The Han army's attack was sudden, and now the matter of the four feudal clans such as the Satsuma Domain returning to the Han Dynasty has not been revealed. Therefore, the staff officer estimated that since Kuroda had abandoned the city and fled, he was most likely to flee south.

After all, there were several large feudal domains of Kyushu in the south, and at the same time, the south was far away from the Han military concessions such as Hirado and Tsushima in the northwest. If you want to run, of course, you have to run to the house of your powerful companions, and you have to stay away from the enemy.

Liu Yunsheng just smiled.

"Kuroda has already run away, don't worry about him, the task given to you by this commander is to lead your troops deep into the territory of the Fukuoka Domain, and bring all the people of Fukuoka to Hakata Port."

"Then Kuroda let him run?"

"If you want to run, of course it's not that easy. Don't forget, the southwest of Fukuoka is the Nabeshima clan of the Saga Domain, and this Nabeshima clan is now our man. ”

Kuroda ran very fast, fleeing all the way south, and ran straight to the castle of the Arima family of the Kurume Domain before finally stopping.

In Kurume Castle, Kuroda told Arima Toyotomi the news of the Han army's massive raid on Fukuoka.

During the Muromachi period of the Kurume Domain and the Warring States period, it was the territory of the Portuguese Pond clan, and during the reign of Toyotomi, it was the territory of Kobayakawa Hidebo, and after the Battle of Sekigahara, Hidebo supported the Western Army to confiscate the territory. At the beginning of the Edo period, it was the territory of Tanaka Yoshimasa, and the castle was sent to govern it. Later, Tadamasa Tanaka died of illness and had no children to inherit. The shogunate moved Arima Arima Toyotomi here.

Hearing that the Han army was attacking Fukuoka in a big way, Arima Toyotomi was taken aback.

As Kuroda prepared to retreat south, Arima Toyotomi begged him and his men to stay.

"The most advantageous thing for the Han people is the cannons of the strong ships, and when they get inland, they can't rely on it, and Brother Kuroda stays with us, so I immediately sent people to Kumamoto and Satsuma to ask for help, and notified the shogunate to send troops to help."

Arima Toyotomi hopes to fight the Han army here and thwart the arrogance of the Han army.

Kuroda thought for a moment. He planned to stay here for the time being, waiting for reinforcements, and he also hoped that when the reinforcements came, they could recover Fukuoka for him.

When Arima Toyotomi sent people to ask for help from Kumamoto and Satsuma, he also sent people to ask for help from several nearby domains, including the Saga domain to the west.

After sending a rescue courier. The Arima clan summoned the samurai and peasants of the clan to prepare for war.

As a result, not long after the messenger was dispatched, the lord of the Saga domain, Nabeshima Katsushige, came with reinforcements, and not only Nabeshima Katsushige himself arrived, but also the three feudal lords of the Nabeshima family of the Saga Domain, the three branch feudal lords of the Hasuike Domain, the Ojo Domain, and the Kashima Domain, also came with their own people.

Seeing that Nabeshima had 20,000 reinforcements, Kuroda was very happy.

Just as he was about to ask someone to open the city gate, Arima Toyotomi stopped him.

"Something is not quite right, our messenger has just been out for a short time, according to the time. At most, at most, the Nabeshima family has just arrived in Saga, and it is impossible for the Nabeshima family to come so soon, not to mention that they have brought so many soldiers and horses, which is almost all the strength of the Nabeshima clan, something is wrong, something is wrong. ”

As soon as he said this, Kuroda also sensed that there was a problem.

The Nabeshima clan came too quickly, and they brought too many soldiers. It seems that they have already assembled their troops, and even the messenger may not have arrived in Saga yet. They have already set off.

When Arima Toyotomi had doubts, he refused to open the door.

He ordered the gates to be closed, shouted in the city, and asked Nabeshima Katsushige to camp outside the city.

Nabeshima Katsushige sent someone back, saying that he could let the soldiers and horses camp outside, but he had to let the generals of the Nabeshima family enter the city. As a result, Arima Toyotomi still refused.

"It seems that they already suspect us, since the plan can't be taken, let's attack!" Nabeshima Katsushige is a lot older, he participated in the war of aggression against Korea, and he has already achieved a reputation on the Korean battlefield that year. At this time, I also knew that something must have gone wrong. He came in such a hurry, but he was also worried that he was afraid that Kuroda Youchen and the two guys of the Ma clan would abandon the city and flee to the Kumamoto domain, if the three feudal clans were to meet, it would be a big force.

After just attaching himself to the Great Han and seeing the great strength of the Great Han, now Nabeshima Katsushige is already anxious to express his loyalty and ability to the Great Han Emperor.

Nabeshima Katsushige pretended to agree, and then didn't tear his face right away, just let his subordinates set up a camp and store the supplies they carried.

With this action, he wanted to paralyze Arima and Kuroda again.

That night, Nabeshima did not attack at night, but let his subordinates rest for a night.

They slept soundly that night, but Arima and Kuroda in the city had some sleepless nights.

"Are we wrong to blame Nabeshima Katsushige, they are really here to support us?"

But the two did not dare to be careless, so they had to let the soldiers in the city take turns to defend the city, but in the morning, everyone was exhausted, but nothing happened.

Arima Toyotomi and Kuroda Tadayuki stared at each other with red eyes, and some looked at each other.

Just when someone was discussing whether to send someone to send some wine and meat to reward the soldiers and horses of the Nabeshima family, and at the same time to spy on the information, the Saga clan suddenly attacked.

The one who personally commanded the attack was Nabeshima Katsushige, an old man in his sixties, but at this time he was holding a military fan and standing under the city to command.

Seeing this scene, Kuroda Tadayuki and Arima Toyotomi finally understood that their previous suspicions were correct, and the angry two scolded Nabeshima while personally putting on armor and going to the castle to command the defense.

With two men in command, the morale of the defenders in the city was greatly boosted. In addition, it was the Saga Domain that attacked, and it was not the Han Chinese, who were rumored to be extremely brave and ferocious, but they returned fire mercilessly at the soldiers of the Saga Domain.

After half a morning, the offensive of the Saga clan made no progress.

On the other hand, the defenders of the Fukuoka and Kurume domains in the castle killed and wounded many soldiers of the Saga domain with the help of the castle and its artillery, muskets, and bows and arrows.

The defenders weren't happy for long, though.

The situation quickly turned.

By noon, a Han army arrived, and it was none other than the marines from Fukuoka, who were only a reconnaissance battalion. They rushed here to reconnoiter the battle and found that the Saga army was besieging the Kurume and Fukuoka domains, and after a long time of unsuccessful attack, they generously expressed their willingness to help in the battle.

Although the reconnaissance cavalry battalion was a reconnaissance cavalry and was not equipped with much heavy firepower, it still had mountain grenades and cavalry artillery, especially since they still had a few mortars that were not heavy.

Mortar because of its short body and large mouth, so that the weight is very light, and because of its large elevation angle of fire, this kind of cannon is sometimes very effective when dealing with some obstacles behind the target, of course, this kind of cannon is the most powerful siege.

However, this kind of cannon has a short range, and it has to be close to the city to attack.

Although in the eyes of the Han army. Mortars were only a firepower supplement, but for the Saga Domain, they were a siege weapon.

The Japanese in the city also had artillery, but the artillery was already very backward artillery, belonging to the old artillery of the Ming Dynasty, and it was not powerful. Low accuracy and slow rate of fire.

The reconnaissance cavalry battalion directly set up an artillery position on the west side of the city, although it was only some mountain grenades, cavalry guns, mortars and other light firepower for the Han army, but as soon as it fired, it caused great damage to the defenders in the city.

In the afternoon, with the artillery support of the reconnaissance cavalry battalion, the city gate was in danger.

Arima Toyotomi stood at the head of the castle, trying to boost morale again, but his dazzling black armor caught the attention of the scout battalion.

Such a special armor looks like a Japanese general.

The commander of the reconnaissance battalion immediately brought in a squad of blockers. There are a lot of such good shooters in the reconnaissance battalion.

Soon, more than a dozen blockers opened fire on the black-armored general with their rifles, and Arima Toyotomi was immediately hit by more than a dozen bullets, almost none of which missed, and even one bullet directly hit him in the eye, shooting him in the head, making him unable to die again.

As soon as Arima Toyotomi died, the morale of the defenders collapsed.

Tadayuki Kuroda still wants to hold on. But the defenders only held out for half a day before the gates were breached. Nabeshima Katsushige commanded the soldiers of the Saga Domain to rush into the city in one fell swoop.

A scuffle in the city. The Saga army occupies Kurume Castle.

Nabeshima Katsushige took Kurume Castle and made a contribution to breaking the city, and his heart was happy, and after entering the city, he did not dare to condone his subordinates to slaughter and loot the city. The Emperor of Han had already issued a military order prohibiting the massacre of a single Japanese citizen.

Han Tianzi has a saying. Japan is a great Han vassal state, and the Japanese people are all my people, and killing one of the Japanese people is like cutting off my hands and feet. All the Japanese people, I will take them back to Middle-earth to live and work in peace and contentment.

However, for Nabeshima and other surrenders to the Japanese army. They are fighting for the big Han, and Liu Jun will not treat them badly. For every city they captured, they received a percentage of the city's possessions. In addition, every time the emperor of the Han Dynasty rescues a Japanese citizen from the traitor Tokugawa clan, he can get a reward of two silver dollars after handing it over to the Han!

Therefore, for Nabeshima, after conquering Kurume Castle, of course, it is not possible to plunder and slaughter the castle. For every silver dollar stolen, there was a dime in it. For every Japanese man he killed, he lost two silver dollars.

He still calculated this account very clearly.

As for whether those Japanese people were really taken to Middle-earth to live and work in peace and contentment after he handed over these people to the Han Dynasty, Nabeshima didn't believe it and didn't care.

All he cared about was that everyone could get two silver dollars after handing them over.

Although, in the end, he had to take out a part of the money from here to reward his subordinates, but he must have taken the lion's share.

Breaking through Kurume, Nabeshima Katsushige immediately ordered his subordinates to rob people, and tied up people when they saw them, regardless of old and young men and women. After arresting the people, and then confiscating the money and grain, these must be sealed first, and then they must be handed over to the emperor of the Han Dynasty first.

In this battle, many people died in the two feudal domains of Kurume and Fukuoka, and the casualties reached more than 1,000.

However, the population figures reported in the end made him very happy.

In Kurume Castle, more than 30,000 people were caught. Among them, there were thousands of family members and samurai of the two feudal clans, and there were also many young and strong people.

According to what the Son of Heaven told him, two silver dollars each, that is only the base price, regardless of the old, weak, women and children, it is worth at least two guaranteed prices. But if it's a craftsman or samurai, it can be improved, and if it's a young woman, it can also be increased.

With so many samurai and the families of the lords and samurai, this is a relatively valuable commodity, not to mention that there are many craftsmen in the city.

Nabeshima felt that he had made a fortune, the wealth of Kurume Castle, and the population of these people.

But that's not all, Kurume Castle is only a small part of the population of the Kurume Domain, and there are many people and a lot of wealth outside the castle.

Nabeshima will never let go of these, even if he can carve up the Tokugawa family's 1 million stone high-tech territory in the future, he will need a lot of money to recruit his own samurai and expand his army.

"Immediately send someone to arrest all the people in the Kurume Domain, and as long as they are alive, don't let any of them go. Also, bring back all those possessions! (To be continued.) )