A samurai who doesn't want to be a daimyo is not a good onmyoji

Chapter 67 On Lushan City
At this time, living conditions in Nibon were very poor. Coupled with the ban on meat, ordinary people basically only had some pickled radishes and other vegetables as vegetables, and then various grains.

Only samurai-level people can eat rice balls with some soy sauce or kelp as condiments. If you really want to eat meat, you have to be a high-level samurai or even a small daimyo at the castle lord level, and basically there is only a little bit of fish.

When Asai Nagamasa was in Kotani Castle, he could not eat fish every day, so he said before that the life of the monk soldiers under Miyabe Tsurujun was very good, because one could tell by looking at their oily faces. I usually eat a lot of meat.

In the absence of meat and nutrients, everyone has a large appetite. In addition, due to the need for martial arts training and training, there is no doubt that samurai and ashigaru can eat well. If they eat two meals a day, even if they save food, One pound of rice is totally not enough.

When the Asai family had a fierce battle with the Rokkaku family, almost all of the famous generals were laborers, and they had to eat two to three kilograms of rice a day.

A stone of rice weighs about 150 catties. There are more than 100 people on the mountain who spend one stone of rice a day. It is impossible for Saito Dozo to send people down the mountain to buy rice every day, so it is necessary to make preparations in advance, or buy a large amount at once every once in a while. Food.

Even if there are a large amount of grain reserves in the mountains, it doesn't look like they can grow vegetables on this mountain at all. They must also need to go down the mountain regularly to buy vegetables, salt, and other daily necessities, right?

In this way, the question arises, why is there no road on the mountain?
If they need to go down the mountain regularly to buy goods, there must be at least one road no matter how remote it is. But now why does it seem that after they went up the mountain, they never planned to come down?

So, there are actually other ways out of this mountain city, right?

But there is no need to tell Tokichiro these things, let alone to let Axiu know, telling them that it may reveal flaws, as long as you pay attention to it.

In fact, until now, Asai Nagamasa is still not sure why A Xiu traveled a long distance with him here. Is it because he wants to repay a favor, is out of curiosity, or is it for other reasons that he does not know. Woolen cloth?
Since the dense grass on the wild plains near the mountain castle was infested with poisonous insects, Asai Nagamasa and the others took a little effort to reach the foot of the mountain.

Just like the plain behind them, there is no road to speak of on the mountain. Although the hill is only a few hundred meters high, Asai Nagamasa estimated that it would take them at least half a quarter of an hour or more to reach the top of the mountain.

But before he could say anything, his expression suddenly changed, and he noticed something strange in the distance. At the same time, A Xiu, who had been expressionless, suddenly tightened his weapon and walked quickly to his side.

Looking at her appearance, both Asai Nagamasa and Tokichiro, who was temporarily unaware, felt something was wrong, because Axiu's state showed that she felt a little threatened.

After a few breaths, a dozen guys dressed in black, masked in black, holding weapons such as sickles and chains, and dressed as ninjas, jumped out and stopped in front of them.

"This is the secluded place of Master Dao San. Outsiders are not welcome. Please leave here immediately!"

Although the Saito family's external intelligence showed that they did not cooperate with any well-known ninjasato, as a daimyo who once ruled the Mino area and was still burdened with a lot of notoriety, Saito Douzan raised some ninjas of his own. It's a completely normal thing.

Even Asai Hisamasa, who was naturally cowardly and afraid of war, raised some ninjas in Kotani Castle, but most of them had little ability. They were massacred by the Koga ninjas who helped the Rokkaku family all year round. Most of them never had time to grow up. Already died halfway.

At this time, Tokichiro took the initiative and leaned over: "This eldest brother, the younger Tokichiro, is Lord Daosan's royal merchant and specializes in collecting gold and gems for him."

Asai Nagamasa couldn't help but raise his eyebrows slightly when he heard this. This guy Tokichiro actually hid such a skill. He didn't expect that he was actually Saito Douzan's royal businessman.

In Nibon, due to the low status of merchants and their excessive pursuit of profit, they were often not valued by the samurai who liked to fight head-on to prove their bravery. The Warring States daimyo usually did not communicate directly with ordinary merchants.

However, the various daimyo still need to conduct transactions with merchants, not only because the merchants have various daily necessities and even weapons and armor, but also because merchants all over Nibon are usually responsible for certain tasks of gathering information.

Although they are not as professional as ninjas, they are not as noticeable as ninjas because of their special status, so they can also get a lot of valuable information, especially about money, food, salt, and iron in the city.

Once there is a change in this area, it usually means that a war is coming, which is very useful for the daimyo.

Therefore, daimyo usually gathers merchants from a certain castle town and selects the richest or most useful one as his designated royal merchant.

After becoming an imperial merchant, not only can the merchant directly do business with the daimyo, but also often get certain privileges in the city, and the imperial merchants will work harder to serve the daimyo, which is also a win-win situation.

Since Tokichiro has become Saito Douzan's royal businessman, it means that his position in the other party's mind is actually not as miserable as he described.

It's a pity, because Asai Hisamasa is too unbearable, so far, Asai's family does not have any powerful royal businessmen, and when Asai Nagamasa takes power, he will have to pay more attention to this aspect.

The leading ninjas looked at each other and then asked, "Who are those two?"

Asai Nagamasa has an extraordinary demeanor, and the fully armed samurai beside him, with his head and face covered by a helmet, seems to be a very rare samurai warrior. Naturally, they will not regard him as an ordinary ronin.

"The two of them are samurai hired by me. Brother, you know that the road has not been peaceful recently. In addition, they are also admirers of Master Dao San, so I brought them here."

Tokichiro directly said what they had discussed on the road, and also took out the spiritual stone obtained from Maeno Nagayasu.

Seeing the glowing golden gems, several ninjas relaxed slightly. They were obviously knowledgeable about the goods and were very aware of the transaction between their master and Tokichiro.

They looked at Asai Nagamasa and Axiu up and down again. Apart from being a little surprised by the other's outstanding appearance and height, the ninjas did not feel any threat, so they did not make any unnecessary moves. "Is it Tokichiro? There are many poisonous insects on the mountain, following us. But Master Dao San will not just meet two strange wild warriors."

Tokichiro hurriedly smiled and said: "Then I'll trouble you, big brother. I'll invite you to Inoguchi Town for a drink when you have time. As for Master Daosan, it doesn't matter. I will tell him personally."

Looking at Tokichiro with a smile on his face, Asai Nagamasa also sighed a little. He is indeed very good at life. Even if he is not possessed by the ape, with his eloquence and ability to treat people, Tokichiro will definitely not be limited to one person in the future. As a famous travel businessman, this is something he absolutely cannot do.

But this guy is also divided into people. Ever since he met him, he has always called himself young, but after changing to the ninja in front of him, even if he asked for help from the other party, he did not call himself young. This shows that deep in his heart , in fact, you still have some self-respect or pride, right?

Under the leadership of the ninjas, Asai Nagamasa and others began to rush towards the mountain. While crossing the weeds, the leading ninja took out a green short stick and waved it in the air a few times. Then Asai Nagamasa listened. There was a rustling sound in the grass, and it seemed that many little things were escaping quickly.

He immediately understood that the short stick had a special function and could drive away poisonous insects extremely efficiently, so they didn't have to go to the trouble of alerting snakes like Tokichiro did before.

After a slight sniff, he smelled a faint fishy smell, just like the smell of the night sword god's companion grass down the mountain. It seemed that they had found a way to make it into a snake repellent.

It's no wonder that the special guardian spirit named Yatakushin is no exaggeration to be called the King of Venomous Snakes. It's only normal to have this function.

Tokichiro also saw the benefits of this special prop. If it were sold outside, it would definitely be worth a big price. Unfortunately, no matter how he tried to test it, the ninjas said nothing and just led the way quietly.

The farther up the mountain you go to the shallow well, the more rugged the mountain road becomes. At the end, there is even a narrow road of about one meter, and the right side is simply a cliff. Ordinary people fall down and realize the possibility of survival.

In this case, it is very easy for the defenders to withstand ten times the enemy's attack. Even without attacking, many enemies will probably fall off the cliff on their own.

This also confirmed Asai Nagamasa's guess that this kind of small road could not be used to transport food for hundreds of people. Saito Douzan and the others must have other secret roads.

After climbing over a steep cliff again, the ninjas led them to a relatively flat place.

Asai Nagamasa looked around and found that the area here was very small. Except for the one in the middle that looked taller and more gorgeous, probably Saito Douzan's residence, there were only dozens of houses around it, which seemed like they couldn't hold much. The number of people living there can barely correspond to the number of people Tokichiro mentioned before.

Some guys dressed in footlights, wearing simple hats and half-covered grass ponchos are standing around, probably the guards here.

The moment Asai Nagamasa appeared, dozens of eyes gathered over them, scanning them all over. Then they seemed to see the leading ninja, and they all turned around and stopped paying attention to them. .

Even if it was just a few breaths of gaze, even if it was just an invisible line of sight, Asai Nagamasa felt a real pressure, and he couldn't help but complain in his heart: This is not an ordinary ashigaru. Ah, even the professions of the Asai family are mostly inferior to them!
Not to mention anything else, just with these dozens of guys dressed as Ashigaru, pretending to be pigs and eating tigers, and with the special terrain of Sagiyama Castle, they can easily resist more than [-] Ashigaru. If anyone dares to despise them, A very heavy price will inevitably be paid.

If they were malicious towards him, I am afraid that even if he and Axiu were included, it would be almost impossible to defeat them, and even escape would be a luxury.

And considering Saito Dosan's character, these guys on the bright side will definitely not be his full strength.

Should it be said that he is worthy of being the Viper who has ruled Meinong for decades?Even if he lives in seclusion here, he still maintains considerable power.

Damn it, why had I never heard anyone mention these elite forces before?

Could they be elites trained by Saito Dozo using some special means?Like, the power of spells?

There were too many questions emerging in Asai Nagamasa's mind. He felt a little regretful, as if he was like a rabbit stepping into the fox's den.

"Master Dao San is waiting inside, you can go in to see me." After talking to Tokichiro, the leading ninja turned to Asai Nagamasa, "But you two can't go in before getting permission from Master Dao San. "

As soon as he finished speaking, Asai Nagamasa immediately felt that almost all the eyes of other ninjas were focused on him, which seemed to remind him in this way that they were extremely vigilant towards him.

But now Asai Nagamasa doesn't care too much. Saito Douzan has done a lot of evil in the past few decades in order to ascend to power. I don't know how many people want to get rid of this old poisonous snake. He It's natural to be cautious.

After all, this is other people's territory, so it doesn't hurt to abide by their rules a little.

What's more, although these ninjas looked dangerous on the surface, they were nothing compared to those guys next to them.

Fujiyoshiro first smiled apologetically at Asai Nagamasa, and then pushed the door open and entered.

After a few words, a strong but slightly vague male voice came from inside: "Since we are friends of Tokichiro, let the two of them come in together."

(End of this chapter)