In fact, love is always sacred, and when you are moved by love, you are in the present moment, but your heart enters the kingdom of holiness.

- Sadhguru (Enlightened Being, Enlightened Yogi, Mystic, Visionary Humanitarian, Outstanding Spiritual Teacher)

Turning over the territory of the Yamato Empire, the five kingdoms of Gyeonggi and the six provinces of the seven provinces in the north and south together constitute the world of the Yamato Empire; among them, the four provinces and thirty-one countries south of Gyeonggi are not yet coveted by the Yanhuang family, whose family power is limited to the Mutsu Kingdom.

Among the three provinces north of Gyeonggi, the Hokuriku Province, where the Uesugi family dominates, includes the seven provinces of Echigo, Echichu, Echizen, Noto, Kaga, Weakasa, and Sado, and the most powerful Higashiyamado Province includes Mutsu, Dewa, Ueno, Shimono, Shinano, Hibi, Mino, and Omi.

Tokaido, where the Tokugawa, Takeda, and Hojo families coexisted, included Hitachi, Kamiso, Shimoso, Anbo, Musashi, Sagami, Izu, Kai, Suruga, Enoe, Mikawa, Owari, Ise, Iga, and Shima, and was the largest of the Yamato Empire!

Whether it is the Higashiyamado with mixed forces or the Tokaido with the coexistence of the three powers, in addition to the four major families of Date, Tokugawa, Takeda, and Hojo, the Oda family, which rose in Owari Province and controlled the five kingdoms of Gyeonggi, and whose power spanned the two provinces of Higashiyama and Tokaido, is the real behemoth!

The three kingdoms of Omi, Mino, and Hibichi on the Higashiyama Province, and the four provinces of Iga, Ise, Shima, and Owari on the Tokaido are all within the sphere of influence of the Oda family.

This does not include part of the territory of the Oda family in Shinano Province of Higashiyama Province and Wakasa Province of Hokuriku Province, and some vassal forces of Kii Province of Nankai Province, Yama ** Tanba Province and Tango Province, and Harima Province of Sanyo Province.

The Uesugi family, which dominated Hokuriku, actually controlled only the three kingdoms of Echigo, Echichu, and Echizen, and Kaga and Noto had always been the traditional Buddhist sphere of influence of the Yamato Empire, and the Uesugi family did not even have a chance to intervene.

The isolated Sado Province is a refuge for pirates cruising the coastal waters, just like the Oki Province in the mountains and the Tsushima and Iki provinces in the Saikaido, and the Uesugi family, which lacks a naval army, is not capable of exterminating the pirates of Sado Province (or Sado Island).

Because the Echizen, Echichu, and Echigo kingdoms of the Uesugi family were all seaside countries with long coastlines, the Uesugi family, accustomed to the presence of pirates, also needed to provide a certain amount of gold, silver, and food to the pirates of Sado every year to maintain peace between the two.

After receiving the friendship of the Uesugi family, the Date family, whose core territory is only the land of Noichi, is expanding its family power to the three kingdoms of Ueno, Mutsu, and Hitachi, and the ambitious Date Masamune regards the revival of the Date family as his life's work.

The Tokugawa family, which was not much different from the vassals of the Oda family, was not only the ruling family of the three kingdoms of Tokaido, Toga, and Suruga, but also a trusted ally of the Oda family.

The overall strength of the Takeda family, which is not inferior to that of the Tokugawa family, is much stronger than that of the Tokugawa family; if it were not for the scruples of the Oda family, with the military strength of the Takeda family and the personality of Takeda Shingen, the Tokugawa family would have been conquered and annexed by the Takeda family long ago.

The Takeda family, which owns the three kingdoms of Kai, Sagami, and Izu, has trained the famous Kai Elite Cavalry and Sagami samurai, and with a large number of warships built in Izu Province, the Takeda family has few shortcomings in military strength.

Because of this, Takeda Shingen, who was unwilling to be restricted by the Oda family, secretly supported several families of Shinano Province, and the Shinano family who were loyal to the Oda family, in order to compete for control of Shinano Province, and fight to the death on the land of Shinano Province.

Shinano Province was the largest country in the Higashiyamado Province after Mutsu Province and Dewa Province in terms of area, and it was also the third largest sub-country of the Yamato Empire in terms of area, but Shinano Province was undoubtedly more prosperous than Mutsu Province and Dewa Province with its barren land and dense forests, and its vast arable land and fertile land.

Unfortunately, the special geographical location of Shinano Province determined that it could not develop at all, and the land that was too fertile would always attract the attention of careerists from all walks of life, followed by the struggle of careerists.

What is the Land of the Four Wars? Shinano Province is the most typical land of the Four Wars! There are 10 other sub-kingdoms bordering Shinano Province alone, and these 10 sub-kingdoms belong to the Oda family, the Tokugawa family, the Takeda family, the Date family, and the Uesugi family.

If it weren't for the Uesugi family's forcible occupation of Musashi Province, which belonged to the Hojo family, then the family bordering Shinano Province would have to add a Hojo family, and you must know that the strength of the Hojo family before it was hit hard was definitely among the top five in the Yamato Empire!

Just imagine, among the ten most powerful families in the Yamato Empire, six of the clans' territories directly border the Shinano country, and the development potential of the Shinano country is incomparably huge.

The Hojo clan, which had lost a large amount of territory due to the defeat in the war, was also a powerful family that owned four or five kingdoms in the past, but after the heavy defeat of the Uesugi clan, only the three kingdoms of Tokaido, Joso, and Anbo remained in their direct territory.

Musashi Province, which originally belonged to the Hojo family, became the spoils of war divided equally among the Takeda family, the Uesugi family, and the Tokugawa family.

Shimono Province, where the Date family's base camp is located, Ueno Province, which is under the rule of the Uesugi family, which has a rapidly declining population, Hitachi Province, which has successfully become independent, and Sado Province, which has become a pirate lair, are the four most suitable sub-countries to attack, and they are the targets that the expeditionary army is about to attack!

On the evening of the first day of December, Hakuho sent one hundred and fifty spies and one hundred ninjas to the Mutsu Kingdom on an official merchant ship from the Governor's Palace.

After more than half a month passed, the spies and ninjas gathered the information they had collected through the official merchant ships of the Governor's Palace, and after Bai Feng got this information, he used this information as a support to analyze the situation in the northern part of the Yamato Empire and formulate a battle plan.

Based on the information sent back by the spies and ninjas, Bai Feng listed Shimono, Ueno, Hitachi, and Sado as the targets of his expeditionary army, but the place that Bai Feng really wanted to attack was not among these four countries!

In Shiramine's view, only by bringing the Dewa Kingdom under the rule of the Yanhuang family can the Mutsu Kingdom truly become the rear hinterland of the Yanhuang family.

Otherwise, even if the Yanhuang family can successfully conquer the Ueno and Shimono provinces of the Higashiyama Province and the Hitachi Province of the Tokaido Province, it will still not be able to fundamentally solve the external threat of the Mutsu Kingdom, and the Dewa Province will become the bridgehead of the Uesugi family to threaten the Mutsu Province!

Therefore, the Dewa Province between the Uesugi family's Echigo Province and the Yanhuang family's Mutsu Province is the place where Hakumine wants to attack the most, and the crux of the question is, once the Yanhuang family's army occupies the Izuwa country, will the Uesugi family still shake hands with the Yanhuang family?