Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 5 I'm Here
Yuanye didn't care much about the temporary name he had been given. He also had an English name called Kerry given to him by his junior high school English teacher. He would not let a little girl like Yayoi take the initiative in the conversation - he was more concerned about the surrounding environment. He had never heard of Arashi Castle, and it might have disappeared in modern times. He needed to ask other places.

Without waiting for Yayoi to sigh, "It's Lord Nohara," he asked with concern, "What other cities are near Arashi Castle?"

"If it's nearby..." Yayoi's train of thought was put back on track. After thinking for a while, she said, "Go southeast along the Odaijikawa River and you will find the Shimoishiki Castle."

Yuanye asked, "Who is the city lord of the next color?"

"It's Yojuro-sama. Sometimes he passes by here when he's on a long journey and rests in the village." Yayoi answered first, then remembered that Harano was not familiar with the area, and quickly added, "It's Maeda Yojuro-sama Tanetoshi."

Maeda seed profit?

There is another Maeda?
Why are there so many Maedas? Which one is Maeda Toshiie's Maeda family? But it doesn't matter. Maeda Toshiie is very likely still using urine and mud!
Yuanye really couldn't remember when and where Maeda Toshiie was born. Most of his limited knowledge of Japan's Warring States history came from "Taiko 2", a DOS-era game ported to mobile phones. A small part came from textbooks and some scattered Taiga dramas he had watched. In addition, he also learned a little bit from visiting museums and archives a while ago.

In short, he knew some of the general outlines, but he could only stare blankly when asked about the details.

He asked again: "What about other places?"

"Ah, if you go east from Ishiki Castle, I heard it's Higashiki Castle, and if you go south to the estuary, I heard it's Okinoshima." Yayoi said hesitantly. She had never been to these places, but she heard about them from her parents. She usually stayed near Hibitsu Village and didn't even go to the other side of the Odai River.

These places are still unheard of in modern times, but this is not surprising. Many so-called cities in medieval Japan were actually just surrounded by wooden fences, so it is normal that they have not survived to the modern day.

After asking for a long time, he still couldn't figure out his geographical location, so he subconsciously asked: "How far is Nagoya from here..."

The reason I asked half a question was that I remembered that there was no city of Nagoya at that time. It seemed that it was built by Tokugawa Ieyasu after the end of the Warring States Period in Japan.

He changed the subject and asked, "What about the big cities nearby? The ones with bigger castle towns or city towns."

Yayoi thought for a moment and said carefully, "I heard that Furuno Castle and Furuto Castle both have large towns. They are both located northeast of Arashi Castle. It seems that it takes most of the day to walk there. Further north and west, there seems to be Kiyosu Castle and Katsubata Castle, which also have towns, but I heard that they are very far away. I don't know how long it will take to walk there."

What about Furuno Castle?

This seems to be the ancient name of Nagoya. Tokugawa Ieyasu either expanded or demolished the Furuno Castle and built Nagoya Castle on the original site as the ruling center of the Tokugawa family in Owari Province and even the Kanto region of Japan.

Yuanye stroked his chin and pondered, determining the approximate location of Nagoya Castle. Combined with the terrain he saw on the way here, he finally had an idea of his geographical location.

He seemed to be at the southern end of the Nobi Plain, with Ise Bay to the south, the future center of Nagoya to the northeast, a branch of the Ise Mountains to the west, and the future Cheongju City in the distance to the north.

Therefore, it was difficult to tell the direction in the thick fog and forests. He wandered around and around until he came out from the branch of the Ise Mountains. No wonder he almost broke his legs when he came out of the mountains not long after entering the mountains - the part of the Ise Mountains in Owari Province was in the shape of a "人" character. He wandered around in the mountains, and only met people from the center of the "人" character when he climbed over mountains and ridges to the lower end of the "stroke". He deviated at a considerable angle and took a long detour.

After figuring out the geographical location, Yuan Ye's psychological pressure was reduced a little. People are afraid of not knowing where they are. Strangeness itself is scary. If you know where you are, the psychological burden will be much less.

At the very least, when you encounter danger, you know which direction to run.

He continued to ask for details: "Who is the lord of Kune City?"

Yayoi tried to recall and said nervously, "I'm sorry, Lord Nohara, I don't know."

She could still talk about things near Hibitsu Village, but not so much about things farther away. However, Yuanye was already very satisfied. With this information as a basis, if he asked an adult again, there wouldn't be too many clues revealed, and safety would be greatly increased.

He immediately comforted her: "It's okay, I'll ask someone else later, you can continue eating!"

"Yes, Lord Nohara." Yayoi picked up the bowl of rice again and chewed it slowly and elegantly. Soon, a look of happiness appeared on her little face again.

Yuanye also picked up the bowl and continued to drink the rice soup. After she ate for a while, she asked casually, "There isn't much fighting here, right?"

As the base of Owari Province where the sixth demon king Oda Nobunaga started his army and the place where the monkey Toyotomi Hideyoshi made his fortune, he didn't think there was much turmoil. As the main battlefield, the most famous one was the Battle of Okehazama. He hadn't heard of any other battles, and it wasn't mentioned in Taiko 2 either. He felt that it should be relatively peaceful.

Yayoi was about to put down the bowl to answer again, but was stopped by Nohara. She held the bowl and whispered, "No, Lord Nohara, there are often wars here." Since she could remember, people in the village were conscripted as foot soldiers every year, sometimes three or four times a year. Many people never returned, either died on the battlefield or were taken away to farm in other places. The foot soldiers here refer to the traditional foot soldiers, which means "those with light legs and feet". Their general role is to transport food and materials and carry out civil engineering such as building fortifications. They belong to the no-foot soldiers, that is, unarmored soldiers without domaru (Japanese armor).

Of course, if the war is urgent, it is possible to give them bamboo spears and let them go into battle to stab people, but the casualties will be heavy, which may easily affect the harvest next year.

"Do you fight often?" Yuan Ye was a little disappointed when he didn't get the expected answer. "Who is your enemy?"

Yayoi couldn't explain these things, and said blankly: "I'm sorry, Lord Nohara, I don't know. There are so many enemies. I heard that sometimes we have to walk a long way and cross many rivers to fight. Once, more than half of the people who went out did not come back."

It’s hard to find a quiet place in this chaotic world!

Yuanye sighed in his heart and smiled at her: "No need to apologize, you are already very knowledgeable."

The fact that a ten-year-old farm girl could know so much was beyond his expectation. He could even say that she was quite smart. He had not thought that he could get so much information.

Yayoi smiled shyly and said, "My mother used to be a servant in Arashi City, and my father also worked for Arashi City for a long time. They told me all this."

"That's true, but still pretty awesome."

Yuanye smiled and praised him again, just to brush up his favorability, and continued to chat while drinking rice soup, and asked some questions about the nearby terrain in case he accidentally fell into a pit while running away. When he put down his bowl and chopsticks, Yayoi immediately stopped eating, quickly cleaned up the table and moved away, and asked carefully: "Sir, are you going to rest now?"

It's probably not even eight o'clock in the evening now, but I guess farmers in the Middle Ages didn't have much nightlife at night.

Yuanye didn't really want to sleep, but he still smiled and said, "Yes, I'll rest now."

Yayoi immediately ran to fetch hot water in a wooden basin, and also presented him with a piece of 80% new and very soft kapok cloth. She helped him take off his mountaineering clothes and washed his face and hands. But when she was about to take the wooden basin away, she was stopped by Yuanye, who asked her to put the basin aside and take it out tomorrow.

She was a little surprised, but it was not a big deal, so she took the bowl and chopsticks and prepared to leave. Yuanye looked around but could not find the "Nahu".

He remembered seeing a restoration drawing in a museum a while ago. This kind of house should have a place called "nahu" to store daily necessities or valuables. Later, it evolved into the closet where Doraemon slept. However, he looked around the earthen seat and couldn't find it. He asked directly: "Wait a minute, Yayoi, where are the pillows and bedding?"

"What did you say, Lord Nohara?" Yayoi looked confused. She could understand most of what Nohara said before, but she had never heard any of the words in this sentence.

Yuanye gestured with his hands: "It's the blanket that you put underneath and cover yourself with when you sleep, to keep you warm."

Yayoi became more and more confused, looked at the mountaineering clothes next to Yuanye, and hesitated, "Do you need me to get another piece of clothing?"

Yuanye was also a little confused. "What do you... cover yourself with when you sleep at night?"

Yayoi looked down at the clothes on her body and said hesitantly, "It's just... clothes."

Yuanye understood. In the damn medieval times, Japan had not even invented pillows, bedding and quilts. Perhaps the nobles and high-ranking warriors had some primitive bedding, such as fur coats, fur quilts, and blankets, but the lower-ranking warriors and civilians slept on straw mats on a daily basis and relied on their own clothes to keep warm.

This is such an uncomfortable time...

Yuanye didn't explain much, and said calmly: "Really? It's a little different from where we are. It may be because of different customs! Well, you have worked hard tonight, you should rest early!"

Yayoi didn't think much about it. Judging from Yuanye's height, skin color, teeth, hair quality, and clothing, it was obvious that he had always lived a life of luxury. His daily life might be very luxurious, so it was normal for him to have some good things that she had never heard of. There was nothing to be surprised about.

After packing up her things, she took her leave again. She wanted to remind Yuanye to remember to blow out the lamp later. After all, they were not sure where Yuanye came from, so they did not dare to use soybean oil to light the lamp, fearing that the stinky smoke would fume him and make him crazy and angry. They used sesame oil, which was only used when entertaining guests from the host family every year. It was not cheap, so they had to save money if possible. However, she did not dare to do so, so she did not say anything and left quietly.

After she made the straw curtain as smooth as possible to ensure that there would be no air leakage, she hurried to the side room to find her mother with the leftovers.

Her mother is still waiting for the information she has found out!

(End of this chapter)