When the Great Tomorrow Soldiers rode ninety-two large ships and rushed to the Satsuma Kingdom in the southern part of Japan's Kyushu Island, there was no longer a Spanish sailing ship in the Kagoshima Bay controlled by the Satsuma Domain, and Kaer There is also no Shimazu Mitsuku, the lord of the Satsuma clan, in the island castle...
Of course, the Spanish fleet and Shimazu Mitsuhisa didn't hear that the Japanese army was coming, so they ran away to America in advance. In fact, they did not know that the Great Tomorrow Soldiers had set off - there were no advanced communication methods these days. Even if the Spanish spies in Shanghai saw the majestic scene of the fleet going out, they could not immediately notify the large fleet in Kagoshima Bay.
What made the Satsuma lord and the Spanish fleet leave Kagoshima Bay was a suicide note left by the first generation lord of the Satsuma clan, Tadatsune Shimazu!
This suicide note was sealed in a secret room in Kagoshima Castle that was guarded by samurai at all times. Only when the Shimazu family and the Tokugawa shogunate broke up could the feudal lord and other family elders enter and watch.
And this matter is still the top secret in the Satsuma Domain. Historically, only the domain lord, Shisuke and Daiden (the former domain lord) knew - even the samurai guarding the secret room did not know what was stored in the secret room?
When the Satsuma clan leader Shimazu Mitsukyu finally decided to reject the conditions proposed by the shogunate to change the transfer and reduce the seal, he led the clan elders into this dusty secret room, opened a dusty iron box, and took out A suicide note written by Tadatsune Shimazu on a parchment.
The suicide note only said one thing, that is, Toyotomi Hideyori's son Kunimatsu was not captured and beheaded by Kyoto Governor Itakura Katsushige after the Osaka Battle. It was Kunimatsu's stand-in who was killed, and the real Toyotomi Kunimatsu He was protected by Sanada Yukimasa, the son of Sanada Nobunshige, and fled before the destruction of Osaka Castle. He fled to Satsuma Country on a sea ship that had been prepared long ago. Then he was personally escorted by Shimazu Tadahashi's father, Shimazu Yoshihiro, who had become a monk and lived in seclusion. The Hinode Domain of Bungo Kingdom took refuge.
The reason for fleeing to Hinode Domain is because Kinoshita Iedada, the father of Hinode Domain's lord Kinoshita Nobutoshi, is the elder brother of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's first wife, Takadaiin. Therefore, Kinoshita Iedada and Kinoshita Nobutsu share the surname Toyotomi. ——That Sekigahara War God Kobayakawa Hideaki is the fifth son of Kinoshita Iedada and the younger brother of Kinoshita Nobutoshi.
Because of Kodaiin's reputation (Toyotomi Hideyoshi's eldest wife had a close relationship with Tokugawa Ieyasu) and for siding with the Eastern Army in the Battle of Sekigahara, the Kinoshita family not only received the 25,000 koku Hinode Domain, but also allowed generations of Use the surname Toyotomi.
Perhaps it was because Kobayakawa Hideaki died under mysterious circumstances more than a year after the Battle of Sekigahara, and all the 550,000 koku territory he received was confiscated by the shogunate, which made Kodaiin and the Hinode Domain Kinoshita family realize something. Therefore, before the Battle of Osaka, Kodaiin used the opportunity of acting as a lobbyist for Tokugawa Ieyasu to enter Osaka and meet Toyotomi Hideyori, and agreed on a way to preserve the last trace of His Highness Taikaku's blood without being punctual in Osaka - that is He allowed Toyotomi Hideyori's son Kunimatsu to flee to the Hinode Domain of Bungo Province and live in seclusion.
When Shimazu Yoshihiro escorted Kunimatsu to the Hinode Domain, his age and Kunimatsu seemed to be the same. The fourth son of Kinoshita Nobutoshi, the leader of the Hinode Domain, had just passed away, so Nobujun used an imposter to make Kunimatsu the second son of Kinoshita Nobutoshi. The name of Sizi Kinoshita Yanyu survives...
This Kinoshita Yanyu, now 44 years old, was assigned a territory of up to 5,000 koku after the death of his adoptive father Nobujun, and he also met Tokugawa Iemitsu under the arrangement of his brother Shunji. Because he was tall and handsome, Iemitsu was I loved it and stayed at Edo Castle...and later became the flagship of the shogunate.
When the Shimazu family raised the banner of overthrow, Kinoshita Nobuyuki was not in Edo, but in the Hinode Domain with his brother Nobujun. According to the plan handed down by the minister, it would be their turn next year (1658). Report to Edo.
Both Kinoshita Shunji and Yanyu themselves knew Yanyu's true identity. In the past few years, the matter of Toyotomi Yitada had been making a lot of noise, which made them very worried, so they also made some preparations in secret.
After Shimazu raised his army, he immediately summoned his retainers and feudal lords to enter Hinode Castle Castle. However, the Hinode Domain only had a total of 25,000 koku of property and only one or two hundred domain warriors under its command. They did not dare to use the banner of Toyotomi Kunimatsu, so no matter how they mobilized, they could only mobilize five or six hundred people, so they had to stay tremblingly. The city bides its time...or the end.
Fortunately, in addition to the Satsuma Domain at the southernmost end, there are several powerful feudal lords in Kyushu, such as Chikuzen Kuroda (Fukuoka Domain, Akizuki Domain), Chikugo Arima and Tachibana (Kurume Domain, Yanagawa Domain, Miike Domain). , Hizen Nabeshima (Saga, Hasuike, Ojo, Kashima), Higo Hosokawa (Kumamoto, Nitta, Uto), etc. are all in the west of Kyushu Island, which is the side facing the Ming Dynasty. In the eastern part of Kyushu Island, there are a bunch of scattered weak feudal clans. Among them, the most powerful Nobeoka clan (Naito family) of Hyuga Kingdom and Oka clan (Nakagawa clan) of Bungo Kingdom only have a mere 70,000 people. Led by stone. Moreover, during the Battle of Sekigahara, most of the lords of Hyuga and Bungo supported the Western Army, so a large number of them were confiscated and converted after the war, which also created a large number of rogues who were dissatisfied with the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Now facing the overthrown army coming from the direction of Satsuma Clan along the western coastline of Kyushu Island, there are only Nobeoka Clan of Hyuga Kingdom (the heir apparent of the Naito family), Ohito Clan (this domain belongs to the Ito family, the enemy of the Shimazu family) and Bungo Fuchu Domain (on behalf of the Matsudaira family) and Kitsuki Domain (on behalf of the Matsudaira family) put up a desperate resistance.
However, the total amount of stone in these four feudal lords was only over 170,000 dan, and the team that could be pulled together in a hurry was only a few thousand people, which was no match for the Shimazu family's tens of thousands of troops. Moreover, the implementation of the "One Country, One City Order" by the shogunate also destroyed a large number of castles in the two orders of Hyuga and Bungo. Facing the Shimadzu army with Spanish cannons, the four families of Ito, Naito, and Ryomatsu were defeated. The army could not hold on for even a month and collapsed one after another. The remaining feudal clans in Bungo and Hyuga, including the Hinode clan, all surrendered to the Shimazu family.
In other words, before the arrival of 1657, the Shimazu family already owned four of the ten kingdoms of Kyushu (including Tsushima): Satsuma, Osumi, Hyuga, and Bungo. ) also surrendered to Satsuma Shimazu.
Half of Kyushu is already firmly under the control of the Shimadzu family! The number of stones controlled by the Shimazu family has also increased from the original 605,000 stones to about one million stones (because Bungo and Hyuga have many shogunate leaders), and their strength seems to be quite large. ...However, facing the Eight-Nation Allied Forces headed by the Ming Dynasty, Shimazu Mitsuhisa was still frightened - just for one Ming Dynasty, Shi Gao would have to have several hundred million, right? Not an opponent! So after Mitsuhisa read his father Tadashi's suicide note, he immediately took a Spanish warship to Bungo Kingdom, and went to Hinode Domain to invite Toyotomi Kunimatsu to take the blame!
Because of the arrival of Shimazu Mitsuhisa, the 44-year-old Toyotomi Kunimatsu, also known as Kinoshita Nobuyuki and his nominal brother Kinoshita Shunji, had to leave Hinode Castle and went to Bungo Prefecture Castle in an uneasy mood to prepare for their departure. pot......
Not to mention, if you look at Kinoshita Nobuyuki and Kinoshita Shunji next to each other, you will know that they are not real brothers - Kinoshita Nobuyuki is a tall guy, not even 18 meters tall but 1 meters 75 tall. No wonder Iemitsu took him for a ride. , everyone knows that Tokugawa Iemitsu likes tall and handsome men the most!
And Kinoshita Shunji is not even 1.5 meters tall. Together with Kinoshita Nobuyuki... he looks exactly like Taketaro and Takejiro!
"Yasi! As expected, he is Hideyoriko's heir! There is hope for the Toyotomi family to revive! The great cause of overthrow will be accomplished!" Shimazu Mitsuhisa, with a group of retainers and lords who attached to him, stood inside and outside the palace to greet him. When he saw the tall man Yanyu's voice was so loud that it shocked the people around him and the two Kinoshita brothers.
Then I saw Shimazu Mitsuhisa striding forward, arriving in front of Kinoshita Nobuyuki, kneeling down to this stupid man in front of everyone, and then loudly said: "Omishimazu Satsuma Morimitsuhisa meets the Lord Toyotomi!"
