The entire Iyo Province is divided into three parts: Toyo, Chuyo, and Minamiyo, with a total stone height of 366,000 koku, making it the richest area of Shikoku Island. My current territory, together with the Arita Prefecture and the nominally subordinate Iga Province, is already 440,000 koku, and if this country is added, it will reach 800,000 koku, which is more than Nobunada's current possession of Owari Province, Higashi Mino and Minakano, and also more than Minami Omi, Nishimino and Kamiwaizumi under Nobunaga's direct command, which Nobunaga will not allow. Therefore, being able to obtain 150,000 stone from Higashi Iyo is already an extremely ideal result.

On the third day after the Jinmi, news came from the country of Bizen that Ukita Naoie, together with Akashi Keijin, who was a retainer of the Urakami family, attacked the Urakami family's Tenjin Mountain Castle together, and officially raised a counter-flag against the main family, Urakami Munekei.

There is no doubt that this incident was launched on the occasion of the Ishiyama Incident and Nobunaga's main force to clean up Kii, and behind it was the shadow of the Mori family. And the reason for the Ukita Nao's appearance is also sufficient, in the name of Urakami Kushimatsumaru, the widow of the former head of the Urakami family, Urakami Seimune.

After the father and son of Urakami Masamune and Kiyomune were killed by the Akamatsu family, Masamune's third son, Urakami Seimune, succeeded him as the family governor and married another sister of Kuroda Takataka. However, shortly after Urakami Kumatsumimaru was born, Urakami Seimune was poisoned by his uncle Urakami Munekei, and then Urakami Hisatsumaru was sent to Kuroda's house with his mother, where he was raised by Kuroda and Takataka father and son. Kumatsu Maru has just turned nine years old this year, but he is already quite assertive, he is very dissatisfied with his grandfather and uncle despite his father's hatred, and he is still friendly with Urakami Sokei, this time he heard that the Ukita Nao family intends to oppose Urakami Sokei, he immediately took the initiative to leave Himeji Castle and go to the Ukita Naojia family. Kuroda Takataka knew the surname of the Ukita Naojia very well, and found out that Kumatsumaru had left without permission, and understood that he cooperated with the Ukita Naojia and was completely seeking the skin of the tiger, and I was afraid that there would be no good results (he was poisoned by the Ukita Naojia in the middle of the year, and died like his grandfather and father), and sent a police messenger to Nobunaga before the Ukita Naojia raised troops. And when the news arrived, it happened to be the same day that the Uki family raised their troops.

Upon receiving this news, Nobunaga immediately issued a series of orders.

Araki Murashige of Settsu immediately led his army back to Japan to see if he could rescue the Urakami family. If the rescue fails, immediately hold the border between Bizen and Settsu. The remaining front was in charge of Nobunaga's immediate forces.

Sakuma Nobumori in Minami Kawachi, who inherited the position of Naomasa Harada, commanded the five [***] forces of Kawachi, Izumi, Yamato, Yamashiro, and Minami Omi in Kinai, and served as the general who attacked Ishiyama Honganji.

Hideyoshi Yura of Kita-Omi temporarily served as the guardian of Harima Province, based in Himeji Castle of the Kuroda family, and Takataka Kuroda himself, as well as the Kotera family of Goshojo Castle and the Bessho family of Miki Castle became Hideyoshi's strength. He had two tasks, one was to preside over the defense of the Uki family, and the other was to attack the Yamana family of Inaba and Tajima, and as the vanguard, Yamanaka Yukimori, who had visited Nobunaga three years ago and had taken Inaba Wakazakura Castle and Market Castle with the help of Urakami Sokeino last year.

This was apparently the result of Nobunaga's careful consideration. Although Sakuma Nobumori's talents are limited, he still has the ability to control the situation. He was a genealogy minister of the Oda family, and he was in charge of Kinai, so Nobunaga could rest assured that the daimyo of Kinai would be able to accept it. Hideyoshi Yura served as the guardian of Harima, which was a prelude to serving as the general of Sanyo Province, and the attack on the famous master of the mountain was a test before taking office.

Compared with the Uki family, which was already hostile, the rebellious Yamana family was the object of Nobunaga's hatred even more. Moreover, after the Uki family captured the Urakami family, they must first defend and stabilize the territory, and they have no stamina to continue to attack, so they don't need to be too eager; On the contrary, it was this betrayal of the Yamana family, which must be punished as soon as possible in order to maintain the authority of the Oda family as the overlord. Although the territory of the Yamana family belongs to San'in, it is theoretically said that it should be the task of Akechi Mitsuhide (historically captured by Hideyoshi and then transferred to Mitsuhide), but Akechi Mitsuhide is currently attacking Tanba Province and cannot be separated for a while, so because when Hideyoshi served as the governor of Kyoto, he once captured the antecedents of Yamana Castle, which had lived in this corner of the castle for generations, and let him be in charge of Yamana's strategy, and by the way, it became a choice to do two things.

When I returned to Sumoto Castle, I also received a written order from Nobunaga. He ordered me to lead an army to pacify Iyo Province, and then 150,000 koku from the six counties of Uma, Shini, Shufu, Kuwamura, Echichi, and Noma in Higashi-Iyo would be my reward, and I would use it as a base to threaten the flanks of the Mori family; The 100,000 koku of Kita and Uwa counties of Minami Iyo were transferred to the 80,000 koku gamo family of Gamo Prefecture in Omi-kumi, and they were sent by me as a force to accept my dispatch; Of the remaining six prefectures of Naka-Iyo, 50,000 koku in the three prefectures of Kazao, Waki, and Onsen were transferred to the lord of Minami-Omi Hitian Castle, Beeya Yoritaka, who served as my military supervisor, and the rest of the territories were directly governed by Nobunaga.

It is the practice of all daimyo to transfer the powerful wealthy families near their home city and take them under their own direct collar; In the aspect of the general stationed in a distant country, arranging for the cronies of the lord's family to serve as military supervisors is also the proper meaning of the question. In this way, the Gamo family has completely become my strength after Gamo Fuxiu personally; And the beehouse Yoryu, who was originally the commissioner by Nobunaga's side and was in charge of cutting the Lan luxury service together with Harada Naomasa, has also become the fourth black mother to go out of the town after Kawajiri Hidetaka, the lord of Higashimi Iwamura Castle, and Sasa Narumasa and Nakagawa Shigemasa of the Echizen Fuchu three.

At the same time as promoting Sakuma Nobumori and Hideyoshi Yura, and separating the beehouse Yoritaka, Harada Naomasa was punished unprecedentedly severely. Nobunaga confiscated Naomasa's surname, all his domains, and his military positions for dereliction of duty and mishandling, which led to the collapse of the Ishiyama front and the destruction of almost the entire army, and detained Naomasa's son, Yasutomo Tsukami, and the surviving Ichizuku. Naomasa's Minamiyama Castle and the four counties of half the country were under the direct jurisdiction of Nobunaga, and as the Yamashiro Kuniyaki Castle of Naomasa's residence and the nearby 20,000 stone territory, it was given to Naomasa's original pen head family elder, Yamato Tsutsui Shunkei's righteous brother Yoshihiro, who was originally ordered to assist his young heir Yasuyu to stay in Maki Island Castle, and after receiving Nobunaga's order, he quickly arrested Naoma Yasuyu and the Naomasa clan in the castle and handed it over to Nobunaga's messenger, so he was rewarded by Nobunaga.

As a result, the powerful General Kinai, who served as the guardian of the mountain castle and the Yamato countries, and who had received the emperor's surname and official position less than a month earlier, became a cloud of smoke and a floating epiphany. Compared with the honor of Sakuma and Yura, this has to be sighed. However, I know that Naomasa Harada is really a little wronged, and he didn't pay attention to the side defense of the main camp, because it is close to the sea, and His Royal Highness Kira, who controls the entire Seto Inland Sea and has always made no mistakes, is in charge, so he feels that there is nothing to worry about. As a result, the enemy came from the sea and attacked from this direction.

Therefore, the death of Naomasa Harada and the collapse of the Ishiyama Front, I must take part of the responsibility for the mistakes at sea, and then integrate the military situation to reorganize the encirclement, which can only be said to be a remedy, but the previous mistakes cannot be covered up. Nobunaga has always had clear rewards and punishments, and I originally thought that at the same time as I was ordered to conquer Iyo Province and receive Higashi Iyo, the Uzu Prefecture under his jurisdiction would probably be taken back and handed over to Nobunaga's favorite Sanuki Guardian, and Utatsu Castle in this county has always been the guardian of the country, and I sent it to be stationed with Riki Fuhide, because the position of Sanki Guardian has been vacant, so while cooperating with Shioya's business, he is also vaguely in charge of the actual affairs of Sanki Province as a representative of Nobunaga and me. Unexpectedly, Nobunaga let go of my mistake and put all the blame on Naomasa Harada, who died in battle, which is really a great tolerance.

Of course, tolerance is conditional, on the condition that Harada Naomasa is dead, and that I, the Kira family, can continue to conquer the city for the Oda family and remain loyal to him. For this reason, at the end of the letter, he said that he really appreciated seeing Shinkei this time, and then said in a joking tone that he had already handed over Gamo Fuhide as my son-in-law to me as a servant, so he wanted me to give him a role as his son-in-law, Kira Nobuyi.

This joke is only available to him, how dare I play with him? After reading these contents, I quickly sent a respectful reply: "How dare your subordinates say this!" It is Keijiro's honor to be appreciated by the lord, so please send it. "Then, I quickly sent a letter to order Nobuyo to stay in Azuchi Castle, assisted by Ishiya Yorichen, and ordered the four of Ishitani Nobumasa and Hirano Nagatai of Mie Castle to serve as the generals of the personal guard, and led half of the triple reserve to Azuchi.

Anyway, when Azuchi Castle is completed, Nobunaga will arrange a residence for all the important ministers in the castle. At that time, even without Nobunaga's request, Shinkei would have a few months of service on my behalf in Azuchi at the end of each year.

According to my original idea, I was going to let Ii Nobunao also lead half of the Ii Ibi as the personal guard, and half of the main general of the triple preparation, and I was going to let Wasuka Keikatsu serve as the two of them, and the two of them were the most outstanding people in martial arts and strategy among the younger generation. However, when I was in the castle, I saw the gray-haired Wasuka Masakatsu, and it occurred to me that he and I had known each other for nearly 20 years, and that he had been under his command for 14 years, and that it had been a long time ago for him to defeat Kato Mitsuyasu when he commanded Kawawami and the bravery of the Hokahata Naval Army under my command. After all these years of conquest career, he has been trained to become a brave and resourceful general, and he has unconsciously reached the age of knowing the destiny of heaven, although he is still in good spirits, but it is not suitable to charge into battle in person.

"Zhengsheng, this time to attack Iyo, you can stay in this camp and serve as a military officer!" I said kindly.

"Why is that?" Wasuka Masakatsu was stunned for a moment. It is already a common practice in the army for me to personally command large-scale conquests, and he is the vanguard, but the position of the commission is not permanent, basically it is held by Gamo Fuxiu, why did he serve as the military commissioner this time?

However, seeing my gaze, he quickly understood, "The lord thinks that his subordinates are too old to rush into battle, right?" His Majesty really can't accept this view...... To put it bluntly, although Xiujing is fifteen years younger than me, I'm afraid I'm not sure that I will be able to beat my subordinates, right? ”

Xiujing smiled and nodded, agreeing with his statement.

"I'm not skeptical of your abilities," I waved my hand, "and I don't mean to make Xiujing the vanguard, he's still the lieutenant commander in the front." ”

"And who is the vanguard?" Wasuka asked with concern.

"How about your sisters-in-law Jingsheng and Jing Yi Xuannao?" I said with a smile.

"It's ......," Wasuka Masakatsu was a little apprehensive, "although I feel honored." However, whether it is Jingsheng or Xuanzhi, they haven't gone through many battles, right? ”

"They participated in the battle against Ichijo in Northern Ise with Ah Hu, and also participated in the final attack on Yama Shokei and his subordinate Akabi, and they performed very well. With their abilities, they are fully capable of dealing with the Iyo country, which is not very powerful and fragmented. Xiujing was very confident in them.

"yes," Kamo said approvingly. He served as Zhou Jingyi's deputy general this time, but in fact, he was responsible for the main general, and he put a lot of effort into intelligence, because the land he captured was the place where his family wanted to be sealed: "Let's just say that I am in charge of the Nan Yiyu Xiyuan Temple family!" It's just a hundred thousand stone daimyo in the two counties, and a considerable part of the territory is from the former Utsunomiya family, and the ability to unify Nanyu is completely dependent on the power of the Maori family; In the past, when the Ichijo family occupied Tosa Inhata County, the two families fought many times, and the Saionji family repeatedly had the upper hand, and even the old man of the Bitou family, one of the fifteen generals, and Watanabe Kyotada, who received 16,000 koku, was a hostage of the Ichijo family, and for the past two years, he has been courting His Royal Highness Xuanzhen of Nakamura Castle...... Such a force really has nothing to worry about, and it is just used to let them go into battle and exercise. ”

"And there are other reasons," I said with a smile, "and this time I have been given the title of Higashi Iyo, and the territory of the main family is close to 600,000 koku, which is already more than many daimyo outside the main family." At that time, the territory of each genealogy in the family will also increase, and your main responsibility will also be shifted from conquest to the internal politics of the territory, which is an important government affairs that need to be taken over by the old and respectful people...... As for the conquest, it will be handed over to the next generation slowly. Isn't it gratifying to watch them grow into full-fledged samurai, take over the responsibilities of their families, and fight to defend our territory and our people? ”

Hearing me say this, Wasuka Masakatsu understood: "What the lord said is extremely true. His Majesty received the order. ”

"Then that's it. Immediately after the assessment, I summoned the two of them, and my close attendants Miyata Mitsuji and Joto Kazuki took on important tasks. In addition, His Highness will also come with him to serve as our overseer...... You will continue to prepare according to the deployment of the party, and half a month later, the two roads of Nakamura Castle and Kawanoe Castle will join forces to attack the Nama-Iyo Saionji family and the Higashi-Iyo Kono family respectively. The main force of the navy went to attack the towns of Yuzuki Castle and Imabari Port of the Kono family, and forced the Kono navy to fight a decisive battle with the Kurushima navy! ”

(To be continued)