At the same time, the situation in Sanuki Province has changed. Having lost the support of the Miyoshi Sanko and Higashi Sanki, and the Yasutomi family in Nishisanki was also afraid that I would invade again and was unwilling to send troops, the Tokawa family could no longer continue to besiege the Konishi family, so they had to retreat to Utatsu Port sullenly, and at the same time divide 500 troops, so that Tokawa Cunyuki returned to Tokawa Castle.

Although he was given the reputation of repelling me, the crusade against the Kosai family failed, and at the same time he lost a lot of supplies from the port of Utatsu, which is extremely more than worth the loss.

I went straight back to the Yangyikan in southern Awaji through the navy, and after a short day's rest, I led all 8,000 people to Katsurui Castle. Joshiro is the nephew of Mayuki Hosokawa, Yoshitoyo Kume, and he is an old acquaintance of mine. When I captured Katsurui Castle, he was forced to submit to our side and used Hosokawa Shinyuki to disrupt the situation in the castle. But after the incident, Hosokawa Shinyuki and I became allies, and not only forgave him for his offense, but also gave him a seal of 5,000 koku as I promised, and entrusted him with important tasks, and soon gained his loyalty.

Judging from this incident, Hosokawa Shinyuki is still very generous. A person like him, who has been a puppet or hostage for a long time, after getting out of the predicament, generally acts in two directions according to his personal surname. One is to become particularly tyrannical and selfish, unscrupulous, and indulged in revenge and pleasure, and the other is to become very stoic and humble, and to be understanding of many things.

There are many examples of the former model, which can be regarded as a norm, and the result is a mediocrity; The latter type of person can be regarded as a partial "enlightenment", and the one who can generally achieve something, and the one who achieves the ultimate is Tokugawa Ieyasu, who founded the shogunate and ended the Warring States period. And Hosokawa Mayuki's surname is obviously biased towards the latter.

Although I seemed very modest, Kume Yoshitoyo was very respectful to me, obviously deeply impressed by the means I was supposed to do. He specially vacated the second and third floors of the Ninomaru Castle Tower, and welcomed me, Konatsu, and his attendants in. This was originally the place where he lived as a city representative, and it was already the greatest sincerity to be able to let it out. As for Honmaru to the north, he had no right to make arrangements, and that was where Hosokawa Shinichi's family lived, including Ogatataden and her newborn child.

Thinking of this, I stood on the platform on the third floor and looked north at Honmaru, and I couldn't help but feel a little moved.

The layout of Katsurui Castle is somewhat similar to that of Mie Castle, with Honmaru and Ninomaru as the residence of the castle lord and the castle and the warehouse in the castle, and they are especially separated from Sannomaru and Samurai Yashiki, and there is a fairly wide castle in the middle. In this way, even if the enemy army enters the city, it can still hold out for a long time. However, compared to Mie Castle, there is no castle between Ninomaru and Honmaru in Katsurui Castle, after all, this is not a water castle like Mie Castle.

For a long time, Miyoshi Yoshiken and Nagaji father and son lived in Ninomaru, controlling Hosokawa Shinyuki of Honmaru. Honmaru's defenses are naturally much tighter now, but if I want to enter Honmaru to meet the Great Shape Hall, it will definitely not be a problem.

After weighing it carefully, I let go of the idea. Now that Hosokawa is a close ally, and his apparent status is much higher than mine, I should have full respect for him and his mother, Ogataden. In addition, Xiao Xia is also here, although she will not stop me, but knowing this, she will definitely sulk.

Suppressing the thoughts in my mind, I began to devote myself to preparing for the war.

One of the most important links is the movement of 5,000 people led by Shinyuki Hosokawa and Masakatsu Wasuka. I had already sent an envoy to them, explaining my strategic intentions and strong considerations, and asking Hosokawa Shinyuki to return to Katsurui Castle according to the agreement, and rely on the castle defense to fight a decisive battle with the Miyoshi family, but there has been no response so far.

I doubt that Hosokawa was so confused by the early victory that he wanted to take the opportunity to recover the three western prefectures.

According to the information, the day before I entered Katsurui Castle, the 4,000 troops belonging to the three prefectures of Katsuura, Naga, and Kaibe belonging to the Awa family in the south had been assembled, and they had passed through the border line between the two counties of Naga and Mima, and were heading to join the forces of the 8,000 Miyoshi clan in the west. In this way, the total army of the Miyoshi family they have to face will reach 12,000 men, and if Hosokawa Shinyuki still insists on retreating, maybe they will really fall into a rout.

Thinking of this, I can't help but feel a little anxious.

On October 1st, it was a routine assessment at the beginning of October, and I summoned Hidekei, Gamo Fuhide, Maeda Toshiie, Sawaki Yoshiyuki, Ikoma's parents, and Futami Mitsunari to discuss.

"Xiujing, the latest news, where is His Highness Zhenzhi?" I asked first.

"Yesterday I was in Osuka Village, Mima County, and I was facing off against the Miyoshi family across the Yoshino River...... Because of the heavy rain that had fallen a few days ago, the current of the Yoshino River had risen sharply, and both sides were unwilling to cross the river at great risk, so the stalemate was settled. Xiujing replied.

"In that case, it's time to withdraw!" I couldn't help but complain, "Really, what does His Highness think!" ”

"I think it's a problem to go down to the house!" Maeda Toshiie pondered.

"Bitter? What can be the trouble? I asked rhetorically.

"I probably can't bear the pressure of retreating first...... Not everyone has the right to retreat first, because that would be tantamount to admitting defeat. Toshiie Maeda replied.

"The right to throw in the towel...... Is it? I groaned, but still didn't understand what he meant.

"His Highness Maeda probably means that the Shimoyagata Hall can't bear the consequences of retreating without a fight!" Ikoma's parents understood a little, "If it is His Royal Highness Xuanjing, of course he has no such concerns, because His Royal Highness Xuanjing has fully proven his ability, even if he retreats first, it will not damage his prestige and prestige, and it will even be regarded as a manifestation of knowing how to advance and retreat." However, when the lower house shape hall led the army for the first time, the opponent was still fighting for Awa's Miyoshi family, and if he did not retreat without a fight, it would be considered a cowardly and hesitant move, and it was likely to lose the trust and support of the wealthy family. ”

"I see!" I nodded.

Indeed, I have always been accustomed to thinking in terms of grand strategy, and sometimes I am willing to sacrifice partial victories and some loss of prestige in order to gain strategic superiority. When I was in Tosa Province, Konatsu repeatedly asked me to return to my old domain to gather the people, but I left Tosa. Soon, because of the death of Gu Zhongcheng and the investigation of Iwamatsu Jingding, my existence was made public, but the samurai and people of Wuchuan County still fell to the family of Chosamune, and this reputation of "retreating without a fight" was not an important reason. Because they felt that I had fled Tosa Province because I didn't have the courage to face the Chosamune family...... Of course, when I returned to Tosa with a large army and burned down Okatotoyo Town, forcing the head relatives of Nagamune and my department not to dare to fight, then I naturally washed away my reputation, so the hearts of the people of Gogawa County returned, and Katsugano, Hayama and other genealogies also took the initiative to go along with each other.

But the situation of Hosokawa Shinyuki is different. He has always been a puppet of the Miyoshi family, and he was able to recover his territory, mostly relying on my strength, and now that he is leading the army for the first time, if he does not retreat without a fight, his reputation will be even worse...... However, it is better to simply fight a vigorous defeat, at least let everyone see his courage and determination.

"I was negligent, I didn't think of this layer at the beginning," I sighed, "and now I only hope that the army on the expedition will suffer fewer losses!" ”

……，…… On the third day, Hattori Masakatsu received news of Shin Hosokawa's defeat. Then, the defeated army came back one after another, most of them were small wealthy families in Mingdong County and Itano County, and they had all been ravaged and co-opted by me before. When they arrived at Shengrui City, they saw my banner, and they were no longer willing to move any further and rush back to the territory. I was also very generous, and took them all into the city to rest, and served them with hot food and soup, without any blame for them.

When everyone gradually regained their calm, I invited a few heads of wealthy families to a banquet and asked them about the defeat of Hosokawa Shin.

It turned out that at that time, Hosokawa Shinyuki strongly advocated a decisive battle across the river, but Wasuka Masakatsu could not resist him, so he had to send hundreds of people up the mountain to cut wood and make rafts. Before the result was completed, the 4,000 troops of the three counties of Nan Apo suddenly attacked, and the three people on the opposite bank also took the opportunity to force nearly 2,000 elite troops across the river to attack. Faced with this situation, the nearly 2,000 Awa people directly under Hosokawa Shinyuki were immediately defeated, and each of them abandoned Ashigaru and fled from Osuka Village.

"And what about His Highness? What about Lord Wasuka and his army? I asked.

"It seems that they retreated into the mountains together...... "Himeda Jinzaemon of Himeda Castle in Itano-gun replied. His territory is very close to Fuyang City, and he has some contacts with Wasuka Masakatsu in peacetime, and the wartime sequence is relatively close.

"That's good, that's good!" I felt a lot more relieved.

Wasuka Masakatsu was born in Kawanami, and there are dozens of low-level samurai from Kawanami in the Crab River, and now that he is in the mountains, with Wasuka Masakatsu's ability, it is probably not difficult to stabilize and get out! Their current environment is very similar to that of the original Mino-ki-gun mountains, and to the south of them is the Yoshino River, which has a much larger water volume than the Kiso River. Moreover, the various reserve units under my command, because they have to cooperate with the navy, are basically people who know how to water, and they are more effective than the Sichuan and the public.

Sure enough, a day later, Kanie and Awaji returned. They all rafted down the fast-flowing Yoshino River.

Not far upstream of Katsurui Castle, everyone tried to control the raft to the shore and reach the soft river beach according to the orders of Wasuka Masakatsu. Due to the recent drop in water levels, large sections of the river beach have been revealed, which is just enough to act as a buffer.

After landing, they got up from the wet mud and staggered onto the river. Obviously, this long-distance rafting trip in the wild has exhausted them enough. Fortunately, everyone's mood was not bad, and when they saw me, Xiujing, Kume Yoshitoyo, Maeda Toshiie, and other high-ranking samurai, they all bowed their heads and bowed in respect.

"No need to be polite, it's good to be back......" I comforted everyone with this sentence repeatedly, I don't know how many times, until Masayuki Hosokawa, Masakatsu Wasuka, and Toshisadari Tsubouchi came to me together.

Masakatsu Wasuka and Tsubouchi Toshita's faces were fine, but Hosokawa Mayuki was supported by a strange young samurai, and his expression was very aggrieved.

"Your Highness!" I greeted him.

Seeing me coming, Hosokawa Shinyuki showed a wry smile: "I'm really ashamed that I didn't follow the agreement with you to withdraw and return...... If it weren't for the two of them dealing with it properly, I'm afraid that these three thousand elites would have suffered a lot of losses, and it would be really shameless to explain to you! ”

That's something I'm very thankful for. Fortunately, it was Kawanami and the leader of the group, Wasuka Masakatsu, who led the troops, and if it were me, I am afraid it would not be so easy to get out. However, I am now clear about Hosokawa Shinyuki's suffering, and in front of him, I can only comfort him with kind words with an indifferent attitude: "Victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers, and occasional small defeats are nothing." Moreover, the three of Miyoshi and Miyoshi Nagaji must be rushing here now! Then it is the agreed thing! ”

"Is that so?" Shinyuki Hosokawa showed a slightly moved expression.

"Anyway, it's hard work!" I nodded to Masakatsu Wasuka and Tsubouchi Toshita, and continued to greet Hosokawa Shinyuki, "What, it's not injured, right?" ”

"Nope. It's just that this way is too crazy, and it's not a light toss," Hosokawa Shinyuki shook his head with a wry smile, "In the end, the people who have lived in the inner city for a long time are not as strong as Wasuka and Tsubouchi!" ”

"In that case, how about you hurry back to the city and rest? Come to think of it, everyone is tired. I suggested.

Hosokawa Shinyuki nodded, still supported by the strange young samurai and headed towards Katsurui Castle.

In the evening, Kume Yoshitoyo and I prepared a banquet for the samurai who had returned to Katsurui Castle. Before the banquet, Tsubouchi Toshicho first came to our place to plead guilty, because the two iron cannon groups he led lost all the reserve gunpowder and a lot of iron cannons, and basically sank into the Yoshino River. Moreover, due to the rain, the performance of the iron artillery group was greatly affected and failed to play its due role.

I know I can't blame him for this. In this era, arquebuses could not be fired when it rained, and although I switched to flintlock cannons, the way I loaded gunpowder was still affected by the rain; In addition, the flintlock cannon still uses an open fire door, which needs to be roughly sealed by using the striking anvil that has been struck, and if the rain is too heavy, there may be rain infiltration in the process, resulting in a failed launch.

This problem is not difficult to overcome, and can be roughly solved by wrapping the iron cannon in oiled paper. It's just that in the past, I usually held the initiative to go to war, and I tried my best to take advantage of the favorable weather to send troops, but I didn't expect to encounter such a sudden climate in Shikoku, and I didn't prepare for it for a while. There is also the Yoshino River, which could have been used to make the navy work, but I didn't expect this "Shikoku Saburo" (said to be the three major storms of the river, Sakato Taro Tonegawa, Chikushijiro Chikugo River, Shikoku Saburo Yoshino River) to lose such a big temper all at once, and it was difficult for the ship to maintain stable control in the river, let alone go upriver from the sea, which made my expected cooperation with the navy come to naught.

I've always been accustomed to taking advantage of the asymmetrical advantages of iron cannons and water armies, but now that I'm missing, I feel a little unaccustomed to it for a while.

In addition, according to the information, because of this victory, the Miyoshi family was greatly encouraged, and made a great determination to retake Katsurui Castle, so even the Tokawa Kurbo of Sanki Province rushed to the city with 6,000 troops, and the combined forces of the three parties totaled 18,000 people, almost restoring the strength I had before I recaptured Katsurui Castle.

It occurred to me that this battle might be unexpectedly difficult.

(To be continued)