The Hojo family did not have a garrison on Misaki Castle Island, but on the other side of the castle island was Misaki Castle, and Misaki Castle had a garrison. It was just because the Hojo family believed that Misaki Castle would not survive until the Izu Navy and Sagami Navy failed. There is no danger, so the number of garrison troops is very limited, only about 600 people in total.
The envoy sent by Luo Yuan stated that the Maritime Trade Alliance had established the "Japanese Kanto Squadron" and assigned him to lead the Kanto Squadron to set up a base in the Kanto region, accompanied by "more than 30 giant ships and more than 10,000 troops." He requested negotiations with Hojo Ushimasa and Hojo Ujimasa and his son, and made it clear that the Maritime Trade Alliance was willing to finance and lease Misaki Castle as a trade base.
Misaki Castle and Castle Island were only seven or eight miles apart. The defenders sent people to look out, and sure enough they saw more than thirty giant ships. However, the defenders felt that the "strong army of more than 10,000 people" seemed to be a little watery. They believed that the force brought by the Japanese Kanto Squadron of the Maritime Trade Alliance was about 8,000 people.
In fact, this estimate is relatively accurate in terms of the total number of people, because although the regular force accompanying the Marine Corps is only about 1,800 people, there are many naval personnel, the most important of which are the accompanying ships of thirty armed transport ships. personnel.
According to the establishment of Jinghua armed transport ships, each armed transport ship has a capacity of 180 people. Thirty ships have a capacity of 5,400 people. Add in the Kanto Squadron flagship "Left-wing Hussars" with a capacity of about 300 people, which is close to 6,000 people.
In addition, due to early predictions, Luo Yuan believed that he would either need to rebuild Misaki Castle or directly deploy defenses on Castle Island, so with Gao Pangshi's approval, he mobilized more than a thousand design craftsmen and strong laborers from Jinghua Infrastructure , in fact the entire fleet brought about 9,000 people. It's just that the Misaki Castle defenders don't know the actual number of crew members on each ship, so the estimate is a little low, but it doesn't hurt.
Nine thousand versus six hundred, and the other side has strong ships and cannons. If there is a fight, Misaki Castle built on the seaside will definitely not be able to stop it. Therefore, the defenders of Misaki Castle immediately expressed their willingness to negotiate - of course not them, they can only Immediately send a letter to Odawara Castle and let Hojo Ushimasa and Ujinao and his son make a decision.
Luo Yuan agreed to this, because he also planned to take this opportunity to build temporary fortifications to prevent the Hojo family from having a seizure and retaking the castle island by force - this possibility is actually very low, but precautions must be taken. In addition, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army is in place, it is difficult to say whether Lord Kansai will seize the island. After all, the strength of his navy is only relatively weak compared to the Sea Trade Alliance, and compared to the Kanto Squadron alone. That said, it's not weak.
Of course, the construction of Castle Island could not be hidden from Misaki Castle, but the defenders of Misaki Castle simply pretended to be deaf and dumb, pretending not to know. They only have 600 people in their hands, including only about 200 samurai, and only a few small boats. There is absolutely nothing they can do about the castle island on the other side.
The Hojo family was not slow to receive the news, and received the report the next morning. At this time, the Hojo family was in the midst of the "Odawara Assessment." The so-called "Odawara Evaluation", as mentioned before, was explained in the later "Japanese Mandarin Dictionary" as follows: It originated from the 18th year of Tensho, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi attacked the Hojo clan in Odawara Castle, and there were different opinions in the city about the war. , a waste of time, refers to meetings and discussions that never yield results. Also known as "Odawara Talks", "Odawara Talks", "Odawara Talks".
Specifically speaking, the current Hojo family is facing the attack of Hideyoshi's army. The family's opinions cannot be reached and the decision is delayed. Such fruitless negotiations are called Odawara assessment.
This evaluation has lasted for more than a month. From January to early February, the Hojo family had reached almost no decision. At this time, the central member who advocated persistence was Matsuda Kenhide, and the one who advocated attack was Ise Sadamune. However, the initiator of the attack theory was actually the Hojo Clan, the lord of Hatagata Castle, but he was far away, so in Odawara Castle, the Ise clan was the core.
However, neither the Ise clan nor the Hojo clan could clearly judge whether this was right or wrong. It is not wrong in itself that Hojo Ushimasa and his son, Hojo Ushimasa, held such a big discussion to decide whether to adopt a policy of holding on or attacking to meet the enemy.
What they don't know is that while they are still struggling to decide whether to defend or attack, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's strategic plan has long been completed. The Japanese Kanbai's idea is very clear: each attack will defeat the attacker. Hideyoshi, eighteen years after entering Tensho, has begun intense preparations. Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had long been appointed as the vanguard of the Odawara attack, convened the generals for a military meeting on the 21st of the first month; Mori Terumoto, who was ordered to dispatch the navy, also ordered his retainers to start preparations on the 28th.
If we look at the original historical situation, on March 1st, Hideyoshi would personally lead 32,000 directly affiliated troops and set off from Juleti in Kyoto. However, before that, the pioneer Tokugawa Ieyasu had already set out to fight.
On March 25th or 24th, Tokugawa Ieyasu's army, as the vanguard, began to engage in close combat with the Hojo clan's vanguard, the army guarding the Izu castles. Hideyoshikata had already conducted detailed investigations on each branch city of the Hojo clan. He knew exactly how many troops each city had.
The Hojo family also knew that their own strength was controlled by the other party. The opponent's army could be dispatched at least several times that of their own. They also knew it. Therefore, the Hojo family began to quarrel again about the Sea Trade Alliance forces that suddenly appeared in their hinterland. .
The first is to judge the purpose of this force. The Hojo family has two opinions:
There is a belief that the Sea Trade Alliance is actually Hideyoshi's conspiracy. This view is mainly supported by the estimation of Hideyoshi's economic strength, because in the more than ten years that the Sea Trade Alliance has been operating Japan's trade, the style of the Sea Trade Alliance can basically be summed up in one sentence: "Money is more important than life."
Don't get me wrong, this does not mean that the Sea Trade Alliance robs by force and even sacrifices its own life for money. This sentence was spoken from the Japanese point of view, referring to the fact that the Maritime Trade Alliance only wants to make money, not kill people.
Because of this inherent impression, some people in the Hojo family believe that the Sea Trade Alliance must have received a large reward from Toyotomi Hideyoshi to help Toyotomi Hideyoshi stab the heart of the Hojo family first - because the Sea Trade Alliance itself is very rich, so it must be Only Toyotomi Hideyoshi had enough financial resources to "buy" them.
But more people still disagree with this view, because the Sea Trade Alliance proposed a "lease" to the Hojo family as soon as they arrived, and made it clear that they were willing to pay the rent. Since they are willing to pay and the rent is negotiable, it makes no sense to accuse them of taking Toyotomi Hideyoshi's money to become mercenaries.
Hojo Ushimasa finally made a quicker judgment this time and thought that no matter what, we could talk first. So the Hojo family made what they thought was a high price: the Sea Trade Alliance would invest 10,000 guan (Yongle Tongbao) per year to lease Misaki Castle and its affiliated areas, or pay with rice at the current price.
At this time, Japan's economic level was very low, Misaki Castle was underdeveloped, and the annual tax revenue was only more than 2,000 guan. Calculated at 10,000 guan per year, the Hojo family made a lot of money. Not only that, but being able to pay with rice is even more of a problem, because there is going to be a war soon, and the prices of all kinds of food are one price a day - no, they are several prices a day, and they are rising every day. As for the staple food of the samurai class, the price of rice was staggering.
After the decision was made, it was sent to Luo Yuan early the next morning. Something unexpected happened. Luo Yuan accepted on the spot and expressed his willingness to pay five years' rent in advance, 20% of which would be paid in Yongle Tongbao and 80% in rice. And "to show sincerity," he was willing to lead a ship to the seaside of Odawara Castle and make a deal with the Hojo family face to face.
The only request made by Luo Yuan was also "wonderful", because he asked for a fifty-year lease of Misaki Castle, with payments made every five years.
The Hojo family was in turmoil. The Sea Trade Alliance was actually going to reach such a long-term lease. The Hojo family was overjoyed when they received the news. You know, even with this transaction, the Hojo family can directly obtain 10,000 guan Yongle Tongbao and a large amount of rice, which is of great significance for stabilizing Odawara Castle in the "Cage War".
You must know that the rice yield per mu in Japan is very low at this time. The rice yield per mu in a single season is only about 200 kilograms.
Of course, it is very troublesome to estimate the value of ancient rice. All situations must be converted to ancient standards. As mentioned before, it's not that the common people in Japan don't eat rice at this time, they just don't want to buy white rice, because the price of crops such as white rice and soybeans is the highest, and they are also what daimyo likes to collect.
It is most cost-effective for farmers to save valuable crops and eat red rice, black rice, black rice, even rice bran, miscellaneous grains and other crops to satisfy their hunger. Due to incomplete data, later generations of scholars could only "idealize" the data at hand.
It is difficult to estimate the proportion of rice in food during the Warring States Period. However, data from the 7th year of the Meiji period show that agriculture accounted for about 60% of the national output value, and rice accounted for about 40% of the total output value and 62.8% of agriculture. So, According to this ratio, excluding cash crops such as tobacco and exotic crops such as sweet potatoes, rice production accounts for 76% of the total production of rice, wheat, beans, cereals, fruits and other crops.
If the paddy fields at the end of the 16th century were 1 million koku, with an average yield of 1.4 koku, and the dry fields were 500,000 kō, with an average yield of 1.2 koku, the total would add up to almost 20 million koku, which is similar to the height of a koku. If this is the case, rice production would account for 70% of all crops, a little less than during the Meiji period.
Uh, I'm going too far. In short, in the Kanto region at the moment, which is the territory of the Hojo family, the original price of rice was 0.86 kiwan per koku, but shortly after Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued the Odawara Expedition Order, the price of rice is now basically at one koku. The price of rice was as high as 2 guan, more than doubled.
In other words, Luo Yuan is willing to pay the rent of Misaki Castle in rice for the next five years, which is equivalent to giving the Hojo family 20,000 shi of rice at a time.
How many people can this rice feed for how long? According to the support meter of the Edo period, men need 5 kus per day and women 3 kos per day, with an average of 4 kos. 1,000 is equivalent to one stone, that is, one stone of rice can feed 250 people for one day.
Although Odawara Castle is known as the first fortified city in Japan, in fact, the stone height of Sagami Province to which Odawara Castle belongs is less than 200,000 stones, and the population is far less than that of Musashi Province, another key country controlled by the Hojo family. Therefore, there is no "cage" in Odawara Castle. At the time of "City", the population in the city was only more than 40,000. Even if the city was caged, the population was not expected to exceed 70,000 at most.
In other words, 20,000 koku of rice can feed Odawara Castle for at least 71 days during its cage period. A windfall from heaven, do you think the Hojo family is surprised?
Therefore, Hojo Ushimasa changed his procrastinating style and immediately instructed his son and head of the Hojo family, Hojo Ushimasa, to sign a contract with the envoy of the Kanto Squadron. The most important agreements between the two parties are as follows:
The Hojo family leased Misaki Castle to the Maritime Trade Alliance on behalf of the "Japanese Sagami Mamoru" for fifty years; the annual rent was Yongle Tongbao 10,000 guan, or the equivalent value of gold, silver, and rice at the time. The Maritime Trade Alliance could choose Payment is made every five years; the "Japanese Sagami Guard" ensures the legality of the lease. The Maritime Trade Alliance can set up its own "castle agent" management in Misaki Castle and station troops and fleets as needed to protect the safety of Misaki Castle.
In addition, Hojo Uji Nao himself temporarily proposed a secret agreement, hoping that "when we need it, the Maritime Trade Alliance can provide certain support, including military support, and the Hojo family will reciprocate the corresponding support."
After Luo Yuan's envoy added, "The return you mentioned needs to be negotiated and agreed with us," he decisively expressed his agreement and signed it, and the two parties exchanged the contract and kept it. Afterwards, Hojo Uzunao ordered on the spot to Misaki Castle to withdraw the garrison to Odawara Castle.
Then Luo Yuan's envoy returned to Misaki Castle Island with the contract contentedly, and Hojo Uji Naoya rushed back to the city excitedly, planning to discuss with his father and other family elders how to use this secret agreement.
When Luo Yuan received the news, he immediately sent Marine Corps Commander Gao Yunping to lead his headquarters to take over Misaki Castle. On the same day, the relocation of Misaki Castle was completed. The Hojo family defenders of Misaki Castle evacuated and rushed back to Odawara Castle.
People from Jinghua's infrastructure immediately followed up and entered Misaki Castle to begin the bastion-like transformation of the city's defense system. Luo Yuan himself was responsible for the planning of port facilities. At the same time, he sent a ship to Satsuma to contact the local fleet and apply for emergency food support from Gao Pragmatic - because The previous rent of food was actually part of the military food they planned to reserve.
The food problem is not big. In recent years, southern Xinjiang has not only restored its pre-war grain output, but also under the planning and guidance of Jinghua, coupled with the development of the three major plains, southern Xinjiang's grain output has increased year by year and already has a considerable export surplus. Twenty thousand kilo of rice was a windfall for a famous Japanese family, but for southern Xinjiang, it was barely a drop in the bucket.
Time flies. On Hideyoshi's side, it was considered that the next step of the strategy would not be possible unless the Yamanaka Castle, which controlled Tokaido, was captured. Therefore, Hideyoshi appointed his nephew Toyotomi Hideji as the general on March 29 to attack the mountain castle.
Toyotomi Hideji personally led an army of 19,500 people, plus members such as Nakamura Kazushi, Yamauchi Kazutoyo, Tanaka Yoshimasa, Horio Yoshiharu, Ichiyanagi Naosue, etc., the total number was known as 67,800 people.
Although this number is somewhat exaggerated, compared with the 4,000 or at most 5,000 defenders of the mountain city, the attackers outnumbered the defenders by at least ten times.
After the Odawara expedition order was issued, the first battle between the Toyotomi Army and the Hojo Army was about to begin.
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