"I understand the truth, but for your idea of letting the Japanese shape history, I think there is a prerequisite, or a problem that should be prioritized, which is the unification of language and writing.
I heard a point of view before, which roughly means that if you learn a certain language, your way of thinking will be close to that of the main group of that language. For example, Chinese people who grew up in the United States have a Westernized way of thinking. In Japan now... I think the Japanese way of thinking is different from ours. "
Liu Xin frowned and said: "For example, I don't understand why the Hojo family insists on being tough on Toyotomi Hideyoshi. If the Sea Trade Alliance hadn't given them blood transfusions, how long could Odawara City have lasted?"
"We'll talk about the connection between language and thought when we have a chance. As for Odawara Castle, if I hadn't intervened, the Hojo family would have almost been defeated by now." Gao pragmatically smiled and said: "But your understanding of the Hojo family is not in place. They don’t actually have to be tough.”
"Oh? What's going on?"
"First of all, Ushimasa expressed surrender at the beginning, rather than being tough from beginning to end. The Nauguri incident is very complicated. It cannot be ruled out that there is a 'lower overcoming the upper' within the Hojo family. It is also not ruled out that the communication was not timely and the front line did not receive the message. The news immediately took action.
In short, before Hideyoshi proposed to go to Raku, Hojo Ujiki had already gone to Raku to express his intention to surrender to Hideyoshi. But at this time - that is, after the Namuguri incident, Hideyoshi also asked Ujimasa and Uji Naomi to go to Raku to explain, which caused uneasiness in the Hojo family: because Possibly being held hostage.
You have to know that if Hojo Umasa and Ujinao and his son are detained, the subsequent consequences will be very serious: they may face transfer or reduction of the seal, which is equivalent to uprooting the Hojo family who has lived in Kanto for five generations. This is absolutely the Hojo family. unacceptable.
Secondly, the Hojo family is the only big name after the Toyotomi family at this time. If you are Hideyoshi, you will definitely have the idea of weakening the Hojo family; and if you are Ujisei, you will also be worried that Hideyoshi wants to fix you. The Hojo family has no connection with Hideyoshi at all, and transfer and weakening are almost inevitable: just look at the five elders, Mouri, Ukita, and Maeda, who have a connection, and Tokugawa and Shangshan, who have no connection.
Besides, when Tokugawa Ieyasu went to Luo, he had two hostages in his hands, one of whom was Hideki's wife. The Hojo family is more powerful than Tokugawa Ieyasu. If not a single hostage is exchanged, the father and son may end up in a miserable state. Not only will their personal safety be at risk, but their faces will also be in trouble.
The last and most important point: the Hojo family is a very special family because he is a migrant from Kanto. After five generations of hard work, the local wealthy families have been gradually consolidated through in-laws, conquests and digestion. However, the Japanese have learned some things from us and have become very particular about speaking the right words.
At this time, if you ask him to surrender without a fight, or even transfer the title, then their control over the wealthy family will collapse, and their dominance will be wiped out in an instant. This is the same as Shang Shi Kenshin's Kanto expedition. The wealthy families must have instantly turned to Hideyoshi. This is a bloody lesson.
In fact, later generations will always say that the Hojo family is a tortoise, and the Ujimasa and the clan have always been mediocre. But if we were put in the position of the governor of the Hojo family, we might understand why we made such a choice, and we might even do worse.
You think back then, Ujiyasu could go toe-to-toe with Takeda, but what if he won? After a hard fight, when their own strength was simultaneously weakened, the wealthy families under their command rebelled, allowing the Satomi and Satake families to take advantage of the situation. What is the meaning of such a victory? In terms of combat, Shingen and Kenshin will definitely defeat Ujiyasu, but in terms of strategy, Ujiyasu is infinitely superior to Shingen and Kenshin.
Similarly, Ushimasa's idea of regaining the initiative in negotiations through war, just like Ieyasu, was the best solution as a last resort. Compared to turning into a toothless sick cat, taking a gamble on a slim hope was at least taking the initiative to make a difference. Going underground to see Ueyasu didn't disgrace Hojo Iegawa's courage in fighting all night long.
There is no need to think that the Hojo family is fatuous and worthless just because they are losers in history. On the contrary, I think the Hojo family's comprehensive strength, including strategy, military, and internal affairs, was almost second only to the three Tenkaichi during the Warring States Period. As an outsider from the Kanto region, they would never be able to surrender internally for five generations and a hundred years, and they would almost always be surrounded by enemies externally. With such a start and growth environment, they could still end up with a territory of 2.5 million koku. They are definitely the best in Japan. . "
"When you put it like that, it sounds like the Hojo family is right." Liu Xin thought for a while and said, "It can only be said that Japan is in the current situation. If there is no strong external intervention, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's unification trend is actually It’s irreversible.”
Gao Pragmatic said "hmm" and said: "It is very common to judge heroes based on success or failure. Not only did Toyotomi destroy Hojo, but even Hideyoshi treated Ieyasu favorably. Many people said that Hideyoshi made a mistake after the fact."
Liu Xin smiled and said: "You said this before. There is nothing you can do about Hideyoshi's favor to Ieyasu. After he transferred Ieyasu to Kanto, he also placed many big names close to Toyotomi around Ieyasu."
Gao Pragmatic said: "Oh, by the way, Hideyoshi treated Ieyasu favorably, but he actually also had the intention of targeting the Hojo family."
"Ah? Where do we start talking about this?" Liu Xin was stunned for a moment.
"Why did Toyotomi Hideyoshi treat Tokugawa Ieyasu so well? He was so eager to make Tokugawa Ieyasu surrender, and even sent his wife to Ieyasu as a hostage? Many people think that as a citizen of the world, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's behavior is too much. There is no scene, but this move is precisely Hideyoshi's most successful strategy.
In addition to what I told you last time, that is, Ieyasu's special status in the 'Seishu Alliance (Oda Tokugawa Alliance)', just imagine what serious consequences would be if Tokugawa Ieyasu had been at odds with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. as a result of? I personally estimate that the simplest possibility is that Hojo Ushimasa and Tokugawa Ieyasu will most likely join forces and form an alliance, because in addition to being in-laws, the two families share adjacent territories and have a well-established basis for advance and retreat.
In addition to his two families, Date Masamune may also join this alliance, and even the Hojo family has been thinking about this three-family alliance. What does it mean if these three companies really join forces? This means that another Kamakura shogunate was born in Kanto, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi could not sit back and watch.
Looking back at Tokugawa Ieyasu, given his status in the Oda family, he could probably connect with the old Oda tribe to the west - many of the old Oda tribes were not so surrendered to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, such as Nobuo Oda - and Ujimasa Hojo and Date to the east Masamune served as foreign aid. If this is the case, things in the East will become increasingly out of control, and things in the world will still be unknown. In other words, it was not unreasonable for Tokugawa Ieyasu to be unwilling to surrender easily for a long time.
The clever thing about Toyotomi Hideyoshi was to make Tokugawa Ieyasu surrender first. Once he surrendered, the problem of the Kanto Alliance, the new Kamakura shogunate, basically disappeared. The Kanto Tojo clan was left. Even if Date Masamune risked his life to support him, Toyotomi Hideyoshi didn't need to take it seriously at all given his strength at the time.
Therefore, from Toyotomi Hideyoshi's point of view, only one of Tokugawa and Hojo can survive. Since Tokugawa Ieyasu has been chosen to have a huge influence on the old Oda tribe, there is no need to leave the deep-rooted Kanto overlord. After the Hojo clan. "
"Oh..." Liu Xin narrowed her eyes slightly and said: "So considering the current situation, the Hojo family should have known that there would be such a war? No wonder when the war officially broke out, they reached out to the Sea Trade Alliance for money and food. It’s very rude, it turns out that they actually know that this is a desperate fight.”
"I think it should be like this, otherwise it would be unreasonable for the Hojo family to agree to rent Misaki Castle so readily." Gao Minggong tapped his fingers on the Kanto Squadron Report on the coffee table and said thoughtfully: "The problem now is, do I want to save the city?" The Hojo family has no intention of living, they just want to get something more from its destruction..."
"Did you get it from the Hojo family or the Toyotomi family?" Liu Xin smiled and said: "I'm afraid the thing you want to get is in the hands of Toyotomi Hideyoshi? After all, he is Japan's 'people of the world', so you can Use the form of an imperial edict to give legitimacy to various transactions and exchanges.”
Gao Pragmatic also smiled, touched his chin without a beard, and said, "We'll see if this monkey in a dilemma will still choose to use political compromise to solve the problem."
Gao pragmatically and Liu Xin guessed correctly. At this time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had set the formation in Shihuan Mountain Castle but took people out for sightseeing tours outside Odawara Castle all day long, was in trouble. His recent activities such as traveling around the mountains and rivers, convening grand tea parties, etc. are actually imitating Cao Cao's poems. He hopes to use this method to create his image of a "people in the world" who "has everything under control."
However, just like Cao Cao, who composed poems, was defeated, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who pretended to be leisurely, is now in a dilemma: Odawara Castle is still standing, and Monomiban, who was sent into the city in advance, came with news that The city received at least two supplies of food and grass, both from the sea.
Who could be at sea? It is nothing more than the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, because most of the Japanese naval forces have been nominally owned by Toyotomi Sekihaku Hideyoshi, and the remaining naval forces in Kanto and Tohoku are under the control of Kuki Yoshitaka, Wakisaka Anji, and Yoshimi Hiroyori (in Japanese) The combined naval forces formed under the leadership of Hiroyori, Kato Yoshiaki, and Nagasogabe Motochichi did not dare to fight in front of them.
On the sea today, only the fleet of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance is truly unruly, especially in the Sagami Bay area. The fleet of dozens of giant ships and hundreds of dark and huge cannons are really trembling. Toyotomi Hideyoshi has also received some armed transport ships, but because he does not have "optional" artillery (actually, Kyoka does not sell artillery, he only has smuggled goods), although the total tonnage of the fleet has increased a lot, the firepower is still not enough. Especially in front of the Sea Trade Alliance, it is far from enough.
Kuuki Yoshitaka broke his forehead, and coupled with the strong admonitions of Wakisaka Anji and Kato Yoshiaki, two direct generals (both of whom were one of Hideyoshi's "Seven Guns of the Hideyoshi"), he was forced to stop. Master Guan Bai, lest he, who doesn't understand the navy, lose all the navy's capital and face in one battle, and let the great cause of unification suffer setbacks.
But since the navy of the Toyotomi coalition did not dare to compete with the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance for sea control of Sagami Bay, the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance's move to provide food to Odawara Castle could not be stopped at all.
This is obviously an extremely bad situation. Although the Maritime Trade Alliance did not participate in the garrison of Odawara Castle and did not take the initiative to attack the Toyotomi Allied Navy, they did not allow the Toyotomi Navy to do so for the magical reason of "protecting the freedom of trade routes." Entering Sagami Bay, they even assembled a fleet and forced the coalition navy back.
As a result, Odawara Castle, a huge and fortified city that had to rely on siege to be "captured", was now in good hands. Toyotomi Hideyoshi had to consider when the siege would end.
At the beginning, Toyotomi Hideyoshi thought the problem was not big. Because in his opinion, although the navy said that they would definitely not be able to defeat the Sea Trade Alliance, the food from the Sea Trade Alliance did not fall from the sky. They "definitely" sent food from the mainland of Ming Dynasty (this is a misjudgment, but it is not important. Because food was transported from southern Xinjiang, farther than the mainland of the Ming Dynasty.), such a long distance, even if Jinghua's large-scale ships carried a huge amount, they would still consume a lot on the way. Therefore, Toyotomi Hideyoshi believed that this behavior of transporting food thousands of miles must not last long. Even if the Maritime Trade Alliance could extend the life of the Hojo family for a month or two, it did not seem to be a big problem for him.
But the development of the situation was beyond Mr. Sekishiro's expectation. Both times Odawara Castle received huge amounts of food, it is estimated that it received at least tens of thousands of koku. The important figures in the Hojo family were also very calm. It seemed that No one is worried that Odawara Castle will run out of food.
Such an attitude of the Hojo family means that Toyotomi Sekihaku's activities such as traveling around the mountains and rivers, convening tea parties, etc. have all been played against each other, and it has not shaken the senior officials of the Hojo family in Odawara Castle at all, which troubles Sekihaku very much.
What's worse is that as these situations are gradually learned by various daimyo in the Toyotomi army, some people have begun to propose a storming of Odawara Castle.
storm? Toyotomi Hideyoshi wanted to chop off a few heads to vent his anger. Would I wait until now if he could attack me by force?
Also, how great Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin were at that time. Even after looking at the appearance of Odawara Castle, they couldn't think of attacking Odawara Castle. Is Toyotomi Hideyoshi really more powerful than the Tiger of Kai and the Dragon of Echigo, and knows better about fighting?
And more importantly, the Toyotomi family did not send troops in this Odawara attack. In fact, the direct descendants and generals of the Toyotomi family combined only sent 70,000 to 80,000 people, and this included the navy participants. total. Most of the rest are daimyo who surrendered to him, such as Tokugawa, Mori, Maeda, Uesugi and even Oda (Nobuo, Xinbao). They have a total of about 150,000 people, twice as many as Toyo. The army of the direct lineage of the minister.
Under this situation, if Toyotomi Hideyoshi wanted to attack by force, it would be difficult to force only these external daimyo to contribute, while his direct lineage would hide behind and not show up.
Because Hideyoshi came from a humble background, face is the most important thing now. If he really wants to attack by force, he will have to personally send his direct descendants to show his magnanimity - but for the sake of face, even Toyotomi Hideyoshi has to hesitate. repeatedly.
In the end, Toyotomi Hideyoshi decided to send an envoy to Misaki Castle to meet Luo Yuan, the "Misaki Castle Castle Representative" sent by the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance.
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Thanks to book friends "klauszx" and "prawn mt" for their monthly support, thank you!
PS: Last night I coded to 2.9k and accidentally fell asleep. When I woke up, it was already 3:30 in the morning, so this chapter is late, sorry. This chapter is not included in today's chapter. Today's normal update will be in the evening as usual.
