different warring states of japan

Chapter 2145

Hizen Province, Nagoya Castle.

Since the war on the peninsula broke out, Hideyoshi Ichijo has been stationed here, allocating military supplies and supporting the army commanded by Hidenaga Ichijo on the front line.

At this time, it was already late autumn, and as the weather turned colder, the consumption of supplies required for cross-sea operations became even greater, which put Hideyoshi Ichijo under tremendous pressure.

And from behind, she received news that made her extremely disappointed.

Hideyoshi Ichijo handed the document in his hand to Kuroda Kotaka and said.

"Take a look."

Kuroda Kotaka bowed slightly, took the information with both hands, and read it quickly.

Ichijo Hideyoshi sighed.

"Shiba Yoshigane is really brave.

He actually used some rumors obtained by Tobita Shinchi as evidence and uprooted fifteen local daimyo including Akai of Tamba Province and Isono of Kitaomi.

Nearly a hundred powerful military families were implicated, and thousands of people committed seppuku to apologize. This is such a cruel method, and they are not afraid of ruining their reputation as a saint and benevolent. "

Hideyoshi Ichijo said with disdain, but he was actually very envious in his heart.

Yoshikin Sasaki had consolidated his regime through the Grand Council and the Provisional Shogunate, and could use various means to weaken and train the samurai under his command without worrying about backlash.

What about Ichijo Hideyoshi? The local powerful vassals had their own thoughts, and they were not on the same page with her. She had to keep one eye on the front and the other on the rear, which was really tiring.

After reading the information, Kuroda Kotaka sighed.

"The saint is decisive and worthy of his reputation."

Ichijo Hideyoshi snorted and said.

“He was wise, but our plan to instigate the East Island Nations to invade the peninsula has completely failed.

After this purge, the samurai under Shiba will never have the courage to contact the people I send again, and the military burden of conquering the peninsula will be borne entirely by us.

I admit that I underestimated the economic cost of fighting across the sea. Fortunately, the war is going well, and we can collect some supplies from the peninsula to supplement military supplies. We should be able to survive the winter smoothly."

Kuroda Kotaka asked.

"I heard that the request for help from the ruler and his ministers on the peninsula has been responded to by the Celestial Empire. Will the Celestial Empire's troops soon enter the peninsula to fight?"

Ichijo Hideyoshi couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"We don't need to worry about the Celestial Empire's troops for the time being. It's ridiculous to say that this is also due to the help of the rulers and ministers of the Peninsula.

In order to get the Celestial Empire to send troops as quickly as possible, the fleeing rulers and ministers of the peninsula promised logistical and military supplies so that the Celestial Empire's army would have nothing to lack after entering the peninsula.

But in fact, they were just trying to get something for nothing and had no preparation at all.

When the Qing army reached the border of the peninsula, they found that there was no military supply. The army had stopped moving forward and was waiting for dispatch from the rear.

As autumn turns to winter and the northern soil becomes frozen and difficult to travel, it is not easy to allocate military expenses.

I have ordered the front-line corps to use this winter to strengthen the city's defenses and teach the Chinese army a severe lesson in the spring of next year.

This is thanks to the incompetence of the rulers and ministers of the peninsula, which bought me a lot of time and disrupted the arrangements of the Celestial Empire."

While listening to Hideyoshi Ichijo's words, Kuroda Kotaka repeatedly looked through the information in his hand and finally asked.

"Who was responsible for the purge of the Shiba family this time?

Since Hatano Hideji was killed, Akai Naomasa of Tamba Province has been the leader of the local samurai. Akechi Mitsuhide's entry into Tamba Province also guaranteed the interests of Hatano, Akai and other local samurai. Isono Umamasa of Kitaomi was even more of a fierce general, who had survived the Asai, Rokkaku, Oda, and Shiba conflicts and remained standing to this day.

This time, both the Akai and Isono families were completely taken down. Who was so ferocious and decisive? Aren't they afraid of causing a backlash?"

Ichijo Hideyoshi smiled.

“Who else could it be? Of course it’s the Niko family.

Niwa Yukimori was determined to avenge Niwa Katsuhisa, return to the west, and revive Niwa. He regarded the Mori family as his mortal enemy.

There is a peace faction within the Sasaki family. If they want to join forces with us, they must let go of their hatred for the Mori family before we can jointly send troops to the peninsula.

Niko Yukimori is the person in the Sasaki family who is most opposed to the two sides joining forces. Now that she has received the order from the Saint, she will naturally ruthlessly purge the peace faction and will not leave any possibility."

Kuroda Takaka nodded.

"I see."

Ichijo Hideyoshi narrowed her eyes. She had called Kuroda Kotaka here this time not to get her to say "so that's how it is", but to get her to give her some advice.

The cost of a cross-sea expedition to the peninsula was beyond Hideyoshi Ichijo's imagination. If Hideyoshi Ichijo could do it herself, she would not have thought of letting the samurai of the East Island Kingdom to share a piece of the pie.

It was because he could not afford the consumption that he thought of seeking external aid. Now that the external aid was cut off, Hideyoshi Ichijo needed a new plan, so he thought of the toxic scholar Kuroda Kotaka.

It must be said that Kuroda Kotaka did a really good job in Kyushu. She fulfilled her promise and helped Ichijo Hideyoshi to manipulate the Kyushu lords in the palm of his hand, and even caused the four Shimazu sisters to fall apart.

Hideyoshi Ichijo's conquest of Kyushu may seem simple, but in fact the reasons behind it are very complicated.

Originally, the Mori family and the Otomo family were fighting for Northern Kyushu, but the pressure from the Oda family forced the Mori family to face Oda.

With the pressure greatly reduced, the Otomo family chose to expand southward with all their strength, but they ended up capsizing and were almost completely killed by the Shimazu sisters.

In order to prevent the Shimazu family from dominating Kyushu, the Otomo family and the Mori family fully supported Ichijo Hideyoshi and launched the Kyushu attack. This shows how much fear the southwestern princes had of the four Shimazu sisters.

However, these four powerful Shimazu sisters were ruined by Kuroda Takataka's conspiracy.

Among the four Shimazu sisters, the third sister, Shimazu Yoshihisa, was the most intelligent and she was also a peace advocate.

In Shimazu Toshihisa's opinion, since the Shimazu family was no match for Ichijo Hideyoshi, they should surrender earlier in order to retain their territory to the greatest extent possible.

Her idea made sense, but the entire Shimazu family was already overwhelmed by the prospect of conquering Kyushu, and she was unable to hold back the pro-war faction.

As a result, the Shimazu family lost all their chips and eventually retreated to southern Kyushu and were forced to surrender.

The fourth of the four sisters, Shimazu Iehisa, caused the greatest trouble to the Kyushu conquest. She killed many people in several battles and even killed the heir of the Chosokabe family.

After the war, the various forces under the Ichijo family disliked Shimazu Iehisa, so Kuroda Kotaka took the opportunity to poison Shimazu Iehisa who came to pay homage to Ichijo Hideyoshi, creating an unsolved case.

Shimazu Iehisa had too many enemies, and even Shimazu Iehisa herself couldn't figure out who killed her. Shimazu Iehisa, who had just surrendered, had no right to get angry, and in the end she could only announce to the public that Shimazu Iehisa had died of illness.

This incident made the third sister, Shimazu Yoshihisa, very dissatisfied. In addition, her own daughter was killed in the Kyushu expedition, which made this wisest of the four Shimazu sisters change from being in favor of peace to being in favor of war.

After the war, Shimazu Yoshihisa secretly opposed Ichijo Hideyoshi and instigated his retainers to launch an uprising, but he was unaware that his arrangements were all under the surveillance of Kuroda Kotaka.

Shimazu Yoshihisa's plan was exposed and he failed to escape, and was beheaded by his pursuers.

Under the strategy of Kuroda Kotaka, Ichijo Hideyoshi killed the third and fourth sisters of the Shimazu sisters, and then appeased the eldest sister, Shimazu Yoshihisa, and allowed her to continue to manage the Shimazu territory.

On the other hand, he handed over the military power of the Shimazu family to the second son, Shimazu Yoshihiro, and asked Shimazu Yoshihiro to lead his troops to the peninsula to make achievements.

Because of the deaths of the third and fourth brothers, the relationship between the eldest and second brothers was already bad, and the division of territory governance and military power made the two sides even more discordant.

The Shimazu family has become a political system with two parallel palaces. The four Shimazu sisters have changed from working together to conquer Kyushu to suspicion between the two sisters sleeping in the same bed but having different dreams.