"Hasn't it worked out yet?" On a hill outside the castle of Youtiandake in Yoshishiki County, Zhou Defense Province, Masara muttered to himself.

Just under Youtianyue City in front, a large number of soldiers of the Luo family set up ladders in an attempt to land on the wall of Youtianyue City, but after the soldiers climbed the ladder, they were often pushed down by the hateful city guards, and they held spears against the chests and wooden shields of the soldiers of the Luo family and just pushed hard, and the elite standing guards of the Luo family fell clumsily from the ladder, not to mention that the arrows in the guards continued to shoot at the soldiers of the Luo family, although most of them would be resisted by the standing Luo armor or Luo family equipment. Occasionally, however, it will pierce through armor or shoot at the standing one. As for the well-dressed reserve soldiers and the peasant soldiers who did not wear any armor, the damage was even greater.

After uniting with the army of Isono Yuanchang, the Luo family's attack on Youtian Yuecheng this time was full of 6,000 people, and the defenders of Youtian Yuecheng were estimated to be at least 3,000 people, most of whom were forcibly recruited peasant soldiers. These defenders relied on the terrain of the city to stubbornly resist the attack of the Luo family's army, and blocked the progress of the Luo family's army. In this case, the only way to storm the castle is to reduce the morale of the defenders in the city, so as to get a chance to break the city.

For this reason, Masashi immediately sent a logistics team with the army to organize some peasant soldiers to cut down trees in the nearby mountains, and then urgently built dozens of long ladders, and finally adopted a strong attack strategy on Youtian Yue Castle.

Of course, the main purpose of this attack is to let the demolition team in the iron artillery team under his command cover up. Previously, in order to comprehensively attack the four countries of Nagato, Zhoufang, Aki, and Bigo, as well as the waters near these areas, Masayo divided a total of nine armies into different directions, and Masayo's army, which was the main force. It is a concentration of all the iron cannons and gunpowder that the Luo family participated in this battle. At this time. It is when these gunpowders come into play.

For this siege. In addition to ordering the teams to forcibly land the city to attack, in the previous attack, Masashi also ordered the iron artillery team to attack the city, and even ordered Li Huamei's huge ship, which was patrolling and guarding the nearby seas, to sail to the sea area closest to Youtian Yue Castle and fired a few shots directly in the direction of Youtian Yue Castle.

It's a pity that in such cold weather, the effect of iron cannons and large cylinders is not good, especially large cylinders. Because the roads were muddy, but they were too heavy and inconvenient to transport, the guide greatly hindered the speed of the march, and finally was forced to abandon the big tube shortly after the landing of the army led by Masayo on the coast. The attack on the city by the iron artillery team, as well as the opening of large barrels in various parts of Li Huamei's Juchuan Mountain, only achieved the effect of intimidating the defenders in the city, and did not have much of a lethal effect. In this regard, Masara decided to go back and ordered the craftsmen to summarize it well. Improves the actual effect of gunpowder in cold and wet weather.

Now, too, it is precisely because of the poor effect of gunpowder. Even under the cover of the soldiers who landed in the city, the demolition team had already lit the gunpowder packets twice in a row at the Otemen Gate of Youtian Yue Castle, but the explosion was not successful, and the gunpowder was just a puff of smoke. In this case, the casualties of the soldiers who forcibly attacked the castle were even greater, and it also attracted the attention of the defending troops, who had already strengthened the protection at Otemon at this time, and made every effort to prevent the demolition team from approaching Otemon.

When I attacked Nush Castle, I also encountered such a situation. Of course, because the city was a fortified city surrounded by mountains on three sides, and only one side could be used by the attackers, and this side was all difficult swamps, and the army of the Luo family suffered a lot of casualties. As for the siege environment of the current Youdayue Castle, it is much better than that of Numa Castle, so Masayo adopted the siege method of strong attack. Now it's up to you to see if the gunpowder will disappoint you.

Finally, after some hard work, the demolition team came to the Otemen Gate of Udagake Castle again, and Masara was standing on the top of the hill at this time, nervously watching the scene at the Otemen Gate of Udagakujo.

"Boom!" With a complaint from Masaara, the demolition team at Otemon finally did not disappoint him, and with a loud bang, the Oteemon of Youtian Yuecheng fell in response.

Everyone around, whether it was the defenders of Youtianyue City or the Luo family's army that was attacking, all stood still because of this loud noise.

"Kill!" At this time, the old man Isono Yuanchang, who had been waiting not far away, immediately shouted, clamped the horse's belly, and led the Luo family horseback team around him to kill the gate of Youtian Yue City, where the Datemen had collapsed.

"Kill!" The Luo family's army, which was storming the city wall of Youtian Yuecheng, finally reacted, and their morale immediately soared, on the contrary, the morale of the Youtian Yuecheng army defending the city was falling again and again at this time.

"Whew! Has it finally been breached? Masashi also breathed a long sigh at this time, with the breaking of the gate of Youtianyue City, the end of the fall of this city was inevitable. Since then, as one of the three hardliners encountered in the Luo family's strategy, Youtian Yuecheng has finally been uprooted, and the Youtian family, who intends to carry the Luo family to death, will also be exterminated (the main male will be killed, and the female dependents will be scattered to settle in various places or rewarded to meritorious soldiers).

In fact, after a little thought, Masahiro also knew why he encountered these diehards in the strategy. The fundamental reason is still the Luo family's retainers division policy.

In general, the daimyo had a feudal policy of dividing the domain of his family. Basically, after they divided the territory to their own retainers, the territory was completely controlled by the retainers, and as the governors of the clan, they only collected a certain amount of tribute from these domains every year, and in times of foreign wars, these retainers led troops to help according to the requirements of the clan. Such a policy has naturally created a large number of countries in China, and thus the situation of falling down has occurred. Or it may have caused the emergence of a mountain faction in the family, and the Daozhì faction tilted against each other, and eventually the Daozhì clan split, or even was annexed by other forces.

And the Luo family's retainer division policy, although it will also divide the territory of the clan family to the retainers, but there is a big difference.

First of all, the Luo family adopted a policy of decentralization and separation. Try to spread the retainer's territory to various places (not to divide too large a territory in one place to the retainer), and the retainer will have to disperse his people and his subordinates to take care of these territories in order to manage these territories. This prevents the retainers from gathering a large number of family forces in a fixed large territory. Under such a testimony. In time. Due to the distance, the retainer's family will gradually break up, thus avoiding the presence of large families in the territory.

Secondly, although the retainers have the right to operate and manage their own territories, the premise is that they must follow the laws and management systems of the Luo family, and the managers of the villages and towns in these territories can only be appointed by the relevant departments of the Luo family of the clan according to the laws of the territory. That is, retainers can only have the right to manage and use the grassroots managers in their own territory. But there is no appointment or the right to punish. In fact, this is not only the separation of powers of the retainers, but also the mutual supervision between the retainers and the grassroots managers.

Finally, the military authority of the retainers in their own territory is also restricted, according to the current law of the Luo family, a retainer is allowed to have a maximum of fifteen armed retainers, and the situation of the retainers and servants in the family needs to be registered in the Luo family's military cabinet, internal affairs cabinet and intelligence cabinet respectively.

On the one hand, such a territorial sub-feudal system must retain the territorial system that conforms to this era and avoid too much conflict with the system of this era. thus influencing the development of the Roche family; On the other hand, this feudal system was improved, and the rights of retainers were restricted. Ensure that the clan has control over all retainers and territories.

Of course, even if Zhengliang has carefully adjusted and improved this system to avoid contradictions within the Luo family as a result, after all, this system is still different from the overall system of this era, which leads to a lot of problems.

First, just as they encountered the desperate resistance of the Ukita family, the Naito family, and the Sugi family this time, because these families knew that the Luo family's system would greatly weaken their interests, these families were naturally unwilling to submit to the Luo family. Under such a system, it will naturally lead the Luo family to encounter resistance from many wealthy families in the future strategies in various places, and the number of wealthy families who are willing to surrender to the Luo family will be reduced a lot.

Second, some outstanding talents, especially those who have enjoyed the benefits of some famous fiefdoms, are unwilling to join the Luo family. At least under the same conditions, these talents are more willing to take refuge in other daimyos. And those wealthy families who were defeated were unwilling to surrender to the Luo family, and even if they surrendered, they would have some resentment against the Luo family's feudal system.

Third, in their own retainers, a certain hidden danger is formed. After all, as one's own rights increase, people's desire for wealth, power, and so on becomes more and more intense. When the retainers who grew up in their own family saw that the retainers of other daimyo could obtain greater wealth and power than them, they naturally had some contrasting mentalities in their hearts, which produced a desire that was not conducive to the rule of the clan, which became a hidden worry for the rule of the Luo family.

Of course, in response to these circumstances, Zhengliang also deliberately remedied.

First of all, Tong Guò established a gradually improved system of internal affairs, military, and intelligence, decentralizing and monitoring his retainers, and firmly controlling the army. For example, establish your own talent training system (since others are unwilling to come to take refuge, then you can only cultivate yourself), cultivate talents who thoroughly support and obey the system of the Luo family from a young age, and disperse these talents into various departments and institutions in the territory to form a system that thoroughly supports the Luo family. After more than ten years of continuous operation, this system has been gradually completed at this time.

Secondly, treat the grassroots leaders well, so that the leaders are very grateful to the Luo family, and at the same time, understand and support the system of the Luo family. Guarantee the rule of the Luo family from the bottom. With the continuous development of the Luo family's territory, these ants-like lords in the eyes of the general Haoqiang will occupy an increasing position in the rule of the Luo family, thus determining the stability of the Luo family's rule. If all the people underground are unwilling to support it, then even if the official position is betrayed, there will not be much turmoil.

Finally, treat and guide your retainers well. For example, increase the material and territorial rewards of the retainers, and guide the retainers to invest in other fields such as commerce, and seek new desires from these fields that can support the development of the territory.

Moreover, it is precisely because of the fact that when implementing this system, difficulties will be encountered at home, so Zhengliang has gradually built the foundation for this system from the moment the Luo family was established, and more importantly, the retainers who started the Luo family, and even most of the retainers who joined the Luo family in the future, are actually mainly from the grassroots, which avoids the emergence of various mountains and system retainer groups in the family at the beginning, so as to avoid these systems from encountering excessive resistance. This naturally also ensured the smooth implementation of the Luo family's system. When more retainers join the Luo family's camp in the future, this system has completely taken root, and the so-called general trend, these retainers can only take the initiative to adapt to it.

Perhaps, some people will say, could it be that Masara could not first implement the system followed by other daimyo at this time according to the background of this era, so as to reduce the resistance to the development of the Luo family. In fact, this approach is obviously unrealistic, because by that time, a lot of mountains have been formed in the family, and when Zhengliang is ready to implement these systems again, he will encounter a lot of resistance, and even be rebelled. In this case, it is better to stick to it from the beginning, and keep those who are willing to accept the new system behind, and those who are not willing to accept it will be kept out.

Of course, these systems are just an attempt by Masaki, and even Masarashi himself does not know whether such a system will be able to adapt better to the times and succeed. It depends on the final result and the judgment of history in the future.

It's just that, in Masaliang's view, in the Warring States Period, those old-fashioned daimyo would only lead to the decline of the zhì family, and the most prominent representative of this was the Echizen Hancang family. Those who are brave enough to innovate will develop differently, such as the Hojo family, the Takeda family, the Oda family, and even the Mori family, which was defeated by the Luo family.

Throughout the history of the Warring States Period, in fact, various daimyo and powerful people have evolved towards the process of centralization. It's just that in this process, each family has its own characteristics.

Among these families, the slowest evolution is naturally the Echizen Kuni Hankura family. The family has always followed the old family system, that is, the family old voting system. The power of the family is held by the relatives of the family. And these relatives are falling against each other, which greatly hinders the development of the family and greatly restricts the rights of the family governor.

A few years ago, when the Ashikaga shogunate in Kyoto was weakening, and the Hosokawa family, which controlled the sphere of influence in Kyoto, was mired in civil strife and fighting with the Miyoshi family, it was the best opportunity for the Hankura family to extend their power to the Kyoto area, but the Hankura family wasted it.

As for the centralization of the household governor, the Mori family, the Takeda family, the Hojo family, and later the Oda family were at the forefront.

The Maori family and the Takeda family belong to roughly the same type, and both are operated by powerful family governors, who gradually form the main power system in the family, and then the family governor guò masters these systems to run the entire family. For example, the Mori family's two-river system and the Takeda family's two-mountain system.

But such a system actually has drawbacks. This will easily cause these systems to form different hills, and once these systems lose the suppression of the strong family governor, they will become hidden dangers in the family. This is most prominently exemplified by the historical example of the divergence of the two rivers of the Maori family after the death of the Maori Yuan.

With the efforts of the two generations of Hojo Hakumo and Hojo Nobuyasu, the Hojo family's internal affairs system was conducive to controlling the situation of the wealthy families in the following places, and the overall rights of the family were gradually controlled from the bottom.

In history, the reason why the Hojo family did not fully rise, in Masaliang's view, was mainly in the Hojo Nobuyasu era, when they happened to meet the Takeda family and the Uesugi family, and the opportunity to expand the Hojo family was suppressed by these two. Later, when the Takeda family and the Uesugi family were declining, the more massive Oda family, Toyotomi family, and Tokugawa family appeared one after another, which can be said to be born at an inopportune time. (To be continued......)