Sakai Town and Kyoto have gained a lot. First of all, he received the position of Chikugo guardian and second lieutenant of Saemon, which not only improved the morale of the retainers, but also gave the Luo family the righteousness of not being controlled by others; secondly, the purchase and sale of sufficiency, war horses, and even coin exchange were reached; After the last day, he recruited retainers such as Isono Membermasa, Honda Toshimasa, and Honda Masanobu, and at the same time became acquainted with celebrities such as Maeno Nagayasu, Wasuka Masakatsu, Shoki Kusakawa, Michizo Qu Naose, and Kuniyubei Guard.

Of course, there are also disadvantages. First of all, he experienced a duel with the foreign master Long Yin, which made Masato thoroughly feel the urgency of improving his strength; Secondly, although he secretly reached an agreement with the Ouchi family to make friends, he was also put on the side of the Ouchi family and became a thorn in the side of the Otomo family.

On April 10, 1541, Masara and others finally returned to the territory. In the council hall of Notakayama, all the retainers gathered.

"Congratulations to Your Highness on successfully obtaining an official position on this trip." The Kakukuma Ishizong led by the leader first congratulated. Regarding the acquisition of official positions, Kakukuma Ishizong is the one who instigates the most political goodness.

The rest of the retainers also expressed their congratulations. Being able to obtain the positions of Chikugo Guardian and Saemon Second Lieutenant is already a good position for the Luo family, and the retainers are also very satisfied with it.

"Alright, be quiet." Zhengliang motioned to the retainers to be quiet, "Let's talk about the impact of obtaining the official position this time." ”

"This time I have obtained the position of the imperial court, and His Royal Highness can order the family detective to publicize it in the territory, which can greatly improve the morale of the family." Kakukuma Ishizong said, "In addition. In the future, our family will not be easily controlled by others above the general righteousness. "During the Warring States Period, if you want to make your neighbors and retainers loyal, one is to let them get great benefits, and the other is to convince them through this so-called righteousness.

"It's just that this time, the Ouchi family stepped in sideways, and the position of Chikugo guardian who was promoted by the family is really ill-intentioned." Kakukuma Ishizong said, "I'm afraid that the family will never be able to make friends with the Otomo family again. ”

"Yes, the Ouchi family's plan is very vicious. Completely cut off the possibility of the family swinging between the Ouchi family and the Otomo family. Shinnosuke Akabane also said, "In that case, the family might as well rely on the Ouchi family completely in order to get the full support of the Ouchi family." ”

"What does the military advisor mean to make the family subordinate to the Ouchi family?" Togo Heiji said immediately.

"How is this possible?"

As soon as Togo Heiji said this, all the retainers present immediately started to discuss, and even disagreed. Some retainers think that it is not a bad thing to submit to the Ouchi family, which is like the middle of the day, after all, this is a common thing in the Warring States, while others are opposed. The Luo family has risen to the top of Hizen in just one year, which makes them think. With such an upward trend of the family, there is no need to take refuge in others.

"Once you surrender to the Ouchi family, you will definitely be asked to send hostages to the Ouchi family, if the other party asks the head of the family to go, how is this good?" Onishi Kuniji said loudly.

"I don't think the Ouchi family will make this unreasonable request, and the family can temporarily surrender to the Ouchi family and then secretly seek development." Murakami said solemnly. Murakami is still thinking of getting in touch with the Ouchi family again through the Luo family.

"Everyone, please be quiet." Shinnosuke Akabane said in a loud voice, "It's better to leave this matter to the head of the family to decide for himself." He didn't expect that. Before he could finish his sentence, his colleagues quarreled. According to his thoughts, he is not actually subservient to the Ouchi family.

"Ahem" Masara waited until everyone was completely quiet, and then said, "I have my own opinions about cooperating with the Ouchi family, but I will definitely not surrender." There is no need to discuss this matter for the time being. "Soon the Ouchi family will fall into a super long trough period, and the Luo family will certainly not be able to surrender to the Ouchi family and be subject to others at this time. Some retainers don't know the trend of the history of the Dao, so it is normal for them to propose submission.

"Your Highness is wise." Shinnosuke Akabane immediately took the lead in complimenting. Masayo's thoughts coincide with his thoughts.

The matter of cooperation with the Ouchi family has been behind for a while, and the subject of the deliberations has returned to the issue of official positions.

"Your Highness. Previously, the Shao Er family to protect the righteousness, has twice summoned His Royal Highness to the Shifu Temple City, this time His Royal Highness obtained an official position, so that he suddenly lost the name of righteousness, it seems that the Shao Er family is going to find another way to deal with the family. Kakuma Ishizong analyzed. In the past, Masashi was still a white body, but now he has an official position, and as a person with an official position, the Shao Er family has no reason to let Masahiro go to Sefukuji Castle in righteousness.

"Well, pay close attention to the movements of the Shaoyi family, and return as soon as there is any trouble." Zhengliang instructed, "At the same time, the important places on the borders of each territory are ordered to prepare a reserve of precautionary materials to strictly prevent the other side from sneaking attacks." ”

Kizo Shigetada, who was in charge of listening to information and conveying the lord's orders, immediately received the order.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this time our family purchased a batch of war horses from the Shenya family and the Naya family. So I am ready to form a cavalry team. After the order was completed, Masato took the initiative to mention the formation of cavalry.

"I don't know how large a cavalry team His Highness Lu Dao is going to build." Heiji Togo immediately asked. War horses are big eaters of grain, according to the consistent style of the head of the family, but a master who does not pity money, Togo Heiji is really worried that Zhengliang will have another hemorrhage.

"The first batch of fifty horses will be delivered soon, and another fifty horses will be delivered later." Masara said.

Is that really the case? When Togo Heiji heard this, he suddenly sweated.

"Your Highness, with the fourteen war horses already in the territory, there will soon be one hundred and fifty war horses in the territory." Togo Heiji reminded in a whisper. Originally, the Luo family had fifteen war horses, but one of them was injured and went crazy during the last attack on Matsuura-gun, and finally ran into the mountains and could not be recovered.

"Hmm."

"Your Highness, not counting the cavalry and equipment, the consumption of just one war horse is equivalent to the consumption of three standing feet." Seeing that Masahiro didn't react, Togo Heiji had no choice but to remind him directly.

"What Heiji-sama said is very true." Kakukuma Ishizong also spoke, "When Your Majesty was at Otomo's house. Seeing that the cavalry of the Otomo family was only a few hundred, these cavalry were only used to charge the battle when the war began. ”

"Not only that," said Shinnosuke Akabane, "Since Kyushu has more mountains and less flat land, in fact, the cavalry is not the main force in battle. However, it can be used for carrying and riding, which is convenient for the transportation of materials and the rapid transfer of troops. ”

So, in the description of the retainers. Masara finally discovered a fact that he couldn't laugh or cry about. The cavalry didn't seem to be as powerful as he had imagined.

First of all, due to the huge consumption, in fact, not all heroes have the ability to support cavalry. Moreover, it is necessary to have additional breeders, and the cost is very large for the Warring States period of Japan, which gnawed rice balls. Come to think of it, the cost of feeding a war horse is equivalent to feeding a 2 of Ashigaru. 5 to 3 times. Such a huge consumption can only be supported by those wealthy and powerful.

Secondly, there were no real cavalry in this era, at best infantry on horseback. And the local war horses of Japan. Due to the long-term locking and reproduction of stallions, they are too short and have a shoulder height of 100~110cm, which is about the same height or fundamentally the same as that of Chinese fruit horses. The physical strength is not good, and the ability to run a hundred steps is considered a famous horse, so the combat power is limited.

At the end of the day, limited by the terrain of many mountains and not many flat lands in Japan, and the lack of many necessary skills for cavalry, it directly led to the fact that cavalry was not the main force on the battlefield.

Hearing this, Masashi suddenly realized a fact. Japanese bows and arrows are generally more than two meters long, and as you can imagine, a one-meter-and-a-half ashigaru rides a war horse more than a meter high. Shooting with a two-meter longbow. It's hard to imagine, but you can see what effect the so-called "riding shot" can achieve. And the "dragoon" of the Date family, which was famous in later generations in the late Warring States period, is it really as powerful as the book says? In Masaliang's view, it is estimated that the power of this method of warfare is more reflected in its rapid movement and the power caused by the sound of huge iron cannons.

But are cavalry really useless?

Not really. Whether any kind of army is powerful or not depends more on the use of the main general.

First of all. As mentioned in the previous analysis, the war horse is a very suitable means of transportation for mountainous terrain, and as the strength of the Luo family continues to increase, the scale of the war will definitely continue to increase. Relying only on the logistical peasants and soldiers pushing wheelbarrows could not guarantee the logistical supply of the war in time. And War Horse solves this problem just like that.

Secondly, even if there is no longer a cavalry team that has no combat power. As long as it appears at a certain moment on the battlefield, it will also give the enemy a deadly intimidation. Even when used for charging into formation, it can break up the enemy's formation. In fact, cavalry is a surprise attack, crushing infantry, causing confusion, and crushing the opponent. As soon as the cavalry stops its horse, it also becomes an infantryman, but because the cavalry is a professional soldier, its combat awareness and ability are much stronger than that of the peasant soldiers.

In the end, there is a more important reason why the cavalry team is not high, that is, it is limited by its own equipment. Now it seems that the equipment of the cavalry is really rudimentary. A horse, a ashigaru or samurai, and the last weapon of the horse, constitute a cavalry. The good point is just wearing a good leather armor, that's all.

"Well, I've made up my mind." Masashi stopped the discussion among the retainers, "More than a dozen war horses in the original territory continue to be used to transmit information. Although it is more often the use of flying feet to convey information, Masaro does not see the need to follow this norm agreed between the horse borrower and the samurai.

"With the hundred war horses that we can buy this time, form a cavalry team, and recruit fifty cavalry in the territory first." Masato decided. War horses will be lost as the war progresses, with fifty war horses as the main force, and then fifty war horses as the reserve, it is most suitable for the actual situation of Roche.

"Your Highness, even if a cavalry team is formed, there is a lack of people in this family who can train cavalry." Seeing that the head of the family had made up his mind, Kakuma Shizong had no choice but to take the initiative to give advice to the head of the family. Kadokuma Ishimu, who had stayed at Otomo's house, was well aware of the difference in combat power between a cavalry team that knew how to fight cavalry and a horse team that didn't know how to fight cavalry.

"I expected this." Masarashi responded with a smile, "Heihachi Miyazawa! ”

"Your Majesty is here." Hearing Masarashi call his name, Miyazawa Heihachi immediately leaned over and saluted.

"You are now officially appointed as the cavalry general of our family, responsible for the training and command of this cavalry team." Masara said. According to historical records, Heihachi Miyazawa was best at assault in the method of horseback riding. In the Battle of Ogawa, Miyazawa Heihachi led the cavalry and broke a total of 11 of the 13 sections of the Oda Army below Sakai.

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