"Then, Your Highness, what should we do now? Do we want to hide the news?" Sanada Masayuki asked Yu Qiuping nervously for advice.
After Yu Qiuping hesitated for a moment, he shook his head and whispered firmly: "Stop hiding it, speak frankly to the people and all the samurai ashigaru about our predicament, and tell everyone that I will find a way, so that everyone should not panic."
After Sanada Masayuki followed Yu Qiupei's request and announced the news to the leadership, the result was better than expected. The people were grateful to Yu Qiupei for his honesty. The previous panic due to the shortage of supplies gradually calmed down, and the discussions and various rumors gradually subsided.
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"His Highness is really a great talent." Sanada Masayuki was filled with emotion when he saw this. "I thought that at times like this, we must keep the news strictly, but I didn't expect that His Highness's move would actually win the hearts of the people."
"That's because I don't know what to do." Yu Qiuping smiled miserably and spread his hands. "If I had a way to solve the dilemma, I would definitely keep the news secret and maintain stability. But now I don't know what to do. If I hide the news now
, when the end of the month comes and there is not enough food, what do you want me to do?"
·
Although Yu Qiuping knew in his heart that Sakai Town would no longer be able to deliver goods to him, he still sent envoys to try his luck. The result was as he expected. Although the merchants of Sakai Town expressed their apologies to Yu Qiuping, they were still helpless.
.
Yu Qiupei could only turn to Yamato Country and Yamato Country to buy food from them. However, due to the war caused by the previous Kyoto War, Yamato Country had almost no food left. And Yamato Country's Matsunaga Hidegen
They directly banned the grain trade, and seemed to intend to severely cheat Yu Qiuping. Yu Qiuping dared not speak out, so he had no choice but to seek help from the farther south Omi. Omi has always been a famous grain-producing area, but this year
Unfortunately, we encountered a locust plague, and because the coalition forces passed through the border, they looted a lot of food. As a result, there is almost no cheap wholesale food sales on the market. Money is not a problem. Due to the termination of the transaction with Sakai Town, Mitsubishi Caravan is now
There is no shortage of money. But even if you want to buy it, you can basically buy it in bits and pieces, which is a drop in the bucket for the tens of thousands of people around Maple Leaf Mountain City.
Yu Qiuping has ordered a slight reduction in the rations of the military and civilians, and at the same time purchased grain from surrounding areas at retail prices at high prices. But even so, the most optimistic estimate is that the grain can only last until December 5.
The equipment problem of Tokiwa Bei was difficult to solve at this moment. In desperation, Yu Qiuping ordered the purchase of high-priced pig iron from various places, stopped the production of iron cannons, and concentrated on building equipment. He also made iron cannons and archers that did not require hand-to-hand combat
All the equipment was collected and supplied to the pikemen. The iron gunners, archers and remaining pikemen could only wear the inferior bamboo and linen armor, cotton armor and other equipment captured previously.
What made the situation worse was the sleet on November 22. For people without cold protection facilities, sleet was even more destructive than heavy snow. The temperature dropped sharply again, and some surrounding creeks
It even started to freeze. Imagawa Kaede hurriedly ordered bonfires to be lit everywhere in the castle town to keep the people warm, but dozens of people still froze to death that night, and more people suffered from frostbite or illness. Imagawa Kaede had to arrange the sick and wounded, women and children into the already built buildings
In order to treat the cold, Maple Leaf Mountain City suddenly ran out of medicines. In the previous transaction, Konishi Lonzo did not ship many medicines due to inventory problems.
, now Yuqiu’s family is also facing a shortage of urgently needed Chinese herbal medicines.
·
Yu Qiuping has not thought about food and tea these days. He sits in a samurai house in Maple Leaf Mountain City every day and thinks hard about the solution. Tokiwa Bei's training has been temporarily stopped to save some rations, but procrastinating like this is not an option.
.
When it comes to the last resort, Yu Qiupei can only lead Tokiwa Bei and his family members to evacuate from Hanoi Kingdom and evacuate to places with food such as Minami Omi or Ono. But how many of the more than 50,000 victims around Maple Leaf Mountain City can survive?
It’s hard to say this winter. As more and more people become sick due to hunger and cold,
Unfortunately, rumors that Yu Qiuping was about to abandon the city and flee also spread like wildfire. Although Yu Qiuping kept sending people to refute the rumors, the rumors spread more and more widely. Yu Qiuping had no choice but to have one in the morning, noon and one evening every day.
He rode around the castle town on horseback to reassure the people.
However, on November 24, even worse news followed.
After a few days of reorganization, Miyoshi Yoshihide led nearly 14,000 Miyoshi troops from Hanoi and Izumi to the area around Takaya Castle in Minamihanoi. What made Yu Qiuping extremely angry was Matsunagahide's reaction - he moved the Nobuyoshi Mountain Castle on the edge of Takaya Castle.
Withdrew more than half of the troops inside, proving that he had no intention or ability to attack Takaya Castle. After Yoshihide Miyoshi confirmed that he had no worries, he led the entire army northward, stationed in Shiki County, and approached Wakae Castle from the south.
Miyoshi Yoshixian did not rush to attack, but ordered the entire army to set up camp, seemingly intending to wait until Yu Qiuping ran out of food, and then pursue Yu Qiuping's retreating troops.
Yu Qiupei hurriedly requested reinforcements from the surrounding friendly troops. However, Ashikaga Yoshiteru flatly rejected Yu Qiupei, who had offended him; Matsunagahide also refused to send troops; although Shibata Katsuie, Sakuma Nobumori and Mori Katsunari of Minamiomi
They intended to support, but Rokkaku Yoshihide and his son led the remaining troops to come back from the Koka Mountains, and they had to stay to guard the territory. However, the Asai Nagamasa of Kitaomi and the Oda family's army of Ono did not have enough food reserves and were beyond their reach.
Naturally, it is impossible to come to support. Although Kinoshita Hideyoshi and Akechi Mitsuhide are willing to come to support, most of their troops are new recruits and are too weak, so they are undergoing urgent training.
Yu Qiuping had to temporarily mobilize 4,000 civilians as auxiliary troops to ensure the logistics of the army. However, these 4,000 people further consumed the already small grain reserves, and the grain that Sena Shiyi had finally purchased was consumed.
Yu Qiuping's ninjas also discovered that Miyoshi Yixian seemed to be in contact with many small wealthy families in Beihanei. Those small wealthy families were gathering troops in Yanzhai one after another to prepare for war, with unknown targets. They were scattered almost everywhere in Beihanei.
There are also places around Maple Leaf Mountain City and Ruojiang City, which seriously threaten the safety of Maple Leaf Mountain City and the army's supply lines, and make the Yu Qiu family suffer from enemies from both sides. Yu Qiuping had no choice but to transfer Ogawa Yutong and Ji from the already stretched front line.
Gang Shengmasa's two companies guard Maple Leaf Mountain Castle and the supply line from Maple Leaf Mountain Castle to Wakae City respectively. If these small wealthy families really respond to the Miyoshi family and raise troops, it will be difficult for the two companies of Tokiwa Bei to cope with it, and they will definitely lose sight of one thing.
Yu Qiuping sent envoys many times to communicate with these small wealthy families, asking them to obey his command and fight against the Sanhao family together - at worst, please remain neutral. However, these small wealthy families were noncommittal in their answers, and seemed to have made up their minds.
We must stand on the side of the Sanhao Family, which has strength in numbers.
Food and grass are in urgent need, supplies are interrupted, Maple Leaf Mountain City is dilapidated and undefeated, isolated and helpless, the people are hungry and cold, and people are panic-stricken. The army of the Mihaoshi family is pressing on the border, and the small wealthy family within are ready to cause chaos at any time, and Chang Panbei does not even have the equipment - the Yuqiu family has completely
In despair.
·
On November 27, at the evaluation meeting held by the Yuqiu family, the retainers argued endlessly.
"Your Highness, retreat. Before the residents fall into chaos, we have the opportunity to evacuate all the troops and all members of the Yuqiu family." Amano Jingde asked Yu Qiuping to retreat in fierce words, "Otherwise, we will run out of food by then, and the entire
If Bac Hanoi falls into chaos, we may not be able to take the family members away with them."
"Aren't the more than 50,000 people from the Yuqiu family?" Takenaka Shigeharu sneered at Amano Keitoku's remarks, "Abandon Maple Leaf Mountain City, what will happen to the more than 50,000 people?"
"Your Highness, don't be kind to women." Sanada Masayuki also warned, "If you don't handle it carefully, you may be doomed."
"But Momiji boasted in front of so many people that he would always protect Maple Mountain Castle. If he abandoned the city now, wouldn't it damage the reputation he had earned over the past ten years?" Sena Shiyoshi couldn't bear to see him spend so much money.
So much money was spent on repairing the city walls
The town fell directly into the hands of the Miyoshi family, and they tactfully made excuses.
"But we don't see any hope of holding on. Is there any way to break the situation?" Sanada Masayuki shook his head, spread his hands and questioned.
"We have only one way: to get the help of Sakai Town, Ishiyama Town and His Highness Hatakeyama, and everything will be possible." Takenaka Shigeharu pointedly pointed out: "With the help of Sakai Town, Ishiyama Town, we will have food.
We have building materials, medicinal materials and armaments. With the help of His Highness Hatakeyama, he can order the noble families of Hanoi to assist us. Not only does North Hanoi no longer have to worry about fires in the backyard, we can get rid of the dilemma of being attacked from both sides, and even South Hanoi in the Miyoshi family army
Rich families will also be shaken."
"Sakai Town, why do the merchants of Ishiyama Town and Hatakeyama Takamasa help us?" Amano Keitoku shook his head coldly, and said in a deep voice with determination: "The merchants of Sakai Town are very smart, and helping the Miyoshi family is obviously more beneficial than helping us.
Even bigger; Ishiyama Town and Honganji Temple have a good relationship, and they can already trade comfortably, so why bother with us and cause trouble? Hatakeyama Takamasa wants to control the power of Hanoi, which is also something that we and Oda Daiden will not allow. In terms of interests,
There is a fundamental conflict and cooperation is impossible."
"Okay, you all should be quiet for a moment." Just when everyone was arguing, Yu Qiuping, who was silent, suddenly stood up and said, "I suddenly had an idea, please let me be quiet."
Afterwards, he left everyone in the assessment room behind, turned around and quickly entered the inner room. After the retainers present reacted, they all looked at each other. This scene was instantly similar to Oda Nobunaga's assessment before the Battle of Oehazama.
Meetings are somewhat similar.
·
After a while, when Yu Qiuping came out again, the resolute expression on his face was the same as that of Oda Nobunaga back then.
"Send someone to inform Sakai Town, the merchants of Ishiyama Town and His Highness Hatakeyama, that on December 1st, I will arrange for them to meet in the castle town north of Sakai Town." Yu Qiuping said to Uchiha Aooka in a deep voice: "He Hatakeyama
His Highness said that this is his only chance to return to Hanoi. If he doesn't come, he will miss it. I will even eradicate the wealthy Hanoi family at all costs, and the Hatakeyama family will be destroyed together. The businessmen of Hesakai Town and Ishiyama Town said that this is why they became Lu Buwei
If you don't come, you will miss the opportunity. I will even send people to attack the business travelers on their trade routes at all costs, so that they can't eat and go around."
Everyone present was shocked by Yu Qiuping's words and didn't understand what Yu Qiuping's crazy eyes meant.
"I know that there is an area controlled by the Miyoshi family and it is very dangerous. But it is also the only place where the merchants of Sakai Town, Ishiyama Town and Hatakeyama Takamasa are willing to meet me. They will definitely not come to Maple Leaf Mountain Castle." Uqiu Pingbei said. As he spoke, he strode out of the house, waved to Ryuko and Honda Tadakatsu, indicating that they were ready to go, and then turned to the stunned retainers and said: "Don't worry, please believe me once. I can guard the maple leaves." In the mountain city, I can save tens of thousands of people, and I can even defeat the three good armies."
Yu Qiuping walked quickly towards the gate of the castle tower, took the red leaf shawl handed by Ryuko and tied it around his shoulders.
"I, Yu Qiuping, always do what I say."
·
On December 1, the eleventh year of Eiji (1568), in a temple in the castle town north of Sakai Town, Hatakeyama Takamasa and the merchants from Sakai Town all came as promised. Although they came here to have a private meeting with Yu Qiupei, Miyoshi was There was a risk that the ninjas would find out. But the huge temptation and the unusually tough threat given by Yu Qiuping made them dare not not come. And Yu Qiuping had been waiting here for a long time.
They did not know that the meeting they had here today would go down in history and become an important lesson that would be learned in history textbooks all over the world.
"No more nonsense, I don't have time to waste everyone's time. I came here to talk to you about something." After Yu Qiuping saw everyone sitting down, he spoke directly without ceremony and said confidently:
"Separation of powers!"
Chapter completed!