Seeing Du Fei coming over, the pawn finally cheered up: "Hey! Who are you? This is the city where people from the Xiangliang family are attacking! It's past the time to enter the city, and you can't enter or exit casually with the lord's warrant!"
!”
Du Fei glanced at him and handed a few coins into his hand without saying a word: "I am a friend of Mr. Fan Jiumu, your swordsman here. It's convenient!"
As soon as the guard saw Qian, his voice softened immediately: "Oh, he is Mr. Jiumu's friend. Then go in quickly and remember, Mr. Jiumu lives next to Ermu Dojo, don't go wrong."
Du Fei smiled politely at him and strode in. As soon as he entered, he was stunned by the layers of walls inside. In fact, he didn't understand what the guard meant by 'two pills'.
Castles built by daimyo during the Warring States Period often had more than one wall. The first wall was called Ichimaru, the second was called Nimaru, and so on. The last place where the daimyo lived was called the castle tower. It was also called Honmaru.
It is said that such a sophisticated design has high defensive capabilities, but some daimyo still felt dissatisfied. Not only did they build at least four walls in front of Honmaru, they also specially made the road into Honmaru to be winding. This way
There are more spaces and strongholds to block invading enemies. Even if the city is broken, it will take the enemy a long time to attack the Honmaru Castle Tower.
Unfortunately, the city that Du Fei entered was such a city. The lord of the Xiangliang family, Xiangliang Yiyang, was a suspicious and timid person. After he came to the throne, he never organized troops to expand his territory, but he spent all his energy on it.
They were all used to repair the city and consolidate the city's defenses.
However, his stubborn attitude greatly delayed the destruction of the Sagara family. Shimazu and Ito once fought together, but they both fell in front of his carefully constructed fortifications.
Du Fei felt as if he had entered a maze. He didn't know where he was after a few moments. He saw people walking around him wearing light blue samurai uniforms and swords. Several of them stopped warily when they saw him and asked:
"Hey! What do you do?! How did you get in?"
"Oh, I am a friend of Lord Jiumu, and I came here to discuss with him." Du Fei replied hurriedly.
"Oh, look for Mr. Jiumu. He is probably teaching swordsmanship to the master at this time. You can't go in alone! You'd better come with me!" A warrior who looked young waved his hand.
Du Fei hurriedly followed, and saw strict guards along the way. The road into the main pill was winding and winding, which made Du Fei speechless.
The young man seemed to be testing him along the way, constantly asking questions about this and that. After seeing Du Fei's eloquent answers to the situation of Jiu Mu, he finally felt relieved and led him into the high castle tower in Honmaru.
He saw an elderly Sagara retainer kneeling motionless outside the castle tower. Du Fei was very confused, but he understood that in other people's territory, a word might cause trouble, so it was better to say less.
The young warrior seemed to be very satisfied with Du Fei's silent attitude. He led Du Fei directly to a door in the castle tower, listened for a while, and then said to Du Fei: "Father, I still want to learn from my master.
You wait outside in the lobby for a while."
"It turns out you are disrespectful! Disrespectful!" Du Fei never expected that this young man, who was approachable and dressed in ordinary clothes, was actually the young master of the Xiangliang family, Xiangliang Yoshichichi.
"Haha, master, you don't have to be polite." Xiangliang Yoshikika responded politely: "I have admired swordsmen like you since I was a child. I also wanted to be a swordsman and travel around the world! But my father didn't allow it. Fortunately for us,
I invited the best swordsman in Kyushu, His Excellency Jiu Mu, and under his guidance, my swordsmanship has improved greatly!"
Du Fei looked at the innocent young man in front of him and smiled. Although he liked him, he also began to feel a little worried about him: How could such a simple child survive in such a dangerous Warring States period?
"Oh, Master! Please wait here for a moment. I also want to say hello to my mother. Please don't be polite if you leave for a while!" After saying this, Sagara Yoshikika handed over his hands and left.
Du Fei sat in the empty hall, feeling very chatty.
He stood up and wandered around. Suddenly he heard someone shouting something loudly in the kendo room. His curiosity suddenly aroused, and he quietly came forward and put his ear on the door.
"My lord! Please think about it! He is an old minister who has served the Xiangliang family for generations! If you drive him away like this, other retainers will be chilled to see him!"
Du Fei heard that the voice was very familiar, it should be Jiumu Change! Is he talking to the lord of the Xiangliang family?
But only an arrogant voice responded, "This guy Da Zhuo has been deducting military rations! The soldiers are very resentful! Although he is a veteran, he is so ignorant, and I can't help him!"
"Then at least give him a sum of money so that he can find some other way to make a living? If you confiscate all his property, isn't it equivalent to letting his whole family starve to death?"
Da Zhuo, I should say the guy kneeling at the door, no wonder he will be punished for deducting military rations. Du Fei suddenly felt that the voices inside were suddenly quieter, so he moved his ears closer.
"Don't mention this matter again! We have bigger troubles that we haven't dealt with yet! The military expenditure has been overspent again this month!! If this continues, we will go bankrupt! Now I don't even know what to give to the retainers.
Salary! Taxes must be increased!"
"Sir, didn't you just increase the amount? That amount of money is several thousand dollars~~?"
"Changhui, do you know how many soldiers and retainers we have in Renjie City now? We have to spend fifteen hundred guan on monthly salary! The tax increase just now can't even cover two months! They are all like Da Zhuo
It’s the old guy who did it! He has a high salary, but he’s too old and too dim to do anything! He can only embezzle and deprive soldiers of their pay!”
This should be the head of the Sagara family, Yoshihiro Sagara. It seems that the Sagara family has really encountered business difficulties, and this is the most serious thing.
When the soldiers are dead, you can recruit them, and when the city collapses, you can build it. But once the economy cannot make ends meet, nothing can be done. Because you have to pay the soldiers to recruit them, not to mention the money spent on building the city. Du Fei now understands why
The city wall outside is so dilapidated and no one has repaired it.