With no internal support and no external support, it is possible to resist for a while with tens of thousands of soldiers defending the city, but in the long run, defending the city is just a fight between trapped beasts and seeking death. Odawara is not an invincible fortress that cannot be breached in the legend.
There are townspeople and samurai family members in the city. They are what they protect and fight for. They carry the ardent expectations of countless elders in their hometown. If they use the lives of local townspeople as a bargaining chip to survive, the Hojo family really can't do it.
come out.
Akechi is like the Sagami Lion Hojo Ujiyasu, who is very aware of the depth of the crisis lurking under the deathly silence of Odawara Castle. The commotions in the city show that Ashikaga Yoshitoki's tactics have not relaxed for a moment. He does not need to guess to know his own destiny.
There must be someone in the Dai retainer group who is secretly plotting to betray the Hojo family. It is meaningless to find out who this person is, but it will further shake the confidence of the retainer group.
"What should I do? Should father's opinion be used? Isn't there a better choice?" Hojo Ushimasa leaned on the railing and looked at the majestic Odawara Castle, a city that had filled him with endless glory in the past.
At this moment, it was like a heavy burden pressing on his chest, making him almost breathless.
The Sagami Hojo clan is weak in front of the Kanto clan. The Hojo family's army left in the city is less than 13,000 men. Most samurai are full of fear and confusion about the powerful Kanto clan unless the Hojo clan goes out to fight Sanada.
Yukitaka was caught off guard and defeated or even wiped out the 30,000 besieging troops with 12,000 men. Otherwise, this disadvantage would have been impossible to overturn.
It's a pity that the night battle in Kawagoe only happened once. The military level of the Hojo clan was completely insufficient to support a shocking reversal. Odawara Castle is said to have tens of thousands of soldiers with enough food and grass to eat in three years. This is a very idealistic plan without considering the actual food and grass.
Based on a simple calculation of the supply, the food that needs to be supplied in Odawara City is not only the more than 10,000 defenders, but also more importantly, the tens of thousands of castle town residents who also need to eat. During the half-year siege of the city, the water transportation channels have already eaten up the food.
Nearly half, the time left for the Sagami Hojo clan was no more than half a year.
Odawara Castle is closed to all four gates, and food can be distributed in proportion to maintain short-term stability. However, it is an indisputable fact that the castle town's workshops and merchants can't receive business and have all come to a standstill. If there is no business in the business houses, they can only close down and fire the townspeople.
The townspeople who cannot get a job have nothing to do except receive another ration at a fixed time every day. The townspeople who have nothing to do all day gradually love to go to the wine shop and the whale house to have fun. They use wine and sex to numb their gradually stiffening brains, and negative emotions generally breed.
, forming a terrifying force that causes turmoil.
The economic order collapsed and trade was forced to interrupt. The market was short of supplies and daily necessities that the townspeople needed. The most popular thing in the black market organized by the townspeople was the free old grain provided by the Hojo family, and people began to barter secretly.
, Yongle money lost its role as currency in the closed Odawara Castle.
The executive officer of the Hojo clan was unable to receive even a penny of tax revenue from the castle town, and he still had to bear the huge pressure of food supply to supply the town residents. He also had to bear all kinds of accusations and indifferent treatment to support the town residents. As the governor of the house, the Hojo clan masa suddenly felt that this governor was really
It's unbearable. If this situation is allowed to develop, Odawara Castle will fall into turmoil in the long run.
Sometimes people's support is just a matter of a thought. It is undeniable that the townspeople of Odawara Castle support the Hojo family. Their willingness to send their children and grandchildren to serve as ashigaru shows that the Hojo family is still popular.
Not everyone likes to do it. Even if you are excited for a moment and rush over to fight Ashikaga Gitoki with your arms in arms, as your patience and confidence wear away day after day, that boiling passion will have been burned away.
The young samurai who calmed down suddenly realized that their beloved Odawara Castle suddenly changed into another scene. All the passages outside the city were completely blocked, resulting in a shortage of supplies. The prices of goods obtained through a few special channels were ten times higher than that of Odawara Castle.
In the past, this has led to rapid currency depreciation in a short period of time and prompted skyrocketing prices.
Ninety-nine percent of the commercial houses have long been closed and people have left their houses empty. The decline of all industries has forced the elders in the hometown to lose their jobs and can only live at home. Even if Hojo Ujiyasu discovered something was wrong early, there was nothing he could do. His research on economic principles was almost blank.
When faced with this kind of problem, the only solution is to reduce taxes and tax exemptions, call in businessmen and offer kind words to appease the city. But this will not help solve the crisis in Odawara Castle, and the hearts of the people will be quietly lost at this loss.
"If we continue like this, the city will run out of food if we can't hold on to the autumn harvest..." Hojo Ushimasa secretly slapped the fence in anger, and after a while he suddenly said: "No! Even if we hold on to the autumn harvest, we won't be able to harvest a single grain. We can't break it as soon as possible.
Even if the Edo government's indefinite blockade of Odawara Castle lasts until next year and the year after next, the castle will be surrendered sooner or later, by then it will not be a generous condition for this alliance under the castle! My father is right. Our family really has no way out.
It’s nothing to say.”
At this juncture, Nagano Yoshihiro, the envoy of the Kanto government, came to Odawara Castle. He brought Ashikaga Yoshitomo's first oral message to persuade him to surrender: "The shogunate and the imperial court are delighted with the initial decision to conquer Kanto today. The people of Kanto have been looking forward to the Kanto for a hundred years."
The quiet work is over. And Hojo Sagami is trapped in a corner of Sagami. It is unwise to try to fight to the end with a city. It is hoped that Hojo Sagami will open the city quickly to avoid the danger of losing lives and ruining the family business! Relevant articles are here to be seen.
Note, please read with caution."
Hojo Ushimasa received the letter of persuasion to surrender and unfolded it, and it turned out that it was similar to the reply sent by Hojo Genan, except that the words and sentences were more domineering, and he naturally warned him to surrender quickly in the tone of the Lord of Kanto. This gave Hojo Ushimasa a strong sense of self-esteem.
It was a strong stimulus. This young governor, who had had a smooth life since childhood, was still too young.
The elders of the Kanadai family coughed and waved their hands, and finally calmed down the angry Hojo Umasa. After he breathed out a few breaths of bad breath, they groaned: "I will consider it carefully. Please forgive me for the situation of the Hojo family and allow me to do so."
Let’s wait for some more time!”
"That's it! I will truthfully convey the opinions of the Hojo Sagami Shrine." Nagano Yagaku nodded as if he was surprised. Just as he was about to stand up, he suddenly remembered something and sat back down. He took out the cool breeze letter from the cabinet and handed it to him respectfully.
He went over and said, "This is before I left, I met Hojo Kamisuke and Hojo Anfang Mamoru. These two entrusted me to send two letters home, please ask Sagami Mamoru to read them."
The expressions of the Hojo retainers group changed instantly. Many veterans stared at the stack of letters handed over by Nagano Yagu in shock. In the past six months, the Hojo family's publicity center, Huang Hachiman, Hojo Tsunari and the Hojo clan died heroically in battle. Originally, because of
This news indirectly prompted the Hojo samurai to unite against Ashikaga Yoshitoki.
It was less than a year later that I saw a letter from a "dead" samurai again. You can imagine how the Hojo family samurai felt in their hearts. The young samurai from the Hojo family sitting in the corner quietly
When the situation became agitated, Hojo Tsusunari's legitimate sons Hojo Ushige and Hojo Ujihide seemed particularly uncalm. His son-in-law Hojo Ujiki didn't seem to be too happy either. Several young samurai looked at the angry group of clan elders and Matsuda Mori intentionally or unintentionally.
Xiuji's desire to speak finally turned into a sigh.
Hojo Umasa hesitated and didn't know whether he should accept the thick pile of letter paper, but in this era, if he didn't accept it, he would give up the excuse. He raised his head and looked around the group of retainers and found that the reliable samurai was either deep in thought or shaking his head and sighing, with random words in his mouth.
After cursing a few words, he bravely took the letter. Nagano Yaguru didn't seem to take the opportunity to say a few sarcastic words. He bowed respectfully and stood up and left with satisfaction, leaving the Hojo retainers in a dead silence in the vast room.
group, and the sound of pages turning as Hojo Ushimasa kept flipping through private messages.
Rather than saying this is a letter from home, it is better to say that it is a diary recorded by Hojo Tsunari and Hojo Ujikuni during the past six months. From the interrogation and house arrest of the prisoners to the whole process of being treated favorably, these two people were led by Ashikaga Yoshitoki throughout the whole process.
Everywhere he went, he was invited to attend meetings, including the confidential evaluation meetings and military discussions.
In Hojo Tsunari's diary, he highly praised the military power of the Ashikaga clan, saying that it was a military system that was very different from the military system used by the Kanto samurai family. The samurai who created this new military system must be masters of military science. He focused on describing the Ashikaga army.
The invasion of Shimonoseki, a multi-pronged process of attacking, planning, surprise and seizing a country, and taking over Shimonoseki, where the Hojo family had worked hard for many years, in less than a month was called the perfect embodiment of military strategy by Dihuo Hachiman.
Hojo Ujikuni's diary focuses on Ashikaga Yoshitoki's actions in Shimono Province, how he easily mobilized Utsunomiya Hirotsuna, Nasu Suin, and Koyama Takatomo who asked to have their titles reduced until they were forced to dismember them.
During the whole process of the territory, he expressed great admiration for the Kanto Lord's thunderous means of turning clouds and rain to pacify a country, and called Ashikaga Yoshitoki "the hope of the Kanto samurai family".
The more he looked at the back, the darker his face became. Hojo Ushimasa was trembling all over. The family members looked at the governor's face in horror as he suddenly turned green and then turned pale. He suddenly dropped the letter and looked embarrassed.
And left, the whole process was so fast that the family members who were bowing their heads in thought did not see his hurried away figure.
The family members of the Genedai family didn't know why the family governor left without saying goodbye. They stared at the scattered pages of letters on the ground and didn't know what to do. Daidoji Masashige carefully picked up the page of letters that fell at his feet and read in a low voice: "
Your Highness Gongfang is a man of God! In ten months, the army swept across the people of the Shimo country, and the force was ten times more powerful than the elite soldiers of our Hojo family. In ten months, he mobilized the people of the Shimo country without spending a single soldier. The Satake clan then heard about it.
The wind caused the Hitachi Kingdom to be pacified immediately. In less than three months, we have determined that the three states are beyond our reach. Only by surrendering early can we, the Hojo family, have any hope of survival."
Many samurai picked up the discarded letter and muttered it in a low voice. However, after a while, the shaken confidence of the Hojo retainers suddenly collapsed. Some veterans sat down with the letter in their hands, beat their chests and cried loudly: "Go to Susuke-den, Anfang guards the temple.
Surrendered! Is this really going to end this time? Although I have anticipated this day, I still feel very unwilling to say it!"
PS: This is the first update, the number of words is a bit less, there will be more and more later, the next update will be at 12 noon.
