In the face of the three-way attack, the total number of troops reached 25,000, and the relatives of Chozong and my department attacked desperately for two days, but they still could not break the city, but they were counterattacked by Wasuka Masakatsu out of the city, and had to evacuate Kira Castle and start the defense of the territory. He sent 200 reinforcements led by Yoshida Shigeyasu, the brother of the Gangmura family, to Kaibe Castle, and sent 1,300 men led by his uncle Nagamune and his cousin Hijiangsan to defend the attack on Sanuki, and the rest of the army was divided into two, with 1,000 men defending Chijo Castle next to Pudo Bay, and 2,000 men staying at the main location of Okayotoyo Castle to prepare to resist the conquest of the combined forces.

I almost laughed when I got the information from the Hattori family. Changzong is the first pro-of my department, he is really a guy whose heart is higher than the sky, even if he is the Xiangzong of Shanghai City, his total strength is only a little more than 5,000 people, and he is not well trained and has backward equipment, so he still wants to defend on three sides? If it weren't for the fact that Yasutoyo Yamauchi had previously gone to Takaoka County to support and took away the 600 elite pikemen of the two teams of the Kanie Bei, with only the 1,500 defenders of Kira Castle and the complete Kane Bei, he would have been able to defeat the main force of the head of the Nagamune and my department in the field battle.

Relatively speaking, it was his younger brother Xiangzong who was quite wise to be pro-Tai, knowing that the Awa people were powerful and the few hundred people in the headquarters could not bear it, so he took the initiative to abandon Haibe County and retract his strength back to Tosa Province.

It's just that the overall disadvantage will not change because of a little local tactic. Although the Awa people were trapped in the mountains south of Shikoku and could not advance quickly on a large scale, the situation in Tosa Province was still one-sided.

The first thing they can't bear is the Changzong and our relatives, and what they rely on to defend is the Guashengye City before the destruction of the Benshan family. However, just as Motoyama did not stop the head of Chosō and Ibu five years ago, this time Nagamune and Ibu Koyoshi did not stop Kamo Fuhide, Kira Shukei, and Honda Masanobu, and even fell even more quickly - compared to five years ago, Guayuno Castle was more ruined, but it was facing a more powerful and elite army.

The next thing to collapse was a home. The 2,100 combined forces led by Yoshihide Satake, Yorikazu Ike, Tatsukatsu Tsuno, Yasutaka Yamauchi and others destroyed the 3,000 people of the Ichijo family in the Battle of Kurokawa, and even a Jingfu was captured. Subsequently, Fujiko Shikichi sent me a complaint, explaining that Ichijo Keibo did not intend to oppose the main family, but was completely held hostage by Masaaki Kojima and others, hoping that I would spare his surname.

Within two days, Ikejo Castle was also broken, but it was not the army led by Hidekei who did it, but the former owner of the castle, Ikeyoriwa, who, with the cooperation of the army of Takaoka Prefecture, led the Urado naval army to attack Ikejo from the water gate. As for Xiujing, because he had to hand over some affairs, he was a little late by two days, and when Chi Yorihe regained Chi Castle, he was still floating at sea, and there was still a day's journey from Puhu Bay.

At this point, the territorial defense of Changzong's Yuanqin has been completely broken through, and now all he relies on is his own Gangfeng City and Xiangzong's Anyun City. Yuan Qin was probably in a hurry, and sent a letter to Xiangzong's relatives Tai, reprimanding him for his cowardice in abandoning Haibu City without authorization, and ordering him to defend Anyun City this time. In the face of his brother's accusations, the dilapidated city defense, and the 8,000 troops outside the city, Xiangzong's pro-Tai held the consciousness of defending himself to death, and led an army of less than 1,000 people out of the city to fight, and finally was defeated and died, and was beheaded by Shengkoma, the cousin of Ikoma's parents.

On 12 August, the three armies converged with the 4,000 armies of Wuchuan and Takaoka, with a total number of nearly 30,000. As an opponent, there are only more than 2,000 people left in Gangfeng City, and the three armies of Guashengye City, Chicheng and Anyu City, who had fled before, all understood that the general trend of Changzong's family had gone, and except for a few samurai, no one returned to Gangfeng City to defend it.

When the general attack was launched, Kira took the initiative to ask for battle, on the grounds that he failed to lead his army to defeat the Ichijo family as ordered, and he was disappointed by the trust of the head of the family. If I want to say it, this is actually a very normal thing, the battlefield situation is changeable, and I can't fully grasp it in Awaji Province, and the victory of the people of Takaoka Prefecture in the field, and the capture of Ikejo by Ikeyori and the first to take Ikejo are all things that I did not expect in advance. He sent Yasutoshi Yamauchi and half of the Kane Bei in advance to strengthen the forces on the side of Takaoka County, which was already a very suitable decision, and it was also the key to the victory of the Battle of Mikawa, so there was no need to blame himself or defend himself with actions at all.

Perhaps out of his desire to take care of him, Xiujing accepted his request and asked him to take the place of Wasuka Masakatsu as the vanguard and lead 5,000 troops to attack his own brother Okatoyo Castle.

Two days later, because of the internal communication of the brother of the elder Kutake's cronies of the family of Chosamu's family, Okatoyo Castle was broken through by Kira's pro-chastity, and Nagamune's relatives held on to Honmaru for a long time, and finally committed suicide by seppuku, and after the cronies of the heavy minister Hisamurai made a mistake, they also committed suicide immediately.

At this point, the Tosa Ichijo family, the Tosa Kuniji Division, was destroyed, and the Chosamune Ibu family, who once controlled six of the seven prefectures of Tosa, perished, and all the Tosa Ichigoku was taken into the hands of the Kira family.

......,...... "Thank you for your hard work!" Facing Hattori Masanari, who sent the military newspaper in the dust, I cordially condoled, "How are you doing along the way?" ”

"Yes, the road is very calm," Hattori Masanari owed, "Thanks to the blessing of the prosperity of the martial arts of the Ben family, Onishi Raimu of Hakudi City took the initiative to surrender to the family, and sent the third son, Onishi Raibao, as a hostage, and is currently waiting outside to receive him. ”

"Is that so," I nodded, "I'll see him later, and then I'll let him go back!" ”

Hattori looked up at me, but didn't ask anything.

"You're probably wondering, why don't you accept it?" I smiled. Belonging to the family for nearly ten years, Hattori Masanari still maintains the habit of being a ninja and never asks more, so that sometimes in order to better implement my intentions, I have to take the initiative to explain to him clearly: "Although I asked you to pay attention to Hakuji Castle before, but now that the surrounding Sanki, Awa and Tosa have all surrendered, the status of Hakuji Castle is not so important." Moreover, the Onishi family is still subordinate to the Miyoshi family, and then subordinate to His Royal Highness Hosokawa together, in order to get by in terms of face, there is no need to accept hostages from the Onishi family...... Well, you can bring a thousand kan to the Onishi family, and then tell Onishi Raitake, saying that I have understood his position. ”

"Yes. Your Majesty understood. "Hattori is in arrears.

"First of all, tell me about the destruction of Gangfeng City...... Have you seen the last period of the first parent? I asked.

Hattori Masari nodded: "Yes." His Majesty was pretending to be a personal guard to take care of the young lord at that time, and the young lord and His Royal Highness were at the forefront of the attack on Honmaru. ”

Keitaro is also on the front line? I was slightly surprised. As a deputy general, it is the first time to fight, there is no need to take such a risk, just follow Xiujing to stay in the formation.

After a moment of silence, I asked Hattori Masanari, "What do you think, how is Zhou Jing's performance?" ”

"Very brave, often lead by example, leading the guards to attack the most difficult places," Hattori Masanari's tone revealed admiration, "and the young master knows what he should do, most of the time he studies with an open mind, does not express any opinions, and never interferes with the command of the front-line generals." ”

"That's good." I nodded approvingly. He has been very sensible since he was a child, and Ii Naoto's education has been very successful, and now he can put himself in the right position, which is the best.

If a moment ago, I had a little hesitation about handing over Tosa to him, worried that he had any unrealistic ideas, now I am almost completely relieved.

"So, what was the situation when Yuan Qin was dying?" I continued.

"His Royal Highness Chozong was very resolute and personally slashed the three samurai who tried to attack the castle tower with a sword...... Later, when he saw that the main gate had been breached, there was no value to fight, so he climbed the three-story castle tower, killed the main room in front of His Royal Highness Qinzhen by the fence, stabbed two sons and a daughter to death, and cursed loudly for His Highness Qinzhen's betrayal of his brother and forgetting his righteousness......"

"So what is the reaction of His Highness Qinzhen?"

His Royal Highness didn't say anything, and still firmly commanded the attack on the castle tower...... However, when His Royal Highness Changzong committed suicide and everyone in the family gave up resistance, His Royal Highness Jinzhen ascended to the castle tower, bowed down with a knife to the body of His Highness Changzong and my department, and then said a few words. ”

"What did he say?" I hurriedly asked.

"His Royal Highness Qinzhen said that this is also to continue the bloodline of his ancestor and the family name of the Changzong family, and I hope that my brother will forgive me...... Then he said that when the lord lost his family business and wandered in various countries, the family of Chosamune had already received half of Tosa Province. However, after only more than ten years, the lord has already established a power that surpasses the Changzong family from scratch, and now he has controlled most of the four countries, which shows that the lord is extremely capable and has natural luck, and he cannot compete with it. ”

"It's a blessing that he has this realization," I nodded, "then, according to his wishes, let his second son, Matajuro, inherit the family of Chozong!" ”

"Well, His Royal Highness doesn't seem to have any intention of having his own child succeeded...... "Hattori Masari explained to me, "His Royal Highness Xiujing and His Royal Highness Jinzhen mentioned that they were going to make this happen, but His Highness Jinzhen refused. ”

"Why is that?" I couldn't help but be a little stunned.

"Yes. His Royal Highness Xiujing also asked, and then His Royal Highness Qinzhen said that although he attacked and killed his biological brother, although he obeyed the Lord's order and had to do it, he was a disciple after all. If you let your child inherit the name of your brother's family, then you will become an unrighteous person who usurps your brother's inheritance, so please forgive him for not accepting it. ”

"That's a problem," I frowned slightly. After several battles, especially the sacking of Okatoyo Town for the first time, the Chomune Ibu family and my Kira family have accumulated a lot of hatred. Originally, he wanted to let the son of Qinzhen and the grandson of the former British lord rule this territory, perhaps to resolve the resentment of the samurai and the people in the territory, but he didn't expect that Qinzhen would refuse.

"Do you have any opinion on this matter?" After thinking about it, I decided to listen to Xiujing's plan first.

"Yes...... His Royal Highness Xiujing said that he could consider letting His Royal Highness Lai Qin, His Royal Highness's sister-in-law, inherit the Changzong family. He is the nephew of the first parent, and he has received the word 'pro) that has been passed down from generation to generation by the Changzong family, which is reasonable in name. Moreover, this time, His Royal Highness Lai He has made a great contribution, and he can be transferred to the old collar of the Changzong family as a reward. ”

"Well, let's do it!" I made a decision quickly.

Xiujing's proposal is very good, Chi Qinlai does have this name, and he has shown good ability. The last time he was attacked by a certain alliance, he first relied on the water army to block the army of the family on the edge of the Niyodo River, and this time the battle of the Kouchuan River and the capture of Chicheng, his performance was also good.

Not only that, but I also thought of something else. When Chi Kinyori inherits the Chosamune family, I am going to abandon Okatoho Castle and build a new Urado Castle for him near the old domain of the Ikeke family in Urado Bay. In this way, firstly, it will strengthen the foundation of Chikinyori's rule over the old clan of Chosamune, and secondly, it will facilitate the establishment of a more powerful Tosa naval army. Moreover, I remember that in the later years, the head of Chomune's department also abandoned Okatoyo Castle and set up the castle in the Urado area.

In addition, after the Chi family was transferred to the old leader of the Changzong family, Lotus Pond City was vacant. I'm going to expand it and serve as the residence of Kira Shukei as the Tosa guardian. There are also two reasons for this, one is that Kira Castle is too small in scale and insufficient in defense, which is reflected in the attack this time, if it is only the main city of a county, it can still be barely competent, but as the main city of a country, the pattern is much worse; The second is that Xiao Xia will follow Zhou Jing in the future, and if she lives in Lianchi City, she will be in a better mood, because Lianchi City is the place where we went together for the first time after we met, and it is also very close to the cabin in the mountains, where there are her memories of more than ten years, and it is also the burial place of her grandfather and mother.

Thinking of Xiao Xia, I feel a little regretful, but it is indeed a helpless thing. If it's not too busy, I can spend more time with her; If it weren't for the fact that she and Otomo Janet were not on good terms, and I, as an important minister of the Oda family, I had to accommodate Otomo Janet on behalf of the Oda family in order to maintain a good relationship with the Otomo family, and she could have continued to live in Sumoto Castle. It's a pity that most of the time, she avoids Yangyiguan alone and guards the surrounding mountains. Instead of this, it is better for her to return to her hometown and live with her children.

In addition to accommodating, I admit that I am slightly infatuated with Janet Otomo. She believes in Catholicism, and has had a lot of contact with Nanban people and Nanban things, and compared with most women in this era, even if it is the same act of enjoying life, her vision and way are much broader and richer, and often give people novel feelings.

Moreover, I have to admit that her appearance is very outstanding, and she is the most beautiful among my wives and concubines, and listening to the discussions of the maids around her, she has inherited her mother's blood. In this respect, she lived up to her father's surname of beauty.

Thinking of Janet's moving appearance and seductive style, and then thinking of her consistent domineering performance, so that Xiao Xia couldn't stand it, I secretly gritted my teeth: "Really...... See how I clean you up tonight! ”

(To be continued)