Having just returned to Gakufu Castle after being assassinated, Masarashi received an urgent report that a merchant ship in Hakata Port in Chikuzen Province had been robbed by pirates. The urgent report mentioned that the pirates were extremely vicious, and when they approached the ship, they went on a killing spree, but fortunately, the owner of the ship saw the opportunity early and left on a small morning clipper, and then met our patrol boat, so he was able to escape with his life.

The accident occurred near Oshima and Jijima off the coast of Chikuzen Kunison-gun, where to the northeast was the Kanmon Strait, which was controlled by the Ouchi family's naval forces, and to the southwest was the waters of Hakadota Bay, which was controlled by the Luo family. The water area where the accident occurred used to be within the range of the power of the Zongxiang family's navy, but after last year's Hakata Port sneak attack and ambush battle, the Zongxiang family's navy was almost wiped out by the Luo family, and that area also became a frequent haunt of the Luo family's navy, and the Ouchi family's navy in the Guanmen Strait would also send the navy to patrol from time to time due to the strong request of the Zongxiang family because of the fear of being attacked by the Luo family's navy from the coast, so it became the area where the Ouchi family's navy and the Luo's navy confronted each other.

The first reaction of receiving an urgent report to Zhengliang was to list the Zongxiang family as the object of suspicion. But it doesn't seem possible. The main force of the Zongxiang family's navy and the coastal navy base were all destroyed by the Luo family. Even if the clan still has some naval vessels hidden in rivers such as the Enga River in their territory, their strength is limited. Otherwise, when the Luo family's navy harassed the Zongxiang family's coastal territory before, their navy would have been dispatched a long time ago.

In addition, because they were afraid that their merchant ships would be intercepted by the Luo family's sailors after they went to sea, they did not dare to send their own merchant ships out to sea, and the Zongxiang family was also in great need of these merchant ships at sea to enter their territory. And so it goes. The Zongxiang family will not make a move against merchant ships.

Could it be that the Ouchi family's navy army is pretending to be a pirate? But. So there are two things that don't make sense. First. At this time, there was no need for the Ouchi family's navy to block the Luo family's trade routes. Because even if the trade route from the Kanmon Strait to the Luo family is blocked, the Luo family can now obtain a new sea trade route from the Bungo Waterway. And Yoshitaka Ouchi doesn't want to increase the scope of entanglement with the Luo family because of the dispute at sea at this time, right? Second, the Kanmon Strait is the most prosperous strait in the western part of the Wa Province and the northern part of Kyushu, and there are many merchant ships passing through it every day. Now, if you deliberately block the Luo family's trade route, not only will you not be able to block the trade route, but you will also lose a lot of merchant ship tolls because of this, and even continue to offend the merchants because of this, even if Yoshitaka Ouchi is really stupid, he will not be stupid to this point.

Both the large island and the land island are covered with hills and forests. There is very little flat land, and even less land can be cultivated, and now there are only a few local fishermen who make a living. There have always been no pirates on it. Come to think of it, it is really as the Intelligence Pavilion analyzed, it could only be the actions of the Hata Navy from Iki Island.

Ever since the Luo clan navy defeated the main force of the clan clan and seized the maritime dominance of Chikuzen Province's coastal areas, the Hakata family lost land contact with Kyushu. And because Zhou Fangguo and Nagato Kuni's Ouchi family navy were too far away from Iki Island, they were worried that the navy would be besieged by the Luo family in the process of going to Iki Island, so they completely lost contact with Iki Island. The Hakata family on Iki Island has since lost the support of the Ouchi family.

Subsequently, the Luo family's navy began to block the trade routes to Iki again, mainly strictly prohibiting the transportation of grain, armaments, etc. to Iki. However, merchant ships in the Iki direction were allowed to transport any supplies out, and the materials in Iki were only allowed to go out but not enter.

Iki as an island nation. The fishery is fairly developed; At the same time, there are plains on the island, and there are food crops that can be grown. Although it is not as large as Tsushima, its arable land and population are higher than that of Tsushima, but the land on Iki Island alone cannot grow enough food to support the survival of the entire island's people, so it is very dependent on the land of Kyushu and Honshu. Now the material trade routes can only go out and not enter, which makes the Hakua family on Iki Island anxious, especially at this time when it is close to the end of the year, if they can't raise food for the winter, then not only will the people starve and starve, but even the military strength of the Bojia family can't support it, so in desperation, they have to act as pirates to rob merchant ships, especially the target is the merchant ships transporting grain.

During this time, the Roche's Hirado Island and Hakata Port were using the income from this year's autumn harvest to buy a large amount of grain, and naturally many merchants saw the opportunity to make money, so they used merchant ships to transport grain to these two places. This time, it was the ship of Nawu, who had always had a good relationship with the Luo family, who was robbed. Naturally, the Luo family can't sit idly by, and once the business is affected by pirates, it will also make other merchants worry that they will also be robbed, so the Luo family's foreign trade will also be affected.

What made Masato even more annoyed was that when he had just been assassinated, there was another news that the trade route had been robbed, and Masato already suspected that these things were made by the Bo family.

"How about going to Iki Island right away?" After gently putting down the information, Masarashi asked Togo Heiji and Yamamoto Kansuke, who had hurried to the news of Masara's assassination.

In the past, it was because the Iki Island minister belonged to the Ouchi family, and in order to avoid turning his face with the Ouchi family, Masayo did not have the idea of fighting Iki. Later, after turning his face with the Ouchi family, Masara was busy entangled with the Otomo family and the Ouchi family. Now that he has finally freed his hands, and Iki is so close to Hizen and Chikugo, it is natural to consider including it in the territory of the Luo family's power.

"There are no problems with military rations." Dongxiang Heiji didn't make a clear statement this time, but just said the situation of the materials.

"My lord, I'm afraid this matter is inappropriate. The last time the family went out to the waters of Goto in winter, although they finally won, many soldiers were frostbitten because of it, and later these soldiers had to retire early. Moreover, the sea conditions near Iki were not very good at this time, which was not conducive to giving full play to the numerical advantage of the family's naval army, and it was not the best time to carry out a water war. Kansuke Yamamoto objected.

"Hmm!" After hearing this, Zhengliang also pondered.

Indeed, as Kansuke Yamamoto said, this season of water warfare, once a soldier falls into the water, then only need to be frostbitten in a very short time, even if these soldiers recover in the future, they will leave sequelae (such as rheumatism, etc.), once in the rain can not fight. As a result, these soldiers often end up having to retire early. Moreover, at this time, not all of the Luo family's sailors were standing there, and there were many fishermen who were temporarily recruited. Even if there are no complaints about this season, fishermen who are familiar with the dangers of water warfare in winter will also complain.

In addition, due to the influence of the monsoon, in the waters around Iki and Tsushima this season, strong winds often blow on the sea, and the waves are also very strong, which is indeed not conducive to the Luo family's naval army to exert its numerical advantage.

(during the double commuter pass period, I asked for a commuter pass.) Today's four watches. (To be continued......)