"It shouldn't be possible to raid the fat queen, unless the Shimazu family completely abandons Xiangguo...... However, Shimazu Iehisa still has 10,000 troops in his hands. Shinyuki Hosokawa said.

"His Highness is very true." I agreed.

"His Royal Highness Jingo," Hearing me say this, Ito Yoshisuke suddenly bowed down, "Old and courageous, I beg His Highness Jingo to borrow 3,000 troops to attack the old territory in the eastern part of the prefectures and counties, and stabilize the flank direction for the army." ”

"Dr. Dashan is very old, so it is advisable to settle in the center and participate in the secrets. And I have borrowed a lot of places for the doctor. I politely declined.

"His Royal Highness Jin Wu can't believe in old age?" Ito Yoshisuke looked at me with a very serious expression, "The old man knows that he is stupid, so he lost his territory, no wonder His Royal Highness Jingo is suspicious...... However, the family is still very influential in the eastern part of the county, and now with the power of the army, it will definitely be able to succeed. At that time, even if the Shimazu family wanted to support the Shimazu family, they would have to make a detour to the southern part of Osumi Province, so as to buy a few days for the army to break through the Shimazu family's lone army. ”

Listening to his words, I was silent on my face, but I quickly weighed the pros and cons in my heart. I have to say that his analysis is very reasonable, and his proposal is also very valuable. If that's the case, it's really helpful for me to attack Shimazu Iehisa. And I also understand that he did this because he really wanted to make a contribution to me, so that after settling down and settling down with the country, I could reclaim my old domain and gain more say in domestic affairs.

After all, it is a generation of heroes who once unified the country, obtained the status of the shogunate and the rank of the three officials! Although he was slacking off in his later years, he indulged in the way of Wenyun, so that he was called "Imagawa Yoshimoto of Kyushu", but he still had a vision, and once he got up, he also had a firm determination.

"I can understand the mood of Dr. Dashan," I looked at his full head of gray hair, "It's just that you're old after all......

"Please rest assured, Your Highness Jingo, although he is old, he can still fight for a while and serve the army to redeem himself," Ito Yoshiyu pointed to his son Ito Yubing beside him, "Even if it doesn't work, there are still dogs who can come up." ”

"Since Dr. Dashan has such a spirit, I am willing to lead the troops of my headquarters to help, and I ask His Royal Highness Xuanjing for permission." Beehouse Lailong also asked for help.

Obviously, he also wanted to make a meritorious deed in order to convince the wealthy clan of the country, and at the same time to win over the Ito family, who was once the largest force in the country. In this way, I couldn't refuse, so I agreed to his request: "Since His Royal Highness Lai Long has a heart, then please lead all four thousand troops of Nakayiyu to set off!" In addition, I will have a thousand members of the Yonehara family go with me. ”

"If you can do that, it would be great!" Beehouse Rylong happily accepted the order.

I nodded, looked at the father and son of the Ito family who bowed down, and solemnly explained: "Please remember, after recovering the old lords in the eastern part of the county, try to be as stable as possible, and don't rush to expand the control area. Even if the northern family in the south takes the initiative to provoke, don't pay attention to them for the time being. ”

"Yes." All three of them received orders at the same time.

The next morning, they left the main force with 5,000 troops and headed for Ayajo in the eastern part of the county. That castle was one of the "Forty-Eight Castles of Ito" in the heyday of the Ito family, and the Ayaya clan of the castle guard had always been under the support of the Ito family, but it was not until last year that they took refuge in the Shimazu family, and now that the situation has changed greatly, they are definitely willing to return to the Ito family. Although I lost these 5,000 men, the remaining army was still more than twice as strong as that of the Shimazu family, and I still had four of my own standing armies as the backbone, so I still resolutely advanced southward until I reached the southern tip of Koyu County, the capital seat of Toyu.

The capital town was the residence of the Ito family for several generations, and Ito Yoshiyu's eldest son, Ito Yoshiyoshi, inherited the position of lord of the castle after inheriting the throne of the family, until he died of illness, and the second son Ito Yuhei married Yoshiyoshi's daughter (his own niece) as the main house, and then succeeded to the Ito family governor. During this period, Yoshisuke Ito moved to Sadoghara Castle, and together with Yoshiyi, he governed the country of Yukoku, and served as the successor of Youbing. According to my assumption, in such a big city, Shimazu Iehisa would have to leave two or three thousand men to defend it, and I happened to divide a considerable number of troops to build a siege, so in the face of the remaining enemy forces in Sadogaha Castle, our superiority in strength will be more obvious, and the victory will be greater, and it will not be too late to return to collect them when the main force is broken. However, Shimazu Iehisa also seemed to think of the disadvantages of dividing his troops and defending it, and simply abandoned the city.

It's very bold. I admired it in my heart, so I had to leave another 2,000 people from the Nakasanuki Xiangxi family to guard the back road, and then continue to march. In addition, the navy was also transferred by me, and some of them assisted in logistics, and some of them sailed directly to the port of Chie, which was said to attack the mouth of the Oyodo River in Naka County to the south, cutting off the main route for the Shimazu family to support Sadowara Castle from the sea.

On September 28, our vanguard encountered the small army of the Shimazu family on the north bank of the Ichinose River, and the other side retreated at the first touch, crossed the river and moved closer to the main force of Sadohara Castle.

At the same time, a messenger from the bee house Yoryu also arrived, informing him that Ayajo had surrendered, and that Yonehara Shigehide had extended northwest to reclaim the old Kobayashi Castle of the Yonehara family. Although this was a little beyond my prior orders, I recognized their efforts to regain their old domain in view of the Yonehara family's strong support for us, and ordered them to enter Kobayashi Castle and garrison them on the spot.

Then, I urged the main force to the south to reach the north bank of the Ichinose River and join the vanguard of Ii Nobunao. Ii reported to me that there seemed to be an ambush by the Shimazu family on the other side, and I suggested that I wait and see for a while. But his proposal was met with some opposition.

"We've already arrived here, do you still want to stop patrolling?" This is the opinion of Kagawa Nobuyo and others.

I raised my head and looked across the river more than 100 meters wide, and the other bank was indeed too calm, maybe there were really people from the Shimazu family in ambush, trying to attack when we were on the opposite bank and had not yet gained a firm foothold. However, Kagawa Nobuya's considerations also make sense, and there is no reason to hesitate here three kilometers away from Sadogahara Castle three kilometers away.

From this point of view, it is impossible for Shimazu to abandon this natural line of defense, and it is strange that there are no ambushes on the other side.

"Let's divide the troops," I quickly decided, "the Shimazu family has only 10,000 people, and it is impossible to cover everything. Moreover, we also have a naval army to help. ”

"So, how do you deploy it?" Toshiie Maeda asked.

"Our troops are divided into three routes, with 6,000 people from Tosa and Xiejiang Bei as the right road, with Zhou Jing as the main general, and Bee Suga Jingsheng as the vanguard, crossing the river from the upper reaches; 3,000 people in Nishisanki and 5,000 people in Higashi Iyo were the middle road, plus Awaji Bei and Ii Chibei, with Hidejing as the main general, Kagawa Nobuyi as the deputy general, and Xuanzhi as the vanguard, staying here to cross the river; Hosokawa Shinyuki and I led 7,000 men of Awa Province and Tsushima to the mouth of the river, and the left army was the front, with Maeda Toshiie and Sawaki Yoshiyuki in the vanguard. "I thought about it for a moment and made this arrangement.

"Is it the middle route army of your subordinates as the main force?" Xiujing asked.

"No," I shook my head, "the main force is my way, plus the navy." I will arrange a guard of honor with great fanfare, display military flags and horse seals, and attract the main force of the Shimazu family to my side. When the time comes, when you hear the firing of naval guns at the mouth of the river, you quickly cross the river, and in the middle of the road, take Xuanzhi's Akabi as the spearhead, and attack the Shimazu army from the flank to the east; The right road quickly went south and drove straight to the bottom of Sadogaha Castle. ”

"How can my brother take the risk himself?" Xiujing immediately objected, "Why don't you have your subordinates as the main force of the estuary?" ”

"Your mission is also very important, whether you can defeat the main force of Shimazu is up to you," I looked at Xiujing and Ii Xuanzhi and said, "As for me, with the support of the Dinghai and Fubo ships of the naval army and the iron artillery team, it will not be a problem to block the Shimazu army." ”

"Father," Zhou Jing thought for a moment, "what if the main force of the Shimazu army didn't move to the estuary?" ”

"I'll make sure about that," I replied confidently, "and if there are only a few forces on the other side of the shore that contain them, even if you don't use frigates, you can quickly defeat them." Then, I will look for the main main battle of the Shimazu family, and indicate the area where the Shimazu family is located, and you will decide the right time to cross the river. ”

……，…… At the beginning of the afternoon (around three o'clock), the naval forces that had captured the Chijiang port of the Oyodo River received an order from the herald ship and arrived at the mouth of the Ichinose River. The mouth of the river is more than 700 meters wide due to the erosion of the river, but there is a sandbar in the middle, which divides the river into two waterways of more than 100 meters in the north and south. I first moved the whole army to the sandbank, and then with Tsushima Bei as the vanguard, I marched to the other side led by Maeda Toshiie and Sawaki Yoshiyuki.

As soon as they reached the shore, a line of troops suddenly appeared behind the embankment on the opposite side, followed by the roar of iron cannons, which brought losses to Tsushima Bei thirty or forty men. According to the efficiency of ordinary iron cannons, it takes at least four or five hundred iron cannons to cause such a result...... Obviously, this is the main force of the Shimazu family!

Fortunately, I was prepared, and immediately raised the command flag, let the people of Tsushima Bei lie down on the spot, and the 800 naval iron artillery team on the river went ashore to shoot at the Shimazu family iron artillery team on the river embankment. At the same time, I ordered the ships Dinghai and Fubo to carry out three rounds of continuous artillery bombardment behind the embankment.

The power of the naval artillery was extremely amazing in this era, and even in the loud roar, the screams of the Shimazu army on the other side could be faintly heard, and the Shimazu iron artillery team on the river embankment also showed panic, although it was condescending, it was still suppressed by our iron artillery team. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Maeda Toshiie and others quickly jumped up and led the pikemen to storm the enemy on the river embankment, and soon beat the opponent to pieces.

At this time, the samurai and spearmen of the Shimazu family also rushed up the river embankment and engaged our pikemen. The fighting was fierce, with people on both sides falling and then people coming up. Clearly, both sides know that this embankment is the difference between victory and defeat.

Looking at the soldiers who kept falling, I was both surprised and heartbroken. The opponent's Ashigaru, after being beaten by naval guns, can still be on par with Tsushima Bei? And my Tsushima Bei, when did I suffer such a loss again?

At this point, I can only work hard to persevere, and then I will defeat the ambition of the Shimazu family. I believe that Tsushima has this ability, and I believe that Maeda Toshiie, Sawaki Yoshiyuki, and Iwamatsu Nobuyo will be able to make appropriate judgments and use their forces at the right time.

"I really didn't expect that the people of the Shimazu family were so tough!" I muttered.

Hearing my exclamation, the former minister of the Ito family and the lord of the Finance Department of Koyu Prefecture, Ochiai Minbu and Asahi owed a debt to me: "Report to His Royal Highness Kingo, in the military strength of the Shimazu family, even the spear team has a very high proportion of samurai, so the surname and combat power are very strong...... It was the first time that the foreign minister had seen that there was an army that could have the upper hand over the Shimazu army in the inferior terrain...... The military strength of the Kira family is really worthy of its name! ”

"How much can it be?" I asked, frowning.

"It's almost thirty percent," Ochiai thought for a moment, "and sometimes it's as high as sixty percent...... Six years ago, in the Battle of Kakuto, the Shimazu family resisted our 3,000 troops with 300 men, including more than 180 samurai, and as a result, 150 people were killed in the battle, and almost all the troops were wiped out. ”

"But the Shimazu family won after all." I sighed. The Battle of Kakudo is the name of the Ito family (their target is Kakudo Castle of the Shimazu family), and the Battle of Kisakihara is called the Battle of Kisakihara on the side of the Shimazu family, commanded by Shimazu Yoshihiro, and it is a tragic battle in Shimazu Yoshihiro's life along with the Battle of Luliang and the Sekigahara Breakout. In that battle, 257 of the Shimazu family's 300 troops were killed, but 810 of the Ito family were killed, and Ito's main generals, including Ito Yoshisuke's two remaining cousins, Ito Yuyasu and Ito Yushin (the ancestor of Ito Yuhiro, commander of the combined fleet in the First Sino-Japanese Naval War), were all killed. And it was after that war that the Ito family's prestige plummeted and began to lose control of the country.

As for the ratio of 30 percent of the samurai, it is understandable, as long as you think about it, it is not surprising how many divisions, how many tribes, and how many Shu clans the Shimazu family has...... And this ratio is indeed very impressive, almost higher than all the other families in the Warring States Period. For example, according to the military service account released three years ago, among the 20,000 troops, there are 97 samurai families, plus Kenshin's direct samurai, the total number is about 2,000, accounting for about 10% of the total number of military forces, which is much lower than that of the Shimazu family.

It was precisely because of such an astonishing proportion of samurai that the Shimazu family was invincible, sweeping almost all of Kyushu, and earning Yoshihiro the nickname "Onishi Manzi" ("Shi Manzi" is the name of the Ming army for Shimazu). And if the Shimazu family really seized Kyushu and diluted the samurai of the family to various places, they could firmly control the domicile territory, but unfortunately in the end the Shimazu family only obtained two countries and one county to settle down, although a large number of samurai turned into rural samurai who worked as farmers, but they were still overwhelmed by the huge expenses and attendance expenses. By the end of the Edo period, the Shimazu family had an astronomical debt of 5 million kan, and had to resort to the trick of "250 years of installments" to repay the debts to Osaka merchants, and then develop modern industries to save themselves...... "Father, we have occupied the embankment!" Satake Nobuki suddenly exclaimed excitedly.

"Really?" I lifted up my eyes, and behold, this was the case. On the opposite side of the embankment, the Shimazu family's Kuromimaru cross flag can no longer be seen, and it is obvious that it is occupied by the Tsushima Bei of the own side, and the follow-up troops on the river are landing one after another, pouring towards the embankment.

(To be continued)