"Your Majesty also thinks it's very likely," Xiujing nodded, "But, will Mori Terumoto be willing to send reinforcements?" From his standpoint, the former country is not the territory of the Maori family, and it is even likely to be the target of the next step; The Ukita Naojia is even more cunning and insidious.,It's a person who needs to be especially vigilant.,Last time I also took the opportunity to occupy the two counties of Tsuyu and Ikusaka in the southeastern part of the country...... If we can hit the Ukita family hard, Mori Terumoto must be optimistic, right? ”

"In other words, you don't think the Mori family will necessarily agree to the Ukita family's request for help," Miyata Mitsuji, as a junior who was also able to attend the meeting, maintained a great degree of respect for Hidekyo and Wasuka Masakatsu. However, when there is a different opinion, he will not be ambiguous: "However, the Uki family is an ally after all, if you ignore it, I'm afraid it can't be justified, right?" ”

"The three villages in the preparation are also allies!" Xiujing smiled.

Indeed, as an ally of a hegemon-level daimyo like the Oda family and the Mori family, the pressure is not ordinary, and the final result is either submission or destruction. The Asai family and the Tokugawa family on the side of the Oda family, and the Kono family and the Mimura family on the side of the Mori family, are all ready-made examples. The war that lasted from the year before last to last year was probably a conspiracy by the Maori family. When the British lord and the three villages ruled the country, they naturally didn't have any action; However, after seeing that Mimura Motojin conquered the Ukita Naoya with 20,000 troops, only to be defeated by the Naoka's 5,000 men, they must have had the intention of annexing. Otherwise, with the diplomatic wisdom of Kobayakawa Takakei, how could he do something to accept the sworn enemies of the Mimura family and thus force the Mimura family to rebel? Moreover, the 80,000 troops they crusaded against the three village families were really gathered too quickly and too coincidentally.

"In such a situation, the Ukita Naoya should be able to think of it," Wasuka Masakatsu thought thoughtfully, "Then, he may choose to go to Kamitsuki City and join his own army." ”

"Let's get here first!" I ended the military discussion a little helplessly, "Before I get more information, it is really difficult to make a judgment on the next step, so naturally I can't talk about how to deal with it...... Let's go back and rest. ”

……，…… The good news of Wasuka Keikatsu and Tsubouchi Toshidai continued to come, and Otoko Castle and Numa Castle in Michigun, east of Okayama Castle, were conquered one after another, and even the Longship Castle, one of the three elders of Ukita and the lord of Nagasune Castle, Nagafune Sadakin, fell into the castle, and it was unbelievably smooth. However, Nagasea Castle was not so much captured as it was voluntarily conceded, and the specific situation was similar to Toneyama Castle in Kojima County, and Nagasfune Sadakin's family also did not know where to go.

After thinking about it for a while, I led my main camp out of Tsuneyama Castle and went to Numa Castle to station. This castle is also known as Beiqian Kameyama Castle, which is stronger than Changshan Castle, and was originally the residence of Nobumasa Nayama, a wealthy clan in Beiqian. Nobu Nakayama was the first father-in-law of the Ukita Naoka, and was later murdered by the Ukita Naoka, and the nearby territory was laughed at by the Naoka, so compared to the vicinity of Okayama Castle, the Ukita Naoka's ruling foundation here is weaker. At the same time, this place is closer to Shangyue City, and it is even closer to the 10,000 troops of the Uki family, whether it is to detect their movements or prepare for engagement, it is much more convenient than in Changshan City.

In addition, I also sent the Xiangxi family army and their salt-saturated water army to the south to Otoko Castle to defend this important stronghold at the entrance to Kojima Bay, and prepare for the second group of expeditions.

The information of Jing Yi Xuanzhi is also constantly coming. He captured several envoys near Okayama Castle, all of whom had come to report to Okayama Castle, and were then sent by Okayama Castle to Takamatsu Castle. Among them were people from Otoshi Castle, Numa Castle, and Longfune Castle, as well as people from several small castles in Ekugun, further east. The defenders of these cities seem to have seen the cities of Shangdao County being attacked one after another, so they are afraid that I will continue to advance eastward...... This is also human nature!

However, to my surprise, although the envoy was transferred to Beizhong Takamatsu Castle in the west, the Ukita Naoke himself fled to the direction of Kamitsuki Castle in the east, and stayed at Longship Castle for a short time on the way. This is the exact information that Xuanzhi got near Longship City. And it was after the Ukita Naoya left Naofe Castle that Sadako Nagafune abandoned the castle and went to Takamatsu Castle in person to meet Mori Terumoto.

"That's right!" When I heard this information, I looked at the series of cities to the east, and I had a vague guess in my heart.

In order to confirm this suspicion, I ordered Hideki to lead the 3,000 troops of Awaji Bei and Higashisanki Ikoma and Kankawa to launch a tentative attack on Torakura Castle in Tsutaka Prefecture to the west. This castle was the residence of Ukita's brother-in-law, Iga Kutaka, and was the most important base for the western part of the country to defend against the invasion of Bichu and Misasa. In the original history, after the Ukita family defected to Hideyoshi Hara, the castle held off the 15,000-strong raiding army of the Mori family, and before the death of the Ukita family the following year, he specially murdered the powerful Iga Kutaka and replaced him as the lord of Torakura Castle by his close confidant Sadashi Nagafune.

Xiujing was ordered to go, and under the temptation, he found that Hucang City really resisted extremely resolutely, and the attitude of the eastern cities was completely different. This information made me completely understand the plans of the Ukita Naoya. He was deliberately abandoning the eastern cities and giving up the passage to Shangyue City, so that I could march eastward and threaten the Maori family's strategy of Shangyue City. At the same time, he sent the castles along the way to Beizhong Takamatsu Castle to make an emergency, so as to put pressure on Mori Terumoto, forcing him to send reinforcements to Beizen to stop us. And he himself stayed in Shangyue City by himself, watching me and the Maori family fight to the death in front of the preparation.

I can even guess what Nagafune Sadako will say when he arrives in front of Mori Terumoto: "The total number of Kira troops is as high as 45,000, and Kira Kingo is a famous general who single-handedly pacified the entire Shikoku...... Now that the Kira family is in a state of collapse, I'm afraid it will soon hit the vicinity of Shangyue City, even His Royal Highness Mihara, it won't be easy to deal with! Therefore, I implore the Warden to quickly go out and drag the army of the Kira family from behind, otherwise, if the attack on Shangyue City is delayed, the head of the family will be very ashamed......"

This is a typical strategy to drive away the tiger and devour the wolf, but Maori Huiyuan still has to follow, otherwise I will really advance to the city of Shangyue, so that his plan to conquer Shangyue City and destroy the remnants of the Nizi party is in vain. The Ukita Naoke family themselves, on the surface, showed their loyalty to the Mori family, but in fact they had 10,000 troops on the outside, and the two castles of Okayama and Torakura were tightly defended inside, so they could effectively defend their own Bizen country. After all, it is impossible for the Mori family to cross the Ukitai family's headquarters territory in front of Nishibei to carry out the Bizen raid, and I, as an outsider who came across the sea, even if I temporarily occupy part of the territory in Higashi-bizen, I will have to retreat to Shikoku in the face of the threat of the Mori family's army and the counterattack of the Ukita family.

Sure enough, it is worthy of being as famous as Nizi and Maori Yuan...... After figuring this out, I immediately summoned a few personal guards: "Immediately send an order to Lord Hidekei, Ii Naotora, and Wasuka Keikatsu, and let them quickly return to the army and come to Numajo to join the main force!" In addition, let the Salt Satsumi Army send two people to Shikoku, and send an order for the Tosa, Awa, and Iyo three countries to complete the assembly as soon as possible, and then enter Otoko Castle on the shore of Kojima Bay! ”

"Yes." All the guards came out one after another.

At noon the next day, I received information that Mori Terumoto had personally led his army out of Takamatsu Castle in Beizhong. He left 3,000 troops to defend the castle, and led the remaining 35,000 men into Bizen Province, and at the suggestion of Nagafune Sadako, he attacked Toyama Castle in Kojima County.

Fortunately, I had already issued an order in advance to let the remaining Kagawa Nobuyi's younger brother Kannonji Jingquan lead the 1,000 people of his department to withdraw, so as to avoid the misfortune of being wiped out by the Maori family.

Soon, Shukei of Tosa Province, Hosokawa Shinyuki of Awa Province, Gamo Fuhide of Iyo, Beeya Yoritaka and others all came and stationed at Otoko Castle, and the 15,000 men of my main camp were in a horn formation, echoing each other against the Mori family. Reinforcements from the Maori family also came, 12,000 Chinese gathered by Motokiyo Suishi and Soji Shimizu, who joined the headquarters of Maori Terumoto and also set up camp near Tokiyama Castle.

In this way, the country of Bizen gathered the 90,000 troops of the Maori family and our own side at once. Both sides have reasons to fight, and Mori Terumoto thinks that I want to relieve the siege of Shangyue City, so he is full of desire to hold me back here; I have Nobunaga's order, and it is impossible for the Ukita army in Kamizuki Castle to withdraw without permission until I force the Ukita army to retreat. And Ukita Naoya, who is the lord of the former Lord, instead leads the 10,000 troops of the headquarters to watch from the wall under the distant Kamitsuki Castle. I can even imagine that he was watching the situation closely, probably with some smugness and banter in his eyes.

To some extent, Mori Terumoto and I were both placed together by the Ukita Naoya. Thinking about it like this, it's really unacceptable. However, even for the sake of their own dignity, or for the sake of the old grudge against the Nojima Navy and the Iyo Kono family, they had to compete with each other.

This was a dignified battle, and the two sides sent war letters to each other in accordance with etiquette. After that, the two armies entered their respective positions, facing each other across the Ashimori River, which flows into Lake Kojima, and the Asahikawa River, which flows into Kojima Bay. We are east of Asahikawa, the Mori family is west of Asahikawa, seven kilometers upstream of Asahikawa is Okayama Castle of the Ukita family, and to the south is Kojima Bay, which separates the eastern part of Kojima-gun and Kamido County, and the land sandwiched between Asahikawa, Ashimori River, and Kojima Bay will obviously be the main battlefield of this battle.

The Maori family sent the first hand to be the 5,000 people of the Shimizu Soji Division, who had not long since surrendered. In the main battle and siege warfare, it was the practice of the Warring States period to take the lead with the newly surrendered army as a temptation or cannon fodder, so Wasuka Masakatsu proposed to dispatch 4,000 people from the wealthy clan led by Naomasa Ohno and Naoyuki's brothers. But this suggestion was rejected by me, and according to my consideration, the first time I brought them out of battle, not to pay for casualties, but to enjoy victory, honor, and reward, so that they could return to their hearts.

As a result, I sent a total of 3,500 men of Kanjiang Bei, Sanchongbei, and Iyi Bei, who formed a vanguard of 500 cavalry, 600 iron cannons, 6 spears, 1,800 men, and 200 direct rangers composed of capable warriors and attendants, plus 400 auxiliary soldiers.

The two armies crossed the river separately and marched towards the center of the position, and then lined up about two hundred meters apart. Our iron artillery team is in the front line into three sections, relying on bamboo shields in front of the formation; The pikemen were arranged in order, each flank covered by a cavalry of two hundred and fifty men, and the direct rangers guarded the center behind the formation; After the auxiliary soldiers tied their shields with bamboo bundles, they also stayed in the rear to protect them together with the immediate rangers.

Compared with our strict lineup, the Qingshui Zongzhi Department on the opposite side was much more chaotic, and a small reserve team of more than a dozen people with different numbers composed of various wealthy families was arranged in a non-standard array of fish scales, guarding the Qingshui Zongzhi as the main formation. After some hectic confusion, a person galloped out of a reserve team in front of the formation, and showed off his might in front of the formation, which should mean to fight against us. Soon, there was also a man galloping out of our phalanx, looking at the armor and spear style, it was my former close attendant Miyata Miyata.

"I'm afraid the people on the other side are not guaranteed." I smiled and said to Masakatsu Wasuka. Miyata Mitsuji has been amazingly powerful since he was a child, and he often practices at the Yagyu Dojo in Yangikan, and his martial arts and martial arts are very outstanding. Although he didn't have much martial arts reputation because he had been a close attendant for a long time, he was actually the top master among my subordinates.

Sure enough, after a few fights between the two parties, Miyata Koji turned around and gave way to the opponent's attack, and suddenly stabbed at the other party at a clever angle, and the other party tried his best to block with a spear, but was forcibly pressed by Miyata Miyata Mitsuji, and a shot penetrated into the chest from the left rib, obviously unable to live. Miyata Mitsuji then withdrew his spear, bringing out a large puddle of blood, and violently whipped the opponent off his horse with the barrel of his spear. In the midst of cheers, he neatly turned over and dismounted, took off the opponent's head with the ether sword, and rode back to the battle on top of the spear. His triumph was greeted by another burst of cheers from two or three thousand of our people, and the sound was so loud that it could be heard very clearly from a distance of nearly a thousand meters.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Shimizu Soji immediately blew all the conches in this formation and launched an attack first. Soon, our iron cannons began to fire in turns, and after each round of shooting, they would always take away more than a dozen lives, which also caused a certain degree of confusion in the opposite formation. The spear lines of several reserve units, which were originally roughly parallel, gradually became uneven, like the full mouth of wild dogs.

Next, the iron artillery team retreated into the formation along the pre-set passage, and then it was the turn of the pikes to play. They pushed forward in full order, pushing the Maori pikemen back with great determination, pressing them back and reaping the enemy's lives. In the face of such an attack, the Maori side gradually became unable to support it, and after a period of time, one of the reserves first withdrew from the battle group and fled, and then spread like a plague to the rest of the reserves, and finally evolved into the total collapse of the entire spear line in the front.

Seeing that there was a advantage to be taken advantage of, the Iyibei cavalry, who had been marching slowly and continuing to guard the two wings, invariably accelerated their speed, rushed towards the fleeing Maori army from both sides, and harvested the opponent's head with the horse Zhanye Taidao. At the same time, Wasuka Keikatsu and others also released their direct rangers, leaving only two spear teams and four hundred auxiliary guards to escort them, so that those samurai could let go and gain combat exploits.

(To be continued)