The battle of Kyushu was in full swing, and the Otomo clan, the Ryuzoji clan and the Shimazu clan fought under the instigation of Yang Cong, and the sky was dark and the fight was very happy, but at this time, there was not much movement on the island of Dongying Honshu, and there was not even a campaign of tens of thousands of people.

It's not that these princes have suddenly become peace-loving, but the main major powers have reached a delicate balance through the combination of vertical and horizontal, and the so-called pulling the whole body together, if anyone dares to jump out to break this balance, it is very likely that other princes will attack them.

They don't want to make progress like this, what kind of game is hello, I am good, everyone is definitely not good, just when all the princes of Dongying were careful to avoid large-scale conflicts, Yang Cong made another move.

He directly sent his most powerful master, Hou Zhitan, to find the Maori clan, a wealthy clan in An Yiguo.

Why did he find Maori?

It's very simple, because the current head of the Mori clan is the Mori Moto.

This guy is very famous in the history of Dongying, and his fame seems to be second only to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Yang Cong's cognition of the princes of Dongying is limited to this, except for Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he seems to have heard of Maori Yuan, since this guy is so famous, he is definitely not a useless person, so he is ready to support the Maori clan against the Toyotomi clan, so he sent his most powerful master Hou Zhitan.

Of course, Hou Zhitan will not say that he is Yang Cong's retainer, in order to avoid the vigilance of the princes of Dongying, Yang Cong has already set the rules, no matter which way the princes are, when they go to sell iron cannons, they cannot say that they are the subordinates of the same courtier of the Ming Dynasty.

To put it simply, each agent has to forge an identity, saying that he represents a certain important minister of the Ming Dynasty, and there must be no duplication.

Anyway, there are many important ministers in the Ming Dynasty, even if dozens of princes in Dongying buy iron cannons from the Ming Dynasty, the identities of these agents will not be repeated.

is like Hou Zhitan, he lied that he was a retainer of Gu Kexue, the secretary of the Ming Ministry of Industry.

Gu Kexue knows, it is estimated that he will cry and laugh, he has no retainers and retainers, and he will not send people to Dongying to sell iron cannons.

Fortunately, Daming and Dongying are far away from each other, and it is impossible for the princes of Dongying to go to Daming to verify the identities of these people, plus after the opening of the sea, traders from all over the Ming Dynasty flocked to run business everywhere and sell their goods.

After all, this iron cannon is quite expensive, and who will miss the opportunity to make a big profit.

For Hou Zhitan's arrival, Mao Liyuan didn't feel how strange it was, in the past few months, there have been more Ming merchants looking for him to sell goods.

It's just that there is one thing he really can't understand, why did the Shangshu of the Ming Ministry of Industry find him?

You must know that he is not the first wise general of the Warring States at this time, he is not even a big name at this time, and their Maori clan is just a relatively famous wealthy family in An Yi Kingdom.

Of course, he knows what kind of character the Ming Ministry of Industry is, because Dongying also has six or eight departments, and its chief official power is also quite large, and it is generally held by a relatively powerful daimyo.

He just couldn't understand why the Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty would find him, a little-known Anyi landlord?

Of course, I don't know if I don't know, he is still quite polite to Hou Zhitan, he not only sent his eldest son Long Yuan to greet him, but also personally met with this retainer of the Ming Ministry of Industry in his study.

After the two politely exchanged a few words, he couldn't help but be curious: "Lord Hou came to find Yuan, what is the matter?" ”

He doesn't know what Hou Zhitan's specific identity is, in short, it should be right to call an adult, during this period, although the relationship between Dongying and the Ming Dynasty is not very good, however, the Dongying nobles still have a lot of research on the language and culture of the Ming Dynasty, if the general nobles do not know Chinese or do not know how to write Chinese characters, they will be ridiculed, similarly, they also have a better understanding of some customs and habits of the Ming Dynasty, the retainers of the Ming Ministry of Industry, he feels, there should be no problem in calling adults.

When Hou Zhitan heard this, he couldn't help but be stunned, this adult, it was really the first time he had heard someone call him like this.

However, he didn't correct it, he was just stunned for a moment, and then smiled mysteriously: "Your Excellency, I heard that you are very dissatisfied with Tao Qingxian's rebellion, I don't know what is going on?" ”

Tao Qingxian!

When Mao Liyuan heard this, a complicated look flashed in his eyes.

This Tao Qingxian is not a retainer under them, and Tao Qingxian's rebellious name is not because he betrayed his Maori clan, but because he betrayed the Ouchi clan, the overlord of the Western Kingdom.

Tao Qingxian is really bold, he actually forced the current head of the Ouchi clan, Yoshitaka Ouchi and his son, and supported a puppet Ouchi Qingying, secretly controlling the power of the Ouchi clan.

You must know that Mao Liyuan is also a retainer of the Ouchi clan in name at this time, and his wife is the daughter of Ouchi Yoshitaka, Tao Qingxian, a traitor, actually killed his father-in-law, of course he is inseparable from others.

He also thought about rising up and calling on the other retainers of the Ouchi clan to crusade against Tao Qingxian, so as to seize the actual control of the Ouchi clan, but his strength at this time is too weak, and he can't compare with Tao Qingxian at all.

He only has a total of two or three thousand horses under his command at this time, and Tao Qingxian can casually pull out twenty or thirty thousand horses to crusade against others, what are you kidding?

Isn't that a search for death?

He pretended to show a hint of anger, and then gritted his teeth and said: "Tao Qingxian, this thief, I am indeed inseparable from him. ”

And then what?

Why is there no follow-up?

Hou Zhitan secretly glanced at him, and seeing that he had no intention of continuing, he could only cautiously testify: "Doesn't Your Excellency the head of the family want to take revenge?" ”

Baga, I don't want to take revenge on your, what nonsense are you talking about, if it gets out, it will be troublesome to provoke Tao Qingxian.

He must avenge this revenge, because it is difficult to have such a good opportunity to seize the control of the Ouchi clan, of course he can't give up, but not at this time, because he doesn't have the strength.

He thought about it for a while, and simply asked, "What does Lord Hou mean by this, can your family master still help me take revenge?" ”

Unexpectedly, Hou Zhitan nodded and smiled: "Our head of the family has this idea, but I don't know if His Excellency the head of the family wants to take revenge." ”

This!

Mao Liyuan couldn't help but be curious: "How is your family master going to help me take revenge?" ”

Hou Zhitan smiled mysteriously and said: "Your Excellency, I don't know if you have heard about Kyushu Island, after the head of the Otomo clan purchased two hundred iron cannons from our Ming Dynasty, he swept away the decline and recovered the Higo country occupied by the rebellion in one fell swoop, and defeated the Ryuzoji clan and the Shimazu clan could not raise their heads. ”

Of course, Mao Liyuan had heard of this, and he even thought about buying a batch of Daming iron cannons, so as to kill Tao Qingxian in one fell swoop, control the Ouchi clan, and then sweep the entire Dongying.

Problem, he can't find anyone to sell iron cannons at all, and, according to rumors on Kyushu Island, Daming's iron cannons have been sold out at this time, and even the Otomo clan can't even buy them if they want to.

He couldn't help but be curious: "Could it be that your family master has an iron cannon in his hand?" ”

Hou Zhitan pretended to be arrogant and said: "Of course, this iron cannon was made by the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty, how can our family master not have an iron cannon in his hands?" ”