There was not much time left for the Date family to struggle. On the third day after Koyagawa Morimune arrived at the Kira Army camp, the Kira Army launched an attack on Nakayama Castle. Unlike Mogami Yoshimitsu's ineffective attack on the city, the Kira Army's five thousand soldiers Under the cover of the iron artillery team, Ashigaru easily approached the foot of Nakayama Castle. The wooden arrows and oars in the city could not withstand the repeated fire of the iron artillery and were all smashed into pieces. No matter how many warriors who are not afraid of death climb up the arrows and oars, they will be instantly beaten into a pile of rotten flesh. The power of hundreds of iron cannons concentrating fire at the same time within a distance of twenty meters is unimaginable by the Date family. Facing Kira The army's almost arrogant attack, what Date Terumune could do was very limited. He only ordered the bow and arrow ashigaru to fight back and strictly guarded the Otemon. After all, this newly built Zhongshan Castle was relatively strong, and there was no danger of being broken down for a while. . However, it was not an option for the Date family's more than 10,000 troops to be helpless in Zhongshan City. A group of warriors crowded into the assessment room and quarreled fiercely. Some began to discuss the issue of reaching peace, while others expressed their determination to coexist with Zhongshan City. , there were serious differences between the family members and the people, which made Date Huizong, the family governor, scratch his head. Soon they could no longer quarrel. The war lasted only one morning before the Date army was greatly shaken. Some strange rumors suddenly appeared and put the Date family into a passive position. These rumors were basically aimed at Date Huizong, the family governor. , saying that for his own selfish purposes, he made tens of thousands of people leave their homes and come to the border of the Mogami family to fight a war that is destined to fail. They will all be captured by the Kira family and the family governor will abandon them at a critical moment and flee back to Yonezawa City. Just like last time Miura Castle abandoned its allies and ran away alone. There are many similar statements, most of which are directed at Date Huizong himself. Shape him into a selfish, narrow-minded and stubborn person. The arrogant family governor who doesn't know the heights of heaven and earth. For a small issue of jealousy over a woman, he did not hesitate to start a war with the Kira family of the Minamoto family, and also molded the princess of the Mogami family into an infatuated woman who had a heart for Kira Yoshi, and was arrogantly betrothed to Date Terumune, whom Mogami Yoshimoru did not like. Finally, before getting married, with the help of his brother Yoshimitsu Mogami, he defeated the Date family and regained his freedom. When Date Terumune heard such a bizarre rumor, his face turned purple and his eyes bulged. He wanted to tear these people's mouths apart. However, if he couldn't find the person who spread the rumor, he could only angrily execute an ashigaru who spread the rumor. and low-level warriors as a warning to others. His actions will not help solve the problem, but will only add fuel to the rumors. More and more various gossips are spread in private. Seeing that the situation was slowly turning against him, Date Mimoto was determined to persuade Date Terumune, hoping that he would temporarily put aside his anger and reach a no-war agreement with the Kira family before making a decision. This proposal was strongly supported by Nakano Muneki and Makino Hisaka. Supported, but Date Huizong arbitrarily rejected this proposal, saying that he would never look back until he took revenge. Date Minamoto saw something bad going on and thought of asking the reclusive Date Harumune for help. At present, no one except the former governor can persuade Date Harumune, not to mention the fact that Date Harumune has a group of retainers around him to support him. As a result, his words as the auxiliary political leader of the family were gradually less effective. Nakano Muneki complained to him several times that the family governor did not know how to respect the elder of the family, which also made him very worried. For now, only Date Harumune can solve the crisis. Not long after, Date Harumune rushed to Nakayama Castle in person, and took Date Terumune to the castle tower to talk with his son behind closed doors all night. The next day, news came out that the Date family was willing to reach a no-war agreement with the Kira family. As an envoy, Kobegawa Shengmune signed an agreement with Mogami Yoshimitsu on behalf of the Date family. The military forces of the two families agreed to gradually disband on the next day until both parties fully signed the contract before all retreating. At the same time, the envoys of both sides, Ujie Moritou and Koryakawa Morimune, also went back and forth, conducting a series of negotiations on the release of prisoners. The Date family wanted those 800 prisoners no matter what, and the Mogami family wanted to take back the territory near Nakayama Castle no matter what. , but neither party is willing to unilaterally fulfill the obligations required by the other party, so there will be endless wrangling. But seeing that it was not a problem for everyone to stay here at the time of the autumn harvest, in the end, under the instruction of Date Harumune, he reluctantly agreed to exchange 800 prisoners for the territory near Zhongshan City. On the morning of September 20, the Date army brought food and grass supplies. Withdrew from Zhongshan Castle, and then Kira's army released 800 prisoners and the unlucky Murata Soshiro. Subsequently, Kira Yoshitoki appointed Irako Sou, the head of the Mogami clan, to lead an army of 800 as the lord of Nakayama Castle, and Moritou Ujie to lead a force of 500 to serve as the lord of Monomiyama-san Castle. With this as the core, a set including Nakayama could be built. The walled city network composed of the castle, Monomiyama Castle, Narashita Castle, and Kamiyama Castle behind it can effectively block the attack route against the Mogami family from the direction of Shishigun. Under the supervision of his father, Date Harumune, Date Terumune left this sad place full of resentment. This time the battle of Nakayama Castle, including the previous battle of Sukawa, was always a big loss for the Date family. The losses of the battle of Sukawa With 300 troops and 800 prisoners, he also joined his uncle Murata Munesuke. The battle at Zhongshan Castle lasted for three days, and the army was shaken. If it weren't for Date Haru Munesuke,He rushed over at the right time and quickly used various methods such as suppressing and refuting rumors to put a stop to this evil trend. The reputation of Date Huizong may be ruined here. Date Harumune told his son that he should not confront powerful opponents head-on. The Date family's rule of survival was to never be hostile to the strong. Even if he suffered great humiliation, it could not change the Date family's rule of survival. Otherwise, he will only taste the end of failure and the separation of the family. The situation that the Date family has worked hard for more than a hundred years cannot be easily destroyed by his angry impulse. Not only is he a face-saving governor of the Date family, but he also has Many relatives and friends supported the Oshu Quest. Yoshimitsu Kira didn't care about the affairs of the Date family. In fact, he didn't go to the battlefield at all during this war. Narifune just looked at the terrain near Sukawa and then went back to issue a general order, ordering Mogami Yoshimitsu during the retreat. Instead of returning to the city, he was stationed at Kashiwagi Mountain as a maneuver. The subsequent attack did not require his presence at all. Shima Tokikatsu, as his Kagemusha, dressed up as him and commanded the attack of 15,000 troops, including the subsequent siege and He handled the peace talks, and Mogami Yoshimitsu came forward to answer the questions. In the past ten days, surrounded by a crowd of 500 horses, he took Mogami Yoshihime to continue his unfinished tourism business. The place they went to this time was the Yanzao Silver Mountain that originally belonged to the Nozaza family. This Silver Mountain is In the second year of Kangsheng (1456), it was discovered by the local prospector, Ronzaemon of Giga City. In the following years, it was owned by the Nozawa family and quickly formed a small-scale mining operation in the local area. In the past hundred years, the mining scale of this silver mountain has increased little by little. However, due to backward mining technology and insufficient personnel, the mining efficiency has always been very low. This can only ensure that the Yanzao family, which has a small territory, can sit firmly at the top by virtue of its economic strength. After repeated explorations by Suga Taibei and more than a dozen apprentices, it was determined that this was a silver-rich mine with a shallow ore layer. In the following months, criminals from Sado Island were quickly mobilized to carry out mining and smelting work. . The location of this silver mountain is good. Not only is it close to the Mogami River, but the transportation is very convenient. The pure silver mined and smelted on the spot is sent to Echigo for further processing. As the territory of the Kira family continues to expand, Soga Taibei takes his The apprentices have traveled all over Echigo, Etchu, Shinano, and Ueno, and now they have come to Dewa Province to make new contributions to the exploration industry. With the continuous discovery of gold, silver, and copper mines, the Kira family's income also increased dramatically. The large-scale increase in business made the location of the copper house no longer suitable for daily transportation, and was forced to move to the newly built Niigata Town for large-scale smelting. , now the Copper House can provide millions of copper coins to the market every year, and in just a few years, it has gradually exchanged nearly half of the reserves for the copper coins in Kanto. The reserves of Yongle money in various places far exceeded his expectations. Bipawu even contacted the Ming Dynasty smugglers operating in Kyushu. These businessmen from the south of the Yangtze River were also happy to use this Yongle money as a trading currency in exchange for the Kira family. The raw silk needed to meet the needs of the textile industry in Sakamoto and Echigo was shipped ship after ship of copper coins via smuggling ships to the Ming Dynasty in exchange for several times the amount of raw silk. This is currently one of the most profitable businesses of the Kira family. As a result of the influx of large amounts of copper coins into the market, Yongle coins depreciated. Merchants traveling between Kanto and Kinai gradually lost the advantage of traveling between the two places to exchange coins for price differences. With Biwaya's strong logistics power, the price difference between Kinai and Echigo was always maintained. After deducting travel expenses and taxes, merchants were faced with small profits that were almost unprofitable. This point has to be commended for Matsui Yukan's incomparable methods. He did not let the merchants go bankrupt and got stuck at their profit point, forcing them to give up their own merchants and join the Biwaya Alliance of the Kira family. This is what he has done in recent years. The new concept proposed advocates using Pipa House as the core backbone to unite large business groups from various places to form a joint business alliance, and to carry out various business activities based on the relationship of colleagues within the alliance. His new concept encountered an embarrassing cold reception as soon as it was launched. In Matsui Yukan's words, it has not received active support from other places for the time being. This is probably because the Kira family is far away from Kinai and not in Kanto, and it has not yet been able to influence the two most important areas in Gyeonggi and Kanto. It is an important business district, but he also expressed that he is very confident about it. After wandering around Yanzao Ginzan for a while and admiring the scenery, they went to Yanzao Castle and had a cordial chat with the retired Yanzai Mitsushige. They had lunch in the city before leaving. Their next stop was to go to Kaooka Castle to continue their tour. , he felt uncomfortable talking and laughing with Mogami Yoshihime along the way. He did not tell the truth to the simple Mogami Yoshihime. In fact, this trip was just a pretense. It was actually to appease the various subordinates of Dewa Kingdom, the Ashikaga family. retainer. The reason is that he feels helpless about the complicated situation in Dewa Country. The Kira family's core interests are not in the remote Yu'ao area. It is impossible for him to come and sit in town from time to time, nor can he send a large number of important ministers to formally deal with it like he did with Vietchu. There are too many Chinese people, and the relationship is too complicated. It is completely different from the clear situation between Vietnam and China, except for a few Chinese people. ?He needed the help of Mogami Yoshimitsu to suppress the people of Deyu, and at the same time, he wanted to ensure that people from all over the country would not be alienated from him as the governor of the family. Therefore, he spent a summer visiting many places and appeared in Deyu with his distinguished identity. He visited the country's countryside and didn't care about the rudeness of the Dewa people. He talked cordially and friendly with retainers from all over the country, and gradually won the respect and trust of the samurai. (To be continued)