On the evening of April 14, the ninth year of Tensho (1581), the reinforcements from the four countries arrived at the port of Miyazaki in the Hyuga Kingdom. Ito Yoshisuke had been waiting here for a long time.
"Your Highnesses have traveled thousands of miles to help Hinata, and I can't thank you enough! I would like to thank you all on behalf of the Ito family! I would also like to thank His Highness Jibu and His Highness the Right General!" As soon as Sawaki Yoshiyuki and others stepped onto the dock, Ito
Yiyou hurriedly rushed over and bowed to greet him.
"Your Highness Ito, why are you here?" Yoshiyuki Sawaki was indifferent to Ito Yoshisuke's enthusiasm, but his eyes widened in surprise, "Aren't you the governor of the Ito family? You are not commanding the troops on the front line, why?
Will you greet us here at the port? How is Takagi? Is Sadohara Castle?"
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highnesses! I am so grateful! The front line is not deserted. His Highness Sagara has led his troops to Takagi! Moreover, everything is fine in Takagi and Satohara Castle, and the Otomo Army has not yet arrived at Ergawa!" Ito Yoshisuke saw that Sawaki Yoshiyuki seemed to be there.
If he was angry, he hurriedly explained with a smile on his face.
"What? It's been five days and the Otomo Army hasn't reached Ogawa?" Motochi Chosugabu, who had previously vowed on the ship that Takagi must be lost, felt deeply embarrassed at this moment and shouted as if he wanted to regain face from Ito Gisuke.
Asked, "How is this possible? Are you sure it wasn't an investigation error?"
"This... His Highness Chosogabu!" Ito Yisuke recognized the identity of the visitor from the family crest on the clothes of Chosogabu Motochin, and explained truthfully and politely, "Your Highness Chosogabu Rongzhen
Ah, although our Ito family is in decline, we were once the hegemon of Hyuga Country. We have many connections in various villages and people in the country, and our intelligence work will never fall behind! But please rest assured, Your Highness!"
"Then..." Chosong Gabu Motochin wanted to ask again, but Ito Yisuke had already turned sideways and made a "please" gesture and said, "How dare you neglect your highnesses and let everyone enjoy the breeze at the port? Please come quickly.
Come and sit down in Miyazaki City! I have prepared a banquet to welcome you all!"
·
"It's really quite comfortable."
Sawaki Yoshiyuki looked at the sumptuous banquet held in the Miyazaki Castle Castle Tower, and couldn't help but whisper to Mori Kotaka next to him, "I don't necessarily have 2,000 people on hand. The enemy's army is pressing on the border, and they have already arrived."
At a critical moment of life and death, you actually still have the leisure and elegance to find time to do this? No wonder the entire Hyuga Kingdom has been reduced to these few counties..."
"Your Highness..." Moriko Takashi was catering in a low voice, while observing with embarrassment whether the people nearby heard Sawaki Yoshiyuki's complaints. Simply Ito Yoshisuke was busy giving a toast, and Nagasogabe Moto
Kim and Miyoshi Yoshihiro were sitting across from them, so they probably couldn't hear them.
"Don't rush to say anything unnecessary." Choso Gabu Motochin was obviously also dissatisfied with Ito Yoshisuke's unpragmatic attitude, "Please tell us the general information first, Your Highness Ito."
"Ah, ah, you are worthy of His Highness, Chosou, for working so conscientiously!" Ito Yoshisuke did not forget to send a compliment when this time came, "His Majesty, I know that according to the information returned by our ninjas and spies on the front line,
According to the news, the Otomo Army stalled after crossing the Gate River and did not continue southward."
"You stopped just after crossing the Kadokawa River?" Yoshiyuki Sawaki was stunned when he heard this, so he habitually looked towards the middle of the conference hall - there was usually a sand table there during the Yuqiu family's military assessment meeting. However,
Ito Yisuke obviously did not prepare such a thing, so Sawaki Yoshiyuki looked around the hall for another week trying to find a map, but found nothing.
"Your Highness Ito." Yoshiyuki Sawaki tried hard to contain his anger and asked Ito Yoshisuke, "Where is the map?"
"Map?" Ito Yisuke seemed more surprised than Sawaki Yoshiyuki when he heard this, and then hurriedly shouted to Hatamoto at the door, "Didn't you hear? Hurry, go find a map for His Highness Sawaki.
!”
"Do you still need to find this now?" Yoshiyuki Sawaki became even more angry after hearing this. He originally thought that Ito Yoshisuke just put the map away because he was eating.
"Your Highness Sawaki, please forgive me, we have already sent someone to look for you!" Ito Yisuke immediately put on a smile again, making Yoshiyuki Sawaki's reprimands have to be swallowed back in his stomach.
Not long after, the Ito family's Hatamoto hurried back, holding a roll of coarse cloth map that was already somewhat yellowed, and spread it out on the table. It seemed to be a map of Hyuga Country. However, the coastline of this map was horizontal and vertical;
The river was basically drawn with a few random strokes; the mountains had no outline at all, only a few triangle symbols were drawn instead; the specific location of the city was not marked, but two words were written in large letters in the general direction. "Wood, official"
There is no important information such as roads, mountain passes, horizontal lines, etc.
"It's so embarrassing to call it a map..." Yoshiyuki Sawaki was used to seeing the exquisite sandboxes and meticulous field maps of the Hongye Army's staff, and he couldn't accept the map in front of him that the kid in front of him scribbled like ghostly symbols, "This is what you use.
Are you commanding the battle?"
"His Majesty Sawaki made me laugh. After all, Kyushu is a rural place and cannot compare to Kinki. The quality of this map is not very good. Please forgive me." Ito Giyuu couldn't do anything else. He just had a good temper and was beaten by Sawaki.
Waki Liangzhi pointed at his nose and cursed like this, but he didn't get angry at all.
"Well, forget it." Yoshiyuki Sawaki stood up, walked to the door and called his bodyguard over. Their army of the four countries set off in a hurry this time, and they didn't have time to ask for a map of Kyushu. It was really a mistake.
"Go to Miyazaki Port and look for the Yuqiu family's caravan and garrison. Ask them if they have a map that you can read and borrow one."
Not long after, Sawaki Yoshiyuki's bodyguard ran over, holding a brand new scroll in his hands.
"Your Highness, I got this from a platoon leader at the Miyazaki Port garrison." The guard saluted to Sawaki Yoshiyuki, and then wanted to spread the scroll aside. Sawaki Yoshiyuki seemed to be angry, and grabbed the scroll directly.
, opened directly on the slope map of Ito Yisuke, instantly forming a contrast like the sky and the earth. This map not only clearly outlines the outline of the coastline and the direction of the river, but also has rough contour lines to distinguish the peaks and mountains.
, the hills and basins are also clearly visible. The official roads are also clearly marked, and the specific data of each city is also marked next to it.
"This is just a map of a garrison platoon of new recruits from the Red Leaf Army. Look at the virtues of the map of your Ito family." Ryo Sawaki shook his head repeatedly and complained, "You can earn so much from sea trade every month."
If it’s more, can you use the money spent on the banquet to pay for a dish and buy a map?”
"What His Majesty Sawaki taught me is, just buy what you want!" Yisuke Ito understands the principle of "don't hit the smiling person". As long as you keep smiling, Sawaki Yoshiyuki will not hurt your kindness no matter how much he scolds you.
"Forget it, forget it." Sure enough, Ito Yisuke's tactics were successful. Sawaki Yoshiyuki gave up the pursuit and fiercely fought, but pointed at Kadokawa's position with his hand, "You mean the Otomo army is crossing the gate.
Didn’t Kawano move on?”
"Reporting to His Highness Sawaki, that's right."
"This is still more than 60 miles away from Gaocheng..." Sen Kelong on the side simply measured the distance with his hand and a scale, "There is no need to stop here? How many days have they stopped?"
"Three days, maybe two and a half days?" Yisuke Ito obviously couldn't give an accurate time and could only give a rough estimate.
"It shouldn't be a temporary repair, but something that really forced us to stop." Chosou Gabu Motochin speculated pointedly, "Have you ever investigated how many people are there where the Otomo Army is camping?
?Did the Dayi Army send troops back to the division or to other directions?"
"Probably not." Miyoshi Yixing shook his head and said, "I don't think so."
"Have you checked? How do you know it's not possible? You're not familiar with the place, and His Highness Ito didn't even say anything, so how can you infer that it's not possible?" There is a big feud between the Chosong Gabu Motochin and the Miyoshi family, and they are not at all.
He politely grabbed Miyoshi Yoshihiro and started to yell at him, "Let His Highness Ito speak. Your Highness Ito, have you investigated it?"
"Ah...this..." Ito Yiyu fell into silence again after hearing this, and shook his head in embarrassment.
"Then go and investigate first, look at the smoke and so on." Yoshiyuki Sawaki glanced at Ito Yisuke, frowned and said, "Can your people handle it? Or should we send tanma and ninjas ourselves?"
"Of course it's easier to do things when there are more people!" Ito Yisuke smiled and rubbed his hands, "The old ninjas of the Oda family have heard about it for a long time. If His Highness can help, success will be immediate!"
"Then send someone to check first." Sawaki Yoshiyuki patted the map, then rolled up the map and stuffed it into Ito Yisuke's hand, "I beg you, please be more careful.
These 30,000 people have never been to Kyushu, and the local guides all rely on your Ito family! If you don’t even know the terrain, how do you want us to fight?"
·
On the afternoon of April 15, the ninth year of Tensho (1581), the Tanma and Ninja who were sent to investigate the Otomo Army camp along the Kadokawa River hurried back to report the news. According to the results of their observation of the smoke in the camp, there should be only three people left in the Otomo Army camp.
There are about 10,000 people.
"For things like the stove, you can only cheat too much and don't forget to hide too much. After all, soldiers have to eat." Yoshiyuki Sawaki judged this after getting the news, and then glared at Ito Yisuke,
"At least 20,000 Otomo troops are missing, right under the noses of your Ito family! Can you tell me what the intelligence system you were so proud of is?"
"Your Majesty Sawaki, please calm down. I have sent people to use all my connections to investigate! The results will be available soon!" Yisuke Ito's face was as red as a monkey's butt, and he wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl in, but he ended up with
Chapter completed!