At noon on June 12, 1578, a fleet of sixty-nine warships sailed on the waters of the southern Seto Inland Sea. All the sails were folded away, and the march was all by the huge oars sticking out from the sides of the hull, but there was no way, because there was no wind at all! The fleet could not see any of the flags clearly, because they were all attached to the flagpoles. But you don't have to worry about not being able to identify them, no one else in the sea in this area has twenty-two ironclad ships.

I stood in the luxurious office on the Hinomaru, looking at the white expanse outside the glass window, and I couldn't tell what it was like. Is it still noon? I'm not sure! The outside has turned into a silvery white sea and sky, with water on top and water below, and water on the front and back, left and right.

It didn't start well, and soon after my huge fleet of 30,000 troops went to sea, I was met with this torrential rain. The pouring water even obscured the color of the dark clouds in the sky, let alone the course ahead. As a last resort, I had no choice but to order most of the ships to return, leaving only these dozens of huge ships to survey the wind and waves. It's just that in the face of such a situation, can I still arrive on time?

"Lord......" Takenaka half-guards came behind me, and his voice seemed to be a little anxious. Sailing at sea in such weather is too risky, so please think twice about our decision to do so! ”

"Isn't it the same to face this heavy rain when you go back? And it's not any shorter......" I continued to look out the silver window, hoping to find a trace of the rain stopping. "Our ships have cost so much to build, how can we do it if we can't resist even this little rain! The problem now is that the wind is lighter, we are walking slower, and we are far from the point where we have to return! ”

"If it's just a minister, I'm naturally not afraid, but your lord......" Seeing my firm attitude, the half-guard of Takenaka was even more anxious, and I heard a grinding sound from the light armor on his body. Your lord, you are a body of gold, but now we don't know where to go on the vast sea route! If you make a mistake, I can't tell ......"

"What about me, I can't take any risks if you take the risk? Don't worry......" I turned around and sat down on the edge of my desk, probably afraid that he would find the word "worried" on my face as well. "Shi Yuan promised me: as long as the weather does not continue to deteriorate, our fleet will be neither in danger nor lost! And whether it was the guide who led the way, or the verification I asked His Highness the Nine Ghosts before setting sail, it all showed that this kind of weather could not last. We have perfect charts in our hands, advanced navigation equipment, and double insurance of local guides, so there will be no problems! ”

"I always felt that it wasn't worth the ...... to take such a risk," Hanbei Takenaka put it another way. If the feasibility of the action is questioned, it becomes a direct accusation against a colleague, whose character does not allow him to do so. "The Miyoshi family is now just a candle in the wind, and our direct march will be victorious. It seems that there is no certain need for such a practice in front of us, and it is not so difficult to completely destroy the Miyoshi family! ”

"Above board? It doesn't seem to be my usual style! I laughed. Takenaka Hanbei is good at everything, but he always tightens his strings too tightly, if I hadn't taken the initiative to relax him from time to time, I'm afraid he would have returned to the west according to the normal progress of history! "The Miyoshi family is naturally not worth the sun, but I don't plan to beat Shikoku to a tattered. This can be said to be the principle for a period of time to come, and it will effectively guarantee the steady and high-speed economic development of the four countries! ”

"Shikoku and Kyushu are also located on the same outlying ground, and it is very unreliable to rely on the power in to support there!" Takenaka Hanbei is worthy of being a genius military advisor, and he grasped my intentions with just a few words. Although there are precedents such as Hosokawa Harumoto and Miyoshi Nagakei, the result is usually that they are not able to take care of the end, either because they are driven out of Kyoto because of a lack of succession, or because they have lost their roots in the backyard fire. Nowadays, the lord's territory is quite scattered, so I recommend that you concentrate on Tamba and Izumi! ”

"Historically, it's true, but it's different when it comes to attacking Kyushu!" Maybe it was because of the rain, so I felt a little cold, so I pulled up the cloak that was on the back of the chair and draped it over my shoulders. "Kyushu has always been an independent kingdom of local tycoons, and the central powers' efforts to control it have never been successful. We'll be dealing with the guys there soon, and we can't do without a springboard! ”

"Lord, you are really impatient, Shikoku has not yet done it, and he is thinking about Kyushu again!" Although Takenaka Hanbei was also joking, his tone was actually not lighthearted. "Most of the princes who were sent to Kyushu to investigate during the Muromachi period did not end well, and the Isshiki clan even spent more time in exile than staying in the territory. The so-called is too much, the lord should not be greedy for this errand! ”

"But it's not like I can push it off if I want to, the affairs of Shikoku have already been put on the head, can Kyushu still run?" I smiled wryly at him, my face full of helplessness. "I'll definitely be sent to Kyushu when the affairs of Shikoku are over, believe it or not! And it's impossible for all the territories to belong to me, it's just that Shikoku will cut off a small piece of Kyushu and then cut off a small piece. When you look at it again, there are definitely a lot of them, but they are even more chaotic than the Hatakeyama family and the Spo family in history! ”

"There is no way to do this, and the main hall also has considerations for maintaining its own family!" Hanbei Takenaka knew very well what was at stake, but he was helpless. "The lord's domain is the largest, but it is scattered everywhere; Although the territory of Shibata and Yuchai is smaller, it is concentrated and enough to balance each other with the lord; His Royal Highness Niwa is in charge of the central affairs of his family, but in fact, his territory is not much bigger than the average small daimyo! ”

"Wait! In the future, I may also be in charge of the center before I grow old......" I picked up a teacup on the table and took a few big sips, but fortunately it was not wine. At that time, the world was also calm, and the loyal young lord became the governor of the family and retreated into the background. My sons are all grown, and their lands are scattered. The lord will come to me and say, "Don't be so troublesome, give the territory to your sons!" When you come to Azuchi, you can not only help Xiuzhong, but also talk with me about the things of the year when you have nothing to do. Anyway, we're all old, so we can't accept it! In this way, the Star Family was divided into several branches, and after a few generations, even if they did not kill each other, they would go their separate ways. Today's wind and water vapor will disappear at that time! ”

"Then you have to deal with Shikoku and Kyushu with all your might, and your intention is ......," he said, feeling a bit of a contradiction between the front and back.

"I've heard this phrase a long time ago...... "I looked up at the ceiling above me and fell into a vague memory." 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket', I think at least be prepared for what might happen in the future. Although Kyushu and Shikoku are remote, they have at least one benefit, and that is that the pace of change of their wealthy clans is much slower. Otomo and Shimazu can be traced back four to five hundred years, but in Honshu, which of those powerful daimyo families you have seen during the Heigen War still exist? ”

"It turns out that this is the lord's plan, but I think you are thinking too far and too negative!" The half-guard leaned forward, trying to persuade me again or make some new suggestions.

But at this moment, the hull of the ship tilted sharply, and the two ornaments with a slightly higher center of gravity on the wall shelf fell on the thick carpet. I propped my hands on the edge of the table to steady myself, and the Takenaka half-guard simply fell to the ground.

"What's going on?" I yelled out the door. Since I didn't feel the bottom of the ship bump in the slightest, it couldn't have been a reef or a grounding.

"Lord, it's windy!" A small window by the door was opened, and Sadago Ishikawa showed half of his face and called out with a little excitement.

"Is there a storm?" Takenaka Hanbei quickly climbed up from the floor, his entire nerves tense again.

"Not really!" In order to eliminate the interference of the wind so that we can hear clearly, Ishikawa Sadayu grabbed the window frame with both hands and stuck his head in. "The wind is not very strong but the clouds are blowing away, and now the rain is much lighter. Kamiya-sama said that in a little while we would be able to spread the sails and drive at full speed! ”

"Oh!" I looked out the window and the rain was much lighter. Although the raindrops the size of soybeans still crackled against the window panes, they were far away from the gaps, and the dark clouds above were rolling and drifting to the northeast. "Look! I said a long time ago, God bless me and I'll be fine! I said to Hanbei Takenaka lightly.

"The lord is really blessed with the sky, God bless my star family to prosper!" Although he said this, he was not completely without worries. "Because of this heavy rain, most of the ships carrying troops have returned halfway, and now we have less than 10,000 land troops. Once we appear on the Awa coast, Miyoshi will definitely mobilize the troops and horses of the two countries to attack us. If anything happens at sea, supplies may be threatened! ”

"Less than ten thousand? It's a lot, at least it's much better than the seventeen people you were back then! "I'm a person who is more affected by the environment, and as the weather improves, my confidence suddenly bursts up." We have 15,000 sailors ashore, and this number is enough to hold out and even win! Besides, compared with us, there are more variables on the side of the three goodies, the rebellion of the wealthy family; internal differences of opinion; The attack of Changzong and our troops may lead to a complete collapse! Now you should turn your attention to refining the first battle plan. Don't think about the consequences, I'm in charge! ”

"Lord...... You've become a little bit like a basilica! Takenaka Hanbei looked at me fixedly.

"I don't want to be as brutal as my lord, though I'd love to learn like that!" I stood up and poured myself a glass of Bordeaux white wine, as well as a glass for Hanbei Takenaka. "Now I understand some things, how far you can see and dare to go, you can go as far as you can! Now that the day is not far from the day when the world will be pacified, we must seize the time to get more things for ourselves. ”

"But the protection of the four countries, it is impossible to arrange our people!" He saw that the rain was about to stop outside, and the worry in his tone turned to regret.

"Two, as long as there can be two, it's enough!" I took a sip from my glass.