Under the brave performance of the generals of the Luo family, after more than a month, the army of Jia Fei marched all the way, uprooting the blocking force along the road.

In the sixteenth year of astronomy (1547), in September, at the time of the autumn harvest, the army of Kai also killed Minamata Castle, the most important town in Weibei County.

Before the arrival of Kai's army, in order to strengthen the defense of Minamata Castle, the general of the castle, Inudo Ryan, gathered almost all the surrounding forces into Minamata Castle. At this time, Minamata Castle concentrated an army of nearly 1,000 people defending the city, while Kai's army of kinao had more than 4,000 people.

And while Inudo Ryan transferred all the guards on the Safi border to Minamata Castle, Aso Yuzen, who had been in charge of containing the castle army of Inudo Ryan near Minamata Castle, took the opportunity to seize Nakao Castle, a small town that controlled the entry and exit from Satsuma Izumi County from Reedita County.

Taking control of this castle can not only warn the invasion of the Shimazu family in the opposite Mizu-gun in advance, but also form a front and rear attack on Minamata Castle with Kai's pro-direct army.

The two armies faced each other, and a fierce cage battle immediately began. After several days of unsuccessful siege, Kai personally changed his siege strategy, suspending the siege and instead sending people to uproot all the forces near Minamata Castle first, and at the same time drove the families of the defenders of the castle to Minamata Castle, and shouted under the castle every day to persuade his relatives in the castle to surrender.

During this period, the two sides experienced several fierce cage battles, but they still failed to distinguish between the superior and the superior, and the people in the city failed to repel the people outside the city, and the people outside the city failed to conquer Minamata Castle.

The fierce battle lasted for several months, and it was almost the end of the year. In accordance with the agreement with Zhengliang, Jia Fei personally transported a large number of the Luo family's proprietary siege weapons through the naval army of the Luo family, which had completely controlled the eight generations. Prepare to take Minamata Castle in one fell swoop.

The reason why these siege weapons were not immediately used before. First, the morale of the defenders in the city is booming. Even if these weapons were used to force the siege, it was estimated that the casualties would be heavy.

Second, Masahiro hopes to use this war to train the newly formed Seventh Standing Ashigaru Team. Although this team also adopts the method of bringing the old with the new, and draws some veterans from other teams into the new team as the leader, so as to promote the rapid growth of the recruits, but the recruits in the team still occupy most of them after all, and it is just the right time to use this battle of Nanfeihou to exercise.

The third is that Jia Fei intends to use the siege war to weaken the power of the local wealthy clans. This is also approved by Zhengliang. It's just that winter is about to begin. The weather is getting colder, which is very unfavorable for the war, so both Kai and Masashi hope to end the war as soon as possible.

At this time, the morale of the defenders in the city actually dropped greatly. The main reason is that it is about to enter winter, and if the other party still relies on the outside of the city and does not retreat, their spring ploughing next year will be in vain. You must know that because of the war, they have already missed this year's autumn harvest, and if they miss next year's spring ploughing, then the army outside the city will retreat. They will also be preparing to eat the northwest wind next year.

Just as Kai himself sharpened his sword and prepared to launch a general attack on Minamata Castle, a mysterious person entered Kai's military camp with a handwritten order from Masayo. After a short stop. He went to Minamata Castle again, and was given the opportunity to enter Minamata Castle.

Two days later, the gates of Minamata Castle were opened, and Minamata Castle, which had been held for several months, finally surrendered the castle under the decision of the general who defended the castle, Inudo Ryan. This is a happy ending.

And the mysterious person in charge of persuading the surrender this time is none other than the former Sagara family's retainer Uemura Nagashige. Previously, his brother Uemura Yorixing tried to poison him, but he was saved by the ninjas of the Luo family who secretly protected him. After learning that Sagara Yoshiji had died in Eagle Peak City, he became a retainer of the Luo family. Before coming to Minamata Castle, he had been assisting the Luo family's internal affairs cabinet in the area occupied by the Luo family in Yatsushiro County and Kuma County to take over the territory.

When he learned of the situation in Minamata Castle, he immediately asked Masato to go and persuade him to surrender. After all, Ryan, the dog boy in Minamata Castle, can be regarded as his best friend, and he can't watch the dog boy Ryan be killed. So there was a dog boy, Ryan, who later surrendered the city.

With the fall of Minamata Castle, only the area of Higashi-gun was left unconquered. It's just that at this time, Higashikuma County has formed an alliance against Kai's pro-direct army, and even recruited the Kitahara family of Minamisatsuma and the Ito family of Hyuga as backers, plus the army has been fighting continuously for more than half a year, it has gradually become tired, and the weather has begun to get cold again, which is not conducive to the battle of the army, and finally Masara had to temporarily give up the plan to continue to attack Higashikuma County, and was ready to leave it for the next year.

Taking advantage of this armistice, Masarashi once again changed the location of the relevant team.

The 7th Standing Ashigaru Brigade led by Kai Qinnao, Takasaka Masanobu, Yoshikawa Kokei, and Uemura Hontsuna, based in Minamihigo, the specific division of labor is as follows, Kai Jinnao and Yoshikawa Kokei lead 200 standing garrisons to Takatsuka Castle in Yatsuro County; Masanobu Takasaka led 200 standing garrisons to Minamata Castle in Reedhoku County, and at the same time divided his troops to guard Nakao Castle bordering Izumizu Castle in Izumi-gun, Satsuma, and Oniyama Castle on the border with Oguchi-jo Castle in Izumi-gun; Uemura Hontsuna led a hundred standing guards and a part of the temporarily recruited peasant soldiers to guard Hitoyoshijo.

The third standing team of the navy, the general station was changed to Yatsushiro Castle near the mouth of the Kuma River in Yashiro County, Minami Higo, in addition to this place, the team will be divided into several teams, stationed in Fukae Castle in Unan Hizen Kogen County, Sumoto Castle in Amakusa County, Shiki Castle, Kutama Castle, the main protection area is the Ariake Sea, Shimabara Bay, Tachibana Bay, Amakusa Beach and Yatsushiro Sea, to guard against threats from the sea, especially the sea threats from the Higo wealthy clans opposite Shimabara Bay and the Yatsushiro Sea and Satsuma Sea, At the same time, it is responsible for collecting a certain amount of tolls from merchant ships passing through the waters where they are located, and ensuring the safety of these ships.

In addition, this time in the battle under the castle of Yashiro, a lot of Sagara family naval ships were also captured, so Masarashi also expanded the naval army.

The number of the first squadron of the navy was increased from 500 to 600, and in terms of ships, there were 160 ships and 50 ships. The main generals are Sun Goro and Murakami Jun, and the deputy generals are Oyano Tanemitsu and Kamitsuura Tanekyo, and the station is the harbor of the former Hakuda Navy in Karatsu Bay, and is responsible for the defense of the sea area that can only be seen along the coast from Karatsu Bay to Kabe Island in Huko Bay, mainly to guard against some pirates along the coast and the threat of sea forces from Iki and Chikuzen. At the same time, it is also responsible for collecting a certain amount of tolls from merchant ships passing through the waters where they are located, and ensuring the safety of these ships.

The number of the second standing squad of the navy has also increased from 500 to 600, 190 Kozao and 65 ships, the main commander is Shuna Tsuchi, the deputy will be Fukuda Kanji, Kamitsuura Shigesada, and the stations are Hirado Port in Matsuura County, Shiroyama Castle in Goto, Egawa Castle in Goto, and Fukuda Castle in Biki-gun, and the main protection areas are the waters of Hirado Island, the waters of Goto, and the coast of the Nagasaki Peninsula, to guard against threats from the sea, especially the threat of naval forces in the Satsuma direction, and if necessary, to support the first and second sides in a timely manner. The Third Standing Naval Brigade is also responsible for collecting certain tolls from merchant ships passing through the waters where they are located, and ensuring the safety of these ships.

As for the third standing squad of the navy, the standing reserve of 600 people remained unchanged, 180 ships and 70 ships. The main will be Tao Masatora and Murakami Takeyoshi, and the deputy will be Oyano Tanego and Uku Junsada.

The surrendered generals, on the other hand, were also accommodated.

Among them, under the persuasion of the head of the village, Fukamizu Seken and Fukazu Sekata also finally decided to join the Luo family. Ken Fukasuzu became the commissioner of the Luo family, and was sent to Hizen Province to assist Togo Heiji in managing Hizen's civil and agricultural affairs. Fukami Sekata also became the commissioner of the Luo family, and was sent to Chikugo Province to assist Haruki Arima in managing Chikugo's civil and agricultural affairs.

Even Fukasui Seken, the son of Ken Fukamizu, who became the pillar of the Sagara family in the future, was also used by Masara in advance and became the commissioner of the Luo family, staying in Higo Province to assist Nabeshima Kiyoya in managing Higo's civil and agricultural affairs.

Assisting the Luo family in attacking Kuma County, and sending troops to rescue the retainers of the Sagara family who were under house arrest in Hitoyoshi Castle, so that Uemura Yoriko was caught off guard, also became the Luo family's commissioner, and stayed in Higo Province to assist Nabeshima Kiyobo in managing Higo's civil and agricultural affairs.

At the same time, in order to reward him for his previous contributions to the Luo family, Masara not only kept his original territory, but even gave him another territory in Chikugo Province.

Similar to Sagara Jiyori, Uemura Nagashige also became the official of the Luo family, and was sent to Chikugo Province to assist Arima Harumi in managing Chikugo's civil and agricultural affairs. Since his original domain was near Kamimura Castle and was still occupied by the Kamimura family, Masarashi also gave him a piece of land that was twice the income of his original family domain after Chikugo. This made him grateful on the spot.

On the side of the marching generals.

In Yatsushiro-gun, through the persuasion of Kai to surrender, he surrendered to the Luo family, Akaike Nagaren and Marume Yorumi. The former, known as the Roche family's ashigaru general, was assigned to the 4th Standing Ashigaru Team under the command of Kinoshita Masanao as a deputy general. The latter also became the Ashigaru general of the Luo family, and was assigned to the 6th Standing Ashigaru Team led by Nobuyin of Enjoji Temple as a deputy general.

Samuta Nagaken, who was in Takao Castle, was assigned as a lieutenant general to the 2nd Standing Ashigaru Team under the command of Tomohisa Oishi.

As the head of the ashgaru, Inudo Ryan was assigned to the 3rd Standing Ashigaru Team under the command of Shigemasa Yoshida as a deputy general.

After everything was settled, Masato immediately let everyone go about their jobs and quickly take control of the newly occupied territory. In particular, the Cabinet of the Interior must strive to find out the stone height and population of the newly occupied territory within a short period of time. (To be continued......)