"Please forgive me for being rude. If Your Highness wants to be punished afterwards, I am willing to fight and punish him!" Okabe Otsuna knelt down in the corridor with a plop, "I just heard the news that Your Highness does not intend to take back Hedong.
Yes? But it’s true?”
"This..." Imagawa Yoshimoto hesitated and didn't know how to answer.
After seeing this reaction, the warriors such as Okabe Chitsuna, Ogikiyo, Anwara Tadayoshi, Okitsu Masasu, Udon Chomochi and other samurai who broke in all gritted their teeth, their eyes were blood red, and they all leaned over without saying a word.
Go down and kowtow heavily in the corridor.
"Your Highness, your Majesty! Our Imagawa family has been guarding Suruga for more than two hundred years, and we have been protecting the people of Suruga for more than two hundred years! During this period, whether it was the melee in Kanto, Koshinobu's provocation, or the rebellion, our Imagawa family has always been the guardian of Suruga.
Defend the territory! During the Zenhide Rebellion and the Eikyo Rebellion, tens of thousands of rebels came to Hakone. Even if the situation was so dangerous, Suruga never changed hands and was always the bridgehead for the shogunate to march into Kanto! Generations of the Imagawa family have
Countless glorious achievements are all due to this!"
Okabe Oyatsuna almost knocked his head to the floor until it bled, and said in a deep voice with a stern tone:
"However, due to the previous disputes between the governors and the Hedong we had held for more than two hundred years, we surrendered it to Hojo without even firing an arrow. It is really a shame and a great humiliation! Now we have been working hard for two years, and after many battles and thousands of deaths, we finally have the opportunity to take back Hedong.
! How can we fall short of success! If the Hojo family does not return to Hedong, our retainers will never give up! Even if Your Highness orders you to retreat, we ourselves will stay and fight to the death!"
"We should stay!" the Imagawa family samurai roared in unison. The other Hojo family samurai and monks from Zentokuji Temple were frightened by this momentum and subconsciously stepped back. Hojo Ujiyasu and Hojo Genan
His face was extremely dark and he couldn't say a word.
"I understand your intentions. I will fight for every inch of territory and prevent the blood of the victims from being shed in vain." Imagawa Yoshimoto gave his subordinates a heavy fist and leaned slightly and promised. The warriors then stood up with satisfaction and gathered together.
After bowing, they exited the temple. Furuno Ujitoyo, who was walking at the end, quietly gestured to Imagawa Yoshimoto, and Imagawa Yoshimoto nodded slightly with satisfaction - all of this was seen by Hojo Ujiyasu.
"Is this what you did during your lunch break?" Hojo Ujiyasu laughed twice and said viciously, "Send your subordinates to incite the emotions of the tribe and go to the temple to force us to have a baby?"
"As you said." Imagawa Yoshimoto generously picked up the hem of his clothes and threw it behind him, "Now I am the same as your Hojo family. If I only take back Fuji County, I won't be able to explain to my family when I go back.
It’s no use even if I promise, my family won’t agree, and I still won’t be able to honor it when the time comes.”
"Are you fucking full of flies? Your subordinates who incited you yourself are still here to fool us?" Hojo Ujiyasu picked up the tea cup and threw it fiercely at Imagawa Yoshimoto. Imagawa Yoshimoto nimbly dodged with his head.
The tea cup smashed against the wall behind him, causing a false alarm.
"It's true that I was the instigator, but it is an unchangeable fact that the Imagawa family is agitated at the moment. I am only talking to the Hojo family based on the facts. The fact is that if the Imagawa family gets only half of Hedong
, we will not agree." Imagawa Yoshimoto smiled and returned Hojo Ujiyasu's previous words unchanged, "It's useless to talk about this. In troubled times, only look at the status quo."
"You..." Hojo Ujiyasu was so angry at Imagawa Yoshimoto that his veins bulged, and he wanted to rush up and beat him up.
"It's high, it's really high..." On the other side, Takeda Harunobu, who was watching the show, softly praised Takeda Hironobu, "Before, Goro had always suffered a disadvantage because of his status as the family governor. We two young masters
They can all excuse themselves by saying: 'The bottom line set by the family is there, and we can't change it.' But he himself is the family supervisor, and he can change the bottom line if he wants to. He is so passive. It's better now, he artificially incites it at home.
He reached a 'bottom line' and forced himself to have no way to retreat. He also let the people of the Hojo family see that the Imagawa family had no way to retreat. The situation of the negotiation suddenly changed drastically."
Inciting public opinion to narrow the winning set at the domestic level, thereby allowing oneself to take the initiative in international negotiations and forcing opponents to make concessions - such a willful method was only dared to use at the time by a cheap house governor like Imagawa Yoshimoto.
come out.
"Return Kadong to me as well." Imagawa Yoshimoto ignored Hojo Ujiyasu's anger, looked directly into his eyes that seemed to be burning, and said in a deep voice.
"Impossible." Hojo Ujiyasu's hands gripped the tatami tightly, almost breaking the tatami in anger, "Don't go too far."
"Are you going to continue repeating the same conversation like this?" Imagawa Yoshimoto sneered twice, "I can stay here with you for half a month, but can the Hojo family afford it?"
"We can't afford it, how can you afford it?" Hojo Ujiyasu refused to give in even at this point, "If we really wait until Takeda Nobutora robs Odawara Castle, then there will be nothing to talk about. Anyway,
All the castle towns have been robbed. By then, even your Imagawa family hair will be gone."
Imagawa Yoshimoto and Hojo Ujiyasu were still competing for patience and perseverance like a quarrel, but Taiyuan Yuksai on the side was confused. He looked at the sun that was gradually setting in the west, and suddenly felt that things were getting weird. Imagawa Yoshimoto was right,
The Hojo family is now the one most anxious to reach a peace agreement. Even though he knows that it is impossible for the Imagawa family to make concessions, he still does not seek changes to promote negotiations, as if he is actively wasting time.
Could it be that the Hojo family has any other trump cards... a trump card that can win with one blow in a very short period of time, but it's just that the time has not come to use it yet, so it's useless.
While Taiyuan Xuezai was thinking, the debate between Imagawa Yoshimoto and Hojo Ujiyasu was still going on tepidly. Imagawa Yoshimoto still persevered in reasoning and tried to persuade Hojo Ujiyasu.
"Your Highness Hojo, if you feel that you can't make the decision, you can take my words back to convince your father. I believe he will approve it. To be honest, the Hojo family should not have any obsession with Kadō, at least less than the Imagawa family.
Much more. You took advantage of our civil strife to capture Hedong without any casualties or at any cost. Even if you return Hedong, it would be nothing, right? It’s not like you were asked to sacrifice a city that cost countless lives of the Hojo family to obtain.
It would be a psychological burden to hand it over."
"Who said there is no loss?" Hojo Ujiyasu sneered at this, waved his hands and shouted, "Aren't your Imagawa family our biggest loss?"
"What are you talking about?" Imagawa Yoshimoto looked confused.
"That's you!" Hojo Ujiyasu nodded at Imagawa Yoshimoto, "The Imagawa family and the Hojo family have been a marriage alliance and the most important allies for decades. We betrayed the Imagawa family in order to take Hedong, didn't we? Then it was
We broke our alliance with the Imagawa family, didn't we? For this Kadong, the price we paid was our most important ally! In addition, there are countless important members of the Hojo family who are friendly with the Imagawa family's samurai, so after we broke our alliance with you
In the end, there were many people who expressed confusion! Can it still be said that we have no losses?”
"Hedong is a strategic location between the Imagawa family and the Hojo family. If we return Hedong to you, it will be equivalent to us having done nothing in the past two years and losing our best ally in vain! And that ally is still
They will become sworn enemies! Once you station troops in Kadong, press Sagami to the east, and press Izu to the south, the communication between the two most important territories of our Hojo family will not be maintained! How can we return Kadong to you? What will this do to us?
accept?"
Imagawa Yoshimoto was actually convinced for a moment... The Hojo family was right. Because he always started from the Imagawa family's standpoint, he did not consider this point - for the Hojo family, Kadong was Napoleon.
The alliance is exchanged. The Kadong area is very important to the territorial continuity of the Hojo family. The Imagawa family was an ally before, so the Hojo family feels that it does not matter if Kadong is the territory of their ally and will not hinder their passage. Once the Imagawa family becomes an enemy, the Hojo family will not be able to access it at all.
It was impossible to allow such a nail to be stuck in my throat.
Therefore, the Hojo family is willing to return Fuji County to the east and west of the river, but they refuse to return Juntō County to the east under any circumstances - because Juntō County directly borders Sagami Country and Izu Country, and the official road between Odawara Castle and Nirayama Castle is also
We need to pass through Jundong County.
Seeing Hojo Ujiyasu talking about this, Imagawa Yoshimoto also backed down - indeed, Shundō County is too important to the strategic security of the Hojo family, and the Hojo family cannot give up this important land and entangle them.
There's no point in going down.
But at this moment, an unexpected change happened.
Hojo Genan, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly became angry, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he launched a killing move.
"Your Highness Imagawa, how about making a deal?"
Hojo Genan slowly fiddled with the big rosary hanging around his neck and looked at Imagawa Yoshimoto with kind eyes. That kind face made even the Buddha feel ashamed.
"If the Imagawa family is willing to rebuild the old relationship with the Hojo family, we will return the east part of the river to the Imagawa family. After that, our two families will re-form an alliance, first annihilate Takeda Harunobu here, and then go to Odawara Castle to ambush Takeda Nobutora. After the main force of the Takeda family is completely wiped out,
We went north together and captured the empty city of Kai, and divided it equally between the two families."
"If His Highness Imagawa is worried, the young master can send you to your place as a hostage."
The Hojo family's trump card was gently lifted, and the temperature in the living room instantly dropped to freezing point.
After Taiyuan Xuezhai was silent for a moment, he shook his head helplessly - this is really an offer that cannot be refused, a condition that the Imagawa family absolutely cannot refuse. The only doubt is the credit of the Hojo family, but if the Hojo family is willing to give
If Hojo Ujiyasu becomes a hostage... everything will be solved.
Takeda Harunobu and Takeda Hironobu turned pale and almost rushed out of the door immediately. The Takeda family, who had been watching the show just now, was about to face disaster in an instant. Takeda Hironobu laughed twice and complained in a low voice: "Young Master
Lord, we are finished."
Hojo Ujiyasu and Hojo Genan were even more confident. They smiled confidently and looked at Imagawa Yoshimoto, waiting for him to make the final decision.