On January 10, after receiving Oda Nobunaga's permission, Uakiuhei officially began transactions with the Miyoshi family. The Uakiki family and the Miyoshi family withdrew their troops along the Yamato River. Uakiuhei retreated to Shiki In the county, the Mihaoshi family retreated into Gaowu City. After the confrontation ended, Yu Qiuping successively released more than 1,700 prisoners of war from the Mihaoshi family.
During this period, some incidents also occurred. The Honganji family, which was not on friendly terms with the Miyoshi family, tried to interfere with the negotiation and gave Yu Qiupei a large amount of money and food in exchange for Yu Qiupei to hand over the prisoners of war to Ishiyama Gobo. The Honganji family opened The conditions offered can be said to be very generous, but Yu Qiuping rejected the Honganji family on the grounds that "he had already promised." For a time, Yu Qiuping's good reputation of "doing what he said" was once again spread in Kinki. .
On January 15, Yu Qiupei led the troops of two companies of Miyoshi Yoshihide and Tokiwa Bei, marching westward along the north bank of the Yamato River and arrived at Kitaiizumi. Here, Tokawa Ichin, as the representative of the handover, transferred Kitaizumi The territorial security documents of Izumi Otori County were handed over to Yu Qiupei. Then, Yu Qiupei sent out reconnaissance cavalry to confirm that there were no Miyoshi troops stationed in the various rock villages in Otori County, and then released Miyoshi Yoshihide, and then led the army Occupied the entire Otori County including Sakai Town.
"Finally I've gotten through it." Fukushima Yasunari, who was following Yu Qiupei, saw that the situation had been decided and let out a sigh of relief, "I've been walking on the edge of a knife every day for the past few months, and finally I don't have to anymore. I’m on tenterhooks.”
"Ancheng, that's because you are overthinking." Yu Qiuping smiled bitterly upon hearing this, "The troublesome things will only begin now."
·
What Yu Qiuping said was true, troublesome things happened one after another.
The first thing to bear the brunt is Yu Qiuping's stretched military strength. Yu Qiu's family is now in Hanoi, and the territory controlled by Izumi is similar to a huge letter "j". Hanoi's 150,000 stone territory north of the Yamato River is the vertical part , the 40,000-koku territory of Otori County in the north of Izumi Province is the left hook of the "j". The northernmost end of Otori County is almost flush with the northern bank of the Yamato River.
Such a territory spread out like a long snake really requires a lot of troops to defend. To the north of the territory is the Settsu family of the Miyoshi family, to the west is the Honganji family, who have a relatively good relationship for the time being, to the east is the Matsunaga family across the Kongo Mountains, and to the south is the Matsunaga family. It is the territory of the Mihaoshi family. It can be said that there is no safe hinterland in Yu Qiuping's territory, and there are front lines bordering the enemy everywhere.
Since it was almost the time for spring plowing, many ashigaru in Akechi Mitsuhide and Kinoshita Hideyoshi's team were eager to go back to farm, so Yu Qiupei could only arrange for them to go back.
As for the 2,000 soldiers Yu Qiuping has on hand, more than half are newly trained auxiliary soldiers with not very rich combat experience. Yu Qiuping's previous training methods were to have one veteran lead one recruit. He expected these recruits to lead the "new ones". "New recruits are obviously unrealistic, and Yu Qiupei has no chance to expand the army for the time being. Therefore, he can only personally lead Ogawa Yutong's infantry company and cavalry company to sit in Maple Leaf Mountain Castle, leaving the companies of Fukushima Yasunari and Omaezaki Nakahide to stay in Otori. County, Sakai Town, and then let Charlie and Yoshioka Katsumasa's company sit at several ferries on the north bank of the Yamato River to strictly guard against the Miyoshi Army in Takaya Castle. Apart from these three key points, the defense of other places can only rely on the small wealthy families. Processed.
After Miyoshi Yoshihide was released, he led the Awa people by boat and returned to Awa to rest. At this moment, Miyoshi's family stayed in Hanoi. Izumi's troops included 4,000 people from Miyoshi Yoshihiro who was stationed at Kishiwada Castle, and Miyoshi who was stationed at Takaya Castle.
Changyi, Miyoshi Masayasu's subordinates plus more than 7,000 people from Iwanari Yutong's remaining troops, the number is about the same as Umo.
The soldiers of the Qiu family almost have an advantage of 2:1. Simply put, the 2,000 soldiers of the Yuqiu family are standing troops and do not need to be disbanded during farming. However, the troops of the Mihao family have to go to the fields during the spring plowing period, and during the busy farming period
During this period, he was temporarily unable to attack Yu Qiuping, giving him a chance to breathe.
·
Another troublesome thing is Oda Nobunaga's side.
Due to Yu Qiu's family in Hanoi and Izumi's continuous major progress, Yu Qiuping and Izumi already owned a territory of nearly 200,000 koku just in Hanoi. Counting his old territory in Onong, the total territory was as high as 260,000 koku.
More than all the important ministers in the Oda family. Shibata Katsuie, Sakuma Nobumori and others were very dissatisfied with this and repeatedly protested to Oda Nobunaga. Oda Nobunaga himself seemed unwilling to sit back and watch the Amakihei family dominate. According to
According to the news from Maeda Toshiie, Ikeda Tsuneki and other good buddies, Oda Nobunaga seemed to want to take back Amakihei's old territory in the Ono area and instead grant him the territory of Kawachi and Izumi.
In this way, the Uaki family's territory will be about 190,000 koku, which is almost the same as the territory of Shibata Katsuie, Sakuma Nobumori, Niwa Nagahide and other important ministers.
Yu Qiupei doesn't care about Oda Nobunaga's confiscation of his territory - he is already too powerful, and it is reasonable to restrain him. But there is a big problem that bothers him, and that is Sumamata
The castle tower of Sumama City was filled with a large amount of gunpowder. Although outsiders could not see the flaw, there were many people who knew the news. In the past, Sumama City was controlled by Yu Qiuping himself, so outsiders naturally had no way of knowing. But seeing that
If Sumamata Castle is to be transferred to someone else's hands, things will not go well. Although the insiders of the gunpowder incident have followed Yu Qiupei to Kinki, it will be difficult to inform other people in the Oda family. But in case it is leaked.
If there is a rumor, the lord of Sumama City will send people to dig up the castle tower, and the gunpowder in the castle tower will be discovered immediately. If that happens, Yu Qiuping will not be able to defend himself.
Yu Qiuping hurriedly discussed this with his think tanks, and finally came up with a compromise proposal. Build a new city larger than Sumama City in a place with better transportation east of Sumama City, and move all the residents under Sumama City.
Go there and waste Sumamata Castle. Then the new lord will probably not pay too much attention to the sparsely populated Sumamata Castle. Although it will cost a lot to build the city, Yu Qiuping has no other choice but to order Naoe Tadayei to start construction immediately.
, rush to repair the city before Oda Nobunaga's order to confiscate the territory comes.
·
The biggest problem facing Yu Qiupei is that he must now fulfill his promise of separation of powers to the merchants of Sakai Town, Ishiyama Town, and Hatakeyama Takamasa.
After Yu Qiuping won a resounding victory and gained control of Sakai Town through negotiations, the merchants of Sakai Town had mixed feelings. The good news was that the Yu Qiu Ping family won and they had the opportunity to establish the parliament. The worry was that whether
I don’t know whether Yu Qiuping will fulfill his promise. After all, the system he imagined before was too unreasonable. No one has ever been willing to give businessmen the power similar to the joint meeting of important ministers. If Yu Qiuping’s army came to Sakai Town and forced them to obey, they would probably also
We were helpless, so we could only draw water from a bamboo basket but in vain.
Therefore, after Yu Qiuping defeated the Miyoshi family, the merchants of Sakai Town and Ishiyama Town stopped the transportation of grain and goods to Yu Qiuping with a tacit understanding. Yu Qiuping's current grain storage can only last for about eight days, and they do not support his attempt to attack the Miyoshi family.
Sakai launched an attack, but the food supplies needed to maintain the two companies of Fukushima Yasunari and Gomaezaki Nakahide were already stretched thin.
As for Hatakeyama Takamasa, he also had deep doubts about whether Yu Qiuping would fulfill his promise. At his request, the wealthy families in Beihanoi have not disbanded their troops, and they have no doubts about the security of Yu Qiuping's territory.
All posed a huge threat.
Yu Qiuping understood that their worries were indeed justified. Any cooperation would be carried out under the premise that both parties could check and balance. At present, Yu Qiuping's Tokiwa Bei had an overwhelming force advantage over them, making them dare not cooperate safely.
So one could only stop delivering food, and the other stayed on guard to prevent Yu Qiuping from breaking the contract. Yu Qiuping also knew what they were waiting for. They were waiting for Yu Qiuping to send his two sons as hostages.
Although the hard-liners Amano Keitoku and Sanada Masayuki suggested that Yu Qiupei should not stop doing anything and simply send troops to capture Sakai Town, seize enough food, grass and baggage, and then return to attack the small wealthy clan in Kitakawachi, Yu Qiupei did not intend to take such a risk.
.If he fails and the Mihaoshi family comes back, he will have nothing left.
·
On January 22, in the Maple Mountain Castle Castle Tower, Yu Qiupei and Imagawa Kaede were packing for their two children. After the New Year, they were both 10 years old. In Japan, it is considered a time for the family to
It’s time to fulfill your responsibilities.
At the gate of the castle town of Maple Leaf Mountain Castle, merchants from Sakai Town and the driver sent by Hatakeyama Takamasa were already waiting. The carefree time these two children spent with their parents was about to come to an end.
Although he was fine when he promised, when it was time to say goodbye, Yu Qiuyou still couldn't help but wipe away his tears. He was already trying to restrain himself, but the tears still leaked out of his mouth, and the expression on his face was a little strange. Kaede Imagawa
Tears could not stop rolling in my eyes when I thought that the child I had protected in my hands since childhood was about to be humiliated and used as a hostage in the hands of others.
"Shang'er, You'er, and Feng'er, I'm sorry for you." Yu Qiuping looked at his wife and children crying, and his heart couldn't stop throbbing, "If I could be stronger, I wouldn't need to ask for help.
There’s no need to sacrifice you two.”
"Dad, it's not your fault, it's not your dad's fault." Yu Qiuyou sobbed and looked at Yu Qiuping, "Master Amano told me about the situation at that time. We were at the end of our rope. If dad hadn't come up with such a coup, Maple Leaf Mountain City would have been destroyed.
So many people may starve to death. Youer is very proud to be able to share some of the burden for his father."
"Youer..." Yu Qiuping touched Yu Qiuyou's little head with tears in his eyes, and then patted his shoulder heavily, "You have to take care of yourself."
"Shang'er, so are you." Yu Qiuping then looked at Yu Qiu Shang, looking at his empty sleeves. In a strange environment, surrounded by people with high political positions in Hatakeyama, it will definitely not be like at Yu Qiu's home.
Such care for Yu Qiu Shang. There will probably be no shortage of rumors, ridicule and disdain. The situation Yu Qiu Shang will face will be much more difficult for Yu Qiu You.
"I can, father." Yu Qiu Shang spoke, but it was the first time he addressed Yu Qiuping with such a formal name as "father", which made both Yu Qiuping and Imagawa Kaede stunned.
"Not everyone has the opportunity to be a hostage, and not every heir can contribute to the family at such a young age." Although there was reluctance and sadness in Yu Qiu Shang's eyes, there was more of it.
It is eagerness and expectation, "This is another new experience in my unique life, isn't it? Father!"
After Yu Qiuping listened to Yu Qiu Shang's words, his parting reluctance seemed to be completely overshadowed by the joy brought by Yu Qiu Shang's growth. He took a step forward, bent down slightly, and patted Yu Qiu Shang's shoulders heavily with both hands.
For a moment, he said excitedly:
"He is indeed my son!"
Yu Qiu Shang looked back at his father excitedly, but did not notice the jealousy and unwillingness in his younger brother's eyes standing beside him.
Chapter completed!