Hojo Umasa looked at Yoshigage with blazing eyes, but Yoshigage did not answer directly. Instead, he looked up at the beams and said.
"Odawara Castle is the strongest city in the world. The last time I came here, I felt majestic and extraordinary just outside the city.
Ujimasa, come with me to the castle tower to have a look. I also want to see if I can see the coastline from here."
Hojo Umasa didn't know why Yoshigan wanted to talk about him, but he still bowed and saluted.
"Hi!"
The two walked out of the main hall and walked along the porch. Since Yiyin moved here, the Tongxin people have taken over the innermost defense, and the Odawara people have also been guarding the outside and dare not slack off.
The two of them walked through the courtyard from the residence hall, passed the horse gate, the bronze gate, and the Tokiwa wooden gate, and arrived at the castle tower north of the Honmaru. A group of people came sideways behind them to carefully accompany them.
The castle tower is three stories high, and the total height including the stone wall is 39 meters, which is almost as high as the seventh or eighth floors of a modern building. It covers an area of 1,800 square meters.
Looking up at the towering castle tower, Yoshigan said calmly.
"Others don't need to go in, Ujimasa, you and I can go up and take a look at the scenery."
"Hi!"
Leaving Zhu Ji behind, the two of them climbed up to the third floor of the castle and looked into the distance.
From here, you can't see the coastline naturally, but you can see the small towns and villages that stretch all the way to the coast, with the castle town almost running through it.
It is a prosperous economic and commercial environment during peacetime, and it is an overseas supply line during wartime, ensuring that Odawara Castle will not be completely besieged by enemies on land and that supplies can be replenished from the sea.
Yiyin couldn't help but sigh.
"nice."
With the siege capabilities of the island nation in this era, it was simply impossible to storm Odawara Castle by force.
If you want to capture Odawara Castle, you must have a strong navy and army. Not only must you trap the city on land, but you must also set up a blockade at sea to completely cut off Odawara Castle's supply channels.
Odawara Castle is the base of the Hojo family. It is not just a city, but consists of a series of fortress lines. The various warehouses store enough military supplies to eat and drink for more than half a year.
Just after roughly calculating the land and sea costs of besieging Odawara Castle for more than half a year, Yoshihiro sighed inwardly. It was simply a waste of money. Who can afford such a waste?
It’s no wonder that the Hojo retainers were so arrogant. They directly offered the land of Higashi Musashi and dared the Hojo clan to confess their feelings directly in the hot springs.
Behind the seeming recklessness, it was the solid foundation of the Hojo family that convinced Hojo Genan, an old fox, that Yoshigan would definitely not choose to reject the Hojo family and break up with the Hojo family.
Apart from anything else, Odawara Castle alone is a big trouble.
If Yoshigan really parted ways with the Hojo family, he would also have a headache with a disobedient Hojo family in the southern part of the Kanto Plain that he could not defeat.
Yoshigan looked at the panoramic view of Odawara Castle from the castle tower and was speechless for a moment.
Hojo Umasa stood behind him, not giving up at this point, and mentioned Ota Yasushi again.
"A saint, if you must continue to cut off things, you will surely suffer from the chaos.
I am willing to share the saint's worries, except for the hidden danger of Ohta Yasushi, and prevent the saint from getting his hands dirty in the future."
Yoshigan glanced at Hojo Ushimasa, patted the guardrail next to the castle, and said.
"Come here and hold your hands here."
Hojo Ujimasa didn't understand why, but he still obeyed obediently, holding his hands on the guardrail, and looked at Yoshigami with a puzzled look on his face.
Yiyin said while pressing her shoulders down.
"Yes, that's it. Very good."
After saying that, Yoshigan walked behind Hojo Umasa.
"saint?"
Yoshigan held Hojo Ushimasa with both hands, looked into the distance, and said slowly.
"I step onto the Shinto path, consider myself a living god, and act openly and aboveboard.
Now that the Higashi Musashi land has been incorporated into my territory, Shiba Territory has its own acting officials to take care of it and govern it according to Shiba law.
If Ota Yasushi does something wrong, he will be punished by his acting official. If he rebels, his acting official will punish him. If the acting official is incompetent, why should the Shiba family be afraid of me before I am dead?
Now Ota Yasushi has no fault, if I kill someone for an unfounded crime, what's the point? Even if you come to kill me, will everyone in the world be blind? Can't understand?
You repeatedly encouraged me to kill her because of your selfish motives. You are my woman and the mother of my future child, and I cannot bear to punish you.
Now, if I give you small punishments and big warnings, will you be convinced?"
Hojo Umasa's hands couldn't stop shaking and he was speechless.
She looked at the distant crowd below, moving like ants, feeling extremely nervous and excited.
Seeing that she didn't speak, Yoshigami snorted, prompting the Hojo clan to beg for mercy.
"I know I was wrong, I know I was wrong."
Seeing that the Hojo clan had softened its political stance, Yoshigan no longer deliberately made things difficult for her, but just looked into the distance, thinking about what was on his mind.
Ota Yasuji is not a trouble. If Ui Bank wants Edo City, there will be a hundred ways to make Ota Yasuji leave voluntarily in the future.
If Ota Yasushi really doesn't know the truth, he is seeking his own death. Yoshihiro also has plenty of white gloves, and there is no need for the Hojo clan to behave well after taking advantage of him.
Today, I used this method to teach Hojo Umasa a lesson. It was partly a warning but partly a taste, and I was careful not to hurt the relationship between the two of them.
Compared with Ota Yasushi's little trouble, Yoshihiro was more worried about who would be sent to take over the Higashi Musashi land.
The stone height of Musashi State is 670,000. It was originally a large country with eight states. However, due to years of war and disrepair of water conservancy, the stone height has dropped drastically.
Nowadays, the Musuke Giri Promotion Association is engaged in water conservancy projects in Kanhachishu, starting from the middle and lower reaches of the Tone River. Musashi Province is located on the middle and lower reaches of the Tone River and has enjoyed the first batch of construction benefits.
The grain production capacity of 670,000 koku will be restored sooner or later. Coupled with the Tone River diversion project to eliminate floods and develop new fields, Musashi Province's future grain production capacity can be expected to be millions of koku.
The Higashi Musashi land donated by the Hojo family was actually only the Edogawa Shinagawa basin in the central and southern parts. Near the northern Iwaki territory, the local samurai family headed by Ota Shimasa is now loyal to the Uesugi family.
Of course Yoshihiro would not reach out there and cause any conflict with Uesugi Kenshin.
But the Tomusashi land in the central and southern part currently has about a hundred thousand koku, and its future value will be three to four hundred thousand koku. Such a large piece of land really makes Yoshigami worried.
Yoshihiro still has a lot of things to do in Kinki. He came back to Kanto this time to coordinate the Kanto Secretariat's affairs regarding the attack on the East.
To put it simply, he was here to share the cake for each family to avoid uneven distribution of the spoils. Before the fight started, there was a commotion within the Kanto Palace itself.
With him as a living god to distribute the money, each family in the Guandong Waiting House can trust and be convinced, so that internal friction can be minimized and external affairs can be unified.
Once the attack on the Eastern Masses is on track, Yoshigan has to go back to Kinki and watch over Oda Nobunaga to prevent another incident there from derailing.
Speaking of which, Yiyin was also feeling bitter.
Kanto and Kinki are like two seesaws. Wherever he is, there is peace, but there will be trouble on the other side.
This situation caused him to be like a firefighter, fighting the fire from both ends, but he was always exhausted and it was difficult to have the best of both worlds.
Judging from the history of the island country, this is not the trouble of Yoshigami alone. The emperor's court, the Kamakura shogunate, and the Ashikaga shogunate are all troubled by this trouble.
The plain land of the entire island country is fragmented, and no place has absolute strength and can form an overwhelmingly powerful central government.
Among the many plains, two areas have the strongest relative strength.
One is the Guandong Plain, covering 16,000 square kilometers. This is the largest plain in the island country, but it was trapped in the cold north and flooded, making development difficult in the Middle Ages.
Until this time, most of the Kanto Plain was still a swamp and a reed swamp, waiting for someone willing to spend a lot of money and effort to develop it.
The other one is the Kyoto area surrounded by the Osaka Plain and the Noo Plain.
The Osaka Plain has a land area of 1,900 square kilometers, and the Noo Plain has a land area of 1,800 square kilometers, plus the Kyoto Basin, Nara Basin, and Omi Basin surrounded by the two plains.
The overall strength of the Kyoto area and the Kanto Plain can be said to have their own advantages and disadvantages, and they are indistinguishable.
The economic base determines the superstructure, so the political struggles of island countries in the agricultural era actually took place around these two powerful grain-producing areas.
Whether it is the emperor's court or the two generations of shogunate, they all want to have two hands, but they often pay attention to one thing at the expense of the other, and one of them can't control it.
The core of the Kamakura shogunate is in Kanto, and the control is in Kinki. The core of the Ashikaga shogunate is in Kinki, and the control is in Kanto.
In the end, there will always be a grand battle between Kanto and Kansai to decide whether the Kanto people or the Kansai people have the final say.
But no matter who wins or loses, as time goes by, the loser will definitely stand up and challenge again.
This is like the North China Plain and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain in China. If the two sides are isolated, geographically distant, and dissatisfied with each other, either the east wind will prevail over the west wind, or the west wind will overpower the east wind.
The geographical characteristics of the Celestial Dynasty are that the North China Plain and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain are a whole, so once this region is unified, the power it will unleash will be enough to maintain a unified world.
The island nation of Kanto and Kansai did not have such good fortunes. The rulers of successive dynasties could only have a headache, trying to find ways to weaken one end while maintaining the strength of the other.
This is exactly the same as Yiyin's troubles, running from both ends without relying on either end, just focus on one end, and the other end will explode for you right away.
Even if he knew that he was an old scalper running from both ends, Yiyin could only fight the fire in both directions.
Because even if he wants to improve this situation, he must first unify the world. Now that the world is still falling apart, any talk of bridging the political balance between Kanto and Kansai is all nonsense.
Since Yoshihiro must return to Kinki, the territory of the Edogawa River Basin of more than 100,000 koku is yet to be developed, and the future super large territory of 30,000 to 400,000 koku, we must carefully consider who will manage it.