Chapter 1812 Preparing for the Western Kingdom Strategy
Oda Nobunaga is a big liar who only eats but does not vomit. The cooperation between the Nanman Cult and her is very unpleasant.
Wasn't the benefit given by Flois enough? The Nanman Cult even sent armed monks to help the Oda family train the island country's spear and iron artillery array, which beat the surrounding samurai families to pieces.
This is what the Nanman Sect is like on Kyushu Island. It uses business interests and military assistance to hook up with local samurai names, so that the local samurai can be baptized into the religion.
But when this trick was used on Oda Nobunaga, it was like beating a dog with a meat bun. Oda Nobunaga wanted all the benefits of the Nanman Sect, but she ignored the demands of the Nanman Sect.
The Nanman Sect and the Nichiren Sect are a pair of difficult sisters. They were both eaten up by Oda Nobunaga, and they did not get the rewards they wanted at all.
She chose to secretly instigate Nichigen of the Nichiren Sect, which led to the catastrophe of Mount Hiei. Oda Nobunaga and other Buddhist sects had no room for maneuver and could only further cooperate with the Nichiren Sect.
Flois of the Nanman Cult originally wanted to distance herself from the Oda family and find a reliable partner, but the situation did not develop as expected. She found that she had no other choice except Oda Nobunaga.
The troubled times in the island country are coming to an end. The people are tired of the war and yearn for peaceful order.
As the two strongest families among the lords of the island country, the Shiba family and the Oda family chose to join forces, which means that the countdown to peace in the world has entered.
The Nanman Sect is unable to cooperate with the Sibo family, not only because of the god-making movement of Sibo Yiyin and various Buddhist sects, but also because of the new sect of the Nanman Sect.
If Spo Yiyin had only joined forces with Buddhist sects, the sense of crisis in Frois's heart might not be so severe.
However, when the Spo family began to support their own Nanman representatives.
After the orchid Lilu and Agote were appointed as the southern barbarian general agents of the shogunate, and the English Kristina and Eniko were hired as the southern barbarians of the Spao family, Flois could no longer remain calm.
Heretics deserve to die more than heretics. Heretics still have the possibility of conversion, but heretics can only be eliminated physically.
In this era, the Nanman religion had split into many new sects that did not obey the Holy See. The Lan people and the British were all branches of the new sect.
The Portuguese-Western people in the Liberian Peninsula believe in Nanman religion and are very loyal to the faith of the Holy See.
In the long years from the eighth to the fifteenth century, the Liberian Peninsula has been resisting Arab rule, and Nanman religion is the most powerful spiritual weapon to unite the local people.
The Nanman Holy See has always been the staunchest supporter of local believers during the 800-year-long movement to recover lost territories, which also gave the Nanman religion a high status among Westerners and Portuguese people.
Flois was a Portuguese, and the great voyages of this period were under the leadership of the Westerners and the Portuguese, and the Dutch and British who joined later had not yet risen.
The Nanman religion took advantage of the Nanman trade dominated by Westerners and Portuguese people, used benefits to seduce the famous names of the Kyushu martial arts family to convert, and spread the Lord's faith without any disadvantage.
Now, Sibo Yiyin began to negotiate individually with the Nanman merchants engaged in Nanman trade through the new sects of the Nanman religion, the Lan people and the British.
Although the great voyages of this era were dominated by the Westerners and the Portuguese, the Westerners and the Portuguese were also loyal enough to the Holy See. The problem was that businessmen pursued profits, and once they had appropriate profits, they would become bold.
If you have a 50% profit, you will take risks. For a 100% profit, you will dare to trample all human laws. For a 300% profit, you will dare to commit any crime and even risk hanging.
The essence of Nanman trade is to act as a second-tier dealer between China and the island countries, taking advantage of the blockage of trade between China and the country to earn interest differences between the rich commodities of the China and the rich precious metals of the island countries.
This profit is very large.
Nanman merchants cooperated with Nanman religion to open the island country and seek official support from the shogunate, not only for faith, but also for profit.
Now, the shogunate has begun to take Nanman trade seriously and authorized the Nanman general agent to negotiate with Nanman merchants. Naturally, Nanman merchants are extremely happy.
In this process, the Nanman sect headed by Freus was gradually marginalized.
Since the Nanman merchants are willing to negotiate with the shogunate, Lilu can ask for more concessions and even relax controls on artillery imports.
And all of this was originally a bargaining chip for the Nanman Sect to negotiate terms with the famous local martial artists in Kyushu.
Now, these bargaining chips already belong to the Spo family and the Protestants. How can it not make Frois very worried?
Therefore, even if she knew that Oda Nobunaga was a bastard who did not keep his word, Flois had no choice. She could only cooperate with the Oda family to prevent the Nanman Cult from being completely marginalized and excluded.
As for Hashiba Hideyoshi's visit this time, on the one hand, it really represents Oda Nobunaga's sincerity, and on the other hand, she herself hopes to draw on the power of the Nanman Cult.
Although the Nanman Sect has not been able to gain recognition from the shogunate in Shangluo in recent years, it has already gained great influence in the surrounding areas centered on Sakai Port.
Many martial artists, either sincerely believing in religion or eager for benefits, have become believers.
And Hashiba Hideyoshi came to seek the assistance of the Nanman Sect in order to successfully open the gates of Harima Kingdom and Bizen Kingdom.
Although there are thirteen kingdoms in the territory of Shanyin and Shanyang, they occupy more than one-sixth of the sixty-six kingdoms in the world, which seems to be a huge number.
But in fact, the territorial states in the Western Kingdom are all small countries. Most of the Western Kingdom is covered by the Chinese Mountains, with few plains. The stone heights of most of the territorial states are very low.
If you really want to put it into perspective, the Nobi plain stone in the hands of the Oda family is over a million high, which is worth the weight of seven or eight small territories of the Western Kingdom.
However, Harima Province and Bizen Province, which are close to Kinki, are exceptions. The combined size of the two countries is 700,000 koku.
The Harima Plain and Okayama Plain are not small, and they are also located on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, facing Awaji Island and Shikoku Island across the sea.
The area is very developed in terms of commerce and farming, and it is a strategic location from Kinki to the Western Kingdom. It is a bridgehead for military depots that can raise supplies to conquer the Western Kingdom.
Whether he can get the support of the samurai of the two Harima-Bizen countries and quickly conquer these two countries is the key to Hashiba Hideyoshi's strategy for the Western Kingdom.
The Nanman religion has developed in Sakai Port over the years and has continued to spread its faith.
The leader of Ishiyama Honganji Temple attacked the Nanman Sect in the direction of Kinki in the west. The struggle between the two sides was the most intense in Settsu Province, and the samurai villagers who believed in the two religions fought continuously.
However, although the Ichigo clan was powerful and arrogant on land, they were unable to do anything against the coast of the West Seto Inland Sea east of Sakai Port.
The Nanman religion comes from the sea and has a stronger influence on the coastal areas. It has many believers in Harima and Bizen countries, including many powerful local warriors.
The two Hime warriors sitting in the tea room today are Nanman believers from the Harima and Bizen Kingdoms.
Hashiba Hidenaga handed a cup of tea to Floy's desk, then took another cup of tea and handed it to the next Hime warrior.
At this time, Hashiba Hideyoshi laughed.
"This one needs no introduction. Long time no see, Xiao Xiji."
"Long time no see, Hashiba Hideyoshi-sama."
This Hime Samurai was Konishi Yukino who once helped Hashiba Hideyoshi establish a relationship with the Nanman Cult. She was also a retainer of the Bizen daimyo Uki's family.
And another Hime Samurai, Hashiba Hidenaga introduced him over tea.
"This is Kuroda Takakahime, she is a retainer of the Harima Koji family."
Hashiba Hideyoshi and Kuroda Takataka looked at each other, and there was something strange in their hearts. The calm young Samurai Hime in front of her actually gave her a feeling of Takenaka Shigeharu.
Thinking of Takenaka Shigeharu, Hashiba Hideyoshi couldn't help but feel worried.
This visit to Sakai Port was of great importance, and Takenaka Shigeharu was supposed to accompany Hideyoshi Hashiba.
But after winter, Takenaka Shigeharu's condition worsened again. Hideyoshi Hideyoshi stopped Takenaka Shigeharu from traveling far and asked her to recuperate.
Takenaka Shigeharu was Hideyoshi's mentor and friend, and he was also the strategist who planned big plans for her. Seeing that Takenaka Shigeharu's health was deteriorating day by day, Hashiba Hideyoshi was very worried, but he had no choice.
He hired a lot of famous doctors and took more medicine, but Takenaka's body just didn't improve.
Takenaka Shigeharu seemed to have given up on conditioning and worked hard, as if he wanted to plan everything before he died.
Hideyoshi shook his head slightly to disperse the bad thoughts in his mind, and focused on the communication in front of him, chatting and laughing happily with Yukinaga Konishi and Takataka Kuroda.
Konishi Yukinagaku of the Bizen daimyo Uki family, and Kuroda Takataka of the Harima daimyo Kodera family. These two people were not casually chosen by Hideyoshi to negotiate with, but were the result of careful consideration.
Both of them are Nanman believers, and their host family is also a very important figure in the local area.
Harima Kingdom and Bizen Kingdom are so important that the Ashikaga Shogunate will not take them lightly. They had plans as early as the establishment of the shogunate, and the guardians assigned to them were the Akamatsu family.
The Akamatsu family is one of the three most famous families in the shogunate. It is also an anomaly among the famous families because the Akamatsu family does not come from a high family background.
Most of the top officials of the shogunate were relatives of the Ashikaga clan, followed by the Genpei Fujiwara noble family.
The Akamatsu family also claims to be descendants of a famous family, but most of the sources of this claim are unfounded, and they are most likely from the evil party.
Most of the villains during the Kamakura shogunate period were samurai warriors outside the system who had no or lost their status as imperial family members.
They owned their own land resources and violent groups, but were excluded from the ruling class of the Kamakura shogunate and were called evil parties.
Therefore, the Akamatsu family can only be regarded as false claims, claiming to be a famous family, but they cannot provide reliable evidence to prove their family status.
At the same time, the samurai family at the end of the Kamakura shogunate was not as chaotic as it was during the Warring States Period, and it was common to impersonate famous families. This was also related to the one-general system at that time.
It is impossible for a general family that is bound by blood ties not to recognize its own branch, and it is not easy to misidentify one's ancestors.
However, two hundred years later, during the Warring States Period, the Wu family became even more chaotic, and the number of false claims was mind-numbing. As long as the shogunate was willing to admit their claims, no one cared about the authenticity.
Just like Tokugawa Ieyasu's self-proclaimed Nitta Clan of Kawachi Genji, it seems fake no matter how you look at it, but she was recognized by Shiba Yigen, and the samurai just pinched their noses and believed it.
Before the Ashikaga Shogunate, such false claims were difficult to succeed, so the Akamatsu family was in an embarrassing situation.
You are neither a member of the Ashikaga Clan nor a descendant of the famous Genpei Fujiwara family. It is like a weasel among a group of dogs. It is too dazzling.
The reason why the Akamatsu family was able to infiltrate into the highest level of the shogunate with such an embarrassing status is very simple. They are so capable.
Just like Sanada Nobushige under Shiba Yoshigan, everyone knows that this guy is a wild monkey in the mountains, at most a branch of Shino.
The family character of the Wu family of the Shino clan is average, but the character of Sanada Miao, the general leader of the Umino branch of the first clan, is nothing like that?
But it turns out that the Sanada soldiers are very good at fighting. From Kanto to Kansai, even Oda Nobunaga was defeated. They have outstanding achievements and are known as the best soldiers in the world.
Military merit is the highest reward among the samurai family, and Sanada Nobushige's status was completely achieved by Sanada's bloody battle, which is so tough that others have nothing to say.
The Akamatsu family, the Sanada clan in the early days of the Ashikaga shogunate, were also very good at fighting.
The Akamatsu family was born in the Harima country, which has an important geographical location and bravery in battle. In the end, he was named one of the three governors and four posts due to his military merits. He guarded the Harima, Bizen, Mimasaku and other countries, and strictly guarded the Kinki West Gate.
The Yamana family, one of the four positions at that time, had always regarded the Akamatsu family as a thorn in their flesh. Because the Yamana family was in the Western Kingdom and wanted to go to Luo to cause trouble, the first hurdle was the Akamatsu family in the Harima Kingdom.
The Akamatsu family's presence along the West Seto Inland Sea threatened the Hosokawa family's hegemony in the countries along the West Seto Inland Sea.
At that time, the Hosokawa family was still the top boss in Kyoto, and the Yamana family was the top boss in the shogunate area, so the Akamatsu family's life was full of obstacles.
Life was difficult at first, so I gradually got used to it.
Because the Ashikaga Shogunate was at its peak at that time, the third generation of shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was so powerful that he elevated the Ashikaga family from the leader of the samurai family to the leader of the world.
Although the several Ashikaga generals after Ashikaga Yoshimitsu were not as wise and powerful as her, they still had great power and had considerable control over the samurai families in the world.
Therefore, although the Akamatsu family was disliked by the famous Hosokawa family, they all managed to eat together on the table of the shogunate, and nothing serious happened despite their bumping into each other.
When the Sixth Generation General came to power, the political trend changed.
The sixth generation generals worked hard to govern, but they did not have the ability of the third generation generals, causing a series of political chaos.
She reaches out to Guandong, and trouble breaks out in Guandong. She reaches out to Kyushu, and trouble breaks out in Kyushu.
Religion... The first samurai leader to burn down the Enryaku Temple's main hall on Mount Hiei was not Oda Nobunaga, but the sixth Ashikaga shogun.
This general was known as the evil imperial guard, and thousands of people were terrified, which shows the political chaos at that time.
What this shogun likes to do most is to imitate the methods of the third generation shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, meddling in the internal affairs of daimyo, supporting his cronies, and attacking dissidents.
It's a pity that she had Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's courage but not Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's ability, so she died in the end.
Because he interfered in the inheritance of the Akamatsu family's family business, the sixth-generation general was hacked to death by the Akamatsu family governor. Such a rebellious act of defeating the superiors shocked the world.
The Akamatsu family governor fled back to Harima country. The Hosokawa family and the Yamana family were overjoyed and jointly sent troops to strangle the Akamatsu family.
From then on, the Akamatsu family fell into decline, the gates of the Kinki west were widened, the Ashikaga shogun family was also weakened, and a head-on power struggle began between the Hosokawa family and the Yamana family.
The final result was the Yatsudai Shogun Rebellion. The samurai families of the shogunate sided with the Hosokawa family and the Yamana family respectively. The strength of the shogunate was weakened too much in this chaos, and it could no longer stabilize the overall situation of the world.