"Let's make Nagasaki an isolated city." Zhao Song turned around and left, "Let's let people land in the suburbs first, and when the time comes, we will bring the artillery up after we go ashore, and then march all the way to cut off the back road of Nagasaki, so that it will become a lonely city, and then burn them with artillery bombardment, which will eventually smoke them to death." ”

"Even if you can't kill them then, you can let them run out and fight us, right?" Ma Tongji suddenly realized, and finally understood the thoughts of the main general, "Please also ask Zhao Shuai to send us ashore to carry out the mission at that time, which will definitely cut off the connection between Nagasaki and the inland, so that these rats have to run out to fight us!" ”

"You're really motivated." Zhao Song smiled slightly, noncommittal, "Let's eat first, the soldiers are very hungry today." ”

As he returned to his resting cabin, the darkness of the night sky enveloped the world, and there was no trace of war except for the fire on the shore.

On the night of the Han army, the Satsuma Domain, located in the southwest corner of Kyushu, finally received the news.

The advance of the Great Han went smoothly, the Fukuoka Domain and Nagasaki suffered serious blows at the same time, and now the Great Han has landed in Hakata Bay...... A series of news was of course devastating for those who were committed to the shogunate, but for the Satsuma clan and the Shimazu family, it was an opportunity, an opportunity for them to make up their minds in the end.

In Tsurumaru Castle, the main city of the Shimazu Domain, Zhou Pu looked at the feudal lord Shimazu Tadashi with a smile on his face.

"The feudal lord believes it now, right? The military strength of our Han Dynasty is by no means something that the shogunate can resist. ”

After setting fire to Nagasaki that day, he and the other people from the merchant hall came to the territory of the Satsuma domain under the cover of the people of the Shimazu domain, and were taken to Tsurumaru Castle, where they became the guests of the lord of the domain—of course, if the Han did not march or did not advance well, he could also become a prisoner or a ghost.

Therefore, after hearing the news that Dahan had marched and everything was going well, Zhou Pu also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now the feudal lord doesn't have to hesitate, and no one is interfering with the feudal lord anymore - the shogunate has concentrated its own forces and the forces of the pro-shogunate clan against our Han, and now for the feudal lord, the western part of Kyushu is a null and void...... If you don't move now, when will you wait? ”

Shimazu Tadashi still sat upright on the throne, not saying a word, but his hands were already clenched tightly.

He's very nervous right now.

When he made up his mind to take a big gamble with Dahan, he had never been so nervous.

Now the opportunity has finally arrived. The Shimazu clan will regain its former glory and power, and even go one step further to become the ruler of Kyushu......

"Dahan, is it really not going to break his promise after the war and not let us rule the whole of Kyushu?" Even though he knew that such a question was actually meaningless, Shimazu Tadashi couldn't help but ask it again.

"Our Han will do what he says, and he will never break his word, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has already personally written a document to confirm with the feudal lord, can it still be fake?" Zhou Pu couldn't help but laugh again, "Of course, as we said before, Nagasaki is not among them. ”

"Good...... Okay......" Shimazu still clenched his fists, and then Huo De stood up. "Someone!"

A few of his cronies, who had been prepared, walked in immediately.

"Prepare your army immediately, and I'm going to gather all the feudal troops tonight!" He shouted orders at the men. "Then wait for my order, march tomorrow morning!"

Since reaching a tacit agreement with Zhou Pu and others, the Satsuma Domain has been secretly rearmament and armed itself with the arms given by the Han Dynasty, but it is a bit secretive because of the reaction of the shogunate. However, after receiving an edict from Naito Tadashige that the feudal domains should arm themselves against the invasion of the Han Dynasty, Shimazu Tadashi no longer had any scruples, and in the name of guarding against the Great Han, the entire domain began to gather troops and prepare to march at any time.

However, the Shimazu clan did not want to attack Nagasaki or Kurume Domain, and their first target was the Nobeoka Domain, which was located in the Hyuga Territory, on the northern border.

The Nobeoka Domain was a small feudal domain, with 50,000 koku in stone height, and the lord of the domain, Naojun Arima, was a branch of the Arima family of the Kurume Domain, and like the main family, he was attached to the shogunate and married the adopted daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu Kunihime (she was the daughter of Honda Tadamasa). Because of his pro-shogunate stance, he has always been very disrespectful to the Satsuma clan, so he was also regarded as Satsuma's primary target.

The Satsuma clan planned to first swallow up this small feudal domain of 50,000 stones, and then march all the way north, join forces with the army of the Great Han, and cut off the connection between Kyushu and Honshu, and then slowly swallow up the entire Kyushu with the army of the Great Han, so as to establish itself in an advantageous position first.

Then, under the service of his attendants, Shimazu began to put on his armor.

These armors, which he used when he was fighting everywhere, have been sealed for I don't know how many years, and the retainers originally suggested that he change to a new armor, but he refused.

He just wants to use this armor to evoke his memories of the past and witness his new glory......

"Lord Zhou, we are about to march now, and we have officially become your allies, and we have come to this point, and we have nothing else to say, but I just want to ask you to continue to treat me sincerely, and let us cooperate with you to defeat the shogunate." He looked at Zhou Pu solemnly, "Now, I am going to personally lead the team and march to the Yangang Domain, you can go with me and wait until the two armies meet...... You are the great hero of your country. ”

"I hope I can borrow the good words of the feudal lord......" Zhou Pu couldn't help laughing.

"If everything really goes well, maybe the adults will rise step by step in the future, and even become the highest-ranking official of the Han in Japan, right?" Shimazu Zhongheng smiled slightly, as if he was currying favor with Zhou Pu, and seemed to have another deep meaning, "Please continue to take care of us in the future." ”

"The feudal lord has given us so much help, we will naturally do our best to repay it when the time comes, don't worry." Zhou Pu thought that the other party just wanted to confirm again, so he casually comforted the other party, "I don't care if I stay in Japan or not, as long as I am still in the imperial court, I will definitely do my best to help the Shimazu family." ”

"So, my lord...... Can you help us talk to the Han court about one thing? Shimazu's smile deepened, "If the adults can help in this matter, we Shimazu clan will do our best to repay the adults." ”

"Domain Lord, please?" Zhou Pu felt a little strange in his heart.

"After the war, since Kyushu will all fall into the hands of our domain, then...... Can my domain simply be elevated to a state? We became a country of our own, and then we were vassals of the Han Dynasty for generations. Shimazu Tadashi said to Zhou Pu very earnestly, "Anyway, if we occupy an island, we can isolate ourselves from the mainland, and the Han will garrison troops in Nagasaki...... Wouldn't it be nice for everyone to help each other? ”

Judging from the interests of him and the Shimazu clan, of course, the title of the feudal lord is not as good as the lord of the country, and he has already betrayed the country anyway, so it is better to simply sell it a little bigger and become the lord of the country.

But Zhou Pu didn't think so.

Keeping the Shimazu Tadashi and Satsuma clans within the Japanese system would be used to counterbalance the post-war Japanese imperial court and the Edo shogunate, and secondly, it would be precisely to use the imperial court and the shogunate to restrain it—if the Shimazu clan were to become an independent state in Kyushu, it would upset the balance, and the result would only be to break the balance altogether.

Besides, the Han Dynasty attacked a country of tens of millions like Japan with less than 10,000 troops, and the most taboo thing was to make too many enemies, so he only designated the enemy as the shogunate family, under the banner of restoring discipline - if he really cut Japan directly, wouldn't it be a slap in the face and a direct bankruptcy of his propaganda?

At that time, the Shimazu Kingdom of Kyushu may not be much grateful to the Great Han, but the remaining forces in Japan will hate the Great Han deeply, and it will be much more difficult to control it for no reason.

Zhou Pu quickly made a decision, there was no need for him to do this for the benefit of the Shimazu family.

But...... Now that he still needs the Shimazu family, he decided to make a fool of himself first, and after the big man controls the whole situation, it is not too late to slowly concoct the Shimazu family.

"This is the feudal lord's proposal...... It's also interesting, and I'm not against it......" Zhou Pu replied indifferently, "But this kind of thing is not something that I can easily make a decision on my own, and it needs to be recognized by the country - I can only say one or two things for the feudal lord at that time, and I can't guarantee the result." ”

"We naturally know the difficulties of adults, and the establishment of a country can only be recognized by the Son of Heaven of your country." Shimazu Tadashi didn't intend to force him to make any promises now, but nodded quite understandingly, "But as long as you work hard for us, we can make enough thanks." Although Kyushu is a barren place, and although the feudal domain has always been relatively poor, there are still some gold and silver deposits in the territory......"

Yes, there is indeed a gold mountain in the Satsuma Domain, and the Nagano area within the Satsuma Domain is not as large as the Sado Gold Mountain, but after exploration, the reserves are not small. The Shimazu clan had always wanted to develop this gold mine in order to relieve the financial pressure on the domain, but the Tokugawa shogunate refused to approve the development of gold mines in the domain in order to limit the power of the Shimazu family, which was one of the reasons why the Shimazu family hated the Tokugawa shogunate.

In the past, they were afraid of the power of the shogunate, so they could only endure it, and they could not develop it because they owned the gold mountain, and they saw the deterioration of the finances of the domain, but now, when they were leaning on the big Han tree and the shogunate seemed to be unable to restore their rule in Kyushu, the Shimazu family no longer had to worry about the shogunate's thoughts, and they planned to restart the development of the gold mountain immediately.

Jinshan can not only be used as a source of wealth to boost the economy of the domain, but also as a stepping stone to make the officials of the Han Dynasty tempted and get their secret support.

"The feudal lord's good intentions are appreciated in my heart." Sure enough, Zhou Pu looked tempted, "It's just that now that the enemy is present, it's really hard to talk about this matter, let's talk about it in detail later." ”

"Good!" Shimazu Tadashi was already dressed at this time, and raised his hand to raise the weapon in his hand. "Then let's go first, Lord Zhou."

So, surrounded by a large group of people, Zhou Pu and Shimazu Tadashi walked out of Tsurumaru Castle together, rode on horses and marched to the northern border of the domain.

Because preparations had already begun, most of the Satsuma Domain's troops had already begun to assemble on the northern border, and now it was only Shimazu Tadashi himself and some of his cronies who left the castle. However, even though there were few of them, they were in sharp armor and grim-faced, moving forward in almost unison rhythm, some on horseback, but most on foot, so the speed was not fast, but it gave a very oppressive feeling.

These close servants are the armed forces of Shimazu Tadashi's cronies, and the equipment is naturally the best, although the Shimazu family has been suppressed by the shogunate for more than 30 years, and the force can no longer be compared with the heyday of the year, but of course these elites have always been extremely well cared for. Their armor was carefully selected from the Shimazu family's inventory, and it was very strong, and many of them still had muskets in their hands - these muskets were specially allocated by Zhou Pu from the weapons smuggled by the Han merchant ships, although they are the muskets that the army has eliminated now, but the power and accuracy are the best weapons in Japan today, far from being comparable to those "iron cannons" in those days.

With such a direct force, Shimazu Tadashi had the confidence to take the initiative to carry out conquests against other feudal domains and cooperate with the actions of the Great Han.

The sky was very dark, and even the moonlight was very dim, and there were not many figures left on the ground, but it made the armor look a little dazzling. Zhou Pu, who was riding a horse, looked from afar, and the torches were endless, as if he was in the midst of a fire dragon. There was silence all around, and there was no noise except for the rhythmic sound of marching.

When Shimazu Yoshihiro took Zhou Pu through his domain quickly and came to the junction of the Shimazu family and the Nobeoka domain, it was already early in the morning. Although ordinary people were sleeping soundly all the time at this time, Zhou Pu found that he was not sleepy.

On the contrary, for some reason, as he moved forward more and more, the hot blood in his body churned, and his whole body was full of uncontrollable strength, and even his eyesight was much better.

As far as the eye can see, there is a field of green grass that fills the entire horizon, and then stretches into the darkness that blends with heaven and earth. Under a dark sky, the rice crops swayed in the fields, like deep ghosts.

However, this darkness does not contain danger and fear, but wealth and glory...... After so many days of hard work and so many risks, everything finally came to fruition...... It's right now!

Zhou Pu's eyes widened and he looked at Shimazu Tadashi next to him.

And Shimazu Tadashi was equally awe-struck. Under everyone's gaze, his face remained unchanged, and he was always looking at the field in the distance.

As long as this step is taken, there is no turning back, and the Shimazu family will gamble with the lives of their clan to win once, and if they succeed, they will be extremely brilliant - even if they have to bear infamy, if they fail...... It's just a withered cherry blossom falling from the sky.

In his life, he inherited the last remnant sun of the Warring States Period, met Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a man of the world who was once invincible, participated in the Battle of Sekigahara, witnessed the collapse of the Western Army, and then witnessed the final death of the Toyotomi family more than ten years later.

What else could have been in this life that could tug at his heartstrings? Toyotomi, Ishida Mitsunari, and Kobayakawa Hideaki, these names were once brilliant and dazzling, so that he had to fear and respect, but now they have all disappeared, and even the successor of the family name is gone.

When he was a strong-blooded youth, he once made a grand wish to let the Shimazu family flourish in his own hands, not to mention dominating the world, at least not to live under the people, for which he had experienced many dangers in the southern and northern wars. However, the situation was stronger than people, and in the end he had to face the reality, surrender to the victors of the Battle of Sekigahara, and endure their oppression for decades, just hoping that his family could continue and continue to exist as a daimyo in the southernmost part of the Japanese archipelago.

Everyone thought that he had fallen silent, that he could only die in obscurity as a subordinate of Tokugawa, and that he had thought so originally. But in his heart, that fire could not be completely extinguished, and one day the remnants would gnaw at his heart every day.

He was not convinced, he felt that the Tokugawa family did not get the world in a dignified manner, and he looked down on the children and grandchildren left behind by Tokugawa Ieyasu after his death, why could they give orders to him, they were obviously just a group of useless people.

Originally, he thought that he could only pass away with such resentment, and could only let his children and grandchildren slowly lie dormant in the hatred of the shogunate, waiting for the opportunity to overthrow the shogunate that might not come in hundreds of years, but he did not expect that such an opportunity would come while he was still alive.

The sky was already dark, and a pale white glow had gradually appeared in the eastern sky, and the outlines of the countryside and hills in the distance were gradually displayed in front of him. He was very familiar with the grass and trees here, because this was the territory occupied by the Shimazu clan before, and it was only after the Battle of Sekigahara and the opening of Tokugawa that he had to retreat.

Because they had received news from the shogunate that the Han might invade and prepare carefully, the Nobeoka Domain was now also assembling the forces in the territory, and all of them were gathered in the main castle of the domain, and after preparing to assemble, they would go to Nagasaki or other places where the Han army landed to meet the enemy, so the border with the Satsuma Domain was basically unfortified, how could they imagine that the attack they received was first from the Satsuma Domain, which was of the same language and species?

Since this is the will of God, then let me personally fight back everything that belongs to Shimazu. It's time.