"What?" After the samurai came in, Otomo Yoshikan asked.

"My lord, the Luo family sent someone to send a wooden box, and according to the person who came, the wooden box contained the head of Master Yoshihiro of this family." Samurai reports.

"What? What about the Luo family? Otomo Yoshikan exclaimed.

"Report to the lord, the person who came came to the front of the family alone, put down the wooden box and a letter, and left." The samurai reported truthfully.

"Humph! What about wooden boxes and letters? Otomo Yoshikan snorted lightly and asked again.

The samurai immediately brought in the wooden box and letters that were placed outside the large tent. What was contained in the wooden box was indeed the head of Yoshihiro Kanri. At this time, Yoshihiro Kanri's head had been carefully dressed.

"Send it back to Toyogo Yoshihiro's house, and bury it." After glancing at Yoshihiro's head, Otomo Yoshikan commanded. Although he lost such a general, Otomo Yoshikan, who had long been accustomed to seeing life and death, was no longer sad at this time.

After ordering someone to take down the head of Yoshihiro Kanri, Otomo Yoshikan opened the letter sent by the Luo family and read it.

The letter was written by Masarashi, mainly to tell Otomo Yoshikan that although the two families were at war, they were impressed by the loyalty and martial courage of the generals on both sides, so they returned the head in full disguise. For Yoshihiro Kanri's body, the Luo family originally planned to collect Yoshihiro Kanri's body and head together, but the body had been discarded by the Kikuchi family soldiers who killed Yoshihiro Kanri, and it was impossible to find it, so the last had to return the head costume sent by Kikuchi Yoshitake to the Otomo family.

"Kikuchi Yoshitake!" After reading the letter, Otomo Yoshikan gritted his teeth and muttered to himself.

At this time, Kikuchi Yoshitake, who had already occupied Higo Akashi Home Castle, did not know what to do, and he presented the head of Yoshihiro Kanri to the Luo family in the name of showing goodwill. Then he tried to direct the anger of the Otomo family to the Luo family. But it was resolved by the Luo family by returning the head and explaining the ins and outs of the letter. Even instead led the anger of the Otomo family to the Kikuchi family again.

"My lord, my majesty thinks that it is not appropriate for this family to continue to fight with the Luo family here." After receiving Otomo Yoshikan's letter, after reading it, Usuki Jian immediately admonished.

Otomo Yoshikan did not respond directly to Usuki's exhortation, but looked at the map in the big tent and groaned.

"Lord, at this time, the expeditionary army of the Feihou Road of the Ben family has been defeated, and the water army of the five islands is also wandering along the coast of the Luo family, and the army of the Ben family is blocked at the border. Can't get an inch. Seeing that the governor still had no intention of withdrawing his troops, Usuki Jiansu continued, "After the news of the ambush of the family's vanguard and the rout of Higo's army began to circulate among the family's army, and now it is about to enter August, and it will soon be the autumn harvest season, so the morale of the family's army has dropped significantly. Besides......"

At this time, Otomo Yoshikan glanced at Usuki, who immediately stopped talking.

"Go on." Otomo Yoshikan frowned.

"Moreover, it has been rumored in the army recently that Shao Erdongshang was secretly killed by his own family, which made many soldiers and generals feel puzzled, and it is said that the Luo family also publicized the news everywhere......"

"In addition. This time, the Luo family took the initiative to return the head of Master Yoshihiro Kanri, and the Luo family will definitely make a big deal about it together with the return of the corpse of Shiga to the main family. to show his righteous ......"

"What worries your subordinates the most is that Yoshihiro Kenri-sama's family is located in Takata Castle at the junction of Bunzen, which is controlled by the Bungo family and the Ouchi family, and the North Shiga family, where Shiga is located, is also located at the junction of the border between Bungo and Higo.

"In addition, Kikuchi Yoshitake has already occupied the Akashi family's palace castle at this time, and this city has just cut off the connection between the family and the wealthy clans in the central and northern parts of Higo, in order to prevent the Kikuchi family from further expanding its power in Higo, it would be good for the family to send a large army as soon as possible to stabilize the situation in Higo first!"

Usuki Jian quickly said a lot of hidden dangers in one breath, the purpose is to persuade Otomo Yoshikan to retreat impatiently, and not to continue to entangle with the Luo family after the building. Of course, he still had one of the most important hidden dangers that he did not say, but when he was about to continue to say it, the samurai outside the big tent came in again to report:

"Report, lord, the detective from Fenghou urgently asks to see you."

"Biography!" Otomo Yoshikan sighed in his heart when he heard this, it couldn't be a problem in his own backyard, right? So he immediately sent someone in to report it.

"Meet the Lord!" The one who came to be in charge of the report was an elite detective of the Otomo family, and due to the long escape, he was already drenched in sweat at this time.

"What's going on with Bungo?" Otomo Yoshikan immediately asked.

"Report to the lord, there have been no unusual incidents in Fenghou." The person who came immediately said, "But news came from the Zhou Fang of the Ouchi family that Lord Ohara Kanyuan, who was sent to the Ouchi family by the family, was assassinated, and it is rumored that it was the assassin of the Luo family. ”

"What?" Otomo Yoshikan was taken aback.

"My lord, please let my ministers ask." At this time, after learning that Ohara Kangen had been killed, Usuchi Kansu on the side also immediately said, "After Lord Ohara Kangen was assassinated, did the Ouchi family make any other moves?" ”

"No, when the villain rushed to Chikugo, he hadn't received any information from Chikugo about the Ouchi family's unusual behavior." Someone came to report truthfully.

"Didn't even the culprit of the assassination of Lord Ohara Kanyuan of the main family not be hunted down?"

"My lord, it is said that on the night of the assassination of Lord Ohara Kanmoto, one of the henchmen of Lord Ohara Kangen and one of the maids of His Royal Highness Ouchi Yoshicho also disappeared, and Lord Ohara Kangen was also killed in the mansion of His Royal Highness Ouchi Yoshicho, so the Ouchi family thought that this was done by someone from their own family, so they did not continue to track down the murderer."

"Hmph, Yoshitaka Ouchi! Well, that's good! Otomo Yoshikan said angrily when he heard this.

"My lord, for the sake of today's plan, the only way to withdraw the army is to be better! Otherwise, once the Ouchi family gets involved in this dispute, it may not be a good thing for the family. Usuki quickly admonished.

"Hmm!" At this time, Otomo Yoshikan no longer insisted. Because with the assassination of Ohara Kangen at the Shubo Yamaguchi Pavilion, the relationship between the Otomo family and the Ouchi family is a bit delicate. If the Ouchi family suddenly stands on the side of the Luo family, and then sneaks from the north bank of the Chikugo River to the territory of the Otomo family on the south bank, then the back road of the Otomo family's main camp at this time is likely to be blocked by the Ouchi family. After weighing it up, Otomo Yoshikan finally decided to withdraw his troops. It's just that even if the army is withdrawn, it is not so easy to retreat, once the Luo family is allowed to follow and attack, it is likely to be a pursuit battle. Otomo Yoshikan didn't want to go to crusade against others, but he was chased and beaten by his opponent at the end. This is a big blow to the prestige of the Otomo family.

"My lord, you can summon the Toji Kanren who is in Akaji City at this time, if he is the rear of this withdrawal, he will definitely be able to ensure that this retreat is foolproof." Usuki Kan quickly saw the reason for Otomo Yoshikan's concern, so he suggested.

"Okay, let's do it accordingly." Otomo agreed.

In the following days, although the Otomo family still maintained a position to attack the Luo family every day, they were secretly preparing to withdraw their troops.

Finally, on the night of August 3, the thirteenth year of astronomy, the Otomo family quietly retreated after leaving a small number of people to stay in the camp.

In the early morning of the second day, when some of the soldiers who remained behind in the Otomo family also retreated quickly, Masatomo, who was in the big tent at the foot of Mt. Takara, learned the news.

"Strategist, what do you think of the withdrawal of the Otomo family?" Masayo, who got the news, did not immediately order a pursuit, but asked the retainers around him.

"My lord, didn't you already expect that the day when the Otomo family withdrew when you received the exact news about the assassination in the Zhoufang Yamaguchi Pavilion?" Kansuke Yamamoto replied.

"What do you mean?"

"There is no need to hesitate, the withdrawal of the Otomo family this time must be true, even if there is fraud in it, as long as the family pursues it carefully, it will definitely be fine." Kansuke Yamamoto said.

"Well, have you found out the situation in the other party's back?" After Masarashi nodded in agreement with Kansuke Yamamoto's suggestion, he immediately turned to the Black Hawk who came to report and asked.

"The retreating rear army of the enemy army is quite orderly, and it seems that it is to prevent the pursuit of the family." Black Hawk said immediately.

"Oh? Who is the leader of the opposing backline? ”

"Toji Jianlian!" (To be continued......)