Although they immediately set up camp and moved supplies quickly when they sensed the coming heavy rain, an inventory count the next morning revealed that nearly one-twentieth of the rations had spoiled.
Therefore, before getting ready to go out, in addition to cooking breakfast, the remaining task is to thoroughly check the spoiled food and distinguish it from the intact food.
The hot and rainy summer is not as hot as the winter. Needless to mention meat, even grains are very difficult to preserve.
For larger teams, how to transport and preserve their own rations during long journeys has always been a problem. The load-bearing capacity and load-carrying space are very limited, so you need to bring enough supplies as much as possible, not just buy them and throw them up randomly.
If financial resources permit, most people will tend to bring as much as possible. But they are an armed force after all, and they may face threats. History has repeatedly proven that most armies that carry too much baggage eventually have to abandon it in order to fight effectively.
——So the baggage must be strictly rationed.
Ideally, a qualified team leader needs to plan the route with reference to the map and establish the team's supply base before setting off.
How to calculate? The method is actually very simple: the journey from one rest point to the next is about how many days, how many members there are in the team, and the population multiplied by the number of days of journey, you can get an approximate total food consumption.
But this is just an idealized basic value, and only people who talk on paper would really do this.
In actual operations, it is common for the march progress to be slower than expected due to terrain and weather factors. If encountering man-made circumstances such as enemy threats, the entire route may need to be replanned. Therefore, in addition to the total amount of supplies obtained by multiplying the basic daily consumption per person by the time required for the journey, a certain degree of reserve share must be added. Make sure you have risk reserves to deal with unexpected situations.
The group of them naturally made these extra preparations, and the importance of such preparations was proved not long after they set out on the road.
Because of the extra share of reserves, after consuming this part, they still have enough supplies for all members to walk to the next destination town. Although some inexpensive side dishes were picked out and discarded due to moisture, the rice was retained and placed in clay pots with water added, intending to be used for fermentation and wine making.
Lack of money and waste are not necessarily synonymous. Although the Qingtian family does have relatively strong capital, the precepts followed by the samurai are still the same as those of the clergy of the Rigal Church, focusing on self-discipline and avoiding indulging in hedonism.
Of course, self-discipline is only compared to those wealthy businessmen who are greedy for pleasure. Even though they are called frugal, the life of the samurai is still much better than that of most ordinary people.
All in all, after sorting out the equipment, packing up the tent, and having a simple breakfast, the group set off as soon as the morning was still sunny.
I hung my clothes out to dry overnight, feeling dry under the clear summer night temperature and the majestic wind blowing in the forest. The only regret is that the cloth that lacks sunlight inevitably has a strange sour smell. Some people solve the problem by picking additional aromatic plants and putting them in their luggage. Henry and Mira, who are mercenaries and have more independent travel experience, unfolded their clothes and hung them on the sides of their backpacks and unicorns so that they could be dried at any time during the journey.
The journey towards noon was lackluster, the auxiliary roads were sparsely populated, and the scenery along the way was the same, except for trees.
Although the uphill and downhill slopes are gentle, you still have to brace yourself. The grain and grass used by cattle and horses are also carried on it, which actually occupies a larger amount than what humans eat. When it rains, their priority of entering the tent to take shelter is naturally not as high as that of others. Fortunately, these animals are not as delicate as people. As long as the food is not moldy and rotten, there will be no big problem in eating it.
A large number of transportation vehicles and pack oxen made the group travel very fast. In half a day at normal speed, they could cover the distance that would take a person on foot a full day and a half.
Although most of Ashigaru and Rigal's group still walked, the presence of bullock carts allowed them to place heavy objects on them. There is a huge difference in physical energy consumption between traveling with light equipment and carrying heavy loads. If there are no items to carry, even an elderly person like Padre Alfonso can easily walk a long distance.
The scorching sun was high at noon, and the black-painted master was the one who suffered the most in the entire team. His armor as a whole became hot to the touch. Although it was separated by cloth, it was soaked with sweat within ten minutes and became like a steamer.
It just so happened that today it was his turn to be one of the fully equipped forward members. It is unknown whether the senior samurai regretted painting his armor black, but even those who painted other colors would not feel well after being exposed to direct sunlight for a long time.
The closer to noon, the longer the team stops to rest and the shorter the intervals.
In the morning and afternoon, you can still get relief from the shadows of the street trees on both sides, but at noon the sun is in the center, and there is no place left that is not scorched except under the shade of the trees.
Rainy days have the inconvenience of rainy days, but the sunshine on sunny days is not merciful at all.
After walking all morning, when Narumi finally ordered a lunch break, everyone almost rushed to the shade of the tree. This approach lacked military discipline and necessary vigilance, but the samurai with better armor were still dizzy from the heat even if they did not consume much physical energy while riding horses, so naturally they had no energy left to reprimand ashigaru.
The sultry weather made people lose their appetite, but the consumption of walking all morning allowed the simple lunch to be eaten cleanly. But after they took a short lunch break and got back on the road, they were faced with a vaguely expected, but still a troublesome problem.
——A mudslide occurred.
Yesterday's heavy mountain rain had not affected the group's temporary resting place due to sufficient vegetation, but there was a section of the road ahead that was not so well treated. The bare mountain wall washed away the protective wooden fence. Broken wood, stones and wet soil mixed with some shrubs washed down the road and occupied a large section of the road.
People and horses may still be able to climb this slope, but the exposure to the sun throughout the morning and noon only dries the surface of the soil. Once the heavy ox cart is pulled up, it will inevitably sink into it.
"We have to take a detour." Narumi frowned and made his decision. But by coincidence, it was sunny just now, but now a thin mist suddenly filled the air.
Although the fog was not as thick as yesterday, and although the sunlight above the head was weakened, the light could still be felt, but it still caused a lot of trouble for the group to identify their direction.
The visibility drops to a few tens of meters, which is very different from the scenery thousands of meters away on a sunny day when there is no obstruction.
Fortunately, they took the auxiliary road, which connected various villages in all directions. Even if the road at this end was washed away and took a slight detour, they could still return to the original route.
But this time the progress would inevitably be delayed. As a typical military leader who pursues efficiency, Narumi's displeasure was finally expressed through silence.
The master among the three samurai leaders took his turn to be the heavy forward, and Narumi became silent due to mood problems. At this time, it was naturally the straightforward Lao Qiao who took over and started to liven up the atmosphere.
The three leaders of the Qingtian Samurai have their own specialties, complement each other and have a good understanding of each other. Although the actual combat experience is still insufficient and each has its own shortcomings, in the eyes of Henry and Mira, as outsiders, Yajiro is obviously in a very good educational environment.
How much useful things he can learn depends on the young master himself, but as far as his understanding of sword skills is concerned, if he can use his perseverance and other advantages in other aspects, he will definitely be a very outstanding talent in the future.
It all depends on whether he can break the inherent small pattern of the Kazuto samurai class.
The creed of the warriors has always been too focused on individuals. Although they occupy the status of military leaders, in fact, like most of the knights in Rigar, they care more about personal honor and personal martial arts than strategic command.
However, the knights of Rigar are the lowest class of military aristocrats. The barons and other classes that go up are still military aristocrats, but they are different from people.
In order to limit the strength of the samurai group, the upper-class nobles who really have the right to speak - Kazuto's Chinese are more civil servants, although male children of the Chinese are usually required to be raised according to samurai standards. But when they reach adulthood, they often need to choose between joining politics and joining the military.
The leadership class is civilian officials, and the military aristocracy below pays more attention to personal honor and personal martial arts rather than leadership ability. The young master Yajiro grew up in this unique culture of the Moon Country. Whether he can break away from the idea of just being a swordsman and learn from outstanding people to become a qualified leader depends on him. .
No matter what, this journey and the encounter with Henry and others are destined to leave a lasting mark in his life.
The group of people who slowed down slowly climbed to a relatively high place from the west fork. Because it was not clear whether there would be any more mudslides ahead, Narumi changed the formation and placed the heavily-armed master and others in front of the main formation, and sent two light cavalry as scouts to keep a certain distance to explore the road.
Fortunately, the problem seemed to be only the short stretch of road behind them. After the scouts came back to report, everyone who learned about it breathed a sigh of relief. After ascertaining that the road ahead was still mostly flat, the group also accelerated their speed, and finally escaped from the mist as the climbing terrain increased.
When the view finally cleared, looking down the hillside, the mist lingering in the forest and the still-bright afternoon sun hanging high on the tops of the fir trees made everything look like a fairyland.
"It's so beautiful just to look at it." The white-haired Luoan girl said something. She was obviously a little tired from exploring the way forward in the fog.
After leaving the fog, the front became clear, but before he could breathe a sigh of relief, a sharp whistle suddenly sounded from the front.
Narumi immediately frowned.
"Is the scout in danger?" the sage asked the warrior leader. Although he did not fully know the warriors' signaling method, he could still infer it.
"Yeah." Narumi nodded.
"Everyone." Time was running out, and they had no time to replace the light armor with heavy armor.
"Prepare for battle!"
