In the seventh year of Yonglu, in April, it was just the beginning of spring.

This newly built Kamioka Castle in the middle of a wasteland is now showing a thriving color.

First of all, the construction of the unfinished part of Kamiokanda Castle is still ongoing, and the construction of the expansion of the castle town has also begun.

Because it is spring ploughing, Li Xiao is not ready to delay the production in the collar by means of general service, and let the villages replace the previous manual labor by paying a substitute service tax.

Li Xiao then used the collected tax to pay for the local surplus labor force to build the city in the form of employment.

This can avoid delaying the people who are really busy with agriculture to serve in the general service, and reduce the production in the territory, but it can also hire idle labor, so that they will not be wasted, and at the same time have an income to support their families and maintain their lives.

Li Xiao hired 200 people to repair the city and develop the castle.

At the same time, because the mining of Shengang Silver Mountain was smooth and the agreement reached with Shioya Qiuzhen was negotiated, it was expected that the ash silver mined in the mine would be enough for Li Xiao to recruit a standing army of 500 people.

However, Li Xiao did not use all this money in recruitment, and his conscription order this year only recruited another 300 people in the standing reserve, which accounted for almost one-tenth of the population in Li Xiaoling. And the rest of the money, Li Xiao invested all in the economic development of the territory.

The newly recruited 300 standing reserves, Li Xiao did not let them be incorporated into the original standing reserves, but first let Dao Shengmeng do basic training, and after a month, a little combat power was formed, and then incorporated into the original 200 standing reserves to form a new army.

After that, Li Xiao invested the money he saved in installments for the expansion of the castle town.

A few days later, Shioya Akisadana received good news that an agreement had been reached with Saito Riki, the lord of Josu Castle, for the reconstruction of the road from Jobu Castle to Kamiokanda Castle.

The first investment in Kamiokanda Castle has also been made by the salt house merchants.

As planned before, Li Xiao used this money and part of his own investment to first establish a residential area for the townspeople in the castle town, as well as a merchant's shop.

After the construction is completed, these houses will be rented to those who wish to develop in the castle town of Kamioka Castle.

It's an upfront investment and a return later.

In the case of salt house merchants, they invest in the houses they build, and the ownership of the houses belongs to them.

Naturally, Shioya Qiuzhen will not do loss-making business, and in the future, after the completion of Li Xiaocheng's lower town, the interests formed by Shioriya merchants will inevitably account for a large part of it.

Li Xiao will not care about these things with the other party, as a city lord, he pays more attention to the prosperity of the castle town, if the population increases and the business prosperity rises, he can collect taxes, this way of sitting on the ground and counting money to earn a lot of copper coins.

For Li Xiao, Shengang Castle is more important to the geographical location, which is not only the fortress of the Shengang Silver Mountain, but also the hub for maintaining the Takeda family Shinano and Yuechu.

In the future, after Li Xiao marches into Vietnam, he will directly face the two strong Shiina families in Vietnam, the Jimbo family, and the Echigo army that may be recruited at any time by Uesugi Kenshin, and the North Hida with Kamioka Castle as the center is his rear position.

April.

The war on the front line of Kanto was rekindled, and Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin, the two giants, fought each other in Ueno Shinano for the hegemony of Kanto.

Riding the Echigo Road, the ice and snow have not yet melted, and Takeda Shingen decides to strike first.

In fact, at this moment, although Takeda Shingen is recuperating in Shima Hot Springs, he is still unwilling to be lonely, and in addition to letting go of specific affairs, he is still controlling the overall situation of the Takeda family from a distance.

First of all, Takeda Shingen ordered Takasaka Masanobu, the lord of Kaizu Castle and the general in charge of the first-line defense of Kawanakajima, to send troops to Okushinano.

Takanashi Masayori, the lord of Takanashi Castle, could not resist the offensive of Takasaka Masanobu, so he asked Echigo for help.

Uesugi Kenshin sent troops to help Takanashi Masayori, forced back the Takeda army, and rebuilt Iiyama Castle as a defensive position on the first line of Okushinano, covering the safety of the southern side of Harusayyama Castle.

However, Takeda Shingen's attack on the front line of Kawanaka Island was just a feint, and Takeda Shingen's strategic focus was not here.

Then Takeda Shingen personally wrote a letter to Hojo Shiyasu, asking him to send troops to Ueno.

And the Hojo family has just been defeated and then won in the second battle of the national government and Taiwan, and in one fell swoop, the alliance of the two Ota families shocked the Kanto region for a while, revealing the domineering spirit of the king.

Hojo Shiyasu agreed to Takeda Shingen's request and went out to Ueno with the Takeda family.

Therefore, the allied forces sent by the Takeda family's Ueno to the general Takeda Katsuyori and the Hojo family, after first defeating the Nagano family's reinforcements, swept away the disobedient forces in Ueno, and stepped up the attack on the Nagano family's territory in Ueno Province.

Of course, Uesugi Kenshin couldn't sit idly by, and the Nagano family was so attacked by the Takeda family, just when he decided to send troops to Ueno again.

Takeda Shingen asked Aizu no Ashina to go out of Echigo, and flanked Uesugi Kenshin's back.

Therefore, Uesugi Kenshin had to turn back halfway through the army, and gave up his plan to go to Ueno to support the Nagano family.

Uesugi Kenshin was so angry that Takeda Shingen was so angry that he didn't fight him in front of him and fought a decisive battle in a dignified manner, but instead desperately made small moves behind his back, which violated the morality of the samurai.

It can be guessed that Uesugi Ken Shin Tian scolded Takeda Shingen for being despicable and shameless. The other party also offered a prayer at Yahiko Shrine in the mountain castle of Haruyama City, telling "Takeda Shingen's evil deeds" and vowing to defeat Shingen.

In fact, whether it is the feint attack on the front line of Kawanakajima, Takeda Katsuyori, and the gradual encroachment of the Hojo coalition army in Ueno, it is all to cover the smoke released by Takeda Shingen in order to cover the dispatch of troops to the Hida Province line.

In late April, the Takeda Iehida Expeditionary Force assembled in Azumi-gun, including the men of the main camp of Yama Prefecture Masakai who served as the first commander-in-chief, the Kiso people led by Kiso Yoshimasa, the Takekawa people led by Ichichi Noshiryu, and the Nishina family army led by Aoyagi Kiyonaga.

At the beginning of May, the Takeda family's Hida Country Expeditionary Force, with Yama Prefecture Masakai as the commander-in-chief, had already set foot on the territory of Hida Province with 3,500 troops.

The envoys sent by the Takeda family to the sister Koji family and the Uchijima family have already received replies from the two families, and the two heads of the two families, the sister Koji Yoshiyori, and the Uchijima Rio have both expressed their refusal to subdue the Takeda family.

Takeda Shingen was furious when he heard this, and ordered Yamaguchi Masakai to immediately capture the Koji family, the Uchijima family, and occupy the entire territory of Hida.

And Takeda Shingen also ordered the Takeda Army to send troops to Hida to strictly abide by military discipline and prohibit all riots, and there are documents preserved today.

In mid-May, the main force of the Takeda Army crossed Mt. Anbo and trekked all the way to Kamiokanda Castle.

, Li Xiao and Jiangma Huisheng led 500 troops together to join the main force of the Takeda Army, and the strength reached 4,000 people, and the momentum was even stronger.

Shan County Changjing immediately held a military meeting in Shengang Castle.

On top of the military discussion, Shan County Changjing took Li Xiao's suggestion, and used the phalanx of the sister Xiaolu family first and the inner island family to send troops to the front line of Sakura Cave City first, preparing to defeat the sister Xiaolu family first, and then force the inner island family.

Changjing of Shan County took Kiso Yoshimasa as the vanguard, and he led the main force to approach in the rear, while Li Xiao and Jiangma Huisheng led the army to gather in Shengang Castle to keep the grain route unblocked.

Not to mention that the army marched into Hida, and entered the center of Hida country, the army of the Takeda family led by Yama Yama Masakai showed terrifying combat power, and it only took less than half a day to capture the Tokoshi Castle of the sister Koji family.

Under the unstoppable offensive of the Takeda army, the lord of Takado Castle, Hirose Munejo, betrayed his sister Koji family and surrendered to the Takeda family.

Because of the subjugation of the Hirose family, the entrance to Sakurato Castle was opened.

When the sister Xiaolu family fell into an unfavorable situation, the head of the Uchijima family, the Uchijima clan, also knew the truth of the cold lips and teeth, and went out from Guiyun City to reinforce the sister Xiaolu family.

Hearing that the Uchijima family sent troops, the spirit of the sister Xiaolu Lianglai, who was in the predicament, was shocked, and led the army to meet with the Uchijima family overnight.

When I heard about the sister Xiaolu family, the two families of the Uchijima family formed a coalition army.

Shan County Changjing immediately asked Li Xiao and Jiangma Huisheng to lead the army to the next round of Sakura Cave City, ready to gather all their strength for a decisive battle.

So the two armies faced off at the foot of Sakurato Castle, and a big battle was about to break out.

(To be continued)