Not long after, under the escort of our respective attendants, Shinyuki Hosokawa and I went to the other side. Climb the river embankment, and the entire battlefield form on the back suddenly reveals in front of you. It was a large field of harvested rice stubble, lined up in the distance, stretching to Sadoghara Castle, three kilometers away. And in the near area, there are dozens of craters, which are naturally the results of three rounds of shelling by our side.

In general, the casualties caused by the shelling were not large, and there were several corpses around some of the craters, most of which were completely empty, only splashing large areas of dirt out. However, this unprecedented and fierce shelling must have greatly frightened them and disrupted their position. Coupled with being repelled by Tsushima, the morale of the Shimazu army will inevitably be seriously damaged. Now they are relying on the ridges of the fields, resisting our attacks one by one; And our side is like a rainbow, led by Maeda Toshiya and others, constantly squeezing each other.

"Something is wrong!" I suddenly realized that the number of Shimazu troops was really small, "Isn't there 10,000?" In front of this, there are only 3,000 people at most! ”

Hosokawa Shinyuki also found out about this situation, couldn't help frowning, and said uncertainly: "Could it be an ambush, or stay in the city?" ”

"How can this Ma Pingchuan be ambushed?" I shook my head, "I won't defend the city. If the army presses the border, it will either preserve its strength and the whole army will stay in the city, or it will rely on the terrain and intercept it with the greatest force, how can there be any reason to send a small number of people to death? ”

"So, where are the rest?" Hosokawa said, not sure if he was muttering to himself or asking for my opinion.

"Ochiai, what do you think?" I turned to Kanetoma Ochiai, "You have been at war with the Shimazu family for many years, so you should have some experience." ”

"Back to His Royal Highness Kingo, I think that this is already trying my best to intercept it, at least the Shimazu family thinks so...... They have always been careful in their use of soldiers, and they are very conceited, perhaps thinking that these more than 3,000 people can stop the 9,000 people of His Highness Jinwu, right? ”

I nodded, which is a reasonable explanation. In real history, the Shimazu clan fought several key battles, including the Battle of Kisakihara (300 vs. 3000) that defeated the Ito family, the Battle of Otogawa (20,000 vs. 30,000) that defeated the Otomo family, the Battle of Okita (8,000 vs. 18,000 or 60,000) that defeated the Ryuzoji family, and the Battle of Tojigawa (10,000 vs. 20,000) which defeated the Shikoku Alliance. And this time, when I mobilized my troops, I did not hide my movements, but made a big show in order to attract the main force of the Shimazu family, so they must know the approximate number of troops along the way.

"So they only sent out more than 3,000 people, which is really ......" I shook my head.

"What a way to underestimate us!" Nobuhide Satake said on my behalf, with some dissatisfaction in his tone.

"So, they will also divide their troops into three ways and compete against each other to intercept us, right?" I was suddenly a little worried, could Xiujing and Zhou Jing be misled by the information sent by the naval guns, and then cross the river defenselessly and be attacked head-on by the Shimazu family? Judging from the battle situation here, the Shimazu family is extremely powerful, and if they neglect it, they may suffer a big loss.

Thinking of this, I quickly ordered my attendants to set up their main camp at Ninotachi Shrine not far away, and then sent people up the river to investigate the situation on the other two roads. At the same time, I left 2,000 sailors to escort me, and ordered Hosokawa Shinyuki to go to the front line, and lead all the Awa people and Tsushima to defeat the enemy in front of me as soon as possible.

After fighting for more than half an hour, the Shimazu army in front of them finally gave up resistance, and the defenders of Sadohara Castle responded with defeat and fled back. At the same time, news also arrived from the middle and right flanks, and they did begin to cross the river after hearing the firing of naval guns, and were blocked by the Shimazu army. Fortunately, the Shimazu family has been limited to troops for a long time, and only 2,000 troops have been arranged on each of the two roads, and there is no iron artillery to help, so the combat strength is much weaker. Zhou Jing and Xiujing were both calm people, and after the initial panic, they quickly stabilized the situation and each defeated the enemy army. Especially in the middle of the road, after defeating the enemy in front of him, Ii Nobunao's Akabi pursued along the post road until he reached the foot of Sadogahara Castle, almost wiped out the 2,000 Shimazu army, and beheaded the brothers Kitago Tokihisa and Shimazu Asaha brothers, and captured Kitago Tokihisa's son-in-law, Kitago Aihisa, who married Shimazu Yoshihiro's daughter Miya Jihime as the main room.

Of course, they also paid some losses. Unlike on my left side, they were all injured by the people who had crossed the river first. When Kane Bei and Awaji Bei went up, they immediately suppressed each other. It seems that the Shimazu Toyoshu family and the Kitago family in the middle lane, and the Shimazu Xiangshu family and Shinna family on the right lane, are still a little worse than the Shimazu family in front of me.

On the whole, it was a great victory, and the Shimazu army suffered heavy losses in all three blocking forces, paying the price for their conceit.

On our side, Tsushima Bei suffered 478 casualties, which was unprecedented since Chengbei, and it can be said that the vitality was greatly damaged, and the other Awa people, Tosa people, and Higashi Iyo people also suffered hundreds of casualties each. Fortunately, the victory over the Shimazu family did not allow them to die in vain, and the injured people were also properly cared for.

In the evening of the same day, Shimazu Iehisa, who had seen the strength of our army, took advantage of the night to lead the remaining 4,000 remnants of the army to leave Satogahara Castle and retreat to Sahi in the south of Naka-gun. That area was the place where the Shimazu family had been running for generations, and both the foundation of the rule and the size of the castle were more favorable than this Sadohara Castle. I originally wanted to immediately blockade the Oyodo River with a naval army and leave the remnants of this army behind, but I didn't expect them to move so quickly, and before my naval army could change its deployment, they had to temporarily enter Sadohara Castle and settle hundreds of wounded in the army.

However, on the same day that I entered Sadohara Castle, the beehouse Yoryu, who was stationed in the eastern part of the prefectures on the side, suffered a big defeat.

This defeat should be attributed to Ito Yoshiyu, it was he who suggested that Beehouse Yoritaka advance into the Makoin area in the western part of the prefecture, which caused Beeya Yoritaka to rashly march and was defeated by Ikami Tadachi, the family of Shimazu Yoshihiro of Iino Castle.

I understand Yoshisuke Ito's thoughts. This Iino Castle is the residence of the Kitahara family, and it was once the focus of contention between the Shimazu family and the Ito family. At that time, the last governor of the Kitahara family and the son-in-law of Ito Yoshisuke, Kitahara Kaneko, was the heir of Kitahara Yoshiyu, and Ito Yoshisuke entered the western part of the prefectures and counties owned by the Kitahara family in the name of his father-in-law, but Kitahara Kanekin, who was part of the Kitahara family, threw himself into the Shimazu family, and then the Shimazu family settled Kitahara Kanejin on the land of the 30 towns of Satsuma Ijiin, and Shimazu Yoshihiro entered Iino Castle. A few years later, in the Battle of Kisakihara, Ito Yoshisuke was defeated by Shimazu Yoshihiro, not only losing the old territory of the Kitahara family, but also losing his prestige, which can be described as his lifelong regret.

Now Shimazu Yoshihiro has moved to Osumi Province, and Iino Castle is garrisoned by the old family Kawakami Tadachi. Therefore, when he heard that Shimazu Yoshihiro was currently garrisoning Satsuma Oguchi Castle, and the first battle had gone to attack Higo Sagara's house, he wanted to take this opportunity to capture Iino Castle for our side. It's just that Kawakami Tadashi is not a vegetarian, and his son Kawakami Tadashi later personally begged for Ryuzoji Takanobu and killed the fierce general of Chikushi Qingmen on a single horse (he also injured his wrist and finally died in battle). The father and son simply repelled the bee house Yoryu, turning Ito's hopes into extravagant hopes. Ito Yoshiyu was ashamed, so he had to entrust his son Ito Yubing to the bee house Yorilong, and after he led more than 100 people to sacrifice the palace, he let the main force of the bee house Yoryon withdraw smoothly, and he also saved his reputation with his life.

At this point, what else can I say? I had to order Hidekyi to lead the Higashi Iyo army to support, stabilize the local wealthy clans, and also prevent the Shimazu family from taking advantage of the situation to threaten us from the flank. Although they intended to attack Higo, it seemed that they wanted to calm down the Sagara family before the Otomo family in order to stabilize their flanks, but after receiving the news of the defeat of the Shimazu family and the victory of Kawakami Tadashitomo, it was difficult to guarantee that they would not change the strategy policy and stabilize the front in the southern part of the country first.

At that point, I had to deal with it carefully, using the Beehouse Yoritaka and the Ito family, Yonehara and other wealthy clans to control the northern and central parts of the country, and then plot against the southern region and the neighboring Osumi province. And the war in southern Kyushu will also drag on for a long time...... Although I don't want to, but put it off! It will be delayed until the beginning of spring next year, and it is definitely the Shimazu family who can't hold on. Anyway, it's only a matter of three or four months, Kyushu is just opposite Shikoku, and there is no pressure on our navy to be in charge of logistics, and I just took the opportunity to stabilize the situation in the occupied area. Most importantly, this is not a war in my territory.

But this situation, the Shimazu family obviously does not want to see. They soon sent an envoy to make peace with us on the occasion of Kawakami's victory.

The messenger's name is Kayama Yoshihisa, who is the sister-in-law of Shimazu Takahisa, and also the father-in-law of Shimazu Iehisa, and he is also an important minister of the Shimazu family (there is no doubt that as long as Nankyushu brings the words Tadashi and Jiu, it must be a relative of the Shimazu family; More advanced are the generals who are biased, such as Shimazu Yoshihiro; The highest level is that there are common characters and biases, such as Shimazu Yoshihisa). He had learned waka from the former Sekihaku Konoe Ueke and Kemari from the public Asukai Masatsuna, and was a well-known cultural figure in Kyushu, responsible for the diplomacy and tributary affairs of the Shimazu family. As a formal meeting, I received him in the main hall of the castle tower of Sadohara Castle, and Maeda Toshiie served as a celebrant in the position of a retainer of the Oda family.

The conditions he put forward to me seemed to be very pertinent on the surface, recognizing my control over the two counties of Usu and Koyu, and even the Miyazaki County of the Shimazu Toyoshu family could be ceded (anyway, that county was very small, and the head of the Toyosu Shimazu family was killed in battle, and the historical heir Shimazu Kuga had not been born at all and was already in a state of extinction), in exchange for the captured Shimazu Yoshihiro's son-in-law and the sister-in-law of the Hogo family, Kitago Sohisa; Then the Shimazu family withdrew from the southern part of Naka-gun, and our side withdrew from the eastern part of the prefecture, and the fighting was stopped along the border between the two prefectures. This is almost the territory of the Shimazu family in history, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu both gave it an andu. However, he did not mention or mention the submission to the Oda clan about the dispute in Higo Province, and it was clear that the rapprochement was temporary, and the purpose was to do his best to deal with the Higo and Otomo clans.

Having said that, even if he was sincere and willing to surrender to the Oda family, I couldn't agree. Otherwise, Nobunaga would not be satisfied with what I did, and the territories of Gamo Nobuhide, Maeda Toshiie, and Sawaki Ryoyuki would also be lost.

"Please go back! I can't agree to this terms of peace. I said to Yoshihisa Kayama.

"Putting forward such conditions, the family has already made a big concession, is His Royal Highness Kira Kingo still unwilling?" Kayama Yoshihisa looked very disappointed, and even had some indignation, "His Royal Highness Kira's military might, my family has seen it, and it really deserves its reputation; However, I have heard for a long time that His Royal Highness Kira is benevolent, but I didn't expect that he is a person who is hungry for profit! For his own selfishness, he completely ignored the suffering of the lives of Minami Kyushu...... Could it be that the entire Shikoku is not enough for His Highness Kira to be satisfied? In addition, the Shimazu family possessed southern Kyushu, which was confirmed by two generations of shogunates, and was also ordered by the imperial court. Now that His Royal Highness Kira has invaded without authorization, where is the imperial court? ”

"There's no way for me to decide on this," I said, waving my hand. Naturally, I didn't want to accept the evaluation of profit and the accusation of unauthorized infringement, and I didn't want to have too much verbal dispute, so I pushed the whole matter to Nobunaga: "It's hard to argue about what conclusions can be drawn for a while...... But to tell you the truth, Nobunaga has already dealt with Osumi and Satsuma, and has given my three highnesses, Gamo, Maeda, and Sawaki, respectively, and I am only acting on orders. So please go back! ”

"This ......!" Yoshihisa Kayama was visibly taken aback. He didn't expect that Nobunaga would be so resolute and unwilling to give the Shimazu family half a chance. This fact devastated him very much, and completely overturned the basis of the negotiations between the two parties, so he had to leave Sadohara Castle with a complicated mood and return to Satsuma to return to Shimazu Yoshihisa.

When Kayama Yoshihisa left, Maeda Toshiya asked thoughtfully, "Regarding Osumi and Koko, is this really how the lord decides?" ”

"Yes," I smiled as easily as I could, "after so many years of fighting, it's time for you to reconcile with one and a half countries...... Looking at Nakagawa Shigemasa and Sasa Narumasa in Hokuriku, aren't they also going to be given half a country? ”

"That's different," Maeda Toshiie shook his head, "Vietnam, China and Noto have been fighting openly and secretly for decades, and it is the right time for the family to become the owner." However, the three countries of southern Kyushu are currently under the domination of the Shimazu family, especially the Satsuma family, which has been operating for hundreds of years and has long been monolithic, and it is not something that outsiders can easily intervene in. ”

"Do you think the Shimazu family should be allowed to continue to exist?" I was surprised and asked, "Isn't the territory that the lord promised you about to be in vain?" ”

"Failure is not going to happen. The lord will definitely continue to conquer Kyushu, and the two countries of Hizen and Higo, which are constantly in dispute, must be led by their own retainers, so there is still a chance," Maeda Toshiie smiled, "This is a little selfishness on my part!" …… His Royal Highness Xuanjing also knows that my Maeda family has a weak foundation and few direct retainers, so if I am sealed in Satsuma Kingdom, I am not sure that I will be able to control the situation. And Liangzhi, the situation of his family is similar to mine, and I guess I will think so. ”

(To be continued)