"As for the relationship between the Oda family and the Kira family, I will also explain it to you here," I looked around the hall, especially at the bee house Yoritaka and Maeda Toshi, "just now you mentioned that 'if the name is not right, the word is not good', then I also mention the words of the sages of the Ming Kingdom...... "The Book of Rites" says, the heart is right and then the body is cultivated, the body is cultivated and then the family is Qi, the family is Qi and then the country is governed, the country is governed and then the world is peaceful, from the Son of Heaven to the Shuren, all are based on self-cultivation. The so-called "seeing the wise and thinking together", I also do it according to this sentence. Since serving the Taizheng Gong more than 20 years ago, he has been conscientious and upholds the way of loyalty and forgiveness. In the center, he presided over a number of major policies in the family, and contributed a lot to the prosperity of the Oda family in Kinai and even the entire Oda family; At the local level, he almost single-handedly pacified Shikoku and the Seto Inland Sea, extended his military power to the Ryukyus overseas, and supported many daimyo and wealthy clans loyal to the imperial court...... This is obvious to all, whether it is the Oda family or the entire Western country, right? The Hosokawa family, which is currently in charge of Higo, and the Kikuchi family of Kitahigo, are supported by me; Ikudai-sama, who was stationed in Hizen, was also reused by me. It's the Shimazu family, isn't it the same? According to Taizheng Gong, if I hadn't turned around in front of Taizheng Gong, I'm afraid I would have been wiped out a long time ago, right? ”

"Taichanggong's righteousness and kindness, my Ito family will remember it for generations." Ito bowed down.

"I, the Yonehara family and my younger brother Kikuchi Takeshige, will also remember the kindness of Taichang Gong." The head of the Yonehara family, Yonehara Shigemoto, also said. Although it was his younger brother who inherited the Kikuchi family, his territory also increased to a certain extent, and he became the closest branch of the Kikuchi family, and the family personality also improved.

"I'm going to build the Kuroki family (Hoshino family, Kusano family) and I'm willing to drive at will for Taitsune Gong and Yanagawa Palace." Kuroki Ieyong, Hoshino Zhenyin, and Kusano Zhenyong also expressed their positions one after another.

In the past one or two hundred years, all the wealthy clans of Chikugo Province have been suppressed in the country by the Otomo family and the Kamachi family, and occasionally they have thrown themselves into the Kitakyushu side to fight with the Kamachi family; In recent years, he has been oppressed by the dragon temple family, and he has been very depressed. This time, he followed Zhou Jing to kill Longzao Temple Longxin, and while he was angry and spread the reputation of his family in Kyushu, he also received thousands of gold rewards from Zhou Jing, which can be described as fame and fortune. It is rare for such a strong man with both wisdom and courage and generosity to appear in Chikugo Kingdom, and they naturally have to follow the pace of Zhou Jing and the Kira family.

Seeing that all the wealthy families in various countries expressed their support, Shimazu's tone softened a lot: "Yes." His Royal Highness Taichang is very grateful for the kindness of His Royal Highness. ”

I nodded, and continued in an extremely frank and confident tone, "Speaking of the relationship between the two families now, it is mainly because the Taizheng Gong and the family governor returned to heaven at the same time, so some changes have taken place...... According to my intention, I would never take the place of the Lord's house. However, now that the prestige of the Oda clan has declined considerably, and the Kinai region has been lost, whoever succeeds to the throne will no longer have the prestige and strength to command the various legions, just like His Royal Highness Yoshiaki of the Ashikaga shogunate...... At this time, someone needs to be able to stand up and clean up the mess, otherwise the world is likely to fall back into turmoil. Therefore, as the de facto No. 1 samurai, my Kira family is also upright and ready to carry on the legacy of Taimasa Gong and complete his ongoing unification project. ”

"Your Highness's mind can be understood below." Bee House Lai Long sighed, "In that case, why did His Highness give up the center?" …… How will the Oda family be treated in the future? ”

"I gave up the center because I didn't want to fight with my colleagues in the past, but I couldn't control people's hearts for the time being, so I had to stabilize the western kingdom first, and then follow the example of the Ashikaga Honji (Ashikaga Honji) of the year, and with the help of the power of all of you, I subdued the Kinai and Eastern kingdoms with a huge advantage...... As for the Oda family," I sighed, "Before leaving Kyoto, His Highness Nagahide agreed with me that he would retain his daimyo credentials and pass them on from generation to generation. ”

"What!" Bee House Yoryu showed a shocked expression, "Even the righteous brother has no hope for the Oda family?" ”

"I'm not the only one who can see the situation clearly," I nodded, "but because of the differences in fame, strength, and strength, everyone's approach and ambition will naturally be different. ”

“…… I understand," Beeya Yoritato solemnly promised, "In the future, I will drive under the command of the Kira family to support the great cause of unification of His Highness." ”

"I, the Shimazu family, will also support His Royal Highness Taitsune," Shimazu also bowed for a long time, "The next five thousand people, the family will gather as soon as possible, and then come to serve His Highness Taitsune." ”

"It's really gratifying to hear this statement," I smiled at him, "I heard that the Shimazu family has 5,000 people gathered on the border between Satsuma and Osumi, so it's not out of nowhere, right?" Since I said that I would call up 5,000 men, then I will accept this kindness and allow you to go into battle with 15,000 troops!" ”

“…… Be. Shimazu thought about it for a long time and reluctantly accepted my harsh request. But at the same time, his expression was much more relaxed, as if he had let go of a thousand burdens.

Sure enough, as the intelligence says! I thought to myself.

In fact, despite the fact that Shimazu is so stubborn in front of me, he is actually the one who takes the lead in advocating obedience in the family. However, once the head of the family had made a decision, he changed his attitude and tried his best to defend his position as a scholar in front of me.

Being able to work together like this is the reason why the Shimazu family stands tall in southern Kyushu.

……，…… The integration of southern Kyushu and central Kyushu has been completed, and the time has reached mid-February, and the spring sowing season will soon begin. In other words, there is not much time left for me, and if I hadn't forcefully suppressed the Shimazu family and let them stir up and delay it so much, it would have been very likely that the conquest of the Akizuki family would have been abandoned halfway.

Although it seems very reluctant, I am very sure that I will defeat the Qiuyue family.

As far as approaching the agricultural time is concerned, it is the same for both sides, but because of my strong economic strength and reputation, as well as Zhou Jing's generosity to the wealthy clan of Chikugo before, the wealthy clans of all the countries who accompanied me know that I will not treat them badly, and even if I miss the agricultural time, I will definitely compensate everyone accordingly. However, on Qiuyue's side, he didn't have such confidence, he rose too quickly, and the accumulated military food and financial resources were very limited, so it was impossible to be as generous as me. What's more, now that his port of Hakata has been blockaded by our navy, the port has been completely depressed due to occasional shelling, and in this season of scarcity, the income is not even enough to maintain the expenditure of his own direct military strength.

Such a comparison can be seen by the wealthy families of Chikuzen and Fengzen under the actual match of Autumn Moon. In the last thirty or forty years, after many battles between Ouchi and Mori, Mori and Otomo, and Otomo and the Akizuki family, their eyesight has been perfected. If they want to follow and attack Otomo's house, which is like a water dog, they are naturally willing; However, in the face of the advance of sixty or seventy thousand troops, the first formation still had just broken through the Chikugo army of the Ryuzoji family, and they would definitely feel a lot of pressure...... Do you take a huge risk to follow the autumn moon to plant fruit and waste the year's harvest, or do you follow the Kira family, who has not tasted defeat and is like Zhongtian, and divide the territory of the autumn moon family together? I believe that such a multiple-choice question should be very easy for them.

With this in mind, I divided the army into two, with Zhou Jing as the left general, and led Chikugo, Higo and Kane Bei to Iwaya Castle in Ogasa County, with the aim of opening up the passage between the Takahashi family of Iwaya Castle and Chikugo Province, and using it as a strong support for the Chikuzen family in Chikuzen Province. I led the four kingdoms of Toyogo, Soxiang, Osumi, and Satsuma and Mie Bei as the right side to attack the Yasu County in the eastern part of Ogasa County, this county is the leader of the Akizuki family, and the ancient mountain castle where they have lived for generations is located in the northernmost part of the county, and my plan is to firmly surround this castle, cut off the connection between the Akizuki family and the rest of the wealthy clans, and then attack the rest of the prefectures separately.

Faced with the coercion of more than 60,000 troops, the shortcomings of the Qiuyue family's shallow foundation were immediately apparent, and many subordinate wealthy families refused the Qiuyue family's recruitment on the grounds that it was close to the agricultural season. Akizuki had no choice but to shrink his 5,000 troops to the city, trying to drag it out for a while, waiting for me to be unable to withstand the pressure of the agricultural time, and take the initiative to withdraw from Chikuzen Province. As for Zhou Jing on the left side, Qiu Yue didn't care about it at all, and just sent a few messengers to make the Hao clans along the way stick to their own place.

In fact, even if there is no such order, the wealthy clan will do this, in the face of this army that exceeds all the forces of the Chikuzen country, let alone whether they have other ideas, even if they are still willing to respect the Qiuyue family, but without the backbone, they will not be able to compete with Zhou Jing at all. Therefore, Zhou Jing's strategy did not encounter much difficulty, he defeated the small forces along the way, and soon arrived at the foot of Iwaya Castle. The city had been attacked repeatedly by the Akitsuki family for several years, and it was almost exhausted, and according to the news sent by Zhou Jing, when he entered Iwaya Castle, along with all the samurai of the Takahashi family, there were only more than 900 people in the city to garrison, and it was already on the verge of breaking the city.

His Royal Highness Takahashi Shaoyun said that it was really not easy to finally wait for the support of the Kira family, and there seemed to be some complaints in his words...... He also said that he had already written a suicide note and was ready to die with the castle, and that he had sent his second son to Tachibana Mountain Castle and passed it on to the Tachibana family together with his eldest son, which actually meant preservation. Zhou Jing wrote in a handwritten letter presented to me.

"Takahashi Shaoyun is a straightforward person!" I handed the letter to Kamo Nobuhide, who was in charge of the army, "It seems that even if the retainers of the Otomo family approve of my decision to give Keithiro to the Otomo family as an adopted heir and use this as a condition for sending troops to support, they still have some opinions in their hearts." ”

"It's not so easy to take a famous family like the Otomo family, which has lasted for hundreds of years, into a clan," Nobuhide Gamo nodded, "and the same goes for the Shimazu family...... In short, even if you pacify Kyushu, you will still have to put a lot of effort into cleaning up people's hearts. ”

"Mainly because there is a clan family, so it is not so easy to return to the heart," I said with a deep groan, "You see the Tsukushi family in Baoman City, as a branch of the Shaobi family, entrusted with the management of Chikuzen, but as soon as the Shaobi family declined, they also lost their dignity, and for many years they have been like grass on the wall, tossing and turning under the Ouchi, Maori, Otomo, and Akizuki families, and now they have accepted the adjustment of Satake Nobuhide...... Such fate and chance are really emotional. ”

"However, the subjugation of the Chikushi family is indeed very crucial to Chikuzen's strategy," Gamo Nobuhide smiled after reading the letter, "That's the ally of the Akizuki family when they started!" Now that even they have surrendered, the Qiuyue family is not far from collapse. ”

"You're right," I nodded approvingly, "so let's move on to the next step!" ”

The next strategy I'm talking about is to attack Guyan Mountain City. Prior to this, although I surrounded the castle, I had not launched an attack, but I had divided the two divisions of Bungo Otomo and Satsuma Shimazu to attack the two counties of Hoba and Kama further north. On the surface, it seems that it was blocked by Rock City, which was a branch city, but in fact, it was waiting for the news that Zhou Jing was transferring the Zhuzi family. Now that the Tsukushi family has been subdued, it is naturally time to launch a general attack.

Although Rock Castle is a mountainous pass, the surrounding terrain is dangerous, which can be described as easy to defend and difficult to attack. But I decided that it wouldn't be too much trouble to break through.

The next day, Gamo Xuanxiu was ordered to attack. He blocked the pass with a small army and pinned down the defenders in the city, and then led 5,000 men to climb the hillside to the east of the city, and made a large number of rolling wood and stones on the spot, which poured down into the city. The defenders of the Akizuki family in the city were caught off guard and immediately fell into great chaos, and the defenders Kumai Echichu Mamoru and Akuda Rokubei were even stoned to death on the spot. Seeing that nothing could be done, the surviving defenders quickly gave up the city and fled to another branch city, Yifu City, where they soon burned down and fled into Gujishan Castle, which was the main location.

I know that seeing that Rock City has been captured, the Qiuyue family has completely lost confidence, and they burned Yifu City in order to prevent our side from taking this city and using it as a front-line support for the attack on Guyu Mountain City.

I looked at the direction of this city, and it was located right in front of the Otemen Gate of Guyayama Castle, which is really an excellent support point!

"Fix the city as soon as possible!" I gave the order to the beehouse Rylon.

The army under the Bee House Yoryon had participated in the construction of Iwaoka Castle, his current city, and he was familiar with the construction of the city. In just one day, they completed the restoration of Yifu City, and then moved in to prepare to launch an attack on Guzhen Mountain City.

Seeing this scene, the Qiuyue family couldn't hold on anymore, and soon sent a messenger to subdue.

"One is to fall into the city, the other is to build the city, Taichang Gong really has the opportunity of ghosts and gods...... The head of our family has already seen the power of His Highness, and is willing to serve the former country under the command of the Taichang Prince, and let it run away from then on. "The attitude of the messenger was very deferential.

"Continue to possess Chikuzen One Country?" I shouted and asked, "Is this the condition for the Autumn Moon family to surrender?" ”

"Yes," replied the envoy, and seeing that my tone was not good, he hurriedly added, "Of course, if the Taichang Gong has any instructions, the head of the family will definitely consider it!" ”

"Then let's think about it again, don't make this kind of delay." I waved my hand and repelled the envoy of the Autumn Moon family.

After the envoy left, Gamo Xuanxiu thought thoughtfully: "Do you want to destroy the Qiuyue family...... You didn't even inquire in detail about the status and identity of the envoy in the Qiuyue family. ”

"That's exactly what I intended. I'm not going to give it to anyone else around Hakata Port," I confessed frankly to Beeya Yoritato and Gamo Nobuhide, "and besides, Akizuki Tane is very similar to a person in Kinai." Such people must not be tolerated. ”

"Is it Araki Murashige?" Beehouse Riton asked tentatively.

"Exactly." I nodded.

(To be continued)