For this old lion, the dream of the world that has been suppressed for thirty years, even if it is a nightmare, must come to an end! In the eyes of his retainers, Rushui was in a state of complete excitement at this time, and he recruited men over the age of fifteen or sixteen, reclusive wanderers, including townspeople, and common people, to promise the reward of establishing a family name after his meritorious service in the First World War. Like the water exhausted all its savings, and piled up gold and silver in the courtyard, there was an endless stream of conscripts, and the gold and silver were also distributed one by one, and 3,600 men were gathered for the first recruitment, and 9,000 troops were raised in ten days before and after!

On April 12, the day after Hideho captured Fukuhara Castle, Kuroda Rusui, who had gathered an army of 9,000 troops, took the lead in killing the eastern leader of the country, Toyogo, and fired the first shot of the Kyushu War.

The reason why he first attacked Fenghou was that the black sky was like water and he took a fancy to the situation of the local area being divided and full of daimyos. Compared with Chikuzen's Kobayakawa family in the west, Bungo in the east has an opportunity. In terms of daimyo ishigaka, there are Nakagawa Hidenari at Takeda Castle with 7,700 koku, Ota Kazukichi at Usuki Castle with 65,000 koku, Mori Takamasa at Saeki Castle with 20,000 koku, Otomo Yoshitomo at 33,000 koku in Takada and Furai Castle, Kumagai Naomori at 15,000 koku at Anki Castle, Hayakawa Nagamasa at 10,000 koku at Funai Castle, and Kodai Daiko with about 10,000 koku at Ishitaka, and Hosokawa Tadashi (whose main domain is in Miyazu 230,000 koku in Tango Province). In response to Hidebo's order, Nakagawa Hidenari and Ota Kazuyoshi, the two most powerful daimyos, have left their skills to go to Kanto, and among the remaining small daimyos, Mori Takamasa traced back to the Hiroshima Mori clan, Kumagai Naomori remained neutral as Ishida Mitsunari's eyeliner, and Hayakawa Nagamasa was unified with Otomo Yoshimi under Hideho; As for the Hosokawa family, who were stationed in Tango Miyazu on weekdays, they had already followed Hideho's expedition, and there were only 800 people at the disposal of Yasuyuki Matsui.

Although Kobayakawa Hideaki had already led his army to the Kanto region, the entire Chikuzen Province was defense-empty, and it seemed that it was relatively easy to attack. However, Kurotami Rushui had a secret conversation with Kobayakawa Hideaki before, and it can be roughly guessed that although Kobayakawa is following Hideho's eastward crusade, his heart is towards Tokugawa Ieyasu, and in this case, it is best not to cause trouble, and wait until the eastern country decides the victory, and then make plans according to the situation.

On the whole, the only forces that can hinder the southward development of the entire Bungo Province are Matsui Yasuyuki who built the castle and Otomo Yoshitomo on the Kunisto Peninsula, as long as these two are eliminated, the rest of the castles with empty defenses will also open the castle and surrender, which is a plan to kill chickens and make an example of monkeys.

The sky is as dark as water, and he is determined to take these two knives. After conquering the Kunisaki Peninsula. It can be basically pressed after the harvest. The next attack is also full of daimyo Chikugo and the defense of the empty Kita Hinata, after taking Chikugo and Hinata, it is very likely that he will face off against the two daimyo entrusted by Hideho to guard Kyushu - Kato Kiyomasa Kato and Tachibana Muneshige of Yanagiga, of course, Kuroda Rusui knows that it is difficult for his family to win. Even if they win, they will suffer heavy casualties, but at that time, the Satsuma Shimazu family, who had an agreement with Tokugawa Ieyasu, will not sit idly by, and will definitely send troops to lead Konishi Yukinaga in Minamihigo, and then flank Kato Kiyomasa with the Kuroda army, and after destroying the two families, march to capture Hizen (the main force of the Nabeshima family has already marched eastward), and since then control at least five countries and two and a half countries, and then coerce the Shimazu family to march into China with absolute superiority. In the end, the plan to dominate Kansai was realized.

When he received the letter from Matsui Yasuyuki for help, Otomo Yoshitomo was discussing with his retainers in Fulai Castle, and in this small castle that originally belonged to Yuanmi, there were 2,800 people from the main force of the Otomo army, and 700 people in another castle called Takada were guarded, and the three generals of Otomo, Yoshihiro Tongyuki, Tahara Shonobi, and Munakata Zhenxu were all in Fulai Castle at this moment. The crowd was debating fiercely about how to deal with the impending chaos, and they didn't expect that a decision would need to be made so soon.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the 9,000 troops of the Kuroda family should not be underestimated, the family can only mobilize 3,000 people in the city now, if it is against it, I am afraid it will be difficult to win, besides, Fulai City is not a strong city, even if the cage city will not last long, I feel that it is better to lead the army to retreat to the Zhutian City of the Nakagawa family, where there is abundant grain and grass, and the city defense is also stronger, and the black sky is like water should not attack rashly." Tahara Shonobu was an important minister of the Nakagawa family before defecting to Otomo Yoshitomi, and he knew the information in the city well, but now Nakagawa Hidenari has fallen to Hideho, and the retainers who stayed behind will never keep the Otomo army out of the city.

As for Tahara Shonobi's idea of temporarily avoiding the edge, he won the consent of many retainers, including Yoshihiro Tokoyuki, and everyone felt that the Kuroda clan was now powerful, and it was definitely not the best strategy to fight against it, so it was better to retreat to Nanhogo and even Hinata far away from the center of the storm, and let the nearby Kato Kiyomasa come forward to block it, which would be more appropriate for the Otomo family. However, this suggestion was firmly opposed by the veteran Zongxiang Zhenxu.

"A few days ago, we heard that the sky was like water and the family wealth was scattered to recruit troops, and everyone thought that he wanted to protect himself and did not care, and now that the catastrophe is coming, he has proposed such a strategy, which is really insulting the prestige of the Otomo clan." Ignoring the embarrassed expressions of the retainers, Zongxiang Zhenxu said earnestly: "Although the Kuroda family has nine thousand people, it was recruited by the water and scattered the family wealth, that is to say, this is already the limit of the Kuroda clan. How can we afford to pay for it? Obviously, Rushui decided to go through the strategy of fighting to feed the war. ”

"Feeding war with war? Let's talk about it in detail. Otomo Yoshitomi suddenly became interested, and the young master of the Otomo clan was silent for a long time, and finally heard what he wanted to hear.

Zongxiang Zhen nodded to Otomo Yoshito and continued: "As we all know, now the powerful daimyo of Bungo has all led the main force to the battle, and the cities in the territory are all empty in defense, Kuroda Rushui has taken a fancy to this, although he has no extra funds to raise food, but as long as there is this huge army, he can intimidate the castle generation of those empty cities, prompting them to open the city and surrender, so that the food and salary in the city can just supply his army, so as to achieve the purpose of meeting the logistics without spending money on changes, which is the strategy of feeding the war with war." ”

"According to you, if those castles resist Kuroda's intimidation and refuse to open the castle, then this army is bound to collapse?" Yoshihiro asked.

"That's right," Zong Xiangzhen nodded and snorted coldly: "If the pestle building the city can withstand five or six days, the grain and grass like water will definitely bottom out, and at that time, do you think these soldiers recruited by money will still obediently work under him?" The army of nine thousand sounds terrifying, but once you see through the essence, you will laugh and be generous. ”

"What does it mean to sweep the department, the family should send troops?" Yoshitomo asked.

"Troops must be sent! This is like a snowball, he can get a penny of food and grass and the replenishment of troops when he conquers a city, if he does not contain it from the initial stage, when he unifies Fengsai Feng, he has enough food and more than 12,000 troops, and then it will be even more difficult to compete with him again. ”

"I understand what you mean," Otomo Yoshitomo nodded solemnly, "It seems that this battle must not be retreated, and besides, the Right Mansion has the grace of rebuilding the Otomo family, and I, Otomo Yoshitomi, am not ungrateful." However, with the current strength of the main family, it is really difficult to compete with Kuroda's 9,000 army. ”

"Aren't there two more Kato and Tachibana?" Zongxiang Zhen continued to remind, "These two families still have more than 9,000 troops in their hands, and now there is no war in Western Kyushu to recruit support, as Fang just said, there is no need to completely defeat the Kuroda army, as long as it can drag on for some time, they will definitely collapse on their own because of the lack of food and grass, and Rushui will naturally have to take the initiative to surrender, and at that time, the Otomo clan can really be regarded as a bargaining chip for revival." ”

"Since this is the case, then according to the words of the sweeping department, immediately send troops to build the city!" Otomo Yoshito Huo Ran got up, raised his saber under the gaze of the retainers, and said solemnly: "Whether or not my Otomo clan can be revived is all in one fell swoop!" ”