Although the various families of the Spagami group were not willing to start the war in advance, the saint had shown his determination in various ways, and they could only follow.
In this case, this is the final battle for the unification of the world.
Whoever shines in this battle will be qualified to take credit and pride in the long and boring peace era that follows, which is the capital for bragging.
Because of the special nature of Sibo's divine power, the families of Sibo's descendants are destined to live together with the country and accommodate each other from generation to generation. At this time, whose ancestors have solid military exploits will have a straight back.
To use a Chinese saying, this is called a merit book. It is commonly known that I don’t need to make meritorious deeds. All my merits have been done for me by my ancestors.
Ichijo Hideyoshi was cornered and had been driven to the point of jumping over the wall by the sage.
Since all the Spagami families supported the saint and prepared to beat up the drowned dog, they naturally wanted to make the fight look good and be beautiful.
This idea is not only shared by those of Kinki Kamishi family such as Maeda Toshiie, Maeda Yoshie, Akechi Mitsuhide, and Hosokawa Fujitaka, but also by various Kamishi families as far away as Kanto.
———
In midsummer, a fleet of seki ships sailed on the Seto Inland Sea. The sea was calm and the flat-bottomed boats were not bumpy.
The Seto Inland Sea is the inland sea between Honshu Island, Shikoku Island, and Kyushu Island. The Seto Inland Sea surrounded by the three islands completely blocks the wind and waves of the outer ocean, making navigation between the three islands very simple.
This is both an advantage and a disadvantage in terms of transportation for the island country.
Precisely because the Seto Inland Sea has calm waters, convenient navigation, and unhindered communication between the three islands, the island country, as a maritime country, has not developed any more decent ocean-going technology.
At that time, the envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty gambled with their lives and drove flat-bottomed boats to the Tang Dynasty to study culture. I don't know how many people capsized in the wind and waves and died in the belly of the fish.
Now, Hideyoshi Ichi also drove a flat-bottomed boat to invade the peninsula, but was suppressed and beaten by the navy of the Tenchao Peninsula.
On a customs ship, a girl looked at the sea and sighed.
Her name is Shimazu Toyohisa, she is one of the four Shimazu sisters and the daughter of Shimazu Iehisa.
A cheerful female voice came from the cabin behind her.
"Why are you sighing at such a young age?"
Shimazu Toyohisa looked back and saw a heroic warrior Hime lying half-lying in the cabin.
Her hair was tied up into a high ponytail and grew smoothly all the way to her waist. Even wearing a white cloth wrapped around her chest could not stop her thick foundation, still showing the richness of a woman.
A single coat is draped over the shoulders that are not wide, but it gives people a sense of trustworthy stability.
This person is Shimazu Toyohisa's second aunt and one of the four Shimazu sisters, Shimazu Yoshihiro.
Shimazu Toyohisa advocated martial arts since he was a child and had a great affection for his second aunt who had made great achievements in war.
Since the death of his mother Shimazu Iehisa, Shimazu Toyohisa has been following Shimazu Yoshihiro in all his wars, and the relationship between the two is quite close.
Shimazu Yoshihiro rested his head on the back of his head with one hand, and was stroking the two cats that were close to her with the other hand. Especially the yellow and white striped cat, which seemed to be stroked more and loved more.
Shimazu Toyohisa looked at her lazy and comfortable look and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"You really can keep your composure."
Shimazu Yoshihiro shrugged and said.
"Things are already like this, what else can I do? It's just to follow Hideyoshi Ichijo and fight with the sage of the Shiba family."
Shimazu Toyohisa shook his head and said.
"But he is a saint after all, the patron saint of the samurai family who has not lost a single match in his eighteen years of debut. Do you really think Ichijo Hideyoshi has a chance of winning?
Moreover, you led troops from the peninsula to Kinki without Shimazu's permission, I'm afraid my aunt will have other ideas about you."
Shimazu Yoshihiro chuckled.
"I don't care whether Ichijo Hideyoshi has a chance of winning, or what the boss thinks of me. Anyway, the Shimadzu family must participate in this battle, and they must fight beautifully.
When Ichijo Hideyoshi launched an expedition against Kyushu, the boss sent people to ask the saint for help, but they were turned away by the Shiba family, so he had no choice but to surrender to Ichijo Hideyoshi.
Now, the third child is dead, the fourth child is also dead, Hideyoshi Ichijo has made Ischi easy to drive a wedge between each other, so that the boss and I have to confront each other..."
Shimazu Toyohisa couldn't help but interjected.
"As long as the Shimadzu family is united, no one can defeat us.
I am willing to act as an envoy and go to my aunt to explain it clearly to you."
Shimazu Yoshihiro smiled and shook his head helplessly.
"Have you ever heard that a broken mirror can be reunited? No matter how hard we try to repair the existing cracks, it will not help. We can't go back.
The third and fourth children died unjustly, and the quarrel between me and the boss is now like this. How could it be possible for a junior like you to say a few words and make things harmonious again?
The boss is afraid of the military power in my hands, but it is impossible for me to give up the military power because of this. This is the trust given to me by my concubines, and I cannot betray everyone's trust."
Shimazu Toyohisa felt sad.
Ichijo Hideyoshi split the Shimazu family, letting Shimazu Yoshihisa take charge of the government, but he also let Shimazu Yoshihiro take charge of the military, and gained military glory by conquering the north and south.
Military merit is the most important thing in the samurai family. The better Shimazu Yoshihiro performs, the more Shimadzu Yoshihisa will be afraid of her. This is an unsolvable conspiracy.
Shimazu Yoshihiro shook his head and said.
"Stop talking about this, you ask me why I sacrificed my life for Ichijo Hideyoshi to fight against the Shiba family.
Let me tell you, I am not for Ichijo Hideyoshi, but for the Shimadzu family.
The Shimazu family is a famous family in Minami Kyushu. The family business can be traced back to the Kamakura period, and it has been sealed as a land.
But in the eyes of the real powerful people in Kinki Kanto, the Shimazu family is just a group of barbarians from the frontier, and they have never looked down on us.
During the last expedition to Kyushu, the boss had not begged the Sibo family in a low voice, and was even willing to offer any conditions for the saint to be selected.
But in the end, the sage of the Shiba family didn't even take a glance at the Shimazu family. He didn't take the Shimazu family seriously at all.
Ichijo Hideyoshi launched the war against the Shiba family out of helplessness. Whether it was a last-ditch fight or a desperate situation, even you don't think highly of her, so how could I have high hopes for her?
However, the Shimazu family has no sense of existence in the eyes of the saint.
If we sit back and watch Ichijo Hideyoshi being easily wiped out by the Shiba family, then the Shiba family will be unified after the war, and there will no longer be a place for the Shimazu family to stand in this Shiba world.
People are cutters and slaves, and I am fish and meat, so I can only let others slaughter me.
The boss should also understand this truth.
She was rejected last time, so I went to fight this time just to prevent her from being turned away easily by the Sibo family next time.
Little girl, let me tell you, there are not so many truths in this world, and the biggest truth is a hard fist."
Shimazu Toyohisa thought deeply.
"So...you want to show the value of the Shimadzu family? Let the saint see the value of Shimadzu?"
Shimazu Yoshihiro sighed.
"Don't forget, we still owe a huge debt to Shiba Tucang, a debt that will never be repaid.
The samurai family of the entire West Island Kingdom has already incurred countless debts during the Peninsula Strategy. I guess the Sage will reduce the debt after the war.
Anyway, if you can’t pay it off, why don’t you just change it to something else, such as territory?
Furthermore, only by bringing the collapsed economy of the West Island country back on track can we avoid complete chaos in the West Island country and endanger the peace of the world.
How to get this debt relief? I think most of the time we will let the Shiba samurai family come to the Western Islands to join the vassal state. If we are defeated, we will have to step aside and make room for others.
Ichijo Hideyoshi's conquest of Kyushu has already reduced the Shimadzu family's territory once. If there is another large-scale reduction, the Shimadzu family will really be doomed.
Therefore, I must join the war, and I must show the ferocity of the Shimazu family, and let the saint of the Shiba family understand that if he does not give the Shimazu family a way to survive, then no one can think of peace in the world."