In addition to taking the opportunity to annex the Naito family's power in the Nagato Kingdom, Tao Longfang took the initiative to find the Luo family for two purposes this time.

The first is to take the opportunity to alleviate the crisis of famine in the territory, in addition to asking the Luo family for food, he also threw some people displaced by the famine to the Luo family.

The second is to conclude an alliance with the Luo family to ensure the stability of the territory's western land border and the southern sea border, so that he can free up his hands to resolve the turmoil in the territory and deal with the incursion of Yoshimi Masanori.

For these small abacus of Tao Longfang, Zhengliang has already guessed all of them after reading Tao Longfang's letters. It's just that if you can get Toyoura-gun in Nagato Country, this is not entirely a bad thing for the Luo family.

Geographically, Nagato Province is located in the westernmost part of Honshu, the country of Sanyo Province. It is bordered by Iwami Province to the northeast and Zhou Defense Province to the southeast. To the south is the Kanmon Strait, and on the other side are Bunzen and Chikuzen. The central part of the country is the westernmost part of the western mountainous region, and the Abu River, Kiya River, Atsutogawa River, and Atsusa River flow through it, forming a relatively large plain area. In particular, there is a vast Uno Plain near the coast of the Shubunda between the two rivers of Houdong and Atsusa.

Toyoura-gun is located in the westernmost part of Nagato Province. To the east of it are the three counties of Atsusa, Miyu, and Otsu of Nagato Province, and to the north, south, and west are the sea. As long as they master this county, the Luo family will be able to fully control the western seas such as Hibiki Beach and Kanmon Strait, so that they can focus on dealing with Iki Island and Tsushima Island in the surface seas.

At the same time, the territory of Toyoura-gun is mainly mountainous and forested, and almost all the fields and settlements in it are concentrated along the coast and along the rivers in the county, but it is a place that is easy to manage and defend. Thereinto. Marugakuyama Castle is located in the northernmost part of Toyoura-gun, at the mouth of the Kurino River, and on the shore of Yautani Bay. It is the only way to enter Toyoura-gun from the coastal area of Otsu-gun. At the same time, it is also an important naval base of Nagato Province along the coast of Xiangtan.

Located in the northeastern part of Toyoura-gun, Yada Castle (originally the domain of Takashi Aokei, but now occupied by pottery houses) in the valley formed by the alluvial Kiya River is a fortress that controls access to Toyoura-gun from Miyu-gun to the east and Otsu-gun to the northeast.

Along the Shibei to the south across the Kiya River in Toyoura-gun, it continues down to the mouth of the Kiya River along the coast of Shubuntan, where there is a towering mountain castle (the castle where Yoshinaga Ouchi was forced to commit suicide by the Mori family). Heading east from the mountain castle and along the shores of the Shubo Beach, you will soon see the Uno Plain, the largest plain united by the Nagato Province and the Zhou Defense Kingdom.

Since most of the area is mountainous forest. Therefore, as long as you control the three castles of Marugashi Mountain Castle, Yada Castle, and Yama Castle mentioned above, you will control the land connection between Toyoura County and the rest of the prefectures in Nagato Province. At the same time, it is also the only way for the Luo family to invade Nagato Province and the Iwami and Zhou defense countries around Nagato Country in the future.

Now a choice is placed in front of Zhengliang, is to postpone the strategy of the southeast of the Fengqian Kingdom, take advantage of this opportunity, in the case of the Tao family's internal response, take the opportunity to continue to deepen the Luo family's strength to the Changmen country, for the future Luo family's strategy in the western region to prepare, or give up this opportunity, according to the original plan to take the Fengqian country and the Fenghou country as soon as possible.

In the face of such an opportunity, Masayo naturally could not be arbitrary, so he summoned more than a dozen important ministers of the family, such as Yamamoto Kansuke, Kakukuma Ishimune, and Togo Heiji, to Kokura Castle to discuss.

After some deliberation. Everyone unanimously agreed that the so-called opportunity must not be lost and never come again. It is rare to have the cooperation of the Tao family. At the same time, both the Luo family and the Tao family needed to keep peace in the border area with each other afterwards, so that the family could also transfer most of the forces of the Nagato Kingdom back to the Toyozen Province in time, so everyone agreed to reach an alliance agreement with Tao Longfang. Of course, on the issue of the exchange of food and population, the Luo family also put forward new requirements.

In the end, after some negotiations, the Tao family was willing to exchange the land of Toyoura County in Nagato Province and 6,000 famine people in exchange for the Luo family's covenant and 35,000 stone of grain.

For this part of the famine population that the Tao Long House threw to the Luo family like a burden, although it will indeed increase the internal political burden of the Luo family to a certain extent, but the Luo family needs a large number of people to fill the newly occupied Chikuzen and Fengzen areas during this time, on the one hand, it is to make up for the loss of population due to natural disasters after this year, and on the other hand, it is also to further decompose the control of some local small wealthy landlords over the local area, so that the Luo family can further strengthen the rule and control of these areas.

As for the food support for Tao Longfang, in Masaara's opinion, it would be very cost-effective to exchange 35,000 koku of grain for the Tao family's assistance in Toyoura-gun, Nagato Province, and for the Tao family to take the initiative to cede the western and northern areas of Toyoura-gun.

Besides, Zhengliang didn't want Tao Longfang to fall so soon. If he falls, the Luo family will face the Mori family of Aki Province and the Yoshimi family of Iwami Province to the east and northeast respectively. Moreover, the news from Izumo Province that the Niko family has also accelerated their strategy for the eastern region of Iwami Province during this period of time, and if the Niko family takes control of Iwami Province and then borders the territory of the Luo family, even if the two families are allies, it is difficult to say whether they can continue to meet as allies after the death of the common enemy Ouchi Yoshitaka.

Until Kyushu, Iki Island, and Tsushima Island are completely resolved, Masashi really doesn't want to get bogged down in the quagmire of the western country. Besides, Zhengliang also hopes to use the Tao family as a transition zone and let Tao Longfang act as a pioneer against the Maori family and the Nizi family, so Tao Longfang can't fall at this time.

At the end of September of the 21st year of Astronomy, after reaching an alliance agreement with the Tao family, in this autumn harvest season, the Luo family took the military division Kakuma Ishimune as the general general, and the fifth standing ashigaru team of Tankane, Akaike Nagahito, Marumme Yorumi, Uemura Hontsuna, and Roshi Shigoro as the main force, combined with the iron artillery team of Ander and Irita Yoshimi, the first standing horse team of Isono Yuanchang, Akagu Mitsukiyo, and Tao Nakamoto, as well as a part of the peasant soldiers and the army of the Shiroi family, a total of more than 2,000 people went out from Uzaki Castle in Toyoura County, Nagato Province. The first target was Katsuyama Castle, the Naito family's stronghold in the southern region of Toyoura-gun.

The person in charge of garrisoning Katsuyama Castle was none other than Takayo Naito. This guy had never fought head-on with the Luo family's army before, so naturally he didn't know the strength of the Luo family's army. And he just needed to establish a military merit that would convince the whole family to suppress his uncle Naito Takaharu, who was competing with him for the position of family governor, so he ignored the advice of some of the retainers who had followed Naito Xingsheng and the Luo family army against the Warring States, and because there were more than 3,000 defenders in Shengshan Castle, he actually sent more than 2,000 people out of the city to fight a decisive battle with the Luo family's army.

(Thanks to "comic0121, green mia" for the tip; Thanks to "comic0121" for the votes; It's the middle of the month, and I haven't had a monthly pass and a reward for a long time, so I ask you for a monthly pass and a reward. (To be continued......)