A true friend who rejoices for you when you are successful, not cheerful. When you encounter misfortune or sadness, it will give you timely support and encouragement. When you have shortcomings and may make mistakes, it will give you the right criticism and help. We should ask of our friends in this way, and such friendships are truly valuable.

- Gorky (proletarian writer of the former Soviet Union, founder of socialist realist literature)

Just five days after Numata Yumitsu and the other four took the initiative to ask for their lives, Nanbu Nobuyoshi, who recommended Nanbu Nobunao as the successor to the commander of the Southern Standing Army, hurried back to Sanhe Castle; just as Nanbu Nobunao said, Nanbu Nobuyoshi was indeed one of the few brave generals of the Nanbu family.

The southern family, which has lived in Oshu for hundreds of years, has never been a strong family that advocates force, otherwise the southern family that occupies the most fertile land in Oshu would have unified Oshu long ago, and where would there be a chance for the Tsugaru family and the Spo family to dominate each side.

Nanbu Nobuyoshi, who doesn't like power and concentrates on horses, used to be an unpopular outlier in the southern family, but now he has become the only candidate for Nanbu Nobuyoshi to maintain the status of the southern family, which has to be said to be a great irony for the southern family.

The first time Bai Feng saw Nanbu Nobuyoshi, he had a slight impression of this middle-aged samurai who looked beautiful and elegant, because the information sent back by Yoshikawa Naoki had already indicated that Beneath Nanbu Nobuyo's elegant surface was hidden a warm-hearted heart flowing with blood.

A successful person in power does not need a belligerent heart flowing with blood, but a general who makes a living from war must have a belligerent heart flowing with blood; if even the generals who command the army do not have their blood, how can the soldiers under command have the fighting spirit to fight bravely to kill the enemy? A nest of soldiers and a nest of generals is the most typical and intuitive description.

After a simple and direct exchange, Bai Feng determined that Nanfang Xinzhi was a very pure general, so he appointed him as the new commander of the Southern Standing Army on the spot, and the Southern Standing Army, which had recently expanded to 20,000 soldiers, was placed under Nanfang Xinli.

Because the Southern Standing Army had been stationed in Sanhe Castle before, Bai Feng did not have the idea of adjusting the garrison of the Southern Standing Army for a short time; to Bai Feng's surprise, the second day after the new official of Nanbu Shinri took office, he submitted a request to adjust the garrison at the assessment meeting.

Nanbu Xinli's reason for this request was that the limited military strength of the Yanhuang family must be used with the highest efficiency, and the Southern Standing Army, as one of the earliest standing armies of the Yanhuang family, should have rushed to the front line to fight when the Yanhuang family was facing a crisis.

Nanfang Xinli, who took the initiative to ask for battle, although his request was not approved by Bai Feng, his approach made Bai Feng quite satisfied.

It is true that the permanent garrison of the Southern Army in Minohe Castle is not the most efficient use of the family's military power, but it is the most beneficial way for the Southern Family, and Nanbu Nobuyoshi's initiative to ask for war proves that he is not a family-oriented person, unlike many people.

Among the important ministers of the Yanhuang family, whether it was Nanbu Nobunao, who sat in the rear and took charge of the family's affairs, or Sanada Masayuki, who led the army to defend the border for the family to defend against the enemy army, or many other important ministers, they were all very typical Yamato-style courtiers.

The so-called typical Yamato-style courtiers can be loyal to the main family without affecting the interests of their own family, but once the interests of their own family conflict with the interests of the main family, they will naturally put the interests of their own family first.

This kind of family concept that has prevailed in the Yamato Empire for hundreds of thousands of years is not something that Bai Feng can change by himself, so Bai Feng can only balance the development of each family's strength while reusing those capable retainers, so as to avoid a situation where one family is dominant.

In such an environment, Nanbu Shintoshi's complete disregard for the interests of the southern family naturally satisfied Bai Feng, but satisfaction is satisfaction, and until the war in southern Oshu is over, the southern standing army will still stay in Sanhe Castle after all.

At this time, near Sanhe Castle, in addition to the 20,000 soldiers of the Southern Standing Army of Nanbu Nobuyori and the 60,000 soldiers of the Yanhuang Standing Army of Sanada Nobuyoshi, there were also the 6th Roman Legion of Marcus, the 7th Roman Legion of Luculus, the Brono Tenglong Legion, the 1st Essini Legion of Nardoba, and the 2nd Luci Legion of Wiled, a total of more than 100,000 soldiers from the five legions.

The 1st Banner Regiment of Yubu Weixin and the 2nd Banner Regiment of Andong Ietada, together with Assamese's 2nd Essini Regiment and Valk's 3rd Lucy Regiment, had already rushed to the southern part of Oshu and surrounded the Date family's army.

The 30,000 soldiers of the Date family under the command of Goto Nobuyasu and Katakura Kojuro actually sent troops to raid the Yanhuang family town near the mountains and forests while hiding; since Goto Nobuyasu and Katakura Kojuro didn't know the times, then Bai Feng would not be used to them.

On the day when he learned that the Date family's army had sent troops to plunder his own town, Bai Feng, who did not intend to keep the other party, recalled the legion that was originally responsible for monitoring the enemy army, and appointed Bu Weixin and Andong Jiazhong as the commanders of the left and right armies, and commanded the twelve major armies to go south in two ways.

The 60,000 shogunate soldiers of the two banner legions, plus the 60,000 barbarian soldiers of the two vassal legions, this 120,000-strong army surrounded the 30,000 demoralized ashigaru regiments of the Date family in the mountains and forests, and did not even give Goto Nobuyasu and Katakura Kojuro a chance to break through.

At the beginning of the siege, Uesugi Keitora sent several waves of cavalry to find the Date family army that had lost contact, but after killing hundreds of precious cavalrymen one after another, Uesugi Keitora who had planned to borrow a knife to kill people did not move.

Not only that, Uesugi Keitor, who seemed to sense that the atmosphere was not quite right, gathered all the Uesugi family's troops under his command and retreated thirty miles to the rear;

As the situation in southern Oshu became more and more delicate, Hakumine urged Sanada Nobuyoshi and Nanbu Nobuyoshi to step up the training of their troops, while revising his family's original plan to send troops, and Oda Nobunaga's generosity and the emperor's support made Hakumine decide to fight the next battle in a more violent way!

The Date family of Shimono Province, the Mogami family of Ueno Province supported by the Uesugi family, the Barnyard family, the Kasai family, and the Osaki family of Hitachi Province have all become the targets of Hakumine's expansion, and even the Dewa Province and the Hojo family are no exception!

If Oda Nobunaga can restrain his ambitions and not sit on the shogun's position for the time being, then the Yanhuang family's sphere of influence can only include Shimono, Ueno, and Hitachi, at most, but if Oda Nobunaga is determined to sit on the shogun's position, then the Yanhuang family, as an ally of the Oda family, will break with the northern families of the empire such as the Uesugi family, the Hojo family, and the Takeda family.

When the day comes, the Takeda family has the Tokugawa family to deal with, and the southern territory of the Uesugi family will be threatened by the Oda family's military power, and Hakumine will not miss the perfect opportunity to destroy the Hojo family in vain and seize the four kingdoms of Dewa, Shimoso, Kamiso, and Anbo!