Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 331 Kyushu Expedition ([-])

The Hide family was greeted by Otomo's retainers led by Otomo Zonglin and 2200 people from Bai Hubei and Sanuki led by Todo Takatora.

As the troops that were originally handed over to Hashiba Hideji as a support force, they originally had two reserve teams when they first set out.

When the Xiu family explained to him at the beginning, they told him not to be a bird of prey, but to nest in the back peacefully.

Who would have thought that Hideji Hashiba and Hideku Sengoku would be living treasures together. Although the defeat in the Tojigawa War did not reappear, they still lost their teachers and humiliated the country in Kitagawa, Hyuga Country.

Fujido Takatora led the last fresh force of the vanguard to support them, and only then did they rescue the two trapped in the siege.

After the war, the two were ordered to return to Osaka, and the actual controller of the Vanguard Corps became Nagamasa Asano. During this period of time, the Vanguard Army relied on the terrain behind Dongfeng to resist successively, and finally dragged on until the second wave of reinforcements arrived after the spring plowing.

Especially after the arrival of the second wave of Okatoshi Katsura, the Fujido Takahu team, which had persisted on the front line for a long time, was finally replaced. There were only 3000 people left from the 2200 people who participated in the battle.

Of course, this does not mean that nearly 800 people were killed in battle. In fact, only more than 300 people were killed in the past few months, and the remaining 400 people were sent back early due to injuries.

However, even so, the vanguard supplementary team led by Fujido Takatora still suffered heavy losses, and it had already been defeated due to excessive battle damage among ordinary Warring States troops.

As soon as Fujido Gaohu saw Xiu's family get off the boat, he hurriedly approached him and said, "Your Highness, you have finally arrived."

Seeing Fujido Gaohu, Xiujia praised him, "Kyushu did a good job. When I was in Osaka, I heard His Highness Guan Bai praised you."

Fujido Takahu said a few words modestly, as if he had something to say, but Otomo Zonglin who was on the sidelines rushed forward and said, "It is really an honor for Master Central to come to Kyushu from Bizen to support.

When Mr. Zhong Nayan came out from the mansion, he specifically told me to receive His Highness well. I have already set up a banquet in the mansion to welcome His Highness, and I invite His Highness to come and honor you. "

Hideka’s current official name is the Secretary of State for Central Affairs. Japan’s law system refers to the establishment of the three provinces and six ministries of the Tang Dynasty. The official position of order and Zhongshu order.And everyone in the court knew that the Xiu family liked Tang Feng, so they mostly called him by Tang names.

Xiujia said politely, "Your Majesty Yulin is so thankful."

The Xiu family thought that after crossing the sea and logging into Fenghou, they would give themselves some respite, but when the Xiu family followed Otomo Zonglin from the pier to the mansion, they saw a murderous look inside and outside the city. It also became a little more bleak.

When they arrived inside the castle, they even heard the samurai shouting, "Ichiku-san~ I must transport these arrows to Usuki before the Shimadzu's family arrives."

Hideka was a little puzzled and said, "Usuki Castle seems to be behind Dongfeng, why is there a war there?"

Hearing Hideka's question, Otomo Zonglin's expression turned pale, but Fujido Takatora stepped forward and said to Hideka, "The news came from Tsukumi last night that Oyou's army has broken through Saeki Castle and is going north to attack Tsukumi Castle." gone."

"How did it come so quickly?" Xiujia said in shock, "Why did the Shimadzu family break through the Saeki defense line and why did the defenders of Tsujiumi report it?"

"We don't know when Saeki Castle fell. The Shimadzu family appeared in Tsukumi Castle as if they could fly. We didn't know the news of Saeki's fall until Tsukumi was besieged. The Oyou Army responsible for the defense of Saeki Castle should be All gone.

After hearing the news last night, Mizoguchi Hidekatsu and Mori Tadomasa set off with the 3500 rangers to support Otomo Yoshito-sama, that is to say, I heard that His Highness will be in the mansion today, so I stayed here. "

If the Hide family remembers correctly, the original base of the Otomo family was Usuki Castle. After Otomo Zonglin gave up the position of the governor to Yitong, he moved to Funai Castle in Oita County, and let Yoshito continue to issue orders in Usuki Castle. .

Later, because Otomo Zonglin converted to Kiritan, a group of samurai who converted to Kiritan gathered around Funai Castle. These people advocated reform, and Usuki Castle, the base city of Otomo’s family, became the settlement of old-school samurai.

The unique political structure of Otomo's family led to the actual split of forces within the family.The Otomo family is different from the Hojo family. Although the Hojo family will intervene in the decision of the new head after the previous head of the family retires, he is usually asked to give orders first, and then intervene if there is a problem, so as to cultivate the successor's ability to govern.

But Otomo's family is different. Otomo Zonglin took the position of the family governor as Yitong, moved to the inner city of Fu, but brought all the core retainers there, so that Otomo's family actually had two central institutions.

This decision of Otomo Zonglin not only violated the interests of conservative samurai, but also made his son Yitong very upset.If the Otomo family hadn't been reunited by the subsequent defeat of Erchuan, war between the father and son would have been very likely.

In the Battle of Erchuan, the conservative warriors resisted to fight, causing heavy losses to the progressives, and Otomo Zonglin's power was greatly reduced, which made him have to elevate the status of the revolutionary warriors even more outrageously.

Just imagine a family where even the governor and his son are fighting among themselves, no wonder they lost several times in a row against the Shimadzu and Ryuzoji families.

Xiujia didn't want to waste time with Otomo Zonglin, turned his head to look at Todo Takatora and continued to ask, "Do you know how many enemy troops are there?"

Fujido Takatora quickly obtained the information and told Hideka, "The exact number is not clear. According to the message from Tsukumi, there are about 2000 Pioneers."

According to the customs of the Warring States Period in Japan, the vanguard army of 2000 people is generally deployed by an army of more than 8000 people. This will change according to the local military service situation, "that is, the enemy is about [-] people."

"My lords also think the same way. Usuki Castle is the main city of Otomo's family. The city is built against the mountains and has strong defenses. Your lords plan to set up another line of defense in Usuki. It should be able to support His Highness Zhong Nayan when he comes back."

Hideka agreed with Fujido Takatora's explanation. Judging from the current situation, the defensive pressure on the east side is actually not that great. With 3500 reinforcements, plus the 3000 people already in Usuki Castle, 6000 people are sticking to the problem of Usuki Castle. It's not big, there are only more than [-] people on the opposite side, and it's a bit of a dream to capture Usuki Castle.

Long before the departure, Xiujia had made up his mind not to be the leader. Since the front line hadn't reached the point where he had to make a move, he had no interest in going up there.

The most important thing is that my troops have just been transported by sea, and many soldiers are not quite used to it, and they need to recuperate for a while before they can fight.

So Hideka no longer cared about the situation on Usuki's side, and happily accepted the reception banquet prepared by Otomo Zonglin for him.

It's a little strange that Zong Lin was the only one who came out from Dayou's family at this welcome banquet, and all the retainers of the Xiu family were sitting in the audience.

Perhaps in order to reflect the hospitality of Otomo's family, Otomo Zonglin prepared a maid to accompany every retainer of the Xiu family.

In this way, this banquet is no longer an ordinary banquet, it has become a flower wine that the Wu family will only hold in private.Banquets of this type are usually held privately among close warriors, after all, they are something that should not be put on the table.

And Dayou Zonglin actually put such a banquet at the welcome banquet, which really made the Xiu family a little confused. Did he think that the Xiu family was too young to understand the truth?

Similarly, this kind of banquet will show the ugly appearance of men and women because it is too private.

Dayou Zonglin invited the Xiu family and his retainers. The Xiu family was here, no matter how presumptuous his retainers wanted to be, they couldn't let go of their hands and feet, and they couldn't have fun.

Suddenly another maid sat beside Xiujia and added some more rice wine to Xiujia's wine plate. Xiujia turned her head away and said thank you very politely, making her face blush.

Only at this time did Xiujia realize that there was a faint fragrance of flowers on her body. This era is an era of extremely low productivity.

Ordinary people don't have to take a bath for a few days, and it's fine if they don't have a bad smell on their bodies. Those with a faint fragrance like this must be the female relatives of everyone. The fragrance of the female relatives beside them has attracted the attention of the Xiu family.

Otomo Zonglin saw Xiujia's actions here, raised his glass to invite Xiujia to drink, and interrupted Xiujia's thinking.

After drinking a few cups, Xiujia saw that the retainers who were working seemed to be a little restrained because of his own existence, so he left first with the excuse of being overwhelmed with alcohol.

As a result, the figure of Xiu's family hadn't gone far, when they heard the laughter between men and women in the banquet hall just now, it was not as serious as when Xiu's family was there just now.

Hideka waited for a while at the house arranged by Otomo Zonglin, and Todo Takatora also came out to meet Hideka with an excuse.

Seeing Fujido Takatora coming, Hideka half-jokingly said, "Why don't you play in there for a while, this kind of game doesn't happen all the time."

Fujido Takahu scratched his head, and said with a dry smile, "Major General Otomo is indeed more hospitable, but I really don't like it."

The Xiu family glanced at him with contempt, and it was probably an excuse for what was wrong.It was because Fujido Takatora was the brother-in-law of the Xiu family, and he was not married yet, so he had to make a good impression on the Xiu family's natal family, so he chose to leave from the banquet.

Of course, the Xiu family saw the truth and didn't tell the truth. The Xiu family asked him, "You must have something to tell me when you come out of the banquet. Now it's just you and me. If there is anything, it's okay to say it."

"Yes" Fujido Takatora said after saluting to the Hide family, "Your Highness, I think the Shimadzu family's offensive is a bit fierce, and the number of people attacking it may be more than 1. You must know what happened to Saeki Castle and the surrounding fortresses?" It is said that there are 3000 troops, how can an army of 1 be captured without any news."

In fact, you can find the problem with a little thought, and Xiujia's sensitivity doesn't even need to be reminded by others on weekdays.But today, after Fujido Gaohu talked to Xiujia, he didn't see Xiujia's position. Gao Hu thought that Xiujia ignored this point, so he reminded him.

But Chengxiang Xiu's family responded indifferently, "I know that the enemy must attack from multiple sides, and the number of people should not be less than 2 to complete such a siege."

"Your Highness knows?" Fujido Takahu asked in surprise, "Since Your Highness knows, why?"

"Why don't you make an arrangement?" Hideka interrupted Takatora Fujido's speech and said, "Since the adults of the Rangers have already responded, why should I meddle in my own business here? I'm afraid I will end up bad relations with them .”

Hearing Xiu's answer, Fujido Takatora frowned. If it wasn't for the friendship with Xiu's family for many years, he might not even recognize the man in front of him.

Although it was strange to see the Hide family's indifference, Fujido Takatora still reminded, "But if there is really an army of 2 to 3 on the other side, the military power of a few adults and Otomo's family alone may not be able to hold Usuki Castle. Bar."

Unexpectedly, the Xiu family still said indifferently, "6000 people are quite a lot, and it will take ten days and half a month for sure. By then, Zhong Nayan will have returned, and it will be just waiting for him to make arrangements."

The Hideka's attitude made Fujido Takahu even more puzzled. He frowned and asked strangely, "Even the adults of the Rangers have been granted the right to command on the fly. Didn't His Highness Guan Bai give it to His Highness?"

"Do you have the right to command the aircraft? Yes."

"Then why doesn't Your Highness make a quick deployment? This is the 2~3 Shimadzu Army, which is the main force of the enemy. If you can conquer such an enemy, it must be a miracle. With Your Highness's military strategy and the elite samurai, defeat Shimadzu Home is easy, so it will be convenient for His Royal Highness Guan Bai to pacify Kyushu, His Highness Guan Bai will certainly not hesitate to praise him."

Xiujia looked at the passionate young man in front of him, sighed and said earnestly, "During the recruitment of His Royal Highness Guan Bai's army, the autumn harvest of many neighboring countries in the Eastern Kingdom has not yet ended, and His Royal Highness Guan Bai's army may not be ready until December Arrive in Kyushu.

You must know that this is a war of the whole country. His Highness Guan Bai has gathered 25 troops, and even personally attacked the Shimadzu family. The purpose is not only to punish Shimadzu, but to promote his military power to other forces in the world.

If we defeat Shimadzu's main force so quickly, what will His Highness Guan Bai's 10,000+ army come to do?The main character hasn't appeared yet, so how can this scene end? It's good to keep the front line in the east. The more critical the situation is, the more important it is for His Royal Highness Guan Bai to send troops in person. "

What Hideka said was the truth, based on the distance of Toyotomi Hidenaga's team, now the main force he brought to Fengzen is the Ukita Army led by Oka Toshikatsu, the Harimas of Kuroda Takataka, and the Tosas of Kobayakawa Takakage. There are about 3 troops.

And the Hokuriku Legion he led should have just been recruited and is still on the way.

This is still the case for Toyotomi Hidecho, let alone Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His Kitakyushu Legion is currently only present with a few daimyos such as Mori Terumoto, and the concentration rate of troops is every 2%. The main force of the army was wiped out, did Hideyoshi come to Kyushu to travel?

Hideka is not an elm-headed man. In fact, he didn't need Toyotomi Hidecho to remind him a while ago that he would not contribute much in Kyushu, but the political implications of it were not understood by a samurai at the level of Todo Takatora.

If you don’t see Mori Terumoto, you will understand the truth. After the capture of Kokura Castle, Mori Terumoto would not move forward even though he had such a big advantage. He would rather wait for the Shimadzu family to gather and fight against him.

For samurai like Fujido Takatora, killing the enemy and claiming merit is their most concerned thing. All their tactics are for victory, but at the Hide family level, the victory of the war is no longer the key.

Fujido Takahu seemed to understand what the Hide family meant, and was about to speak again, but heard a voice from outside the house, "My lord, Otomo's family sent someone over to serve His Highness."

(End of this chapter)