Qingdeng's thunderous wind caused Yuan Shenqi to be stunned for a moment.
After regaining consciousness, he immediately said:
"Yes, yes! Please come with me!"
As he spoke, he turned sideways and made a "please" gesture to Qingden.
Hijikata Toshizo followed closely beside Aoto.
The two of them strode toward the depths of the village, closely surrounded by the heads of families from "thousands of people and ten families."
Judging from the appearance, Yuan Shenqi is about 42.3 years old, in his prime.
Although his beard and hair are half white, he is full of energy, his face is glowing red, his breath is long, and his steps are steady and powerful. You can tell at a glance that he is a martial arts practitioner.
The Eight Princes' Thousand People are divided into 10 groups, that is, 10 troops.
The "Ten Families of Thousands of People" serve as commanders of these 10 troops respectively.
Although nominally speaking, the status of the "Top Ten Families of a Thousand People" is equivalent, in fact, their actual status is slightly different.
Their family income ranges from 200 to 500 shi, which is an enviable figure considering the average level of local wealthy families.
Among them, the one with the richest family income and the highest status belongs to the original family.
Therefore, the original family often plays the role of the talker of "ten families among a thousand people".
Suddenly, Qingdeng asked Yuan Shenqi:
"Mr. Yuan, you... no, how many troops do we have currently?"
Yuan Shenqi replied without thinking:
"We currently have a total of 2,173 adults of suitable age!"
"If we bite the bullet during wartime, we can mobilize approximately 2,500 warriors."
2,500 troops... This is much more than Qingdeng expected.
It is said that "thousands of people work together", but its scale cannot remain unchanged forever.
After more than two hundred years of reproduction and reproduction, their total military strength has naturally exceeded a thousand people.
Qingdeng then asked:
"How much grain do we have in storage right now? How much fodder? How many horses?"
Yuan Shenqi’s response was still swift:
"We currently have a total of 3,282 stones of grain stored, 1,547 stones of fodder, and 82 horses, including 51 pack horses and 31 rideable war horses."
"Where are the weapons?"
"4145 knives, 1389 side swords, 357 three-room guns, 28 longbows, and 12 iron cannons."
Having said this, Yuan Shenqi turned sideways and winked at someone behind him.
This person was quite eye-catching. After noticing the other person's eyes, he immediately picked up the black book in his hand and handed it to Yuan Shenqi with both hands.
This is an incredibly thick leather book.
At first glance, it looked like a city brick. The cover was badly damaged and the paper was yellowed.
Yuan Shenqi changed hands and handed this large book to Qingdeng.
"Lord Nioh, this is our account book since January last year. Please take a look at it."
Qingdeng stretched out his hand to take it, spread it out, flipped the pages, and read ten lines at a time.
Under the combined influence of his talents of "concentration" and "photographic memory", his reading speed and digestion speed are extremely fast.
While he was watching, he continued to question Yuan Shenqi - the talent of "fighting left and right", activated - effortlessly multitasking.
The questions he asked covered all aspects.
From annual training time to daily eating habits.
From the harvest situation in recent years to whether there are strangers wandering here with strange behavior in recent days.
Faced with all kinds of strange questions raised by Qingdeng, Yuan Shenqi answered them accurately and calmly.
At the same time that Qingdeng finished asking questions, the account book in his hand also turned to the last page.
"...Well, thank you for your hard work."
Qingdeng gave Yuan Shenqi a look of praise, and his facial lines relaxed slightly.
Regarding Yuan Shenqi... no, Qingdeng was very satisfied with the current performance of "Thousand Heads and Ten Companies".
He was used to seeing the shogunate bureaucrats living and enjoying life, and he was also used to seeing their incompetence.
It has been a long time since he met such an official who is willing to do practical work and neither plays football nor does Tai Chi. It really surprised him and he was not used to it.
Not to mention anything else, just this thick account book with detailed records is enough to show the carefulness and attentiveness of "Ten Families of Thousands of People".
The contents in the account books are recorded in very detailed and professional terms.
When the grain, grass and weapons were put into the warehouse and when they were taken out of the warehouse; how much grain was left last month and how much grain was used this month... everything was recorded clearly.
Any question that is thrown...even if it is a very tricky question, Yuan Shenqi, as the "talker", can answer it immediately.
It's obvious - they are not mediocre people who sit on their backs and eat nothing.
They are indeed managing thousands of people with one mind seriously.
At this time, the group of people had reached the depths of the village.
Gray-brown hay roofs, dark stone brick walls, compacted dirt roads, intermittent grinding sounds...
Qingdeng turned around and looked carefully at the closely arranged cottages on the left and right sides, one next to the other.
It has a roof, walls, and windows that do not leak air... Judging from the average rural standards of this era, this is already a fairly wealthy village.
The number of villagers I met along the way gradually increased, and they were basically old, weak, women and children.
At this time, the young men are either farming in the fields or honing their military skills in the martial arts field.
Seeing Qingdeng and others, the villagers along the way consciously stepped back to the roadside, saluting respectfully and looking at Qingdeng quietly.
"Which one is Nioh-sama?"
"Of course it's the most conspicuous one."
"So tall... He is worthy of being a warrior capable of defeating a thousand people."
"I never thought that we would one day fight side by side with the legendary 'Nioh' Tachibana Aoden."
"Under the leadership of the benevolent king, we will surely achieve great achievements."
Qingto has a decisive influence in the Kanto region.
Hachioji is located in the hinterland of Kanto and is deeply influenced by Edo culture.
Therefore, the thousands of disciples who work together naturally deeply admire Qingdeng.
Qingdeng silently swept his gaze and observed the villagers around him in detail.
Gradually, as if he noticed something, he frowned quietly.
…
…
Not long after, under the leadership of Hara Shenqi, Qingto and Hijikata Toshizo arrived at a large flat open space behind the village.
In the open space, hundreds of young men carrying bamboo spears were arranged in a crooked square formation, looking ahead, ready to attack.
A middle-aged man holding a military paraphernalia in his hand stood at the back of the military formation.
Suddenly, he raised his military equipment in the palm of his hand and shouted loudly:
"prick!"
The next moment, the young men in the array let out chaotic roars while thrusting their spears straight into the air.
Immediately afterwards, the middle-aged man turned the military accessories in his hand and shouted again:
"Change!"
After receiving the new instructions from the middle-aged people, the young men immediately put away their bamboo spears and started running in a chaotic order, splitting into two groups and moving to the left and right sides respectively - it was the classic "Crane Wing Formation"
.
In order to build the Shinsengumi, Aomori made a rough study of the military strategies of various schools in Japan in order to collect inspiration.
Therefore, Seito recognized them at just one glance: they were practicing the Koshu style of war.
Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogunate of the shogunate, was violently beaten by Takeda Shingen (the original war between the three parties).
When Tokugawa Ieyasu was running away in a hurry, he even pulled his pants on the saddle. After being discovered, in order to relieve his embarrassment (he had a tough talk), he said that this was not shit, but miso soup, which became a "good story".
Perhaps because he was convinced, Tokugawa Ieyasu has always admired the Takeda family's art of war...that is, the Koshu-ryu art of war.
After the demise of the Takeda family, Tokugawa Ieyasu actively absorbed Takeda's remaining ministers, actively learned the Koshu style of war, and realized the "Takedaization" of the Tokugawa army.
Therefore, for this reason, after the Tokugawa family conquered the world, Koshu-ryu art of war has always had an unusually high status in military circles.
Hachioji's Thousand People Together has a deep connection with the Takeda family.
The ancestors of many of them were descendants of the Takeda family.
In this way, Koshu-ryu military law has always been the "template for military training" and the "textbook for building an army" for the Hachioji and thousands of people.
The young men were practicing enthusiastically... Qing Deng watched expressionlessly...
After a while, he raised his gaze and looked further into the distance - in the open space on the other side, a group of teenagers were waving bamboo swords selflessly.
The ages of these teenagers are all between 12 and 18 years old.
A young man carried a bamboo sword and walked back and forth to check their expressions and movements.
Whenever any boy acted out of standard or lost concentration, he would immediately scream angrily:
"Strengthen your waist! Push hard!"
"Don't shake your legs! Stand firm!"
"You look so weak, you can't go into battle to kill the enemy!"
…
In the open space further away, a group of younger children were playing "Red and White Battle".
"Follow me! Fight hard! Defeat them!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!"
These children, who are not as strong as the bamboo sword, can only use branches as weapons.
Rural areas are obviously not rich enough to use a large number of porcelain bowls for games.
As a result, these children ingeniously covered the branches with mud. Whoever got mud on their body was out.
Qingden clasped his hands behind his back and watched all this quietly.
The people around him—Yuan Shenqi and others—were all holding their breath, eagerly waiting for Qingdeng's comments.
After about half a minute, Qingdeng finally spoke.
He whispered quietly:
"Mr. Yuan, our son... is too thin."
"Besides, the training level is really lackluster."
Qingdeng originally thought that thousands of people who grew up in a wealthy area would be stronger if they worked together.
Unexpectedly...compared to ordinary farmers, they are not much better.
As early as when he entered the village, Qingdeng discovered this from the appearance of the villagers.
He is sallow, skinny, and has no flesh on his body...
What kind of fighting power can such a body have?
In addition, their training level was far below Qingdeng's expectations.
His movements are slow, his running speed is slow... he can't even form the simplest "square formation" well.
All in all, although everyone in the world praises the Eighth Prince for his unity, after seeing it with his own eyes, his actual combat power did not meet Qingteng's expectations.
After listening to Qingdeng's brief comments, Yuan Shenqi was stunned for a moment, and then sighed heavily.
"Lord Nioh, it is understandable that you would have such an opinion..."
"In fact, we have already noticed the issue you raised."
"The reason why my sons and daughters have become thin is because the life in recent years has been too difficult."
"I don't know why, but our income has dropped sharply since several years ago."
"The food we have grown so hard and the cloth we have weaved so hard can never be sold at a good price."
"With less income and no more good food, my body will naturally become thinner."
“In order to maintain their family income, the young men had to take up other jobs such as umbrella making and shoemaking besides farming.”
"As a result, the training time of the boys will naturally be reduced a lot."
"The training time is shortened, and the combat effectiveness is weakened."
After listening to Yuan Shenqi's explanation, Qingdeng immediately pursed his lips in deep thought.
What the other party said cannot really be ignored.
The reason for the "sharp drop in income" mainly involves a series of complex issues such as "Western countries dumping goods to Japan".
This problem cannot be solved perfectly by just one or two measures.
At this moment, Hijikata Suisan on the side suddenly interjected:
"However, they still have advantages."
He smiled as he spoke.
"Their morale is very high and their fighting spirit is high."
"With this kind of morale and fighting spirit, it is more than enough to defeat those useless direct disciples."
Qingden raised his eyebrows, then smiled and echoed:
"Well, you're right."
The disciples of Zhishen, who were full of food all day long and only engaged in eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, were at the bottom of the contempt chain of the shogunate.
Even a commoner can open his lips, show disdain, and laugh at the incompetence of the direct disciples.
After talking and laughing, Qingdeng straightened up his demeanor, collected his emotions, and put on a serious tone again:
"Yuan Jun, from now on, thousands of people will not practice the Koshu-style military strategy together."
As soon as these words came out, Yuan Shenqi and others were stunned.
Before they could ask any questions, Qingdeng reached into his arms, took out a medium-thick book, and handed it to Yuan Shenqi.
"From today on, thousands of people will work together to train troops according to what is written in this book."
Yuan Shen blinked vigorously a few times and took the book with both hands.
I saw four big Chinese characters written on the cover of this book——
"Tangerine flow... military strategy?"
Yuan Shenqi recited it word by word.
Qingdeng nodded lightly.
"This is a military strategy book written by me based on what I have learned, seen, thought, and my own actual experience."
"Times have changed, and the Koshu-style military strategy is no longer suitable for today's wars."
"Only by learning the military tactics in my book can you be successful on the battlefield in the future!"
After Yuan Shenqi listened blankly, he slowly opened the book of war in his hand.
"Military posture? Discipline? Keeping tidy?"
He was both fresh and surprised by all the contents in the book.
Although Seito is already a general in charge of two armies at the same time, to him, the importance of the Shinsengumi is naturally far greater than the unity of a thousand people.
In other words, Qingden could not stay at the Eight Princes for a long time, nor could he keep an eye on Thousand People Together.
In this case, we can only write an art of war to guide "thousands of people and ten families" to build a brand new army.
The outdated Koshu-ryu art of war must no longer be used.
Out of various considerations, Seito decided to have thousands of people unite to use the same training methods as the Shinsengumi.
That is to say, starting from the "military posture" training, focusing on discipline training.
First of all, this kind of military training method is effective.
Secondly, the two armies can maintain the same training methods to facilitate unified command in the future.
If one day in the future it is necessary for the Shinsengumi to launch a joint operation with thousands of people, only by receiving the same training content can the two armies be more quickly integrated.
A while ago, Qingdeng took advantage of his vacation to rush out a book called "Juliu Military Strategy".
Qingdeng is quite familiar with writing this book.
When the Shinsengumi first came to Los Angeles, he had already written a book.
The problem of income and food for thousands of people is a big problem that is difficult to solve.
Seito's current financial resources are not enough to support him in reproducing the Shinsengumi's food and treatment to thousands of people.
Therefore, we can only put this matter on hold for the time being.
When our financial resources increase in the future and we become richer, we will gradually solve the problem of feeding thousands of people!
At this stage, it doesn't matter that the combat power of Thousands of People United is slightly lower.
Originally, Qingdeng did not expect that thousands of people working together would be a strong and iron-blooded army that would win every battle and capture every attack.
Qingdeng's only requirement for thousands of people to work together is a qualified defense force.
As long as they can fight a good defensive battle, block the enemy's advance, and secure the Koshu Pass, Qingteng will be satisfied.
We don't expect them to be able to attack, nor do we expect them to perform brilliantly on the battlefield.
Mega Battlefield——This is the mission of the Shinsengumi!
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ps: As of tomorrow’s chapter, Qingto will have returned to Kyoto. The plot of Volume 3 is coming to an end, and the final battle of Volume 3 is about to begin! (Leopard Hi)
This chapter has been completed!