(The map of Sanhe area has been uploaded to the book review area, please click "Writer Says" to view)
So, on September 18, Tenmo 9th Year (1540), Imagawa Yoshimoto gathered his retainers at Enma Castle in Toe. There were 1,200 Gomaobei, 1,200 Shounbei, and 1,200 Kotobei accompanying him. , 100 horseback troops, 180 Uden troops, 360 Matsui troops and 450 Osawa troops, with a total strength of more than 4,700 troops, mainly the Imagawa family banner.
On September 19, Tenmo 9 (1540), the Imagawa army marched west from the official road south of Hamana Lake and officially entered the Mikawa territory. The Toda family of Tahara Castle, the Saigo family of Tsukidani Castle, and the Ushikubo Castle The Makino family, the Okudaira family of Kubo Castle, the Kanuma family of Noda Castle, and other Higashi Mikawa noble families who nominally surrendered to the Imagawa family sent envoys to express their condolences. At the insistence of the Higashi Mikawa noble family, they decided to take control of the Toda family on September 20. A banquet was held at Yoshida Castle to honor Imagawa Yoshimoto.
"You can't go to the Hongmen Banquet." Yutaka Furunoji was ready to refuse the invitation on behalf of Imagawa Yoshimoto without even thinking about it. "These wealthy Higashi Mikawa families have always disobeyed the rule of the Imagawa family. The Toda family and the Okudaira family even joined the third brother's side before. If you go against us, you won’t have good intentions at first sight.”
"The total number of the five of them is less than 2,500. What are you afraid of?" Asahina Taitomo, however, crossed his arms dismissively and swayed on the horse carelessly, holding a drink he had just finished drinking. Wine gourd.
"I'm afraid you don't want to go to the city because you want to drink. Let me tell you a joke, you people in the Asahina family will die if you don't drink. It's not that your younger brother who was born this year is not happy drinking milk and has to drink. Are you going to sleep?" Okabe Momotsuna said sarcastically from the side, almost causing Asahina Taito to fight with him again.
"But when a wealthy family under his command invites us, but we, as masters, refuse to accept the invitation, doesn't it mean that we have no grace?" Kentaro Tian Shen has always taken the honor of being a samurai very seriously. "I'm afraid that we will be laughed at by the world."
"That's right, someone kindly invited us, but we didn't come in. It's not the courtesy of being a guest." Imagawa Yoshimoto poked his head out of the window of the sedan and smiled at the retainers discussing beside the sedan.
"But Yoshida Castle is under the control of the Toda family. If they set up an ambush in the city, it would be bad." Furunoji Yutaka was still worried, so he took a step back, "If they must hold a banquet in Yoshida Castle, We must lead troops into Yoshida Castle. If they don’t agree, forget it.”
"That's okay." Imagawa Yoshimoto nodded with approval and waved to Furunoji Yutaka, "Takeohmaru, I'll leave it to you to negotiate with them."
It seems that they sincerely want to show their goodwill to the Imagawa family. Faced with the Imagawa family's request to "lead the army into the city", the Toda family did not object, but readily agreed - not worried that Imagawa Yoshimoto would take the opportunity to occupy his city. .In this case, Imagawa Yoshimoto had no reason to refuse, and he led his troops into Yoshida Castle generously on the evening of the 20th.
The wealthy families of Higashi Mikawa had already prepared a banquet in the Yoshida Castle castle tower, but to be on the safe side, Furunoji Yutaka sent Dou Atonsune to take the ninjas to check around and confirm that there was no ambush and that there were no hands or feet in the meal. Let Imagawa Yoshimoto take the seat.
"Welcome to His Highness Imagawa!"
After seeing Yoshimoto Imagawa, the heads of several wealthy families in Higashi Mikawa came out to greet him one after another. As the host, Yasumi Toda respectfully welcomed Yoshimoto Imagawa and sat down on the main seat, while the rest of the people sat on the left and right sides in turn.
On the other hand, the entourage that followed Furunoji Yutaka and others sat in the lower position.
"His Majesty Imagawa is here, the small Yoshida Castle is really flourishing!" Toda Yasumitsu welcomed Imagawa Yoshimoto with a smile. Those who didn't know it thought he was the loyal heir apparent of the Imagawa family - in fact
He is a rebellious boy on the same level as the Ii family. Not long ago, he followed Imagawa Yoshima and beat Imagawa Yoshimoto for three years.
"cut……"
Before Imagawa Yoshimoto could respond, he heard a cold snort from the seat opposite. Makino Yasunari squeezed his chopsticks tightly and glared at Toda Yasumitsu with eyes that could almost spit out fire. Imagawa Yoshimoto was leaving before leaving
I have read the information prepared by Sena Jijun before, and I have a general understanding of the grudges and resentments among the wealthy families of Higashi Mikawa——
Not long ago, Yoshida Castle was the residence of the Makino family. However, the Toda family, which has power all over the Atsumi Peninsula, has been on the rise in recent years and has invaded Yoshida Castle from the Makino family. Now, Yasumitsu Toda is the master of Yoshida Castle.
Welcoming Imagawa Yoshimoto here, Makino Baoshi was naturally very angry. Even though he was straight-tempered, he slapped his chopsticks on the table: "You guys, don't be generous to others!"
"How can you be so wild in front of His Majesty the House Governor?" Yasumi Toda didn't expect that Makino Yasunari didn't even give him any formal honors, and started scolding him in the first sentence at the banquet.
"I wonder who betrayed the Imagawa clan before to support the regicide rebellion, and now pretends to be a loyal minister?" Makino Yasunari unceremoniously went to the vital point, cursed, and at the same time turned to Imagawa Yoshimoto, bowed deeply and said:
"Your Highness, the Governor of the Household, please forgive me. After our Higashi Mikawa people had rejoined the Imagawa clan, the Toda family privately used troops against their colleagues to rob the castle. Your Highness, please make the decision!"
"Oh?" Imagawa Yoshimoto became interested after hearing this, and looked at Yasumi Toda with great interest, "Is this true?"
"This..." Toda Yasumitsu was speechless for a moment. What Makino Yasunari said was indeed the truth, but at that time the Higashi Mikawa wealthy family only symbolically submitted to the Imagawa family, and naturally everyone still fought on their own. But now Imagawa Yoshimoto has led his army.
When we arrived at Yoshida Castle, we couldn't explain this explanation no matter what.
"Please make the decision, Your Highness, the Governor!" Makino Yasunari, seeing that something was going on, quickly added.
"I'm too lazy to go..." Just when Imagawa Yoshimoto was about to lazily excuse himself from deciding this matter, Furunoji Yutaka saw that the situation was not good and already spoke first: "Your Highness, the Governor, has many things to do, and he has important things to do during this trip.
Naturally, I don’t have time to try it myself. However, the issue of the ownership of Yoshida Castle will be sent back to Imagawa Hall for the monks to settle. Before that, Yoshida Castle will be under the supervision of the clan."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Imagawa Yoshimoto was interrupted by Furunoji Yutaka, and had to give him a wry smile, but Furunojiteng couldn't help but shook his head, obviously dissatisfied with his brother's political role
He was very dissatisfied with the slowness in the government - how could he miss such a great opportunity, which could not only establish his power in Mikawa, but also suppress the rebellious Toda family?
After Yasumi Toda heard the verdict, his face immediately darkened - he did not expect that he was kind enough to hold a banquet in Yoshida Castle to please Imagawa Yoshimoto, and wanted to wash away his previous crimes, but instead threw Yoshida Castle out.
After the banquet broke up, Imagawa Yoshimoto had no regrets - anyway, he didn't expect to have a good dining experience at such a banquet with a strong political atmosphere.
"Takeohmaru, what did you do to cause trouble just now?" Imagawa Yoshimoto complained to Nagoya Ujitoyo with some dissatisfaction, "What does the matter of Yoshida Castle have to do with us?"
"Fourth brother, you are now the governor of the Imagawa family. All the affairs of the Imagawa family are related to you, and the wealthy families under the Imagawa family are no exception." Furunoji Yutaka looked at his brother's casual attitude and had no choice but to say
He explained earnestly, "In Higashi Mikawa, the Imagawa family's rule is superficial. The wealthy families only surrender to us in name. In fact, they will neither send us hostages nor follow our orders. We
The influence here is very weak.”
"Now we have a great opportunity. The Makino family took the initiative to bring it up, giving us the opportunity to intervene in the territorial dispute in Dongsanhe. And we just happened to bring troops over, control the cities involved in the territorial dispute, and have the ability to influence the situation in Dongsanhe.
, how can we not take advantage of it? If we can succeed this time, we can not only suppress the Toda family who are in the limelight in Higashi Mikawa, but also be kind to the Makino family. We can also extend our hands into Higashi Mikawa and intervene in territorial disputes in Higashi Mikawa in the future.
There are also precedents to be found! This opportunity must not be missed, and it will never come back again!”
"They kindly invited us into the city for dinner, but we backhandedly robbed their city. Who will dare to welcome the Imagawa army into the city in the future?" Imagawa Yoshimoto shook his head and complained, but didn't say much, "I don't want to anyway.
Worry, if you think this is appropriate, just do it and send an envoy back to tell my teacher."
"I obey, but you also need His Highness to leave a team here to supervise, in case the Toda family takes the city back as soon as our army leaves." That Furunoji Yutaka added vigilantly.
"Then let Udonabi stay, their territory is also close to here." Imagawa Yoshimoto casually arranged.
On September 21, the 9th year of Tenmon (1540), the Imagawa army set out again, crossing the Toyokawa north of Yoshida Castle and passing Ukubo Castle, Makino Hosei's current residence. The enthusiastic Makino Hosei wanted to invite Imagawa Yoshimoto to enter.
Imagawa thanked the castle, but Imagawa Yoshimoto did not want to make trouble again, so he declined the proposal. After a brief stop in the forest, the Imagawa army turned west and headed along the coastline of Mikawa Bay in the south, intending to first go to the east where Matsudaira Hirotada lived.
At Jojo Castle, pick up Matsudaira Hirotada and then go north to Okazaki Castle.
On the evening of September 21st, the Imagawa army set up camp in Kamagata. If everything goes well, they will march for another day tomorrow and reach the Kira family Tojo Castle more than 30 miles away in the west.
In the evening, in the camp, Ginkgo walked into the camp holding a basin of washing water and a towel hanging on her shoulders. She complained in a nonchalant manner: "Sir, I have begun to regret it. There is really nothing I can do..."
"After all, she is the maid brought out by me, so she can't do nothing as a maid, right? Myolie, right?" Imagawa Yoshimoto smirked and enjoyed Ginkgo's service while looking at the things being arranged in the tent.
Nao Hayasaka and Takaki Mochizuki said, "Look at Koichiro and Mochizuki, aren't they doing a great job? You, a newcomer, should also learn a lot from them!"
"Sir, just wait." Ginkgo rubbed Yoshimoto Imakawa's face vigorously with a towel, causing him to scream in pain.
"Forget it, for the sake of the scenery on the roadside and the snacks at Yoshida Castle these days, I'll spare you this once." Ginkgo smiled sweetly, and gently massaged Imagawa Yoshimoto's temples, watching him use a comfortable technique.
Gradually she relaxed, "I don't know if Miaomiao had a good meal at home."
"I entrusted Sena to take care of it. He was considerate and everything will be fine." Imagawa Yoshimoto enjoyed Ginkgo's service and muttered with satisfaction. At this time, a burst of rapid footsteps came, which made Imagawa Yoshimoto feel a little agitated.
Ginkgo woke up from the massage irritably. Ginkgo also turned around carefully, pretending to pack things so as not to be noticed by anyone coming.
"Your Highness, we have military information." It was Okabe Motsuna who came.
"What happened?" Imagawa Yoshimoto sat up straighter with some vigilance, "It's so late."
"To tell you a joke, no one will really believe it. The head of the Tojo Kira family 'died' of illness at this time, right?" Okabe Momotsuna shook his head and handed the secret letter to Imagawa Yoshimoto, "Just now
I received an urgent letter from His Highness Matsudaira. His Highness Kira Mochihiro, the head of the Tojo Kira family who had been protecting him, suddenly passed away and was declared to have died of illness. And Kira Yoshihiro of the Saijo Kira family sent troops to Tojo late at night.
