Rescuing Tachibana Muneshige can not only block the offensive of the large army sent by the shogunate from Kanto and consolidate the territory already occupied by the Japanese court, but also firmly contain Naotaka Ii and the army under his command in the area, so as to achieve the previous planned goal, so that the Han army can directly attack the Kanto region without hindrance, and deal a fatal blow to the shogunate. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Nijo Yasudo understood Zhou Pu's deployment, and he also knew that although the imperial court had occupied a large area of land in, the foundation was actually quite unstable, so he still needed the help of the Han Dynasty, at least to find a way to overwhelm the shogunate, so that the shogunate could no longer threaten Kinai.

Therefore, he also cooperated with Zhou Pu's request very much, and immediately ordered the regrouping of the army, except for the necessary small troops to stay in Kyoto and other places, the entire main force began to follow Zhou Pu's side again, and then marched in the direction of Nara with his order.

At the same time, in order to further expand their momentum, Nijo Yasudo and Zhou Pu also deliberately issued a document again, announcing to the whole of Japan the fact that the imperial court had reoccupied Kyoto, and then used this fact to prove that the imperial court was the mandate of heaven, and the shogunate's time was running out. They also sent an envoy to the Maeda family of the Kaga Domain, asking the Maeda family to do so as soon as possible.

The Maeda family is the biggest daimyo in Japan outside of the shogunate, and if they can do it right, it will be tantamount to another blow to the shogunate. As for the issue of the territory that the Maeda family was thinking about, Zhou Pu also asked the envoy to bring them a guarantee that as long as the Maeda family raised the banner as soon as possible and assisted the imperial court in fighting against the shogunate, then the Maeda family's existing territory could be recognized after the war and the Maeda family could continue to rule in the Kaga domain.

The implication is that if the Maeda family continues to wander around now, then the Maeda family may have to reduce their territory after the war. With the imperial court and the Han army having reoccupied Kyoto, such a threat no longer needs to be spoken.

And when Zhou Pu and Nijo Yasudo marched towards the Nara line with a large army, Zhao Song and Yan Guang, who were far away in Kyushu, also received the message he sent.

During this time, they have been staying on Kyushu Island, closely watching the changes on Honshu Island, and waiting for the opportunity for them to make a final decision. And now they all feel that the time is getting closer.

When Zhou Pu landed on Honshu Island with a large army, and then went all the way north, they were all worried about the future of the army along the way, worried that they would encounter danger and would not be able to defeat the shogunate's army, and even made a plan to change the plan to land directly in Honshu to rescue them in case of a change, but the result was greatly beyond their expectations, Zhou Pu and the others not only did not suffer major setbacks, but also better than the scheduled plan.

The predetermined plan was only for them to threaten as much as possible, forcing the shogunate to send a large army to rescue Kinai, so as to contain a large part of their main force, but Zhou Pu won one victory after another, crushed the shogunate's army, and even broke directly into Kyoto.

"I really didn't expect Lord Zhou to be so powerful!" After receiving Zhou Pu's news, Zhao Song couldn't help but sigh.

"Lord Zhou's wisdom and courage are both brave and able to use their strength to fight, which is of course the main reason, but it also shows that the shogunate army is even weaker than we imagined." Yan Guang was very calm, "From the beginning of our army's landing to the entry into Kinai, the shogunate was about to collapse when it was fighting with our army in the field, and it was only able to fight each other when defending the city, but in the end it was still defeated by our army's artillery fire...... So, my lord, the military strength and morale of the shogunate are very weak, and we should seize the opportunity so that they have no room to breathe! ”

"Yes, you're right." Zhao Song gently rubbed his neck, and then said very plainly, "Lord Zhou has created such a good opportunity for us, and it is time for us to show our talents, otherwise seeing that Lord Zhou alone can defeat the shogunate, wouldn't we people be disgraced?" ”

While he was talking and laughing, an order was issued from the headquarters of the Han Shogun in Nagasaki, and then directly conveyed to all the Han troops on the island of Kyushu.

During this period of time, the Han army originally assembled in Goryeo has all been transported to Kyushu Island, because they have not been given the order to march, and the security and order are maintained by the Shimazu family's feudal army, so they have not had a task recently, every day just in the garrison training, ready for battle, and this long wait also made every officer who is eager to make a contribution anxious, during this time people kept asking their regiment commander when they could be in the line and have a big war with the shogunate.

And now, the time has finally come.

After receiving the order, the originally relaxed and leisurely atmosphere in the Han army immediately ended, and then suddenly tensed, a large number of sergeants gathered at the port, and then assembled in the order that had been set in advance, and they were all gearing up, looking forward to making contributions in the next big battle.

Under the orders of Zhao Song, the transport ships that had been concentrated in various ports began to gather in Nagasaki, and although Nagasaki Castle was destroyed by fire during the initial war between the two countries, the basic facilities of the port were restored after the Japanese people who had been requisitioned during this time, so these transport ships were finally able to gather in Nagasaki Castle.

Because Nagasaki Castle has been determined to be the territory of the Han Dynasty in Japan after the war, the Han Dynasty is also determined to manage the city well, and now the restoration of the port can only be regarded as the first phase of the project, and after the war, more buildings will be built here, and it will become the center of the Han Dynasty in the whole of Japan.

In the cool breeze of early autumn, these Han officers and soldiers boarded the sea ship for the first time and embarked on the road to the north, and this time, they would seize the greatest glory of this expedition on the island of Honshu.

The people of Honshu are not aware of such a big change on the island of Kyushu at the moment, and they still need to struggle to support the difficulties they face, and Tachibana Muneshige is one of them.

After leading his troops to capture Nara, he had planned to advance further to the Kanto region and capture Iga, but his offensive was soon thwarted when he discovered that the shogunate had suddenly mobilized a large army from the Kanto region to press him down.

This army was large in number, well-equipped, and very brave in battle, and it could be seen that it was the elite army of the shogunate, and Tachibana Muneshige could not bargain after several tentative encounters, and even several sneak attack attempts were recognized and destroyed by the other party, at this time Tachibana Muneshige put away the arrogance that had arisen because of the successive victories, and instead contracted his own troops, abandoned the original offensive, and cautiously retreated to Nara.

At this time, he learned through the captives that the person who commanded the shogunate army turned out to be the shogunate boss Naotaka Ii himself. He has seen Naotaka I, who is one or two rounds younger than him, and is just a junior to him, and when he led the troops to fight before, his ability was not very outstanding, and his performance was not very good when Tokugawa Ieyasu attacked Osaka.

However, his personality is very calm, he will not fight easily, and he is resourceful, and basically will not be moved by strategy, such a person will not be affected by the disadvantage when he is at a disadvantage, at least when he has an advantage, there will be no mistakes, and as the respect of the elder, he can also do the order and prohibit, and the shogunate generals and officials below will definitely obey his orders, and the control of his subordinates will be very strong.

Unfortunately, the shogunate now had an advantage over Tachibana Muneshige's army, and under the orders of Ii Naotaka, his men attacked and intercepted Tachibana Muneshige, seeking a decisive battle with Tachibana Muneshige and defeating his subordinates. In this situation, Tachibana Muneshige had to deal with it carefully, constantly shrinking his front, trying to avoid a decisive battle with Naotaka Ii, lest his weak army be wiped out.

Under the relentless oppression of Naotaka Ii, the army of Tachibana Soshige, who had retreated all the way, was pressed into the middle of Nara Castle and was almost surrounded by Naotaka Ii.

In such a crisis situation, Tachibana Muneshige did not panic, on the one hand, he arranged to defend the city, trying to keep the troops from retreating, and also kept the shogunate army out of; On the other hand, he constantly sent people to ask for help from Zhou Pu in the rear, asking him to quickly lead his troops to rescue and relieve the crisis in front of him.

At this time, he also got the news that Zhou Pu had recovered Kyoto, and he was even more energetic, he knew that as long as he held on for a while, reinforcements would soon come. Right now, he's in the middle of Nara Castle, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

Similarly, perhaps because he knew that he couldn't afford to delay the time, Naotaka Ii also began to become a little anxious, he has increased the frequency of attacks in recent days, launched an offensive against Nara several times, and even hit the castle, but fortunately, Tachibana Muneshige has been trying his best to command the defense, which has repelled the enemy's attacks again and again, but the army's casualties have become larger and larger, and morale has begun to weaken.

These days, Tachibana Somao's energy has been consumed too much, because he often sleeps all night, so his eyes are also full of bloodshots, he was already an old man over seventy years old, and now he looks much older, but he still holds on, showing a calm appearance, to cheer up his subordinates.

However, the rest of his subordinates did not have the same persistence as he did.

"My lord, the situation is critical now, the shogunate army is too strong, why should we stay in this dangerous place in Nara!" In the official office of Nara, one of Tachibana Muneshige's generals, Shimazu Michihisa, suggested to Tachibana Muneshige, "I think we might as well retreat now, move closer to the angel lord, and then seek a decisive battle with Ii Naotaka!" ”

As a direct domain of the shogunate, the shogunate set up the Nara administration in Nara Castle to rule a nearby domain, and the official hall of the Nara commission, after Nara was broken by the Tachibana Muneshige army, became the residence of Tachibana Muneshige, and he also commanded his army here to fight against the shogunate army.

After hearing Shimazu Michihisa's advice, Tachibana Muneshige gently lifted his steps, and his pale hair and beard trembled slightly.

Michihisa Shimazu was a close confidant of Tadashi Shimazu, the lord of the Satsuma Domain, and the commander of the Satsuma Domain's army. The Satsuma clan army is also one of the main forces of his army, and at the same time, due to the unusual status of the Shimazu family, this domain army also has a very large degree of independence, although on the surface it is generally under the command of Tachibana Muneshige, but it cannot be said that it does not have its own mind.

And now after facing a difficult predicament, Shimazu Michihisa's mind began to liven, this time because of the series of battles with the Ii Naotaka army, their subordinates suffered some big losses, and he is unwilling to continue to suffer such losses now.

The Shimazu family had now become the daimyo who dominated the entire island of Kyushu through a deal with the Han envoys, and they had no more demands - and they knew that even if they made more demands, the Han and the imperial court would not agree, so they did not have much will to fight to the end.

When he followed Zhou Pu to march before, firstly, the Shimazu family only had to clear the threat from the north, so he was active in the battle, and secondly, Zhou Pu's march was also very smooth, and he did not let his troops suffer too many losses. But now that the army has reached Kinai, the Shimazu family has secretly begun to feel that this war has little to do with them - whether they win or lose, their territory is no longer threatened, so their enthusiasm for fighting has become very low.

Under such circumstances, it is normal for Shimazu Michihisa to ask Tachibana Muneshige to retreat.

However, normal is normal, but Tachibana Muneshige does not want to take the general's advice.

"It's time to withdraw." He shook his head slightly, and then glanced at the other party again, "Right now, the shogunate has sent such a large army, and it is Ii Naotaka himself who led the troops, which means that this time they are going to fight with us, and now that Kinai has just fallen into the hands of our army, the people's hearts have not yet stabilized, if we retreat, the shogunate army will inevitably go deep into Kinai, and then let Kinai re-turmoil, and the remnants of the shogunate that were originally scattered are bound to re-riot...... Therefore, it is best for us to continue to stay here, so that Naotaka Ii will not be able to take care of anything else, and the imperial court can reorganize as soon as possible. ”

"Your Excellency is right, but now the situation of our army can be said to be dangerous, and if we continue to nail it here, it is difficult to guarantee that it will not be crushed by the shogunate army...... Wouldn't the situation be even more ...... if our army were to be destroyed?"

When Shimazu Michihisa just said this, he found that Tachibana Soshige glared at him, although there was an old man who looked like he was about to die, but this glare still made his scalp a little numb, and the words in his mouth had to stop.

"What is the basis for this?" Tachibana Munegeru interrupted the other party unceremoniously, "Now the enemy army is indeed arrogant, but they are nothing more than a moment of bloody bravery, although they have been attacking continuously these days, but they have not been repeatedly repelled by our army, can only return in vain?" Our army is by no means in danger now. ”

"Although they were repulsed every time, our army suffered a lot of damage." Shimazu Michihisa replied boldly, "The enemy army has clearly made it clear that it wants to continue to attrition with our army and weaken the strength of our army...... If we continue to spend it here, I'm afraid it will be overwhelming. ”

"As a member of the Shimazu family, are you still afraid of the battle formation?" Tachibana Soshige continued to retort, "As the commander-in-chief, you should follow my orders, and since you can resist now, we will never allow us to withdraw from Nara, but should continue to stay here!" ”

"I understand that adults want to fight for a million-dollar foundation, but our Shimazu family can't suffer such a loss for the sake of adults' private business!" Seeing that Tachibana Muneshige didn't listen to his opinion at all, Shimazu Michihisa was also a little annoyed, "Don't tell your lord, our feudal lord has reached a tacit agreement with the angel lord before, we will assist the Great Han to take Kyushu, and then help the Great Han continue to go north to fight the shogunate...... But only in, as long as it hits, our Shimazu family can no longer be accompanied! Now that we've fought Nara, and we've been fighting hard for the sake of the adults for so long, we're worthy of the adults......"

Because he had never heard of such a tacit understanding between the Shimazu family and the envoys of the Great Han, Tachibana Muneshige couldn't help but be taken aback, and after being surprised, he was followed by annoyance.

"Do you still want to escape?" He angrily scolded the other party, "I don't care what concerns you have now, and I don't care what tacit understanding you had with your adults before, in short, now you are my subordinate, you should obey my orders and assignments, and no objections are allowed, if you dare to disobey, it is disobedience, if you dare to lead the troops to escape alone, you are a shameless coward, I will definitely engage you in military justice!" ”

At that moment, there was another roar from a distance, and then an overwhelming roar came from here.

Tachibana Muneshige immediately stopped scolding Shimazu Michihisa, and then immediately walked out of the residence. The residence was high up in the city wall, so as soon as he came out, he could immediately see the scene outside the city, and he found that a new round of attack had been launched from the opposite side, and a large army of black pressure was pressing on him.

Judging from the scale of the scale, this attack is even larger than the previous attacks, and it seems that Naotaka Ii is also anxious.

He made a decision right away, and then ran in front of Shimazu Michihisa again.

"Now that the enemy army has launched an attack on our army, everyone of us has the responsibility to defend against the enemy army, and if we quarrel with each other again, we will only weaken ourselves, and put the army in danger, you must continue to obey my command, otherwise I will tell the lord and your lord about this matter together, and let them judge!"

Shimazu Michihisa didn't say anything now, just lowered his head, not that he was afraid of the threat of Tachibana Soshige, but now that the enemy army is attacking again, no more quarrels or even infighting will only make the army collapse faster, and even if he can't escape, if he escapes, he will definitely be pursued to death by Naotaka Ii. But his heart was still unconvinced.

"All in all, I also know that your troops have suffered huge losses due to their best efforts before, so this time you should stay in the city to assist in defense, recover your energy as soon as possible, and wait for my dispatch." At this time, Tachibana Soshige suddenly changed his tone again, "Don't worry, Ii Naotaka is too cautious, and he is even more afraid of me, so if I meet it in person, he will hesitate, and he will never fight to the death." (To be continued.) )