In late May of the 23rd year of Astronomy, with the suicide of Otomo Yoshizhen, under the deliberate propaganda of the Luo family detective, the news of Otomo Yoshizhen's death quickly spread to all parts of Kyushu, and then continued to spread all the way to Shikoku, Kyoto, Kanto and other regions.

The reason why the Intelligence Pavilion deliberately publicized this news was, on the one hand, to enhance the centripetal force of the people in their own territory towards the Luo family, so that they lost confidence in the power of the Luo family's territory and inside and outside the Luo family's territory to try to restore the Otomo family; On the other hand, it is to enhance the prestige of the Luo family in the Wa Kingdom, so that the allies of the Luo family have more confidence in the Luo family, and the hostile power of the Luo family is even more frightened.

As the news of Otomo's death spread, the Saeki family, a former retainer of the Otomo family entrenched in Umibe County, Bungo Province, first received the news. Saeki Weijiao, the governor of the Saeki family, felt grief, but also immediately felt a sense of crisis. With the Luo family occupying the northeastern part of Bungo Province, only half of Kaibe County, which was occupied by the Saeki family, remained in the southeastern part of Bungo Province that had not yet been conquered by the Luo family. Next, the territory of the Saeki family is naturally the first target of the Luo family's attack. Thinking of this, Saeki Weikyo immediately sent people to the Ito family in Hyuga Province, preparing to unite the Ito family against the Luo family, while protecting his own territory, he also tried to seek an opportunity to retaliate against the Luo family.

At a seaside in Shikoku, Usuki Kansu, who also received the news of Otomo Yoshijin's death, also came to the beach and worshiped in the direction of Bungo Province. In addition to the lord Otomo Yoshijin himself, he also worshipped the clansmen of his family. The Utari clan was almost wiped out this time.

"It seems that we have to accept the other party's conditions." After the Usuki Jiansu finished worshipping, a young man behind him said. This person is Otomo Yoshijin's younger brother Otomo Kinada. At the beginning, the Luo family invaded the hinterland of Bungo Province on a large scale. And when it surrounded the Funai building. Otomo took advantage of the chaos and fled to Shikoku by boat. Later, he also met the young monk who happened to save the lives of Usuki Jiansu, so by coincidence, Usuki Jiansu met Otomo Kansa again in Shikoku.

"As long as the young master can return to the country of Fenghou one day, what about the conditions of agreeing to the other party?" After hearing Otomo's words, Usuki immediately looked at the baby in a bamboo basket next to him and said.

This baby is the sister-in-law of Otomo Yoshizhen, who was in his arms when Usutari escaped from Luming Yuecheng. Compared to Otomo Yoshitomi, the son-in-law of Otomo Yoshitsu (i.e., Otomo Yoshito), who was born in history, the current son-in-law was born earlier because Otomo Yoshijin inherited the family governor earlier than the time recorded in history. However, this baby was also very unfortunate, and shortly after birth, her mother (the daughter of Nai Kana Nai Ta Kanki) committed suicide when Luming Yue Castle was captured by the Luo family that day. And now, his father, Yoshijin Otomo, is also dead. He instantly became a fatherless and motherless orphan, and lived a miserable life of exile with his family and his uncle.

Just when Usuki Kansu and Otomo were looking forward to restoring the Otomo family with the help of Otomo Yoshijin's son-in-law, Shimazu Takahisa, who was far away in southern Kyushu, suddenly suspended his plot against the Kitasatsuma region because he received the news that Otomo Yoshizhen had been killed by the Luo family. Shimazu Takahisa is indeed a little afraid to act rashly at this time, at least he will not make any moves until he finds out the next move of the Luo family.

The Shimazu family suddenly quieted down, but it made Masarashi, who was in charge of the affairs of the family in Bungo Kunibu Castle and closely watched the actions of the Shimazu family, depressed. He also wanted to take the opportunity to knock the Shimazu family.

And while Masaro was still closely watching the actions of the Shimazu family. On the island of Honshu, Aki Kuni, has been concentrating its forces to the east. After the integration of the forces left behind by Yoshitaka Ouchi in Bigo Province and Bichugoku after his death, Mori Mototo finally showed his fangs to the Itsukushima region of the Tao family.

In May of the 23rd year of Astronomy (1554), the thick and thinly developed Mori Yuan finally sounded the horn, and he sent an envoy to the Yoshimi family in Iwami Province on the one hand, preparing to form an alliance with the Yoshimi family, and on the other hand, under the banner of avenging Yoshitaka Ouchi, he organized more than 2,000 elite soldiers, and suddenly entered Sato County in the south of the Anki country, first raided Kanayama Castle, which originally nominally belonged to the Ouchi family, and under the attack of the Mori family's army, at the beginning of June, the castles of Jifei, Kusatsu Castle, and Sakurao Castle also fell to the wind. The coastal points opposite Itsukushima all fell into the hands of the Mori family.

Subsequently, the Mori army crossed the sea to Itsukushima and expelled all the wealthy clans loyal to the Tauryubo on the island, and by mid-June, the Mori family had taken control of Itsukushima, the prostate of the Seto Inland Sea, with lightning speed. In order to prevent the Tao army from counterattacking, Maori Yuan set up a perfect Itsukushima defense line: Katsura Motocheng guarded Sakurao Castle, Kagawa Guangjing guarded Nihoshima Castle, and Kodama guarded Kusatsu Castle, strengthened the city defense, reserved grain and grass to train the navy, and prepared for a decisive battle with Tao Longfang.

At this time, Tao Longfang was still stranded in Iwami Province with a large army and attacked Tsuwano Castle of the Yoshimi family. After learning the news of the fall of Itsukushima, at this time, Tao Longfang, who burned his eyebrows, couldn't sit still, but at this time, he couldn't immediately take the Tsu and no castle of the Yoshimi family, but he couldn't retreat immediately (otherwise he would be chased all the way by the Yoshimi family), it can really be said that he can't advance or retreat, Maori Yuan chose to make it difficult at this juncture, which really made him sit on pins and needles.

"Lord, why don't you negotiate peace with the Yoshimi family, and then transfer the main force of the family to Anyi Country to crusade against Maori Yuan, this villain?" Seeing this scene, the retainer Hiroka Takabao suggested.

"What, let me make peace with that hateful fellow Yoshimi Masanori?" Hearing Hongzhong Longbao's suggestion, Tao Longfang immediately caught fire. It is because Yoshimi Masarai is a guy who always comes to harass the Tao family's territory like a fly, that Tao Longfang has greatly slowed down the speed of the integration of the various forces of the family, and now it is not easy to integrate the forces of the original Nagato Kingdom and the Zhou Defense Kingdom, and he naturally wants to find Yoshimi Masarari to have a good anger. Therefore, he had no possibility of taking the initiative to seek peace with Yoshimi Masaria.

"My lord, since that's the case, why don't you follow Ouchisuke's advice and let him come forward to mediate this matter?" The retainer Miura Fangqing also spoke. Ouchi is the collective name of the successive governors of the Ouchi family, and at this time it refers to the puppet Ouchi Yoshicho who was supported by Tao Longfang.

As soon as Miura Fangqing said this, it made all the retainers in the big tent, including Hongzhong Takabao, shake their heads slightly in their hearts. Expect Yoshicho Ouchi, who has no prestige at home at all, to come forward? What else can this be mediated? Mao Liyuan won't pay attention to this puppet governor at all.

"Mediate with Maori Yuan about this villain? No. Maori Yuan is just a small wealthy family. How can the family take the initiative to mediate with them? Tao Longfang also immediately rejected Miura Fangqing's proposal. As a matter of fact. Tao Longfang had long been dissatisfied with the Maori family, and when he attacked the Yoshimi family, Tao Longfang had sent someone to ask the Maori family to participate in this expedition as a servant army, but Maori Yuan refused Taolongfang's request on the grounds that he needed to deal with the threat of the Nizi family. This made Tao Longfang already dissatisfied. This is also one of the reasons why Tao Longfang decisively took action against the Jiang Liang clan when Mao Li Yuan spread rumors that "the Jiang Liang clan tried to respond to Mao Li Yuan" in various parts of Zhou Fang.

It's just that although Tao Longfang is already dissatisfied with the Maori family. And he has the intention of beating the entire Maori family, but in his eyes, Maori Yuan is still the same as ten or twenty years ago, just a small turtle in Yoshida Koriyama in Anyun Province, and its threat level is far from catching up with a big wealthy family like the Yoshimi family in Iwami Province. Dealing with the Maori family is just a partial division, even if you can't get the Maori family, you can completely contain the Maori family.

If Zhengliang was here, he would definitely laugh at Tao Longfang's idea. The so-called knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent can win all battles. Not only did Tao Longfang not send anyone to learn more about the enemy's strength (which was a common problem of most of the local wealthy clans in the Wa Kingdom). ignores the role of detectives and ninjas), and even more gorgeously ignores the original Ouchi family's power in Bigo and China. He also self-righteously thought that those local wealthy families who had defected to the Ouchi family were like him, and with the killing of Ouchi Yoshitaka, they had already betrayed the Ouchi family and became independent again (of course, the main reason was that Tao Longfang thought that the Maori family did not have the strength to integrate the power of these wealthy families).

It was precisely because of this psychology of underestimating the enemy that Tao Longfang finally decided: "To deal with the Maori family, let the wealthy clans near An Yiguo raise another army to crusade." ”

Therefore, after consideration, Tao Takabo decided that the main force would continue to attack the Tsu and Nojo Castle of the Yoshimi family with all its might, and at the same time mobilize a part of the local wealthy clans in the two counties of Yamashiro and Sasai of Zhou Fangguo to form a Betsuro Movement to recover Sakurao Castle and Itsukushima and other places. In mid-June, the local tyrants of Zhou Fangguo Shandai and Zuoxi counties obeyed Tao Longfang's orders and mobilized to prepare for a crusade against the Maori family.

The time quickly passed in the middle of July, when the local nobles of Yamashiro and Sasei counties of Zhou Fangguo were still mobilizing their troops, and the Mori Yuan of Itsukushima was also building a reinforced defensive line. The Luo family also ushered in a bumper harvest.

The reason is that the demographic situation and land inspection situation of the Luo family have finally been released, not only the situation of the newly occupied areas has been counted, but also the original territory of the Luo family has undergone new gratifying changes after this period of development, the specific situation is:

In the Hizen Kingdom, all the income of the territory (that is, the income from all the territories including land production and various mineral workshops) increased to 450,000 koku, and the total population also increased by 300,000, including 170,000 young people, 70,000 children, and 80,000 people in the Ming Kingdom.

In the Higo Kingdom, all the income of the territory increased to 370,000 stones, and the total population also increased by 220,000, including 130,000 young and strong, 50,000 children, and 50,000 people in the Ming Kingdom.

In Chikugo, the income of the territory increased to 330,000 koku, and the total population also increased by 160,000, including 100,000 young and strong, 40,000 children, and 50,000 Mingguo.

In Chikuzen Province, the income of all the territories increased to 340,000 stones, and the total population also increased by 180,000, including 80,000 young and strong, 30,000 children, and 20,000 people in the Ming Kingdom.

On the part of the Fenghou Kingdom, all the income of the territory increased to 400,000 stones, and the total population also increased by 250,000, including 130,000 young and strong, 60,000 children, and 10,000 people in the Ming Kingdom.

In terms of Fengqian Kingdom, all the income of the territory was 140,000 stones, and the total population was 120,000, including 60,000 young and strong, 30,000 children, and 10,000 people in the Ming Kingdom.

As for the Nagato Kingdom, since it only occupied the area of Toyoura-gun and the Kanmon Strait, the total income of the territory was only 20,000 koku, and the total population was 10,000, including 3,000 young and strong people and 4,000 children. As for Iki Island, the total income of the territory is about 15,000 koku, and the total population is 7,000, including 4,000 young and strong people and 2,000 children. Since the territory secretly occupied by the Luo family in Hyuga Country is too small and the population is not large, it is almost negligible.

In general, by the end of July of the 23rd year of Tianwen, the total income of the Luo family's territory had reached 2.06 million stones, and the total population had reached 1.25 million, including 680,000 young and strong, 290,000 children, and 220,000 people in the Ming Kingdom.

And during this time, the population increased most rapidly and naturally the population of the Ming Kingdom. Due to the natural disasters and civil strife in the Ming Kingdom, many Ming refugees chose to settle in the territory of the Luo family with the assistance of Wang Hai, Shi Shi and others, which greatly increased the population of the Ming Kingdom in the territory of the Luo family in a short period of time.

Of course, during this period, after seeing such a large number of Ming people, some retainers immediately thought, since it seemed that the Ming people had come to the Luo family's territory from Ming so easily, why not vigorously develop trade with Ming?

However, these retainers need to see that the 220,000 Ming population arrived in the territory of the Luo family after more than ten years of ant moving, and in fact, they only received less than 20,000 people per year on average (and in reality, because people will take the initiative to cooperate, it will be much easier and more convenient to transport people than to transport materials). In the same way, the so-called trade is nothing more than a sneaky maritime smuggling trade against the background of the Ming Dynasty's ban on the sea (not only the Ming Dynasty's ban on the sea, but also North Korea's restriction on the scale of foreign trade), and the scale of trade cannot be expanded without official support. Unless you launch a large-scale naval battle to completely defeat the sailors of these countries.

In addition, the underdeveloped technology of far-sea navigation and the dense piracy of various parties in the sea also greatly restricted the development of far-sea trade. Of course, the Luo family can also vigorously introduce the shipbuilding skills of the Southern Barbarians and the Ming people, and then build a powerful offshore trading fleet to trade. It's just that during this period, the Luo family had to ignore the needs of the local strategy and invest almost all the resources to build it, and the construction cycle was quite long. With the historical background of the local area at this time, I am afraid that before the Luo family's long-distance trade fleet is built, the Luo family will be destroyed by other daimyo (even their own survival is a problem, let alone any topics such as naval battles with sailors from other countries).

When they arrived here, some retainers would be puzzled, now that the Luo family's territory income has reached two million stones, they don't even have enough financial resources to build a long-distance fleet?

First of all, it is necessary to look at the territorial income of more than 2 million stones realistically. Based on the current population of 1.25 million in the territory, even if the Luo family divides all the income equally among the people of the territory, the average citizen will only get a little more than one stone. With such an income, how can we feed so many people?

Of course, in practice, it can't be calculated like this, after all, these incomes are just the extra income of the lords that year, after so many years of development, in fact, the lords within the Luo family's territory have gotten rid of the previous life of relying on annual income to survive, but have changed to rely on the food reserves at home to survive. But in any case, from this calculation method, it can be seen that even if it is an income of two million stones, it is not easy to completely feed these population, and in practical application, the income of these two million stones is not much, and if it is evenly divided into the daily consumption of the territory, it is even a little less.

And the consumption of building a long-distance fleet is really a lot, and how much manpower and material resources will be consumed during this period, Zhengliang really can't calculate. However, from the year before last year to last year, in the process of building the first small Fu ship, the Roche shipbuilding workshop spent more than a year from preparing materials and materials to going to sea for sea trials, which is not a long time to build. And the manpower and material resources consumed during the period are also very amazing, at least Zhengliang will never invest in this field like a fool, after all, the strategy on land is the focus of the Luo family at this time, which involves the problem of survival. (To be continued......)