Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 688 Mobilization
On the evening of August 8th in the third year of Keicho, the peasants of Shiga County and Rita County in Omi Kingdom finished a day of autumn harvest work, dragging their tired bodies and planning to return home to rest.

The farmers walked towards the village in groups of three or four, congratulating each other on this year's harvest, or joking about the war in the far west.

"I heard that Kawahara Village in Dongmian City was conscripted again, and now the autumn harvest of the whole village has been delayed. It seems that the battle situation in the west side is tight."

Another farmer joked with a hoe on his shoulder: "Fortunately, we are not the hiding place of His Highness Guan Bai. We are not among the recruits."

"Don't tell me, I heard that Shota from the next village went to Hachimancho once and was forcibly conscripted into the army. Even if he declared that he was a farmer from the Toyoharu family, the master over there ignored him."

The two lamented the cruel experience of their companions, and finally returned to the village, only to find that the atmosphere of the village was a bit surprised at the moment. Some strangers who had never seen their faces came to the village, dragging a large amount of goods in mule carts.

In the Warring States Period, the common method of cargo transportation was manpower, and those who could use animal power were either daimyo's small loads or caravans of wealthy merchants.

"Only such wealthy merchants dare to do business everywhere these days." A farmer was stopped by the elders of the same village before he could finish his ridicule, "Kenta, Heji, the village chief is looking for you, go to the village chief's house quickly .”

"Okay, okay." One of the farmers responded, "I'll put down the tools and wash up and go."

Unexpectedly, the person came forward with a few big and three rough men, took their farm tools directly and said, "The village chief is looking for it urgently, go now, this adult will accompany you."

Because of the dark sky, the two of them saw that the faces of the two men behind them from the same village were abnormally serious, and each of them had a set of samurai swords hanging from their waists.

Since Hideyoshi issued the Rensao Order (Status Control Order), it has been clearly stipulated that ordinary people cannot have the right to wear swords, which shows that the two people in front of them must be of the samurai class.

"My lord." At this time, the civilians were very frightened when they saw the warriors. They knelt down on the ground and saluted the two warriors, but the warriors did not show off their power in front of them, but lifted them up. Then half pushed and shoved to the open space of the village chief's house in the middle of the village.

When they came to the open space, they found that more than 100 people had gathered here, including men, women and children, and around the square were several ashigaru guards in armor and holding long guns at various intersections.

"Couldn't it be that the battle situation on the front line is unfavorable, and the conscription came to us?" The companion named Kenta poked the companion beside him with his shoulder and said, "You saw the family crest on the chest of the samurai who just sent us here?" Is it? It's Tongwen, it's the same as the flag pointer when His Highness Guan Bai's army passed by a few days ago."

His companion Heji is not in the mood to joke with his companion. Unlike Kenta, he just got married and his wife is just pregnant.

He Ji, who was walking through the crowd, finally found his father and wife, and only spoke a few words of comfort. As the crowd gathered around him, the square became bustling with people.

At this time, the old man who was the village chief came out of the house with two warriors, and stretched out his hand under the light of the torch to signal the people in the village to quiet down.

As the square became quieter, the village head said to the villagers, "Our lord, His Royal Highness Fengchun of the Kanto has issued a mobilization order, and everything is based on military service accounts. Our village is a big village, and we need to produce three armored warriors, armored There are two people holding guns, two gunmen, two horsemen, two Xiaohemen, one person taking straw shoes, one person holding boxes, and two people standing bows; there are 11 people in the entourage.”

As soon as the village's voice fell, there was an uproar in the square.

Although the military service account is prepared every year, the farmers also know that they need to go to war for their lords.

Although it is true that the outside world has not been peaceful in the past few years, the Korean War has been going on for more than 5 years, and there is an endless stream of conscripts from the surrounding villages.

However, as the nourishment and cosmetics that Hideyoshi bestowed on Kohachiro and Kikuhime, the two counties of Omi have not been recruited to fight for 7 to 10 years.

The most important thing is that compared with the reforms carried out by the Fengchun family in other areas, the two counties of Omi still retain the management system of the Warring States period. trained.

The reason why Hideyoshi did not carry out reforms in Omi is because it is too close to Kyoto and Osaka. If Hideyoshi knows that the people in the two counties here mobilize for military training every year, the monkey may not be able to sleep.

Even when Hideyoshi was carrying out the sword hunting order, the two counties searched the most thoroughly, not to mention swords, not even a bamboo spear, bow and arrow, and all armor was required to be handed over.

And this is why the Xiu family has never mobilized troops in the two counties for so many years. Over time, the people here are famous for their peace in the entire Kinki region.

But I didn't expect that the sudden mobilization order today is almost equivalent to sending out one person for every six households.

It doesn't matter anymore, but you recruited us to fight, and according to the rules, we have to prepare our own weapons and armor. Back then, these things were collected. Where do you want us to prepare now?

It’s okay to replace the long spear with a bamboo spear or a wooden spear tied to a sickle, but where to search for this armor?
The most important thing is that many people on their side have not fought a war for nearly 10 years. Those who have experienced war are old bones, and young people in their twenties have generally never experienced war battles, and they do not even have a little training. No, they can't even hear the order, how do you let them fight?
Perhaps seeing the reason for the restlessness of the villagers, the village chief once again suppressed the croaking of the lords and said, "I have already discussed with these lords. People who have been called in the past will participate. All weapons and equipment are available. The adults will provide it!"

What the village chief said meant that those who were called had to have participated in the war before, but the earliest part of it can be traced back to the Battle of Odawara. It has been 7 years, and the youngest is now 20 years old. During the Sengoku period in Japan, he was considered middle-aged.

The meaning of these words is to let the previous generation participate in the war as much as possible. There are a total of 80 households in the village, and it seems that it is not difficult to get 15 people out.

Yu Ji scanned the elders in the surrounding villages. There are about 25 males aged 40 to 20, and they should not be able to recruit his own family.

Soon 11 people were selected, all of them were healthy middle-aged people.

Although the military service account requires them to produce 3 armored warriors, their village has not touched armor for nearly 10 years, and there have been no warriors here. They are all peaceful villages managed by Fengxing. Where can I find 3 people now? A warrior in armor?
But soon he saw the village head's son dressed in a samurai suit and walked up to his father and said, "Uncle Amitabha, my father wants you to go with me. It is true that there are no armor warriors in the village, you It was my father's armor back then, and he fought with my father for many years, and my father said that you have rich experience, please follow me to fight again."

Heji and his partner Kenta are both 17 years old this year. The war seems to have only stayed in their childhood. Since they grew up, the land of Omi has been relatively peaceful.When they were about 8 years old, they were given to Mrs. Ju Ji as cosmetics, and they were never called up again.

But Kazuyoshi’s eldest brother died in the war in the past. Looking at his father who was over 50 years old, the father in his memory appeared. It seems that his father did go out in ashigaru armor for a while, and his The elder brother used to be called into the army and died in battle.

The aged Amitabha looked at the childhood playmate standing on the high platform. He had already retreated early after breaking his leg in the war, and almost forgot that he was a samurai.

Amitabha, who looked resolute in the eyes of the old man, sighed, and reluctantly agreed, "Okay, I will go with you."

"Father!" Heji grabbed his father's hand beside him and said, "Are you going to be called to fight?"

Amitabha looked at his son and said, "This is our fate as the leader of the Fengchun family. We only hope that this is the last battle. You are still young and take good care of Aqi and your mother (Wife Heji) at home."

Looking at the back of his father going away, He Ji was a little confused. He didn't know how much courage he had, left his wife to hold his hand, walked out of the crowd, knelt down in front of the village chief and the warrior and said, "My lord, my father is getting old." I have bad legs and feet, let me go instead of my father. I am young and strong, and I am a good hand at digging, and I will definitely kill people."

As soon as his words fell, the samurai in front of him burst into laughter. The samurai squatted in front of him and said with a smile, "Do you know that hoeing and killing people are two different things."

The village head also said, "This battle requires a skilled ashigaru. Kazuki, you have never been in battle or trained. What are you going to do?"

Heji's father Amitabha also reprimanded his son, "Go back, what are you doing?"

But Kazuki could not get up on his knees as if his legs were nailed to the ground. He clenched his hands into fists and said courageously, "If I, Aye, must go, please let me go together, and let me take care of my Aye." Beside."

"Nonsense, do you think the war is a joke of your past!" As soon as Heji finished speaking, the village head scolded, "Quickly get back to the team, and I will make other arrangements for you later."

"No! I want to be with me, Ayer, and I can fight too."

The village chief did it out of good intentions, after all, war is different from child's play.

Fortunately, when they were young, with the popularity of iron cannons, the survival rate of samurai on the battlefield has been reduced, let alone ashigaru.

But Heji's attitude really infected the samurai beside the village chief, he smiled and said, "Very good, very energetic, I like you very much, follow me!"

As soon as the samurai finished speaking, the village head and Amitabha wanted to persuade them, but they were beaten back by the samurai.

Seeing that Kazuki was about to go out with his father, Kenta, who was hiding in the team, also ran out and said, "Then I will go too!"

Seeing that Kenta came out, the village chief was one head and two older. Why do young people like fighting so much now? "Kenta, what are you doing out again!"

"My parents are dead, and there are no relatives in the village. I grew up eating a lot of food. Ji and I are the best friends in the village. If I go to war with Ji, will I be left behind? Go with Ji I also need to go!"

Before the village chief refused, the samurai on the side had already said, "Very well, that's it! Let's come together! Village chief Sun Jiro manages the village well, and when the time comes, there are so many good men called. I I will definitely report the situation here to my lord, and when he passes it on to His Majesty, I will reward your village properly!"

The samurai had all spoken, and Sun Jiro, the village head, naturally couldn't say anything more, so he had to let two people form a match, so the entire team changed from the established 15 people to 17 people.

However, the village head did not dismiss the villagers because of this, but asked all men, women and children in the village to pack their bags and go to the nearest Caojin City to take refuge.

Such a scene happened in almost every village in the two counties of Omi. As the territory under the command of Kohachiro and Kikuhime, the two counties managed by the Hideka suddenly received an order to be recruited after nearly 10 years of peace.

The difference is that the people of Rita County will gather in Kusatsu Castle, while the people of Shiga County will go to Otsu Castle to take refuge.

They will cooperate with Sanada Nobushige's 2000 Ueno members and cooperate with Asano Yukunaga to be responsible for the control of Yongquan Temple.

The entire Omi 8 stone will recruit about 2500 troops, and the total strength of Sanada Nobushige's Ueno troops has reached 4500. If you count Asano Yukunaga's troops, it will reach 9K. If you can't take down Yongquan Temple, you can wash up and sleep.

When the Xiu family made this plan, they had already taken into account the lack of training, battle formation, and lack of equipment among the people here.

On the weapon side, the Hide family can use the Hosokawa family arsenal and the Otsu castle arsenal, but there are really not many armors.A large number of low-level armor such as belly rolls and tow balls were sent by the Xiu family to North Korea to equip the servant army.

Looking at the more than 2000 people gathered in front of him in the middle of the night, Nobushige Sanada is really the first and the second big.Naturally, he had a headache because of the empty armor on their bodies.

If such a troop were to fight against 220 Ming Fengchen Banners and Huang Muyi, they would have to fall hundreds of people in one round of arrow feather shooting.

Nobushige Sanada has no choice but to ask people to remove the door panels of the common people's homes and temporarily change them into wooden poles shared by three or two people. Of course, it is impossible for the common people to allow him to tear down their own door panels. It is only after they promise to pay compensation. of.

The life and rest of the ancients were actually very punctual, and they basically fell asleep after the sky was dark, but today the two counties of Jinjiang are extremely lively.

In addition to the half-thousand soldiers gathered under the city of Dajin, the two cities of Dajin and Caojin were also a little noisy because of the gathering of people from the two counties.

As soldiers recruited from Nanli Village, Heji, his father and others came to Otsu City. Because the village recruited 17 people, they were directly divided into two groups. The samurai who came to their village to call people served.

Both he and his father became Sun Jiro's subordinates.As a samurai, Sun Jiro managed to obtain a belly roll and forehead shield, and wanted to give them to Amitabha to wear.

But Amitabha directly handed over the armor that he had found so hard to his son. In his words, I am just a banner bearer. I don’t need these. He Ji wants to charge on the battlefield with you, just wear them. up.

Although no one said anything, everyone could see that this was a father's love for his son.

After tossing until the third watch of the night, this army that had been temporarily recruited by Taiping for a long time had just completed its training. The young people in the team seemed to have a special desire for war. Only the old man looked at the piece of clothing on his body that repeatedly revealed dignified look.

But the condition is this condition. In order not to give Hideyoshi too much sense of threat, the Hideo family was weakened by the two counties next to Kyoto. Now, except for the samurai family, they have their own armor and swords. If you don't get a decent weapon, you can only bear it by yourself.

Fortunately, Hideka had appeased Nobushige Sanada before leaving, and after taking down Nijo Castle and Katsuryuji Castle in Kyoto, the arsenal inside would be opened to him for equipment.

You must know that as the most important military equipment in Kyoto, Nijo Castle has been the residence of Toyotomi Banner since Hideyoshi moved the political center to Juledi, and there must be a lot of military equipment in it.

Katsuryuji Castle, as the most important city connecting Kyoto and Osaka, usually stores a lot of armaments here. As long as everything goes well, it will not be a problem to organize a heavily armed army.

(End of this chapter)