East Island, Hakata
In the study room of the Hojo family's mansion, the old fox Hojo River, who had always been methodical and wise, was pacing back and forth in the study room with an anxious look on his face at this time... ········
After waiting for about a cup of tea, there was a rush of footsteps outside the door. Hojo River's eyes suddenly lit up and he looked towards the door. The next second, an old servant walked into the study, thinking of Hojo River, he knelt down to report. road:
"My lord, Mr. Wang has arrived!"
After hearing the news, Hojogawa's expression calmed down a little, and then he ordered to the old servant:
"Invite Mr. Wang in!"
"yes!"
After the old servant took the order and left, Hojogawa, who was waiting for Mr. Wang's arrival, first took a deep breath, and then began to adjust his emotions so that he didn't look so anxious.
After Hojo River finished doing this, the old servant also invited Mr. Wang in, and this Mr. Wang was Wang He, the high commissioner sent to Dongdao by the Coordination Office!
After the two met and exchanged greetings, Hojogawa invited Wang He to take a seat and let the maid in the palace serve fragrant tea. After these polite procedures were completed, Wang He also asked directly to Hojogawa:
"May I ask, Hojo-sama, how is the Battle of Bang Tao going now?"
As soon as these words came out, Hojogawa couldn't help but narrow his eyes. He knew that the Coordination Office of the Yijing Imperial Court had been deployed on the East Island for many years. There were many spies on the East Island and they were always very well-informed. As the high commissioner responsible for the intelligence work on the East Island, Wang He , I must be paying attention to the Battle of Bang Tao all the time...
Therefore, Wang He knew no less about the situation in the Battle of Bangtao than he did, so when the man named Wang asked himself what the situation was like in the Battle of Bangtao, he was really asking knowingly!
Thinking of this, Hojogawa could not help but feel a trace of embarrassment in his eyes, but on the surface he still pretended to be confident, smiled slightly, and said to Wang He:
"Wang Sang, Bangtao City can be said to be impregnable, and now that my friend Watanabe-kun is personally in charge of Bangtao City, the shogunate's soldiers and horses, in the words of your great Zhou Dynasty, cannot go beyond the thunder!"
Wang He was a little helpless when he saw that the old fox in Hojo River was so shameless and told lies with his eyes open, but on the surface he still wanted to accompany Hojo River to continue acting and could only say:
"I feel relieved because of your words, Hojo-sama! I wonder what happened to you, Hojo-sama, when you asked me to come this time?"
After hearing this, Hojogawa said without thinking:
"Although Bangtao City is as solid as a rock, if we want to counterattack, we will need a new batch of military reinforcements!"
Hearing the words "new military aid", Wang He couldn't help but fell into deep thought. A few months ago, Muto Masaaki changed his ambiguous attitude and chose to support Ishihara Nobu. After receiving Muto Masaaki's support, Ishihara Nobu became the leader. The shogunate's voice suddenly increased, and he began to implement his plan!
Ishihara Nobu first asked Hojo River and Watanabe Yuwu to come to Heian-kyo to see His Majesty in the name of the shogunate. Regarding Hojo River and Watanabe Yuwu, they would naturally not go to Heian-kyo. After all, everyone knows that going there is a sheep entering the tiger's mouth. Once you go there, you will never come back.························
So the two old guys made the same choice, that is, they were sick. Hojogawa was better and expressed his willingness to let one of his sons go to Heiankyo to see His Majesty on his behalf, while Watanabe Yuwu was more straightforward. , can’t even give up a son!
The reactions of Hojo River and Watanabe Yutake were completely within Ishihara Nobu's expectations. In fact, although Ishihara Nobu asked Hojo River and Watanabe Yutake to come to Heian Kyo, Ishihara Nobu never thought that these two people would listen to him. If you come to Ping An Jing, let yourself slaughter them!
What Ishihara Nobu wants is that Hojo River and Watanabe Yuutake not come, so he has an excuse to deal with Hojo River and Watanabe Yuutake!
Therefore, after the Hojo River and Watanabe Yuutake expressed their refusal to come, Ishihara Nobu also directly turned over the table, took out the evidence that the Hojo family, the Watanabe family, and the Great Shu Council were colluding to plot a rebellion, and called on all the daimyo of the East Island to kill Hojo.
Home and the Watanabe family!
Although it was true that they colluded with the Coordination Office and conspired to rebel, Hojogawa and Watanabe Yuwu naturally refused to admit it. They said that this was persecution by the shogunate and invited other daimyo of the East Island to follow them to honor the emperor and fall!
This time Ishihara Nobu flipped the table, which completely broke the balance between the shogunate and the daimyo, and made the contradiction between the shogunate and the daimyo public!
Therefore, although the other daimyo shouted loud slogans and expressed their support for the shogunate's crusade against the Hojo and Watanabe families, they were actually watching the fire from the other side. Even if the shogunate forced them to be more anxious, they would only send more than a hundred people at most. Just support some food and fodder to fool...
After the scolding war between the two sides continued for a period of time, because of the support of the great Zhou, Watanabe Yuwu and Hojogawa were also confident, vowing to overthrow the Toyotomi shogunate and establish a new regime in Higashishima!
Therefore, the Watanabe family sent 50,000 troops, and the Hojo family sent 30,000 troops, a total of 80,000. The so-called 150,000 embarked on the journey of collapse. Because they received thousands of firecrackers supported by the Fengwu Army, with these powerful firearms, the two The coalition forces of the family also fought and won consecutively, and the progress was very smooth. They even reached Nagawa Castle, which was only more than 200 miles away from Heian Kyo!
However, because the firecrackers supported by the Fengwu Army were all second-hand firecrackers, although they were powerful, their service life was low, and the coalition soldiers did not know how to maintain them.
Therefore, these muskets were soon scrapped one after another, and this also caused the coalition forces to be unable to maintain the momentum of their initial advance. Although they were only two hundred miles away from Ping'an Capital, they were still unable to reach Ping'an Capital!
And this also gave the shogunate army a breather. Ishihara Nobu also used this time to quickly adjust his military strategy, and tried his best to persuade another daimyo, Mouri Katsuhiro, to join the war and sneak attack on the Watanabe family's Bangtao Castle!
Although Yuwu Watanabe led his troops to defeat Katsuhiro Mori and defended his home base of Bangtao City, the surprise attack on his home base still made the Watanabe family's troops panic. Nobu Ishihara also seized this opportunity to severely damage the coalition forces in Nagawa!
The coalition forces lost tens of thousands of troops in Nagawa's defeat, and the situation immediately took a turn for the worse. Although Hojogawa and Watanabe Yuutake tried many methods, they were still unable to change the decline. The shogunate army led by Nobu Ishihara killed them all the way to Bangtao City... ·······················
Although the Watanabe family's home base in Bang Tao City is not his own home, watching the shogunate army attack Bang Tao, Hojo River was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, anxious to find a way to lift the siege of Bang Tao City!
Hojo River knew very well that he and Watanabe Yuutake were now grasshoppers on a rope. Once Bangtao City was destroyed and the Watanabe family was destroyed, he would be next!
And when he is isolated and helpless, he is absolutely unable to withstand the shogunate's army. Therefore, even for himself, Hojo River must do his best to rescue Watanabe Yuwu and prevent the shogunate's army from attacking Bangtao City!
Hojogawa also thought of many ways to rescue Watanabe Yuutake. His first choice was to encourage other daimyo to sneak attack on Heianjing to surround Wei and rescue Zhao just like Ishihara Nobun persuaded Mouri Katsuhiro to sneak attack on Bangtao City!
However, it is easy to add icing on the cake, but it is very difficult to provide help when the time is right. The reason why Ishihara Nobu was able to encourage Maori Katsuhiro to send troops was that in addition to promising that Bangtao City would belong to the Maori family, he also promised other daimyo that the shogunate would never reduce the vassalage in the future. In this way, It was Mouri Katsuhiro who was invited to take action and changed the situation of the battle!
But now Hojogawa simply can't hold such a bargaining chip, and the other daimyo see that they are about to be defeated, and they are unwilling to lend a helping hand at this time!
As a result, Hojo River had no choice but to place all his hopes on Wang He and the Yi Jing court behind him... ·····
Under Hojogawa's earnest gaze, Wang He, who had been pondering for a while, slowly spoke:
"Lord Hojo, that's not what you told me last time. You told me last time that as long as I gave you some money, food, and firearms, you would be able to capture Heian Kyo, kill the entire Muto family, and ask me to go back and attack us. So handsome!"
As soon as these words came out, Hojogawa couldn't help but blush because of the awesomeness he had boasted before, but he also
He quickly argued:
"Wang Sang, this plan can't keep up with the changes. If it weren't for the sneak attack by the bastard Maori Katsuhiro, I would have fulfilled my promise now and let Wang Sang take the head of Muto Masaaki to ask for credit from your Marshal Ye!"
After finishing his defense, Hojogawa continued to preach:
"The war situation is now at a very critical moment. As long as Wang Sang can persuade Marshal Ye to give us some more firearms, we can change the war situation!"
Wang He sneered in his heart when he heard this, but on the surface he still pretended to be embarrassed and said:
"It's not that I don't want to help you, it's really that I'm having difficulties at the moment! You may not understand my work process, Da Zhou. Because of your promise, I also boasted to our commander before I gave you those things. !」
"If you ask me to go back and take care of our Marshal Ye now, wouldn't it be like asking me to slap myself in the face? Moreover, the court's budget is limited. If I send you something again, the budget will have to be re-approved. This is quite Troublesome things..."
Looking at Wang He's troubled expression, Hojogawa took a deep breath. He didn't know how much of Wang He's words were true and how much was false!
However, in order to get military reinforcements, Hojo Chuan felt that it was necessary to make Wang He aware of the danger of the matter. He said to Wang He in a deep voice:
"Wang Sang, the shogunate and the Maori family now have a total of 110,000 soldiers and horses surrounding Bangtao City. Bangtao City only has 30,000 defenders. The food and grass in the city can only last for three months at most. These three months are The last time!"
Feeling the decisiveness in Hojogawa's words, Wang He also understood that the old guy had finally confessed to him. Although he wanted to pretend to be stupid and asked, didn't you still say that Bangtao City was impregnable and wanted to counterattack? Now I have the last three months to disgust the old thief Hojo!
But looking at Hojo River's serious expression, Wang He also gave up the idea. After hesitating for a while, he said to Hojo River:
"I also have a thousand Weiyuan blunderbuss, five hundred Polu blunderbuss, and ten tiger cannons here. If you need it, Hojo-sama, I can give it to you within ten days..." ·············》
As soon as these words came out, Hojogawa's expression suddenly became happy. Just when he was about to say something, Wang He continued:
"Hojo-sama, I hope you understand that these are the last firearms in my hand. If you want them again, you need to reinstall them. I don't know if they can be approved, but even if they are approved, it will take at least a few months!"
"And as you know, the shogunate has begun to try to block the sea route. It will become more difficult for our fleet to send things over!"
After hearing this, Hojo Sichuan hesitated for a moment and then clapped his hands. The next second, several servants carried two boxes and came to Wang He and Hojo Sichuan.
Just when Wang He was a little confused, Hojogawa asked his servant to open the box, and in the next second, countless gold and silver jewelry were displayed in front of Wang He!
"Lord Hojo, what do you mean?"
Facing Wang He's inquiry, Hojogawa forced out a smile and said:
"Wang Sang, I know the rules of your Zhou Dynasty. These are the treasures of my Hojo family from generation to generation. Please Wang Sang, please use these things to smoothen the relationship between us in the court and let the military reinforcements arrive as soon as possible. If your ministry can send troops and horses, that is The best thing ever..."
Looking at these two boxes of golden jewelry, Wang He knew that it was conservatively estimated to be worth hundreds of thousands taels of silver. Hojogawa gave these things to himself. It seemed that the Battle of Bangtao was really very dangerous. Let this The old thing is getting impatient!
In addition, in order to prevent the public opinion from falling into disgrace, the Hojo family and the Watanabe family had been deliberately keeping a distance from the coordination office, but now they actually invited the Zhou army to go directly. This is enough to see that the Hojo River is really anxious now. As long as it can be reversed The situation makes him hungry!
However, Hojogawa might have said this to test himself to see if the court really wanted to interfere directly. Thinking of this, Wang He also said in a deep voice:
"Hojo-sama, you don't have to
In this way, I will naturally do my best for your affairs, but don't even think about sending troops directly. The commander-in-chief just wants Muto Masaaki's head and has no interest in your Dongdao! "
Hearing this, Hojogawa's expression was a little complicated, but he still pretended to be very sincere in his sermon:
"Wang Sang, please accept these things. This is my heart. The war between us and the shogunate has reached its most critical moment. As long as Marshal Ye gives us some more assistance, we will definitely be able to change the situation of the war and bring the war to an end." Mutoyoshi leaves it to his old man to deal with..."
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