"This is the richest town in Fuso outside of?" Pingshou Fan Xiu sat on the Nanban gunboat, stretched out his hand and pointed to the coast on the left, his words were full of incredulity, and he looked back at several naval generals: "Are you sure you are not mistaken?" ”

Of course, this is just a casual joke.

However, the Otomo family's Wakabayashi Zhenxing and the Mori family's Naomi Sokatsu were a little panicked, and they knelt down on the deck together, and honestly defended in fear: "We are always walking on the waters in this area, and we are more familiar with the waterway than we are with the backyard corridor of our own house, so it is absolutely impossible to mistake the destination." ”

Nine Ghost Yoshitaka, Ataka Nobuyasu, Kurojima Toro, Nasa Nisuke, Miyamoto Michiyi, Okamoto Suiyuansai and other foreign bigwigs also said seriously that there is no deviation in the waterway map, and there is no doubt that this place is indeed here.

And yet—

At least two hundred meters away, the details are not clear. But the wharf and the houses along the shore were apparently burned down, and there were charred and broken wood wreckage everywhere, and there was no sign of merchant movement, let alone merchant ships or convoys. The length and breadth of the ruins can only be inferred from the length, width, scale and density of the ruins.

You don't need to be deaf and clear, but anyone with eyes will not be mistaken.

"Lord Neifu should understand by now, why the villain asked you to come and take a look!" The Shimai clan on the side knelt on the ground, crying and crying.

This guy is the richest man in Hakata Town, the first imperial merchant of the Otomo family, and one of the most powerful men in the world. At the same time, he is also an old friend of Tsuda Muneki, a Yatsuda of Tennoji in Kaimachi, and has been able to go to several times to meet Tie Honhide.

At that time, they were all high-spirited and golden, how could they have such a pitiful appearance today?

Obviously, the change in the state before and after is directly related to the situation in the port town in front of you.

Pingshou Fanxiu sighed with emotion, ordered someone to help him up, and asked, "What happened here?" How did it completely become a ruin? ”

The Shimai clan hurriedly wiped his tears, sighed and replied: "A few years ago, Otomo Jingo (Yoshijin) was a little careless, and was killed by the conspiracy and tricks of the villain of Hizen Bear, and the army was defeated by Imayama, and gradually began to stumble, and in the first two years, he made a mistake and lost to the arrogant and rude Satsuma, and he became more and more embarrassed, and began to take care of the situation in this area. Next, local forces such as Akizuki and Tsukushi were uncontrolled, so they were lawless and brazenly led troops to the door to ask for money. Originally, we poor merchants thought that the amount was not much, so we spent some money to buy peace, and swallowed it. Mended...... Who would have thought that those people would say that how much they had supported the Ouchi family and the Otomo family in the past, how much they had to give them now! ”

"Isn't that vexatious? Of course, the amount of money accumulated over the years is a large amount, so how can it be taken out in a short period of time? After hearing this, the tie shook his head again and again: "What's more, Ouchi has presided over the Kanhe trade for many years, and the Otomo family has a great relationship with the Nanban merchants, and the relationship with the merchants is mutually beneficial, but it is not a blind request!" ”

"If all the warriors in the world are as commanding as the Lord of the Inner Mansion, and their eyes are like torches, then it is really a great fortune for us and other businessmen!" The Shimai clan seemed to bow down sincerely, and said, "Actually, those people like Qiuyue and Tsukushi are just casually looking for a reason. At that time, the 'Nianyuzhong' of Hakata Town had to refuse to pay after deliberation, and then immediately they were attacked and plundered, thousands of people were slaughtered, dozens of warehouses were smashed, and all the gold, silver and jewelry were hollowed out, and the army was in fact completely robber......

"I see, it's a disaster." Hirata nodded.

"But that's not all." Shimai added bitterly, "Although this happened, after all, we were powerless to resist, and we were forced to make ends meet, so we still managed to tie in and humiliated ourselves to seek peace and resume trade. However, I really didn't expect that less than a year later, those people came to the door again, saying that the Nanban monks were secretly preaching, disturbing the order of the villagers, and were going to Hakata Town to demolish the Kishiitan Temple. 'Nian Jizhong' felt that this was mostly an excuse, but he didn't dare to refuse it openly, so he could only delay time and find a way. As a result, the army outside launched a fierce attack without saying a word, rushed in, and became robbers again...... This time it was still hundreds of people killed, and countless gold and silver were looted. ”

"This ......," Hisho sighed, thinking about what the samurai in Kyushu do.

"The villain hasn't finished yet!" The Shimai clan burst into tears and gritted his teeth, "After these two times, we merchants no longer have illusions about local samurai such as Akizuki and Tsukushi, but Otomo Kingo is really powerless, so he can only plead with the newly rising Ryuzoji family. It started off well, and I was warmly welcomed with money and gifts. But-but-I didn't expect that the guy from Ryuzoji Takanobu sent 5,000 people over, saying that he wanted to deter the 'bandits' and protect the stability of Hakata Town, but when he actually came, he immediately turned his face, surrounded him, and killed him without even looking for a reason! And it was not just a random plunder, but a very planned, like wiping a carpet, digging three feet from house to house and looting one by one, it took several days to finish, and finally the people were taken away and sold as slaves, the merchants were arrested and ransom, and the houses in Hakata Town were covered with firewood, straw and oil, and completely burned to the ground! That sea of fire burned for two days and two nights, and now I think about it...... Still...... Woohoo......"

"Can it still be like this?" The tie was completely confused.

Wouldn't it be nice to honestly control Minato Town and then collect taxes? Why do you want to kill chickens for eggs? Is it that the samurai in this place in Kyushu are particularly stupid? Or is there some other special geographical reason?

In any case, this pure act of destruction and predation is disgusting.

The matter of indiscriminate hunting and human hunting really cannot be eliminated for a while. Even if Hirate Tsunohide led a large army to the Kanto region to attack Hojo, it still caused a lot of harassment to Edo and Odawara.

But that was all due to poor discipline in the army and the looting of the soldiers. In addition, the commissioner was sent to issue a prohibitive decree, communicate with the merchants, and prepare for the reconstruction work.

Crazy behaviors like Akizuki, Tsukushi, and Ryuzoji Temple, the result is-

Hakata merchants, led by the Shimai clan, expressed a very high degree of support for the Kyushu crusade of the tie Honhide.

Their lair has been destroyed, but who doesn't understand the truth of the three holes of the cunning rabbit? The wealth hidden everywhere is still staggering.

In addition, relying on the past contacts and the credibility of the firm, it is easy to obtain low-interest loans from peers.

Hirate Hayasu just took a boat and brought a few thousand sailors to the coast of Kitakyushu to take a look, and he already had 10,000 taels of gold and 20,000 koku of brown rice, which were sent to the front line of Iyo Province. The number of follow-ups is not a problem.

This will greatly save the time and expense of pre-preparation.

After returning to Iyo by boat, Hirate asked Kobayakawa Takakei about his doubts, and the latter pondered for a moment and explained, "The daimyo of Kyushu, probably lacking confidence in controlling Hakata Town, preferred to destroy it and transfer the freed up trade to his own domain. ”

Hearing this, Pingshou Fanxiu said suspiciously: "Qiuyue and Zhuzi don't care." I've heard that Hizen no Kuma has always been unruly and arrogant, so don't you have the confidence to control Hakata Town? ”

Kobayakawa Takakei thought about the wording for a long time and said, "Maybe it's not a matter of confidence, but the environment in Kyushu is different from that of, so the Uchifu has this question." ”

Hisho was amused: "What do you mean by that?" What is special about Kyushu? ”

Kobayakawa Takakei said: "Contemptible people can feel that in and Kanto, it is very normal for daimyo to rely on force to seize new territories. However, the situation in the western countries is somewhat different, although they also attack each other, they often force the enemy to submit, and then negotiate a truce, if they are determined to completely annex it in one go, it is likely to arouse the vigilance of the surrounding neighbors, and the gains outweigh the losses. As for Kyushu...... I'm afraid the difference is even greater. ”

Hearing this, Pingshou Fan Xiu realized a little, and took over the conversation: "Someone told me a few days ago that almost all the people who can be named in Kyushu now have stayed in one place since their ancestors and have not moved, and the scope of the territory has changed, but the core city has never changed." Unlike my ancestors, he was the first to be given the title of Ueno, then he was active in Mikawa, and then he followed the Spa clan to Echizen, and finally settled in Owari. ”

What he said was actually a set of obviously questionable genealogical contexts.

The earliest Ueno and the final Owari are indeed true, and Mikawa and Echizen in the middle belong to the lack of data to make up the brains, and the composition of literary creation is greater than archaeology.

But in front of him, Kobayakawa Takakei didn't dare to show the slightest suspicion, but complimented: "Because of this, the vision and strength of the Kyushu daimyo are too far behind those of the inner house, and they are simply worlds apart." They will attach great importance to their ancestral territories, and at the same time, they will not be so concerned about other people's ancestral territories, and they will not bother to include them in their direct subordinates. If you send retainers to govern, the retainers will think that it is equivalent to giving it to themselves, and it is natural to do things freely in the land of knowledge and action, and should not be interfered with. The 'separation of Shinong' and 'concentration of retainers' that you have promoted may be a fantasy for the people of Kyushu. ”

To put it bluntly, the degree of centralization is too low, and the traces of the old era are too heavy.

- That's how Tie Tsushu understands it.

That sounds plausible and interesting.

Come to think of it, the Maori family, who were not centralized enough to hold on to the long-term garrison, surrendered early and kept the territory of the four countries. The highly centralized power, thus being able to organize a large army against the crusading army, was eventually crushed into powder, and only the Shu clan was inherited by Qingyan tens of thousands of stone Zhixing.

What about the power of Kyushu?