From the highly pragmatic explanation, Liu Xin learned that the nature of the Battle of Sekigahara was actually a war that broke out due to internal strife in the Toyotomi family, that is, the Qingzhou martial arts sect raised by Hideyoshi's original wife, Hokusei Ningning, and Hideyori's biological mother, Yodono Tea House, secretly There was internal strife among the Omi followers who supported him, and the conflict that broke out between them was exploited by the five elders. In name, this use was used to fight for the next generation speaker of the Toyotomi family.
At that time, Gao Pragmatic made it clear that the nature of the war, at least in the eyes of the Japanese at that time, was not about who among the Eastern and Western armies jumped out to rebel against the Toyotomi family, because both armies were claiming to be loyal to Toyotomi. banner.
As the only person who could represent the Toyotomi family at that time, Toyotomi Hideyori was younger than Zhu Yijun when he ascended the throne. What political stance was expected of him?
In the original history, Gao Gong lamented, "How can a ten-year-old emperor govern the world?" His original intention was obviously to ask the cabinet and courtiers to take responsibility, because the power of "ruling the world" was now entrusted to me by Emperor Daxing.
As a result, Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao deliberately distorted it, making the two palaces and the young emperor think that Gao Gong meant to replace him, thus ruining his political life.
This story tells us: The political abilities of orphans and widowed mothers are generally unreliable.
For the Toyotomi clan, both the eastern and western armies are in the bureau and they are all my retainers. How can I interfere? Isn’t it the same thing if I help anyone?
Therefore, the Sekigahara War was not a war that marked the Tokugawa family replacing the Toyotomi family and becoming the next generation of rulers of Japan. If there is an event that marks the official replacement of the Toyotomi family by the Tokugawa family, then this event can only be the succession of Tokugawa Hidetada as the second generation shogun.
The general of the conquering barbarians was originally a temporary official position established for the purpose of conquering the Ainu (Ezo). The position of general can only mark the establishment of a new regime when the hereditary system is established.
Since Tokugawa Hidetada succeeded the second generation shogun, the remaining members of the Toyotomi family can only fight to preserve the name of the Toyotomi family. The death of Kato Kiyomasa, the last powerful member of the Toyotomi family, also marked the Tokugawa family's determination to remnant. The cleanup of the forces is completed, and the winter and summer formations in Osaka will just come naturally.
Why is it said that the five elders took advantage of this conflict within the Toyotomi family? This is related to the Toyotomi family's method of calming the world that Gao Jingshi has emphasized many times in front of her.
Among the powerful separatist forces in various places, the forces of Choso Gabu, Shimazu, and Date were weakened; Oda, Shibata, and Hojo were eliminated; these forces have completely withdrawn from the game, and the situations of the five elders are different. same.
Tokugawa Ieyasu transferred the title: although it was an additional title, he left his homeland and the easy-to-defend Tokaido and Kai.
On the contrary, Gao Pragmatic did some popular science for Liu Xin, a professional, and told Liu Xin that the Kanto Plain in Japan at that time was not actually a land of abundance with thousands of miles of fertile fields, but a virgin land with many river networks and swamps.
However, Tokugawa Ieyasu is truly a generational figure in Japan. He led his subordinates to develop the Kanto region and transformed the bomb that Toyotomi Hideyoshi forced into his hands into a miracle, turning it into a powerful force worth millions of stones.
In addition, during the war of aggression against Korea, the Tokugawa family did not send troops and preserved their strength. After the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he ranked first among the five elders. There is no doubt that he is the first in terms of paper strength.
Uesugi Kagekatsu also moved: from Echigo to Aizu, his paper strength was also greatly strengthened. Before the transfer, the Uesugi family had long lost the glory of Uesugi Kenshin, the "Dragon of Echigo", and lost all the territory in Echigo. The Otate Rebellion and the Shinbada Rebellion broke out in Echigo, and the national power was exhausted.
Fortunately, Kagekatsu and Naoe Kanetsugu were good at speculating and took refuge in Toyotomi Hideyoshi early. The latter set him up as an example to attract the princes to actively join him.
So from Echigo to Aizu, he really left the mess and started anew, and the fiefdom worth millions of koku also allowed him to firmly sit in the poker game and become one of the players.
The Ukita Hide family was granted an additional title: part of the Harima area was added to the original Ukita territory. Speaking of which, Hideyoshi was highly favored in front of Hideyoshi. He was Hideyoshi's adopted son, and his wife was Maeda Toshiie's beloved daughter Gohime. He inherited the family business at the age of nine and established military exploits in Korea. He was one of the five elders designated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
In the Toyotomi regime, as one of the few remaining descendants, he shouldered a very heavy burden. Unfortunately, the turmoil at home in the past few years weakened Ukita's strength, and the military achievements in the Korean battlefield did not translate into actual improvements in the fiefdom. Therefore, by the time of the Battle of Sekigahara, Ukita actually had only paper strength. The weakest elder.
However, Ukita Hideie himself is indeed a young talent, and he has fully proven his talents in the military. In the Battle of Sekigahara, the Ukita Army was also the well-deserved main force of the Western Army that actually participated in the war. It's a pity that a fiefdom of less than 500,000 shi is really difficult for him to have the confidence and strength to turn things around.
Terumoto Mori increased the title in theory, but in reality reduced it: in the process of unifying Japan, the Toyotomi family had done all they could to benefit the Maori forces. Not only did they allow their nephews to succeed the Kobayakawa family, but they also increased a large amount of Maori in Kyushu. The territory of Liangchuan. Before the Battle of Sekigahara, it could be said that it was the only force that could compete with the Tokugawa family in terms of paper strength, but things were also bad because they had many domestic orders.
Because of Takakage, Kobayakawa was especially valued by Hideyoshi and gradually separated; Yoshikawa Hiroyuki and Tokugawa were very close, and Mori Hidemoto advocated not to get involved in Sekigahara's war. This ultimately led to the Maori family having to either eat or sleep during the Battle of Sekigahara, and even one of them jumped into battle.
Maeda Tosunaga was granted an additional title: The Maeda family has always been good at taking sides. During the Toshi family's era, they relied on timely surrender of their old friend Hideyoshi to maintain their reputation as good at fighting and loyal, and also earned a salary of millions of stone.
In the generation of their son Maeda Toshinaga, prestige and martial prowess naturally declined; and the Kaga conquest almost broke out before the Battle of Sekigahara, and the Maeda family had to ask Mrs. Osomatsu to go to Edo as a hostage to avoid being conquered.
When the three of the top five veterans gathered together, the Maeda family timely chose to bet on both sides, joining the Eastern Army as the main force and joining the Western Army as a political advantage. Of course, Ieyasu also favored the weaker Maeda Toshiba. The long momentum indicates welcome.
In fact, the Maeda family's troops did not directly appear on the Sekigahara battlefield, but were responsible for attacking the Western Army in Echizen in Hokuriku. This is also a sign that the Maeda family is good at speculation.
As mentioned before, the Toyotomi family's feudal system is not a system in which the Toyotomi clan, as a high-level feudal lord, commands lower-level feudal lords. What Toyotomi Hideyoshi accomplished is more like hegemony during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period than actual unification.
Compared with this, due to his limited military ability, lack of original family character, and differences in personal personality, he was not as decisive and thorough as Oda Nobunaga's actions.
During the process of unification, he enfeoffed many powerful foreign daimyo, but his own clan daimyo were pitifully weak.
There is a theory that Toyotomi Hideyoshi's plan was to entrust the land of Korea to these lineage retainers. However, the failure of the Korean expedition forced most of his descendants to huddle on Kyushu Island.
When he was alive, he could still use his personal prestige and talent to control these big names who were allied with him; after his death, due to Hideyori's young age and the fact that the Yamato Dainagon line had been cut off, the power of his family declined rapidly. The weakening power of the Hepai Dynasty will inevitably cause many foreign famous names to compete for leadership.
As for the performance of the five elders before and after the Battle of Guanyuan, of course they were completely different.
Tokugawa Ieyasu can be said to be full of strategies. In the Battle of Sekigahara, he demonstrated extremely high political and strategic levels. Tokugawa Ieyasu was not as sinister and cunning as later generations would say; on the contrary, among the outstanding figures of the Warring States Period, he was considered a very kind and humane person - regardless of whether he was sincere or not, at least he showed it That's right.
Before the Battle of Sekigahara, many things Tokugawa Ieyasu did made people feel that he was a loyal person:
During the turmoil in Mikawa, he did not kill indiscriminately; in order to protect the people of Toe Country, he led the inferior troops to attack; to pacify Kai, he took the initiative to protect Takeda's ministers and descendants; after Oda Nobunaga's death, he took the initiative to protect Nobunaga's orphan, In the Battle of Komaki Nagakute, he fought Toyotomi Hideyoshi without losing; before Hideyoshi died, he swore to protect the Toyotomi family for generations to come.
So Gao pragmatically told Liu Xin that at that time, Lao Wugui's reputation was undoubtedly the best in Japan among the major names.
When Ishida Mitsunari was in conflict with the military commander faction, he actively wooed the military commander faction; organized the Aizu expedition and completed the army assembly; entrusted Torii Motoadada to show the human touch of the Mikawa samurai; on the way of the army's eastward march, the incident of taking hostages in Osaka Castle occurred, and Ieyasu He also held a hill assessment at the right time and cleverly used his rebellious psychology to tell everyone that they could go wherever they wanted, which in turn united the generals and had a common goal.
If the goal of the Western Army is to eradicate the traitor Tokugawa Ieyasu and defend Toyotomi's world, then the goal of the Eastern Army is obviously more simple and crude: to cut down 30% of Ishida and restore peace to the world.
From this point of view, regardless of whether it is just or not, the Eastern Army will only be more united than the Western Army; besides, there are really only a handful of people in the Western Army who truly participate in the war with a decisive attitude.
After the war began, Ieyasu still continued his political offensive, stabilized the Maori Army, and instigated Kobayakawa Hideaki to rebel, which directly caused the Eastern Army to be three times larger than the Western Army: This was while one Tokugawa Army was restraining the Uesugi Army, and the other was being defeated by Sanada. It was achieved under the state of military delay.
This is called strength, conquering others without fighting. This state of affairs was unmatched by anyone in Japan at the time.
For Uesugi Kagekatsu, to be honest, his performance is no longer important, because the position of the strategic decisive battle has been transferred, and the conditions in Japan at the time did not allow for a long-term stalemate, so what Uesugi could do was very limited.
Before the war broke out, Uesugi contained Tokugawa's main force. But Tokugawa Ieyasu was a drunkard who didn't care about drinking. From his slow march on the Tokaido, he knew that the conquest of Uesugi was just a cover. What really mattered was the movement of Ishida who raised his troops above.
Although there was little hope in the first place, the Uesugi family's performance could be said to be relatively poor. With an absolute advantage in military strength, Naoe Kanetsugu failed to even capture Hasedo Castle. He really couldn't even get out of his house.
Some people say that Uesugi should take the initiative to pursue the Tokugawa army. In fact, this is not realistic. What Tokugawa Ieyasu left behind during his conquest of Uesugi was his second son Yuki Hideyasu, and this man was known to be brave and good at fighting.
In order to achieve the goal of muddying the waters in the rear, one must either open up the Tokugawa family's territory, or catch up with the Eastern Army all the way. But before these goals were achieved, Date and the Mogami Army had already penetrated Uesugi territory. Therefore, the Uesugi family is really the biggest loser.
Mouri Terumoto's performance was also very poor. To put it in a more pragmatic way, he simply did not show the courage and skill that a million-stone family governor should have.
They had seriously unrealistic illusions about the re-division of territory after the war. They believed that as long as Maori did not actually send troops, they could avoid being cut off from the vassal.
In fact, for an old fox like Tokugawa Ieyasu, the title of coach of the Western Army is enough to make a fuss, not to mention that Mori is the only one in the country besides the Toyotomi family who can compete with the Tokugawa family on paper. power.
For such a large force, it does not mean that the problem can be solved by bowing down and admitting defeat and restoring harmony. It is necessary to take this opportunity to completely kick the opponent out of the game. Tokugawa Ieyasu has a very clear and clear understanding of this.
Terumoto Mori did not clearly realize that supporting him as the coach of the Western Army was the only chance for him and the Tokugawa family to compete for the world. Instead, he tried to protect himself from the beginning and planned a retreat first.
He allowed his retainers to give orders and took his six-year-old son to the battlefield without patrolling. He entrusted the command to Mouri Hidemoto, but was extremely worried about him and arranged for Anguoji Huiqiong to command remotely. After the defeat of the Western Army, he did not dare to Under the banner of orthodoxy, they defended Osaka Castle and simply opened the city to surrender, which chilled the soldiers.
These performances made Gao Pragmatic directly express that the low level of Mouri Terumoto displayed in this battle really opened his eyes.
Ukita Hideie's performance can be described as hard work. As mentioned before, Hideie Ukita joined the Western Army as the de facto main force.
In the Battle of Sekigahara, Ukita Hideie also led the army to fight hard. However, in the early political struggle, the Western Army had already been at a clear disadvantage. Hideie himself did not have a high political status in the Western Army - it was not a nominal one. The commander-in-chief is not the de facto commander-in-chief.
After he was defeated, he lost his life because of his wife. After being exiled, he lived to be over 80 years old. This can be regarded as God's last reward for a loyal and upright person like him.
Maeda Toshinaga...forget it, his influence on the Sekigahara War was so insignificant that it is impossible to talk about it.
Through the analysis that Gao Jingshi mentioned to Liu Xin before, we can see that in fact, in the Battle of Sekigahara, the actual battlefield configuration of the five old forces was: Ukita Hideke's 17,000 people fought against half a German Kawa Ieyasu had 30,000 men (Hidetada's troops did not reach Sekigahara), so this battle was actually a bit funny. The protagonists were not present, and the hawks and dogs below were tearing them apart.
But this also reflects that the essential conflict of this war is the conflict between retainers, especially the conflict between generations.
According to the Toyotomi genealogy that Gao Jingshi told Liu Xin (the genealogy mentioned here refers to the retainers who followed Hideyoshi before Honnoji Temple):
Fukushima Masanori 240,000 stone; Kato Kiyomasa 250,000 stone; Asano Nagamasa 220,000 stone; Konishi Yukinaga 240,000 stone; Ishida Mitsunari 192,000 stone; Kato Yoshiaki 100,000 stone; Katagiri Kamoto 10,000 stone; Hachisuka Masakatsu 17 Ten thousand koku; Horio Yoshiharu 40,000 koku; Yamauchi Kazuhiro 60,000 koku; Kuroda Takataka 120,000 koku; Toudo Takatora (following Toyotomi Hidenaga) 70,000 koku.
Among them, Fukushima Masanori, Kato Kiyomasa and Hideyoshi are cousins, and Asano Nagamasa is Hideyoshi's brother-in-law. With the Toyotomi clan declining, the combined fiefdoms of the three were less than a quarter of Tokugawa Ieyasu's;
Horio Yoshiharu and Hachisuka Masakatsu joined Hideyoshi during the Mino Campaign, but their final salaries could be said to be pitiful. And powerful princes like Kuroda Takataka and Toudo Takatora were afraid of their strength when Hideyoshi entrusted them, which made the veterans feel chilled.
The Toyotomi family had a fiefdom of about 4.5 million koku (including the hiding place), but they were unable to mobilize the army and had no one to command the army. According to Gao's pragmatic view, in this case, the optimal solution can only be to increase the number of fiefdoms in the genealogy to compete with the foreign daimyo.
But the strange thing is that Toyotomi Hideyoshi did not seem to realize this. Instead, he repeatedly guarded against his successors and handed over the political power to the five elders to jointly decide, but he also imagined that one day the five elders would return power to Toyotomi. Hideyori.
Therefore, Gao Pragmatic said before that Hideyoshi behaved like an old fool in the later period: No matter Tokugawa, Uesugi or Mori, everyone only temporarily succumbed to you, do you really think that they are loyal to you sincerely?
If the Maori family decisively joined the Sekigahara battlefield and defeated the Eastern Army, then the Maori shogunate might be recorded in the history books of future generations.
In the final analysis, what Toyotomi Hideyoshi left behind was a dead end: relatives died, some committed suicide, and the young were young; the conquest of Korea failed, and the fiefdoms of the generations failed to expand; multiple oligarchic forces were enfeoffed, but only They can be expected to check and balance each other; the internal fighting between Ning Ning and Cha Cha at home has exhausted their own strength.
Therefore, the Battle of Sekigahara was not a conflict between the two major factions of Toyotomi and Tokugawa at all, but a conflict caused by the accumulated conflicts between Hideyoshi's descendants, which were exploited by the powerful daimyo to fight for power and gain. war.
Tokugawa Ieyasu grasped the characteristics of Toyotomi's head, who had a young country and was unable to mobilize a large number of troops, and pointed the finger at the "rebellion" Ishida Mitsunari, effectively uniting the forces within the Toyotomi family and completing his purge of powerful factions. The purpose was to pave the way for the next step of unifying Japan.
These understandings of the Battle of Sekigahara led Gao Jingshi to conclude what Liu Xin said at the time: when the moment came when the Eastern and Western armies were formed and the war officially broke out, the Toyotomi family had actually lost.
Liu Xin asked back at that time: "So you think that if there is no external intervention, the Toyotomi family will definitely die?"
Gao Pangshi did not directly answer whether death was inevitable, but he replied: "For the Toyotomi family, the best strategy at that time was not to join the Eastern Army or the Western Army, but to do everything possible to prevent any possible changes before Hideyori came of age. A balance of power war.
Because Hideyoshi's ability to become a "people of the world" was largely due to this hand. The five great principles he came up with before his death were essentially hoping to continue to play balance.
Unfortunately, judging from the IQ of Osaka's decision-makers after his death, this is an impossible task, and they may even not be aware of it at all - at least not the orphan and widowed mother. "
Liu Xin now feels that the reason why Gao Pragmatic finally chose to "help" orphans and widowed mothers may be that their political level is so poor that they don't even know where the danger is. Such people are best deceived.
However, judging from Liu Xin's understanding of Gao Jingshi, Gao Jingshi must also focus on the post-war layout, and this will in turn affect his decision to help whom, how to help, to what extent, and at what time to help. etc. So she asked these questions.
Gao pragmatic smiled and said: "It has been decided who to help: Toyotomi Hideyori's flag is the best, after all, everyone has expressed their loyalty to him. Moreover, only if Osaka City invites me, can I have the name to take action. .
After all, Japan is the Ming Dynasty's "country without conquests." I'm not sure whether I can finally convince the court to send troops to pacify the Japanese mainland, so I have to think about finding a name first.
I think the name of being an armed mediator in the dispute between the Eastern and Western armies at Toyotomi's invitation seems pretty good. "
Unfortunately, Gao Pingshi's words had just begun. Gao Mo actually knocked on the door and came back. With a very serious face, he reported: "Master, something has happened in Japan."
Gao pragmatic seemed a little surprised, but he didn't take it to heart. He continued to eat while chewing slowly, and asked calmly: "What happened?"
"Urgent message from Tatsuzawa Minoru: After the Shimazu clan announced the bloodline change, undercurrents were raging in Osaka City. Many people have even put their words on the table, requesting Toyotomi Hideyoshi to once again conquer Kyushu, crusade and abolish the Shimazu clan the right to rule.”
As soon as these words came out, Gao Pragmatic stopped and said nothing, Liu Xin looked stunned, and Meng Guzhe was naturally indifferent. The only one who responded quickly was Huang Zhiting.
She glanced at Gao Pingshi and saw that he seemed to be thinking about something, so she took the initiative to ask Gao Mo: "Is the Shimazu family the family that the master supported?"
Gao Mo bowed slightly and said, "Yes, madam."
"Hmph!" Huang Zhiting's decision seemed to be the fastest. Her tone suddenly became cold, and she said solemnly: "Since he is the target of my support in Jinghua, whoever wants to touch him will be troubling Tai Sui in Jinghua. Why, the main force of the Beiyang Fleet is going out. Don’t you dare to speak loudly in Japan when you are outside?”
She turned to Gao Pragmatic and said: "Sir, this matter is of great importance. Whether Jinghua can keep Shimadzu is definitely a matter of concern to the whole of Japan right now. I hope you can make a decision quickly."
Gao pragmatic knew that she didn't know much about Japan, but he didn't expect her to react so quickly. He asked happily: "Well... what do you think we should do?"
Huang Zhiting raised her chin slightly and said: "I heard that the Battle of Luzon is almost over, and the Spanish navy has few ships left. In this case, let's transfer the main force of the Beiyang Fleet back and sail to Kagoshima first. Support the Shimazu family, if the people in Osaka City still don’t know how to advance or retreat..."
Her tone suddenly became cold and stern: "Then drive directly into Osaka Bay and bombard Osaka as a warning!"
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