5 years of celebration (1600) October -

Even after the battle between Tokugawa Jiayasu and Mitsuo Ishida ended, the attack on the castle defended by the famous men on the Ishida side continued in the Kyushu region by the coalition forces of Rushui Kuroda and Kiyosei Kato, who did not participate in the main battle of Kangawara, and Naomi Hot Island.

And finally, the rest only left the Tachibana family after the construction and the Shimazu family in Satsuma.

Naomi Hot Island had a history of her son, Seung Mao, fighting as Ishida Fang due to unavoidable circumstances, and was also anxious to do his work in the sense of showing deference to Jiayang Tokugawa.

For this reason, he led 32,000 troops and attacked the Yanagawa Castle defended by Tachibana Somo, the owner of the Tachibana family.

The opposing army of Tachibana is thirteen thousand.

Historically, the difference in force, but once caged in the famous castle Yanagawa Castle, was not something that could be won sooner, Naomi Hot Island thought of somehow getting Somo Tachibana out of the castle and bringing him into the field.

So he sends a letter to Zongmao.

- Fight in the Eighth House.

The contents of the writ were simplistic.

However, this writ broke Yanagawa Castle in two.

"If you were challenged to battle and caged in a castle without fighting, be a coward and a laugh to future generations!

There are already a large number of them! On top of that, you'll be ready to go out and fight in the name of Tachibana shamelessly!

"Wait! If this Willow River Castle is a castle that has been held for three years, if it leaves the castle due to a difference in force, then it will be a laugh!

When are we going to humiliate ourselves here? But we should cage!

Somo Tachibana, a young lord, was greatly troubled by the conflict within this castle.

But even while this is happening, the troops of Hot Island are slowly dropping the branch castle of Yanagawa Castle and approaching the Eighth House, the designated place for the showdown.

So he made up his mind.

And, of course, the direct minister. The jury also gathered all the people in the house,

"To renounce this castle yourself, entrusted to the late Hideyoshi Tai Toyotomi, is against loyalty.

But thus challenged to battle, and caged in the castle without responding to it, is what cowards ashamed of the name of Tachibana do.

That's where I decided!

In this castle, we shall leave Yubu Monochin, one of Tachibana's twins, during Masahiro Nono, the superior elder, and let him continue to protect the castle!

I fought shamelessly in the name of Tachibana and this Shimae Nagamitsu, and said, "Tachibana Somo, it's here! 'Let's carve it into the army of Naomi Hot Island and let it be a bright scatter on the battlefield!

and he proclaimed a tragic battle of jade crushing with a sword, the shape of his real father, Shoji Takahashi.

Earlier in the day in the castle, the words are engulfed in tears.

"No cowards in Tachibana! Tachibana is unbeatable!

As the late Snow Lord taught me, I'm not going to lose this fight!

Even if all the blood flows out of this body, this soul is always with the Willow River!

So those who remain in the castle, fear not!

Fight well, protect well!

Yes. When Zongmao makes a sound that reaches all over the castle, the faces of the generals tighten.

Everyone on the spot had decided to be ready and was going to die with Zongmao.

But only one person was different.

That was at the time of Masano Noh, who was entrusted with the castle by Zongmao.

"My lord, wait!

In case anything happens to your lord, who will inherit Tachibana's name?!?

And if the Lord is dead, the Tokugawachi Prefecture must destroy your home mercilessly!

Please reconsider!

To the words, the remaining one of the Tachibana twins, Ono Zhenyu, ate at the increase with his face bright red and spitting.

"Hey! Lord Masahiro!! I won't listen to that!

It's like losing when you're on Hot Island!

But he hasn't lost at the increase.

"Look at reality!!

Even if Kato and Kuroda's armies don't move, Hot Island's armies are bigger than ours, and once in the field, it's more obvious than watching the fire extinguish them all!!

"You don't have to try that!!

"I know you don't have to do that!!

Is sending the Lord to his death a loyal thing to do?!?

That intense word cooled the heat in the room all at once until then.

And when the increase came to Somo, he rubbed his forehead against the floor and said with tear-mixed shouts.

"My lord!! Please stay in this castle!!

In that desperate request, Zongmao also inquired at the time of the increase with a serious eye.

"So whether the Lord wants to receive a coward's sleigh or not, do you want to be in the castle?!?

"No! I didn't say that!!

"So what do you mean!? Tell me!!

"Leave the field to our ministers!! Thank you for your continued protection of the castle!

"I... I have to send my minister to the dead, and that's what your lord says!

"That's right!

But my lord!!

This battle is not a 'dead place'!!

It is in the 'Live Path' to protect Your Highness and protect Tachibana's pride!!

I am not in this place, such as those who gladly and bravely do not appear in such a battle!!

Somo eats his teeth off with a painful face.

The face during the increase with one head raised is tearful and tearful.

The breathtaking stare between the two continued for a long time.

Everyone on the spot is holding their breath and staring at the state of it.

And Zongmao turned red in his face, and said, Is it not much of remorse, that he hoarded his tears all over his eyes, that he might squeeze them out?

"At the time of increase... the word of the Lord... most indeed...

Follow the word of the Lord. "

A man named Somo Tachibana is a man of loyalty.

But that's not just honesty with the person on the lookout.

I treated my minister seriously, with virtue, at all times.

So sending a minister to a battlefield where dying was a must was far more heartbreaking than going on the spot.

It goes without saying that his decision was just the end of a heart-engraving, bloody thing.

However, during the increase, he continues to make only calm decisions and asks Zongmao to make ruthless decisions.

Because that's what he does.

He was also like a mass of loyalty at the time of the increase.

So I killed my heart, but I kept leading Zongmao to the right path.

That he said, in a low voice.

"Next, you have to decide who stays in the castle and who goes to battlefield."

Zongmao returns it with constant breath.

"… it's okay to recruit what you want to go to and leave it to each"

But at the increase, he only calmly disputed.

"That won't happen!

Then leave a lump in the heart of those who did not go to the battlefield!

Thank you for appointing the men to the battlefield!

Zongmao loses his word in the prophecy.

What a cruel role that is...

Take the role of pushing the backs of those who send them to the River Midway, for example.

And all of them are like my sons.

It can't be harder.

Zongmao still caught tears.

Because I thought it was a loss to weep.

That's the only mission I can do, so I can't break it here.

He nodded loudly, without uttering a word.

When I confirmed it, I looked around and said it out loud.

"Then it is up to the ministers to decide who they will be more than this, including what they will be!

Everybody! So there's no objection!!

No matter, I was not alone with anyone who disagreed.

And Yubu Yushin, Ono Makoto, Lianzhen at ten o'clock, and Masahiro Sumeno, the four of them left the room quietly and entered into a discussion.

………

……

How much time do we have...

That seemed early and late.

The only thing I can say is that in the meantime, there was no one to utter a word as one.

The room, with dozens of people, was quiet and just kept waiting for the four of them who left the room.

And...

The four of them are back.

Did you have an argument...

The face was uniformly weary, but their eyes remained lit of what burned.

Masahiro, the superior elder, will hand Zongmao a piece of paper on behalf of the four of them describing their names on their way to this showdown with Hot Island.

When Zongmao received it politely, he quickly opened the paper, as he had decided to be prepared.

But...

The moment I saw it...

"This is..."

Together with a single word, the tears that had been revealed came out as a drain.

Many of the names that were written there...

They were all twenty years old, young people there with a future.

Zongmao glanced with tears at the time of the increase beside him, as he whispered protesting.

But I won't pull it off when it increases.

He was also staring at Somo with a sharp eye.

That was not to say whether or not.

In his eyes, Zongmao drew on the strong thoughts of Masahiro and the heavy ministers and, once again, shifted his gaze to paper.

Many of the names written there are second or third sons, not those of the division…

In other words, even the ministers were the first to leave the main house.

Zongmao can concentrate on his belly in order to close his eyes and quiet his heart.

And I managed to see my voice tremble and read it out to each and every one of them.

The Lord General is one of the Four Ten Kings of Tachibana, the chief minister Kono Makoto.

I didn't put the deputy generals down, but as an overall battle guide, Tachibana Chin Nu, the head of the Kingsamurai from Tachibana Road Snow.

And the vanguard team is Andong Fuku.

These three were the elderly.

And those who obeyed them continued to be read out.

Santao Tachibana, twenty-five years old.

Yoshijiro Tachibana, seventeen.

Only ten o'clock, sixteen...

When a name is called, everyone replies out loud.

That reply is all about bravery, like overflowing with youth and not knowing what to fear.

But for Zongmao, those voices became sharp blades, engraving his heart.

This is how Zongmao's trial time went on.

And when he read up the last one, he stood up and told him aloud, as if to explode the emotions he was revealing.

"Proud Tachibana people!!

Then I'll be the only one to see the battle in the Willow River!

Fight to the full!

Run for it!

The Lord's work will be to become the blood and flesh of the Tachibana family and to be told of the immortality of the future!

- Whoa!

There was nothing in Zongmao's words that feared death in that reply, which would be returned immediately.

Rather, it was a truly pleasant thing to live faithfully and even make you feel the joy of dying faithfully.

But Zongmao has to have complicated thoughts.

Because now they are happily trying to make their way to the dead.

I believe that's loyalty.

But is a man named Somo Tachibana worthy enough to guard them until they risk their lives?

How should I live and die to meet this thought of them...

That's how he looked at himself.

Thus the assessment of Willow River Castle was over.

And the battle of the Eighth House, where the blood of many young samurai of Tachibana would flow, was almost there.