On September 7, the tenth year of Tianwen (1541), at the foot of Gaoyuan City.
Imagawa Yoshimoto had to admit that Takeda Harunobu was right. In just a few days, most of Minami Shinano was defeated. The tragedy of Uehara Castle has spread all over the country, and when the knights of the Takeda Army arrogantly dragged strings of heads and threw them in front of the castle town, the small and weak towns no longer had the will to resist, and they all opened the city to send troops. son. Takeda Harunobu announced that any city that dares to resist will end up like Uehara Castle - these little daimyo ask themselves if they don't have the strength of the Suwa family, who would dare to resist - Takeda Harunobu has proven that he is not bluffing. , he killed thousands of people at will.
Arakami Castle, Kasuga Castle, Nose Castle, Matsuoka Castle, Iida Castle, Ajima Castle, Fukuyo Castle...the important towns in Minami Shinano were announced one after another, and only Kiso Fukushima Castle and Takato were left in the entire Minami Shino. The city is still resisting the Takeda family's invasion. Kiso Fukushima Castle is located in the mountains to the west of Shinano and is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Since Kiso Yoshiyasu is also one of the four great generals of Shinano, he is naturally unwilling to surrender without a fight. The Takato family in Takato Castle was a descendant of the Suwa clan. The blood feud of the clan being slaughtered was unforgettable for them, so they did not surrender immediately. Takeda Harunobu was also unambiguous and led his troops to garrison under Takato Castle, claiming that if Takato Castle did not surrender within five days, the whole city would be massacred.
Unlike the heavily armed Takeda Army, the Imagawa Army's camp is - a bit like a refugee camp? The cause of the incident was the Takeda Army's looting everywhere - although they abided by the rule of "surrendering without slaughtering the city", a large-scale looting in the castle town was indispensable - this gave birth to a series of homeless refugees. .
At that time, Imagawa Yoshimoto was worried about how to take care of the children taken in from Uehara Castle - some children needed milk, and more children kept crying, and even the soldiers, who were big and small, could not take care of them. Therefore, Imagawa Yoshimoto took in a group of fleeing women and asked them to help take care of their children. But once this case started, it could not be contained. More and more refugees ran to the Imagawa Army's camp to seek refuge when they were robbed by the Takeda Army, and Imagawa Yoshimoto could not bear to embarrass them. Finally, when the troops marched to the foot of Gaoyuan City, the number of refugees sheltered by the Imagawa Army was already as many as 2,000.
"How can we march with so many refugees?" Takeda Harunobu came to Imagawa Yoshimoto camp for a visit. He saw a bunch of tents set up sparsely by refugees with their families in a simple camp outside the camp, and he couldn't help but sigh, "If the enemy comes by then, won't you have to abandon them? Why bother taking them so far with you?"
"There won't be any more enemy troops, right? Minami Shinano has been pacified." Imagawa Yoshimoto fanned himself with a folding fan as if nothing had happened.
"Why, sister still looks happy?" Takeda Harunobu saw Ginkgo behind Imagawa Yoshimoto, who was leaning on the door buckle, looking at the smoke rising from the refugee camp with a smile.
"At least they don't have to starve, right?" Ginkgo rolled her eyes at Takeda Harunobu, "Or do you think it's an honor for you to have caused so many people to die?"
"Look, a lot of people have died?" Takeda Harunobu saw Ginkgo mentioning this topic, and couldn't help showing off proudly, "If dozens of cities were attacked one by one, wouldn't the number of casualties be higher than that of Uehara Castle? How many thousand people do you need?”
"Perhaps you are right in terms of absolute numbers." Imagawa Yoshimoto was relieved to see that many people died. "It's just that the method itself is too bad and unacceptable. I definitely can't do it." from."
"That's why I said you are a hypocritical hypocrite." Takeda Harunobu laughed, while Ginkgo didn't even mean to talk to her brother and turned around and left.
"There is really no way..." Imagawa Yoshimoto sighed, then shook his head and said, "Speaking of this, Tora Chiyo was too cruel to your younger sister. Gingko has been extremely sad these days, and has not thought about food or tea. I'm talking about your sister."
"I told you, that was not my intention. Although I did give the order to cut Suwa Sakon into pieces, I did not mean to force Mimi to death." Takeda Harunobu also shook his head, "In the final analysis, Suwa If Sakon surrenders obediently, wouldn’t there be so many things?”
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a messenger from the Takeda family running all the way from the direction of Takato Castle. He dismounted in front of Imagawa Yoshimoto and Takeda Harunobu and said, "Report to my lord, the messenger from Takato Castle has surrendered!"
"Choose wisely." Takeda Harunobu laughed with satisfaction, "Except for the Kiso family who are far away and have no time to take care of themselves, the entire Minami Shinano has surrendered to our Takeda family. He can't even wait for a single reinforcement. In this case , why is there any need to hold on?"
"You actually restrained the hatred of clan members being killed?" Imagawa Yoshimoto sighed, not knowing whether to lament or appreciate, "Takato Shinano Mamoru...at least in terms of protecting the clan, he did better than Suwa Sakon It’s much better.”
·
At noon on September 7, the tenth year of Astronomy (1541), Takeda Harunobu led the Takeda army into the city and accepted the surrender. Takato Yoritsugi restrained all his troops in Honmaru's house, and personally led a group of retainers to swear an oath to Takeda Harunobu in the castle tower. Imagawa Yoshimoto followed Takeda Harunobu into the castle tower. He watched Takeda Harunobu casually take the oath from Takato Yoritsugi who was kneeling on one knee with his hands at eyebrow level, rubbed it and put it in his arms.
"Tora Chiyo, that's so rude." Imagawa Yoshimoto leaned into Takeda Harunobu's ear and whispered at a volume that only he could hear, "How can you humiliate a general like this?"
"Just have the energy to kill them. Don't think they are local snakes in Minami Shinano all day long. From now on, we have to listen to the Takeda family here." Takeda Harunobu didn't care and answered loudly at the top of his voice.
"Why lose the hearts of the people?" Imagawa Yoshimoto looked around with some worry, and many of the retainers of the Gao Yuan family showed resentment on their faces. If in normal times, who would dare to humiliate their lord like this, they warriors would have drawn their swords and gone up to fight - but at this moment, the situation forced them to bow their heads under the eaves. Among the retainers, there was a tough-looking samurai who was gritting his teeth with hatred - seeing that the family crest on his samurai uniform was Ning Jiuyao, he must be Masatoshi Hoshina, the elder of the family and an expert in spear skills.
"Not all people are worthy of Corporal courtesy. For some small characters, the best way is to show kindness and power at the same time." Takeda Harunobu sneered, while taking out a letter from his arms and throwing it in front of Takato Yoritsugi, followed by The reporter hurriedly thanked him and took it. Takeda Harunobu didn't say much, turned around and walked away.
Imagawa Yoshimoto followed Takeda Harunobu out of the castle tower and came to the top of Sannomaru in Takato Castle, but suddenly found that the castle town was in chaos at the moment. The Ashigaru of the Takeda family went on a rampage in the castle town, breaking in from house to house and taking away all the valuable items in the house. If there was any slight disobedience, they would beat and kick the resisting people, and at worst they would set their houses on fire, and at worst they would splatter the scene with blood.
"Didn't everyone surrender?" Imagawa Yoshimoto was stunned, and then asked in surprise, "Why still..."
"What's the point? Didn't I massacre the city? How could I go back on my promise to surrender without killing? Otherwise, no one will surrender to me in the future." Takeda Harunobu also turned his head and looked at Imagawa Yoshimoto in surprise, and it took him a while to react. , "Are you asking me why I arranged 'random arrests'?"
Imagawa Yoshimoto did not answer, the confusion in his eyes already answered for him.
"Isn't this nonsense? Have you never fought a war? Oh, you have fought, but they were all civil wars within your own territory. It's hard to start with relatives and relatives, right?" Takeda Harunobu thought for a moment and then suddenly realized , and then laughed, "It's different to go out to fight. If you don't give your sons some sweetness, who would be willing to enlist in the army to fight with you? For the Takeda family? For me, Takeda Harunobu? For loyalty? I can still believe what the samurai said, Do you believe that Ashigaru, who is called a commoner, is telling you this? Who would believe it?"
"Everyone puts their heads in their belts and fights with you on the battlefield. There is no benefit at all, is it possible? Then what benefit can you give them? It's nothing more than dividing money and land and dividing women. There is so much land, how to divide it? Kai Fei They are so poor, how can they divide the money? Women can't even divide it. But don't they have to let them rob in the enemy's territory? When they are satisfied with the plunder, they fight fiercely, thinking that if they win, they can launch an army. If you want to plunder, you are willing to come with me next time. If you don’t let them rob, do you believe that I won’t even be able to recruit 2,000 people the next time I recruit them?”
Takeda Harumi told the cruel reality in straightforward words, leaving Imagawa Yoshimoto at a loss as to how to refute. After a moment of silence, he had no choice but to say, "Then you also promised not to kill anyone... Look at the city, it's obvious that people are killed in many places, don't you care?"
"Care? How to care? Are you going to make things difficult for your loyal subordinates because of the unknown people in the enemy's country? Are you going to kill your own soldiers to pay for them because they killed someone? Who would be willing to fight with you if that's the case? ? Isn't this deliberately causing trouble for himself and his family?" Takeda Harunobu shook his head repeatedly with laughter, "There was a little friction, it doesn't matter. I have told my subordinates in advance to keep an eye on it and not kill too many people."
"But you have acted so violently all the way, are you really not afraid of being punished by God?" Imagawa Yoshimoto was at a loss for words in front of Takeda Harunobu's words, and in the end he just said God.
"God's punishment? Am I afraid of this? If I am afraid of this, I am not me, Takeda Harunobu." Takeda Harunobu was amused by Imagawa Yoshimoto and laughed out loud, "I only believe in strength, not God. All South Shinano will crawl on my knees At the feet of Gaoyuan City, what if I betray my faith and massacre the city again? Who can do anything to me? Destiny has always only helped the strong and has no mercy on the weak. This is the troubled world, and this is the way for the daimyo to survive in troubled times."
"After all, all the 'rights and wrongs' you talk about are based on 'family interests'. Whatever is good for the family is right, and what is not good for the family is wrong. Once a heinous atrocity like murder is punished, it will In the name of 'family', it becomes high-sounding and even righteous. However, is the family the highest source of justice? Above the family, isn't there a higher justice that belongs to man and heaven?"
Faced with Imagawa Yoshimoto's question, Takeda Harunobu did not answer, but just looked up at the sky, and then ended the conversation with a laugh.
