Since Taizhou, even though they have officially entered Xinjing's sphere of influence, the group still chooses to take more remote auxiliary roads instead of main roads as much as possible.
As people, horses and pack oxen moved forward, the distance to Xinjing, although slower, was also shortening in an orderly manner.
The scenery along the road has evolved from the bamboo forests and rocks of the Qingzhi period to the swamps of the high wetland. Now it has evolved into vegetation that is somewhat familiar to people born in Rigar - mainly tall and straight fir trees, with sparse shrubs. Coniferous forests with many open spaces. Coupled with the undulating terrain, Mira even thought that she was back in the mountains of Avenella.
In terms of geographical location, it is still relatively close to the north of Crescent Continent. Although the hot sun in summer makes the temperature higher, fortunately, the overall feeling is still comfortable under the current vegetation environment.
The close-fitting and breathable armor is covered with a sun protection coat made of lightweight cotton and linen, and a hat with a black veil to prevent the sun from being too bright and making it difficult to see the road. Apart from the mosquito problem that is still unavoidable in places like this due to rising temperatures, walking on paved dirt roads makes the traveling experience not difficult.
A good portion of the simple roads paved with compacted earth beneath our feet are as old as the Moon Country itself. They were built in the past by villagers who raised funds and were led by village elders to facilitate travel. Later, villages were connected to villages and then to towns, and a local transportation system was gradually formed.
For a long time it was also the only road available.
The Moon Country with a history of four thousand years has not always been rich and powerful. During the troubled years, it also once lacked the binding force on the local area. However, in the more than two hundred years of modern times when Xinjing was relatively powerful, with the approval of the royal family, the Bureau of Land and Resources headed by Dr. Land and Resources had intermittently expanded and repaired the national highway system that now connects the north and the south.
This is a big project that takes a long time. And as a result, even if the foreign Lamanites are picky and arrogant about being the same ancient civilization, they will only dare to compare it in a low voice with the infrastructure of the past Lamanite Empire after observing it.
Even the proud Padrosi people do not have the confidence to say that the current empire can be on par with the Moon Kingdom in terms of road infrastructure.
How strong is Kazuto's national highway?
——In this mountainous country, most of the national highways in the north and south are almost at the same altitude.
The term "moving mountains and filling lakes" is the best portrayal of the construction process of this large-scale project of nearly two centuries. After professional land planning, the tunnels were dug out and the areas with differences in height were filled in.
The foundation is laid, the foundation stones are laid, and it is covered with asphalt. The roads are made several layers strong and wear-resistant. When encountering steep hillsides, protective nets are set up above to prevent rockslides from injuring pedestrians and the road in this troubled country.
Dr. Land, who strictly controls the altitude but is not the leader, insists on going his own way just to save face at the expense of people and money. In this mountainous country, going up and down slopes is a common problem for carriages and horses.
If the slope is steep, it will be an extremely high test for the pack oxen pulling the cart as well as the structure and reins of the vehicle itself. Dangerous situations have always occurred so often that many local officials will send special personnel to supervise areas where the slope is too steep, requiring traders to unload the goods and transport them in several batches.
The same problem occurs when going downhill. If the load is too heavy, it is not unexpected for a person to fall over and be seriously injured.
The energy consumed and the time delay and additional risks involved in going up and downhill made many people prefer to take long detours and use waterways for transportation rather than take land routes before the construction of national highways. But after all, the land of Xinyuezhou has many mountains, and many towns are located in the inland areas. It takes ten days and a half to go to the Yongchuan River Basin. In addition, the number of ships is limited, and the transportation efficiency is really inefficient.
The Xinjing National Highway is the solution to this problem. Many of its sections actually have a long history, but have been damaged due to lack of repairs and natural disasters. The current national highway has been built intermittently through several emperors and has now connected to Taizhou. If ideal, they even hope to be able to connect to the feudal territory in the future, but judging from the current situation, the construction may be suspended for many years.
All in all, the newly established Xinjing National Highway has also brought many of the nearby original dirt roads and auxiliary roads under its jurisdiction, becoming an entire road system under the management and protection of the Land and Resources Bureau. After setting off from Taizhou and entering the scope of the official national highway, if Henry and his party choose to proceed along the national highway, they can actually shorten the journey a lot.
The national highway, which is flat and easy to walk and is dug into mountains and lakes to find the shortest route, takes only slightly longer than traveling by water. But if the destination is not along the Yongchuan River, and taking into account the time it takes to get there by land after landing, it will be shorter by taking the national highway.
Naturally, there will be no shortage of users of such convenient infrastructure, especially in the summer when everything is prosperous, and there is an endless stream of travelers, vendors, and traveling Chinese and warriors on the road. And it is precisely because of this situation that the group of people need to avoid it as much as possible.
The threat of potential rebels is only one of them. After all, there are also visitors from Rigar such as Henry among their ranks. Although Kazuto society generally has a tolerant attitude towards Nanban visitors, with too many people, everything may change. There are strangers passing by on the national highway day and night. Even if you cover your face with a black gauze hat all day long, it will eventually arouse suspicion or accidentally reveal your secret.
However, it was not a wise move to break away from the convenient national highway system. In the end, the group chose to take the auxiliary road next to the national highway.
The auxiliary road was originally a self-built dirt road between towns and villages. However, when the national highway was built, it was necessary to transport stones and other materials, so it was repaired and smoothed to a certain extent.
After the completion of the national highway, it was further expanded and maintained on this basis, serving as a road connecting the national highway with villages and towns, and an auxiliary route that can relieve the traffic when the national highway is overcrowded.
The auxiliary road is considered to be the best route in the Moon Country other than the national highway. It is also the only road in this mountainous country other than the national highway that can be traveled by ox carts.
The auxiliary road, which requires a detour through the mountains and forests and passes through many villages, is slower than the national highway. The solid muddy ground and the lush woods on both sides make it feel more like an outing than a rush. This slower pace makes people relax physically and mentally, and to a certain extent, it dilutes the hostility generated by the Ashigaru class due to Henry's suggestion to re-formulate the training plan.
Kaleva, who described the incident roughly like a troubadour and noticed the dissatisfaction of the Ashigaru people, expressed his disbelief in private.
Now traveling together day and night, he also began to regard the words and practices of the sages as supreme - just as everyone else would inevitably do.
Henry's ability to have relatively correct answers to most questions is just one of the reasons. His calm and calm personality always creates an atmosphere in which others around him inevitably begin to rely on sages to provide answers.
Our Luoan girl is not included in this list.
However, the sage himself does not advocate this approach, because for the younger generation, accepting his words and practices as the only truth will only cause them to lose the ability to make independent decisions. This is also the reason why as Mira grows up, he becomes less and less involved in her thinking, and only speaks at certain more critical moments.
Although you are immature, even though you stumble, as long as you are still on the right track, you don't have to point fingers at everything like an overprotective parent.
Forcibly indoctrinating oneself into thinking that this is the only right thing to do is often the arrogance of young people who are overconfident in their own knowledge.
If Henry Meyer has learned anything from his more than two hundred years of life, it is probably that human will is free. The more you want to strictly control all aspects, the more likely you are to embark on the path of rebellion.
The excessive protection that intervenes in the lives of younger generations is not so much because the world is too dangerous, but because the elders themselves lack self-confidence and security, as well as the trust they should have in their younger generations.
He believed that these children would eventually find their own path, even if it was different from his.
None of them are perfect, but neither is he.
They all have their own shining points, things they insist on and believe in. All such people need are opportunities, just insights that can make them think. They can come up with their own answers, maybe in different directions, but because of this, they can plant more possibilities for the future.
The journey that began many years ago with an encounter on the unknown slopes of Avenella on the west coast of Rigal. The people and things I encountered along the way, and the changes caused by this encounter, now I have arrived in Crescent Continent. It's still happening.
The world would still turn around without Henry Mayer.
It just won't be the same as the world with him in it.
——But having said that, the Ashigaru class does not have a high degree of almost worshipful trust in the sage like Kaleva. Therefore, when the plan proposed by him, an outsider, caused them to need more hard training, the first emotion generated by these ashigaru was resistance and rejection.
From Suomir's point of view, the military guidance provided by the most professional warriors he has known in his life will obviously be of lifelong benefit to the Ashigaru. However, Galeva does not fully understand the unique history and national conditions of the Moon Country, so this view is still biased.
Peace has lasted for thousands of years.
Although degenerate nobles who took advantage of the situation and formed bandit groups appeared during periods of great disasters in history, the last large-scale struggle that swept through half the country was already a distant and forgotten history.
The samurai class who are more sensitive and exposed to the gossip of the upper class may feel a certain degree of crisis. At least for those who came from the border like the Qingzhi Samurai, their sense of the battlefield has not been completely lost. Although it has become dull and out of shape, all they need is to polish it in actual combat.
But the ashigaru is different.
Years of peace have solidified classes, and naturally there can be no reward for military exploits when there are only small-scale conflicts. The samurai took ashigaru's service as a matter of course - in Kazuto's words, "to raise an army for a thousand days and use it for a while" - since this was natural, there was no need for additional rewards.
There is no hope of class advancement, and the next generation of Ashigaru sons will still be Ashigaru. Taking risks and going into battle to kill the enemy will not get any substantial reward. The honor that the samurai value is not as important to the Ashigaru as filling their families' stomachs.
In addition, the long-term peace makes them ignorant of the situation on the battlefield. The fear caused by this unknown and the lack of substantial feedback make them perhaps the class that least wants war in this country.
I don’t know how to win; if I win, I won’t get a reward, but if I lose, I will die.
Life is already very difficult. This salary is just enough to support the family, and there are still so many things to do every day.
Taking all factors into consideration, I hope that the status quo will not change and that I can live day by day. This has naturally become the common thought of the soldier class who is supposed to have the largest base in the Kingdom of the Moon.
Therefore, they reject anything related to actual combat, although perhaps some people subconsciously know that this approach is beneficial to them. But similar tense training is extremely aggressive, as if suggesting that the days ahead are full of dangers, causing many people to treat them with rejection and hostility because they don't want such days to come.
This sentiment is actually not entirely unresolvable.
If it were in Rigal, the sage could mingle with these people with his rich experience and down-to-earth opinions. It is not difficult for him to build a good relationship with low-level soldiers and mercenaries. Akatsuki can easily change the minds of these people by tempting them with affection and money.
But this is the Kingdom of the Moon, and these people are also subordinates of samurai rather than free mercenaries. Not to mention the xenophobic atmosphere of the Moon Country, it would be more difficult for these ashigaru to build good relationships than mercenaries. This kind of poaching behavior will definitely anger the samurai who hold the real power. This is obviously not the right way of thinking.
The course Henry chose was sufficient for the time being to achieve the desired results.
Under the strict social class system of Kazuto, even if the ashigaru were dissatisfied, they would still rush to die if the samurai ordered them to die.
Therefore, their rejection and hostility were only directed at him, an outsider, and they did not dare to face their immediate boss at all.
As long as the samurai orders the training to be done, the Ashigaru will still do it.
As for whether the level of training and the daily work that needs to be done will make the ashigaru exhausted, and the dissatisfaction will gradually accumulate, resulting in low morale and full of resentment, this still needs to be controlled by the leader Narumi and others.
After all, the sage is just an outsider. If he intervenes in everything and tells them how to do it, he will end up making the samurai and the ashigaru hate him.
Narumi is an excellent leader, and among the characters he has encountered so far, only Edward of Avenella and Constantine of Padrosi can compare with him. Maybe he is not as keen as those targeted like Henry, but he will definitely notice these subtle frictions within the team.
All the sage needs to do is wait until he seeks the answer and then give him advice based on his rich experience.
Don't rush everything, it's important to speak at the right time.
The road extended forward a little bit, and after the gentle but long climb reached the top, a mist spread from the forest and the slope below to surround them.
The weather in the mountains is still fickle in summer. The sun is still shining brightly in the morning, but at this time it becomes a bit chilly with the arrival of fog.
"The rain is coming, we'd better set up camp now." The warrior leader in front looked at the surroundings and gave the order.
