The Tokugawa shogunate's army was divided into three routes and marched toward Kyoto. The middle route was led by Sakai Tadakatsu himself, with an army of about 100,000 people, advancing along the Nakasendo Road. The northern route was led by Tokugawa Mitsuki, the lord of Mito Domain.
Sixty-two thousand men and horses advanced along the northern streets, while from the south, under the command of Tokugawa Yorinobu, the lord of the Kiyin domain, fifty-three thousand men and horses advanced along the Ise streets.
Mito Clan and Kiyin Clan are all daimyos of the close clan. Together with the Owari Clan, they are collectively known as the "Gosan Family". They are all close relatives of the Tokugawa clan who were granted the title of daimyo. When Tokugawa Ieyasu ennobled the daimyō, although the lords of the clan were
The daimyo's territory is not highly divided, but there are a few exceptions
, the Gosan family is an example. The Owari clan has 619,000 koku, which is only 1,000 koku less than the Sendai clan, ranking among the major rankings; the Kiyin clan has 555,000 koku; the Mito clan has 30
Fifty thousand koku, because they are the main pillars of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Now the lord of the Owari Domain, Tokugawa Yoshinao, is stationed at Nagoya Castle to defend against the overthrown army. Therefore, the shogunate army starting from Edo is led by Sakai Tadakatsu, and the lords of the Mito and Kiin Domains should naturally serve as deputy commanders.
Whether they are competent or not is not the deciding factor.
On August 5, Sakai Tadakatsu's army arrived at Nagoya Castle, and at the same time received news that Hikone had been lost and Ii Naotaka had committed suicide by caesarean section.
After hearing this news, Sakai Tadakatsu was also quite surprised. He learned the entire battle situation from the three defeated generals Matsudaira Tsunataka, Matsudaira Yoritsune, and Inaba Masanori, and learned that the Chinese army defeated them in just one day.
He defeated the Hikone Domain's defenders and captured Hikone Castle, which made Sakai Tadakatsu feel that this battle was extremely difficult. Although Sakai Tadakatsu advocated a tough attitude towards China, after
After nearly two months of fighting, Sakai Tadakatsu had to admit that the Chinese army was very powerful and could not underestimate the enemy. Therefore, Sakai Tadakatsu's original intention was to use Hikone Castle as a frontline stronghold and divide his troops into two groups to attack Kyoto and Osaka respectively.
Give full play to the advantage of the shogunate army's large number of troops to make it difficult for the overthrown shogunate army to decide whether to start or end the shogunate. First, defeat the major figures who have fallen to the shogunate, and then concentrate their forces to deal with the Chinese army.
But in just a few days, Hikone Castle was lost, which also led to the failure of Sakai Tadakatsu's plan. Moreover, judging from what Matsudaira Tsunadaka, Matsudaira Yoritsune, and Inaba Masanori said, the Chinese army's combat effectiveness is better than Sakai's.
Tadakatsu is expected to be stronger, and now the battlefield for the decisive battle between the two sides can only be located in the Sekigahara area.
At this time, Tokugawa Yoshinao also looked worried and said to Sakai Tadakatsu: "Sir, Hikone Castle has been lost now, which is a big blow to the morale of our army, and the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army seems to be higher than we expected.
It’s even stronger, what should we do?”
Of course, Sakai Tadakatsu could see that Tokugawa Yoshinao was lacking in confidence now, and this sentiment was obviously universal. Tokugawa Yoshinao was not alone, at least the daimyo stationed in Owari all had this idea.
Although Sakai Tadakatsu's vision is narrow, he also understands that fighting is all about morale, which can only be encouraged but not vented, so he said: "Your Highness Yoshinao, don't worry. In fact, I have already
I expected that Hikone Castle would fall, so I did not prepare for a decisive battle with the rebels in Hikone. In fact, I had already thought about it when I dispatched troops from Edo. I would fight the rebels at Sekigahara and let Ii guard Hikone, just to stop the rebels.
, preventing the rebels from occupying Sekigahara first. Now this goal has been achieved. Although Ii’s death is a pity, it also bought us enough time."
After hearing these words, Tokugawa Yoshinao felt a little calmer and said: "So that's it."
Sakai Tadakatsu said confidently: "Yes, Your Highness Yoshitsune, you should still remember that Tosho Daquan now defeated the Western Army in Sekigahara and finally captured the world, so this time we fought with the rebels in Sekigahara again In the decisive battle, the spirit of the great power of Tosho in the sky will definitely protect our shogunate army, so we will win this battle."
Tosho Daigon is now the sacred name of Tokugawa Ieyasu after his death, which is equivalent to the temple name of the Chinese emperor after his death. Sakai Tadakatsu raised the great god Tokugawa Ieyasu, which also made Tokugawa Yoshinao and others feel proud. They all cheered up a lot. After all, in everyone's hearts, Tokugawa Ieyasu's authority could not be shaken.
Seeing that everyone was cheering up, Sakai Tadakatsu also breathed a sigh of relief and continued to encourage everyone: "Although we lost Hikone Castle and went to Ii Naotaka first, this was only a temporary failure. Have you ever thought about it? Before the Battle of Sekigahara, not only did Tosho Ogami lose Fushimi Castle, but Torii Gentada also died in Fushimi Castle. It can be seen that the defeat was only temporary. Although the rebels were lucky enough to win for a while, they were still in the dark. It has been determined that the history of the Sekigahara War will definitely be repeated, and the final victory will definitely belong to our Tokugawa Shogunate."
After everyone heard this, they thought carefully that it was really the case. Before the Battle of Sekigahara, it was the Western Army who first attacked Fushimi Castle near Kyoto. The man guarding Fushimi Castle at that time was the veteran Torii Motoda. After being defeated, he died in battle. Therefore, if you compare it like this, you can see that they are quite similar. Moreover, the Sekigahara battlefield is indeed a geomantic treasure of the Tokugawa shogunate. Everyone's morale has slowly recovered a lot.
In fact, the two battles are not comparable at all, because at that time the Western Army concentrated nearly 40,000 troops, while the defenders of Fushimi Castle only had more than 1,800 people. Even so, it still took eight days for the Western Army to attack. In the Fushimi Battle, no one could win so easily against the Chinese army. Of course, Sakai Tadakatsu would not tell this difference.
Seeing that everyone had regained some fighting spirit, Sakai Tadakatsu was also relieved, so he immediately ordered Tokugawa Yoshihiro to garrison at Nangong Mountain immediately, and he must occupy this high ground.
Nangong Mountain is located east of Sekihara and on the south side of Higashiyama Road. During the Battle of Sekihara, it was garrisoned by the generals of the Western Army, Yoshikawa Hiroie, Mouri Hidemoto, and Anguoji Huiqiong, with a total of more than 20,000 troops. , it happened to threaten the flanks of the Eastern Army. When the war was going against the Eastern Army, Tokugawa Iedori went to the battle in person to supervise the battle, and almost sold his entire back to the Western Army stationed in Nangong Mountain. However, Yoshikawa Hiroshi had already He and Tokugawa Ieyasu channeled, but he did not move, and he persuaded Mouri Hidemoto to stay still. Only Anguoji Huiqiong led 1,800 troops to fight. Because the number of troops was too small, it could not change the overall situation of the Sekigahara war.
But after the Sekigahara War ended, Tokugawa Ieyasu was very scared every time he talked about it. If Yoshikawa Hiroie and Mori Hidemoto had gone to war at that time, the history of the Sekigahara War would have been rewritten, so he told him again and again. People, if there is another battle in Guanyuan in the future, we must occupy the highlands of Nangong Mountain first and seize the geographical advantage.
Now, of course, Sakai Tadakatsu would not forget Tokugawa Ieyasu's lesson, so as soon as the battlefield was determined to be in the Sekigahara area, he immediately occupied Nangong Mountain first.
Two days later, the northern and southern groups of the shogunate army also arrived at Owari. Sakai Tadakatsu also ordered to personally lead the army and stationed at Nangong Mountain, deploying troops to prepare for another Sekigahara battle, and this time the battle was also against Germany. Chuanshi is crucial.
Just when Sakai Tadakatsu arrived in Nagoya and sent Tokugawa Naoyoshi to seize Mount Nangong in the east, Mouri Hirotsuna and Arima Tadayori, who overturned the Tokugawa army, also occupied Mount Matsuo, Mount Tenman, and Mount Sasao respectively in the west of Sekigahara. Waiting for strategic points, the two sides faced off from east to west.
At the same time, Shang Yi also recruited the forty-seven daimyo who participated in the fall of Hikone City for the final pre-war mobilization.
After the battle to attack Hikone, the daimyo finally had a more comprehensive understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army, so they unconsciously felt a lot of awe. Although the Japanese people have a strong and aggressive character, they also have some submissiveness. On the strong side, the current Chinese Army is naturally the strongest among the strong.
After everyone saw the ceremony, Shang Yi said: "Dear feudal lords, I just received the report from the spies. Now the troops of the Tokugawa shogunate have gathered at Owari, and are deploying troops to the Sekigahara area. The total strength of the shogunate's army is now about Between 300,000 and 320,000."
Just after saying this sentence, it also caused a discussion. Although the army of 300,000 can only be regarded as a basic number in China, it is definitely a powerful force that has never been seen in Japan. In the Sekigahara battle, the Eastern and Western armies The number of men and horses did not exceed 100,000. In the two battles of Osaka, although the Tokugawa Army claimed to have an army of 300,000, it actually only dispatched 200,000. Therefore, this time the shogunate dispatched an army of 300,000. The largest force battle in history. The total force of the defeated side is now about 180,000, and the Chinese army accounts for 60,000. Although the daimyo are very confident in the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army, the opponent's force is indeed a bit too strong. , I was a little nervous when I first heard it.
After everyone's discussion subsided a little, Shang Yi said: "Fifty years ago, it was also here that the Battle of Sekigahara was fought. After that battle, the Tokugawa Shogunate was established for fifty years, and now we are also We will also have a decisive battle with the shogunate army here. If we win this battle, the Tokugawa shogunate will be severely damaged and will never be able to recover. This fall will succeed and end the 50-year rule of the Tokugawa shogunate. But before the decisive battle , one thing, I must first explain to you how Tokugawa Ieyasu won the battle of Sekigahara. I think everyone here knows better than me. It is not that the Tokugawa army is stronger, nor is it Tokugawa Ieyasu was good at using troops, but it was because the Western Army could not work together, Shimazu Yoshihiro did not respect the general's orders, Yoshikawa Hiroie stood still, and Kobayakawa Hideaki defected to counterattack, which led to the Western Army's failure, so..."
After a pause, Shang Yi said again: "I can guess this time that Sakai Tadakatsu will definitely send someone to contact you, promising generous rewards and generous salary, and persuading you to surrender on the battlefield, but I will never allow him to appear again. In this case, if there are people who are afraid of the strength of the shogunate army and dare not fight with it, then do not leave Hikone Castle. I will only lead the Chinese army to fight, and I will never blame you; and once you leave Hikone Castle and enter the Sekigahara area, We must obey the general orders of our Chinese army. Orders and prohibitions must not be violated. We order you to attack. Even if there are mountains of swords and seas of fire in front of you, you are not allowed to stay. We order you to retreat. Even if you fight to the last man, you must stick to your position. If you want to disobey the general's order. , conserve your strength, sit on the sidelines, and even plan to switch sides and fight back. After this battle, I will never forgive you. Therefore, you must think carefully about any choice you make in this battle, and don't make mistakes."
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