() Astronomical 9th December 4ri, dusk.

After nearly an hour's trek, Masara and the others finally came to the mountain of Mt. Rigaku.

Looking down from the mountainside at a height of tens of meters. I saw a large castle built on the mountainside, which looked extremely beautiful under the setting sun of winter.

That is Kishigaku Castle, the main city of the Hakata family.

As for why it was named Kishigaku Castle, even Masashi did not know, and privately he guessed that it was because the castle was built on the Kishigaku Mountain. Geographically, behind Mt. Kishitake is Mt. Onokidake, on the left is Mt. Ridake, where Masarashi is currently located, on the right is Mt. Ri no Kochi, and in front of it is the Matsuura River, which runs through Toshihimae. Since ancient times, if you don't want to go around Higashi Matsuura by sea, you have generally taken the trail between Mt. Kishidake and Mt. Ohnodake, Mt. Ri no Kochi, and Mt. Ridake, or just the Matsuura River.

The geographical location of Mt. Kishidake, which is the center of these two roads, is particularly important, and it can be said that controlling Mt. Kishidake is equivalent to controlling the passage between East and West Hizen. When the Bodo family was founded, it was because of this geographical location that it gradually developed.

In order to guard against the invasion of powerful people such as Ryuzoji Temple in the east, the Hakata family built the Lion Castle on the other side of the mountain in the highlands of Ri to serve as a mountain road to the Matsuura River and the side of Kishidake Castle from that side. Now the castle has served as a front line against threats from powerful people such as the Ryuzoji family.

In the distance on the other side of Mt. Onokidake, at the confluence of the Matsuura River and the Momogawa River, another castle was set up. The name is rizai in the city. It is used to monitor the passage into Mt. Kishigaku from that direction. Now it has become the front line against the invasion of the Goto family and the Hirado Matsuura family.

Whether it is Lion City or Rizai Castle, it is not far from Kishigaku Castle. Among them, the Lion City can be reached in less than an hour along the mountain road, and it can be reached in less than half an hour along the waterway. In the city, it is difficult to walk along the mountain stream and waterway, so you can only come along the mountain road. But it can be reached in less than an hour and a half. Don't think that this distance is very long, in fact, it is due to the need to trek through the mountain road, and in terms of straight-line distance, even if the smoke is lit on Kishigaku Castle, the other two castles can be vaguely seen.

"How's the situation in the city?" Standing on the mountainside, Masaro asked the black hawk who had been watching Kishigaku Castle nearby.

"Your Highness, since most of the defenders in the city were transferred back to Karatsu last night, there is not a large number of troops stationed in the city today," Black Hawk replied.

"How many people are there in the city now?"

"Because I didn't dare to get too close. It is not possible to know exactly the guards in the city for the time being, but judging from the situation of entering and exiting and the guards at the city gate, the villain judged that there were only about a few dozen guards in the city," Black Hawk replied.

Dozens? This time, I also brought dozens of people, and the number is the same. Same number of people below. Obviously, it's more beneficial to the defending side.

But Masashi has confidence in the victory of this raid.

The other party must not have imagined that the Luo family's troops, who were supposed to deal with the coalition forces temporarily organized by the Bodo family in the territory of the Sashi family, would appear here. As Onishi Kuniji said, since the other party was able to react so quickly after receiving the information on the Higashi Matsuura Peninsula, there must be a person with good intelligence in the opponent's formation. And often smart people are often mistaken by themselves. According to normal reasoning, it is not difficult to see. After facing the aid coalition led by Bojia, the Luo family could only form a confrontation with them. If the Luo family continues to attack, it will inevitably be blocked by the coalition forces; If the Luo family retreats, it is very likely that the coalition forces will take advantage of the situation to pursue. This led to the rout of the Luo family. So at this time, the best way for the Luo family to deal with it is to confront each other on the spot. Slowly retreat.

This reasoning makes sense. It's a pity that the other party definitely didn't expect that Zhengliang was a guy who didn't play cards according to common sense, which can be seen from the fact that he used to earn thousands of stones in the territory, but he built up an army that could only be supported by tens of thousands of stones.

When the other party is even more unexpected. The western region, which has always been regarded by the powerful as a chaotic place of the East Songpu wilderness and many pirates, has long been occupied by the Luo family. And the Luo family even secretly opened a road in the vast mountains and forests to the vicinity of Anyue City.

With these two unexpected factors and the fact that Kishiyue City was guarding the emptiness at the moment, it was a favorable time for the Luo family to launch an attack. The chances of winning are in the number of 50%.

There are two gates in total, one facing the Matsuura River, which faces the castle and the towns along the Matsuura River, and is the most developed place in Kishigatake Castle; The second gate is the one facing Mt. Ohnodake, and the gate is used more as a back gate and to monitor the mountain path.

At dusk, at the gate of Kishidake Castle facing Mt. Ohnodake, the four ashigaru were still holding their posts. But it was already dusk, and in a few quarters of an hour, their duty for the day would be over, and the gates behind them would be closed at night. So a few people who are eager to return home can't beat Jing Shen.

Then again, if it weren't for the recent confrontation between the Lion City and the Longzoji family, and the fact that there had been a family split in Karatsu, they would have been chatting with each other at this time, and they would have to pay careful attention to the passage under the mountain like today.

"Who's coming? Stop quickly" At this time, a ashigaru shouted at the mountain path leading to the gate at the bottom of the mountain. The rest of Ashigaru, who was already a little distracted, immediately looked at the mountain path.

I saw two people dressed in two ashigari clothes coming quickly towards the gate. After seeing the ashigaru guarding the door, the two had no intention of stopping at all, but continued to run up quickly, and one of them shouted as he ran: "Hurry, Lion City Urgent!" ”

At this time, the two people who were approaching quickly were already about to run to the city gate. The clothes of the two of them have become more and more clear.

"They're from Lion City," said Ashigaru, one of the gatekeepers. Because he could clearly see the clothes of the two men and the flag behind them, which was the family crest of one of the retainers of the Boduo family on the Lion City side.

"Let the people inside open the city gate" After confirming the arrival, the four ashigaru immediately asked the guards behind the gate to open the city gate.

With a "squeak", the city gate slowly opened. At this time, the two Ashigaru who came to report the news came closer.

One of the gatekeepers, Ashigaru, casually stretched out his right hand to the two men. This is the guard asking the two men for a token to enter the city. You are not allowed to enter the city without a token of passage.