Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 224 Storming Okatoyo Castle
The Xiu family's order was quickly conveyed by the generals at all levels, and the messengers began to disperse in all directions with the Xiu family's message and anger.Not only the generals under Hashiba's family were notified, but even the local wealthy families were required to come to Okatoyo Castle to watch the battle within one month.

Under the command of the captain, the backup team under Xiujia quickly reorganized into a new ranger and moved to the position arranged by Xiujia. After only 2 hours, they surrounded Okatoyo.

The defenders in the city were a little at a loss for the sudden change. It was clear that there was a message just now that the two sides had reconciled, and there would be no more war in Tosa. Why was he suddenly about to be besieged by people outside the city?
The Changzong Gabu Yuanqin in the city knew the whole story very well, but he did not explain the matter, but declared to everyone that "the nobles in Kinai insulted my Tosa no one, and openly tore up the armistice agreement."

The political propaganda work of Jangjong's relatives did indeed play some role, successfully recovering the previously low morale, and the defenders became united under his political declaration.

However, Takimotoji, a trusted retainer, was secretly sent out of the city to have a secret meeting with the Hide family.Takimotoji is the younger brother of Takasumi Takamoto, who is the abbot of Takimotoji Temple in Okatoyojo, Tosa Nagaoka-gun.

Xiujia's anger was still there, and he refused Takimotoji's request for an interview. At this time, the headquarters had moved to Xiaolian Mountain in the north of Okatoyo City, and Hanabang Zhengxing finally caught up with the plan to meet Xiujia.

"Is His Highness still angry? It's the first time I've seen His Highness get so angry in so many years, even the other party's envoy is avoided."

After the Zhi family's death, Huafang Zhengxing, as an uncle of the Xiu family, gave the Xiu family a lot of care, and his relationship with the Xiu family was relatively close. Therefore, in his private conversations with the Xiu family, there was no sense of superiority and inferiority of the monarch and ministers. The care of the elders.

"Then Miyauchi Shaosuke is also cunning, why are you being so narrow-minded at this time. But it is also a good time to take this opportunity to wipe out the Nagamune family from the Tosa country, and wipe out the grass and roots without leaving any trouble."

Huafang Zhengxing was talking again and again, and approached from outside the shogunate. When he looked carefully, he was still holding an account in his hand, "Chang Zong, my department, Yuan relatives deceived the upper and lower, and disobeyed Shangyi. Your Highness wants to punish Chang Zong, our department." My family agrees very much, but His Highness just sent his horse seal and array flag to the Xinqin Palace of Changzong's family in front of everyone."

"This matter was caused by Changzong's family. Since the evidence has been preserved, even if I report it to Da Nayan, I am justified."

The Xiu family understood the meaning of Huafang Zhengxing. The Xiu family called their heirs brothers and sisters in the morning, and gave them the horse seal and array flag representing the inheritance of martial arts, and fought again in the afternoon. It is difficult to discuss the right and wrong.

The Xiu family naturally preserved the evidence, so they can go to Hashiba Hideyoshi to argue, but the people are ignorant!People at the bottom are always willing to believe what they want to believe. If someone with a heart operates it, it is likely to cause damage to the reputation of the Xiu family.

Xiujia didn't think so much before, but felt that he was cheated, but he wanted to get back the scene. Now that Hanafang Zhengxing said it, he understood the twists and turns, but he still refused his offer out of shame. Mediation.

"The envoy has been sent out, and now the daimyos of the entire Shikoku, whether it is Asano-den or Kobayakawa-den, have been summoned by me, and the situation is irreversible." Hideka actually regretted being touched by Hanabou Masako. , But as he said, the current situation has been out of his control, and it would be even more embarrassing to go after the messenger now.

Hanafang Zhengxing originally wanted to remind the Xiu family that he himself was a victim of being fooled by the Chang Zong's relatives, so naturally he would not say a word for them, but showed the Xiu family a copy of the account.

After Xiu’s family took over the accounts, he slowly opened his mouth, “Our family has 2 soldiers in Tosa, and consumes 6000 shi of military rations every day. Counting the fodder and beans consumed by the horses, it is about 500 shi. It consumes 650 shi of food a month Wan Shi, Your Highness, our military rations are not enough to consume like this."

Hideka flipped through the account book in his hand, wishing to slap himself a few times in his heart. He obviously didn't have the face of Hideyoshi Hashiba, but he wanted to put on face like Hideyoshi Hashiba. I bought a small amount of military rations, but now it is wasted here in vain because of my momentary enthusiasm.

The Xiu family, who was extremely irritable in his heart, closed the account books and asked in a slightly impatient tone, "If the military rations you bring are not enough, then transport them from the preparatory period. This matter is a foregone conclusion, so don't try to persuade you."

"I am not here to persuade Your Highness this time, but to let Your Highness know the real situation of our army. Even if it is to transport grain from Sanuki, it is difficult to travel on Tuzan Road, and it can only be carried by manpower across the mountains and mountains to transport 1 shi of grain. It takes 3 buckets."

"In addition to the narrow mountain roads, the daily transport volume is not enough to make up for the consumption of the sergeants. I think His Highness should not only pay attention to the situation of Okatoyo Castle, but should control Urado Castle so that the military rations can be directly transported to Tosa by sea, reducing transshipment losses in the

"I estimate that in a month's time, there will be no less than 7 people gathered in Gangfeng City, and the daily food consumption will be thousands of stones. This consumption cannot be filled by sea transportation. Please make plans early, Your Highness."

The daily consumption of grain is thousands of stones. At this moment, due to the autumn harvest, the price of grain in winter fluctuates around 550-600 thousand stones. A small daimyo's annual income!
After the Xiu family heard about it, it was quite painful, but they still gritted their teeth and endured the bitter fruit. This is the reason why the Xiu family would rather exchange 10 stones for the surrender of Changzong and our family. How long will it last, even Fu Ruxiu's family can't afford it.

Of course, Hanabou Masayuki's opinion is worthy of reference. He immediately sent an order to the Ukita Kan family to control the Yoshida Castle and Otsu Tianzhu Castle in the south of Inyodogawa.

Hideka also called Masatoshi Suga from He Songbei, and asked him to take 320 people from Zhuang Nobushige, 280 people from Muguo Guoxin, and 350 people from Mu Nagaro. A total of 2500 people marched to the southwest of Urado with peace of mind, and controlled the Great Takasaka Castle along the way. , Changbin City.

Both sides control the safety of their own grain road transportation from both sides of the Tosa bend, and at the same time, let Hanabang Masayuki send a letter to Sanuki and Okayama immediately, and ask them to prepare an extra 2 shi of grain and grass, and go ashore directly from Urado by sea.

Gangfengcheng dispatched a few backup teams that had already received orders, and the other backup teams only besieged Gangfengcheng without any real siege. No matter how the Xiu family felt at the moment, since they had decided to make a show, Then it has to have an upright opening and a glorious end.

The relatives of Changzong and I in the city are not in a hurry, it seems that he knows that the military rations of the Xiu family are not enough to maintain the siege for a long time, and when the Xiu family retreats, it will be another chance for him to be active.

But he didn't know that the Xiu family had made a real move this time, planning to solve the Four Kingdoms issue once and for all, and would definitely not give him another chance to make trouble.

Asano Nagamasa arrived in Okatoyo Castle 15 days later, and Miyoshi Hideho arrived about 2 days later. They brought news to Hideo that the 7 counties in the northern part of Awa were basically pacified. When I came to Tosao Gangfeng, the number of people actually expanded to more than 2.2.

Takakage Kobayakawa came via Iyo on the 21st day, with a total force of more than 1 troops, but only 8000 were in the Kobayakawa headquarters, and the rest were from the Iyo clan.

Ishida Mitsunari came late, and it was almost the finale that he rushed to the foot of Okatoyo Castle with more than 5000 people from Sanuki's left-behind legion.

So far, the necessary troops left behind to guard important strongholds have been released, and the Hide family has assembled more than 8 people in Tosa!

This is a huge military power that has never been seen in the history of the four countries. The huge gap in numbers seems to be a heavy hammer weighing on the hearts of the defenders.

Seeing the Yuchai family's reinforcements coming from all directions, they knew that they had no one to support along the way, and those who had been unresolute surrendered to the Xiu family long ago, and those who were determined had already been eliminated.

At this time, even the relatives of the Changzong family in the city began to panic, and once again sent Takimotoji to be willing to save the family name in exchange for Okatoyo Kaicheng.

It's just that the purpose of Hideka's battle at this time has changed. The attack on Okatoyo Castle has changed from surrendering Nagamune's clan to a show of showing off his muscles to the Daimyo of the Western Kingdom. How can he agree to Yuanqin's request.

On November 11th, which was the full day of the 20th, the Xiu family announced that all the daimyos who did not arrive today would be punished as thieves, and at the same time asked their artillery battalion to set up artillery positions in Xiaolianshan Sheng, preparing for the next day. The siege of Okatoyo Castle.

On November 12, 21th year of Tensho (around January 1585, 1), banners and banners were displayed outside Okatoyo Castle. All famous soldiers gathered around Okatoyo Castle, preparing to appreciate the ending of the former overlord of Tosa, Nagamune .

Different from the troops of the nobles who were scattered in the outer formation and did not move forward, Yuxiduo's various backup teams, who were in charge of the inner encirclement and the main force of the siege, were ready at this time, and there was no word in the queue, just waiting for Xiujia's order kill.

However, whether it was the retainers who commanded the Xiu family's direct reserve team or the daimyos of foreign wealthy families, they were all concentrated in the Xiu family's shogunate, waiting for the Xiu family to give orders.

At this moment, Xiujia suddenly remembered the sentence in Wang Changling's "The Song of the Brothel", "The white horse and the golden saddle follow the Emperor Wu, and the banners are one hundred thousand and live in Changyang."

When did my past self have the pride of today, and he can command nearly 10 people in a day!

The Xiu family, who was in a good mood, also forgave these foreign names a lot, and accepted all their flattery. When the sun completely rose to the sky, the soldiers below should have also used rebellion. After a period of After a short break, Xiujia began to formally assign tasks.

The extremely heroic general of the Xiu family pointed directly at Gangfeng Castle on the opposite hill, and issued the final combat deployment to his retainers.

"The target of this battle: Okatoyo Castle, Qinglong and White Tigers are the main attackers on the west side, Suzaku Bei and Iron Pao Battalion are the main attackers on the north side, and use the artillery salvo from Xiaolian Mountain as a signal to launch an attack on Okatoyo Castle. The south bank of the Niyodo River You Jingliang, responsible for restraining some of the defenders, fired iron cannons and arrow feathers into the city."

"The second formation on the west side is Miyano and Okubei, connecting with Qinglongbei to expand the results of the battle. As for the second formation on the north side," Hideka said here, pausing slightly, seeing Masanori Fukushima who was sitting in the last seat eager to try, remembering the promise he had made before Give Fukushima Masamori the vanguard and the position of the main attacker.

However, due to the sudden change of the battlefield situation in the four countries, Fukushima Masaru seemed to have spent a whole "autumn outing" on Hideka's side, and he made some military exploits when he was under the city of Nakanishi.

The purpose of Hideka to let Fukushima Masanori come to Tosa is to win Fukushima Masanori. If Fukushima Masanori has not won enough military exploits in Shikoku, or if he thinks that he has not obtained enough military exploits to exceed what he could have obtained in the original Kii region, So will Masayoshi Fukushima have a misunderstanding with Hideka because of this?

After careful consideration, Hideka decided to let Fukushima Masanori, Kato Kiyomasa and others replace Akasaka and Hekibi's second team and be responsible for the support on the north side.

After the military order was deployed, the retainers who had received the mission left the front line one after another, and went to lead their own reserve team.And Xiujia chatted and laughed with those daimyos from all over the world.

About half an hour later, a samurai came to report that the preparations on all sides were ready. Xiujia interrupted the chat, stood up from the horse, waved the military equipment in his hand to Gangfeng City, and ordered loudly, "Fire!"

Just in response to the sentence "Qia's classmate is a young man, he is full of bookishness, and he reprimands Fang Qiu!"

The coordinates of the Artillery Battalion have been corrected for a month of test firing. After receiving the order from Hideka, the battalion commander Hideki Endo held the horsewhip in his hand and ordered to his subordinates, "Fire~"

"Boom, boom, boom~" "Bang~pa~boom~" With the volley of 12-pound and 6-pound artillery, there was a loud noise like a flash crash on Xiaolian Mountain, making the farmers and soldiers of the four countries who had never seen cannons think that there was a landslide , even the warrior class was frightened by the loud noise.

The samurai gentlemen didn't care about the image's location on the ground, and warm liquid flowed from between their legs.In Xiaolianshan's formation, despite Xiujia's reminders many times before, everyone present was startled.

The daimyo Saiyuanji Gonghiro fell directly from the horse. He was nearly 6 years old because he hit the ground on his lute, and he seemed to have suffered a lot of injuries. He had to be carried down to be treated by a military doctor. He became the only one injured in the Battle of Okatoyo Castle. senior general.

At the foot of the mountain, the backup teams who heard the rumble of cannons on the mountain began to kill Gangfengcheng under the command of their respective captains.

The first round of shooting from the cannon was an important target that Xiujia had planned long ago, such as oar towers, city gates and so on.A 12-pound cannon pierced through the top beam of the Izumaru crown wooden gate from the side, and the crown wooden gate that lost the branch city fell to the ground. Start melee.

Under the city is the Iron Cannon Battalion relying on wooden traps and bamboo beams to tilt projectiles towards the defenders inside the screen. The 4-stage strike shortens the firing interval of the iron cannons to less than 10 seconds. The iron bullets with almost no gaps can hit the defenders in the city. The army dared not look up.

At the beginning of the war, the Xiu family had already told their retainers secretly that this is a big show to show the strength of the Yuxi family, and it is necessary to show the strong military strength of the Yuxi family, so Danwan Jianyu has already made sufficient preparations. Don't pour money into the city.

Even Asano Nagamasa, who was born in the Oda family, was frightened by the dense rain of bullets. He looked at Okatoyo Joshita obsessively and murmured, "Is this a place where living people can stay? No, this is simply hell."

(End of this chapter)