different warring states of japan

Chapter 2040: Three Powerful Sects Join Forces to Advance and Retreat Together

Hojo Ujimasa forced a smile and cursed his father in his heart.

The most taboo thing for the Hojo family is that the Kanto samurai do not regard the Hojo family as Kanto people. Takeda Shingen's point is very insidious.

Speaking of which, the Ise family in Kyoto also originated from the Ise Taira clan, and the later Hojo family and the former Hojo family were indeed both from the Taira clan.

But the relationship between the two sides is just like what the people in the Celestial Empire say: you and I both have the surname Li, and we were one family five hundred years ago.

Although they are all Taira clan, can they really be considered one family after 500 years? The later Hojo clan pretended to be the surname of the former Hojo clan, a famous family in Kanto. It can be said to be extremely shameless.

But in an island country with a narrow-minded island mentality, if you can't get into the circle of local people and don't form a group with them, you will never be able to gain a foothold.

Therefore, the Hojo family cared more about the political identity of Kanto people than any other Kanto samurai.

Just like a handsome guy never cares about people complaining about his ugliness, only ugly guys will be broken, because the truth is the most hurtful.

Takeda Shingen used the identity of a Kanto person to persuade Hojo Ujimasa, and no matter what Hojo Ujimasa thought, he had to grit his teeth and nod.

Hojo Ujimasa's daughter is only three years old this year, and she is only two years away from leaving the Blueshirts kindergarten.

If you don't recognize people from Guandong today, your daughter will have no one to play with in kindergarten tomorrow. People from Guandong won't take her, and people from Guanxi won't care about her. Who do you think you are?

Even if you are a descendant of gods, what the Blue Kindergartens will have the most in the future are descendants of gods. That is the gathering place of the descendants of saints, and everyone has a noble status.

But Hojo Ujimasa's nod was tantamount to acknowledging that Miyuki of the Uesugi family was the eldest legitimate son.

Takeda Yoshinobu was two years older than Takeda Shingen, and he both bowed his head and acknowledged that Uesugi Kenshin was the first person the saint had bestowed upon him the divine seeds, implying that he was not qualified to seize the seeds by force.

Midoriko of the Hojo family is two years younger than Uesugi Miyuki. Today, the identity of being a Kanto person also has the meaning of seniority, and the samurai family cares most about seniority.

In the early years, the fiefdoms of military families were divided equally among the daughters. After a powerful military family had branched out for several generations, it would become a loose military family alliance, with the main family as the leader leading the branch families.

But this system has too many flaws, and it is easy to become divided, and powerful forces will quickly fall apart.

Therefore, during the Ashikaga shogunate period, the samurai gradually developed the family head system, which means that the family property was not divided, and the head of the family inherited most of it. The descendants of the samurai family united around the new head of the family to become a family.

When the family heir system came into being, it was already clearly stated that the eldest son would inherit the family.

Although problems often arise in actual family heir succession and the eldest son may not be able to secure the throne, the samurai mentality of valuing propriety over righteousness has never denied the justice of the eldest son's status as successor.

Today, Takeda Shingen was recognized by both Kanto and the eldest son, but this touched the heart of Uesugi Kenshin and also gave a wake-up call to Hojo Ujimasa.

If the three powerful clans really united to support Uesugi Miyuki as the representative of the Kanto samurai family and Shiba no Masanaga as the successor, it would actually be the maximization of their interests.

Takeda Shingen supported Uesugi and eliminated the threat to his daughter. Even if Ii Naomasa was unlucky and stepped down in the future, Takeda Yoshinobu would not be implicated with the background of the three powerful clans.

Since the Takeda family has no chance of becoming shogun, they should take a step back and support Uesugi and form an alliance with him. The same goes for Hojo Ujimasa.

The Hojo family was born with deficiencies. If they tried to fight forcibly, there would be problems with both their status and age. This was also the old problem that the fourth generation of the Hojo family had faced but was unable to truly conquer the hearts of the people in Kanto.

Helping the daughter of the Uesugi family to come to power and become the core ally of the second-generation shogun was the best option for both the Takeda and Hojo families.

For Kenshin Uesugi, although the Takeda and Hojo families were once his biggest rivals, the situation is different now, and uniting the Takeda and Hojo families is the most beneficial to the Uesugi family. The current situation in Kanto is that there are seven forces, each of which is becoming stronger.

The three powerful clans of Uesugi, Takeda and Hojo each occupied fertile land, had a mobilization capacity of almost one million stones, and had descendants of gods in their families with noble status.

Although Shima Katsutake was an outsider, her territories, the Daigo domain and the eastern Musashi domain, were both under the jurisdiction of the Kanto Sasaki domain, and in theory were direct territories of the saint.

That is a beacon land flowing with milk and honey. The local samurai families are extremely happy and have a strong centripetal force. They don’t care who is from Kanto or not. I am a saint’s person when I am alive and a saint’s ghost when I die.

Shima Katsutake's territory is intentionally or unintentionally located between the three powerful clans. It can be said to be a buffer and balance, or it can be said to be the nail that the Sasaki family used to determine the sphere of influence of the three powerful clans.

Another direct descendant of the Shiba clan was Sanada Nobushige, who was a powerful clan from the Koshin mountainous area. She did not have the identity of a Kanto person, but rather identified more with a mountain dweller.

The three Shigeno clans were of fairly high origin, and could be traced back to the local lords and deputies during the Kamakura period. Although they had long since declined, their unique belief in the mountains still made these country bumpkins unified in thought, solidarity and xenophobia.

The Agatsuma County, which is under the control of Sanada, includes Kurumi Castle, Nishi-ueno, Tochio Castle, Shimogoshi, Shonai, and the four counties of Aizu that are about to be acquired. They are all important border towns.

It's like a necklace strangled by the necks of all ambitious people. Once there is any unusual movement, they will find it difficult to breathe and will run into obstacles wherever they go.

In addition to the three powerful feudal clans and the two direct lines, Kanto also has powerful military families in the core area of ​​Kanto headed by Yura Nariharu. Their confidence comes from the saintly adopted son and daughter of Kai-kun and Uesugi Kagetora.

The above five forces all have descendants of gods. Since the powerful local military families cannot climb onto the holy bed, they can only settle for the second best and grasp the status of adopted sons and daughters.

The last force is the powerful military family in southern Oshu, led by Date Masamune and Mogami Yoshimitsu.

With her eloquence, Mogami Yoshimitsu left a mark in the saint's heart. Although she was a widow and could only climb half of the saint's bed, she was lucky.

Her son was valued by Uesugi Miyuki, who treated him as a child husband and raised him there, which provided the Mogami family with a sense of security.

Date Masamune, who had the greatest influence in Oshu and offended the most people, did not have the calmness of Mogami Yoshimitsu.

They can only tear off their shame and run to the saint to be his slave, and shamelessly climb onto the holy bed, hoping to obtain the divine seed.

Among these seven forces, only the three local powerful feudal clans can be regarded as the orthodox representatives of the Kanto people. According to the islanders' factional thinking, they are the people with the best foundation for solidarity.

And the eldest son, Uesugi Miyuki, further strengthened the expectations and unity of the three powerful clans for the future.

Takeda Shingen came here specially today and simply made clear what everyone was thinking. Uesugi Kenshin was happy, Hojo Ujimasa was relieved, and Takeda Shingen himself was relieved.

Kenshin Uesugi, smiling, picked up the tea and said.

"Let's not talk about that for now. The tea has cooled down. Your Highnesses, let's drink a cup together?"

  "Please." x2

The three of them drank tea from the same source, smiled at each other, and reached a new alliance tacitly.

At this moment, Hojo Ujimasa, who had been watching Takeda Shingen's performance, suddenly spoke.

  "Have you two heard?

The shogun of Koga Castle has already written to the saint, saying that he is immoral and incompetent, unfit to take on the position of Shogun of Kanto, and ashamed to face his ancestors.

She hopes to abandon the Ashikaga clan, move elsewhere, and transfer the Furukawa domain to the Kanto Sasaki domain. "