After returning from fasting, Takeda Harunobu attacked the Hojo family before Imagawa Yoshimoto could speak:
"Your Highness Hojo, since you can't reach an agreement with the Imagawa family, why not come and talk to the Takeda family first?"
The timing of the Takeda family is indeed very insightful. After a whole morning of see-sawing, the negotiators of the Hojo family and the Imagawa family were both a little tired, but only the Takeda family maintained full energy and state. Secondly, the Hojo family, who was eager to reach an agreement, saw that the war was over.
It is difficult for the Imagawa family to reach an agreement, and they will definitely hope to achieve a breakthrough in the secondary negotiations with the Takeda family to promote the progress of the main negotiation with the Imagawa family; therefore, the Hojo family will inevitably soften its position in the peace negotiations and make concessions to the Takeda family
.
"10,000 koku of grain and grass." Hojo Ujiyasu repeated the conditions just now, but Takeda Harunobu had no intention of talking to him.
"Twenty thousand koku of food and grass." Hojo Ujiyasu raised two fingers.
"Too little." Takeda Harunobu calmly refused.
"Twenty-five thousand koku." Hojo Ujiyasu added a little more.
"It's still too little." Takeda Harunobu refused again.
"Forty thousand koku." After Hojo Ujiyasu said these words, he pushed the tea cup forward on the table and placed it on the edge of the table. "Whether you want love or not, that's all. The Hojo family's annual tax revenue is only 200,000 koku."
Shi, how much more do you want?"
"60,000 stones."
Takeda Harunobu calmly spit out a number, but the look on his face seemed to be a sure win.
Hojo Ujiyasu's heart skipped a beat - the figure reported by Takeda Harunobu happened to be the bottom line of the Hojo family's negotiation. While trying his best to control his facial features to prevent his expression from showing off, he cursed: "Sixty thousand koku? You
Why don't you just go to Odawara Castle and rob it? One-third of the annual income will be given to you? Will the Hojo family be able to pay their salary and fight the war?"
"60,000 stones."
"It's impossible. The Hojo family can't afford it, and it's impossible for my father to agree!"
"60,000 stones."
"Go and look for it yourself in the warehouse of Odawara Castle. After emptying the warehouse, can you find 60,000 koku of usable grain?"
"60,000 koku." However, Takeda Harunobu seemed to be unable to get in. No matter what Hojo Ujiyasu said, he just repeated the number just now.
Now Hojo Ujiyasu was slightly panicked - could it be that his reaction just now revealed a flaw and that Takeda Harunobu guessed the bottom line of the Hojo family? Only then did he dare to bid so boldly without fear of a breakdown with the Hojo family.
"If His Majesty Takeda is so stubborn, then there is no need to continue the conversation." Seeing that Hojo Ujiyasu was confused, Hojo Genan behind him slowly spoke, and instead turned his attention to Imagawa Yoshimoto, "Your Majesty Imagawa,
We don’t need to talk about it anymore. Let’s just go back and prepare for the battle. It seems that this battle will never be a good one.”
Imagawa Yoshimoto understood Hojo Genan's hint - Hojo Genan hoped that the Imagawa family, as a strong party in the alliance, would restrain their allies, the Takeda family, from taking drastic actions to avoid intensifying the situation and damaging the negotiations. In this position
Above, the Imagawa family and the Hojo family have the same interests, and neither wants the Takeda family to "open up its mouth".
However, because the Imagawas and Takedas are allies after all, it is inappropriate to directly rebuke them at the negotiation table. It will also give the Hojo family a feeling that "the Imagawas and the Takedas are not united" and seduce them.
The Hojo family is even tougher. At this time, they can only give extra compensation to their allies in private in exchange for their concessions in negotiations.
"Tora Chiyo, can you take a step to speak?" Imagawa Yoshimoto then gestured to Takeda Harunobu, who then stood up knowingly and followed Imagawa Yoshimoto out of the house and came to a pavilion.
"To be honest, our Imagawa family seized a large amount of the Hojo family's baggage on the official road west of the Fuji River. If Tora Chiyo doesn't mind it, it can be used as military expenses for the Takeda family to support the Imagawa family this time..." Imagawa Yoshimoto said after considering it.
, Takeda Harunobu was already laughing.
"Stop being so coquettish, Goro, calm down." Takeda Harunobu patted Imagawa Yoshimoto on the shoulder and put his head in front of his face, "After all, how much difference is the Imagawa family willing to pay to the Takeda family?"
"10,000 koku." Imagawa Yoshimoto reported a number, "The supply of sea salt will definitely be sufficient in the future."
"Okay." Takeda Harunobu readily agreed, "Deal."
After returning to the reception room, Takeda Harunobu did not sit down, but stood directly beside the table, raised a palm and said to Hojo Ujiyasu, "50,000 koku, not even a grain of rice should be missing."
"Okay." Hojo Ujiyasu didn't push the envelope anymore this time, he just snorted coldly, "Just don't eat until you're full."
"A warrior should have an endless appetite." Takeda Harunobu patted his belly and laughed, then sat back on the desk - the remaining negotiations had little to do with the Takeda family, they just wanted to do their best as much as possible
Just delay the negotiation process - let Takeda Nobutora's main force grab one more day in Sagami.
"Then let's get back to the topic." Hojo Ujiyasu withdrew his gaze, straightened his sitting posture, and looked at Imagawa Yoshimoto, "Kado, it's impossible to pay you back. If you want other compensation, you can."
"Kedong must be returned to the Imagawa family." Imagawa Yoshimoto immediately insisted with unprecedented firmness, "Kedong has been the territory of the Imagawa family for more than 200 years. Since it was lost last year, every samurai of our Imagawa family has given it to us.
We regard it as a great shame and humiliation, and we are determined to regain the lost ground. Now we are using weapons and weapons to fight back to Hedong, and you ask me to go back empty-handed? This is impossible."
"Two hundred years ago, the Kamakura shogunate belonged to the Kamakura shogunate. What about now? The Hojo clan, with its Miao name, was still in power more than 200 years ago as the shogunate with all the power in the world. Now, not even the descendants can be found. We also stole the Miao name.
The Xingoku Temple in Kadong turned out to be the place where our Hojo family prospered. Can't we just think about it?" Hojo Ujiyasu grinned and shook his head sarcastically, "It's useless to talk about this. In troubled times, we only look at the current situation.
"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Then do you think the strength of the Hojo family is now comparable to that of our Imagawa Takeda family together?" Imagawa Yoshimoto asked coldly.
"If I hadn't been in a hurry to go back, do you think you could have suppressed my 9,000 people with these 7,000 people?" Hojo Ujiyasu asked in turn.
"But you really want to go back in a hurry, don't you? We also have the strength to prevent you from going back in time." Imagawa Yoshimoto followed Hojo Ujiyasu's words and retorted.
"So what if I don't go back? The worst I can do is to have a bloody battle with the Imagawa family here. If Odawara Castle is taken away by Takeda Nobutora, your Imagawa family won't even be able to take advantage of a penny!" Hojo Ujiyasu seemed to be scolding.
, pointed angrily at Imagawa Yoshimoto and shouted.
"Hey, Your Highness Hojo, it's pointless to say this." Taiyuan Xuezhai smoothed things over with a smile, "The reason why we are negotiating is that we don't want to fight, right? You yourself know well that the current situation, Hojo
We can't live without a piece of meat, so why bother to show off? Now it's just a quick show of words. When you return to Odawara Castle in the future, your father and the retainers will blame you, but what should we do?"
"Then I will return the western half of Kadong and the entire Fuji County to you." Hojo Ujiyasu picked up the teacup and then slapped it on the table, "This is the bottom line of our Hojo family. This is it.
That's it, don't think about anything more."
Imagawa Yoshimoto's mood at this moment was exactly the same as when Hojo Ujiyasu was guessed by Takeda Harunobu just now - the Imagawa family's territorial bottom line was also pointed out by the Hojo family at this moment.
"No, Fuji County, Jundong County, and the entire river east must be returned together." Imagawa Yoshimoto insisted on his request and refused to let it go, but his tone was slightly weaker unconsciously. Because before the negotiation, he and Taiyuan Xuezhai
During the communication, Taiyuan Xuezhai had already deduced that the Hojo family would definitely not return the entire Hedong.
Sure enough, Imagawa Yoshimoto's flaw in just a moment has been seen by Hojo Genan. Before Hojo Ujiyasu could say anything, Hojo Genan came out first to set the tone of the matter, "Your Majesty Imagawa, there really can't be more. To be honest,
Before we came to negotiate this time, His Highness the Governor of the Household had given instructions that it would be best to return only half of Fuji County that Imagawa's army had already occupied. If that doesn't work, return the entire Fuji County, which is already the bottom line of the Hojo family."
"We are asked to return Jundong County together. It is really difficult to obey the order. Even if we agree, His Highness the Governor will not agree, and there will be no way to honor it after we return. We don't want to deceive His Highness Imakawa, so we are here.
We will argue with reason. If we were not sincere, we would have agreed now. But this is really impossible."
Hojo Genan's sincere words made Imagawa Yoshimoto's determination shaken again. His intuition told him that Hojo Genan was not lying. This was really the bottom line of the Hojo family.
However, as a negotiator, even a momentary change in expression will be seen by the opponent. At this moment, Imagawa Yoshimoto's brief speechlessness and silence have undoubtedly revealed the details of the Imagawa family - their bottom line is only to return to Fuji County.
, instead of the entire Hedong. After seeing this signal, Hojo Ujiyasu became more confident and drank the tea directly. Then he smiled and said: "That's it, it's almost enough. You all just wanted to go back to Fuji County."
Bar?"
Afterwards, Hojo Ujiyasu put down his tea cup and looked at Imagawa Yoshimoto with great interest. He laughed secretly in his heart: In the end, the fledgling in this diplomatic situation did not collapse after all. In terms of mentality and perseverance, he was not as good as those two, Hojo Ujiyasu and Hojo Genan.
A proven negotiator.
However, Imagawa Yoshimoto suddenly smiled.
"What's wrong, Your Highness, the samurai of the Imagawa family are rushing to enter Zentoku Temple!"
Suddenly there was a loud noise outside the house, and several soldiers from the Hojo family who stayed outside the temple on guard shouted loudly.
"What are you doing?" Hojo Ujiyasu was shocked. He subconsciously raised his hand to touch his waist, only to find that he had taken off his katana before entering the temple.
However, unlike what Hojo Ujiyasu imagined, those who broke in were not the ambush soldiers of the Imagawa family, but a series of important family officials headed by Okabe Matsuna - they were all dressed in civilian clothes and did not carry weapons. Following them
Several Hojo soldiers and the monks in the courtyard looked at each other and explained helplessly: "Your Highnesses must come in, and we can't stop them! Seeing that they didn't bring weapons, we let them in."
"What are you doing?" Imagawa Yoshimoto saw the Imagawa family's samurai barging in, and immediately shouted loudly, "Didn't you order everyone to wait at the bottom of the mountain and not go up the mountain to interfere with the negotiations?"