Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1593 Taking Chestnuts from the Fire (End)
On this side, Luo Yuan is still having a headache about how to rescue Mr. Narita, but on the other side, Toyotomi Hideyoshi has already started to act.

His first step was to transfer Ishida Mitsunari from Ninja Castle to Odawara Castle, and not only Ishida Mitsunari's department was moved, but Asano Nagamasa, Sanada Masayuki and others were all packed and transferred away. There are three Nagatsuka Masaka, Maeda Toshiie, and Uesugi Jingsheng.

Nagatsu Masakae's own territory is limited, but he is an important figure of the Pursuing School, and he is very trusted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He stayed in Ninja Castle to supervise the war as the general general.

This setting is a bit of Ming Dynasty's "small to big" style, because Maeda Toshiie and Uesugi Kagekatsu are both famous with millions of stones. If they are only kept in Ninja Castle, Toyotomi Hideyoshi will let any of them If one person is the general, the other person must be dissatisfied.

That being the case, then both of you should follow the instructions of my spokesperson.It has to be said that monkeys are very familiar with this trick of checks and balances.

In essence, Toyotomi Hideyoshi may have done this mainly to show his sincerity to the Maritime Trade Alliance, but the chain reaction triggered by this move caught everyone by surprise.

First, the Hojo family quickly discovered that there were more flags of Ishida Mitsunari, Asano Nagamasa, and Sanada Masayuki in the encirclement of Odawara Castle, and they were already full of suspicion at that time.Immediately afterwards, Date Masamune, who had been wandering around the border of his home to watch the situation, also discovered this, and through the Monomiban he sent, he discovered that the three parts of Nagatsu Masaka, Maeda Toshiie, and Uesugi Kekatsu who stayed outside Ninja Castle Invariably, the encirclement has been expanded a lot-it is obvious that the encirclement is tightened in war, and expansion means loosening the encirclement.

Although Ishida Mitsunari and others took nearly half of the troops with them when they withdrew, the previous "Front Army" of Ninja City had reached nearly [-] troops at one time, and there were still [-] troops left after half of the withdrawal, which is still ten times larger than the defenders. It stands to reason It is impossible to relax the siege because of the strength of the troops.

According to Date Masamune's judgment, ninety-nine percent is because Toyotomi Hideyoshi has successfully transferred Ninja Castle.

"Tuning strategy" is a commonly used term in Japan during the Warring States Period. It generally refers to the use of strategies, including bribery, alienation, provocation, and internal strife. Toyotomi Hideyoshi has always been a master of strategy. Date Masamune judged it very well. reasonable.

However, Date Masamune's judgment was only correct in conclusion, and the process was not the case at all, but it doesn't matter, as long as the result is correct-he thought that since Ninja Castle had actually changed hands, the Hojo family only relied on Odawara Castle It is impossible to persist for a long time, even if there is a blood transfusion from the Maritime Trade Alliance, because no crops will grow in Odawara City.

Unlike the Toyotomi family's policy of separating soldiers and farmers from Oda Nobunaga, the Hojo family still uses the old system of samurai allocating farmers and soldiers.It is now approaching the end of summer, and the autumn harvest will begin soon. There is only Odawara Castle left in the Hojo family, and the large tracts of fertile land in Kanto have become the capital of Guan Bai.

Although Kanto has not been developed by Tokugawa, the Hojo family, especially the Hojo Ujiyasu era, is also famous for its agricultural administration. The grain production in the Kanto area is not low. Therefore, even if the Toyotomi army has more than [-] people, it is estimated that there will be no such thing in the short term. lack of food.

In this way, the two sides seem to be able to continue the confrontation.But don't forget, since Shinobi Castle has actually been lost, it means that the 500 troops in the hands of Maeda Toshiie and Uesugi Jingsheng can go south at any time (Although Changshu Zhengjia is the general general, he actually sent only [-] troops. [-] people, much lower than the two million stone elders).

In this case, Odawara City will be besieged by more than 20 troops. Even if Toyotomi Hideyoshi asks them to tear down a brick, they can tear down a large part of the city wall.At this point, Date Masamune had to sigh, the Hojo family's deadline had come.

So Date Masamune rushed to Odawara Castle overnight to "report" - he had received Toyotomi Hideyoshi's order to send troops to help the war, but he never answered, and actually kept delaying and watching.But now, it seems that there is no suspense in this war, and he has to make a decision.

Even this decision made him very heartbroken.

Speaking of it, because of the game promotion of a Japanese company in later generations, when it comes to One-Eyed Dragon Date Masamune, many people may think of his demeanor fighting against the local lords in southern Ou at a young age.At that time, the Ou area had been in a state of war intermittently for more than 100 years. When Masamune inherited the family business in 1584, his family, the Date family, was just one of the more prestigious families. Far from being superior to other families.

As a result, it took only six years for Masamune to suppress many large and small forces one by one, and almost took the entire southern half of Fukushima Prefecture and Miyagi Prefecture (as mentioned before, Japanese counties are larger than cities) down, and came very close to annexing that area entirely.This kind of rapid growth is also very rare in the history of the Warring States Period, and Masamune was only 24 years old at that time.It's a pity that at this time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued the Odawara Conquest Order, pointing his sword at Dongguo.

At the beginning, five or six years before Hideyoshi sent troops to Kanto, that is, in 1584, shortly after he captured the territory of the old master Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi had greeted the lords of the Ou area headed by the Date family and called for They quickly learn to obey, otherwise in the future when I, Hideyoshi, personally attack East Japan, it will be too late for you.

However, Hideyoshi was far away at that time, and he himself had to conquer Shikoku and Kyushu first. For the time being, he could only put on a gesture for the Ou Kanto area, talk about diplomatic rhetoric, and show his teeth and claws.On the other side, the Ou lords still remember the all-powerful Oda Nobunaga back then, who also vowed to pacify East Japan, but was assassinated by his subordinate Mitsuhide Akechi before sending troops.

Now that Nobunaga is dead, thanks to Hideyoshi's efforts, the chaos in the Kyoto area has just been quelled, and the Hojo family, the most powerful force in Kanto, continues to develop as usual.Compared with Kanto, the Ou area farther from Kyoto seems to be isolated from the world. The Ou lords, including Masamune, are still busy with their own wars. No one knows whether Hideyoshi can really achieve great things, and they don’t care about it. This "cry wolf" problem.

However, unlike Nobunaga who died before leaving the school, this time, the wolf really came.Hideyoshi, who had greeted six years ago, finally flattened the four countries and Kyushu, completed the cause that Nobunaga failed to complete, and has become an extremely powerful minister, becoming Toyotomi Kanbai second only to the emperor.

Those famous Warring States daimyos who were once famous all over Japan, such as the Shimadzu family, the Nagamune family, the Mori family, and even big figures such as Tokugawa Ieyasu and Uesugi Kekatsu joined the Toyotomi regime one after another and became one of them.

So Hideyoshi finally came to East Japan to fulfill his promise, and also passed the news to Masamune.At this time, Masamune had almost taken all the lords in the southern part of Mutsu Kingdom as vassals, and became the late comer of the northeastern bully. In Minami Mutsu, no one dared to ignore Masamune's every move.

And Masamune's next plan is to cooperate with the Hojo family in Kanto first, attack the Satake family of Hitachi, the common enemy of the two families, and then join forces with the Hojo family in Kanto, and then fight to the death with the Hojo family to dominate the East. The country—well, maybe you can mix with the Kamakura government?No matter how bad it is, you have to come to the Guandong leader, right?

Allies and enemies are always just a thin line in this world of great contention.

Unexpectedly, this plan to fight Kanto with the Hojo family, the overlord of the Kanto, has not yet begun, and the murderous Toyotomi Hideyoshi has come to spoil the situation.In addition to stating that he wanted to destroy the Hojo family who refused to surrender, he also gave Masamune a wink, implying that if he refused to obey, then it would be his turn to be the Date family after the Hojo family!

Not only that, after Hideyoshi decided to attack the Hojo family, he also showed his true colors to Masamune, saying that what he wanted was no longer just treasures, but Masamune's complete obedience.There are roughly four instructions that Lord Guanbai sent to Masamune:
First of all, don't fight with the surrounding lords anymore, everything is decided by Kanbai, and Kanbai's decision is justice; secondly, in order to show sincere obedience, Masamune should personally visit Kanbai in Kyoto and swear allegiance; In the schedule, express your position quickly; in the end, all the treasures and treasures that Guan Bai wants will be presented in full.

When Masamune received these requests, his first reaction was to ignore them.He didn't refute it, he just used delaying tactics, trying not to express his position in a hurry, let alone act in a hurry.

However, the delaying tactics were aimed at the first three demands, and Masamune responded positively to the fourth demand.Falcons, horses, treasures, Guan Bai will give whatever he wants, never talk nonsense, and never bargain.

On the other hand, he continued with his original plan to capture the remaining parts of the southern part of Mutsu as soon as possible.Moreover, Masamune continued to contact the Hojo family in private, preparing to surprise the Satake family and make it an established fact.Masamune felt that even if Hideyoshi really came to settle the score in the future, he could justly say that he did not give Kanbai-sama face, but those were all the results of the fact that Kanbai-sama had already settled down before his arrival, and the uncooked rice had already been cooked. , I'm really sorry, and I will never do it again in the future.

Unexpectedly, Date Masamune was greatly disappointed by the reaction of the Hojo family, and they actually chose to completely cage the city.Cage City is to stick to the city, and generally speaking, this kind of action means hoping for reinforcements.

Where are the reinforcements?In Date Masamune's view, only he himself is the reinforcement that the Hojo family hopes.

But is Date Masamune willing to be this reinforcement?unwilling.Because Date Masamune was not sure about fighting a battle of Ozazama, and in his hesitation, the Hojo family only had Odawara Castle and Ninja Castle left in just three months.

At this time Date Masamune was ready to surrender, but unexpectedly, an accident happened. As soon as he reached the border, he heard that the Maritime Trade Alliance sent troops to defeat Toyotomi Hidekatsu who was sent to Ishida Mitsunari as a reinforcement.Lord Guan Bai's adopted son lost all his belongings, almost by himself.

Date Masamune stopped quickly and continued to observe the situation.

According to his thinking, if the Maritime Trade Alliance is on the side of the Hojo family, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's old nest, Osaka Castle, located on the eastern coast of the Seto Inland Sea, will immediately become extremely unsafe.With the powerful maritime power of the Maritime Trade Alliance, as long as there is an attack on Osaka Castle, Toyotomi Hideyoshi may have to retreat and return to stabilize his skills, and the crisis in the Kanto will naturally be resolved.

However, Date Masamune was disappointed again. What he waited for was Ishida Mitsunari and others to transfer their headquarters to Odawara Castle.This shows that Toyotomi Hideyoshi believes that the problem of Ninja Castle has been basically solved, and he is going to launch the final strategy on Odawara Castle.

If you don't go to express surrender at this time, and go after Odawara Castle falls, I'm afraid there is really only a dead end.Masamune Date, whose heart was higher than the sky but born 20 years later, let out a long sigh, and galloped away overnight to Shihuanshan City.

When they arrived at Shihuan Mountain City, Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered to summon him.When he saw it, he was stunned on the spot: Date Masamune came to surrender in white clothes.

The white clothes on his body are not of the traditional Chinese filial piety, but worn by people of status in Japan before seppuku. Date Masamune's meaning is very simple: I am here to lead the death.

But Toyotomi Hideyoshi didn't let him die, he just criticized him, then raised the killing stick high and gently put it down: He was ordered to receive Guanbai's award for Ou together with Gamo's village, and Date Masamune was officially awarded Guanbai. The 62 stone territory recognized by Bai has become one of the few daimyos in Japan.

Date Masamune's surrender had a huge impact on Odawara Castle, and the Hojo family waited for thousands of people, and they did not wait for Tokugawa Ieyasu's defection before the battle, nor did Date Masamune send troops to fight to the death because of his lips and teeth.The transfer of Ishida Mitsunari and others from Ninjo to Odawara also shows that Ninjo's restraint on Toyotomi's army has been greatly reduced.

Regardless of why such a change occurred in Ninja Castle, the Hojo family believed that they could not sit still. They first ordered Mr. Narita to write a personal letter, ordering Ninja Castle to take the initiative to attack, and must continue to attract Toyotomi's army to gather in Ninja Castle and reduce Pressure from Odawara Castle.

Then they urgently contacted the Misaki Castle Maritime Trade Alliance to inquire about the situation of Ninja Castle (Gao Yunping is still in Ninja Castle), and requested to extend the lease term of Misaki Castle again-this time the Hojo family expressed the hope that the Sea Trade Alliance would pay with big tubes and iron cannons.

Unfortunately, Luo Yuan resolutely refused, on the grounds that "I have not been authorized by the master, so I cannot sell firearms."

The Hojo family realized that the situation was becoming more and more unfavorable, and began to express threats vaguely: "If my family is in danger, the Misaki rent case will be like waste paper."

If our Hojo family is ruined, the lease contract you signed with our family will be a piece of waste paper!

But Luo Yuan quickly gave them a reply, which did not answer the vague threat at all, but proposed: If your nobleman wants to avoid Guan Baifeng, the Maritime Trade Alliance is willing to be hired to send to the Celestial Dynasty.

At the same time, he also spoke righteously and sympathetically, saying: "Our Maritime Trade Alliance upholds the benevolence of heaven and wants to preserve the first chance of the Hojo family's revival, but I hope that you will think twice and act carefully."

This reply was sent to Odawara Castle, and the Hojo family was immediately shaken.Originally, they had really planned to kill Narita's chief sacrificial flag, and were going to defend Odawara Castle to the death to show Toyotomi Hideyoshi how the Kanto samurai would persevere, but now that there was an extra way out, their mentality changed drastically.

On the third day of August, the father and son Hojo Ujimasa, Ujinao and Narita Shizhang quietly boarded the warship sent by the Maritime Trade Alliance and set sail away.The next day, Hojo Shizhao ordered to open the city gate and lead the crowd to surrender.

Odawara Castle, Japan's first fortified city, which claims to never fall, fell here.Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent people to search for Shizheng, Shizhi, father and son, but they couldn't find it. He knew that he would be picked up by the Maritime Trade Alliance, but he knew that it was not the time to turn his face, so he simply showed tolerance. He didn't kill anyone, but ordered confiscation. Hojo family territory.

The next day, Kanbai Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Japan announced: Tokugawa Jiro Saburo Gen’s courtier Ieyasu moved to Kanto. Rope City was assigned to the Toyotomi Clan and Li. The former leader Ninja Castle was renamed the Tokugawa Clan, and the head of the Clan was changed to the Sagami Shou; the contract signed between the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance and the Hojo Clan was recognized as legal and valid. Toyotomi to renegotiate contract renewal...
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PS: I brewed two packs of coffee in advance today, and finally fell asleep without code...

(End of this chapter)