The area where the hot spring village is located is considered to be at a high altitude in Zhangzhou, so it is possible to establish a village. Further northwest, the terrain becomes lower, and there are a large number of swamps and waters. These waters were connected to the Great Rift Valley through which Henry and his party passed, and to the south were to Xinjing through various detours, and to the north to the domain. However, the swamp and the nearby river tributaries are overgrown with reeds and pests, and even locals who are familiar with waterways are reluctant to go deeper, so most of the time people come and go by land.

Even shrubs are difficult to grow in the sparse mud ground, and the reeds scattered here have become the most common building materials here - the coarse paper used by the common people can be made from it, and the straw mats and straw hats that people love to use in summer can be woven with reeds; it can be used to cover the roof, and the spikes can also be made into brooms; folk children also often use hollow reed rods to make reed flutes, which is one of the rare entertainment for peasant children.

In addition, these abundant reeds were a good ration for the horses of the warriors of Crescent, and their young stems and leaves were very popular with cattle and horses—and it was because of this value that the people of the hot spring village settled in the vicinity in the first place. To this day, there are still villagers who regularly harvest reeds to make pasture, and some of them are also provided to the samurai of Pingshan County as horse grass in addition to cattle and inn stables.

The abundance of forage provided convenience for the samurai troops under Ryunosuke's command who were currently stationed here, and at least they didn't have to worry too much about the horse grass - although that didn't mean it was easy. Lacking the rumination ability of cattle, horses need to eat more forage per day. Most of the Crescent Continent horses used by the samurai were about 140 centimeters tall at the shoulder, which was relatively short. However, such a physique still requires at least 3 to 4 kg of forage per day.

Although the need for forage can be reduced by adding relatively nutritious vegetables, berries and grains to it, the maintenance feed required by dozens of horses is still considerable.

What makes Ryunosuke's team different from ordinary samurai is that the rest of the people under his command don't mind rolling up their sleeves and working, they have long since let go of the samurai's reserve, and everything is based on pragmatism.

This is more or less like the Rigalese mercenaries, although there are still some of the people who occupy the leadership positions who don't usually do it, but they are only responsible for different directions. Unlike most ronin, who have always maintained the reserved nature of a samurai, they consider themselves "this unworthy situation to be temporary" rather than engage in work other than sword-wielding combat, and they are willing to do construction and other logistical work if not the battle itself.

Efficient and precise, cruel yet restrained. It was the evaluation given by Narumi after witnessing the battle of Ryunosuke and his party. They were well-trained and more experienced than the Qingtian family, and a series of operations such as camping, maintaining equipment, setting up defensive lines, and checking on the wounded and caring for horses were carried out almost at the same time. And in order, without interfering with each other.

Such a high level of literacy is posed, but Ryunosuke's brows are still furrowed.

Because it's so far out of nowhere.

The swamp was the least suitable place for his heavy troops, as the terrain was difficult and the view was narrow, making it easy for lighter and nimble troops to sneak up on them from the flanks or rear. The swamps lacked the building materials to build permanent fortifications – the nearest forest required seven or eight hours of cutting reeds and finding a hard road to get through, there wasn't enough timber or even the bamboo that grew everywhere on Crescent Island, so they couldn't even make a decent wall.

The annihilated Liukou detachment on the island in the middle of the lake has always kept its tents undefended, and there are also reasons for this, except for the slender and soft reeds, there are no suitable building materials here. Even if there is some hard ground, you think you might be able to dig up the mud and build a wall of earth, but this is low ground after all, and the surface of the soil that has been dried by the heat is only half a palm's thick, and water will seep out of the hole when you go down with a shovel. The excavated silt is also very thin due to the high water content, and the piled up earth wall will collapse directly before half a meter high.

This is why most of the building materials in the hot spring village come from the mountains, not the swamps.

The Ronin Leader took a rather conservative approach, but the materials they brought with them were limited, and even if they took the framework of the rogues' tents, they could only piece together the most important simple watchtower. The other fortifications were more shelter points than walls.

Considering all these factors, they eventually pulled the boat that the rogues were tied up in ashore. The ships were smashed open with hammers, keels sawed and sharpened into the ground, and ready-made flat planks were nailed to them to form a wall about 1.5 meters high.

This was not the end of the story, Ryunosuke's arrangement of these fortifications was not to draw an oval or straight wall, but to the left and the right, staggered by a few meters from the front and the back - Henry could see at a glance that this was the fortification of the classical Lamanite infantry and anti-cavalry - they are still recorded in the Padrosi Empire's "War Codex". Apparently, the fond of tobacco ronin leaders got more than just a four-wheeled carriage with a high load capacity from the Rigalese merchants.

But then again, he didn't do it against cavalry. There are two main reasons: the first is that even if some of the ships are dismantled, the building materials are still limited, and the second is the size of the detachment of the Liukou on the island in the middle of the lake, and its average quality.

Ryunosuke's troops are all elite, but they are no more than a hundred. Even if you count Henry's party and the samurai of the Aota family, their numbers are nothing more than a reconnaissance brigade according to the concept of the Moon Country. Many of them are quite strong and can be regarded as one against ten, and considering the excellent armor and weapons of the ronin, it is not difficult to deal with several people at the same time. But just like any small but elite army, because of the scarcity of numbers, even if he has extremely high combat effectiveness, he cannot accept sacrifice.

With one enemy and ten elites, one dies one less than one, and the tactic of walking the crowd with ten cannon fodder for one person often dies ten and a hundred.

A small detachment of the Liukou is enough to have a size of 80 people, but what about the main force?

Conservative estimates are in the hundreds—with his understanding of the incendiary ability of the man who was as cunning as a snake, there would never be a shortage of people who would follow him to Zhangzhou for a bite to eat in the turmoil in the north.

And since these people are not professionally trained, nine times out of ten, their approach is to rush up in a swarm, relying on their numerical superiority to charge in clusters in an attempt to overwhelm their own side.

In this case, the temporary patchwork of wooden fences is worrisome. If the road is unimpeded, a mob of hundreds of people will rush up and knock down the wall just by pushing. Therefore, he chose the Nanban tactics he learned from books, and forced the opponent's charge to change from a straight line to an S-shape by staggering the bunkers left and right and arranging small-scale lightly armed archers in the rear.

This slows down the enemy's charge, increasing the time it takes for them to reach their own front, giving the archers in the rear plenty of time to strike.

This temporary obstruction, combined with poor combat qualities, will only lead to greater confusion – there will inevitably be people who will try to burrow into the reeds and bypass the wall, and there may be others who will try to climb the wall. However, no matter how they choose the aggressive forward troops, they will inevitably be blocked, and the central and rear troops, who are unable to see clearly what is happening in front of them, cannot communicate, and lack command, are very likely to continue to squeeze forward, causing them to lose their formation and fail to charge.

A simple move, but it revealed that Ryunosuke had seen through the essence of these rogues after a brief observation, as well as his rich experience in dealing with such enemies.

In the eyes of Narukai, who had received an answer from Henry after the consultation, the former county of Pingshan County had made his unfathomable degree a little more aggravated.

The camp was set up, and the fire was lit for cooking. The camp was knocked out, and the number of people on the boat became less and they were able to row at full speed, and more than half of the strong men from the hot spring village who had returned had run back by evening. These honest-looking farmers and hunters came running with fatty fresh fish and various ingredients and pots, looking like they wanted to thank the samurai of the Qingtian family, but a few of them looked away from the rogue's belongings placed next to them, and the little Jiujiu who was fighting in their hearts was clear at a glance.

Neither Narumi nor Yajiro were the ones to be denied, and after consulting with Ryunosuke, they allowed the peasants to bring some more clothes and other items. Although the lack of access to gold and silver treasures made these people's faces suddenly pale, when they saw the luxurious clothes, especially women's clothes, that they could never afford, several young men who already had sweethearts smiled again.

The fatty fish raised in the rice fields of the hot spring village can become a coarse delicacy even though they are just river fish that are popular among the common people rather than high-quality sea fish, and they can be simmered and seasoned in pieces.

The hot spring village is a village with abundant non-staple food in the whole Zhangzhou, and the farmers in the rice fields will always stock some fish, shrimp and crabs. They can eat pests, and some parts that people don't like to eat can also be used to feed ducks and geese. Killing fish and eating shrimp is relatively rare, so duck eggs, goose eggs and tofu curd, which are common in Crescent Island, have become the main non-staple foods.

With the concept of the Rigales, these people can already be counted as kulaks. In addition, the village hunters occasionally went up to the mountains to hunt, and the furs could be sold to make waterproof scabbards, armor decorations and clothing, and meat could also be used as a supplement to food.

Although not all villagers live this way, it is generally better than in poorer places where only grains and potatoes can be eaten.

In July, known as "Moon of the Moon", it was the height of summer, so it was still bright until 7 p.m., but the group still lit a bonfire to drive away the swarms of mosquitoes flying in the swamp with a smoky fire.

The smell of dead bodies and blood attracted these huge bloodsuckers as long as fingernails, and because the mosquito infestation was so severe, after catching three crocodiles and shooting them with heavy arrows, Ryunosuke ordered the gnawed corpses to be tied up with stones and carried into a small boat to sink into the water a little farther away. Write a book

The task of cooking food is still carried out by the ashigaru men of the Aota family, and after resting for so long and taking medicine to finally eat big fish and meat, Ayong and the other three samurai have a great appetite after consuming a lot of them today. However, after bringing the food to the samurai and ronin, even though it was almost evening, the hunters had no intention of staying and eating together, and immediately left with the clothes they had obtained and the crocodile that had been shot.

Looking at their hurried appearance, it was obvious that they were worried that the samurai masters would regret and return the stolen goods of the rogue.

The crocodiles that had eaten the corpses of the people were all going to be brought back to open meat, which shocked Mira a little, but at the same time, she was not incomprehensible when she recalled her life before she met her teacher.

"Just clean the entrails!!" replied one of the Orionians when asked, and as soon as he finished speaking, he was glared at by the other man next to him, which obviously meant 'Tell the samurai masters that they won't suddenly want to taste it?'

Realizing this, the hunters hurriedly turned around and said goodbye to the boat, and then the men rowed hard and disappeared to the other side of the reeds.

"I guess it's going back early in the morning. Old Joe sighed.

"Why bother, are we so untrustworthy? And one of the three samurai said this, and Ah Yong next to him was also a little angry: "These Diao people, I don't know how to be grateful. ”

"Unequal objects cannot establish a real relationship of trust, because once you repent, they have no countermeasures. Heng said this in a calm tone, and Yong glanced at him, but didn't say anything after all.

After eating, the ashigaru took aside the leftover fish offal and put it in an iron pot in the camp that had been beaten and deformed in the battle.

"What is this?" the curious Roan girl approached, and the ashigaru poured the stinky entrails into it.

"It's going to be lamp oil, miss. "Because she is a distinguished guest of the Qingtian family, the ashigaru have always called her like this, and it is rare for the Luoan girl to experience a nobleman.

"Every inch of everything, make the best use of it. ”

"The entrails of the fish are too fishy to eat, but they can be used to boil fish oil and use it with a wick. Because the flavor was too strong, the two ashigaru walked to the side downwind and set up another fire and began to boil for a long time. They also made a simple strainer out of torn cloth, which was strained again to improve the purity after the first time the internal organs were boiled, and finally canned to wait for precipitation.

The ashigaru people have always lived separately from the Rigal group and the samurai, so it is not known what kind of lighting they occasionally use at night is.

This is the first time I have seen them make their own lamp oil like this.

Obviously, in addition to ensuring basic survival, the samurai lords of Crescent Island will not provide more benefits to the ashigaru under their command. With a low salary, you have to do a lot of things, and if you have such a need, you can only use your own ingenuity.

But it wasn't something she, or even Henry, could step into. They're just guests after all.

Thinking wildly, thinking about how to spend the night, Joshua walked over from the equally brightly lit ronin camp in front of him.

He's here for a summons, and Ryunosuke wants Henry and his party to pass.

"The interrogation has come to an end. The red-haired swordsman said.

The torture lasted all afternoon, and the young rogue who had the eye to tell that Ryunosuke was working on the fortifications was an unexpectedly hard one. But after the results of the torture came out, it became a matter of course - he was a ninja.

The troops located deeper in the Zhangzhou swamp were undoubtedly Saburo and his retinue in the swamp village.

The ninja force led by Kiyoshi, who had fought with Henry and his party in the past, was Saburo's henchman elite. The young ninja was stationed in the camp to ventilate the messengers - as Henry had expected, it was indeed a vigilance detachment, placed closer to the village. And the person Saburo guarded against.

It was Ryunosuke who he knew was still alive and still hunting for him.

He returned to Zhangzhou for unknown reasons, and knew that Ryunosuke was still active here, so he sent some of the rogues who followed him here. Essentially, these people are all outcasts. He gave them a certain amount of money and abundant supplies, only to let these people willingly die in case of emergency, buying time for the ninjas hiding in them to escape and inform the large army.

The sage's ploy worked, and the outflanking of land and water prevented them from escaping. If they only attacked from one side, then the ninja would have fled and reported that either Saburo's large army would have taken them by surprise, or he would have fled.

Ryunosuke, who confirmed the news, looked a little complicated, took a puff of cigarette after cigarette, and didn't speak for a long time.

After so many years, he finally ushered in this day.

And the reason why he invited Henry and his party to come to discuss it was to borrow the sage's ideas, speculating whether Saburo would flee or attack if he learned the news.

"What the hell is he looking for here?" Henry cut straight to the point—there must be some profound reason for fleeing back knowing that a homeland like Zhangzhou was in danger.

If you understand this reason, you will be able to formulate a battle plan based on the opponent's objectives.

"Unknowingly, but regrettably, the ninja seized the opportunity to bite off the poison hidden in his mouth and killed himself. Long Zhijie swallowed the clouds and spit out the mist expressionlessly: "So I just listened to what he said, if you can get it, it is not difficult to turn into a dragon to ascend to heaven and shine with the bright moon, like guessing a riddle." ”

"If Zhangzhou really has such a secret treasure, is it still like this? He knocked on the corner of the table and let the ash fall to the ground.

His sanity had probably been replaced by madness. ”