Chapter 49

"It's time for a break, everyone."

"Sure thing, got it."

"Here, suck on this candy and drink some water."

"Sure, I'll gladly take it if it's free."

The Takeda army, which had invaded Higashi Mino, was defeated, and the combined forces of Shinchi, Hashiba, and Takigawa, who had invaded southern Shinano, were implementing a policy of "large-scale road construction" to stabilize the occupied territory. Since they were provided with meals and daily wages, the residents of southern Shinano were enthusiastically participating.

Using the construction tools provided, they were building roads and paving them with concrete.

As the season was getting warmer, everyone was drenched in sweat, but to prevent heatstroke, the construction supervisors dispatched by the Shinchi family regularly allowed the workers to take breaks and provided them with salt candies and cold, clean water.

"Wow, this is very educational."

Watching this, Hideyoshi spoke to Kōki, who was standing next to him.

"This salt candy is sweet and salty, and it's delicious."

Hideyoshi spoke while sucking on the salt candy he had received. The candy, which contained salt, sugar, and various mineral components, was distributed for free to those working on-site in the Shinchi territory. Sucking on it while drinking water had the same effect as drinking a sports drink.

Hideyoshi was also impressed by the educated site supervisors who made the workers take regular breaks.

"If you make people work for long hours without a break, their work efficiency drops. If the workers collapse, the work will be delayed, and in the end, taking breaks actually makes the work go faster."

"Even with breaks, the work efficiency improves. That's quite an education."

Hideyoshi was impressed by the labor management concepts employed by the Shinchi family. He himself had achieved great results by dividing the laborers into groups and fostering competition during the corvée, so he thought he should emulate this.

"It's time for lunch!"

"Food!"

"It's great that we get food."

When noon came, the bell rang, and the workers went to receive the meals prepared by the Shinchi army's kitchen unit. Each person received two large rice balls with mixed grains, pickled radish, mountain vegetables, wild boar, and taro miso soup, which everyone devoured greedily.

"This is a feast."

"Man, I wish we could do corvée forever."

After lunch, the road construction continued, and in the evening, the bell signaling the end of work rang.

"Line up, sign your names, and collect your daily wages before going home. Be careful on your way back."

After receiving their daily wages, some workers went straight home, while many others shopped at the temporary stores operated by the Shinchi army before returning home.

"This shovel is handy for digging, so I'll buy it and take it home."

"I was asked to get a pickaxe."

"The wheelbarrow, I need to work a bit harder to afford it. But why is it called a wheelbarrow? It doesn't look like a cat at all."

"Who knows? It's convenient, so it's fine, isn't it?"

"That's true. I was asked by my mom to get some dried fish today."

Everyone enjoyed buying food and household items with the daily wages they earned.

"By the way, I heard that Gosuke, who collects mountain vegetables, is doing really well."

"Of course, the Shinchi army buys everything he has. I heard that Kinsuke, who grows leafy vegetables, made a lot of money by selling everything."

"I need to tell my mom and grandpa to work hard in the fields."

Many of the farmers in southern Shinano left their fields to their families and participated in the construction. They earned money by working and used it to buy delicious food and convenient tools. As they enjoyed this, they began to hope that the Takeda family would never return.

"Lord, I have never seen such a terrifying man. He is a good-natured person, but..."

"He doesn't look that way at all. Fortunately, we are on good terms with Lord Shinchi. Let's pray that this good fortune continues."

Hansei and Hideyoshi were gradually becoming aware of the awe-inspiring and terrifying nature of Shinchi Kōki.

"Lord Shinchi, the soba from Shinano is delicious."

"Lord Ichi Masanori, I think this cooking method is excellent."

"I've never heard of cutting and boiling soba before."

While continuing to govern southern Shinano, the three of them decided to have lunch together that day. The host was Kōki, and the menu was tempura soba made with soba from Shinano. The soba, kneaded by the Shinchi family's chefs, was cut uniformly with a knife and then boiled. The highest-quality 100% soba, which was still in the process of variety improvement and was a bit crumbly, was mixed with Shinchi-produced wheat to make 80% soba, which was delicious. This cooking method, which had not yet appeared in this era, was enjoyed by Hideyoshi and Ichi Masanori as they asked for seconds.

"This tempura of mountain vegetables is also delicious."

"Freshly fried is the best."

They also enjoyed other mountain vegetable dishes, and for dessert, they had soba kiri with black honey, leaving them all satisfied.

"This dipping sauce is excellent."

Ichi Masanori was moved by the deliciousness of the soba sauce produced in the Shinchi territory. Made with soy sauce, sugar, mirin, bonito flakes, and kelp, it was quite concentrated to improve its shelf life and could be diluted as needed.

"It can be used for other dishes as well. Please take some as a souvenir."

"Thank you, I feel like I'm being pushed to take it."

"In that case, I'll take some as well."

Ichi Masanori and Hideyoshi were in high spirits, having received the soba sauce as a souvenir.

"What about the soba?"

"Can soba be stored properly?"

"Yes, it can if it's dried soba."

The soba used was from the Shinchi territory, and convenient dried soba, along with udon, somen, ramen, and pasta, was being developed.

"Boil it in hot water, rinse it in cold water, and you have soba that is easy to store. It's an amazing invention!"

Ichi Masanori happily took the soba sauce and dried soba home, and from then on, soba became his favorite food.

And then...

"Southern Shinano seems to be stable. By the way, I heard about a delicious way to eat soba from a rumor..."

"Sure, sure."

Without much trouble, Kōki arranged to send the soba sauce and dried soba to Azuchi.