Ashikaga Yoshiteru is dead, how is the Ashikaga General's family doing? What happened to the Kyoto shogunate? How has Spurring been doing these days?
Yoshigan was in Kanto, showing off her power with the sword she gave her, acting like a big-tailed wolf, but she herself was robbed by the Miyoshi family in Kyoto.
Is there any mistake?
After a brief period of sadness, rationality returned, and Yoshigami was suddenly confused. His painstakingly planned strategic concepts collapsed with the death of Ashikaga Yoshiteru.
After the death of Ashikaga Yoshiteru, the shogunate will inevitably undergo a major reshuffle. Located in the Konjisbo Territory in the southern part of Yamashiro Country, it is impossible to stay out of the matter.
Yoshihiro opened its foundation in Kanto, and all its status and power were based on the sword-driving Kanto shrine given by Ashikaga Yoshiteru.
It had only been two years since the Shiba family was revived. In recent years, the Shiba clan had not been able to gain a stable foothold, so he came to Kanto. The Kanto Strategy has just started and its foundation is shallow.
At this time, Yiyin was in great need of blessings from the direct descendants of the Genji family in Kawachi. The signature of Ashikaga Yoshiteru's Odaisho is really easy to use.
He suddenly felt a deep sense of loss. There are always a few people who only know how important she is when they lose her.
With the death of Ashikaga Yoshiteru in battle, all Yoshigan's strategic plans collapsed instantly, and thousands of thoughts came to mind, and finally turned into a question mark.
what to do? What should I do next?
Uesugi Teruhora on the side had a different feeling. She couldn't even believe her ears and looked at Naoe Kanetsugu behind Ishida Mitsunari.
Seeing the questioning look from his master, Naoe Kanetsugu bowed and said.
"The Three Good Rebellions are absolutely true. The first person to be summoned was Mr. Mitsuhide Akechi of the Shiba family.
When the news arrived in Naoetsu, we couldn't believe it. The Sanhao family dared to kill the king, which was shocking.
But after that, Master Takada Haruno of Sakai Port, Master Nizi Katsuhisa of Konkisuba Territory, and Master Maeda Yoshida all sent urgent letters.
Even His Highness Kitanomi Asai Nagamasa and Lord Asakura Kageki of Tsuruga County sent warnings, and we concluded that this matter was indeed true.
Lord Ohkuma Asahide and Lord Naoe Keizuna believed that the matter was of great importance, and ordered Lord Ishida Mitsunari and I to put down all matters in our hands, rush to Odawara Castle at high speed, and report to the two lords. "
The more Terutora Uesugi listened, the more he believed that Ashikaga Yoshiteru was really dead. She was so happy that she couldn't help but want to look up to the sky and scream, God help me!
Ashikaga Yoshiteru was killed, and the marriage between Shiba Yoshigan and her was of course terminated. There was no longer the moral hazard of marrying two men and overstepping the throne.
The campaign in Kanto went smoothly, and the Echigo army fought all the way to Odawara Castle. As long as the Hojo family surrendered, the situation in Kanto would be certain.
Uesugi Teruhu, who has received a bumper harvest in career and love, can hardly contain his ecstasy. If the last bit of reason hadn't warned her not to laugh, she would have started singing and dancing at this moment.
Ashikaga Yoshiteru is the shogun, her Kanto governor is the first one she recognizes, and Shiba Yoshigan is her unmarried husband.
Uesugi Terutora, who was deeply favored by the general, must not show any secret joy at this time, otherwise she would be worse than a beast.
How could she laugh when there was a friend in front of her and a widow beside her? Unless you can't help it. Uesugi Teruhora finally couldn't help but let out a laugh, and quickly covered it up with a violent cough.
This coughing sound also woke up Shiba Yiyin who was thinking about the problem. He looked blankly at the strange-looking Terutora Uesugi next to him, and suddenly woke up, a chill rushing from his tailbone to his head.
God, without the excuse of Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Yoshigine found that he no longer had sufficient reasons to reject Uesugi Teruhora's love. Something big was going to happen this time!
His face was ashen and he uttered a sentence coldly.
"Go back, go back and talk."
Yoshigami turned around and left, leaving Teru Uesugi embarrassed for a while.
She had a fever on her face and felt that she was really not a human being. How could she laugh out loud at this time, still in front of Shiba Yiyin.
His fiancée had just died, and he was so ugly that he couldn't be ashamed of himself.
Teruhora Uesugi coughed twice, pretending to be calm and said to Ishida Mitsunari and Naoe Kanetsugu.
"Let's go back and talk."
The group of people walked silently through the snow back to the camp, all lamenting that things are unpredictable in the world. In troubled times, nobles like Ashikaga Shogun will inevitably encounter misfortune.
Goose feathers are flying all over the sky, and the snow is wrapped in white as if attending a funeral. The long night of heavy snow tells the story of fate, and the heaven and earth change in an instant.
———
In the Odawara Castle residence, Hojo Uyasu is in a quiet room.
Only when no one was around did she dare to show her exhaustion. The Sagami lioness who appears to be mighty and unyielding from the outside is just a disguise for her inspiring morale.
The situation is far more severe than imagined. Although strong external threats were used to temporarily suppress the internal conflicts of the Hojo family, they unanimously faced the outside world.
But with the rapid imbalance of power between the two sides, the Hojo family is facing increasing pressure.
A hundred thousand troops are raging in the core territory of Hojo in Sagami Country. What is this concept? The total strength of both sides for the decisive battle in Sano Territory did not exceed 30,000 soldiers.
Although the 100,000 Kwantung Allied Forces are very large, most of them are auxiliary troops. But at this time, the Hojo family also lost all its elite members and had no power to fight back. It could only rely on the defense of the city to support itself.
The heavy winter snowfall has finally come to Hojo's side, but the situation has not improved, it has only slowed down the deterioration.
There was a severe drought in Kanto and the grain harvest failed.
This time, most of the Kanto samurai who came to Sagami Kingdom to participate in the war in response to Uesugi Terutora's call were not having enough to eat in their own territories, so they plundered the Hojo family's territory in the name of righteousness and provided food to the enemy.
Righteousness, how many crimes have been committed in your name.
Hojo Ujiyasu didn't think that the Kanto Allied Forces could break Odawara Castle and collapse the hearts of the Hojo family by destroying the territory. Burning, killing and looting will only increase hatred and make the Hojo family more united.
What she was afraid of was the continuous blood loss of the Hojo family.
The battlefield between the Echigo side and the Hojo family has started from the buffer zone around Ueno Musashi to Odawara Castle in Sagami Province. A siege is easy to solve, but what happens after that?
Winter plowing and spring plowing in Echigo will not be affected, and during the summer and autumn harvests, it is impossible for the Hojo family to make a desperate counterattack and invade Echigo through the Echigo Mountains.
When the two sides compete, the territory of the Hojo family is always tossing and turning. If things go on like this, their strength will weaken and wither. How long can the Hojo family survive?
The Kanto samurai family loves Echigo, and Echigo's strength will become stronger and stronger as time goes by. And when the Hojo family is invaded again and again, people's hearts will become numb, morale will be low, and eventually they will collapse.
Most people in the Hojo family were worried about the 100,000-strong army sieging the city in front of them. However, Hojo Ujiyasu is far-sighted and even more desperate for the future.
She needed a big victory, similar to the overwhelming victory that the Echigo army had won in Sano Territory, to completely reverse the decline.
At this time, Hojo Ujiyasu could not see any chance of counterattack. She sighed, remembering the grand alliance of the three families of Hojo Takeda and Imagawa.
If the three-family alliance is still there, the Takeda family and the Imagawa family will send troops to rescue them. How dare Uesugi Terutora stay at Odawara Castle and show off his power?
The collapse of the Hojo family's strategic advantage all stemmed from that man, Yoshigan Shiba.
It was he who reached a compromise with Takeda Harunobu after the Battle of Kawanakajima, causing the Takeda family to turn around and go south, invade Suruga Country, and tear up the alliance between the three families.
It was him who sorted out the internal affairs of Echigo for Teru Uesugi, suppressed with one hand and lured with the other, and kept the Echigo samurai group in order and twisted it into a rope.
It was he who created the Hokurikudo trade route, allowing Hokurikudo to replace the turbulent Tokaido and become the main logistics route in Kanto and Kansai. He used commercial profits to unite the Hokurikudo and free Echigo from the Vietnam-Chong quagmire.
In the end, he was the one who brought out the Plate Armor Princess warriors. On the plains of Sano territory, he defeated the elite Hojo troops with the heavy armored regiments of the Kanto Palace, and completely pulled the Hojo family into the bottomless abyss.
Hojo Ujiyasu found that the biggest mistake he had made was to underestimate this Odaisho from Konki. It was her contempt for this man's existence that caused the situation to get out of control.
If it weren't for Shiba Yoshigan's planning, Uesugi Teruhora's power would never have expanded to the point where it was desperate and impossible to contend with.
From the moment he came to Kanto, Uesugi Teruhu was no longer the original Uesugi Teruhu.
The lord of Echigo got rid of internal disputes, settled the quagmire in Echigo, and reached a compromise with the Takeda family. Finally, the Echigo army marched south to the Kanto Plain and defeated the Hojo army in one battle.
The more Ujiyasu Hojo thought about it, the more desperate she became. She found that everything in the future was out of her control. No matter how hard we try to make amends, we can't stop the situation from getting worse.
unless. . Unless Yoshihiro Shiba and Teru Uesugi fall out and the Echigo duopoly becomes unstable and collapses in a major political crisis, the Hojo family will never have a chance to make a comeback.
The snow outside the door is getting heavier and heavier, and the strong wind blows the snowflakes and slams them against the paper door, making a whistling sound. Hojo Uyasu thought about it and couldn't think of a way out, so he closed his eyes sadly.
Could it be that the Hojo family is destined to perish in my hands? The three generations of Hojo have worked hard to establish dominance in Kanto, but will they end here?
Hojo Yasuo burst into tears and shouted silently. I am not willing to give in, I am not willing to give in!
———
Just as Hojo Ujiyasu was hiding in his room and weeping secretly, sighing at the inevitable misfortune of the Hojo family, there were rapid footsteps outside the door.
She was so calm that she wiped away the tears on her face and took a deep breath to calm her mind. No matter how desperate she felt in her heart, she was still the backbone of the Hojo family and could not let outsiders see her decadence.
The moment she was mentally prepared, the sliding door was knocked respectfully several times.
"What's going on? I told you to meditate for a while and don't disturb anything."
Hojo Umasa's urgent voice came from outside the door and said.
"Mother, I have something important to report."
Hojo Ujiyasu's heart trembled.
Hojo Ushimasa was arranging defenses in the city, and she dared to come in a hurry. Could it be that there was something wrong with the defense of the city?
"come in."
"Hi!"
The sliding door opened too fast and too large, and the wind and snow outside rushed in first, instantly extinguishing several candles and the brazier in the center of the room. The cold wind blew against Hojo Ujiyasu's face and he couldn't open his eyes for a moment.
Hojo Umasa was anxious and couldn't help but curse.
"BaGeYaLu! You bastards don't know how to do anything!"
The servants outside the door kowtowed to the ground and looked at the furious current governor in horror, begging for forgiveness.
Hojo Ujiyasu shouted.
"What's the fuss about? Didn't you say there's something important? Come in and talk!"
Hojo Ushimasa's eyes twitched, he pointed at the servants who were kneeling and cursed.
"Get away!"
After entering the house, she closed the door and tried to light the fire with flint, but failed several times with trembling hands. After finally lighting the fire, she wanted to light the candle again, but was caught by Hojo Ujiyasu.
Hojo Ujiyasu pushed his daughter back onto the tatami and leaned very close to her face to face. The charcoal fire from the brazier exploded into a few sparks, burning a small hole through her sleeve.
Their faces flickered in and out with the shadows of the firelight. Hojo Ujiyasu stared at his daughter closely, feeling her uncontrollable trembling, and asked coldly.
"What happened?"
Hojo Umasa chewed dryly a few times, swallowed, and spat out six words.
"Three good acts of treason and regicide."
Hojo Ujiyasu's pupils shrank instantly, and her heart couldn't bear the explosive news. She only felt a pain in her chest and fell forward.
Hojo Umasa was shocked, quickly supported her and shouted.
"Mother! Mother, what's wrong with you!"
"Shut up!"
Hojo Ujiyasu's head was buzzing, his heart was aching, and he scolded his daughter with a ferocious expression.
"Don't yell, calm down!"
She was breathing rapidly and there was countless cold sweat on her head. Hojo Umasa carefully helped her back to her original position and looked at her nervously.
Nothing can happen to Hojo Uyasu, she is the backbone of the Hojo family. In this critical moment, if she falls, the Hojo family will really fall apart and be completely destroyed.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Hojo Ujiyasu reluctantly said.
"Give me hot water."
Hojo Umasa took out the water from the hanging pot on the brazier and held it in front of his mother with a teacup in both hands.
Hojo Ujiyasu took the water glass tremblingly and took a sip. After drinking the hot water, her mind started to work again and she asked.
"Tell me, what's going on?"
Hojo Umasa whispered.
"You know that the caravans that took the Tokaido trade route were beaten to pieces by the Hokurikudo gang in their trade war this year, and most of them switched to the Hokuriku Road trade route.
But there are always a few businessmen who have offended each other too much and have to continue to use the East China Sea Road to cooperate with us. "
Hojo Ujiyasu nodded slowly.
Before the rise of the Hokuriku Road Trading Road, the Tokaido Trading Road was the main commercial logistics channel in Kanto and Kansai.
The status of Sunfu Castle in Suruga Province is equivalent to that of Etsuko and Naichi Etsu. It is the transportation hub of Tokaido and the distribution market of Kanto and Kansai.
In the early days, the Hojo family took over Izu country with the help of the Imagawa family, and used Izu's gold mines in Sunfu Castle to exchange for military supplies for the expansion of Kanto.
The Hojo family established contact with the Tokaido caravan. Her family was originally from the Ise branch of Kyoto, and of course they knew how to profit from business.
Hojo Ushimasa continued.
"My merchant decided to go to Sakai Port to contact the caravan before winter to discuss next year's business. Before she even got close, she got this shocking news in the Ise Country.
Miyoshi and three others went to Luo and stormed Nijo Castle. General Ashikaga died on the spot, and the surrounding shogunate was in chaos.
Shang Fengxing repeatedly confirmed the authenticity of the news and did not dare to waste time. He boarded the ship directly from Ise Kingdom and returned to his family.
She returned to Izu Country before the port was closed in winter, and then rushed to Odawara Castle without stopping. She just logged in today to report this to me. "
Hojo Ujiyasu thought carefully and asked a few more questions. After deciding that the news was true, she let out a long breath.
The Hojo family is saved.
