The seventh year of Yonglu, the first month.

It lasted for half a month, and the turmoil in the Jiangma family in Beihida was nearing the end.

With the help of Jiangma Huisheng in the Takeda family, he finally calmed down all opposition within the family in one fell swoop and imprisoned the position of governor of the Jiangma family.

However, after this civil strife, the Efa family suffered a great loss of vitality, and recently there have been rumors that the sister Koji family is fully armed, and when the snow in Hida Country melts, the Efma family will be used with troops.

In the face of the threat of the sister Xiaolu family, the current situation of Jiangma Huisheng can be described by words like panic, so he counted all his hopes on Li Xiao and the Hida expeditionary army that he said the Takeda family would go out this year.

In this way, Jiangma Fraser could only be tightly attached to Li Xiao, and he didn't even dare to blow up his wings.

Hida Country, Kamioka Castle.

Since the success of the Jiangma family's military advice and the transposition of the head of the family, Li Xiao has returned to Shengang City, and the first thing he did when he came back was to send someone to completely take over the Shengang Silver Mountain.

The Shengang Mine is only a mile away from Shengang City, which can be said to be right under Li Xiao's nose, which adds convenience to his control of the mine.

However, as Li Xiao, who can only play Xinye and Taige, he is not a graduate of the University of Mines, and he is not familiar with the mine at all, so he can only collect talents everywhere in this regard, and they will be responsible.

After obtaining the Shengang Mine, Li Xiao asked the ninjas to make a lot of effort to invite mountain masters, surveyors, and refiners who were specially responsible for mineral exploration to explore the mineral deposits of the entire Shengang Mine.

The general person in charge of mineral exploration is Chang'an, a treasurer under Li Xiao.

Regarding the strength of Chang'an, Li Xiao is deeply relieved.

In the Tokugawa shogunate, Ōzo Yasushi was appointed as the commissioner of Iwami Ginzan and Sado Kanzan.

You must know that Iwami Silver Mountain and Sado Gold Mountain are silver production and gold production respectively, and both have become the largest in the world, or the world's largest bonanza.

A large part of the reason why Daizo Chang'an was appointed as the commissioner of Iwami Ginzan and Sado Kanayama was because he was extremely proficient in mining.

When it was said that the Great Tibetan Chang'an took the mountain masters, surveyors, and refiners to explore the entire Shengang mine for a whole day.

After that, Dazang Chang'an didn't wash his face, and hurriedly rushed into the castle tower of Shengang City with a dirty body, and when he saw Li Xiao, he looked excited and overjoyed.

Under the excitement, Dazang Chang'an did not speak well, and said almost intermittently: "Congratulations to the lord, congratulations to the lord, great joy, great joy." ”

Li Xiao saw Dazang Chang'an like this, and said in surprise: "Chang'an is just for you to go to Shengang Silver Mountain, don't give me excitement like this, I have always told you that as a samurai, you must have the bearing of a samurai." ”

Dazang Chang'an was stunned for a moment, and said: "It's the minister's gaffe, but the lord, it's really a great joy." ”

"Oh? Is there anything to be found in Kamioka Ginzan? ”

Dazang Chang'an nodded twice heavily, and said: "Lord, it's not just a discovery, it's really a discovery of great joy!" ”

"Specifically."

Dazang Chang'an calmed down for a while, organized his language, and said: "My lord, now my subordinates will lead people to explore the entire Shengang Silver Mountain, sort out the ore into samples for analysis, and make a detailed estimate of the mineral reserves of this mine. ”

After a pause, Dazang Chang'an's eyes flashed, and he said in a serious tone: "Your Majesty has discovered that the length and quality of the Shengang Yinshan ore vein are incomparable, and it is quite easy to dig new ore veins. His Majesty made a rough estimate, even if the mineral reserves of the Shengang Mine were not as good as Iwami Ginzan, the gap would not be too far behind. ”

Nani?

Although Li Xiao knew that the reserves of the Shengang Mine were amazing, he didn't expect it to be so much.

Li Xiao snorted, and then asked, "You have to be specific, how much can the annual mining capacity of the Shengang Mine reach?" ”

Dazang Chang'an's eyes flashed and then he said: "If the lord, you let your subordinates take charge of the mining of the Shengang mine, and deduct the part to the Jiangma family, your subordinates are sure that within a year this year, you will expand the standing reserve of 500 people for your family." ”

"Five hundred?" Li Xiao was very surprised, paused and said: "This is not the annual output of a Shengang Silver Mountain, which is equivalent to more than 20,000 stone high Zhixing. ”

Li Xiao originally set up a standing army of 100 people, using a thousand straight soldiers, while the Takeda family had the same salary in the military service account, and only sent 100 troops, but most of them were only temporarily mobilized peasant soldiers.

Only Li Xiao has Mingguo Ramen Restaurant as income, and Yu Lu is not his only source, so he dares to do this.

If you change to other retainers, it is also a hundred standing reserves, and it will take nearly two thousand straight salaries to equip it, after all, their Yulu also has to leave some money for their own use, otherwise they are really 2B youths, and all the income is used to raise soldiers for the daimyo.

According to Li Xiao's future estimates, the proportion of one person in the territory is almost fifty stones, to form their own standing reserves, that is to say, the territory of 10,000 stones, out of the standing reserve of about 180 to 200 people.

And Shengang Yinshan actually provided himself with 500 people, which is equivalent to a piece of 25,000 stones.

Listening to Li Xiao's question, Dazang Chang'an nodded with great certainty and said: "The lord is sure, and this is still the first year, everything is not ripe for the future, as for next year, His Majesty has the confidence to form a standing army of 1,000 people for the lord." As for the year after tomorrow, there could be more. ”

"Standing for a thousand."

It was not a Zhixing place equivalent to fifty or sixty thousand stones, Li Xiao felt that he was almost fainting with happiness.

"No," Li Xiao thought about it again and asked, "According to what you said, Shengang Yinshan has always been in the hands of the Jiangma family before, why don't you see the Jiangma family have so many standing equipment?" ”

Dazang Chang'an smiled and said: "This lord doesn't know something, the Jiangma family has always used the soil method to refine silver, so the mining volume has not been high. However, the mining efficiency used in the mining method used is much higher than that of Jiangmajia. ”

"Oh, what mining method?" Li Xiao suddenly became interested.

Dazang Chang'an suddenly put on the posture of an authoritative person, and said in a very professional tone: "In addition to the pit digging and pit digging I use, there is also a special refining technique, which is to add lead to high-temperature melting in gold ore for refining, which is a special surname that uses metal and metal to be easily combined. The silver and lead are combined first, and in the next stage, the ash is used to absorb the lead, and in the end only the silver is left. ”

"Oh, that's the Ash Blowing Method." Li Xiao suddenly realized.

Dazang Chang'an looked surprised, and asked with an expression that you all know: "It turns out that the lord also knows this method of alchemy. ”

Li Xiao laughed, secretly very ashamed, to be honest, if he hadn't played with Xinye, there was a science and technology tree in internal affairs, which was a method of blowing ashes, otherwise how could he know this knowledge.

Dazang Chang'an immediately suddenly realized and said: "Your Majesty has forgotten that the lord is from the Ming Kingdom, and this soot blowing method came from the Ming Kingdom. However, when his subordinate Hakata Town in Kyushu learned the method of mining, it was taught by the Nanban. However, this soot blowing method is really applied in this way, or a few decades ago, the Ouchi family used this method to mine Iwami Silver Mountain. ”

I see, Li Xiao nodded, at that time, the Ouchi family, with one hand in the hands of the Iwami Silver Mountain, which is said to have the largest amount of silver mining, and the other hand in the power of exploration and trade with the Ming Dynasty, so with this to export a large amount of silver to the Ming Dynasty.

Li Xiao saw that the Great Tibetan Chang'an was talking like the Tao, and thought to himself that he had dug up the Great Tibetan Chang'an from Takeda Katsuyori's side, and now it finally came in handy.

Great-treasured Chang'an's father, Great-Treasured Uemon Nobuyan, although he was born as a musician of the Great-Treasured Flowing Ape, he was skilled in alchemy, and was hired by Takeda Shingen as a refiner, and he served as a Tibetan former member of the Takeda family's Kurokawa Gold Mountain.

In addition to being taught by his father, he also went to Hakata in Kyushu to learn from the Nanbanians, and later the Tokugawa shogunate ordered him to serve as Sado Gold Mine and Iwami Silver Mountain, which shows his ability.

So Li Xiao said to the Great Tibetan Chang'an: "Chang'an, I will appoint you as the commissioner of Shengang Yinshan now, with an annual salary of one hundred and fifty yuan. ”

When Dazang Chang'an heard Li Xiao say this, he was immediately taken aback, and the annual salary was one hundred and fifty yuan, which was already the level of an ashigaru general, and even the number one general under Li Xiao, Dao Shengmeng, did not have so much.

Dazang Chang'an immediately bowed and said gratefully: "Thank you for the generous gift of the lord, and your subordinates will definitely swear to repay the service." ”

Li Xiaoyan said: "I don't want you to swear to the death, you only need to do two things is enough, first, the mining volume of Shengang Silver Mountain must reach the number you just said, and second, there is no need to be corrupt, understand?" ”

"Oh! Your Majesty will do as the Lord commands. ”

After raising his head, his eyes were already slightly red, and he looked overjoyed, and at this moment, he finally regarded himself as a firm member of Li Xiao's retainers.

Dazang Chang'an showed a look of putting himself in Li Xiao's shoes, and said: "Lord, I heard that the Shengang Silver Mountain was borrowed by us from the Jiangma family, and there is only a three-year period. ”

Li Xiao said with a smile: "Don't worry, three years later, even if I give this Shengang Silver Mountain to Jiangma Huisheng, he won't dare to ask for it." ”

Li Xiao didn't do this casually, he had already calculated the chess pieces to contain Jiangma Huisheng.

That is Edama Celeshiro's brother Eduma Nobumori, this person was previously named Dan Lawgiver, and became a monk at the Yamamondo Terurinji Temple of Honganji in Shirakawa Township, and later because Eima Shisheng did not like Eima Celestial, he was ready to make him a candidate for the governor of the Eima family, and officially named the samurai Eima Nobumori.

This person is in history, when Eima Tokimori surrendered to the Takeda family, he sent him to Takeda Shingena as a hostage. Takeda Shingen liked him very much, so he asked him to serve as the head of the ashigaru in the main flag. Later, the Takeda family always wanted Eima Toshimori to let the pro-Takeda Eima Nobumori be the heir to the family governor.

Later, after hearing about this, in the sixth year of Tensho (1578), he sent assassins to murder Eima Shisheng, usurped the position of governor of the Eda family, and then severed relations with the Takeda family, and at both ends of the snake and mouse on both sides of Uesugi and Oda.

However, under the influence of Li Xiao, the traverser, Jiangma Shisheng's death was advanced by more than ten years, and now Jiangma Huisheng is also firmly standing under the banner of Takeda Ling.

And in this civil strife in the Eima family, Eima Nobumori did not have time to be sent to the Takeda family as a hostage as in history, and he himself was still a monk at Terurenji Temple.

As Li Xiao expected, the ambitious monks of Honganji Temple will not be able to live if they don't stir up something.

After learning of the civil strife in the Ema family, Honganji made a moral condemnation of the Eoma Celestial who killed his father, and then said that the Ehama Fraser did not have the qualifications to inherit the Ema family. And his brother Jiangma Xinsheng, who became a monk in Yulian Temple, is the candidate for the governor of the Jiangma family.

So the ambition of Honganji is very clear in Li Xiao's opinion, they just want to take advantage of the Jiangma family's change of ownership and civil strife, take advantage of the fire, and support Jiangma Nobumori, who is inclined to their side, to come to power, and then let the Jiangma family completely enter the sphere of influence of Honganji.

Although Honganji's power in Hida Country is not as strong as that of Echichu Kaga, under the shouts of those monks, Eima Nobumori's subordinates gathered a group of former Eima retainers who opposed Eima Frasei, which is indeed a bit of a threat to the now weak Eima Celestial.

Therefore, Jiangma Huisheng is now respectful to the Takeda family, Li Xiao's attitude is very important, if he turns to Honganji, then the position of the governor of the Jiangma family will change hands again.

As for three years later, after the large-scale mining of Shengang Yinshan, Li Xiao's power at that time was even more different from what it used to be, even if Jiangma Xinsheng was not there at that time, did Jiangma Huisheng dare to ask Li Xiao? Even if Li Xiaoken gave it to him, he didn't dare to accept it.

Seeing that Li Xiao was so confident, Dazang Chang'an immediately put down most of his heart, and with Li Xiao's guarantee, he could put all his energy into the mining of Shengang Silver Mountain.

When the Great Treasury Chang'an retreated, one of his subordinates went to the castle tower and handed over a secret letter from Takeda Shingen to Li Xiao.

Li Xiao hurriedly opened the letter, and after reading it carefully, he knew that the Takeda family was finally going to send troops to Hida.

As in history, Takeda Shingen launched a campaign against Hida in the seventh year of Eiroku, and was led by Yamaguchi Masakai as the commander-in-chief.

Of course, Changjing in Yamayama County has not changed its name yet, and it is still called Itomi Gengoro.

In Takeda Shingen's letter, the Hida Expeditionary Army was organized as the General Iitomi Gengoro, the Supervisor Sone Masayo, and the Military Commissariat Akira, and the rest of the reserve commanders were Ichichi Shinryu, Kiso Yoshimasa, Baba Masabo, and Aoyagi Kiyoshinaga.

Excluding Li Xiao's standing armament and the strength of the Jiang Ma family, the total number of troops dispatched by the Takeda family was more than 3,500 people.

In the letter, Takeda Shingen issued an order that the primary goal of this Hida expeditionary army was to let the sister Koji family and the Uchijima family subdue the Takeda family, and if they did not obey, they would be completely wiped out.

Among them, Li Xiao's task is to ensure the smooth passage of military rations, and to hoard enough grain and grass for more than two months in Shengang City.

It is expected that the army will go out in May, so Li Xiao must start preparations after the heavy snow melts in Hida in April and the road is unsealed, giving him almost a month.

Just as Li Xiao was thinking about how to raise military rations, at this time, his intelligence leader, the ninja Yokotani Yukiyokiyo, handed over another letter to Li Xiao.

Li Xiao frowned and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

And Yokoya Xingqing's expression was serious, and he didn't answer silently, Li Xiao was slightly surprised, took the letter and looked at it carefully, and suddenly a burst of joy oozing from the bottom of his heart was overflowing.

At this time, Yokotani Yukiyoshi bowed down and said: "Congratulations to the lord, congratulations to the lord." ”

Li Xiao smiled heartily like a child, and read the letter again and again.

Finally, Li Xiao confirmed the good news, and I became a father.

The first month of the seventh year of Eiroku was an unforgettable and happy month for Li Xiao, and Yumi Kohata gave birth to Li Xiao's eldest son in Takato Town.

(To be continued)