Chapter 10 Yamada House
The Yamada family did not live in the village, but on a hillside some distance away from the Inagari Village. There was a small river at the bottom of the hill as a separation. As long as they guarded the wooden bridge, they could only wade through the thigh-deep water if they wanted to get across, which made it very easy to defend.

Apart from that, the environment is also good, surrounded by mountains, water and close to the forest, allowing people to fully enjoy the breath of nature. It’s just that the house is a bit shabby, and it feels like a farmhouse.

To put it bluntly, the Yamada family is just a small landlord and cannot afford to build a big house. They just built a circle of stone walls that are not even as high as Yan Xu. There is an open space when you enter the door, and then there is a main wooden building. It is quite tall, but unfortunately it only serves as a facade. Behind it is still a simple wooden house. There is really nothing to see.

This was the result of the village chief's desperate efforts to protect it. If he hadn't stopped it, the house would have been demolished by short-sighted villagers long ago.

But the village chief knew very well that the Yamada family's house would sooner or later welcome a new owner. If it was demolished, the new owner would definitely be angry with them, and it was unknown how much the owner would have to pay afterwards, so it was better to maintain it well and save a lot of trouble.

That being said, apart from preventing villagers from demolishing the houses, the village chief is also powerless in other aspects, such as sanitation issues.

Fortunately, Yan Xu brought a lot of manpower, and the farmers skillfully cleared the weeds and shrubs in the yard, drove away the invading snakes and rats, and filled the potholes.

The peasant woman was responsible for cleaning the cobwebs and dust in the house. She also carried the tatami mats out, patted them clean, and then placed them upside down.

The foot soldiers were not idle either. Ten of them were assigned to guard the wooden bridge, ten were responsible for patrolling, and the rest were setting up tents and collecting firewood to prepare for cooking.

Because there were so many people, the house was completely renovated before dark. Even the well was cleaned and covered with fine sand and pebbles, ready to be filled with water again.

Bright lanterns were lit and hung everywhere in the house, dispelling the darkness around them and allowing Yan Xu to relax a little.

The heavy armor was finally taken off. Yan Xu, who had a lot of common sense, did not seek coolness, but chose to quickly take off his sweaty clothes in a sheltered room, and then immediately changed into thicker regular clothes, while wrapping a headscarf to try to avoid rapid hypothermia caused by the release of sweat.

The reason for doing this was because Yan Xu vaguely remembered that there was a disease called armor-removing wind in the ancient army, which was caused by the heat and cold after removing the armor. The mortality rate was not low, so he was very cautious and did not take it lightly because of his young age and strong body. After all, this disease was not a cold or fever, and he didn't know what medicine to take, so how could he be careless?

During this period, Yan Xu was not idle. In addition to drinking warm water to replenish water, he also calmed down and recalled what happened today, fearing that there would be any omissions.

Although he was a bit too impulsive to rush up and smash the Kappa's head in the afternoon, it was also thanks to this impulse that he discovered the hidden functions of the system.

First, kill the Kappa to allow Yan Xu to obtain a piece of strengthening material, which can be used to strengthen the troops.

Secondly, he obtained luck points. Although there were only ten points, it allowed him to find a way to obtain luck points, at least one of them was to kill monsters.

"I don't know how many monsters there are in Japan, and how powerful they are." Yan Xu picked up the steel mace beside him. Not long ago, he used this weapon to smash the kappa's head like cracking a walnut. It was also the first time he knew that the lethality of cold weapons is really not much worse than that of firearms. The only difference is probably the efficiency.

Holding the handle, the heavy feel makes him feel particularly secure. Yan Xu feels that he has fallen in love with this weapon, but it is too heavy. It seems that he needs to practice with it.

After the heat subsided and the sweat dried, Yan Xu stood up and tried to hang the steel mace around his waist. In the end, he gave up because it was too heavy and chose a samurai sword instead.

This samurai sword is not a sharpened iron bar for his men to use, but is made of high-carbon steel that has been quenched and carefully polished. It would have been an absolutely first-class sword in ancient times, so there are only ten of them so that they can be easily replaced if they break. After all, although high-carbon steel is sharp, it is easy to chip and break.

After adjusting the position of the knife, Yan Xu stood up, but he always felt something soft under his feet. It was not because the tatami was of good quality, but because it was too heavy. Every step he took would make the wooden board creak under the weight. It was obvious that the house was not built with his weight in mind when it was first built.

In fact, this cannot be blamed on the builders, it is mainly because there are no people who are too heavy these days.

Yan Xu discovered that the foot soldiers and farmers under his command were actually quite strong, because most of the farmers he saw in Daogu Village today were less than 1.4 meters tall and weighed only 60 to 70 kilograms, or even less.

By this calculation, even if the Yamada family, as landlords, were better off, their weight was at most a little over 100 kilograms. No wonder he could feel a slight dent in the wooden board with every step he took.

However, this did boost Yan Xu's self-confidence a lot. After all, the physical gap between the two was too big. If the opponent was unarmed and he was holding a big stick, he would dare to shout to a bunch of people, "I will beat ten of them."

He lowered his head and went out. In addition to the bright lantern in the yard, there were two bonfires lit to dispel the moisture that had accumulated from the long period of no one living in the house. A lot of lime and powder to drive away snakes and insects were also scattered everywhere, otherwise Yan Xu would not dare to live there.

The foot soldiers who were originally warming themselves around the campfire hurriedly dispersed and stood still when they saw Yan Xu coming out, which made him feel a little helpless.

These summoned soldiers are loyal, but they are lacking in other aspects: their combat effectiveness, execution and discipline are poor, which can be seen from the fact that they huddle together and warm themselves by the fire.

However, the foot soldiers were originally farmers who took up arms temporarily, so how elite could we expect them to be?

Shaking his head, it seemed that he needed to recruit some talents here, or find a way to improve the system's functions as soon as possible so that he could summon stronger troops.

Because the courtyard wall was not as high as he was, Yan Xu could easily see outside by standing in the corridor in front of the house.

At this time, the farmer had already set up a tent outside the yard, dug an earthen stove, and was cooking.

Because we don’t have to work after dark, we eat vegetable porridge in the evening.

I originally wanted to pick wild vegetables, but they were too old now, so I chopped up cabbage and sweet potatoes, mixed them with a handful of corn stalks, added more water and boiled them. Each person could get a bowl.

In Yan Xu's opinion, this thing was purely to fool the stomach, but not only the foot soldiers, but even Taro and Jiro who had just joined thought that the adults were really too generous, because even the army rarely provided three meals a day, most of the time it was two meals, one dry and one liquid, only the hatamoto and the samurai masters could enjoy two dry meals a day, so there was no dissatisfaction.

Looking at the two brothers Taro and Jiro who were drinking porridge together with the foot soldiers, Yan Xu touched his chin, not knowing what he was thinking.

Taro and Jiro were Yan Xu's attempt to subdue the local natives. Unexpectedly, he succeeded at once. However, no matter what, he could not be 100% sure about the local natives, even if they were willing to die for him.

There is no way. The Japanese are too famous for their inferiors rebelling against their superiors. Who knows when they will get stabbed in the back.

(End of this chapter)