"Since Yagata-sama (referring to Masayo) has no intention of attacking with the family, it is understandable that I am below." After receiving a detailed report from Tao Zhichang, Tao Longfang immediately called the Luo family's envoy Muzo Shigetada, who returned to the Yamaguchi Ouchi Pavilion of Zhou Fangguo with Tao Zhichang, and said, "As for the matter of Tsushima Island, please go back and inform Yagata that the family will never intervene." ”

At this time, Tao Longfang was hoping that the Luo family would immediately fall into a battle with Tsushima Island. Moreover, since the Toyoura-gun and Kanmon Strait in Nagato Province were occupied by the Luo family, due to the cutting off of the waterway, the Ouchi family has long lost contact with Tsushima Island, and the previous support agreement of the Ouchi family for Tsushima Island has also become invalid, and Tao Longfang will not have a bad relationship with the Luo family because of Tsushima Island, which has lost its effect.

So after sending Muzo Shigezhong back to the Luo family, Tao Longfang also began to prepare for a decisive battle with Maori Motoji with confidence. And the news that the Luo family was about to make a move on Tsushima Island and the Saeki family of Bungo Province also quickly reached the ears of Aki Kuni's Mori Motosho.

"Good!" The Luo family, who was most feared by him, was about to fall into another battlefield at this time, which was definitely a good thing for him, so he seemed very happy.

"What is the reward for the envoys sent to various parts of Kyushu?" Mao Liyuan immediately asked.

"Both the Saeki family and the Ito family agreed to the request to unite with the main family, but the Shimazu family did not immediately reply." Kouyu Tongliang immediately replied.

"Is the Shimazu family still the same as last time? Being too cautious will only make you miss out on opportunities. Maori Yuan said.

"My lord, the envoy of this family has discovered something interesting in the territory of the Shimazu family." Toshira Kuchiyu continued.

"It's kind of fun to be able to surprise you."

"Huh. Lord. Tell the truth. His Majesty was really a little surprised by this. ”

"Oh?" Now the Maori Yuan is really surprised.

"The lord doesn't know, this time the envoy of the family went to the Shimazu family, but he found a large number of Ming people in the local area."

"Ming people?"

"No, to be precise, those are pirates from the Ming Kingdom. And these pirates have a lot of iron cannons and other Ming materials in their hands, and if necessary, they can even hire them to fight. At this time, the Shimazu family was engaged in such a trade with them. The envoy of the main family also secretly inquired that the Shimazu family even sent people to follow those Ming pirates out to rob. He got a lot of material wealth. ”

"What do you mean?" Hearing this, Mao Liyuan already somewhat understood the meaning of Kouyu Tongliang.

"Yes, my lord, my family can also trade with them. In particular, the trade in iron cannons has been too long since they were made locally, and even if the family personally sent people to Kyoto, Sakai Town, and other places, they were unable to purchase enough iron cannons, but those pirates had a large number of iron cannons in their hands, and the family happened to trade with them. Kouyu Tongliang said immediately.

"Not bad!" After listening to Toryo Kuruma's suggestion, Mao Liyuan also said. "Even the family instigated these pirates to oppose the Luo family, using the sea area occupied by these pirates. Sooner or later, there will be a conflict with the Luo family's water army, and the family is just trying to provoke their relationship. ”

"The lord is wise!" Seeing that Mao Liyuan thought of these things so quickly, Kouyu Tongliang patted the ass at the right time.

"It's just that if you want to trade with these pirates, you must have a safe waterway, and if you want to have a safe waterway, then you must first master the Seto Inland Sea, and then the decisive battle with the Tao family will be crucial." Mao Liyuan's voice immediately changed, and he returned to the matter of the upcoming decisive battle with the Tao family.

"In that case, then simply make the Luo family a little busier, pass the order, and let the family lurking in the Luo family's territory do their best to spread rumors and incite the people in the Luo family's territory."

"Huh? Lord, in this way, it is likely to cause heavy losses to the fine work of the family within the Luo family! After hearing Maori Moto's decision, Toryo Kuchiwa was immediately taken aback. It's not like they've never done something like this, but the last time it was because of this that most of the Maori family details who had been mixed into the Luo family's territory as outcasts were discovered, and most of the personnel were eventually arrested. It is said that the final fate of these people is very miserable, and what makes Kouyu Tongliang feel even more helpless is that even if so many people are sacrificed, the impact on the Luo family in the end is still limited.

"Are you worried that this time will be the same as the last one, and it won't cause trouble to the Luo family?" Mao Liyuan also saw Kouyu Tongliang's doubts at this time, so he simply mentioned it himself, "This time the situation is different from the last time. The Luo family only captured part of the Fengqian Kingdom and the Fenggo Kingdom last year, and this time these areas will definitely bring a lot of trouble to the Luo family. ”

"The lord is wise!" was mentioned by Maori Yuan like this, and Kouyu Tongliang immediately understood.

Under normal circumstances, against the average wealthy family, Mao Liyuan will really succeed in this strategy. It's just that Mao Liyuan didn't know the law of the Luo family, and he didn't know that Masarashi Akabane had arranged for the military advisor Shinnosuke Akabane to prevent this situation from happening. So this time, Mao Liyuan is destined to suffer a big loss, and even lose the intelligence network of the Luo family because of this, and the monitoring of the Luo family's situation has become blind.

"What about the situation at the Izumo Kuni Niko's house?" After learning about the situation of the Luo family, Mao Liyuan immediately inquired about the situation of the Nizi family.

"My lord, please rest assured, under the rumors that the family arranged for the Izumo Province and Harima Province to be a fine work, it seems that Niko Haruhisa is really dissatisfied with the 'blatant contempt' of his Akamatsu family and the Urakami family, and has even begun to mobilize the army, preparing to go to Harima Province to teach the Akamatsu family and the Urakami family a lesson." Kouyu Tongliang immediately replied with a little joy.

"Good!" After hearing this, Mao Liyuan also nodded in satisfaction and said, "What about the situation on the side of the Murakami Navy and the Kono family?" ”

"Mishima (Kurishima, Nojima, and Injima, Murakami Takeyoshi is the heir of the original Nojima Navy) has agreed to the family's request, and the Kono family is afraid that they will not be able to come out. Because they were in the middle of a battle with the Xitu temple family at this time. ”

"The in-laws couldn't even come (after Yoshitaka Ouchi was killed.) In order to form an alliance with the Kono family. Mori Moto married his daughter into the Kono family. The Kono family has always been at odds with the Ouchi family, and now the Mori Yuan is dealing with the Tao family, which represents the Ouchi family, and even if the Kono family can't send troops to help, they will let the water army attached to the Kono family support the Mori family. And the Luo family's Kunatsu came out of this fleet that can be called the Kono family's naval army)? That's a bit of a pity. It's just that it's good to be able to get the support of the Mishima Water Army. After listening to the report of Kouyu Tongliang, Mao Liyuan pondered for a while, and then said.

"Since everything is developing according to the original expectations of the family! Tao Longfang, then let's have a good battle between the two of us. "Looking out the window at the beautiful mountain scenery. Mao Liyuan couldn't help but shout in his heart.

In the first year of Hongzhi (1555), perhaps because of the natural disasters in the previous two years, each family had to focus on their homes, and now they finally encountered a normal year, so the powerful and powerful finally couldn't hold back and began to be restless. Fierce battles also broke out in various parts of the western country.

In May, when spring ploughing was coming to an end, it was Tosa Province of Shikoku that first broke out into war. In the past few years, the strength of the family has gradually skyrocketed, and under the leadership of the family governor Changzong and my family, the family began to attack his enemy Benshan family. The two sides fought fiercely back and forth on the border of the two territories.

The same is the Shikoku region. In order to avenge the sudden attack at the beginning of the year, the most wise and brave family governor in the history of the Saitoji family, Saitoji Minoru also led a large army and began to enter the territory of the Kono family and the Ohno family. When the Kono family and the Ohno family learned about it, they immediately jointly sent troops to meet it.

In June, on Itsukushima Island in the coastal area of the Seto Inland Sea of Aki Province, shrouded in the clouds of war, Mori Motosato's Miyao Castle was completed, and Mori Mototo's Mori Mototo's Castle was completed, and Mori Moto's Mori Moto's command of 600 soldiers to hold on, while the rest of the men and horses remained unmoved.

Also in June, the Sixth Standing Ashigaru Team of the Luo Family of Bungo Province in Kyushu, with the assistance of some of the Fourth Standing Naval Army of the Luo Family, began to march to half of Kaibe County in the southern region of Bungo Province. The Saeki family, who were entrenched here, immediately faced the battle and asked for help from the Ito family. For a time, the two sides fought fiercely.

In August, the Luo family's navy, which had already assembled a large number of naval warships along the coast of Iki Island, finally began to march to Tsushima Island. The Tsushima clan, who had been prepared for a long time, also immediately sent their own naval army to meet it. The two sides met in the Tsushima Strait, and the first battle began. But in the end, it ended in a small victory for the Luo family. After the defeat, the Zong family quickly fled back to Tsushima.

And the Luo family's sailors did not take advantage of the victory to pursue, but instead returned to the base on Iki Island. Later, from the news of the Luo family, everyone learned that the Luo family's navy was preparing to wait for the rest of the navy to arrive, and then launch a general attack on Tsushima Island at one time.

On September 20, the autumn harvest had been over for more than ten days, and the army of the Luo family, which had finally been fully concentrated, also began to set out from Iki Island and attack Tsushima Island. On September 21, that is, the second day of the Luo family's naval army to Tsushima Island, Tao Longfang raised the flag at the Yongxing Temple of the Iwaku Kingdom, gathering a total of more than 20,000 troops from the Zhou Defense State and the Nagato State, and taking more than 500 naval ships, Tao Longfang himself led the first wave of the army, while Hongzhong Takabao led the follow-up troops to stand by in the Iwakuni Province, and slaughtered Itsukushima in a mighty manner, preparing to take the Maori family in one fell swoop.

The Daiki warships of the Tao family made their way through the narrow waters of Ono Seto between Itsukushima and the coastal land of Azumi Province, and finally landed at a place called Omotoura, not far from the landing site was Miyao Castle, which was built by Mori Moto.

Tao Long Fang Zhi was full of pride, he looked at the big torii gate of Itsukushima Shrine standing in the tide in front of him, and looked back at the military appearance of the thousands of miles, and couldn't help but silently make a grand wish to the gods to win the war.

Immediately after landing, he gathered the generals who came with him for a pre-battle evaluation meeting. One of the retainers at the meeting first suggested, "The troops of Lord Hirochu Takabao are still in Iwakuni, should we bring their troops over first?" ”

"Hmm!" Tao Longfang also nodded in agreement immediately after hearing this. In fact, he still thought at this time that even with the troops that landed this time, he would be able to take down the castle built by the Maori family in front of him. Since a retainer mentioned the Hongzhong Longbao troops, he immediately ordered all the naval ships that came this time to turn back immediately, and then transport the Hongzhong Longbao troops over, and the landing place was still Dayuanpu.

After deciding on the matter of the Hongzhong Takabao troops. Tao Longfang then asked, "Everyone." Whether to wait for the successor echelon of Hongzhong Mikawa Mamoru to come up. Shall we attack Miyao Castle together? At this time, Tao Longfang is no longer known as the "Western General" of the glory, because of the need to take into account the emotions of the wealthy families who were finally recovered by him, before he makes a decision, he must also consider the opinions of the wealthy families, so there will be such a scene.

With Tao Longfang's question, Miura Fangqing, the general of the Tao family's army, immediately said: "My lord, the Maori army's army is weak, and some time ago, I led the navy to attack Renbao Island. Kagawa, the general of the Maori side, collapsed without a fight, and our army did not have to wait for the arrival of Mamoru Mikawa, but could directly cross the shrine and camp at the high ground "Tanooka", and then attack Miyao Castle. ”

Miura Fangqing's suggestion was exactly in the hands of Tao Longfang, because of the turtle defense strategy shown by the Maori army before, he was a little contemptuous of the Maori family. In fact, Hongzhong Takabao was right about one thing at the beginning, that is, the fiasco of Origoba was completely caused by the poor strength of the Tao family army along the way. Now he is in charge in person, and he has so many elite soldiers under his command. Naturally, there is no need to worry about the tricks of the Maori family. Moreover, Hongzhong Longbao has opposed his strategy many times before, and Tao Longfang also wants to take the opportunity before Hongzhong Longbao arrives at this time. Take down Miyao Castle easily, as a good way to humiliate Hirochu Takaho.

In view of this situation, Tao Longfang immediately agreed to Miura Fangqing's suggestion, and the army began to cross Itsukushima Shrine and began to build a main camp at Tanooka.

Ta no Oka is a pine shrub-covered plateau located behind Itsukushima Shrine, named after the five-storied Buddhist pagoda on it, where the first landing party of Tatakabo set up camp and immediately launched an attack on Miyao Castle without waiting for the arrival of Hirochu Takaho's successors.

Because the area from Tanooka to Miyao Castle is mostly a narrow terrain of dense forests and white sand, Tao Longfang carefully divided the whole army into three fronts: the first line of attack troops, laid in front of the main temple of Tanooka, this line of troops demolished all the houses around Tanooka, and pulled up a winding fence in the front line, laid dense wooden piles, and began to attack Miyao Castle; The second line is arranged along the Bell Hall, Tabaogang, Daishonin Temple, and Shiwang Hall; Behind the tower of the mountain (Mishan) and the Koma forest, Tao Longfang arranged a three-line army to protect the back and flanks; In the end, Tao Longfang also ordered hundreds of warships to cross the line from Omotopo to Suyaura, and the ships were connected with iron cables in an attempt to isolate the Maori army's landing support on Itsukushima.

Looking at the tower of the Gang, the banner of the Tao family's army, and the red maple leaves all over the hill reflect each other, the shouts of the soldiers in array, and the roar of the tide correspond to each other, which makes Tao Longfang a little stupid, as if he is in a dream. After the arrangements were made, the Tao Long room standing in the tower of the Oka Tower, the unparalleled general of the Western Kingdom, waved the military fan and sent a signal to the whole army to storm Miyao Castle!

"As long as I capture Miyao Castle and eliminate the Maori family, I, Tao Longfang, will still be the hero of the re-rejuvenation of Ouchi - His Royal Highness Lord Gongyi Takashi, Gorou I have done, I don't ask for your forgiveness, but I ask you to understand."

It's just that to Tao Longfang's surprise, Miyao Castle's resistance is not as vulnerable as Miura Fangqing said, but it is extremely resolute. Originally, according to the estimation of the Tao family's army, the guards of Miyao Castle were five or six hundred people from the wealthy families of the newly descended Maori family, including Jifei and Xinli. But what the Tao army did not expect was that before the war, the scheming Maori Yuan had already ordered the important minister Fukuhara Sadatoshi to lead dozens of elite soldiers into the city, called to help the war, in fact, it was the role of the supervising team, under the encouragement and intimidation of Fukuhara and others, the defenders of Miyao City actually took one as ten, and they were not afraid to fight, especially the young assistant of the new palace in Xinli, this monarch had a strange power, and had previously stored a lot of boulders and rolling logs in the city, and when defending the city, these things were easily thrown to the Tao army besieging the city like "bird feathers", and as a result, "the wooden shield of the Tao army was shattered, invincible".

In addition, Maori Yuan built a city here at the end of the palace, and its location choice itself is extremely old and spicy, this place is surrounded by the sea on three sides, full of tidal flats and dense forests, and the Tao family army can only attack the city on one side, and the large army can not be deployed at all. As a result, after two days of fighting, the Tao family's army suffered heavy casualties, but Miyao Castle stood tall.

At this time, Hongzhong Longbao's successor troops finally arrived, and Tao Longfang's face was of course a little unbearable, but he also took the initiative to ask: "Mikawa Shou, what do you think about this?" "Tao Longfang's military talent is indeed good, but the strategy is very average (this can be seen from its several calculations by Maoli Yuan, to put it mildly, that is, EQ and IQ are not good), and Hongzhong Longbao has always played the role of a military advisor in his family, so now he has no choice but to ask Hongzhong Longbao what to do next.

On Maruyama in Tamanooka, Hirochuka looked at Miyao Castle and the terrain on all sides of Tagaoka, and finally said, "Your Highness Zenmen (Tao Takabobo), Your Majesty's advice is that the attack on Miyao Castle should not be stopped, and the sooner you take it down, the better." In addition, the tail of the game behind the tower is a mountain peak that can attack our army from a high position, please allow your subordinates to move to the other side to strengthen the security of the right flank. ”

Tao Longfang saw that Hongzhong Longbao did not dismantle his own platform this time, but offered suggestions, and most of the resentment in his heart disappeared, and immediately approved his plan. In the next few days, the Tao army changed its attack strategy, using a surprise attack team to drain the water source of Miyao Castle, and using the tactics of digging tunnels to destroy the walls of Miyao Castle. For a while, Miyao Castle was in danger! (To be continued......)