Although it was delayed for two days, it was still dark and watery and decided to go to Kato Kiyomasa's main camp in person early the next morning to surrender. The sky was bright and dark, and he was dressed neatly, accompanied by a group of retainers, and rode his horse on the mountain road to the Yasakagawa Kato station, the mist shrouded the mountains in the distance, and the leaves of the trees beside the mountain road were covered with dewdrops, and a damp scene could not help but make Kuroda Rusui's mood even heavier.

In this quiet and humid atmosphere, a sound of horses' hooves from far and near, through the mist, I saw a person riding a horse rushing towards him, closer, Kuroda Rusui suddenly found that it was the envoy Nomura Yukatsu who was sent to the Shimazu family five days ago, under the gaze of everyone, Nomura Yukatsu came to Kuroda Rusui, hurriedly dismounted and knelt down and said: "Your Majesty is incompetent, please also ask the lord to forgive the sin!" ”

"Sure enough, you can't be persuaded to move?" Kuroda Rusui's only glimmer of hope was shattered again, he sighed, and comforted Nomura: "It's okay, the old man is about to go to the Yasaka River to ask for surrender, so you can come with us." ”

Nomura Yukatsu stood up, stood up in front of the team, and said excitedly: "Lord, don't admit defeat just like that, although the Satsuma attendant did not show his attitude, but on the way back, he met the lord of Oguchi Castle, Shinna Tadamoto, and learned from him that the nine thousand troops have been divided into two routes, preparing to attack Minamihigo Hiyoshi Castle and Ito Clan's Wofei Castle, and the leading generals are Kawakami Hisaun and Furagaki Tadaharu, which are all important ministers of the Shimazu family!" ”

"So the Shimazu family sent troops?!" There was a commotion in the crowd, and everyone was happily talking, and they all made suggestions to Kuroda Rusui, hoping that he would temporarily withdraw to the garrison and wait for reinforcements from the Shimazu clan.

"Ichiemon, you just said that the Shimazu army is preparing to attack Wofei Castle instead of Caibu Castle?" Kuroda asked.

Nomura Yukatsu nodded and replied: "Wo Fei is the home town of the Ito family, surrounded by the territory of the Shimazu family on three sides, and after Ito Yuke led the main force of the family out of Aizu, only the young lord Ito Yukei was guarded in the city, and the number of troops was less than five hundred. Compared to the Autumn Moon family's Caibu Castle, it is easier to attack. ”

"That's all that Xinna Zhongyuan told you?" Kuroda Rushui looked suspicious.

"That's right, Musashi Mamoru told me that I hope the lord can lead his army to break through to the south, so that the two armies can converge in Hyuga and jointly deal with the coalition forces that built the castle with a pestle."

Hearing Nomura Yukatsu say this, the generals of Kuroda were all gearing up, looking forward to the moment when they joined forces with the Shimazu army to defeat the Toyotomi army. But Kuroda Rushui was silent in thought, and it wasn't until Inoue Mabei asked him again and again that he said something like this: "I'm afraid this is a trap for the Shimazu family, and the old man really doesn't dare to agree." ”

"Trap, what do you mean, lord?" Inoue Matabei asked in surprise, "The Shimazu family has already sent troops. How could you frame your own family, but you don't know that we are all allies of the Edo Inner Government? ”

"They are all allies of the inner government, it doesn't mean that our two families are also allies, if they really help each other, how can they give up going north to attack Caibu Castle but attack east to attack Fertile Castle, which is not threatening, it is obvious that his Shimazu family wants to take advantage of the opportunity of the Kato army being pinned down by our side to seize more territory. I don't really want to support my family.,In the eyes of the Satsuma attendants.,The family at the moment is just a bait.。 ”

"But if his family is wiped out, what good will it do him?" Inoue asked again.

"This is where the ingenuity lies," Kuroda Rusui analyzed, "If the family has 9,000 troops in their hands, and the two families are equal after the siege is lifted, no one will obey anyone." The next strategy will not follow the meaning of the Shimazu family, which is what the Satsuma attendants do not want to see; If the family is wiped out by the Kato family, it will be difficult for him to dominate Kyushu by relying on his family, so he will only help if the strength of the family is compressed to a range that can be controlled, so that he can help. Even if the Toyotomi army is defeated in the future, the family will not pose a threat to him, let alone hinder his Shimazu clan's plan to unify Kyushu, which is the real intention of the Shimazu clan to send troops at this moment. ”

"That's what you say. Let our army break through to the south, is it possible that we want to consume the strength of our own family? ”

"Smart," Kuroda Rushui said with a smile, "If you really want to rescue your family, you will attack Kita Hinata and fight a bloody way for our army, but he is attacking the inconsequential Ito family, obviously letting our army fight out of the encirclement by itself, and then he will symbolically send troops to respond, so that he will not end up with treacherous infamy, and will not lose too much strength, and more importantly, it can also weaken the family, it is really a clever plan to kill three birds with one stone, the old man really underestimated the Shimazu family before." ”

"According to what you say, this family shouldn't break through?" Nomura asked.

Kuroda Rushui sighed long: "Breaking through, even if it succeeds, it is a vassal of the Shimazu family; If you don't break through, you will unload your armor and return to the field, and you will inevitably be settled by the right mansion. From the day of the attack on the castle, the fate of the family is in the hands of others, I have been fighting for half my life with wisdom, but I didn't expect to be calculated by a hairy boy like Shimazu and Otomo in the end, it's ridiculous, ridiculous! Now that the surrender of the military movement is over, if the siege breaks south, although it will become a vassal of the Shimazu clan, but the result is still unknown, in contrast, the old man decided to take another risk, go south to join the Shimazu army, suppress the eastern Kyushu, and then unify Kyushu, waiting for the opportunity to chase China. ”

"We are the only lord and the horse is the first to look forward, revive the family business, and dominate Kyushu!" A cadre of soldiers dismounted one after another and bowed under the Kuroda Rushui horse, Kuroda Rushui thought for a moment, turned the horse's head and led everyone back to the station. Late that night, after some discussion, General Kuroda Rushui divided into three routes, breaking through to the south from three directions, of which the middle route army led by himself was the largest, 3,000 people, and the other two routes were 1,700 people, and the three-way army took advantage of Kato's unpreparedness, after a night of fighting, after paying the price of 1,000 people, broke through the encirclement and went south to the west of the city.

In order to save time, the Kuroda army did not attack the city but continued to break through to the Hyuga country, but it did not succeed but was ambushed by the Ota army in the Usuki Castle on the evening of the 20th, in order to support Kuroda Rusui, the right army under the leadership of Nomura Yukatsu was willing to serve as a temple army to resist the Ota army and the Kato army that followed up, the two sides fought fiercely until midnight, Kato Kiyomasa lost two generals and 600 troops in the case of annihilating the right army, Nomura Yukatsu committed suicide, but in exchange for the successful breakthrough of Kuroda's main force. Early the next morning, Kuroda Rusui's two-way army finally crossed the Ono River and broke into Hyuga Province from the west. At this time, Kato Kiyomasa received a secret report that the Shimazu clan had raised troops and captured the two castles of Woto and Hitoyoshi, and was preparing to attack Kato's army in the north, so he immediately led his army back to Kumamoto Castle along the streets of Hita and handed over the defense of Bungo to Otomo and Matsui. In this way, Kuroda Rusui led the remaining 4,000 people to escape from the pursuit of the Kato army and fled into Hinata, and in the next few days captured the county seat of the Takahashi clan, forced to land the Akizuki clan's Caibe Castle, and finally fled to the Shimazu clan's Satohara Castle, and Furagaki Tadaharu's 4,000 army "division", after a little rectification, the army of 8,000 people immediately turned around and broke into Minamihi, and joined forces with the 5,000 Shimadzu army of Yashiro Castle, intending to have a decisive battle with the Kato army in Uto Castle, thus deciding the ownership of Nishikyushu, The battle to determine the hegemony of Kyushu is about to begin.