Warring States Eagle

"His Royal Highness, we can use rice balls. Rice balls are easy to carry and easy to eat. They can be eaten while holding them, and they are not easy to go bad. Making rice balls is also very simple. You just roll the rice into balls with your hands and put them in the palm of your hand. Just compact it repeatedly." After Zhengliang raised the issue of military rations, Onishi Guozhi immediately suggested.

Rice balls?Zhengliang immediately remembered the records about rice balls in later generations.The first is the production of rice balls. Most of the work of making rice balls is carried out before the war. The rice balls used as dry food are usually made by soldiers or women in samurai families.After it is ready, it is wrapped with a long strip of dry food cloth, and according to the standard of one rice ball for one meal, and two rice balls for one day, tie a knot on the outside of the dry food bag with a rope, and finally tie it obliquely on the shoulders of soldiers or warriors. Dry food is generally not more than ten days at most.When you need to eat, just pull the knot, and you can take out enough rice balls for a meal, which is really a convenient design.This kind of cloth bag carrying military food is called "waist poop".In addition to the personal dry food, the lord also needs to make a large amount of rice balls as public food. This work is often done collectively by the lord's wife with the maids in the city and the women of the samurai family.In fact, being a lord's wife in the Warring States period was not an easy job. Not only did she have to take care of her husband, but she also often led the maidservants and the women of the samurai family to dig wild vegetables in the mountains, tie arrow shafts, and even clean and make up the severed heads of enemies. , not only hard work and courage, but also considerable organizational skills.

After these rice balls as public food are prepared, they must be rolled up with clean grass, transported in a cart drawn by manpower, and distributed to soldiers for food at any time.In addition to prepared food, a lot of raw rice should be prepared as military rations for consumption when the war is prolonged.After the general ordered to rest, the soldiers would find a clean lawn and sit on the ground, light a fire, burn some hot water, and take out a meal and roast it hot on the fire.Some people like to burn the rice balls on the fire, which also has a unique flavor.The sour plum juice seeps into the rice, making the onigiri more flavorful, and the seaweed, which itself has a salty taste of sea salt, also allows those who eat the ball to eat it as a side dish.In addition, the seaweed wrapped around the rice ball also acts as a wrapping paper, so that the eater does not need to directly touch the sticky rice and get his hands dirty.Ume has a certain antiseptic effect and can kill E. coli and Streptococcus staphylococci in the rice balls that are gradually deteriorating.

People at this time eat very little, and they usually only eat until they are [-]% full, and they only eat two meals a day. Two rice balls are enough for a soldier to ensure his physical strength for a day. Within a few kilometers, the farthest is no more than a hundred kilometers. When the future Kansai overlord Morimoto fought against the local tyrant Takeda, the two main cities were less than two kilometers away. The actual time spent on the journey is really not It's long, so those skirmishes often end when the rice balls the soldiers carry are gone.Later, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had two large-scale marches in his life. The first was the Nishikuni Great Turn to destroy Akechi Mitsuhide, and the other was the Chiyake Great March to destroy Shibata Katsuya. He didn’t carry much in order to advance lightly in the two battles. rations.At that time, Hideyoshi paid ten times the price of rice in gold and silver, ordered the common people and merchants on the roadside to open their own warehouses, took out all the rice at home to cook, wrapped it in straw bags with salt water on the inside, and carried it on the back of the army with oxen and horses. go ahead.If the troops trotting all the way were hungry, they would reach into the rice bag and grab a handful of salt-water-soaked rice and start eating it.The purpose of pouring salt water is to ensure that the rice does not go bad, and the hot rice permeated with salt water tastes especially delicious to the hungry soldiers.It's just that in the era when there was no appendectomy, how many soldiers died of acute appendicitis while running and eating.Of course, onigiri is just a convenient food made for portability. After all, it is not as delicious as freshly cooked food.

"No, rice balls can only be used as short-term food for ashigaru and samurai. If you need to carry a large amount, you need to use a cart to carry them. In order to prevent the rice balls from spoiling, you need to prepare some plums. No matter the cart or plums, the main family They don't seem to have a lot of equipment; what's more, the roads in other powerful territories are generally narrow, which is not conducive to the advancement of carts, which will instead slow down the marching speed of the army; the last is the problem of rice, so much rice from my family." When Zheng Liang spoke, Kizuo Shigetada raised objections, "My minister's suggestion is to go to Hakata to purchase a large amount of Hoto noodles, and if possible, make some pickles by yourself. During the rest of the battle, the soldiers only need to draw out their knives and peel the dough piece by piece into the pot. Once it’s cooked, it can be eaten with pickles.”

Hoto noodles?pickle?Isn't this the exclusive military ration of the Takeda family?The fourth Battle of Kawanakajima was an inconclusive decisive battle between the Takeda family and the Uesugi family.The total number of troops dispatched by both sides exceeded 8000. In the Warring States Period when hundreds of people were often involved in a major battle, it was definitely a strategic decisive battle worthy of special mention.In this battle, the Takeda Army adopted woodpecker tactics and divided the army into two teams. A large part of the Uesugi Army's main line that attacked Wife and Girl Mountain, and 8000 troops were deployed in Yawatahara to make dumplings for Uesugi.As a result, Uesugi Kenshin, who saw through Takeda Shingen's strategy, went down the mountain ahead of time to attack Takeda Honjin, which had only [-] people, and almost took Takeda Shingen's head.Thanks to these [-] people who worked hard until the reinforcements appeared, they turned defeat into victory.

The combat time was from 07:30 in the morning to the afternoon, and neither side had time for lunch.The Eight Thousand Takeda Army, which was at a disadvantage in terms of strength, has never been defeated by the overwhelmingly superior Uesugi Army.Analyzing the reasons, in addition to the usual training and the command of Takeda Shingen, there is another point that is not noticed. Although they are all divisions of hundreds of battles, the Takeda army may be better than the Uesugi army in terms of physical strength, so even if they don’t eat Lunch can also hold on.The secret is that Takeda Shingen usually vigorously promotes the consumption of easy-to-digest sliced ​​noodles in the army, and eats pasta all year round.In fact, there were no real noodles in Japan at that time, and those things had to be brought to Japan after Zhu Shunshui, a great Confucian in the Ming Dynasty, traveled eastward after the Ming Dynasty perished.What I ate at that time was actually sliced ​​noodles from Japan, which was said to have been passed down from the Tang Dynasty. It was called Hoto noodles at that time, and it was also said to be udon noodles.This thing is also very convenient. During the rest of the battle, the soldiers only need to draw out their knives, cut the dough into pieces, cook them in the pot, and eat them with pickles.

Speaking of pickles, it is said that Takeda Shingen vigorously promoted them.At that time, the main pickles were pickled radishes and wild vegetables.Pickles are very salty and can be eaten by cutting into a small piece. They are easy to carry and not easy to deteriorate. They can also ensure that soldiers can get vitamins.Long-term consumption of sliced ​​noodles and pickled vegetables made the Takeda army much stronger than the Uesugi army who only ate rice. After a day of fighting, the hungry Uesugi army had long been exhausted, and it is estimated that some of them fainted due to hypoglycemia.The Takeda army, which is not superior in numbers, can persist with the bowl of noodles they ate in the morning.

"My lord Muzuo, I don't seem to have many coins in my family. How can I purchase a large amount of Hoto noodles? As for pickles, can they be pickled in just a few days?" When it came to money, Togo Heiji quit and immediately refuted .The two most stingy retainers in Luo's family, the first is Kosuke, nicknamed "Iron Rooster", and the second is Togo Heiji. Every time he spends money and food lavishly, he will feel pain.

"Okay, let's all be quiet." Seeing that the topics of the retainers were getting more and more off topic, Zheng Liang had no choice but to stop them.

In fact, Zhengliang was more inclined to another kind of military ration, that is miso.As far as Masara knew, the Takeda Army also used miso as another kind of military ration.The Takeda army ate "field miso" made from fermented soybeans, koji, salt, and soybean soup, also known as "white miso". "Field miso" is said not only to be delicious with rice, but also to relieve fatigue and treat stomach problems.Takeda's army's "field miso" is especially strong after eating, which is probably one of the reasons why Takeda's army surpassed Uesugi's army in physical strength.Another person who uses miso as military rations is Masamune Date, who uses "Sendai Miso". The most powerful thing about this miso is its long shelf life.Later, when Korea was invaded, almost all the miso brought by the generals were broken, and only the "Sendai Miso" of the Date Army still tasted fresh. "Sendai miso" became the traditional military miso of the Date family in the Edo period, and it was shipped from the Sendai domain to Edo every year.However, there were as many as 3000 Sendai feudal vassals stationed in Edo, and the transportation was time-consuming and laborious. Later, after everyone discussed, they simply used local materials in Edo to make "Sendai miso" by themselves in Beppu in Oi.Date's mansion smelled of miso all day long, so the Edo people called Date's mansion in Edo "miso mansion".In addition, Date Masamune, who has been delicious all his life, has also vigorously developed a variety of military rations, such as frozen tofu and natto, which are also included in the military rations. It is really good to serve as a soldier for the Date family. You can change the taste of military rations eat.

Although the idea of ​​miso is good, the Roche family does not have enough financial resources to make it so far, and more importantly, the time is running out.However, the suggestions made by all the retainers lacked such and such conditions, and Zheng Liang fell into deep thought for a while.

"Oh, isn't it just for eating? Hitting a rabbit in the mountains can solve it," Tsuda Hiromune muttered in a low voice.

Zheng Liang glared at him fiercely when he heard the words. This guy knew how to fight and kill without using his brain. Are hares so easy to catch?And when the war comes, it's time to hunt?He really thought he was going hunting in autumn?

Seeing Zheng Liang's eyes, Tsuda Hiromune immediately shrank his neck. If he was punished by the Patriarch to learn etiquette or something, his life would really be worse than death.

"Take out all the rice in the general's territory, mix it with a small amount of other miscellaneous grains, and make it all into rice balls." Zheng Liang finally decided, "These rice balls are estimated to be enough for us to last for about eight days. Everyone, this means that we must defeat or even fight within eight days. Destroy the powerful Akasaka family, Higashiyama family, Kawachi family, and Kanmou family, and connect their territories with Yuno Castle, so that food can be continuously provided.”

"Hiss..." All the retainers gasped, the Patriarch really wasted money this time, even used up all the rice that was comparable to shark's fin and bear's paw, and he had to complete the strategic goal of attacking the powerful west in eight days, everyone Immediately, I felt the pressure increased, especially the few retainers who directly participated in the strategy, their faces were particularly dignified.

"Everyone, are you confident in accomplishing the goal of this raid? This will be the first step for the prosperity of the Luo family's martial arts. Everyone's contributions will not be forgotten," Zheng Liang said solemnly.

"Your Highness, please don't worry, the ministers and others will definitely die after death." All the retainers expressed their opinions one after another.

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(ps: The operation is finally done, and I have to go back to work today, and I have to take sick leave to go to the hospital every afternoon this week. It's tiring. But please rest assured, I will never stop changing.)