Maeda's words touched me a little. However, it is too early to discuss the disposition of Satsuma Province, and it has not even been pacified in the southern part of the country. At present, the most important thing is to capture the Hibi Castle first, and occupy this first fortified city in the south of the country, and the Shimazu family will be powerless in the country of Xiang.

In this sense, it is very reluctant to say that the Ito family once ruled the entire kingdom of Yuxiang. In addition to the Ibino Castle of the Kitahara family in the western part of the prefecture and the capital of the Kitago family in the southern part of the prefecture and county, this fat castle also made the Ito family sigh at the city several times, and it is the most tangled one, from 1484 Ito Yukuni (Ito Yoshisuke's grandfather) first attacked this city, was led by Shimazu Tadamasa to take it, the two families fought for this city for nearly a hundred years, but the Ito family has not been able to effectively occupy, and the Shimazu family guarding the city has also changed several times, first the Shinna family, then the Izuo Shimazu family, and then the current Shimazu Toyoshu family.

More than ten years ago, the Ito family dispatched 20,000 troops to surround the Shimazu Toyoshu family's Shimazu Tadashi (formerly known as Kitago Tadashikin, the father of Kitago Tokihisa and Shimazu Asahyu), and the Shimazu clan failed to rescue and had to make the decision to abandon the city. However, Ito Yoshisuke made arrangements for his eight-year-old second son, Ito Yuhei, to serve as the lord of the castle, and his eldest son, Ito Yoshiyoshi, the governor of the Ito family, died of a sudden illness, which led to serious turmoil in the territory, so Ito Yoshisuke had to shrink his sphere of influence and support Ito Yubei to succeed him as the governor, and the operation in the western part of the prefectures was halted (at that time, they defeated the Shimazu family at Kobayashi Castle and seriously injured Shimazu Yoshihiro). Four years later, Shimazu Yoshihiro defeated Ito Yuan and Ito Yushin in Kisakihara, and the Ito family entered a period of decline, and for the rest of Ito's life, he never got even a step closer to Hibi Castle.

In order to conquer this city, I specially transferred Beehouse Yoryu, Ito Youbing, and several former Ito retainers from Ayaki to participate in the operation. Then he sent a naval army to capture the port of Yautsu five or six kilometers east of the city, and traced it up from the mouth of the Sakaya River to blockade the southern area of the city. It's a pity that the Sakutani River is so narrow that the frigates can't pass through, otherwise, it would have been easy to use naval guns to assist in the attack, and the city would have been easily captured.

If the assault fails, then there is only one way to besiege. I placed the Tosa, Awa, and Kane Bei under the castle, with Zhou Kei as the chief general on my behalf, Hosokawa Shinyuki as the deputy general, and Honda Masanobu and Ito Yubei as the commissioners, responsible for the siege of the front line; Lingi Yixuan directly led Iibi and Nishisanki to return to Ertang County and strengthen the siege of Shinnain Takashiro; Then he led the Tsushima Bei and the naval army into Yatsu Port, deployed the logistics of the expeditionary force, discussed the arrangements of the wealthy clans of the Xiangguo with the beehouse Yorilong, and sometimes dealt with some documents sent by the Shikoku side.

Three months later, the siege continues. In the meantime, I ordered Shigeharu Takenaka of Mie Castle to come to Higashi-Iyo to handle the affairs of the territory on my behalf, which was originally the job of Hidekei, but he was currently in charge of my flank, and he was about to set up a separate family, and there were many affairs, and the center had to be presided over by someone else; Hidekei defeated the attacks of Shimazu Suihisa, Kawakami Tadachi and others under Kobayashi Castle in the prefectures and counties, beheaded Kawakami Tadashi, Kawakami Tadashi, his own brother, and firmly controlled the passage of the Shimazu family from the prefectures and counties into the country of Yuxiang, and then left the army of the Awaji family, Nakayi Yuzhong and Yonehara Shigehide to defend the army of the Hao clan, and sent Asano Nagamasa and Kaneko Mototaku to lead 5,000 people of Higashiiyo to the south, taking advantage of the situation to capture the capital of the Kitago family, blocking the passage of the Shimazu family from Osumi Province to the country of Yuxiang, and also making the Shimazu family give up the attempt to rescue Hibiki Castle on a large scale.

Seeing that foreign aid has not come, Shimazu Iehisa has fought twice, but he was blocked back by Zhou Jing's calm command of the Crab River Bei, Tosa, Higashiyiyozhong and other departments, relying on the fortifications outside the city. As a reward, I transferred Masakatsu Wasuka and Motonobu Katsugano from Shikoku, selected personnel from the Tosa and Higashii Yokai to set up Hasuikebei, and promoted dozens of Ashigaru to serve as low-ranking samurai. This lotus pond is the direct reserve of the family from now on, and it is classified as Zhou Jing's pro-army, with my close attendant Satake Nobuhide as the deputy general, Suzuki Shigehide of Ange County as the commander of the iron cannon, and Igawa Honda Masamune (Honda Masabu Yan's eldest son), Takaoka Satake Yoshinao (Satake Nobuhide's uncle), and Nagaoka Nagamune's Ibu Yorimi are the heads of the spear trilogy. All of a sudden, the morale of the besieging army was greatly boosted, and those who were able to enter the lotus pond, whether it was a wealthy clan or an ashigaru, were certainly rejoicing at the rich fortune and lofty status, and the rest of the ashigaru who were not selected were also looking forward to making meritorious achievements, making up for the lack of lotus pond preparation, and even being promoted to samurai.

I know that the city probably won't be able to hold on for long. After all, after the Shimazu family was stationed in Satohara Castle, the status of the Shimazu family fell a lot, but it was just the main city of the Shimazu Toyoshu Division, and most of the military rations and materials of the Shimazu family were placed in the Satohara Castle. Although Shimazu Iehisa was good at military strategy, he could not do anything about this situation, so he could only sit back and watch the morale of the city gradually decline.

The Shimazu family was not idle, they failed to rescue Xiangguo, and they did not make too much entanglement, and directly attacked Yoshijo of the Higo Sagara family with the main force. The Sagara family had previously been allies with the Osumi liver family and the Ito family, but after the defeat of the two families one after another, after more than a year of raiding by the Shimazu family, it was already in danger, and now in the face of the Shimazu family's all-out attack, how can it continue to support? The governor of the family, Sagara Yoshiyo, quickly surrendered to the Shimazu family, and handed over the six-year-old Kamejumaru (who later visited the Shimazu family and was named Sagara Tadabo) and the four-year-old Shojumaru (later Sagara Yoribo) as hostages, and the Shimazu family surrendered.

In this era, the decaying wealthy family is extremely miserable. Although the Sagara family surrendered, the suffering was not over, and they were soon driven by the Shimazu family to attack the Aso family in southern Higo. This order made Sagara Yoshiyo, the governor of the Sagara family, very difficult, he once had a life-and-death alliance with the military advisor of the Aso family, and the Kai Zongyun of the Aso family, and they were still relatives and close friends with each other, and if the Aso family was attacked, the Imperial Ship City of the Kai Zongyun could not be bypassed. With this feeling of helplessness, he invaded the territory of the Aso family as the vanguard, and then in the early morning of December 2, he was attacked by Kai Soun in the dense fog of the Hizunohara, and died in the chaos. And when Zongyun saw his head, he couldn't help but cry, and then built a head mound for him on the spot and sent the body to Renji City.

At this time, the forces of the Otomo family also reached Higo Province, merged with the Aso family, and reached a confrontation with the main force of the Shimazu family, and the war seemed to be imminent. However, the Ryuzoji family seems to be unwilling to be lonely, and they also intervene horizontally, and the Kumabe family, the Akashi family, the castle family, and other families who support the retainers of the Higo Kikuchi family drag the Otomo family back, making the situation even more confusing.

The Kikuchi family is a famous family of Higo, and for a long time served as the guardian of Higo, but because of the extinction of the clan, the Shu clan contended, and it had declined nearly a hundred years ago, and the last three generations of family governors were respectively served by the Aso family's Aso Weichang (the father of Aso Weijiang, also known as Kikuchi Wujing, the seventeenth generation of the family governor), the Kikuchi family's important minister Tsuruma Wubao (Kikuchi Wubao, the eighteenth generation of the family governor), and the Otomo family of Otomo Shigeji (the uncle of the Oyougi Town, also known as Kikuchi Yoshitake, the nineteenth generation of the family governor). In the 23rd year of Astronomy (1554), when he heard that Kikuchi Yoshitake was trying to stand on his own, Otomo Yoshijin tempted Kikuchi Yoshitake to go to Bungo Province, but he sent troops to surround Yoshitake and his party on the way, forcing Yoshitake and others to commit suicide, and took Higo Guardian back to the Otomo family.

Due to the intervention of Takanobu Ryuzoji, the Otomo family and the Shimazu family finally did not fight, temporarily recognized their respective areas of control, and then withdrew their troops separately to deal with the enemy behind them. The Otomo family has to deal with Ryuzoji Takanobu and the Kikuchi family's retainers, and the Shimazu family has to deal with me who is said to be in the country.

However, at this time, it was too late to rescue the priest, and the Shimazu family was already exhausted, and was forced to sacrifice the castle, and on the condition that he committed suicide, he asked me to spare the lives of the soldiers and civilians of the castle. Takajo in the central part of Oyu County was also forced to surrender to Iyi Xuanzhi. At this point, the last two strongholds of the Shimazu family in the hinterland of the Shimazu family have been uprooted by me.

However, I did not let Shimazu Iehisa and Shinna Tadamoto commit suicide, but only detained Iehisa in the army along with Shimazu Ihisa and Kitago Sohisa, and released Shinna Tadamoto to return to Satsuma Oguchi Castle. After receiving information from Shinna Tadamoto, the Shimazu family quickly gave up their plan to attack the country and sent an envoy to sue for peace again.

The envoy was still the last time he came to Kayama Yoshihisa, and the conditions he proposed were even more generous than last time, not only completely giving up the right to the country of Yuxiang, but also adding the southern half of the country of Higo; And if the Oda family can ensure that the Shimazu family, Satsuma and Osumi are safe, they can also surrender to the Oda family.

"His Royal Highness Kingo has generously forgiven the two highnesses of the family, Ihisa and Tadamoto, and it can be seen that there is no intention of exterminating my Shimazu family; And the detention of the people who said Xiang Province and the release of Shinna Tadayuan of Satsuma Province probably means asking the family to say Xiang One Country, right? Yoshihisa Kayama said.

I have to say that the Shimazu family is still a very smart person, and they quickly understood my kindness and made a fairly close interpretation. This is the art of "ventriloquism", and being able to understand this meaning is the first step to communicating and building trust.

At this point, I really don't intend to exterminate the Shimazu family, but if they are willing to submit to the Oda family and move closer to my Kira family, I am willing to ask Nobunaga for their lives and keep their family name and a certain territory. This decision was made mainly based on the opinions of the Daimyo and wealthy families of the Daimyo and the Nations. As Maeda Toshiie said, neither he nor Yoshiyuki Sawaki were very willing to transfer the Satsuma Kingdom, and Zhou Jing, Hosokawa Shinyuki, Beeya Yoritaka and others also spoke highly of the Shimazu family's combat power, believing that if they continued to invade westward and further compress their territory, the backlash would be very strong, and even if they could win, we would inevitably pay extremely heavy casualties. Neither they nor myself would be willing to accept such an outcome.

The subordinates are so kind of military and personal interests, so I naturally follow the advice, so the only obstacle is Nobunaga's order. However, with the unanimous request of all the people and the wealthy families of the country, Nobunaga may be able to retract his fate!

"If only Satsuma is kept, I can fight for the Shimazu family in front of Nobunaga," I said to Yoshihisa Kayama after thinking for a while, "As far as I am concerned, this is already a violation of Nobunaga's orders, and it is also the maximum room I can turn around." After all, Nobunaga's strength is well known to the world...... Then, I am personally willing to make a commitment to the Shimazu family, both in public and private terms, in order to compensate the Shimazu family for Osumi Ichikoku. ”

Kayama Yoshihisa lowered his head and listened very carefully. When I said the first sentence, his hand holding his knee could not help but tremble slightly, but the second sentence brought him back to normal.

"Then I may ask, what is the promise of His Highness Jingo?" He asked solemnly.

"The public promise is that the Shimazu family can be allowed to participate in the exploration and trade of the Ming Dynasty like the Otomo family, and I should be able to do this," I couldn't help but smile when I said this, "In the past year or so, under the joint attack of Futami Mitsunari's Anlan frigate fleet and Futami Mitsutada's Amami naval army, the Shimazu family's private trade with Ming has been completely suspended, right?" And the Shimazu family has also lost a lot of income, right? ”

"What His Highness Kingo said is true," Kayama Yoshihisa admitted very dryly. It is a fact that the Shimazu family was frustrated at sea, and we and the Shimazu side are the parties, and it is impossible for him to conceal it: "What about the private promise?" ”

"A private promise," I glanced at Maeda Toshiie, who was the salute servant, "If Shimazu Iehisa, Shimazu Ihisa, and Kitago Aihisa are to fight under my command, then I am willing to place them in another place after making a contribution." Of course, because I don't know where the Nobunaga Guild ordered me to fight, I can't be sure of the location of the territory of the three of them, it may be Kitakyushu, it may be San'in Sanyo, or even Dongkoku. ”

"This ......," Kayama Yoshihisa thought for a moment, "the foreign minister has no right to decide on this matter, and he must also consider the thoughts of the three highnesses, Ijiu, and Aijiu...... Can the minister meet the three first? ”

"Yes," I readily agreed, and added, "The three highnesses are in a very low mood at the moment, and Lord Kayama might as well tell me that although they failed at the Ichinose River, I and all the people under my command have very much recognition and admiration for their military strategy and bravery." If we can fight side by side, it will be an honor for me to be Kira Nobuyi. ”

With my current status and historical achievements, this sentence can be described as a very high evaluation. I'm sure even Shimazu Iehisa will be very impressed. And letting Shimazu Iehisa, Shimazu Ashishu and Kitago leave Minami Kyushu is not a good thing for the Shimazu clan, which has many divisions and clans and is too powerful, and Shimazu Yoshihisa should agree.

Kayama Yoshihisa bowed deeply: "Yes." The foreign minister will definitely convey it to you. ”

(To be continued)