Three months later, on September 12, the fifth year of the Astronomy Year (1536), Suruga Province Imagawakan. The Imagawa family officially announced that Imagawa Yoshimoto had received the pass given by Ashikaga Yoshiharu, and at the same time announced the Imperial Letter of the General of the Conqueror, ruling that Imagawa Yoshimoto would be the governor of the Imagawa family and inherit the guardianship of Suruga and Toe.
Once the Imperial Letter was made public, the wealthy families who supported Imagawa Yoshima in Toga were nominally turned into rebels by the shogunate. From the head of the family, important ministers, to the samurai, ashigaru, and even the well-informed people in the territory, everyone was panicked for a moment. Many middle- and lower-level samurai began to persuade their superiors, asking the family to support the Imagawa clan. After being rejected, people's hearts changed. Similarly, the wealthy families in the Kadong area under the control of the Hojo family also had a slight commotion, and they criticized the Hojo family for illegally occupying Suruga and protecting the Imagawa family's territory.
On the contrary, the supporters of the Imagawa clan are full of fighting spirit. With the title of righteousness in hand, the warriors were confident and eager to go to Yuanjiang to quell the rebellion. The Imagawa family issued a general assembly order within the territory, requiring all retainers to assemble their troops to the maximum extent and prepare to go to Yuanjiang to quell the rebellion.
Although the shogunate's rulings in this era were not as clear-cut as they were more than a hundred years ago, they were still enough to change people's attitudes.
·
On September 15, the fifth year of Tianwen (1536), Yuanjiang Kingdom, Xiqi City, 13 miles northeast of Yinma City. After the situation in Toe stabilized, Imagawa Yoshima moved out of Hikima Castle of the Iio family, usurped the Imagawa clan's direct territory in Toe, made Nishizaki Castle his residence, and began to develop his own independent power. Now, there are already 300 soldiers.
In the Nishizaki Castle Castle Tower, Imagawa Yoshima was meeting with Hojo Genan who came to visit secretly.
"His Highness has trained his troops well." Hojo Genan looked at the troops who were practicing with strange commands on the small campus and couldn't help but praise, "You can follow orders and prohibitions, advance and retreat freely, and in terms of neatness, a poor monk has never I’ve never seen such a decent troop.”
"Take a break - stand at attention!" "Look to the right!" - "Look forward!"
"First class, count the number!" - "First row, count the number of people!" - "First company, count the number of people!"
Listening to the command from Xiaochang Mountain, Hojo Genan sighed again, "I have lived for most of my life, but I have never heard such a command, and I have never seen such a military system. In just a few months, the army was organized and trained. It needs to be in order, your highness is a talented person."
"Master Huan'an is ridiculous, it's just a small trick." Imagawa Yoshima is no longer as arrogant as when he first time traveled. His repeated failures made him realize that he is not as unscrupulous in ancient times as he imagined, and Today's events have greatly deviated from the original historical trajectory, leaving Imagawa Yoshizhin at a loss as to what to do after losing his "predictive ability."
"Everything is just as Master Huan'an expected. Imagawa Yoshimoto went to Luo to receive the Imperial Letter and the gift of words, and indeed chose to announce all this after the autumn harvest. They took advantage of the high morale to take action against Yuanjiang Now that my rightful name is in my enemy’s hands, what should I do next?”
"Your Highness, there is no need to panic. The Hojo family has already prepared. Since the east of the river you ceded has fallen into our hands, our Hojo family will naturally fulfill our promise and send His Highness to the position of governor of the Imagawa family." Hojo Genan clasped his hands together. He bowed to Imagawa Yoshizhin and said, "That old monk from Xue Zhai can't leave."
·
On September 22, the fifth year of Tianwen (1536), just as the retainers of the Imagawa clan were already waiting in the wings and preparing to head west to Yuanjiang to put down the rebellion, news of the accident suddenly came. Late at night, in the Imagawakan castle tower, Taiyuan Xuezai and Imagawa Yoshimoto read the urgent information sent from the Kadong region with solemn faces.
"Did the Hojo family release all the hostages of the wealthy families in the Kadong area back to visit their relatives in one go?" Imagawa Yoshimoto read the report sent by Fuji Nobutada with disbelief on his face, "The Rich Soldiers Department asked us to take the opportunity to send troops to Kadong. He said He will respond to us with an army."
"The information sent back by the Katsurayama family also confirms this. The bastard of the Katsurayama family, Kiyoshi Katsurayama, is the one who arranged it for me. He also said that in the past few days, the ninjas in the Hojo family's Fuma ninja have loosened their supervision of the Kadong area. There were many, and the army also retreated a lot, so he had the opportunity to send a secret message back. Not only the Katsurayama family, but also the Imamiya family, Kamei Sect, and Iwanami family also sent secret envoys to contact us, saying that they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity If the hostage comes back, he will return to the Imagawa family anyway."
Taiyuan Xuezai looked at the secret letter sent with interest, and could not hide the smile on his lips, "Good fellow, we have just obtained the title of ruling Suruga. The Hojo family is afraid that the wealthy families in the east of the river will not rely on the Imagawa family. Did you release all the hostages in one breath?"
"Is it a trap?" Imagawa Yoshimoto keenly judged, "The Hojo family wants to lure us into contact with these wealthy families, march to the east of the river, and then ambush us. There are even people from these wealthy families who have insider connections with the Hojo family and deliberately deceive us."
"No, I think it's just the opposite." Taiyuan Xuezhai shook his head repeatedly and tapped Imagawa Yoshimoto's forehead with his hand, "Disciple, think about it again."
"Think about it..." Imagawa Yoshimoto frowned, "But the Hojo family clearly has ulterior motives. The head of the Hojo family is not a fool, how could he really let all the hostages back? He must have a purpose. "
"Then let me ask you, if you were from the Hojo family and you wanted to lure the Imagawa family into Hedong and ambush them, what would you do?" Taiyuan Xue Zhai followed the temptation and asked with a smile.
"Create an environment that is conducive to the Imagawa family and let them relax their vigilance." Imagawa Yoshimoto quickly replied.
"Then do you think the Imagawa family has relaxed its vigilance now?" Taiyuan Xuezhai asked the next question.
"...No." Imagawa Yoshimoto gave the answer after thinking for a moment, "What they did was too obvious. How could they have released all the wealthy hostages in one breath, and then withdraw their troops and ninjas? It was clear that they were in their hearts. There is something wrong. If I were the Hojo family, if I really wanted to lure the Imagawa family into Kadong, I might only release one or two hostages who are closely related to the Imagawa family, and the withdrawal would not be so obvious. They are so blatant, Could it be that he is afraid that the Imagawa family will not suspect that there is fraud involved?"
"Then do you think the planner of the Hojo family is a fool?" Taiyuan Xuezhai narrowed his eyes with a smile.
"Of course not." Imagawa Yoshimoto said matter-of-factly.
"Then why do you think the Hojo family did this?"
"This..." Imagawa Yoshimoto fell into deep thought again after hearing this, "Is this why the suspicion formation is being used to prevent the Imagawa family from marching to Hedong?"
"Isn't this an unnecessary move? We had no plan to march into Hedong in the first place. Anyone with a discerning eye knows that our first target must be Yuanjiang." Taiyuan Xuezhai picked up the dried meat on the table and put it in his mouth as he spoke One pill, "As long as the Hojo family maintains their previous arrangements, we will not take advantage of Kadong. Why should he disrupt his own arrangements? What if the Imagawa family is really a fool and rushes in, he is not Looking for trouble for yourself?"
"Then..." Imagawa Yoshimoto started taking the exam again, "If the Hojo family's purpose is to prevent the Imagawa family from marching to Hedong, they just need to keep the deployment unchanged. Since he has changed the deployment, he must want the Imagawa family to advance From Hedong.”
"That's good, but what next?" Taiyuan Xuezhai did not rush to give an answer, but encouraged him to think for himself just like when he taught Imagawa Yoshimoto when he was a child.
"The Hojo family wants the Imagawa family to enter Kadong... and they also want the Imagawa family to know that the Hojo family wants him to enter Kadong..." After pondering for a moment, Imagawa Yoshimoto immediately straightened out his logic:
"If the Hojo family wants to ambush the Imagawa family, they must conceal their intentions to prevent the Imagawa family from realizing that 'the Hojo family is luring the Imagawa family into Kadong.' But the Hojo family has no intention of concealing this action at all, and generously released All the hostages were taken away, and most of the troops and ninjas were withdrawn. Therefore, the Hojo family told the Imagawa family without hesitation that they wanted to let the Imagawa family enter Hedong. In this case, there is a high probability that he would not ambush It’s the Imagawa family. Because the Imagawa family has already been vigilant and will not be easily attacked.”
"That's good, but what does the Hojo family want?" Taiyuan Xue Zhai clapped his hands and laughed, very satisfied with Imagawa Yoshimoto's answer.
"The Hojo family is very eager to let us go to Kadong. They are even willing to give up the opportunity to ambush us in order to let us enter Kadong with peace of mind. Why are they so anxious?" Imagawa Yoshimoto continued to organize his thoughts and talked. As he was talking, he suddenly realized something. He raised his head and looked at Taiyuan Xuezhai, "Is he afraid that we will go to Yuanjiang to quell the rebellion?"
"Congratulations." Taiyuan Xuezhai snapped his fingers at Imagawa Yoshimoto's forehead, "This is the level of thinking of the Warring States Daimyo."
"The Hojo family knows very well that once the Imagawa family calms down the civil strife, their strength will be greatly increased. If they come back to fight for Hedong later, it will be difficult for them to deal with it. So killing the Hojo family will not give us a chance to pacify Yuanjiang. It will I tried my best to keep Imagawa Yoshima." Taiyuan Xuezhai then explained his analysis:
"But now that the Takeda family's army is restraining the north, it is difficult for the Hojo family to cross the Fuji River and continue westward. If they want to contain the military strength of our Imagawa clan, they can only lure us into Kadong to fight them. But our Imagawa clan is not the same. Fool, if there is a risk in entering Hedong, why would you give up the great opportunity to use your honor to pacify Yuanjiang? Therefore, the Hojo family can only weaken their control in Hedong and carry out this action honestly and openly. Show it to the Imagawa family and give us a good opportunity to march to Hedong. Only in this way can we attract the Imagawa family here."
"So..." Although Imagawa Yoshimoto has already deduced the result, he still can't believe it when he thinks about it. "The Hojo family really just... gave us a good opportunity to take back Hedong?"
"Chengfang, you still don't understand that the real plan to kill people is never a conspiracy, but a conspiracy." Taiyuan Xuezhai fiddled with the rosary beads and taught earnestly:
"Conspiracy is just a chain of links, making a choice between 'yes or no', and deceiving the other party. If the other party sees through it, in the second step, one's side will be defeated. For this reason, one's side will only Only by taking one more step and reaching the third step can you defeat the enemy who reached the second step. But the irony is that if the opponent is really stupid and only stays at the first step, then you will be moved to the third step. Even a veteran who can count ninety-nine steps may be defeated by a fledgling who can only count the first step. The conspiracy is too dangerous, and in the end it is still a different idea. "
"But Yangmou is different. Yangmou doesn't need to deceive. It just puts all the options in front of you. Whatever you choose, you will either jump into a trap or give you a choice that you simply cannot refuse." Taiyuan Xuezhai paused. He seemed to be thinking of countless terrible conspiracies throughout the ages, and he couldn't help but frown:
"If the Hojo family just planned a conspiracy to ambush us in Hedong, they would be doomed once it is discovered. But what they are using now is a conspiracy, which is to throw a great opportunity to regain Hedong in front of us to see if we go That's it. If we go, Yuanjiang will have no hope of quelling the rebellion. If we don't go, we will miss the perfect opportunity to regain Hedong, and also chill the hearts of the wealthy families in the Hedong area - they will think that now that their names are in hand, the hostages are released, and Hojo withdraws their troops, the company will With such a good opportunity, if the Imagawa clan does not send troops, has it really given up on Hedong? Then do we still need to be loyal? Next time we want to regain Hedong, people will lose their hearts, but it will be even more difficult."
"Then teacher, what should we choose?" Imagawa Yoshimoto was at a loss in front of this ruthless plot, so he could only ask in a low voice.
"What else can I do? I can't leave anymore." Taiyuan Xue Zhai raised his hands with a smile, making a gesture of surrender, "There are capable people in the Hojo family, and I kindly invite this poor monk to a banquet."
"Of course, you can't just surrender like this." Taiyuan Xuezhai's smile gradually faded, and then gradually turned into a sneer, "Chengfang, under the banner of the family governor, you marched into Yuanjiang with great fanfare, and then arranged for people to fight after nightfall. Light a torch and return east at night. As a teacher, I will personally sit on the banks of the Fuji River, waiting for the soldiers you send. We will deceive both Imagawa Yoshizhin and the Hojo family to see who is the fish and who is the fisherman."
