The Narita clan is a family that has long been a troublemaker in games with the background of the Japanese Warring States Period. The lord of Ninja City, the Narita clan, is just a character with mediocre abilities in all major games. For example, in the famous Japanese Warring States game "Nobunaga" The only outstanding thing in "Ambition" is that the command is relatively high, but it still does not exceed 70. Its combat method is only the second salvo, and even the lifespan is only a satisfactory 53 years.
Logically speaking, the Hojo family should feel at ease with such a well-behaved vassal city lord. Moreover, the Narita clan's Ninja Castle held up the Toyotomi clan's army of more than 20,000 for nearly half a year with an extremely weak force. It can be regarded as an unexpected miracle, and it should be promoted and reused by the Hojo clan.
However, this is absolutely not the case. Not only was the Narita family not reused in Odawara Castle, it was even under suspicion. When he proposed to bring troops back to aid Ninja City, the Hojo clan refused without hesitation, and even withdrew him and the troops he brought from the front line, effectively putting him under house arrest.
Why is this happening? This has to start with the history of the establishment of the affiliation between the Narita family and the Hojo family.
Let's go back to about 150 years ago, when the "Xiande Rebellion" broke out in Japan at the end of 1454 AD. Conflicts arose within the Kanto Shogun Ashikaga family and began to divide. The Shogun family began to be divided into two factions, the Ashikaga clan and the Uesugi clan. The Narita clan in Kanto was soon involved.
The Narita family came from a famous Fujiwara family, and their ancestors had also been prosperous in the past. However, it seems that they were suppressed by the shogunate because they supported the Southern Dynasties in the Northern and Southern Dynasties after Kamakura, and the family business declined rapidly.
Since then, the Narita clan has been appearing as a famous clan attached to the powerful daimyo, wandering between the Ashikaga clan and the Uesugi clan all year round. Earlier, the Narita clan had followed Uesugi Kenmi and was recommended as the lower shogunate. After the "Kyotoku Rebellion", the Ashikaga family split. The Ashikaga Nari clan and the Yuuki clan established the Furukawa public house in Furukawa, forming a confrontation with the Kanto governor. , Narita Kenyasu, the head of the Narita clan at the time, and the other Beppu clan changed from the Uesugi clan to support the public, and Narita began a repeated journey that lasted for hundreds of years.
It can be said that since the "Kyōtoku Rebellion", the Narita family has basically been responsible for border defense and offensive work at home. The overall attribute is just two words: "cannon fodder", and this has gradually cultivated the Narita family's abnormally twisted political personality. .
Soon, Ota Michizan, a famous fan-bone Uesugi general, appeared and built Edo Castle. He was so majestic for a while that he quickly suppressed the public strategically. Narita Sentai observed the situation and surrendered to Ota Michizan. Soon Xian Tai lived in seclusion, and his legitimate son Qin Tai succeeded him as the head of the family.
However, the good times did not last long. In the internal fight with Yamauchi Uesugi, Shango Uesugi executed his important minister Ota Michizan. Seeing that the situation was not good, the Narita family immediately turned to subordinate Yamauchi Uesugi. During this period, Uesugi Akira, the leader of Kanto, was reused, which was quite popular. Fame.
After that, Chitai began to invade the Ninja clan. The weak Ninja clan was quickly defeated. Narita Chitai took control of Ninja Castle, inherited Ota's original fortification technology, and carried out large-scale expansion of Ninja Castle, taking advantage of the surrounding Fukada, The geographical environment of the depression built Ninja City into a strange city with depressions around it and a solid center. From then on, Ninja Castle became the base of the Narita clan for many years.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. In 1546, which is a year that players of "Nobunaga's Ambition" are very familiar with, Hojo Ujiyasu was born and slapped away the heads of the Kanto governor and Furukawa in the night battle in Kawagoe. Allied forces, the situation in Kanto is violently shaken.
Only six or seven years later, the Hojo family attacked Ninja Castle. The new leader, Narita Chotai, sized up the situation and surrendered the castle without a fight. This was the first time that the Narita family subordinated themselves to Hojo. But not long after, Nagao Kagetora, who was instigated by Kensei Uesugi - later the "God of War" Uesugi Kenshin - attacked the Hojo family.
Forced by the military power of the Nagao family, especially the power of Nagao Kagetora himself, Narita Nagayasu once again chose to subordinate himself to the strong, changing his family and joining the Uesugi side. Who would have thought that Hojo Ujiyasu defeated the many with less, used Kawagoe Castle as a springboard to enter the world, attacked the coalition forces at night, and became famous overnight.
The following history will be deeply impressed by those who have watched "Feng Linhan Kao" in the Taiga drama: Uesugi Kenshin couldn't hide his anger in the drama, and used a riding crop to slap Narita Nagayasu who fell to the ground.
At that time, Narita Choyasu, who believed that he was born into a famous family, not only showed no etiquette when Uesugi Kenshin visited Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, he even refused to get off his horse. He was forced off the horse by Uesugi Kenshin and abused him. He was really unpretentious and suffered a great shame and humiliation.
It is said that Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine has a deep connection with the Narita clan, so Narita Chotasu disagrees. I don’t know if this incident is true. If so, Chang Tai is a bit pedantic and ignorant of current affairs. But whether it's true or not, it can be seen that the relationship between Changtai and Kenshin has turned sour. I'm afraid a celebrity like Kenshin who prides himself on being righteous would despise the duplicitous Narita family.
In short, shortly after this incident, the Narita family decisively jumped back again and subordinated themselves to the Hojo family for the second time.
Who would have known that in 1562, the year before the birth of Gao Jingshi and Zhu Yijun in the 41st year of Jiajing, Narita Clan, the legitimate son of Narita Nagatai, succeeded to the throne.
In the second year, this man couldn't bear the loneliness and betrayed the Hojo clan, formed an alliance with the Ota clan in Kanto, and married Ota's daughter Aju. He also showed strong rebellion against the Hojo clan and tilted his position towards Uesugikata. However, with the deepening of the Uesugi alliance at this time, there was no large-scale conflict between Hojo and Uesugi.
However, after Hojo and Uesugi reached a settlement, the two families made a decision on the territorial issue, and Hojo incorporated the old Narita territory into the Uesugi territory. I don't know if it was because of territorial issues, but the head of the Narita clan chose to follow the Hojo family. This subordination lasted until the demise of the Hojo clan in the original history.
During this period, although the Narita family chief once had the idea of getting close to Oda Nobunaga, it disappeared with the assassination of Oda Nobunaga in the incident at Honnoji Temple. In the following decades, the world's political situation changed. Whether it was the famous Takeda, Uesugi, or Oda, or the small Kanto daimyo Ota and Yuki who drifted with the tide, they all experienced earth-shaking changes. Only Odawara Castle stood firm, so it was subordinate to Hojo. The Narita family also experienced a period of stable development.
After Oda Nobunaga was assassinated, Hashiba Hideyoshi began to rise to prominence. The Toyotomi army conquered east and west. Except for a small loss in the Battle of Komaki Nagakute, they were almost invincible. The Hojo family, which supported Odawara Castle, maintained a tough stance.
After the siege of Odawara, most of the castles belonging to the Hojo family were destroyed in a short period of time. They were either attacked or surrendered directly. Only the Ninja Castle of the Narita family was not considered a powerful castle. It was not possible to break through, but achieved many results.
This situation is a strange state for both the head of the Narita clan and the entire Narita family. Although the Narita family has no special abilities in history, it has to be said that this small daimyo family, which is the successor of a famous family, can survive for hundreds of years without falling. At least it has a certain degree of political sensitivity and decisiveness.
As the governor of the family, although his weapons, martial arts, military strategy, and internal affairs were all mediocre in the eyes of later generations, he obviously still knew how to get close to the people he should get close to at the right time, and he always controlled the general direction of the family.
When more than 200,000 Toyotomi troops arrived, the Narita family, relying on the Hojo clan with only tens of thousands of miscellaneous troops, could still remain calm and resolutely respond to the challenge. This in itself is an unusual thing. The courage of the Narita family finally came to an end at the end of the Warring States Period. reflected.
During the Battle of Odawara (referring to the entire battle), Odawara Castle was supported by the clan leader and his younger brother Yadaka, including Narita Hizen Mori Yasuki, Shimada Dewa Mamoru, Imauchi Sado Mamoru, Yamada Kawachi Mamoru, Sakamoto Shogun, and Fukushima Kankai The retainers stayed behind to guard Ninja City, and later mobilized nearly 3,000 soldiers and civilians to cage the city.
Hideyoshi ordered Ishida Mitsunari and Nagasu Masaike to attack Ninja Castle with water, but the Narita family quietly destroyed it. It rained heavily and the dam burst. More than 200 Ishida troops were drowned. This battle became known as the "War". Ishida Mitsunari's military stain was that the disparity in the strength of the two armies was met by a water attack. The wrong attack method is often ridiculed, but in fact, the attack strategy of the water attack was actually decided by Hideyoshi, not Mitsunari.
However, Narita's somewhat paranoid courage seems unusual. In fact, Narita's original intention was to lead the main force to support the Hojo family, but he has been considering secretly communicating with Toyotomi Hideyoshi and planning to order the Jodai clan to Narita's elders and family elders took the initiative to surrender to the city when Toyotomi's army arrived, and used a non-resistance attitude to preserve the family name.
If the Hojo clan was stupid as the last samurai family to resist the Toyotomi regime, then the Narita clan, as a subsidiary of Hojo, was more helpless. On the whole, surrendering to Toyotomi Hideyoshi was inevitable, but as a samurai, he could not lose his dignity. He would be accused of treachery before a battle was fought, so operating in secret and waiting for the opportunity to surrender seemed to be a foolproof strategy.
However, what I never expected was that after the main force of the Narita family left, Ishida Mitsunari sent his deputy, the chief minister of Daizo, Shuzheng family, to Ninja Castle. As the deputy of Niwa Nagahide, one of the original Four Heavenly Kings of Oda, Nagashumasa was already an important minister of the Toyotomi family at this time. He looked down upon the Narita clan, which only had a few hundred troops left, and had an extremely arrogant attitude. Showing a posture of "If you surrender, we will spare your lives; if you don't surrender, then we will crush you ants to death". As for negotiations... are you worthy?
Narita Taisuki was completely irritated during his conversation with Nagasuke Masaiya, and angrily led less than a few hundred remaining troops and civilians in the city to directly fight against Ishida Mitsunari's 23,000 troops.
As the war continues, Toyotomi Hideyoshi is having fun outside Odawara Castle, which has boosted the nearby economy. However, thanks to a windfall in Odawara Castle, there has been no sign of ruin so far. However, with the fall of Nirayama Castle, the Hojo family's strategic decline became clear, and the Narita clan leader had to make a decision.
However, Narita's decision was not easy to make. What he is most troubled about now is that his deceased uncle Narita Taiji disrupted his plan. Due to his determined resistance and particularly outstanding results, the Narita clan leader was unable to judge what the consequences would be if he sent someone to inform Ninja Castle to surrender at this time.
If the Toyotomi family is magnanimous and forgets about the previous war, it would be fine. If the Toyotomi family feels that the Narita clan's strong resistance has caused them to lose face, especially the face of Lord Guanbai, if they insist on pursuing it to the end, then how can they endure it? All the family members and retainers in the city might die, and the Narita family name might not be able to be preserved in the future.
While hesitating, the Narita clan leader, who was almost under house arrest in Odawara Castle, suddenly received news that Luo Yuan from Misaki Castle sent an envoy to meet with Hojo Ushimasa, Uji Nao and his son.
Although the head of the Narita clan is almost under house arrest, perhaps the Hojo clan also considered that the Narita clan at least performed well in this battle and was still more polite to the people he brought. For example, his cousin Narita Yasdaka has greater freedom of movement because he has a harmonious relationship with the Hojo family.
The head of the Narita family then secretly sent Narita Taigao to find a way to find an opportunity to meet with Luo Yuan's envoy and have a secret discussion. And Luo Yuan's envoy is no ordinary person, but Gao Yunping, the standard commander of the Marine Corps.
Gao Yunping was originally invited here. It turned out that the Hojo family wanted to ask for help from the Sea Trade Alliance, and it happened that Luo Yuan also had several matters to discuss with the Hojo family. In order to show sincerity and guarantee the right to make decisions on Luo Yuan's behalf, plus at this time Odawara Castle itself was quite safe, so Gao Yunping came in person.
Let’s talk about the meaning of the Hojo family first. Of course, they asked Luo Yuan for help because the current situation was not good. Although Odawara Castle itself did not seem to be in danger of falling, the external situation was already very bad.
Hideyoshi, who was touring the mountains and rivers outside Odawara Castle, was not really relaxed. He sent troops to attack the Hojo family's branch city in Kanto. The foundation of the Hojo family's rule in Kanto was destroyed, and the cities of various important defense strongholds were attacked. Matsuida Castle , Yangui City, and Bo Xing City have been captured one after another.
A few days ago, after the long-term resistance of Nirayama Castle was captured by the Toyotomi army, only Odawara Castle and Ninja Castle remained in the Hojo side. Considering that although Ninja Castle held on, its military strength was extremely weak, the Hojo family had already regarded Ninja Castle as an enemy city that would be lost sooner or later.
But if things really develop to that point, the threat faced by Odawara Castle will be extremely huge, because at this moment, the Toyotomi army attracted by Ninja Castle has reached at least 40,000, and some even say it has been as high as 60,000 - according to the latest news , Uesugi Kagekatsu and Maeda Toshiie who came south from Hokuriku have already arrived, plus Asano Nagamasa who arrived first (actually he was still called Asano Nagamasa at this time, but for convenience, he is called Nagamasa), it is said that there are 60,000 troops. It seems reasonable.
The Hojo family considered that if Ninja Castle was lost and these 60,000 troops marched south to Odawara, Odawara Castle might be in danger. Although Toyotomi Hideyoshi has great wealth and power, maintaining supplies for an army of more than 200,000 is no joke. The daily consumption is huge. Once the military rations are consumed too much, Toyotomi Hideyoshi may be forced to change the siege strategy. , ordered an army of more than 200,000 to attack.
Doing so will certainly cause a lot of casualties, but although Odawara Castle is strong, there are not many troops in the city - less than 30,000 people, and it is probably only a matter of time before the city falls.
Therefore, the Hojo family put forward two hopes: first, they hope to obtain food supplies from the Sea Trade Alliance; second, they hope that the Sea Trade Alliance will also provide certain support to Ninja Castle.
Regarding the first one, the Hojo family's plan is a bit empty handed. They proposed to offset the rent of Misaki Castle for the "next five years", and the Hojo family only received 90% of the rent, but all of it was food.
Luo Yuan had already guessed about this. Although the Hojo family would definitely be destroyed in Gao Jingshi's prediction, Gao Jingshi had already told him that he didn't need to care about this, because what Gao Jingshi cared about was the contract signed by the Hojo family. In other words, what Gao pragmatism just wants is to get the name - Toyotomi Hideyoshi has a strong business mentality, Gao pragmatism is not afraid that he will not be able to negotiate with him after getting the name, not to mention that if the negotiation cannot be reached, then fight a war alright.
Gao Yunping then proposed that he could agree in principle, but this time he would not discuss the market price, but would settle the matter with another 20,000 shi of rice. The Hojo family agreed.
As for the second question, Gao Yunping, who had already met with Narita Taigao, the elder cousin of the Narita clan, proposed that people from the Narita clan also participate in the meeting because he wanted to ask about the specific situation of Akira City.
The Hojo family didn't have many bargaining chips now, so they had to agree, so the Narita family appeared in the meeting.
The three parties did not talk about "what to assist" from the beginning, but "how to assist". The conclusion reached was that the Maritime Trade Alliance sent warships up the Arakawa River to Ninja Castle for rescue.
The Maritime Trade Alliance has been operating in Japan for many years. Although it has never gone up the Arakawa River, it has already collected the hydrological conditions of the Kanto water system. This time Luo Yuan took up the post of commander of the Kanto Squadron, and brought a large amount of hydrological data to understand in detail. The major rivers such as the Arakawa, Tone River, and Edogawa in the Kanto region of Japan were all navigable at this time.
Although armed transport ships can be called giant ships in Japan of this era, after all, they will only have a displacement of 800 tons in later generations. Of course, there is no problem entering such a large river, as long as they do not go upstream of the source.
However, the two sides have different opinions on how to provide support and the rewards after support.
The Hojo family is in danger, and only Odawara Castle and Ninja Castle are left behind. Since Ninja Castle is waiting for help, of course it can't be counted on, and Odawara Castle itself is under great pressure, so the Hojo family just wants nothing but nothing, and they don't want to pay any actual costs. The Narita clan leader was willing to give, but it was a pity that he had nothing.
After many talks, they could not reach an agreement, and finally the Narita family leader came up with a plan that stunned Gao Yunping: offering his eldest daughter to marry Commander Luo.
Perhaps the Narita clan leader considered that although his family's status was very high, after all, his current status was not high and he was just a subordinate of the Hojo family, so he also revealed one thing: his eldest daughter was the general of Ninja Castle at this time. .
Since he was going to marry his boss, Gao Yunping had no choice but to ask the Hojo and Narita families to wait while he personally returned to Misaki Castle to report to Commander Luo.
When he returned to Misaki City to report to Luo Yuanyi, Luo Yuan was also shocked. The general of Ninja Castle who led the weak forces of Ninja Castle to defeat the famous generals of the Toyotomi Army was actually a teenage girl? This is simply "Tachibana Chiyo of Eastern Kingdom"!
But having said that, Luo Yuan did not dare to agree to this marriage. Although Gao Pragmatic had long told him that the purpose of supporting the Hojo family was to bleed more blood for the Toyotomi Army. Whether economically or militarily, the longer the Toyotomi Army delayed in Kanto, the more conducive it would be to the future sea trade alliance plan, so there was no need to I think too much about whether it is cost-effective or not.
However, Luo Yuan had to consider that if he married a famous Japanese family, would the master doubt his position in the future? As a servant, and a servant who has never changed his surname, this problem is serious enough for him and he must not joke about it.
So he immediately sent another envoy to Odawara Castle and proposed a new marriage plan.
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