustles on the panes.

Heavy snow covered the entire castle of Kamiokanda, and the snow on the houses was thick, and the roof that had just been built made a gurgling sound under the pressure of the snow.

The temperature is suddenly cold, and the water turns into ice.

In Kamioka Castle, both samurai and standing guards hid in the yashiki to escape the cold weather.

Although Shengang City was made in a hurry, the quality did not deteriorate, although the wind and snow were all over the place, the house was kept warm and there was no air leakage at all, so that all of Li Xiao's subordinates could live a winter with peace of mind.

There is still a month left until the New Year.

Kamioka Castle, in the dark room of the castle tower.

Li Xiao put his hands on his ribs, looked at the paper sliding door, and Yokotani Xingqing, who was kneeling on the side, said: "What has happened to Sister Xiaolu's family, the Inner Island family, and the Jiangma family recently?" ”

"Oh," Yokotani said, lowering his head, "My ninja has discovered that there have been frequent visits by unknown people in Kogen Suwa Castle recently, and according to investigation, it is likely that it is Echigo, from the Koji family. ”

"Oh?" Li Xiao's eyes narrowed, and he asked rhetorically, "Are you sure?" ”

"I don't dare to have ten points, but at least seven or eight percent of the possibility, if it weren't for the extreme difficulty of tracking on this snowy day, my ninja would be able to follow these people and investigate their real behind-the-scenes forces."

"No need, it's not a big deal," Li Xiao snorted, and then took out a small note and said, "This is the news that Jiangma Huisheng secretly sent to me through your ninja today." It is speculated that next year it is likely that Eima Shimori will have an unfavorable move against the Takeda family, no, it is my Kamiokanda Castle. ”

After Li Xiao finished speaking, he threw the note into the brazier on the side, and secretly thought in his heart that if this Jiangma Shisheng was really not a good thing, he really wanted to do it to himself.

Yokotani raised his head when he heard this, and said, "In that case, should the Lord's visit to Jiangma's house continue on New Year's Day?" ”

Li Xiao nodded and said, "We must continue, we must strike first, fortunately." ”

"Oh."

Li Xiao thought for a moment and said, "I think it is very necessary to strengthen the intelligence force of our ninjas in Hida. Your ninjas have been lurking in Hida for a long time, so you should be familiar with the local situation, but this is not enough, we need some local people to join, and the infiltration into Echichu is also about to begin. ”

Li Xiao's current ninja people, in terms of intelligence collection, are mainly divided into three parts, one part is the collection of information from the family, lurking in the territory of Shinano and Kai's family, and one part is the collection of intelligence from hostile forces, that is, lurking in Echigo, understanding every move of the Uesugi family, and the last part is the intelligence collection of Hida country, which has the largest number of people invested in it, and it is also the top priority now.

"Increase intelligence infiltration into Vietnam," Yokotani Yukishige repeated Li Xiao's words, and said: "I will swear to complete the mission of the lord to the death, but with our current manpower, there are still some difficulties in covering the intelligence collection of Vietnam." ”

Well, Li Xiao nodded and said, "I know, so I decided that I want to expand the size of the ninjas of my family, fortunately, the ninjas of my family are less than a hundred people together, so I asked you to expand to two hundred." Personnel will absorb more, Feida, and local people in Vietnam, but the quality must be strictly screened, and their loyal and reliable surnames must be ranked first. ”

"Oh."

Yokotani Yukishige agreed, but he thought to himself that the standing staff of the family was only two hundred, and the number of ninjas was comparable to this number. Could it be that the purpose of the lord is to establish secrets and unknown underground forces.

Although Yokotani Yushige speculated in his heart, he didn't ask any questions on his face, as a ninja he knew what to ask and what not to ask.

Li Xiao pondered for a while and said, "I will transfer the funds of the ninjas recruited, I will transfer them to you." And the cost of these two hundred ninjas has been increased from 1,500 to 2,500. ”

Li Xiao's Meikoku ramen restaurant in Koto Castle is managed by Yusada Kohata, and has steadily achieved an annual income of 2,500 kan, and a month ago, Yumi Kohata, who was pregnant, was not idle and opened a branch of Meikoku ramen restaurant in Suwa no Machi.

This move began, the first step in the expansion of the chain of Li Xiaomingguo's ramen restaurant.

The town of Suwa is located near the upper and lower shrines of Suwa Shrine, and whether it is the Mijinto, the Mikazu Festival, the Mifune Matsuri, the Mikusaiyama Matsuri, and especially the Mitsuki Matsuri, which is one of the three strange festivals of the Honhon, it attracts people from all over the world.

In terms of geographical location, Suwa no Town is the intersection of Koshu Street and Nakashu Street, so in terms of prosperity, Suwa Town is one or two grades better than Takato Town.

In fact, the first month of operation of the Meikoku Ramen Restaurant branch in Suwa Town exceeded the highest monthly turnover of the Takato Town main store in a year, and it is conservatively estimated that the net income of the previous year was more than 3,000 kan.

Because he had money in his hands, Li Xiaocai was more confident and boldly expanded the ninjas in his hands.

As Yokotani Yukishige expected, Li Xiao's ninja crowd is his secret weapon, and this force lurks underground, unable to attract attention, even Takeda Katsuyori does not know.

On the surface, Li Xiao is just a city lord, a wealthy clan in a 5,000-stone territory, and a standing reserve of 200 people, but who would have expected that Li Xiao would have a ninja group of 200 people under him, such an elite army.

However, it is true that it costs money to raise ninjas, and the same money can equip more than twice the number of standing guards, and if it is used to mobilize peasant soldiers to fight, the number of troops can be easily doubled.

However, Li Xiao is convinced that his hole card will play an unexpected role at a critical time in the future.

Li Xiao said to Yokotani again: "However, among the newly established ninjas, I need to set up a special team of ninjas who are responsible for carrying out hidden assassinations, and they must be the elite of the elite to complete all assassination missions under impossible circumstances." There don't have to be too many ninjas in this army, twenty people are enough. ”

Hidden assassination is a compulsory course for ninjas, but the ability of ninjas is not like this, some people are better at intelligence gathering, inciting rumors among the people, investigation and analysis, sabotage, discord, stealing valuables, long-distance raids, etc.

Yokotani Yukiheki said with a sigh: "Yes, lord, please ask when the lord will use it, if it is a month later, I'm afraid it will be a little reluctant." ”

Of course, Li Xiao knew what Yokotani Yushige was going to do after a month.

However, Li Xiao waved his hand and said: "The goal of the assassination team is not Jiangma Shisheng, but the establishment of the assassination team is imperative, and it will be completed within three months." ”

Yokotani nodded and said, "Once the ninja group is expanded, the manpower is temporarily insufficient, and the ability of the subordinates is limited, so the subordinates implore the lord to send reliable subordinates to join the ninjas and assist the subordinates." ”

Li Xiao's eyes flashed, but he didn't expect Yokotani Yushige to understand the way to advance and retreat so well.

The expansion of the ninja group is already underway, and if this power is completely in the hands of Yokotani Yushige, he is indeed a little uneasy, so it is imperative to send someone to monitor it.

But he didn't expect Yokotani Yushige to be so smart that he would take the initiative to take the initiative and strive for the initiative, which came naturally, and he could win Li Xiao's trust in one fell swoop.

Li Xiao nodded and said, "I understand what you said, within three days, I will send designated subordinates to join the ninjas." ”

From the identity of a samurai to a ninja, there will inevitably be a gap, so it is not easy to find suitable candidates. However, Li Xiao already has several candidates in his heart, they are all people who have followed him for a long time, and their conduct and loyalty are all excellent people, and they can be trusted.

Li Xiao and Yokotani Yushige talked to each other for a few words, and Yokotani Yushige stepped back.

After Yokotani left again, Li Xiao revisited his plan again, and after confirming that there were no flaws, he was relieved.

A month later, Li Xiao went to Jiangma's house to express to Jiangma Shisheng that the New Year's greetings would be the Hongmen banquet or Jiangma Shisheng's last day, Li Xiao was really looking forward to it.

(To be continued)