The fleet docked at two locations, the Niyodo River and the Usa Fishing Port. Left behind in the Niyodo River is 2,000 sailors, they are also responsible for guarding the lower reaches of the Niyodo River to the mouth of the sea, Usa Fishing Port is all the military supplies, by Terada Ichiya led a thousand Hao clan troops and 800 sailors garrisoned, selected Hao clan elite, water army iron gunners with standing reserves, auxiliary preparations, reserves, and Zaga people ashore, marching towards Hasuike Castle.

The whole army was led by the army chief Wasuka Masakatsu as the leader, Xiujing as the deputy general, leading the reserve at the end of the team, and I and Ii Naotora and others were in the middle, surrounded by the most loyal and elite standing reserves, with a total number of 9,000 people. This was already the strongest force that had never been seen in Tosa Province, and because it came from the sea and its identity was unknown, the peasants along the route fled cleanly for fear of being "caught indiscriminately", and there was no sound in the villages on both sides of the road.

Thinking of the treatment I received in Wuchuan County last time, I was really emotional.

"If there is another Katsugano Motonobu ......" I couldn't help but think so.

At this moment, from the grass next to the road, a crisp voice suddenly sounded: "Look at the arrows!" ”

I subconsciously reached out and fished it, and I actually caught it. When I looked at it, I saw that it was just a sharpened branch, and it was a bit reluctant to say that it was an "arrow", and the length of the arrow was shorter. There's no threat to something like this.

But the attendants around me were like a great enemy, and a dozen or so people immediately blocked my surroundings, and then five or six people jumped off their horses, drew their swords, and searched the place where the sound came. Soon they returned, with two little boys in their hands, and threw them in front of my horse.

"What, it's just two little ghosts like that!" Miyata Mitsuji said deflatedly.

"This grass can only hide children!" Kazuki Shiroto said.

I looked at them carefully, one was about ** years old, and the other was only four or five years old, and it was obvious that he was a child of a martial arts family, and his family background should be good.

"Little guy, why did you sneak up on me, do you know who I am?"

"I'm not a sneak attack, I warned you before!" The older child argued, "I know you're Kira Xuanjing, and you came from the sea last time, and you burned down a lot of the houses of the Chozong family!" ”

The child next to him wanted to say something, but he stopped him with a stern look.

"Oh," I was a little surprised, and the kid looked at him a little, "whose child are you and what's your name?" ”

He closed his lips and refused to answer.

I raised the small arrow in my hand: "You are from the martial arts family, right?" Since you've challenged me, you should use your name! ”

"My name is Nowakamaru!" He said loudly, "But Jia Cheng can't tell you. Otherwise, it will bring disaster to the family! ”

"Oh, you're pretty smart," I grinned, glancing at the little wooden bow in his hand, "but the force is a little worse...... It's almost time to be served, do you still use this kind of child's little bow? ”

"The little bow is mine! I was snatched by my brother just now! And I shot the arrows too! The other child finally screamed.

That's right, I nodded, "And who are you?" ”

"I'm the sister-in-law of the Satake family, Kowakamaru!" The child blurted out.

Then Nowakamaru sighed. I was probably thinking that the Satake family should be finished now.

This is a sentient and sensible child, who not only knows how to protect the family, but also knows how to protect his younger brother, who is a son-in-law. After all, the world of children is pure, and there are not as many intrigues as adults.

"Is it the Satake family in Kurei City or the Satake family in Kamigae Castle?" I continued to ask, looking at Nowakamaru sternly.

“…… It's the Satake family in Kamigae Ejo," Nowakamaru hesitated for a moment before answering, and then added, "It has nothing to do with Kurei Castle!" ”

"Is that so, I see," I said, taking off my mask and smiling, "come here!" ”

Nowakamaru looked at his younger brother Yukiwakamaru and walked to my horse by himself.

I leaned down and handed him back the arrow.

"Huh?" He looked visibly surprised.

"His Royal Highness Nowakamaru, the challenge of your brothers, I, Kira Xuanjing, have received ...... Now please go back and see you on the battlefield next time! ”

"Yes!" Nowakamaru replied loudly, respectfully bowing to me.

"However, if I rule this territory, you brothers will work for me!" I smiled and said, "Are you willing to accept such an agreement?" ”

"Accept Your Highness's agreement." Nowakamaru broke the wooden arrow in his hand into two pieces.

I nodded, put on my mask and moved on. Nowakamaru took his younger brother to the side of the road and watched us respectfully.

"I didn't expect such an excellent child in a small place." Naoka Iii sighed on his horse.

"My lord lives here, too!" Iwamatsu said with a smile.

"Isn't it Saiyoji Temple under Kira Castle?" Zhihu asked rhetorically.

"Regarding this matter, it is better to ask His Royal Highness Zhihu to ask the lord." Iwamatsu did not answer directly.

"Jingding, there is nothing to avoid," I laughed, pointed in the direction of Yuegao Village, and told Zhihudao, "At the beginning, Xiao Xia and I hid in the mountains over there, and then the first time we came to Lianchi City, we were caught by Jingding as a ......."

After an hour or so of a relaxed journey, the army arrived at the foot of Lotus Pond City.

The castle gate was closed, and the castle town was silent, probably for fear of being treated by Okatoyo Town. However, I didn't mean that, Lotus Pond Castle is a residential city that is scheduled to be prepared for the Chi family, and if you want to master it as soon as possible, you must take into account the local people's wishes. Moreover, Hasuike Town is much poorer than Okatoyo Town, and it was disturbed by Kira's relatives once last time, so it doesn't have much robbery value.

I gave the order to set up camp along the Hasuke River outside the castle town and attack again.

Anyway, I have two or three months, so there's no need to rush it at all. Wait a minute, maybe there will be some ready-made opportunities.

Around dinner time, the attendants came to the main tent to report: "Lord, there is someone outside the camp who claims to be the lord of Shangjiajiang City, Satake Yoshihide, and wants to see the lord!" ”

"How many people did he take with him?" I asked.

"There were only a dozen or so people with me, all of whom were dressed in regular attire. In addition, it was reported that he was still holding a child in his hands! ”

I nodded, roughly understood.

The Satake family is one of the few wealthy families in Tosa Province other than the Seven Heroes, and has always been attached to the Ichijo family. Historically, it's time for them to move closer to the Changzong family. However, according to Chi Yoriwa, they only expelled the castle where the Ichijo family was stationed, and did not surrender to the Motoko. This is probably because the Changzong family was stirred up by me for a while, which also hurt the vitality, which made the Satake family hesitate, and maybe they also thought about taking the opportunity to read.

However, seeing the strength of my army, they should have had other ideas. The child he brought with him was probably Nowakamaru. And he probably wanted to take Nowakamaru as a hostage in exchange for my support to expand his power in Takaoka County. According to his thoughts, it is estimated that my old domain is in Gogawa Prefecture, and my main office is in Ise Province, and even if I want to control Takaoka, I must go through the local wealthy clans.

If this is the kind of thinking, there is indeed some truth. Even if the Chi family occupies Lotus Pond City, if they want to occupy a foothold here, they can't do without the assistance of the local wealthy family.

"Let him in!" I commanded.

"Yes." The attendant took the order and left.

Not long after, he brought a samurai in his thirties, holding Nowakamaru in his hand, presumably it was Satake Yoshihide, the lord of Kamigae Castle.

"His Royal Highness Yoshihide Satake? Have a seat. I gestured to Maza, who was on the right side in front of me.

"Yes. I have seen His Royal Highness the Captain Saemon. Satake Yoshihide bowed and sat down on the maza as he said, with an extremely upright posture.

"Hehe, this is Ling Lang, right? There was a one-sided relationship before. I looked at Nowakamaru and smiled.

"Yes...... The dog was ignorant, and he rushed into His Highness's army, and he was really frightened," Yoshihide Satake bowed and said, "I just heard the dog mention that I came here this time to apologize to His Highness." ”

As he spoke, he shouted to Nowakamaru, "Don't plead guilty to His Royal Highness Captain Saemon yet!" ”

"Yes." Nowakamaru walked up to me and knelt on the ground, "Please forgive His Highness Captain Saemon!" ”

"Alright, please get up." I knew in my heart that he was taking all the responsibility on himself...... Turning to Yoshihide Satake, I said sincerely: "Although Ling Lang is young, he is quite impressive. I appreciate it. ”

"Really? That's a real prize. Yoshihide Satake replied and owed me again, "Actually, there is a request here......

"Please wait," I waved my hand, "I also have a request, and I want to ask for the consent of His Highness Satake." ”

"Yes," Yoshihide Satake hurriedly agreed, "Please show His Highness Captain Saemon!" ”

His expression was very calm, but I could catch a hint of nervousness in his words. I think he was probably worried that I would be asking too much to hand over my son-in-law.

"I heard that although Nowakamaru is the elder brother, he is not the eldest son in the family, right?"

“…… Be. He replied with a bit of helplessness.

"So, I want to adopt him as an adopted son, can His Royal Highness Satake cut his love?" I'm kind enough to say.

"Adopted son...... Is it? Yoshihide Satake couldn't help but repeat.

As an adopted son, the status is much higher than that as a hostage, and this is the care of the Satake family. Moreover, if I proposed it first, rather than him offering the hostage, it would be tantamount to preserving his own face.

"This is an honor for my Satake family and Nowakamaru himself!" He said happily.

……，…… The two sides have established such a connection, and the rest of the words will be easy to say.

I didn't hide my intentions, and directly told Yoshihide Satake that I wanted to capture Hasuchi Castle, and as the headquarters of the Chi family, the surrounding land should also be under control. Although Yoshihide Satake was a little stunned, he still agreed to my disposition. In the end, the Satake family occupied the entire southern part of Takaoka County, and the Ikeke family occupied the central and northern parts of the country, and they worked together to deal with foreign enemies. The Tsuno family, who has been driven back to Himeno Castle, the place where they started in the northwest, has been driven back to Himeno Castle in the northwest, and if they are willing to surrender, they will keep their existing territory, otherwise they will destroy him, and the two families will divide it.

Since I am hostile to the Changzong family, the two families also have the Changzong family as their main enemy. For the Ichijo family, it is up to my Kira family to form an alliance with reciprocal standpoints, or at least to maintain harmony.

The allied envoy to the Tsuno family was sent by the Satake family to maintain the status of reciprocal position. I decided to put Katsugano Motonobu in charge of the liaison with the Ichijo family, and the Satake family sent someone as a guide.

When I came into contact with the two families, I decided to choose after the capture of Lianchi Castle. In this case, the request will be more important...... Although Yoshihide Satake thinks that with my previous record and the current strength of 9,000 troops, it is already very convincing. I still stood by my opinion.

In the early hours of the following morning, the attack on Lianchi City officially began.

Lianchi City is a small dirt mountain, and the defenders in the city are only three or four hundred people. I sent 6,000 troops, with Xiujing as the general of the front line, to surround the entire small dirt mountain and divide it into four teams to attack. Each team was assigned 600 iron gunners to suppress the fire in advance.

In an instant, the entire city was boiling, and shouts, shouts, and occasional screams could be heard far and wide.

My main camp is located at Kira Shrine not far away, and it is also located on a small dirt mountain, and there are standing guards around it. I don't know if the shrine has anything to do with the Kira family.,Anyway, it's good to listen to.。

I was sitting on the top of the dirt mountain, and beside me was Yoshihide Satake and the others. He didn't seem to understand that I had put on such a big formation at the beginning.

"In my opinion, there are three ways to siege a city, one is to storm, one is to besiege, and the other is to adjust. Normally, the three methods are used in a combination, but I think that such a city, as long as it is stormed, it is fine," I was bored anyway, so I explained it to him, and by the way, I listened to the close attendants who had high hopes such as Yoshiko Nohakamaru and Miyata Koji and Shiroto Kazuki, who had just received it, "There is an old saying in the Ming Kingdom, one blow, then decline, and three are exhausted." Therefore, since it is a simple assault, you might as well use your greatest strength and supplement it with the right strategy to break through the city, otherwise it will damage morale and turn into a war of attrition, or you will have to slowly turn into a siege. ”

"That's right," Yoshihide Satake exclaimed, "It's the first time I've seen a siege battle of 6,000 men!" ”

I laughed in my heart. This is Tosa, this is Shikoku. For them, it is difficult to imagine that the more than 100,000 people that Odawara Castle in Kanto has experienced several times is unimaginable.

The attack is still in full swing. I looked at the sky and suddenly said, "It's almost time." ”

"What......" Yoshihide Satake was about to ask, when an explosion suddenly came from the opposite side.

"What is this?" He exclaimed.

"Gunpowder," I replied to him, "it's not much, but it's enough to deal with the gates of Lotus Pond City." ”

While speaking, three thunderous shouts suddenly came from the opposite side, even if they were three or four hundred meters away, they were full of momentum, and they made people's blood tremble. Then, Shadow saw a group of guns rushing through the city gates, lining up in a neat line to counterattack along the Otedo Road.

"According to the usual custom, it is breakfast time, the time when the ashigaru people are the hungriest, and the combat effectiveness is reduced to a minimum; And they are looking forward to a truce between the two sides, and they will inevitably slack off, and it is also the time when the will to fight is at its lowest," I said with a smile, "but our side has a different schedule, so now is the time to be energetic and take the opportunity to attack." ”

"So, this is going to be captured?" Yoshihide Satake couldn't believe it, "It's only been less than half a day......"

"It should be fine." I said. Although he said "yes", he thought "definitely": "There were only three or four hundred people in the city. The attacks that I had dealt with from all sides had been fragmented, and there was absolutely no way to deal with the strong attacks on Okeedo...... I'm afraid it's impossible to organize! ”

As if echoing my words, the spear formation that served as the striker went all the way forward, invincible, and soon rushed to Ninomaru. I don't know which one the general in charge of the command is, and he led the surrounding soldiers to meet him, but he was soon trampled underfoot.

At this time, the eastern side close to our side also broke through, and a team of iron gunners and a group of spearmen alternated upwards, and soon they also attacked Ninomaru.

"Yes. Does His Highness Satake know who is guarding the castle? "When I saw that Ninomaru's keeper was being taken, I suddenly remembered this question.

"It's Jiangcun's in-laws." Yoshihide Satake replied.

"It's the little queen!" I nodded. The Emura family is the second son of Yoshida Shigetoshi after the Great Reserve, and he was succeeded to the Emura family of the Changzong Department, and served as the elder of the family, and he was a military general with both wisdom and courage and a little fame in the family. Just two years earlier, he had led reinforcements to help the Iyo Saionji family resist the attack of Iyo Saionji Minoru by receiving a large armor and a sword for his bravery in battle.

The head of the Changzong clan asked him to guard Lianchi City, perhaps to borrow the relationship between him and the Ichijo family to maintain the harmony that the two families had reached before. Now it's a pity that I'm going to die here! …… However, the Yoshida family is the hardcore lineage of the original family, and even if I completely destroy the Chozong family, it is estimated that it will not be possible to surrender to me; Dying on the battlefield is a good destination for them as samurai.

Anyway, I seem to be in conflict with the Yoshida family, and the last time I came to Tosa, I killed people from the Yoshida family.

Suddenly, there was a louder cheer from the other side. Looking closely, the army has already attacked Honmaru, and the main castle tower on the two floors has already risen into flames. This should be the fire set by the in-laws of Jiangcun, according to the convention, he himself is probably already in the city! For our side, the battle is over.

Looking at the main castle tower that was gradually burning, I felt a little helpless. This Jiangcun family probably thought that it would be impossible for the Changzong family to recapture this place, so they simply burned the castle tower to the ground...... What a determined man, who will fight against me when he dies.

As a result, I had to gather supplies and spend manpower to rebuild the castle tower.

"His Royal Highness Captain Saemon seems to be dissatisfied? …… Could it be that he failed to win a brave general like Emura Beihou? Do you feel sorry for it? Yoshihide Satake asked.

"It's just that I'm just burning down the castle tower, and I'm a little depressed," I waved my hand and stood up, "Your Highness Satake, would you like to go with me to inspect the first rank?" ”

"It's an honor!" Yoshihide Satake bowed and replied, and took the initiative to ask, "If His Royal Highness Captain Saemon agrees, how about the two brothers in charge of rebuilding the castle tower?" ”

(To be continued)