When I marched towards Tottori Castle, I had only 3,000 guards with me, which was a few elite, but there was nothing to worry about, because there was no more force left in the country that could threaten me.

Inaba Province is a hub connecting the east and west of the mountain*, but there is nothing to boast about, but there is no need to think about a cornucopia like the Mayuno Silver Mountain, and even the yield of the fields is only 90,000 koku, and all of them are dry fields.

As a famous mountain clan that once guarded the eleven countries of the world, the scenery is no longer there, and now there is only one of Inaba left. For many years, Yamana has not produced any decent characters, so that the wealthy clans in the territory have rebelled, and finally fell to the point of being held hostage by his subordinates. For me, the Yamana clan is just a target, and the real purpose is the Maori family behind them, otherwise the strength of the Yamana clan today is not enough for me to stuff my teeth!

From a long distance, I saw Tottori Castle, and at the same time, I saw the surrounding military formations. My army of 30,000 surrounded Tottori Castle from all sides, as if a carpet had been laid around it. To be honest, my first impression of Tottori Castle was good, although it wasn't very expansive, but it didn't have any obvious loopholes.

"Lord, has your body really fully recovered?" When he saw me, Takenaka Hanbei was still full of doubts, and he showed this emotion on his face without concealment, and the same expression was on his side, Keiji Maeda and Katsutakeshi Shima. Because I had to make the final preparations for the siege, there were only three of them who would greet me at the main camp.

"No problem!" I straightened my chest and clenched my fists in an angry posture to prove that my body was strong. "How? What else is there to say about this body bone! ”

"Lord! You don't care about your body too much......" They didn't feel the funny of my movements at all because they lacked a sense of humor, and they still complained vigorously.

"Alright, alright, that's it!" I giggled and brought the three of them and the Gamo clan that came with me into the big tent. "How's the siege ready?" I can't wait to get to the point.

"The whole encirclement is complete! I'm making minor adjustments right now......" Hanbei Takenaka pulled out a topographic map of Tottori Castle, and I leaned my head over. "At present, Maeda-sama and Shima-sama are in the east, belonging to the Tajima Hao clan, with about 6,000 troops; Yamanaka-sama and I were in the north, and with Akai Naomasa's Tamba reinforcements and iron artillery corps, numbering about 8,000 men, completely cut off the road from Tottori to the sea; To the west was the road leading to the Bonjāori territory, so the 10,000 men under the command of Lord Kerr, and they were camped at a dangerous pass far from the city, in order to cut off the grain route and block the way back, and they were not prepared to arrange the task of attacking the city; To the south is the 5,000 men and horses with the ninja army of Kusunoki as the core, although it is a little less, but because the area is mountainous, the ninja army can be completely ...... with one as ten." "Hmm...... Uh-huh...... You've made a very good arrangement! I nodded as I listened, and finally said, "On the way, I heard that Yoshikawa Norike personally led his army into Tottori Castle, but what is the situation of the enemy army in the castle now?" ”

"Entrusted to the lord Hongfu, this time I also included him!" Keiji Maeda was interested on the side. “…… Originally, the Maori family only verbally supported their agents with false promises, hoping to drag us to death in the battle for the city, but in reality it was a big mistake! They didn't know: in fact, most of those little tycoons had already secretly fallen to the lord, and the fortresses they relied on fell one after another! It was also thanks to Takenaka-sama who came up with it, so Kato-sama sent a large number of ninjas dressed as messengers to operate in Boqi, Izumo, Bigo and other places. The Maori family thought that their abandonment of vassalage had begun to alienate the various forces in their domain, so they had to rush into the army when their forces were insufficient. No, the Yoshikawa family entered Tottori Castle with only 2,000 people! ”

"How many enemy troops are there in Tottori Castle right now?" I asked, looking at the irregular polygon on the diagram.

"Mori and Yamana combined...... It's less than 4,000! Takenaka Hanbei replied.

"Is it possible for the Maori family to send reinforcements again?" I'm still silently calculating in my heart, as if the Maori family who dominates the western country shouldn't be just to this extent.

"Since the death of Mori Moto, the prestige of the successor Mori Terumoto is insufficient, and the major affairs of the family are all due to the judgment of the two uncles, Motoharu and Takakei...... "Takenaka Hanbei analyzes the current situation objectively without emotion." Although after some deliberate arrangements during Maori Yuan's lifetime, the Maori family is more united than other daimyo forces, but this does not mean that everything is monolithic! Kobayakawa Takakei's proposition was to 'advance north and south': while vigorously expanding the territory of Kyushu, he took a defensive position in San'in and Sanyo in an attempt to ease relations with the Oda family. Motoharu Yoshikawa's strategy is the opposite. As a result, many of the Māori strategies are the product of compromise, leading to more or less contradictions. Now the two major armies of Yoshikawa and Kobayakawa are fighting on two fronts, and there are not many troops directly under the Mori family in the hands of Yamashiro in Yoshida-gun. Although there are still a lot of affiliated wealthy families, and there is no shortage of famous generals who can fight in battle, it is an extremely risky act to form such an army with a low proportion of their own families after all! ”

"Although this possibility is indeed small, it is still necessary to be cautious, is there any new news from Kato's subordinates?" I also think it's unlikely, the "monkeys" in Sanyo won't and don't dare to let Yoshikawa Motoharu get out so easily.

"Kato-sama has strengthened the monitoring of all targets in the Maori territory, and even asked the personnel of Kitakyushu to pass on a daily report!" He pointed to the two thick stacks of daily documents on the table, all of which were copies that had been approved in the past few days, leaving me familiar with the details. “…… Recently, Lord Kato has personally inspected and deployed every monitoring point in Tottori Castle, and now an invisible net has been laid around here! ”

"That's good, how is your 'heart attacking' strategy going?" Since they have thought about it so thoughtfully, then I can safely think about how to gnaw on the "bone" in front of me!

"Now that most of the wealthy clans have turned to our army, those who fled to Tottori Castle are not so much loyal to the Yamana clan as hard-standing Maori!" Takenaka Hanbei said this with a slight pity. “…… It has only been more than 20 years since Mori Moto's defeat of Ouchi and Niko, and in fact, the time he has been the overlord of one side is not very long. However, Mao Liyuan is really extraordinary in this person, he has adopted a completely different strategy from most people blindly killing, and has always appeared as a 'alliance leader' who protects the interests of small and medium-sized wealthy families, so he has maintained a group of people's hearts! ”

"Being able to revitalize the family business and become the overlord of the Western Kingdom under the watchful eye of strong enemies, Mao Liyuan is indeed worthy of being a generation of heroes in troubled times!" I nodded silently, feeling a little melancholy in my heart. I came to this era and missed this celebrity, and he was dying by the time I arrived in San'in. "Some of his practices...... It's really worth learning from! ”

"Still 'borrowing'? You're not too tired......" Keiji Maeda frowned and pursed his lips, scoffing at my opinion. "The way to government is to pay equal attention to grace and power, and you seem to be too weak a lot of the time! Killing people is also a way to save more people, and too much kindness often causes more people to take risks. After this battle, the territory of the family will be even larger, and you should pay attention to this aspect as well! ”

"Let's talk about these things later...... "I didn't make it clear, and Maeda's opinion is really worth considering." How is the garrison in the city, and are you sure that you will take it? ”

"Without the interference of external factors, no matter what the method, the city can eventually fall, but the strong attack will only cause great casualties!" Hanbei Takenaka looked at my reaction with both eyes, and the meaning was very obvious.

"Although fighting does not leave people undead...... Tell me more about it! "I'm also extremely disgusted by the huge casualties, and listening to Takenaka's Hanbei's ideas, his ideas are slow.

"Yes, my lord!" Takenaka Hanbei nodded quickly, and I noticed that he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. “…… Tottori Castle has a sturdy castle wall, and it has been built over the past 200 years, but most importantly, it has not been damaged by war. Although it is not huge on the whole, the layout is quite reasonable, and it is appropriate for four or five thousand people to defend the city. However, because the banner was not a grain-producing area, and the famous mountain family had fallen, there were not many grain reserves in it. The Yoshikawa family took the risk of helping at any time when they could be attacked by our army at any time, and naturally it was impossible to bring too much baggage, both of which have been confirmed! ”

"Hmm......" I looked at a copper lion-shaped paperweight on the table, my eyes a little glazed. The timing of this attack on the western country was very good, and it happened that the two main forces of the Mori family were unable to separate, and in this situation, some wavering people (referring to Izumo, Yasui, and Zhoubo, who had not yet ignited the flames of war) began to try to break away from Mori and turn to Oda. If something changes over time, I'll have to go back in vain...... "Have you tried the cannon?" "I'm still a little lucky.

"Tried it! The effect is not very obvious...... this time it was Keiji Maeda who replied that last year, in order to deal with Mori's possible attack on Tajima, except for the two 24-pounder guns, which were difficult to handle, all the other 12 10-pounder cannons were temporarily transferred to his men. "Tottori's terrain is dangerous, and the castle walls are high, and you can't reach it under the castle! His subordinates and Kato-sama also found a few gun emplacements in the surrounding high places, but they were not ideal, and they could neither hit the gate nor land on the top of the city. Although our flowering shells were powerful against the infantry, they were almost impossible to use in a volley when they touched the city wall laterally, and they didn't even see the soil layer inside after a few shots! ”

"Is there no way around it?" I yelled in my heart. I stood up and walked back and forth in the tent twice, the eyes of the three of them always glued to me. It was a moment before I stood still and took a deep breath. "Let's go, let's take a look at the nearby terrain!"

"My lord......" Takenaka Hanbei said with some concern, "Although our army has already controlled the nearby area, after all, it is too close to the enemy, do you want to wait for Kato-sama to ......?"

"Lord!" As he was talking, Kato Duanzo came back. "There is a new big situation!" He didn't have time to greet me before he reported for duty.