Chapter Nineteenth: Employment Pressure

  The wandering ronin warriors all stood on one side, watching the fight from a distance, only the boss looked at the broken wine bottles with a heartbroken expression.

  Li Xiao initially adopted a defensive stance, wanting to understand the opponent's swordsmanship, while the three wild warriors took into account Li Xiao's height and arm length advantages, and for the time being did not dare to advance too lightly. Both sides were cautiously probing each other.

  Li Xiao, with a single move, took down three opponents. Takeda Shingen calmly decided to draw his sword and join the fray, taking down one of Li's opponents for him. With the pressure alleviated, Li immediately spotted an opening and used his sword to force back the samurai on his right side before turning around and launching a fierce attack on the ronin on his left side.

  Cheers! Cheers! Cheers!

  Li Xiao made three swift cuts, and his opponent struggled to parry the attack. Li Xiao's fourth cut suddenly changed direction, and with a twist of his wrist, the sword flew out of his opponent's hand. Without hesitation, Li Xiao kicked out with one foot, taking advantage of his height, and effortlessly landed a kick on his opponent's chin.

  After severely injuring his opponent, Li Xiao turned around and used his sword to block another wild warrior's attack from behind. After blocking the sword, Li Xiao suddenly flashed forward, getting close to his opponent's body.

  Li Xiao dodged to the side and suddenly used a shoulder strike. This move was also taught by that old cadre from before, it's a shoulder strike in Tai Chi, specifically for close combat. The opponent was hit by Li Xiao's strike and immediately collapsed like a broken puppet, falling to the ground.

  The wild warrior who was kicked in the chin by Li Xiao earlier, fell to the ground with a mouthful of blood and also lost several big teeth, looking pitiful. The four wild warriors were severely injured by Li Xiao in one breath, leaving only one person left, who looked like he had lost all his momentum, facing Li Xiao, Takeda Shingen, and Yamamoto Kansuke's step-by-step approach, hastily retreating backwards until his back was stuck to the wooden partition wall of the inn.

  At this moment, the look of terror on his face had overwhelmed all the warrior's pride, and he shouted: "Yaksha."

  "Everyone stop."

  At this time, a team of ashigaru with long spears rushed in through the gate. The ashigaru soldiers aimed their guns at Li Xiao and the others, forming a circle around them from the outside. Then, a man wearing armor, who should be the leader, walked in and shouted: "Were you the ones who made trouble here just now? Put down your swords, otherwise, you will all be punished."

  The other party's loud shout had a lot of momentum, and those few wild warriors who were beaten until their noses were blue and swollen quickly rolled over to one side, hastily threw away their swords, put on an innocent look, and then, like villains, they all pointed at Li Xiao and the others, saying: "Sir, it was them who started the trouble first."

  "You bastards, have you been allowed to speak?" The leading samurai cursed and turned to see that Takeda Shingen and the others not only did not put down their swords, but also had an air of disdain, and the tall samurai in the middle even showed a faint smile on his face. Isn't this obviously mocking me?

  "How dare you! Didn't you hear what I said?" The warrior shouted loudly and drew his sword from his waist.

  At this time, Yamamoto Kan no Suke turned around and faced the other side, saying in a low voice: "You are outrageous, you are the samurai who maintains the security of Jokamachi?"

  The samurai saw Yamamoto Kansuke's haughty expression and the vivid Takeda family crest on their clothes, and his face changed suddenly.

  "It's Lord Kanetsugu." One of the ashigaru soldiers suddenly had a very excited look on his face, apparently recognizing Yamamoto Kanesuke, probably because Kanesuke himself had come to Takatō Castle for construction purposes before.

  The samurai had no more doubts, as the other was Shingen's chief military advisor. He bowed and spoke respectfully: "I see that you are Yamamoto Kansuke-sama. I am Nishimura Heizo, a samurai in charge of maintaining order in the town below the castle. I have been impolite, please forgive me." With that, he pressed his hand down, and those dozen or so ashigaru soldiers put away their bamboo spears.

  Yamamoto Kansuke waved his hand and stepped aside, introducing: "No need for formalities, this is the new lord of Honjo Castle, Takeda Shōryū-dono."

  "Oh, yes, Lord Shori."

  This group of ashigaru soldiers immediately knelt down to pay their respects. They had already known about Takeda Katsuyori taking over the affairs of Takafu Castle, and for them, Takeda Katsuyori would be their master whom they would serve for the rest of their lives, so they didn't dare to slack off in the slightest.

  In Japan, the gap between superiors and inferiors is extremely large, so the obedience of Japanese people to their superiors, or blind obedience, is very obvious and thorough. As a superior, Takeda Shōryū's words can often make these brainless soldiers rush into boiling water and raging fire.

  But among the travelers inside, many of the warriors who had been watching from the sidelines were suddenly stirred when they found out that this young man in front of them was actually the lord of Gao Yuan City.

  In an instant, five or six wild warriors rushed to the front of Takeda Shōryū, knelt down with a thud, and then buried their heads in the ground, chattering away about their names, families, and special skills, asking Lord Takeda to take them as his vassals, even if they couldn't be samurai, it would be fine to be a miscellaneous servant.

  "Thanks to your greatness, please take me in."

  Japan's Warring States was an era of the lower overthrowing the upper, and many a great daimyo house that had flourished for a time fell like cherry blossoms in the blink of an eye. The downfall of the main house meant that those samurai vassals who ate stipends and received fixed salaries were all laid off, losing their source of livelihood. Samurai who lost their masters became ronin, wandering everywhere in search of a good master house, and refused to find other work.

  It's just like modern white-collar workers losing their jobs, they would rather stay at home than go to the street corner to sell vegetables.

  The opportunity for ronin is either to find a good master or wait until the day when some daimyo wants to start a war, at which time they will generally recruit some ronin to increase their numbers. This is their chance. If they perform well on the battlefield and cut off several heads, there is a great opportunity for them to be included as formal samurai of the daimyo's house, which is also considered an opportunity.

  If neither of these opportunities is available, some people will lose their warrior spirit and do some sneaky things, so many wild warriors have a very difficult life, poor to the point of clinking, with nothing on them but a warrior knife, no different from a beggar.

  Li Xiao looked at all this and couldn't help but deeply feel the great pressure of the current employment situation. It can be imagined that many wandering warriors, are looking from the window of a traveler's lodge, hoping to find an official position in the high and distant city, and thus escape the fate of roaming everywhere.

  Takeda Shingen was delighted by the praise of these ronin, and as a new castle lord, he was naturally prepared to accept anyone without hesitation. Fortunately, there was still Yamamoto Kansuke beside him, who said: "Everyone, Lord Shingen has just taken office as the castle lord and has not yet decided whether to hire samurai. Your kind intentions are appreciated, and if our house decides to recruit samurai in the future, we will certainly give priority consideration to all of you."

  "Thank you, Lord Kanetsugu." The warriors heard this and were somewhat disappointed, but since there was still a glimmer of hope, no one complained.

  Yamamoto Kan no Suké nodded and said to the Takeda samurai who was in charge of the town at the foot of the castle, "Alright, you lead the way. Please take us to see Lord Akuyama."

  "Wait."

  Just as the three were about to leave, a person suddenly appeared from a corner of the inn and stopped them. The lighting in the inn was not very good at times, so Li Xiao couldn't see the person's face clearly, but he saw that the person had his hands clasped together on his chest, with two swords inserted into his waist, one long and one short, and wore grass sandals and white split-toe socks.

  The other party suddenly stretched out his hand and pointed at Li Xiaoben, then said: "This warrior, I admire your swordsmanship very much, and I'd like to have a try with you."