Before the Great Han could launch the final general attack, the castle of the Kurume Domain was already plunged into a terrible cold rain.

Although the Han initially sent not many troops, after several encounters, not only the shogunate soldiers who withdrew from Nagasaki, but even the hastily assembled feudal soldiers of Kurume lost the courage to confront the Han head-on, and they could only let them cut off the lines of communication between Kurume Castle and other places, and cut off all contact with the outside world.

However, there was already a granary in the castle where grain was stored, and although many farmers and outsiders from Nagasaki were now crowded in, the grain could still be used for a while.

The low-level feudal lords and feudal soldiers, not knowing whether they were deceived or willing to deceive themselves, believed that as long as they held out for a while, the shogun of Edo would send a large army to Kyushu to defeat these hateful Han Kou and escape alive.

However, the upper echelons of the feudal domain, and even the high-ranking officials of the shogunate who came to the castle, were much more pessimistic about the status quo than these people.

They all knew more or less about the inside of the feudal clan and the shogunate, and had seen the sharpness and horror of the Han army, so they did not have much hope that the shogunate would be able to send a large army to rescue them before the fall of the feudal castle - and even whether the whole of Kyushu could be recovered by the shogunate army, their hearts were full of doubts.

However, for the shogunate's highest official in Nagasaki, the elder Naito Tadashige, there was no doubt about this.

Given the strength of the Han army and the current state of the shogunate, as long as the Han army remained here, it was unlikely that the shogunate would be able to recover Kyushu -- this was the conclusion he had reached with a cool head after several battles with the Han army.

However, he was not going to tell anyone else this conclusion, because not everyone had the will to resist like him, and he had to give such people some false hope that would at least make them last longer.

Yes, he had already made up his mind that even if the Kurume Domain could not hold the castle, he would stay here and delay more time for the shogunate, which could be regarded as doing his duty.

He came here by chance, and if it weren't for the decision of the shogunate to let him come to Nagasaki to negotiate trade with the Great Han, he would have come here from Edo.

When he left Edo, he was so high-spirited that he wanted to meet the emperor of the Great Han Dynasty and then use his courage to fight for enough benefits for the shogunate, but ...... It was only later that he realized that it was just a fantasy.

Now it is probably clear: the Great Han never thought about negotiating with the shogunate from beginning to end, and only deliberately made it look like he wanted to negotiate in order to paralyze his side, but in fact, the decision to attack the shogunate had already been made behind his back—and it must have been made before the shogunate had a trade dispute.

Thinking that Dahan had been carrying out such a shameless conspiracy behind his back, but he had always deliberately shifted the responsibility to his side, Naito Tadashige couldn't help but feel angry in his heart.

However, he also knew that there was no point in getting angry, and all he could do was do his best to buy a little more time for the general.

And when this time was exhausted, he did not intend to find another opportunity to escape - he wanted to fulfill the promise he made to Soga Koyu, and to be loyal to the shogun with his own life, and to die for Kyushu and Japan.

With a calm that bordered on numbness, he roamed the city, reprimanding the slackward vassals and observing the Han army beneath the city.

With the passage of time, in the past few days, the army of the Great Han has gathered more and more under the city, and the red military uniforms have gathered into a sea, and at a glance, it looks like the red lotus karmic fire of hell has spread to the ground.

In this case, it can only mean one thing - the Han have basically quelled the rebellion in other places, and now this is one of their few targets.

Naito Tadashige was not surprised by this, he had expected this outcome for a long time - the feudal lords of Kyushu either had a deep relationship with the Tokugawa shogunate, or they were already dissatisfied with the shogunate's policy of restricting the feudal domains, and it was fine when no one ignited the firewood, but when the opportunity came, the rebellion against the shogunate would be burning, and they would not resist the Han Kou's troops for the sake of the shogunate.

The betrayal of the Shimazu family made him see a lot of facts, and he knew that there must be many other daimyo who would wait to emulate him.

He looked around at the soldiers in the city, and saw that almost no one spoke, no one smiled, and everyone was just numb and calm, as if nothing else had been done. When facing the end of the world, probably everyone will have such an expression.

A few days ago, some people in the domain felt that it was not a way to be surrounded like this, and it was likely to burn the jade of the feudal castle, so they secretly wanted to run, although Naito Tadashige found out but did not have time to stop it, and some of the conspirators rushed out of the feudal castle desperately.

However, they did not get the safety they wanted - they were stopped by the soldiers of the Great Han before they had run a few miles, and then a brief engagement turned into a massacre, and they were quickly routed, most of them were killed, and a small number of them fled.

Of course, those who fled back would not be forgiven, and despite the fact that there was a shortage of soldiers in the castle, Naito Tadashige ordered these people to be hanged one by one, and he had to make everyone understand that there was no way to escape.

The hanged men were still hanging on the inner side of the wall, swaying in the wind, shriveled from dehydration, like scarecrows hung on.

Since the men were hanged, Naito had the effect he wanted, and the defenders had cut off any hope of escape, but there was also a side effect - everyone had a numb expression on their faces, and they just acted according to orders, as if they had lost the will to live.

In this regard, Naito Tadashi didn't care, anyway, everyone always has to die, and it doesn't really matter what kind of attitude they die with.

In the past few days, the Han army has not launched an attack, but is content to cut off the communication inside and outside the city, although I don't know what the reason is, but Naito Tadashige is happy that this situation has happened. For him, for each additional day of delay, the shogun would have one more day to gather troops loyal to the shogunate and one more chance to preserve the Tokugawa family's foundation.

In order to monitor the city defenses, or to pass the time, he patrolled back and forth at the head of the city, constantly looking at the army formation of the Han Dynasty.

Just as the time was approaching noon, Naito Tadashige suddenly realized that something was wrong, and there was some commotion within the Han army.

Could it be that something is wrong with them? Even though he knew it was unlikely, Naito couldn't help but look forward to it.

He picked up his binoculars and looked down into the city.

This look immediately made his hands and feet cold.

As far as the eye can see, on the road to Nagasaki, a large army is rushing towards this direction.

In addition to the already somewhat familiar Han army, Naito also found that this army was mixed with many Japanese people. When he got a little closer, he saw the jungle-like banner in the middle of the formation, and then slightly discerned the family crest on it.

"Yanagawa Domain, Saeki Domain, Mori Domain......" Naito Tadashi read with a blank face, as if it was none of his business.

Suddenly, he smiled bitterly, "Is it possible that so many people have surrendered so quickly?" ”

However, this is quite normal, and it is not unexpected.

Unlike Naito Tadashige's relief and ease, the defenders at the head of the castle shook violently when they saw the overwhelming army and its composition, and many of them suddenly shouted and screamed instead of their previous indifference.

Naito knew that they weren't just scared, they were so excited because they saw hope.

He also knew that many people wanted to surrender, but they were afraid that the Han army would kill the prisoners and did not dare to bring it up - now that they saw so many feudal lords and feudal soldiers successfully surrendering, their minds were alive and wanted to surrender.

Naito Tadashige couldn't stop them from thinking in their hearts, but he could make no one dare to say what they thought.

"Guard the city gates, take care of these feudal soldiers, if anyone is shaken, they can make an example." He glanced at the entourage that followed him and gave the order.

These people are all samurai he brought from the shogunate, they are very determined and tenacious, and their families are also in Edo, so they will not let them have any family burden, and they are ready to fight the Han Kou to the end.

They are also the only force that Naito Tadashige trusts, and he will have a lot of precautions against these Kurume Domain's feudal soldiers, but fortunately, he still has many remnants of the shogunate's defeated army left in the castle, so Kurume Domain will reluctantly obey his orders.

After the confession, these cronies gathered the shogunate soldiers they led, guarding not only the Han Kou under the castle, but also the feudal soldiers at the head of the castle.

After giving the order, Naito Tadashige re-observed the Han army below the castle, which had marched along the main road and joined the Han army that had been surrounding the castle.

To Naito's surprise, after the two sides converged, the Han Kou, who had strict military discipline, was still in turmoil, and the soldiers kept shouting as if something terrible had happened.

His doubts were quickly solved, and it wasn't long before a group of Han officers appeared in his binoculars, all of them clustered around a burly Han officer, who was also wearing a red military uniform, but he was wearing a different uniform from the others, and the people next to him were respectful to him.

It seems that he is the general of the Han army, Naito thought seriously. Ignoring his already sore hands, he kept staring at the group to see what was so strange about the man who was about to take his life.

It's a pity that there are no cannons in the city that have a long enough range, otherwise he really wants to try firing a few shots to see if he can kill one or two high-ranking officers of the Han Kou.

Under Naito's watchful eyes, the commotion of the Han army gradually subsided, which was certainly not good news for him - since the general of the Han Dynasty had come, it meant that the Han Kou was about to launch a general attack.

His blood began to flow faster, and his hand was on the hilt of the saber at his waist.

In the previous field battle outside Nagasaki, the defeat of the shogunate army made him lose the confidence to fight the Dahan again, and made a wise decision to retreat to the Kurume Domain, and now, knowing that he had nowhere to retreat, this desperate situation only made his fighting spirit rekindle.

Under the cover of the city wall, at least it can bring some casualties to the Han Kou...... There is no doubt that Kurume Castle will definitely be breached by the Han Kou, but as long as you work hard, you can carry the next attack and kill and injure more Han Kou, even if you kill one more......

However, the formation of the Han army suddenly loosened somewhat, and from a distance it looked like some waves had appeared in the red ocean.

Then, Naito's boiling blood was suddenly frozen, because he saw clearly what those commotions were.

A group of soldiers came out of the formation of the Han army, and behind them were several cannons mounted in the artillery carriage, and the muzzles of these cannons were so thick that they were terrifying to look at. And when they came to the city, the cannons were unloaded from the gun trucks, and some soldiers piled up mounds of earth and erected them in the mounds.

This...... This...... Is this going to bombard the city with artillery?

Naito Tadashige's mind, which was already like stagnant water, was violently shaken.

These days, although the Han army has surrounded Kurume Castle, it has not launched an attack, nor has it bombarded the castle with artillery, Naito Tadashige judged that they had not yet transported large artillery because they had crossed the sea, and he couldn't help but feel a little more confident.

However, with the arrival of the general of the Han Kor, this kind of happiness immediately came to naught, and Naito Tadashige really did not expect that it would only be long before the war between the two sides would be able to transport the cannon to Kurume Castle in the hinterland of Kyushu.

This shows how elite the Han army is and how well prepared they are.

After these armies conquer Kyushu, they will definitely go north to fight the shogunate, Shogun, will they really be able to resist the frenzy of the Han Kou? Even though he knew that his death was approaching, Naito Tadashige couldn't help but worry about the general.

"Quick! Hurry up and send someone out of the city to meet the attack! Destroy these cannons while they are still on their footing! Anxious, he blurted out an order.

However, he was stunned to find that no one obeyed his orders, no one went out of the city to attack Han Ko, and the people around him just looked at everything under the city indifferently, as if they had nothing to do with his life or death.

There was no hope, and Naito Tadashige understood this fact again.

In this way, with a strange indifference, the people on the city wall watched as the Han army made preparations for the artillery bombardment under the city.

Naito Tadashige's scalp was numb, his whole body was stiff, and he realized that the city wall he wanted to borrow was probably meaningless now, and this blow from hope to despair was simply unbearable for him.

However, the military machine of the Great Han will not be changed or delayed in any way because of their actions, and under the gaze of Naito Tadashige, the general of the Great Han army waved his hand heavily, and then ...... The shelling began.

The number of cannons under the city was not large, but it made the whole earth seem to tremble, and the cannonballs, which were larger than a man's head, were thrown with terrible force by these cannons, and then smashed heavily against the city walls.

The roar of these cannonballs was like the roar of the thunder god, and when they exploded on the walls of the feudal city, they were like giants swinging their hammers, and soon many cracks appeared in the walls, and finally collapsed in several places.

The city wall, which was originally regarded as a shelter, now collapsed easily under the bombardment of the Han army, and it was as simple as cracking an eggshell.

This fact filled everyone's hearts with indescribable fear, and many people opened their mouths to scream, but because their eardrums were injured by the cannon just now, they could not hear themselves and others, and the stones and stumps flew in the air, and then slowly floated down, as if they had come to an inhuman world.

However, the blow to them was much more than that, and as the shelling ended, the Hanko, shouting slogans and charging, rushed towards the ruined Kurume Domain like a tide.

Tadashige Naito, who had hoped to be able to repel several of their attacks, was now completely desperate, because he knew full well that under the devastating shelling of the Great Han, the walls were useless, and the morale of the feudal soldiers and even his own shogunate soldiers had completely collapsed.

Sure enough, as he expected, when the Han Kou rushed under the gap in the city wall, very few soldiers resisted, and even if some barely resisted, they were quickly killed by the Han Kou.

Now, Han Ko was about to storm the city walls.

Is that the end of it?

Naito's mind went blank and he stared blankly at all this.

But soon he came to his senses, and immediately walked down the city wall, ignoring his men, and rushed straight back to the castle tower, where there were few people left, and even the maids did not know where to go.

"Old man, has Han Kou attacked?" Looking at Naito Tadashige, who was colorless, the lord of the domain, Arima, who remained in the pavilion, asked nervously.

Arima Tadayori is only thirty years old this year, and he didn't expect that he would encounter such an unfortunate thing just after inheriting the position of feudal lord.

"yes, they launched." Naito replied with an eerie calm.

"Then why did you get back? Now you need an adult to command in front of the city! "Arima is in a hurry.

"Command? What else to command? Naito Tadashige laughed, "The Great Han has already broken through the city, and today ...... No, it's going to fall here in the afternoon. ”

"What!" Arima Tadayori was shocked.

"Let's disembowel, lord of the domain. We have to be loyal until the big man comes in. Naito Tadashige didn't say much, he pulled out his saber, and then looked at Arima Tadayori coldly, "I'll make a mistake for you first, and then I will disembowel myself." ”

He knew that Arima Tadalay had tried to surrender to the Great Han, and he would never let Arima Tadayori die after him.

Next to the corpse of Tadadayi Arima who was stabbed in the abdomen, in a pool of blood, listening to the roars of the Han soldiers who were getting closer, Naito Tadashige looked blankly at the ceiling of the hall, and then pointed the saber at himself.

"Fifty years of life is just a dream." He muttered to himself, "General, take care. ”

With a dull sound, the shogunate's rule in Kyushu came to an end.