Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 99: General Administration of Military Food and Supplies

Yuanye stayed in a small valley to gather information and rest for two days. However, the situation showed no signs of easing during these two days. Near the city of Guye alone, more than ten small-scale battles involving dozens to one or two hundred people occurred.

The powerful families in the four lower counties of Owari also began to take sides. Judging from the scattered news brought back by Akiyoshi Rei, Oda Nobuyuki had the upper hand in the diplomatic war. Most of the small and medium-sized local powerful families chose Oda Nobuyuki's side. Oda Nobuyuki's power expanded rapidly, and it was said that his military strength far exceeded that of Oda Nobunaga.

After watching for two days, Yuanye felt that the war was about to begin and he could not wait any longer. Even though his body was far from recovered, he forced himself to rush to the Guye City.

Facts have proved that it is impossible to hide in troubled times. Now that he is in the chaotic vortex of the four counties under Owari, he needs to make his position clear and strive to stand with the victor in order to share the benefits after the war.

He left the temporary camp to Maejima Jiro and Yayoi and asked them to wait for his news. With the help of Aqing, he sneaked through the outskirts of Naguno Castle, which had become a chaotic area, and arrived at Naguno Castle smoothly.

The Furuno Castle also experienced war, and several areas of white land were burned out in the castle town. Many ruins could be seen along the road, and occasionally broken pieces of armor and broken swords and guns could be seen among the ashes.

When Yuanye saw these devastated scenes, he was reminded of the confusing and tragic night at Takeuchi House and remained silent for a long time.

"Nohara-sama, I'm so glad to see you're okay!"

Yuanye was lost in thought when Maeda Toshiie rode up to him. When he got closer, he jumped off his horse and looked him up and down, with a look of emotion on his face: "We all thought you... This is really great!"

Yuan Ye looked at his expression and couldn't help but feel close to him. He felt that there was a reason why he would be successful in the future. He sighed and said, "Lucky to have escaped."

"It's good to be alive, it's good to be alive!" Maeda Toshiie sighed repeatedly, "His Highness heard about you and stayed for a while, lamenting the impermanence of life. He also asked Lord Ikeda to remember to light a blessing lamp for you in front of the Buddha in the future. Now that he sees that you are still alive, he will definitely be very happy."

"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness." Yuan Ye nodded slightly, then asked with concern, "You guys..."

"Many people died, Chiaki Jiro Saburo-sama, Ito Uemon-sama, Hanagoro-sama..." Maeda Toshiie's face was gloomy. He listed more than ten names in a row and sighed deeply, "They all died in the battle that night."

Yuanye was silent for a moment. It seemed that Lin Xiuzhen had suddenly rebelled. Not to mention other losses, the small-name attendants and horsemen around Oda Nobunaga were probably killed and injured heavily. The people mentioned by Maeda Toshiie should all be his familiar friends and colleagues. The actual death toll was at least several times higher than this.

Come to think of it, Oda Nobunaga recruited more than a hundred small-time soldiers and horsemen, and only five or six of them were able to make a name for themselves after Okehazama. I think most of them were consumed in battles, died silently, and did not gain any merit.

Moreover, these are all warriors with names and surnames. The number of nameless gang members who died will be even greater, possibly dozens or even hundreds of times.

Perhaps, this is the legendary "one general's success is the result of the sacrifice of thousands of soldiers", but there are rarely any places for these people in history books.

Maeda Toshiie sighed, saw that Nohara was walking very slowly, and smelled the strong smell of medicine on him. He couldn't help but ask, "Nohara-sama, are you injured?"

"Yeah, I broke a bone and cracked a few more." Yuanye shook his head and said, not wanting to talk about it anymore. He asked, "What about you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just a shoulder injury, nothing serious." Maeda Toshiie was considered an outlier in the medieval era of Japan, with broad shoulders and a large body, and a tall and strong body. This body type doesn't have much advantage in a single fight, and is even a bit bulky, but it's a different story on the battlefield, sometimes a little more strength, a little more weight, a little longer arms can make the difference between life and death, not to mention that he seems to have good talent and is quite good at martial arts.

In a sense, he is probably equivalent to a combination of Yuanye and Aqing. He has both a strong physique and martial arts skills. He is a hexagonal warrior who can handle the battlefield with ease. No wonder he will be able to make it in the future and get the nickname "Gunzhi Youzuo".

Yuanye thought to himself that he would recruit people like him in the future, and then he asked about other acquaintances in detail. He found that it might be because his social circle was relatively narrow, or because he had always made friends with historical celebrities. Most of his acquaintances were not dead, and basically they were all alive and well, and some had even made contributions.

For example, Ningning's adoptive father, Asano Nagakatsu, upon discovering the changes in Furuno Castle, he immediately brought his party members to reinforce without any care. Although he did not achieve any results and did not play a key role, he was highly recognized by Oda Nobunaga afterwards. Now he serves as the archer general under Oda Nobunaga, and is highly trusted. He is basically on par with Oda Nobunaga's close retainers. Even after the internal strife is over, his territory may increase.

Of course, the two brothers Maeda Toshiie and Sawaki Yoshiyuki fought bravely, took many heads, and were praised. It is estimated that their status beside Oda Nobunaga will also be greatly improved in the future.

In the end, among Harano's acquaintances, only Oruki Kiyohei was killed in the battle. He fought stubbornly in his home, causing heavy casualties to Lin Xiuzhen's brother Lin Shengzhen, and he himself was hacked to death in the house. No one in his family was spared, and everyone from the old to the young was killed.

When Yuanye asked this, he sighed softly, not knowing what to say for a moment. Oru Kiyobei was a rigid and serious person, and had caused him a lot of trouble. A while ago, he would come to nag him for no reason, causing him to not dare to recruit more gang members for two months. Even if he had twenty more gang members that night, he could not reverse the situation. He still had some resentment, but now he died in the battle, and his whole family was wiped out...

The past didn't matter anymore, but he was actually a little sad.

The two chatted along the way, lamenting the impermanence of life and death, and then entered the city and arrived at Oda Nobunaga's residence.

Traces of smoke and fire can also be seen here, but it has probably been repaired and looks better than other places. Maeda Toshiie did not treat him as an outsider and took him in directly. He asked someone to inform him, and soon he met Oda Nobunaga.

Yuanye hadn't seen him for a long time. He took a closer look and found that he did not look weak despite having just experienced a life-and-death crisis. On the contrary, he looked more energetic than when they first met. The gloom in his eyes had dissipated a lot, and he looked less cynical and more calm.

Overall, it feels like he has evolved from a high school delinquent into a gang leader. He is no longer as flamboyant as before and has become more sophisticated.

However, his attitude towards Yuanye did not change. When he saw Yuanye coming in, he waved and asked Ikeda Terumasa to pour him some tea. His face showed some joy that seemed to come from the bottom of his heart. He touched the small mustache that had just grown on his lips and said happily: "I knew you wouldn't die so easily! You came just in time. I'm short of manpower here!"

After a pause, he looked at Yuanye carefully again. Seeing that Yuanye had no intention of objecting, he seemed more satisfied that Yuanye had taken the initiative to help. He joked, "Don't worry, you will get your wages. I'll double it this time!"

Yuan Ye really had no intention of objecting. He came here to make his position clear, so of course he had to do some work. He was mentally prepared for this and immediately asked, "What does Your Highness need me to do?"

"You should go and help Manchiyo (Niwa Nagahide) first, and while doing your old job, you can also be a...chief magistrate under Manchiyo!" Oda Nobunaga thought about it and made a decision, and also gave him a military position.

Although Hayashi Hidetsune's rebellion failed, he had been a family elder in Kuno Castle for so many years, and he still had many middle and low-level retainers who supported him and fled with him. In the past, Oda Nobunaga recruited small families and horsemen based on their family background and military strength. There were many generals who could go to the battlefield, but few who could take over various miscellaneous affairs. As a result, Kuno Castle is now seriously short of "civil servants" and the logistics are in chaos.

Just then, Yuanye came. Considering that he had managed the "hospital" in an orderly manner in the past, Oda Nobunaga thought that there should be no problem for him to be in charge of logistics, so he decided to use him to take the blame without thinking too much.

There is no other way around it. He really lacks talents in internal affairs now, so he can only let him take on two duties for the time being.

Yuanye had no objection. Since he couldn't go to the battlefield now anyway, he could only do clerical work. So he chatted with Oda Nobunaga for a while, told him about what happened in Takeuchi Manor that night, and talked about his escape experience and injuries. Then he took the judgment and went to find Niwa Nagahide to join the company, thus becoming a member of Nobunaga's army again.

Niwa Nagahide was also very happy to see that he was still alive, but he seemed to have temporarily replaced Hirate Masahide's position. At a young age, he was already in charge of all the miscellaneous affairs of the Kuno Castle and was extremely busy. He did not talk much with him, but only assigned him work and manpower, asking him to build the "hospital" while also taking care of the "military food and supplies" and doing the work of "military food and supplies general commissioner". He even gave him a few private instructions, hinting that the manpower assigned to him might not be reliable and asked him to be careful.

Perhaps his idea was the same as Oda Nobunaga's. They both felt that this half of their own people was far more reliable than the old hands left by Lin Xiuzhen. At least he really had a grudge against Lin Xiuzhen. Not only were all his friends killed or injured, but even his house was ransacked. The possibility that he was an undercover spy was very low.

The work was much more than expected, and Yuanye did not refuse even though he was injured, and took up the post immediately. On the one hand, he sent people to bring back Maejima Jiro and his gang, and on the other hand, he began to look through a large number of old account books and asked his subordinates assigned to him to take over the job of "General Envoy of Military Food and Materials", which means being responsible for distributing basic supplies such as military rations and horse feed to the troops. At the same time, he also had to collect food and horse feed from various channels to maintain inventory and support the battle.

Most of the retainers who used to do this kind of work have gone to Lin Xiuzhen. Before leaving, they burned some basic information such as account books and took them away. Now the work in this area is a mess. It is not even certain whether there is anything left in some warehouses, not to mention how to get the collection work straightened out again.

In short, there are a lot of troubles. Because of these troubles, the war preparations of Kune City have been delayed, which has become a fatal problem that hinders the overall situation.

Fortunately, Yuanye came from an engineering background. People with an engineering background are usually good at summarizing and generalizing, and they also know a little about overall planning. These jobs, which most people think are like a ball of twine, are nothing to him. After he understood his responsibilities, he immediately got into the state and really became the "general manager of military supplies and rations", starting to command his subordinates around.

Two days later, his hard work began to bear fruit. He had basically sorted out the current amount of food and fodder in Guye City, which team replenished it and how often, where the replenishment should be provided, and the old collection channels. He made a lot of forms in his hands, and also arrested more than a dozen retainers and clerks who had dared to embezzle money in the past.

So he had more work to do, and the collection and distribution of some arrows, vehicles, livestock and cloth also fell into his hands.

He didn't care, but was very interested when he saw that Niwa Nagahide asked him to increase the collection of certain materials.

(End of this chapter)