Zhou Fangguo, Changfu City, across the Tsushima Strait and Moji Castle in the distance.

After the war with the Otomo family, Mori Motomo moved here from Aki's main castle and commanded the war in Kyushu remotely.

In fact, the other side is now also in the hands of the Maori army, and it is said that it is more convenient for him to command in Mensi Castle. But that would affect the authority of the two sons, tie their hands and feet, and be detrimental to war.

And since the serious illness the year before last, Maori Yuan's body has collapsed, and he can't withstand the overly heavy military affairs. He accepted the advice of his two sons and recuperated in the Changfu while taking the helm of the battle.

In the past few months, the war on the front line has reached a stalemate, and the supply of materials and the transfer of personnel have all been carried out step by step, and there is not much disturbing news. I also heard that the naval forces of the various families in Kyushu, because of the reckless sneak attack of the Matsuura family before, were frantically retaliated by the Ming Dynasty fleet, and even the Bungo naval army of the Otomo family was not spared, and it is said that Wakabayashi Zhenxing was also blind in one eye.

On the contrary, the territory of the Maori family, which has been pacified for many years, has become unpeaceful, and bad things have happened one after another.

First of all, the general of the Niko family, Yamanaka Kanosuke, who escaped before, contacted 350 remnants of the Niko family after running in secret for many years. He also found the orphans of the Nizi family who became a monk at Tofukuji Temple in Kyoto, and renamed it Niko Katsuhisa after returning it to the world, as the banner head of the revival of the Niko family.

But in the face of the resourceful and warlike Maori father and son, Shikanosuke did not dare to act rashly. It wasn't until this time that the main force of the Maori Army was dragged to Kitakyushu, and he thought that the opportunity had come, so he resolutely raised the banner of 'Niko Revitalizing the Army'. With the help of Nisasuke Nasa, the former general of the Niko family ship and the commander of the Tango Naval Army, he landed on Oki Island via Mihoguan and announced the revival of Niko.

The Niko family was born into a noble family, and was once the Taishou of the Eleven Kingdoms of Nishi Honshu, but although it is now extinct, there are countless remnants of old ministers like Kanosuke and Nippon Suke, and soon the Zaiko army swelled to 3,000 people, and with Mayama Castle as a base, they began to attack the main castle of the original Nizi family, Gassan Tomita Castle.

Mao Liyuan, who got the news, was very surprised, and hurriedly mobilized reinforcements from Zhoufang and other places. He skillfully deployed his troops and took advantage of the favorable terrain to thwart the attack of Kanosuke.

Seeing that he could not recapture Tsukiyama Tomita Castle, Kanosuke pointed his forces at Iwami and Hakuki. Everywhere he went, the former retainers of the Nizi family joined one after another, and the momentum was very huge.

This kind of rebellion is the most difficult to quell, and it is necessary to use superior forces and achieve an overwhelming victory in order to make those half-hearted guys completely die. Otherwise, if you relax a little, you will relapse.

The main forces of the partial Maori army were in Kitakyushu, and the troops that remained in the rear were mostly not so reliable...... The starting point of the Maori family is too low, and the foundation of the Niko family and the Ouchi family is too thick, so that Maori Yuan has exhausted the best years of his life just by completing the snake swallowing elephant.

In order to unify the armed forces in the territory as soon as possible, he adopted a relatively relaxed Liangchuan system, and retained a large number of fiefs and armies of the Niko and Ouchi retainers. These people are grateful, and they are also very effective in peacetime. But now that the old master has re-raised the banner of 'revival', how can these people not shake their hearts? It is not uncommon to release water in front of the battle, secretly fund the enemy, or even directly defect.

Mao Liyuan judged the situation and could only use both grace and power to win the hearts and minds of the people, and on the other hand ordered the cities to take a defensive position, temporarily avoid their edge, and drag it until the beginning of spring next year, and the two sons would free up their hands to talk.

~~

It's hard work here, and it's easy to arrange it, but who knows that there is news over there - the Ouchi family is going to be revived!

Uchi Teruhiro actually received a letter of approval from Kyoto, and was to return to the perimeter under the escort of the Bungo naval army - Izumo Province was the base of the Niko family, and the Zhou Defense Nagato and the two countries were the base camp of the Ouchi family.

A few days ago, when he received the news from Kitakyushu, he couldn't sleep at night.

The rebellion of the Nizi family and the Ouchi family itself is not terrible, he didn't pay attention to it when the two families were in their heyday, but now it is just a resurgence, what is there to be afraid of in the transposition of the strong and weak? The scary thing is that behind these two people, there are the shadows of Otomo Sorinshi and Oda Nobunaga.

The former is okay to say, the purpose is nothing more than to make him take care of himself, and he can only withdraw his troops from Kyushu. The latter sees a flaw, and he will hit the deadly Great Demon King!

Now that a Kanosuke is in trouble, if Teruhiro Ouchi is allowed to land and cause rebellion, he will have to withdraw to the soldiers and horses in Kitakyushu to quell the rebellion, so as to prevent Oda Nobunaga from finding an opportunity to start a war.

Therefore, he approved Kobayakawa's order to transfer the Yashiro Island Navy to aid Akihoura, and ordered the Injima Navy to patrol the sea area in front and behind the defense, in case the enemy army just shook a shot and landed elsewhere.

As the order was delivered, Maori Yuan was in his residence, anxiously waiting for the results from the front......

~~

In the middle of the night, hurried footsteps sounded in the residence, and the samurai guarding outside the door hurriedly whispered: "Be quiet, the lord has just fallen asleep!" ”

"Is it news from Akihoura?" In the room, Mao Liyuan slept very lightly, and opened his eyes when he heard the movement outside.

"Yes, my lord." The messenger said in a deep voice.

"Help me up." Mao Liyuan gave the order, sat up slowly under the service of the maid, and let the messenger come in and speak.

"Say it."

"Yes......" The messenger took out a blood-stained battle flag from his bosom, held it high above his head, and said with a cry: "Today, with the help of the Ming Dynasty fleet, the Fenghou Navy has invaded my Qiusuipu. Yashiro Island sailors face the battle, but the whole army is wiped out, and Commander Shirai is seriously injured and dies! ”

"Ah......" Maori Yuan spun around for a while, and almost fainted. The retainers on the side hurriedly pinched the middle and stroked the chest again, so that he could pass this breath.

"Has Teruhiro Ouchi landed?" Maori asked in a faint voice.

"Landed." The messenger nodded and said bitterly: "Our troops on the shore want to stop it, but the firearms of the Ming Dynasty fleet are really powerful, and after a burst of shelling, the ashigaru people suffered heavy casualties, and they were completely unable to resist the combined forces of Ouchi and the Otomo family, and they were killed and fled in defeat." Then they raised the banner of 'Ouchi Rexing Army' and marched to Yamaguchi Castle with great fanfare! ”

"How many men do they have?" Maori Yuan went through the storm and quickly calmed down.

"At first there were less than a thousand." The messenger hurriedly replied, "But the old ministers of the Ouchi family continue to lead their subordinates to join, and the number will soon increase." ”

"Hmm......" Mao Liyuan nodded, and asked again: "What about the Indao Naval Army, did you fight with the Ming Dynasty?" ”

"Not yet." The messenger replied.

Mao Liyuan waved his hand and said, "Let's go down first." ”

When the messenger retreated, the room fell into dead silence.

All the retainers who rushed to hear the news had a bad feeling that something was wrong—a 'Nizi re-raising the army' would cause chaos in their rear. Now that the 'Ouchi Re-Rejuvenation Army' has popped up again, how can you deal with this?

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty fleet was actually bought by Zonglin, and turned the muzzle of the gun and became an accomplice of the Otomo family! Or were they originally making a show? This old monk's wrist is too clever, isn't it......

The old king of the pestle city sneezed again and again, I'm not, I don't, don't talk nonsense!

However, they had not lost their confidence, and they still looked at their lord with antiquation. This old man is the first wise general of the Warring States who led the Maori family step by step from the lord of a small city to the overlord of the Western Kingdom! With the wisdom of Kong Ming, Maori Yuan!

Compared to the dangers we had encountered before, this time was really nothing. The lord will definitely come up with a way to lead the Maori family to save the day!

However, Mao Liyuan fell into a long silence, and he sat there like a clay sculpture until dawn.

When the morning sun shone on his wrinkled face, the retainers clearly saw the cloudy tears flowing from the corners of the lord's eyes.

"Lord!" Everyone was shocked, they only saw the tears of Yuan when the eldest son of the lord, Maori Takamoto, died of illness. "I don't know what will make the lord so concerned?"

"It's okay, the old man just thought of Long Yuan, if he was still alive, how good it would be." Mao Liyuan wiped his tears with his cuffs, and he was desolate.

"Yes......" The retainers also wept with them. It's not to please the lord, but it's really sad. Takamoto was Yoshitaka Ouchi's son-in-law, and when he succeeded his father as the family's governor, the Mori family's rule in Nishihonshu was as firm as a rock. Moreover, Mori Takamoto is benevolent and generous, and has unparalleled leadership. If he is alive, there will be no Ouchi retainers who will follow Ouchi Teruhiro to make trouble.

"It's really not good, so ask the third prince to bring the soldiers and horses back to quell the rebellion." An old minister suggested.

Mao Liyuan nodded slowly and said, "I have to return to the army, but not only Longjing is coming back, Yuanchun is also going to bring the troops back." This time, the 'Kyushu Raiders' is here. ”

"Ahh

"Think twice!" The retainers couldn't help but change their expressions, which is tantamount to giving up all their efforts! "We have certainly paid a great price for this battle. But the Otomo family is even more exhausted, as long as they persist in persevering, they will definitely not survive this winter, and the birds and beasts will be scattered! ”

"Lord, one blow, and then three times and exhaustion!" A retainer reminded: "My Maori army has already withdrawn from Kitakyushu once, and if we withdraw again, not only will we lose all our efforts, but we will also lose the hearts of the people in Kyushu." Those daimyo and castle lords who supported us have been abandoned again, and they will definitely not respond to us next time! ”

"Yes, my lord, at least half of the soldiers and horses should be left in Kitakyushu, and the line from Tachibanayama Castle to Monji Castle should be guarded!" The retainers proposed.

"That will only make the Otomo family eat half of our soldiers and horses." Mao Liyuan shook his head categorically and said, "No matter how we cover it up, such a big move in the withdrawal of troops will soon be known to the princes of Kyushu." When they know that we have withdrawn half of our troops from Kyushu, how do you think they will react? ”

"They'll realize that there's something wrong with our rear, and the Otomo family is invincible." The retainers said bitterly.

"Yes, in that case, who would dare to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight? will quickly stand in line to support the Otomo family, so as not to be hit by him after the war. Mao Liyuan said lightly: "In this case, the Otomo family can easily replenish troops and materials, and naturally the morale is high." And our remaining army is insufficient, and we have to worry about whether it will be cut off by the Ming Dynasty fleet, and morale will inevitably plummet. ”

Saying that, he sighed desolately: "I can't let them die in vain, let's all retreat." ”