Chapter 229: The Dilemma of the Mori Family
"Why is there so little information about the Moroboshi family? Why didn't I know about it until Amano Castle was occupied!" Mori Daimyo Mori Motonari said expressionlessly, holding a thin booklet in his hand, while Mori Kojiro, who was kneeling below, broke out in a cold sweat. As a retainer of the Mori family in charge of intelligence, this was a serious dereliction of duty, but he had to give an explanation, so he knocked his head to the ground.

"My lord, the speed at which the Moroboshi family rose is too fast. Previously, they were limited to the sub-island and were suppressed by the Otomo family. By the time we noticed it, the Moroboshi family had already unified the sub-island and completed the blockade of the entire island." The voice that Mori Kojiro made from between his knees was a little dull, but one could still hear the helplessness in it.

The Mori family also had a bad reputation in the Fushima Islands. They relied on their powerful navy to attack whoever they wanted, and burning, killing and looting were their daily routines. This forced the forces on the Fushima Islands to unite and collectively exclude the Mori family, thus increasing the difficulty of intelligence collection. By the time the problem was discovered, it was too late. After all, who would have thought that the Otomo family, once the overlord of the Fushima Islands, would fall so quickly, and who would have thought that the speed of development of a force from scratch could be so fast.

"After the Moroboshi family completed the unification of the sub-islands, only Komizu Town was allowed to allow merchants to enter the entire sub-island, and they needed to have a business license issued by the Moroboshi family. At the same time, foreign merchants were not allowed to stay in Komizu Town for a long time, and they were not allowed to leave Komizu Town to enter the inner island. Although this increased the difficulty of infiltration, under my command, a large number of ninjas still sneaked into the island, but the Moroboshi family implemented very strict population management throughout the island. Only samurai could travel between villages and towns, and there were special convoys for cargo transportation. Any outsiders would arouse the vigilance of the locals, and spies could not infiltrate at all, let alone obtain intelligence." Thinking of the manpower lost in the sub-island, Maori Kojiro felt distressed, not to mention that if he couldn't pass the hurdle in front of him, he was afraid that he wouldn't even have the chance to feel distressed, so he hurriedly continued to explain.

"As for the new fleet and powerful firearms, it is indeed my dereliction of duty. However, the only shipyard in the entire Fukushima Island that can build large ships is in Otomo Castle. I dispatched ships to monitor the sea every day and did not find anything abnormal. It is obvious that the Moroboshi family built a complete and large-scale shipyard in Fukushima Island in a short period of time." When Mori Kojiro said this, he became more confident.

As powerful as the Mori family is, with a population of millions, they only have three places to build large warships, the largest of which is in Amano Castle. So no one could have imagined that the Moroboshi family could build a very special new fleet in such a short time, and it was not their fault.

As for special firearms, people cannot get to the island, let alone know where the ship was built, so how can they detect it?

In fact, Mori Motonari understood and comprehended everything that Mori Kojiro said, but someone had to take the blame for the fall of Amano Castle, and he couldn't let the daimyo do it himself. So, although what Mori Kojiro said made sense, he still lost his head.

Except for Mori Kojiro, who still couldn't see the situation clearly or was unwilling to admit the cruel reality, many of the Mori family's retainers knew that the scene before them was just a formality, and what really needed to be discussed today had just begun.

Mori Motonari waved his hand, and the attendant beside him took away the tray containing Mori Kojiro's head for display. As for what to do with it after it was taken away, no one cared because a dead body has no value.

The blame has been taken away by someone else. The most important thing now is how to deal with the Moroboshi family who occupied Amano Castle.

Amano Castle is extremely important to the Mori family. It can be said that the existence of this high-quality port located in a corner of the main island gives the Mori family the ability to proactively attack half of the main island and multiple secondary islands, allowing the Mori family to take the initiative in every action.

But this is also the reason why the neighbors around the Mori family supported the Moroboshi family to occupy Amano Castle, especially the Miyoshi family, the Kono family, and the Amago family, who spared no effort to engage the Mori family's military forces in all directions, making it impossible for the Mori family to mobilize enough troops to take back Amano Castle.

But no matter how difficult it is, Amano Castle must be recovered, otherwise it will be the beginning of the decline of the Mori family.

Everyone present is deeply bound to the Maori family. They prosper together and suffer together. They have no choice but to do their best.

"The Amago clan has added three thousand elite foot soldiers to the border and dispatched Yamanaka Kannosuke." These words immediately caused an uproar at the scene, and even the extremely shrewd Mori Motonari couldn't help but frown slightly.

The size of the Amago clan was far smaller than that of the Mori clan, but such a small clan had many famous generals, especially Yamanaka Kanosuke, who was known as the leader of the Ten Warriors of Amago. He had a deep hatred for the Mori clan and would fight first in every battle. Therefore, his appearance proved that the Amago clan really intended to go to war with the Mori clan, so the army on the border could only increase its troops and not reduce them.

After dealing with this matter, a retainer who had just been promoted to be in charge of the navy hesitated for a moment, glanced in the direction where Mori Kojiro's head was going, and finally spoke of a series of troubles.

More than 70% of the Mori family's navy were stationed in Amano Castle for rest and maintenance. After losing Amano Castle, these navy had to disperse to other docks.

However, let alone a complete port, even daily supplies cannot be met. After all, no matter how wealthy the Mori family is, it is impossible to build large shipyards at all docks and stockpile sufficient supplies.

In addition, the current situation is tense, the tasks are heavy, and war may break out at any time, which makes the navy full of complaints.

The original Minister of the Navy had died in Amano Castle. Not to mention the qualifications of the new Minister, his reputation alone was not enough to subdue the proud navy of the Mori family. He was overwhelmed by countless complaints and requests for supplies right from the start.

If this continues, the navy will either resort to subjugation and let this newly appointed navy retainer fall into the sea and die, or they will bypass him and go directly to the daimyo to complain. By then, in order to appease the navy's resentment, his head will obviously be sent to the navy for display.

With death looming both ways, this guy just gave it a go, pointing out all the difficulties like naming a dish, and successfully making everyone in the Mori family numb, and they all stared at him with murderous eyes.

In fact, everyone present here is more or less aware of these difficulties, otherwise why would the position of navy retainer fall to the other party? And no one is willing to take over this hot potato.

What's more, some smart retainers have already seen that their lord intends to chop off the heads of the navy to appease their resentment if things go wrong.

Under such circumstances, who would be willing to be a navy retainer?

But what no one expected was that this navy retainer was a fool, and he actually pointed out the problems that everyone wanted to cover up. If they didn't give an explanation, they would become the object of the navy's resentment. Regardless of whether this navy retainer lived or died, he would become a tragic figure who risked his life to fight for the interests of his subordinates, which was disgusting.

(End of this chapter)