"What a rotten place this mountain road is!"

Looking at the stream on the side of the mountain road after the rain, constantly mixed with the broken branches and broken trees hanging from the mountains, Shimazu Takahisa, the head of the Shimazu family, who was riding a horse on the mountain road north of Hinata Province, cursed in a low voice. Such a difficult mountain road did add a lot of trouble to the joint reinforcements of the Shimazu family and the Ito family to support the Saeki family.

If you look closely, the mountain road is flanked by sword-like peaks, with the occasional few steep cliffs, and then you can hear the sound of a roaring waterfall, which is obviously a temporary waterfall that has nowhere to drain from the torrent.

Takahisa Shimazu rode a pony unique to the mountains of Kyushu, one high and one low, and it was just three miles out of Matsuo Castle of the Ito family. From Matsuo Castle a mile north, the army entered the dense forests of the mountains in the northern region of Hyuga Province, where only a mountain road connected to Bungo Province further north. And the first stop from the northern part of Hyuga Province to Bungo Province is the territory of the Saeki family.

Thinking of the Saeki family, Shimazu Takahisa couldn't help but think of the secret conversation he had with Ito Yoshisuke last night in Matsuo Castle. In Shimazu Takahisa's view, the southern part of Bungo Province controlled the remaining half of Kaibe Prefecture (in fact, with the fall of Umemu Rei Castle to the Luo family, the Saeki family only controlled about a quarter of the Kaibe Prefecture territory at this time). Due to the barrier of the road, the information that Takahisa Shimazu knows has fallen behind) The Saeki family, for the Ito family, is really a chicken rib, tasteless to eat, and it is a pity to abandon it.

That's why Ito Yoshiyuki hasn't swallowed up the Saeki family, after all, since the Saeki family is so chicken, it's better to keep it. Wouldn't it be better to serve as a barrier for the Ito family to defend against threats from the north of the Luo family? This was also after the Saeki family was invaded by the Roche family. The main reason why Yoshisuke Ito supported the Saeki family so actively, and also invited the Saeki family to join forces to resist the Roche family.

Even in last night's secret conversation. Ito Yoshisuke also revealed that once the joint resistance failed and the Saeki family lost their territory in Kaibe County in Bungo Province, he planned to give Matsuo Castle in the northern Hyuga region to the Saeki family as a territory, so that the Saeki family would once again become a barrier against the threat from the north of the Roshi family in the northern region.

Thinking of this, Takahisa Shimazu remembered Matsuo Castle as the only way to retreat this time.

Why is Matsuo Castle the only way to retreat from defeat? Geographically, the northern part of Hyuga Province and the southern part of Bungo Province are almost all areas of high mountains and dense forests, starting north from Matsuo Castle (south of Matsuo Castle). It is a plain area in Hyuga Province formed by the impact of several rivers such as the Kitaga, Gose River, and Ose River), and the mountain road to the castle of the Saeki family in Bungo Province is actually the only road on land in this area. The coastal area from the Saeki family's domain to Matsuo Castle is a steep coast and mountainous area, and the only way to do so is by sea.

It's just that at this time, the Shimazu family's navy is waiting for a sneak attack from the Luo family's navy from the direction of Amakusa Beach at any time. And the Ito family's navy was defeated several times by the Luo family's navy. At this time, they can only retreat in the bay where Matsuo Castle is located, guarding against threats from the sea, and at the same time defending Matsuo Castle. Therefore, the sea route, which is a support road, is not passable at all.

In the case that there is only one way to retreat from the rear, Matsuo Castle, which is the base camp of the rear and controls the entrance and exit of the mountain road in the direction of Hyuga Province, is particularly important. This is after the coalition forces were repelled by the Luo family. The only way to flee to Hyuga Province and return to the Minami-Kyushu region.

Although the Shimazu family, the Ito family, and the Saeki family are allies who unite against the Luo family, in order to ensure absolute security, even if Matsuo Castle is a castle controlled by the ally Ito family. Both the Shimazu and Saeki families left a part of their troops to garrison the castle, which was supposed to assist in the defense. In fact, they could not fully trust each other, leaving a guarantee of safety in the back road in the city.

Even so. The Shimazu family and the Ito family still feel that it is not safe enough, and in the coming days, both the Shimazu family and the Ito family will continue to send some troops to this city to ensure the safety of the city, and at the same time, in order to ensure that the Saeki family uses the city to fully resist the invasion of the Luo family, a large amount of materials will be transported here as a logistics center to support the front line of resistance.

Of course, with such a large scale of territorial troops and supplies to come to Matsuo Castle, aren't the Shimazu family and the Ito family worried that the territory will be affected? After all, in addition to the Saeki family being invaded by the Luo family, both the Shimazu family and the Ito family have a longer border with the Luo family. Aren't the two families worried that the Luo family will launch an invasion attack on the border of the two families at the same time?

Both the Ito and Shimazu families expected this. As for the Ito family, because they had completely defeated the Hokugo family, which had allied with the Luo family in the direction of Southern Hyuga, and forced the Hokugo family to only the southernmost point of the southern Hyuga family (the Hokugo family only had two castles left at this time, and the rest of the territory was occupied by the Ito family, and the rest of the place was also separated by high mountains and dense forests, so it was not quickly captured by the Ito family). Therefore, after there was no internal threat, in addition to being able to vigorously support the Saeki family this time, the Ito family also drew a lot of strong men from the territory to go to several border cities bordering the Hyuga country and the Luo family's Higo country, in case the Luo family took the opportunity to invade at the same time from these directions.

As for the Shimazu family themselves, since the last time they repelled the army of the Luo family in the North Satsuma region, the Shimazu family has taken advantage of the situation to successively destroy the Hodoin family, the Ryokari family and other wealthy families in the North Satsuma region, until the end of last year after the last stubborn Kitahara family was also destroyed, the Shimazu family not only fully controlled the Satsuma country from then on, but also gained a lot of territory in the Nishi-Osumi and Southern Hyuga regions, and more importantly, the Shimazu family was directly connected to the territory of the Ito family, which greatly facilitated the joint resistance of the two families to the Luo family.

As for the threat from the Osumi family, due to the previous defeat by the Shimazu family's army in the Nishi-Osumi region, the guide has lost a lot of military strength and a large number of territories, and the liver family has completely lost the ability to take the initiative to attack the Shimazu family at this time. So, in the absence of other threats, Shimazu Takahisa drew a large number of peasant soldiers from the territory to protect the territory and support the Saeki family.

At the same time, before Shimazu Takahisa went out to support the Saeki family this time, he also left behind his sister-in-law Shimazu Yoshihisa, who had previously been recognized by a large number of retainers in the Northern Satsuma Raiders, to command the territory, on the one hand, to send troops to garrison in the fortress along the border with the Luo family's southern Higo country, and on the other hand, to coordinate the construction of the territory during Shimazu Takahisa's own support. (To be continued......)