In mid-March of the 18th year of Astronomy (1549), the Luo family officially went out to the Bungo Kingdom, and in just five days, the Otomo family, who could not react, lost a lot of territory.

First of all, the northwestern area of Naori-gun, which borders Aso County in Higo Province, was invaded by the Luo family, and half of Naori-gun was lost in an instant. Immediately afterwards, the main force of the army led by Luo Zhengliang, the governor of the Luo family, entered the southwestern region of Zhijin County in one fell swoop, and almost the remaining half of Zhijin County was also pocketed. And Hita County, which had been occupied by the Luo family last year, also began to go to the Otomo family's Kuju County.

It's just that after the Otomo family reacted quickly, the Luo family's offensive pace finally encountered obstacles. First of all, Masayo's army encountered the stubborn resistance of the Kita-Shiga clan, and it was impossible to immediately take the Kita-Shiga family's home city, Takajo, in a short period of time. Then the third army was hit by the empty city plan of the Otomo family's retainer Usuki Jiansu, which led to the important passage captured by its surprise soldiers to be opened by the Otomo family, and at this time, the reinforcements of the Otomo family were heading to the Jiaomu Li Castle in Jiuzhu County. And the second army of the Luo family, which was attacking Jiaomu Li City, was also resisted by the defenders of Jiaomu City at this time.

With the loss of the passage between the other territories of the Otomo family and Kakumurei Castle, Masarashi had to re-examine his next offensive plan.

According to the original plan, Masarashi planned to use Okajo as a base to take advantage of the situation to go downstream of the Ono River, occupy Ono County, and then enter Oita County in one fell swoop and approach the Fuuchikan, the ruling center of the Otomo family. This road is the main direction of the Luo family.

Masarashi chose this direction as his main attack, not only because the plains along the Ono River provided the quickest route for the march, but also because Ono was also home to the famous Kyushu Odaira Gold Mine.

This gold mine was discovered by the Otomo family three years ago, although it is called a gold mine. But in reality it is a mixed gold and silver mine. And silver is more than gold. Therefore, it is generally called Ohei Silver Mountain in later generations. A silver mountain that has only been developed for three years must still have a lot of gold and silver ore in it.

More importantly, the political conscience from later generations said that there was also a tin mine in the Ohei mine. This tin mine had been discovered in the process of gold mining the year before, but due to the technical skills and the fact that it could not be used, it did not attract the attention of the Otomo family (the Otomo family did not know its role until they cooperated with European missionaries). What Zhengliang knows more is that this tin mine is also accompanied by lead ore.

Lead ore is too important for the current Roche family. In the iron cannon and firearms production workshop that has been formed by the Roche family. At present, the most scarce raw materials are saltpeter, lead ore and iron ore (the main local minerals are copper ore, such as saltpeter and other ores are almost extinct, and lead ore and iron ore are also very rare). If the Odaira mine can be obtained, the source of lead ore will be greatly alleviated. Tin ore can also play a great role in the manufacture of weapons of the Roche family. Therefore, taking Ono County and thus occupying the ore of Odaira is also an important purpose of Masayo's strategy this time.

As for the Third Route Army, which occupied Kuju Town, and the Second Route Army, which was attacking Kakumuli Castle, it played a role in involving the main force of the Otomo family. Among them, the third road army occupies the other territories of the Otomo family, and the passage level to Kakumu Li City is particularly important. As long as it is stuck here, the isolated but containing the corpse of Otomo Yoshikan will become a bait to attract the Otomo family to increase their troops to rescue. It's just that with the loss of this checkpoint, Kakumu Rite City will no longer be an isolated city, and everyone in the Otomo family will naturally transport Otomo Yoshiken's body back to the Funai Pavilion as soon as possible, in this case. The bait effect of Jiaomu Li City disappeared, and the Otomo family could naturally deal with the Luo family calmly.

Until that time. The Luo family is caught in a stalemate with the Otomo family. But this is a situation that Zhengliang cannot accept, and it is also a situation that the Luo family cannot accept. The reason is that there is not much grain in the warehouse of the Roche family.

Years of war, especially last year's battle with the two coalition armies of Otomo and Ouchi, plus agricultural soldiers (such as logistics troops, soldiers temporarily recruited to guard the newly occupied city, etc.), the total number of troops mobilized by the Luo family has exceeded 40,000 people, and these people consume a lot of food every day. In addition, after the war, it was necessary to resettle new lords, relocate wealthy clans, receive new lords from neighboring Haoqiang, build marching roads, dismantle useless cities, reclaim new fields, and consume various expenses within the territory in peacetime, such as the consumption of materials in workshops and the payment of wages. A large amount of grain will be consumed in one day, so the grain in the warehouse of the Luo family's territory is about to run out.

This is also the reason why Masarashi only led an army of less than 10,000 people to invade the Otomo family this time, which is a relatively safe way for Masarashi to negotiate with several important ministers, which can not only prevent the supply of grain and grass from running out due to a slightly longer confrontation, but also barely maintain the normal operation of the territory until the arrival of the autumn harvest.

If the current situation continues, even if the Luo family maintains the territory they currently occupy and stops continuing to advance, the Otomo family will inevitably fight back with all their might, and from the perspective of the position of the ground, the newly occupied territory of the Luo family at this time is easy to suffer a large number of attacks, and if this continues, the confrontation battle that was originally avoided will begin. Once the time drags on too long, Masahiro estimates that he will have to withdraw from the fate of Fenghou, otherwise the grain and grass will run out, and then the Luo family's army will collapse without fighting, and it will even affect the stability of the territory such as Hizen, Feihou, Chikuhou and Chikuzen.

"That's all there is to it." After looking at the map in his hand and pondering for an afternoon, Masahiro finally patted a certain location on the map and said to himself. This map is a temporary map based on the memories of Masashi's descendants and information obtained from various wealthy families.

"Someone, please come over Yoshimi Irita." Masato then instructed the cloaked people outside the big tent. Historically, Yoshimi Irita was a guy who knew the times very well, and after the Otomo family began to decline at the Battle of Otogawa, it was he who took the initiative to surrender to the invading Shimazu family. And he also pulled up Shiga Jianlong, the governor of the Shiga family in the south of the country, who had played with him since he was a child and had a very good relationship.

And Masaliang's next plan is closely related to Nan Shiga's family. If you look at the map that Masato just put on Maza, you can see that Masato has drawn a straight line between Nanzan Castle and Kumamurai Castle in Oita Prefecture.

Yes, Masarashi prepared to take a dangerous march, starting directly from Nanshan Castle, and then crossing the Kurenju Mountain Range near Nanshan Castle, directly arriving at Kumamu Castle in Oita County, and directly inserting a knife in the heart of the Otomo family's territory. Reverse the strategic situation at this time in one fell swoop.

(In the last two days, there have been very few recommended votes every day, so I would like to ask for a recommendation vote!) (To be continued......)