Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1586 Taking Chestnuts from the Fire ([-]) Guan Bai's Worries
"I understand the truth, but your idea of ​​letting the Japanese shape history, I think there is a prerequisite, or a problem that should be prioritized, that is, the unification of language and writing.

I have heard a point of view before, which roughly means that if you learn a certain language, your way of thinking will be close to the main group of that language.For example, the Chinese who grew up in the United States have a Westernized way of thinking.Now in Japan... I think the way of thinking of Japanese people seems to be different from ours. "

Liu Xin frowned and said, "For example, I don't understand why the Hojo family insisted on toughening Toyotomi Hideyoshi. If it wasn't for the blood transfusion from the Maritime Trade Alliance, how long would Odawara Castle last?"

"I'll talk about the relationship between language and thought when I have a chance. As for Odawara Castle, if I hadn't intervened, the Hojo family would have already surrendered." Gao Wushi smiled and said, "But your understanding of the Hojo family is not in place. They don’t really have to be tough.”

"Oh? What's going on?"

"First of all, Shizheng expressed his submission at the beginning, rather than being tough from beginning to end. The Minghutao incident is very complicated. It cannot be ruled out that there was a 'down and up' within the Hojo family, and it cannot be ruled out that the communication was not timely and the front did not receive The news moved directly.

In short, before Hideyoshi proposed to go to Luo, the Hojo clan had already expressed his intention of submitting to Hideyoshi, but at this time—that is, after the famous walnut incident, Hideyoshi also asked Uji Masa and Uji Naojo Luo to explain, which caused the Hojo family’s uneasiness: because May be held hostage.

You have to know that if Hojo Ujizheng, Ujizhi and his sons are detained, the follow-up consequences will be very serious: they may face transfer or reduction of the title, which is equivalent to uprooting the Hojo family who lost five generations and lived in Kanto. unacceptable.

Secondly, the Hojo family is the only Daimyo next to the Toyotomi family at this time. If you are Hideyoshi, you must have the idea of ​​weakening the Hojo family;The Hojo family has no connection with Hideyoshi at all, and transfer and weakening are almost inevitable: just look at the Moori, Ukita, and Maeda who have connections in the five elders, as well as Tokugawa and Kamiyama who have no connections.

Besides, Tokugawa Ieyasu Shangluo has two hostages in his hands, one of which is Mrs. Hidekita.The Hojo family's opinion of Shi Gao surpassed that of Tokugawa Ieyasu. If they didn't try to exchange a single hostage, the father and son would be in a bad mood and the water would be cold.

The last and most important point: the Hojo family is a very special family because he is an outsider from Kanto.After five generations of hard work, the local aristocratic family has been gradually consolidated through in-laws, conquest and digestion, but the Japanese have learned something from us and have become very particular about righteousness and integrity.

At this time, if you let him surrender without a fight, or even transfer the title, then their control over the wealthy family will collapse, and their dominance will be wiped out instantly.This is the same as Shangshan Kenshin's Kanto Expedition back then. The rich people must have fallen to Hideyoshi in an instant, which is a lesson of blood.

In fact, later generations always say that the Hojo family is a tortoise, and Ujizheng and Ujizhi are stupid, but if we are placed in the position of the Hojo family's governor, we may know why we chose this way, and we might even do worse.

You think, back then Shikang could be tough with Takeda Shangshan, but so what if he won?After being hardened, when his own strength was weakened at the same time, the powerful clan under him rebelled, allowing Satomi and Satake to take advantage of the opportunity to harvest. What is the meaning of such a victory?In terms of combat, Shingen and Kenshin must beat Shiyasu, but in terms of strategy, Shiyasu is superior to Shingen and Kenshin.

Similarly, Shizheng imagined that like Ieyasu, the idea of ​​regaining the initiative in negotiations through war is also the best strategy as a last resort.Compared with reselling a toothless sick cat like this, taking a gamble with a small hope, at least it is an active choice to make a difference. Going underground to see Shikang does not disgrace the courage of Hojo Kawakoe's night battle.

Don't think that the Hojo family is stupid and useless just because they are losers in history.On the contrary, I think the comprehensive strength of the Hojo family, including strategy, military, and internal affairs, was almost second only to the three people in the world during the Warring States Period.As an outsider from the Kanto, they will never be able to submit internally for 100 years in the Five Dynasties, and they will almost always be enemies around the outside. With such a start and growth environment, they can still end with a territory of 250 million shi, which is definitely the best in Japan. "

"When you put it this way, it sounds like the Hojo family is right." Liu Xin thought for a while, and said, "It can only be said that Japan has reached the current situation. If there is no strong external intervention, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's unification trend is actually It's irreversible."

Gao Wushi gave a "hmm" and said, "It's very common to judge a hero by success or failure. Not only did Toyotomi destroy Hojo, but even Hideyoshi treated Ieyasu kindly. Many people thought in hindsight that Hideyoshi made a mistake."

Liu Xin smiled and said: "You said this before, there is no way for Hideyoshi to treat Ieyasu kindly. After he transferred Ieyasu to Kanto, he also planted many pro-Toyotomi daimyo around Ieyasu."

Gao Wushi said: "Oh, by the way, Hideyoshi treats Ieyasu kindly, in fact, he also means targeting the Hojo family."

"Ah? Where does this start?" Liu Xin was taken aback for a moment.

"Why did Toyotomi Hideyoshi treat Tokugawa Ieyasu so well? He was so eager to ask Tokugawa Ieyasu to surrender first, and even sent his own mother to Ieyasu as hostages? Many people think that as a person in the world, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's approach is too There is no scene, but this move is precisely Hideyoshi's most successful strategy.

In addition to what I told you last time, that is, Ieyasu's special status in the "Cheongju League (Oda Tokugawa League)", just imagine, if Tokugawa Ieyasu has been fighting against Toyotomi Hideyoshi, what will be serious as a result of?I personally estimate that the simplest possibility is that the Hojo clan and Tokugawa Ieyasu have a high probability of meeting and forming an alliance, because these two families are not only related by marriage, but also have contiguous territories, and their advances and retreats are well-founded.

In addition to his two families, Date Masamune may also join this alliance, and even the Hojo family has been thinking about this three-family alliance.What does it mean if these three companies really form an alliance?It means that another Kamakura shogunate was born in Kanto, and it is impossible for Toyotomi Hideyoshi to sit idly by.

Turning back to Tokugawa Ieyasu, with his status in the Oda family, he can connect to the old Oda department in the west - many old Oda departments are not so obedient to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, such as Oda Nobuo - Dongjie Hojo's political father and son and Date Masamune as foreign aid.If so, things in the east will become more and more out of hand, and things in the world will remain unknown.In other words, it was not unreasonable for Tokugawa Ieyasu to refuse to submit easily for a long time at that time.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi's cleverness is to let Tokugawa Ieyasu surrender first.As soon as he surrendered, the problem of the new Kamakura shogunate, the Kanto Alliance, basically disappeared.The Kanto Tojo clan is left, even if Date Masamune desperately supports him, with Toyotomi Hideyoshi's strength at that time, there is no need to pay attention to it at all.

Therefore, from Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s point of view, Tokugawa and Hojo can only survive at most one of them. Since Ieyasu Tokugawa, who has a huge influence on the old part of Oda, has been chosen, there is no need to leave the deep-rooted Kanto overlord After Hojo's. "

"Oh..." Liu Xin narrowed her eyes slightly, and said, "So considering the current situation, the Hojo family should have known that there would be such a war? No wonder when the war officially broke out, they reached out to the Maritime Trade Alliance for money and food, and they changed their minds." It’s very rude, it turns out that they also know that this is a last-ditch battle.”

"I think it should be like this, otherwise it would be unreasonable for the Hojo family to agree to lease Misaki Castle so readily." Gao Yu tapped the report of the Kanto Squadron on the coffee table with his fingers, thinking: "The problem now is, what do I need to do to save the city?" The living Hojo family has no intention, but just wants to get something more from its destruction..."

"Did you get it from Hojo's family, or from Toyotomi's family?" Liu Xin smiled and said, "I'm afraid that what you want is in the hands of Toyotomi Hideyoshi? After all, he is the 'man of the world' in Japan. The legitimacy of various transactions and exchanges is given in the form of the emperor's edict."

Gao Wushi also smiled, touched his beardless chin, and said, "It depends on whether this monkey who is in a dilemma will still choose to use political compromise to solve the problem."

Gao Wushi and Liu Xin guessed right. At this time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who set the main formation in Shihuanshan Castle but took people touring outside Odawara Castle all day, was in trouble.His recent activities such as traveling in mountains and rivers and convening grand tea parties are actually imitating Cao Cao's poems written by Hengqiang. He hopes to use this method to shape his image as a "man of the world" who "understood everything".

However, just as Cao Cao, who wrote poems by Yokosaki, is in the cup, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who pretends to be leisurely, is now in a dilemma: Odawara Castle has stood up to this day, and news from Monomonban, who was dispatched into the city in advance, said that The city has received grain and grass supplies at least twice, both by sea.

Who can be at sea?It is nothing more than the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, because most of the Japanese navy has been nominally owned by him, Toyotomi Sekibaku Hideyoshi, and the rest of the Kanto and Northeast navy are in Kuki Yoshitaka, Wakisaka Yasuji, and Yoshimi Hiroyai (written in Japanese) Hiroyori), Kato Yoshiaki, and Nagamune's united water army led by Motoin did not dare to fight in front of them.

In today's seas, only the fleet of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance is truly rampant, especially in the area of ​​Sagami Bay. The fleet composed of dozens of giant ships and hundreds of dark and huge muzzles are really trembling.Toyotomi Hideyoshi has also received some armed transport ships on hand, but because he did not "optionally install" artillery (in fact, Jinghua does not sell artillery, he only has smuggled goods), so although the total tonnage of the fleet has increased a lot, the firepower is still not enough. Especially in the face of the Sea Trade Alliance, it is far from enough.

Kuki Yoshitaka smashed his forehead, and coupled with the strong advice of two direct generals, Yasuji Wakisaka and Yoshiaki Kato (both of whom are one of Hideyoshi's "Seven Guns of Chiyake"), he was forced to persuade him Lord Guan Bai, lest he, who doesn't understand the navy, lose all his capital and face in the first battle, and let the great cause of reunification suffer setbacks for no reason.

But since the naval forces of the Toyotomi Allied Forces dare not compete with the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance for the control of Sagami Bay, the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance's move to provide food to Odawara Castle cannot be curbed at all.

This is obviously an extremely bad situation. Although the Maritime Trade Alliance did not participate in the defense of Odawara Castle, nor did they actively attack the navy of the Toyotomi Allied Forces, they did not allow the Toyotomi Navy for the magical reason of "protecting the freedom of trade channels". Entering Sagami Bay, even assembled a fleet to force back the coalition navy.

As a result, Odawara Castle, a huge fortified city that had to rely on siege to "capture" in the first place, is now without any danger of soldiers and supplies. Toyotomi Hideyoshi has to consider when the siege will be the end.

At the beginning, Toyotomi Hideyoshi thought it was not a big problem.Because in his opinion, although the Navy stated that they would definitely not be able to defeat the Sea Trade Alliance, the grain of the Sea Trade Alliance did not fall from the sky. They "definitely" sent food from the mainland of Ming Dynasty (this is a misjudgment, but it is not important, Because the food is transported from southern Xinjiang, which is farther than the mainland of Ming Dynasty.), such a long distance, even if Jinghua's sea ships carry a huge amount, they still have to consume a lot on the way.Therefore, Toyotomi Hideyoshi believes that this kind of behavior of transporting grain for thousands of miles must not last long. Even if the Sea Trade Alliance can extend the life of the Hojo family for a month or two, it does not seem to be a big problem for him.

However, the development of the situation was beyond Mr. Guanbai's expectation. Odawara Castle received a huge amount of food twice, it is estimated that it received at least tens of thousands of shi, and the important figures of the Hojo family were also very calm, as if No one is worried that Odawara Castle will run out of food.

The attitude of the Hojo family means that Toyotomi Kanbai's activities such as traveling in mountains and rivers and convening tea parties have all turned into playing against the cow, and he has not shaken the high-level Hojo family in Odawara Castle at all, which annoys Guanbai a lot.

To make matters worse, as these situations were gradually learned by various daimyos in Toyotomi's army, some people have begun to propose storming Odawara Castle.

storm?Toyotomi Hideyoshi can't wait to chop off a few heads to vent his anger, will I wait until now if I can attack by force!

That's right, how great Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin were back then, even after seeing Odawara Castle, they couldn't help but attack. Toyotomi Hideyoshi is really stronger than Kai no Tiger and Echigo Dragon, and knows how to fight?

And more importantly, the Toyotomi family did not send troops in this Odawara attack. In fact, the direct descendants of the Toyotomi family and the Fudais together only sent 8 to 15 people. This is still including the navy participants. total.Most of the rest are big names who surrendered to him, such as Tokugawa, Mori, Maeda, Uesugi and even Oda (Nobuo, Xinbao). They have a total of about [-] people, twice as many as Toyotomi The army of the direct line.

Under such a situation, if Toyotomi Hideyoshi wanted to make a strong attack, it would be difficult to force only these foreign daimyos to contribute, while his direct descendants hid behind him and did not show his face.

Because of Hideyoshi's humble background, now the most important thing is to save face. If he really wants to attack by force, he must personally send out his descendants to show his magnanimity-but for the sake of face, even Toyotomi Hideyoshi has to hesitate. repeatedly.

In the end, Toyotomi Hideyoshi decided to send envoys to Misaki Castle to meet Luo Yuan, the "Misaki Castle Representative" sent by the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance.
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PS: The code word reached 2.9k last night and then I accidentally fell asleep. When I woke up, it was already 03:30 in the morning, so this chapter is late, sorry and sorry.This chapter is not counted today, and today's normal update is still in the evening.

(End of this chapter)