Kira Yoshian defended his dignity with his life. He had already been forced to surrender to the Imagawa family by life, and could no longer surrender to the Matsudaira family due to real crises. His self-esteem did not allow him to break through his psychological bottom line again and again. He is not even allowed to surrender to a low-ranking Matsudaira family. When he chose to surrender to the Imagawa family, he still had the reputation of being a member of the family, and he was also a son-in-law. It was really difficult for the Shi clan to be imprisoned.
The samurai who died in Saijo Castle, in addition to a number of clan retainers, also included two heavyweights of the Kira family, their great-uncle Yoshitomi Kira, who was over eighty years old but energetic, and Yoshiaki Kira, the biological father of Ashikaga Katsuhime. It was not as simple as the death of Kira Yoshiki. It even offended the current big boss of the imperial court, Konoe Maekyu and the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru, as well as Kira Yoshiki, who was running rampant in Kanto.
These things that made life and death happen at the same moment, Matsudaira Ieyasu was a little unsure whether he went out without looking at the almanac or forgot to bring toilet paper when he went out. All the members of the Saijo Castle family, including the ten-year-old Shoudai family, were destroyed. Matsudaira My home is so unlucky that I have no place to cry.
The mess in front of him forced Matsudaira Ieyasu to dare not do anything. He went all out to search for Imagawa Tsuruhime and his legitimate son Manzhumaru who had escaped under the escort of the Kira family's dead men. A fire attracted everyone's attention away and they were given makeup. The escaping mother and son had a huge room for escape, and a group of more than a dozen people could find it wherever they could, just like water dripping into the sea.
Naturally, the result was that after working for half a month, nothing was gained. Then the envoy from the Oda family arrived. This time the envoy sent by the Oda family was no longer an ordinary executive officer. It was Oda Nobunaga's right-hand man, Niwa Naga. Hide and Matsudaira Ieyasu knew that the envoy from the Oda family had come with bad intentions.
The two of them bowed respectfully and greeted each other in turn. Then they heard Niwa Nagahide say loudly: "I heard that the Saijo Castle massacre occurred near the Yahagi River. The great-uncle, uncle, and brother of the Lord of the Town all died at the hands of the Matsudaira Tibetan Temple. My Lord. I am very shocked and indignant at such atrocious behavior, so I have specially sent you to Okazaki Castle to question the Matsudaira Zonin-den on my lord’s behalf!”
Matsudaira Ieyasu said to himself that it was true. He took a deep breath like a young samurai facing a major test, held his breath and said, "Please tell me, Niwa-don!"
Niwa Nagahide coughed and said: "First, why did Matsudaira Zonin-den repeatedly refuse to listen to my lord's dissuasion and insist on attacking Saijo Castle? Secondly, why did Matsudaira Zonin-den force him to death when attacking Saijo Castle? Mikawa Mikawa of Kira, his relatives, and members of the clan? Thirdly, why did Matsudaira Zonin-den have to search for Mikawa for half a month, even the widow and orphan of Mikawa Kira? I have finished asking my lord's questions."
Matsudaira Ieyasu broke into a cold sweat when he heard this. He immediately leaned down and said in panic: "I, Ieyasu, swear to Amitabha in the Western Paradise in the name of a follower of the Pure Land Sect. I have awakened in my heart the slightest thought of harming Kira Mikawa's guardian temple, and attacked The purpose of the castle was just to force the Kira Mikawa guardian to give up resistance. Ieyasu had no idea that the Kira Mikawa guardian and the princes in Saijo Castle would commit suicide! The purpose of searching for Kira Mikawa guardian's widow and orphans was to invite them to come back and inherit Saijo's legacy. Ieyasu definitely has no other intentions!"
Niwa Nagahide nodded noncommittally. Behind him, Tsuneki Ikeda curled his lips in disdain and suddenly said: "Matsuhira Zonin-dono has caused such a disaster! Is it because he found out that Zhenfu's army invaded Kanto and dared to provoke the Kira leader?
?If my lord hadn’t been entangled by the Mino incident, he would never have allowed Matsudaira Zonin-den to do such an egregious thing! I would not worry about the safety of Mrs. Imagawa and His Highness Manzhumaru.”
Matsudaira Ieyasu hesitated and said: "This..."
"I'll go back after asking three questions. I'm really sorry for bothering Matsudaira Zonin-den with such a troublesome interview, so I'll say goodbye!" Niwa Nagahide quickly stood up and left, his whole action clean and tidy without any sloppiness.
Honda Heihachiro, who was close to Matsudaira Ieyasu, wanted to argue with grievances, but was held down by Honda with quick eyesight and quick hands. Kubo Tadoshi, the boss of the Hodai family, asked doubtfully: "Why do you think that the envoy from the Oda family is not a good person? See
Their tone seemed to be scolding me for not doing things well, why did my allies of the Matsudaira family become like this?"
No one in the Matsudaira family family spoke. Ieyasu Matsudaira hesitated for a while and then said: "That's it for now. Ishikawa Boki Shoden will be the leader of the Nishi Mikawa flag. The mission of Shokuden Hoshikawa is very important! We must calm down the former Kira leader as soon as possible.
The people of Nishi Mikawa, and serve as the samurai to appease Nishi Mikawa, and build enough trust and hope for my Matsudaira family in Nishi Mikawa!"
Ishikawa Sumasa said respectfully: "Yes! Please rest assured, my lord, I will not hesitate to go through fire and water for the Matsudaira family!"
Matsudaira Ieyasu added: "I have appointed Sakai Zaemon Wei Tadashi as the leader of the Higashi Mikawa flag, responsible for the stability of the Higashi Mikawa lords, and the vanguard general who will conquer the Toe Kingdom. The future strategy of our Matsudaira family will be Toe River. Please ask everyone.
Please lend me your strength to overcome this difficulty together!"
…
On June 28, the fourth year of Eiroku, in the castle tower of Kiyoshu Castle in Owari Province, Oda Nobunaga put his arm around Gui Die's shoulders and shouted loudly: "Bring me wine! Bring me wine quickly! I want to have a drink.
Celebrating a great day today!”
Several young men brought several bottles of sake out of breath. Oda Nobunaga opened it and threw it aside, shouting for the limited supply of sake from the Kira family. Guidi took his arm and scolded: "Your Highness, this is today
What's wrong? I've been inexplicably happy all day long, making me think that Your Highness is sick!"
"My Nobunaga is strong and healthy so I won't get sick!" Oda Nobunaga laughed and said: "My family has two joys. The first joy is that your brother Saito Yoshiryu, who committed patricide, died suddenly!"
This brother is really interesting. He killed his father-in-law only three years ago and he contracted leprosy. He died only two years after the onset of the disease. This must be because the gods and Buddhas couldn't bear to see this parricide alive in the human world, so they deliberately sent him down.
Disaster took his life."
"Did my brother die of illness? It would be better if he died..." Saito Guichou lowered his head in melancholy. No matter what Saito Yoshiryu had done to her father, after all, he was her biological brother and had an inextricable blood relationship.
, I suddenly learned the news from my husband that my brother had died of illness, and he was happy to describe it. It was inevitable that I felt a little lonely and lonely.
Oda Nobunaga then laughed and said: "The second joy is that that stupid boy Takechiyo Matsudaira fell into the trap and accidentally killed all the Kira Mikawa family. Now he attracted the attention of that giant Echigo and the monster in Kanto.
Next, this kid, Takechiyo Matsudaira, will never escape the clutches of my family! Isn’t this a very happy move?”
"Didn't Matsudaira Zonin-den just form an alliance with His Highness? Tokuhime is also married to Chiyo Kotake of the Matsudaira family. Such a close relationship... I really can't understand it!" Saito Guiche thought for a while and said.
: "I do you still remember that Your Highness often said, If I go to the west and you go to the east, the two brothers will share the world equally?"
"Oh! It turned out that Madam had written down those words!" Oda Nobunaga raised the newly brought shochu and drank it in one gulp, then laughed and said: "These are just a few excuses when forming an alliance.
That's all, I still don't believe it. How can that boy Takechiyo believe it... Now that Matsudaira Takechiyo has offended that Echigo man, the days to come will become more and more difficult. The more difficult his life is, the more he will hug this family tree.
The big tree prays for a chance to shelter from the wind and rain. Don’t forget that our family has invested two precious sisters for the Koshio Alliance! If we can’t make back our capital with profits, it won’t be a big loss!”
The world of men is always full of conspiracy and bloody cruelty, even for Oda Nobunaga. The Owari alliance he refers to is actually the Owari alliance between Kira Yoshitoki's Echigo and Oda Nobunaga.
, the original intention of the alliance between the two families was far less pure and pure than the Qingshu Alliance, and Oda Nobunaga was not Matsudaira Ieyasu who went to Qingshu to beg for a hug.
The marriage and alliance between Oda Nobunaga and Kira Yoshitsune was essentially a political speculation operation carried out by both parties. The territories of the two parties were not directly adjacent to each other and there was no interest in the family business. It was just a political attempt to make distant friends and attack close enemies. Therefore,
The two sides have not evolved into a weak party seeking protection from the strong one. Nor have they evolved into an equal alliance in which several Ming Dynasties formed an offensive and defensive alliance to jointly develop a certain goal or several goals.
The relatively weak Oda family did not feel that they were weak. Oda Nobunaga controlled the Owari Kingdom and actively invaded Higashi Mino in an attempt to gradually shrink the Mino Saito family's activity space. He needed the Kira family's military, political and economic support in many aspects.
Support, but not establishing an unfair and painful alliance, which made Oda Nobunaga's attitude towards Kira Yoshitsune far less awe than expected, but one part fear, two parts vigilance and one part admiration.
The situation at Kira Yoshitoki's side is similar. His attitude towards the Oda family is more about taking advantage of it rather than truly forming an alliance. It's like using the Asakura family to turn over the enemy's hands and turn the confrontation situation in the first half of Hokuriku into a pot of porridge.
The Oda family is another war hammer in the hands of Yoshitoki Kira, in order to crack open the hard egg shell of Kinai so that he can open up more space for Kinai's future layout.
Neither of them has settled down well, so there is no way to say who is sorry for whom. What's more, the political acumen of both of them is considered to be at the top level. From each other's coping strategies, they can probably see some of the other's thoughts and form an invisible feeling.
This tacit understanding means that each other understands their respective interests and establishes a set of political relationships that make use of each other. How long this relationship can last depends on the changes in the current situation and the decisions of the two family governors.
These days, Imagawa Tsuruhime and Manjumaru live in Qingzhou. She and her legitimate son, who is less than three years old, hide in the house arranged by the Oda family all day long and dare not go out, for fear that one day the Oda family will make a decision and send the two of them back.
Mikawa's actions only looked like Oda Nobunaga's plan in this regard based on the situation.
A few days later, the Kira family's diplomatic envoy arrived at Qingshu City. Because he was so late, the Kira family's envoy was completely unaware of the great changes that had taken place in the Mikawa Kingdom. He still urged the Oda family to follow the script and urge the Matsudaira army to withdraw from Nishi Mikawa as soon as possible. Matsudaira was completely unaware of this.
Ieyasu has completed a series of processes of exterminating families and grabbing land.
When Imagawa Tsuruhime and Manzhumaru came to the envoy of the Kira family, the envoy asked in a panic what happened in Mikawa Kingdom. This question actually frightened the timid envoy and fainted on the spot.
After being helped up by the younger brother of the Oda family, the envoy realized that the impact of the incident was completely beyond his imagination. The purpose of his trip was to come for Mikawa. Now that Mikawa was gone, it was meaningless to stay, so he left behind a few
With a harsh word, Imagawa Tsuruhime and Manzhumaru returned to Echigo.
Looking at the convoy slowly leaving in the carriage, Oda Nobunaga stood in front of the terrace and leaned on the railing to look into the distance, thinking to himself: "Kill! Let's make trouble! The more chaotic the Kira family is, the better! It's best to be trapped in Kanto.
I cannot come out for ten years, so that my family can eat Mino as soon as possible and open up the passage to Luo! I, Nobunaga, will one day realize my dream. The dream of arming the world!"
…
Kanto in June entered the rainy season. Wave after wave of storms hit from the Pacific Ocean, forcing the Kira Army to abandon its rampage tactics and switch to a long-term siege strategy. More than 50,000 troops marched along the border between Sagami Country and Musashi Country.
The formation was completely separated into two war zones between the two countries.
At this time, the small machine city was finally unable to withstand the endless offensive harassment. It was not because of Hojo Ujiyao's lack of ability or the lack of hard work of the Hojo samurai. The absolute gap in military strength and the day and night harassment of the Kira Army were really unsolvable.
, people always need to eat and rest to have the energy to do things, but when they beat drums to attack the city during the day and raise fire to harass at night, how can people eat and rest in peace.
The Kira Army's most commonly used food-deprivation strategy came into effect, which had a great impact on the small machine city and even the entire Hojo family. Three consecutive years of disasters in Kanto had a huge impact on the Hojo family's food reserves. Normally speaking, the small machine city
The grain reserves can be easily maintained until the end of the autumn harvest, but after all, this is a war period that is different from peacetime grain consumption. In order to ensure sufficient energy, the soldiers have to eat three to four meals a day, recruit townspeople to rush to repair the destroyed soil, and the arrows and oars are all
More food needs to be consumed.
At first, I didn’t feel that this was a lot of consumption, but as time went by, spring passed and summer came, and I gradually became unsatisfied. The Kira family’s siege army did not simply send out 81,000 troops to stand in the four corners, but
It was the serious 50,000-strong army that completely blocked the eight directions. This changed from the traditional gate-blocking tactics of Japan's Warring States Period to the eight-sided siege tactics of the Ming Empire.
The so-called siege of a city is to give the enemy a chance to survive and let him escape. As long as a general who is not determined will consider abandoning the city and fleeing at this time, as long as he has this idea, he is destined to escape. Escape from the city is equivalent to losing the strong city.
It is almost impossible to survive against the army ambushing on all sides in the wilderness at any time, so escaping will lead to death faster than defending the city.
Many generals understand the reason why a city must be besieged. This move is used to deal with those stupid generals. As long as they are not stupid generals, they will not choose to abandon the city and escape this dead end. Of course, Hojo Ujiyao also understood this reason, so he chose
He will persevere and never give up even if he faces the crisis of falling into the city at the last moment, but there are some things that will not be useful if he does not give up.
Hojo Ujiyao still died. After stubbornly persisting for more than three months under the siege of more than 50,000 troops by Uesugi Teruatora, he could not escape the end of the destruction of the city and his death. Even though Uesugi Teruatora was unwilling to lose his troops and resorted to harassment as the main force, he attacked.
The method of using the city as a supplement was still unsustainable at the end of June, the third month of the siege.
As the fourth younger brother of Hojo Ujiyasu, Hojo Ujiyao died a heroic death. He first negotiated and asked the town magistrate to pardon more than a thousand soldiers in the city. After receiving a positive reply, he committed seppuku in the vast room. Hojo Ujiyao's legitimate son, spectrum
More than 100 people, including Dai retainers, Hatamoto samurai, and Xiao surnames, knelt on both sides as if holding an appraisal meeting and committed seppuku. More than 20 people, including Hojo Ujiyao's wife, two underage daughters, and maids, committed suicide by taking poison.
The entire Hojo family was destroyed, and no one survived.
The destruction of Koji Castle marked the fall of the Hojo family's last stronghold in the Musashi Kingdom. All the Sagami Hojo clan's plans to conquer Musashi Kingdom for decades collapsed. Just like the Kai Takeda clan lost Shinano Kingdom, the entire Hojo family was destroyed.
This news was such a shock that Hojo Ujimasa had no time to think about rescuing Suruga and maintaining the territories of Shimo and Kamisaki.
Especially when Hojo Ujiteru and Hojo Ujiki brought back an important piece of news: Hojo Ujikuni and Hojo Tsunari were likely to die in the hands of the Kira family. The Hojo family became even more worried about their own fate. Hojo Umasa, the young family governor
He is somewhat unable to control the situation, and he needs strong help from his wise father.
Hojo Ujiyasu has long been aware of the seriousness of the matter. As a retired family governor, he has to face not only the crisis of the family business, but also to worry about some changes in the mentality of his eldest son, the current family governor, Hojo Ushimasa. In order to support the Hojo clan's politics
And he had to reduce the number of public appearances. After all, he was already a retired family governor and could not hinder the new family governor's establishment of prestige. The family would eventually be handed over to young people.
In a crisis, Hojo Ushimasa asked his father for help. This was not only a low-profile request for help, but also showed that he was temporarily unable to cope with the current crisis. Hojo Ujimasa needed to temporarily come back to calm the chaotic Hojo family. In a sense
This also caused a huge loss to his prestige as the family governor, but the situation was stronger than the people and he could not destroy the Hojo family for the sake of face and prestige.
Hojo Ujiyasu, who had made a temporary comeback, made various adjustments to the Hojo family. First, he sent Hojo Genan as an envoy to request a ceasefire. He repeatedly stated that he had no intention of challenging the Ashikaga family and the Lord of Jinfu. At the same time, he sent Itabe Okae Yukssai to Kyoto to ask for help.
The Hojo family is an authentic Kyoto samurai. Many of their family members served for the shogunate in Kyoto decades or even a few years ago, and their connections are very easy to find. (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, novels are better.
