Chapter 259: Taking Chestnuts from the Fire (14) Guan Bais Worry
"I understand the truth, but for your idea of letting the Japanese shape history, I think there is a prerequisite, or a problem that should be prioritized, which is the unification of language and writing.
I have heard a point of view before, which roughly means that if you learn a certain language, your way of thinking will be close to that of the main group of that language. For example, Chinese people who grew up in the United States, their way of thinking is also Westernized.
In Japan now... I think the Japanese way of thinking is different from ours."
Liu Xin frowned and said: "For example, I don't understand why the Hojo family insists on being tough on Toyotomi Hideyoshi. If the Sea Trade Alliance hadn't given them blood transfusions, how long could Odawara City have lasted?"
"We will talk about the connection between language and thought when we have a chance. As for Odawara Castle, if I had not intervened, the Hojo family would have almost been defeated by now." Gao pragmatically smiled and said: "But your understanding of the Hojo family is not in place.
They don’t actually have to be tough.”
"Oh? What's going on?"
"First of all, Ushimasa expressed surrender at the beginning, rather than being tough from beginning to end. The Nauguri incident is very complicated. It cannot be ruled out that there is a 'lower overcoming the upper' within the Hojo family. It is also not ruled out that the communication was not timely and the front line did not receive the message.
The news immediately took action.
In short, before Hideyoshi proposed to go to Raku, Hojo Ujiki had already gone to Raku to express his intention to surrender to Hideyoshi. But at this time - that is, after the Naguri incident, Hideyoshi also asked Ujimasa and Uji Naomi to go to Raku to explain, which caused uneasiness in the Hojo family: because
May be held hostage.
You have to know that if the Hojo Ujisei, Uji Nao and his son are detained, the subsequent consequences will be very serious: they may face the transfer of seals or reduction of seals. This is equivalent to uprooting the Hojo family who has lived in Kanto for five generations. This is absolutely the case for the Hojo family.
unacceptable.
Secondly, at this time, the Hojo family is the only big name after the Toyotomi family. If you are Hideyoshi, you will definitely have the idea of weakening the Hojo family; and if you are Ujisei, you will also be worried that Hideyoshi wants to fix you.
The Hojo family has no connection with Hideyoshi at all, and transfer and weakening are almost inevitable: just look at the five elders, Mouri, Ukita, and Maeda, who have a connection with each other, and Tokugawa and Shangshan, who have no connection.
Besides, when Tokugawa Ieyasu went to Luo, he had two hostages in his hands, one of which was Hidetoshi's wife. The Hojo family was higher than Tokugawa Ieyasu in stone. If they didn't try to exchange any of the hostages, the father and son might end up in trouble.
The wind is rustling and the water is cold. Not only is your personal safety at risk, but your face is also really difficult to deal with.
The last and most important point: the Hojo family is a very special family, because he is a foreigner from Kanto. After five generations of hard work, through in-laws, conquest and digestion, the local wealthy family has been gradually consolidated, but the Japanese have learned some things from us.
, and became very particular about speaking the right words.
At this time, if you let him surrender without a fight, or even transfer his title, then their control over the wealthy clan will collapse, and their dominance will be wiped out instantly. This is the same as Kenshin Shang's Kanto Conquest, the wealthy clan will definitely fall to Hideyoshi in an instant
, is a lesson learned in blood.
In fact, later generations will always say that the Hojo family is a tortoise, and the Ujimasa and the clan have always been mediocre. But if we were put in the position of the governor of the Hojo family, we might understand why we made such a choice, and we might even do worse.
You think, back then Ujiyasu could fight Takeda Shangge hard, but what if he won? After the hard fight, when his own strength was weakened at the same time, his wealthy family rebelled, allowing the Satomi and Satake families to take advantage of the opportunity to harvest, so
What is the significance of the victory? In terms of combat, Shingen and Kenshin will definitely defeat Ujiyasu, but in terms of strategy, Ujiyasu is infinitely superior to Shingen and Kenshin.
Similarly, like Ieyasu, Ushimasa's idea of regaining the initiative in negotiations through war is also the best solution as a last resort. Compared with transferring the seal to a sick cat with no teeth, gambling on a slim hope is at least as good as
Taking the initiative to make a difference and going underground to meet Ueyasu did not disgrace Hojo Iegawa's courage in fighting at night.
There is no need to think that the Hojo family is mediocre and worthless just because they are losers in history. On the contrary, I think the Hojo family's comprehensive strength, including strategy, military, and internal affairs, was almost second only to the three Tenkaichi people during the Warring States Period. As a family,
For outsiders from the Kanto region, for five generations and a hundred years, they will never be able to surrender internally, and they will almost always be surrounded by enemies externally. With such a start and growth environment, they can still end up with a territory of 2.5 million koku. They are definitely the best in Japan."
"When you put it like that, it sounds like the Hojo family is right." Liu Xin thought for a while and said, "It can only be said that Japan is in the current situation. If there is no strong external intervention, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's unification will actually be
It’s irreversible.”
Gao Pragmatic said "hmm" and said: "It is very common to judge heroes based on success or failure. Not only did Toyotomi destroy Hojo, but even Hideyoshi treated Ieyasu favorably. Many people said that Hideyoshi made a mistake after the fact."
Liu Xin smiled and said: "You said this before, there is nothing you can do about Hideyoshi's kindness to Ieyasu. After he transferred Ieyasu to Kanto, he also placed many big names close to Toyotomi around Ieyasu."
Gao Pragmatic said: "Oh, by the way, Hideyoshi treated Ieyasu favorably, but he actually also had the intention of targeting the Hojo family."
"Ah? Where do we start talking about this?" Liu Xin was stunned for a moment.
"Why did Toyotomi Hideyoshi treat Tokugawa Ieyasu so well? He was so eager to make Tokugawa Ieyasu surrender that he even sent his wife to Ieyasu as a hostage? Many people thought that as a citizen of the world, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's behavior was too much.
There is no scene, but this move is precisely Hideyoshi's most successful strategy.
In addition to what I told you last time, that is, Ieyasu's special status in the 'Seishu Alliance (Oda Tokugawa Alliance)', just imagine what seriousness would happen if Tokugawa Ieyasu had been at odds with Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Consequences? I personally estimate that the simplest possibility is that Hojo Ushimasa and Tokugawa Ieyasu will most likely unite and form an alliance, because the two families are not only related by marriage, but also have adjacent territories, and have a well-established basis for advance and retreat.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In addition to his two families, Date Masamune may also join this alliance, and even the Hojo family has been thinking about this three-family alliance. If these three families really
What does the alliance mean? It means that another Kamakura shogunate was born in Kanto, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi could not just sit back and watch.
Looking back at Tokugawa Ieyasu, given his status in the Oda family, he could probably connect with the old Oda tribe in the west - many of the old Oda tribes were not so surrendered to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, such as Nobuo Oda - and the father and son of Hojo Ushimasa and Date in the east.
Masamune provided foreign aid. If this was the case, things in the East would become increasingly uncontrollable, and world affairs would still be unknown. In other words, it was not unreasonable for Tokugawa Ieyasu to be unwilling to surrender easily for a long time.
The clever thing about Toyotomi Hideyoshi was to make Tokugawa Ieyasu surrender first. Once he surrendered, the problem of the Kanto Alliance, the new Kamakura shogunate, basically disappeared. The Kanto Tojo clan was left, even if Date Masamune risked his life to support him,
Considering Toyotomi Hideyoshi's strength at that time, there was no need to take him seriously anymore.
Therefore, from Toyotomi Hideyoshi's point of view, only one of Tokugawa and Hojo can survive at most. Since Tokugawa Ieyasu has been chosen to have a huge influence on the old Oda tribe, there is no need to leave the deep-rooted Kanto overlord.
He became the Hojo clan."
"Oh..." Liu Xin narrowed her eyes slightly and said: "So considering the current situation, the Hojo family should have known that there would be such a war? No wonder when the war officially broke out, they reached out to the Sea Trade Alliance for money and food.
It’s very rude, it turns out that they actually know that this is a desperate battle.”
"I think it should be like this, otherwise it would be unreasonable for the Hojo family to agree to rent Misaki Castle so readily." Gao Jingpang tapped his fingers on the Kanto Squadron Report on the coffee table, thinking: "The problem now is, do I want to save the city?"
The Hojo family has no intention of living, they just want to get something more from its destruction..."
"Did you get it from the Hojo family or the Toyotomi family?" Liu Xin smiled and said: "I'm afraid the thing you want to get is in the hands of Toyotomi Hideyoshi? After all, he is Japan's 'people of the world', so you can
Use the form of an imperial edict to give legitimacy to various transactions and exchanges.”
Gao Pragmatic also smiled, touched his chin without a beard, and said: "We'll see if this monkey in a dilemma will still choose to use political compromise to solve the problem."
Gao Pangshi and Liu Xin guessed correctly. At this time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had set his camp in Shihuan Mountain Castle but took people on sightseeing tours outside Odawara Castle all day long, was in trouble. His recent trip to the mountains
Activities such as playing with water and convening grand tea parties are actually imitating Cao Cao's poems. He hoped to use this method to create his image of a "people in the world" who "has everything under control".
However, just as Cao Cao, who was writing poems, was in trouble, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who pretended to be leisurely, is now in a dilemma: Odawara Castle is still standing, and Monomiban, who was sent into the city in advance, came with the news that
The city received at least two supplies of food and grass, both from the sea.
Who can be on the sea? It is nothing more than the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, because most of the Japanese naval forces have been nominally owned by him, Toyotomi Sekishiba Hideyoshi, and the remaining navies from Kanto and Northeast China are in Kuuki Yoshitaka, Wakisaka Anji, and Yoshimi
The combined naval forces formed under the leadership of Hiroyori (Japanese for Hiroyori), Kato Yoshiaki, and Nagasogabe Motochichi did not dare to fight in front of them.
On the sea today, only the fleet of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance is truly unruly, especially in the Sagami Bay area. The fleet composed of dozens of giant ships and hundreds of dark and huge gun muzzles really makes everyone tremble.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi has also taken over some armed transport ships, but because he does not have "optional" artillery (actually, Kyoka does not sell artillery, he only has smuggled goods), although the total tonnage of the fleet has increased a lot, the firepower is still not enough.
Especially in front of the Sea Trade Alliance, it is far from enough.
Kuuki Yoshitaka broke his forehead, and coupled with the strong admonitions of two direct generals, Wakisaka Anji and Kato Yoshiaki (both of whom were one of Hideyoshi's "Seven Guns of the Hideyoshi"), he was forced to stop.
Mr. Guan Bai, lest he, who does not understand the navy, lose all the capital and face of the navy in one battle, and the great cause of reunification will suffer setbacks.
But since the navy of the Toyotomi Allied Forces did not dare to compete with the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance for sea control of Sagami Bay, the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance's move to provide food to Odawara Castle could not be stopped at all.
This is obviously an extremely bad situation. Although the Maritime Trade Alliance did not participate in the garrison of Odawara Castle and did not take the initiative to attack the Toyotomi Allied Navy, they did not allow the Toyotomi Navy to use the so-called magical reason of "protecting the freedom of trade routes."
Entering Sagami Bay, they even assembled a fleet and forced the coalition navy back.
As a result, Odawara Castle, a huge and fortified city that had to be "captured" through siege, was now in good hands. Toyotomi Hideyoshi had to consider when the siege would end.
At the beginning, Toyotomi Hideyoshi thought that the problem was not big. Because in his opinion, although the navy said that it would definitely not be able to defeat the Sea Trade Alliance, the food of the Sea Trade Alliance did not fall from the sky. They "definitely" came from
The Ming Dynasty sent grain to the mainland (this was a misjudgment, but it is not important, because the food was transported from southern Xinjiang, which was farther than the Ming Dynasty mainland). With such a long distance, even if Beijing's large-scale ships carried a huge capacity, it would still take a long time.
It consumed a lot on the way. Therefore, Toyotomi Hideyoshi believed that this behavior of transporting food thousands of miles would not last long. Even if the Maritime Trade Alliance could extend the life of the Hojo family for a month or two, it did not seem to be a big problem for him.
But the development of the situation was beyond Mr. Sekishiro's expectation. Both times Odawara Castle received huge amounts of food, it is estimated that it received at least tens of thousands of koku. The important figures in the Hojo family were also very calm. It seemed that
No one is worried that Odawara Castle will run out of food.
Such an attitude of the Hojo family means that Toyotomi Sekihaku's activities such as traveling around the mountains and rivers, convening tea parties and other actions were all done to the opponent, and did not waver the senior officials of the Hojo family in Odawara Castle at all, which troubled Sekihaku very much.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! What’s worse is that as these situations are gradually learned by various daimyo in the Toyotomi army, some people have begun to propose a storming of Odawara Castle.
Attack by force? Toyotomi Hideyoshi wanted to chop off a few heads to vent his anger. Would I wait until now if I could attack by force?
Also, how great Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin were at that time. Even after seeing the appearance of Odawara Castle, they couldn't think of attacking Odawara Castle. Is Toyotomi Hideyoshi really more powerful and better at fighting than the Tiger of Kai and the Dragon of Echigo?
And more importantly, the Toyotomi family did not send troops in this Odawara attack. In fact, the direct descendants and generals of the Toyotomi family combined only sent 70,000 to 80,000 people, and this included the navy participants.
The total number. Most of the rest are the daimyo who surrendered to him, such as Tokugawa, Mori, Maeda, Uesugi and even Oda (Nobuo, Xinbao). They have a total of about 150,000 people, twice as many
The army of Toyotomi's direct descendants.
Under this situation, if Toyotomi Hideyoshi wanted to attack by force, it would be difficult to force only these external daimyo to contribute, while his direct descendants would hide behind and not show up.
Because Hideyoshi came from a humble background, he now has to save face the most. If he really wants to attack by force, he will have to personally send his direct descendants to show his magnanimity - but for the sake of face, even Toyotomi Hideyoshi has to hesitate.
repeatedly.
In the end, Toyotomi Hideyoshi decided to send an envoy to Misaki Castle to meet Luo Yuan, the "Misaki Castle Castle Representative" sent by the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance.
----------
Thanks to book friends "klauszx" and "prawn mt" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
PS: Last night I coded to 2.9k and accidentally fell asleep. When I woke up, it was already 3:30 in the morning, so this chapter is late. I'm sorry. This chapter is not for today. Today's normal update will be at night as usual.
