After Honda Masanobu left, Ishida Mitsunari suddenly became suspicious that the so-called Shimadzu guests might be nothing at all. Sado Mamoru's visit here was probably just because Dai Ieyasu came to inquire about his true intentions. If he had been careless just now, he might have become a prisoner by his subordinates now.
Mitsunari hurriedly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, secretly thinking that if he met Ieyasu with such a face and expression, Ieyasu would be able to see through his mind at a glance and make him severely passive.
As if to verify Ishida Mitsunari's guess, after a long time, Honda Masanobu still did not come back. Mitsunari couldn't help but become more worried, thinking that Ieyasu and his advisers might be making repeated plans on how to deal with him. Thinking of this, a dizzying feeling of humiliation washed over Sanzheng.
In fact, Ishida Mitsunari was overly concerned about at least one thing, that is, the "Shimadzu guest" did exist, and he had just concluded his meeting with Tokugawa Ieyasu. However, because this guest also had other tasks, the two parties needed to exchange opinions on more projects than expected, so more time was wasted.
Since Shimazu Tadahashi came to see Tokugawa Ieyasu after listening to Narita Kai's suggestion, he would naturally bring some things that Kai wanted to inform Ieyasu. Ieyasu not only had to reply in person, but also had to communicate with Shimazu about this. Zhong Heng had a brief exchange.
Shimazu Tadahashi only handed over Kaiji's letter to Ieyasu, but he did not understand the content. His original intention was to guess something from Ieyasu's expression, but unfortunately he underestimated the chubby old fox in front of him.
Tokugawa Ieyasu's expression was calm and unwavering from beginning to end, but he read it in great detail - the whole letter was not long, only two pages in total, but he read it over and over three times, and it seemed that he still read it carefully word for word. If it weren't for the extremely special status of Kaibihime and Ieyasu's age, Shimazu Tadashi would even wonder if Ieyasu had received a love letter from his sweetheart.
However, when Ieyasu finally put down the letter, Shimazu Tadashi finally noticed some emotional fluctuations that Ieyasu could not completely hide: he carefully suppressed it and sighed softly.
Although the sigh was very light, Shimazu Tadahashi was convinced as soon as he heard it that the sigh came from the heart, because it contained an indescribable heaviness and helplessness.
However, this made Shimazu Tadahashi quite puzzled: Since the Zuofu has joined forces with Mr. Gaoge, and even the Shimazu family has been ordered to help him, isn't it already certain that he will become the new "people of the world"? At this time, what would make him feel heavy and helpless?
However, Ieyasu did not give him a chance to ask questions. He just remained silent for a moment and then asked: "After the matter of killing Ijuin Tadō is over, how should you and I act? I wonder if Misaki-den has ever given an explanation?"
Shimazu Tadahashi collected his thoughts, shook his head and said: "That's not true. However, Misaki-den said that after the future meets Zuofu, you can just follow Zuofu's orders for all subsequent matters. If Zuofu has any arrangements, please let me know."
Tokugawa Ieyasu nodded and said: "I have nothing important to do here. On the contrary, since you killed Ijuin Tadashi, you should return to Satsuma early to prepare for the rebellion."
Shimazu Tadahashi was stunned for a moment, then frowned and said, "The Zuofu said this because he judged that the Ijuin family was going to commit rebellion?" It seemed that Tadashi didn't quite believe that this would happen.
"It's not just me who makes this judgment. In fact, Misaki-den also makes this judgment, and..." Tokugawa Ieyasu raised his eyebrows slightly, with a strong tone that seemed to be a little envious: "Misaki-den has already arranged four giant ships. I’m going to send you back to Satsuma as soon as possible, and secondly, I’m also going to help your Shimazu family in the battle.”
"Four giant ships?" Shimazu Tadahashi asked.
In Japan, Kyoka's armed transport ships and above are collectively referred to as giant ships, so Ieyasu doesn't know if any of these four ships are warships that are specifically used for combat, but it doesn't matter, they are all extremely powerful.
"Yes, four giant ships, and there will also be fully loaded marines." When Ieyasu said this, he also frowned and said seriously: "Although Misaki-don didn't say it clearly, judging from such a deployment, she probably thinks This rebellion by the Ijuin family will not be too small, I suggest you not to be careless and take it seriously."
Shimazu Tadahashi actually disagreed. He still didn't think the Ijuin family dared to rebel. However, he knew that the Shimazu family's status in the mind of the "Daming Guanbai" was only average, so at this moment he did not dare to question "Misaki-don", who was a highly pragmatic concubine, in front of Ieyasu. Neng smiled bitterly and said: "Hai, Zhongheng knows."
At this point, it’s time to introduce some of the things that have happened since the Shimazu family withdrew their troops from North Korea.
On November 21, the third year of Keicho in Japan, Shimazu Yoshihiro gathered up his remaining soldiers and took a boat from Geoje Island to Busanpo. Originally, the Japanese generals made an appointment to gather at Busanpu and choose an auspicious day to sail back home.
However, when Shimazu Yoshihiro arrived at Pusanpo, the generals had already rushed back to the country. Some of them even set fires everywhere before leaving, leaving only a deserted city and scorched earth. Even Konishi Yukinagawa and others whom Yoshihiro Shimazu risked his life to rescue did not even say hello and went about their own business to sail across the sea and return home early. Shimazu Yoshihiro stood on the shore of Busanpo, facing the sea breeze and looking at the tide, and couldn't help lamenting the coldness of the world.
On November 24th, Shimazu Yoshihiro led the Shimazu family army to return home from Busanura. They still followed the route they came from, passing through Tsushima and Iki, and landed at Hakata Port on December 10th. Then he went to Nagoya Castle and met with Hidemoto Mori, Nagamasa Asano, Mitsunari Ishida and others who were supervising the withdrawal of troops here.
Before returning, Shimazu Yoshihiro had been worried that Ishida Mitsunari would blame him for not returning to the country on time. However, Ishida Mitsunari said nothing about this. He only informed Shimazu Yoshihiro of the domestic situation after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and praised Shimazu Yoshihiro: "The withdrawal of troops from Korea was the order of the Prime Minister. I have one hundred thousand The army was able to return to battle without incident, all thanks to the battle at Yoshihongden."
Ishida Mitsunari's "success of one battle" has been mentioned previously and will not be repeated here. From Japan's perspective, if it had not been for Shimazu Yoshihiro's heroic performance that day, it would have been difficult for the Japanese army to withstand the pressure of the Ming army, and it would be difficult to say whether it could safely withdraw to Japan.
Shimazu Yoshihiro was very modest. He gave credit to Shimazu Tadatsune and Shimazu Tadada: "This is all due to the hard work of Tadashi, Tadada and other officers, and it is not my fault alone."
Ishida Mitsunari also secretly informed Shimazu Yoshihiro: "Your Majesty (referring to Shimazu Yoshihisa) has recently formed a personal relationship with the Zuofu and has a very close relationship. This is against the public law of the world."
Shimazu Yoshihisa has always been optimistic about Tokugawa Ieyasu and disliked Ishida Mitsunari. In the battle between the two factions, he was undoubtedly leaning towards Tokugawa Ieyasu. This matter is extremely sensitive. Although Shimazu Yoshihiro has always been valued by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and his mind is more inclined to Ishida Mitsunari, he has just returned home not long ago, and the situation is not clear, so he can only nod silently and not say much.
Shimazu Yoshihiro stayed in Nagoya Castle for half a month, mainly counting the number of people and supplies, and arranging the return of the heads and lords to their territories.
During this period, Shinna Chumaso's men captured Fukano Shigeharu and four others who had stolen a boat and escaped on Nankai Island in the castle town of Nagoya Castle. Shimazu Yoshihiro had no time to take care of such trivial matters and ordered Shimazu Tadahashi to handle it.
Shimazu Tadahashi was always cruel to his opponents. After interrogating Fukano Shigeharu, he said: "These four people stole warships, escaped from the battle, abandoned their comrades, and were disloyal and unjust. They are really a shame to the Shimazu family. All four of them are lords. The territorial rank and salary will be confiscated as a lesson for future generations."
On December 27, the Shimazu family troops disbanded and returned to their respective territories. Shimazu Yoshihiro, Shimazu Tadahashi, and Shimazu Toyohisa took their original offerings and did not return to Satsuma, but went to Kyoto to continue their service. They first visited Yoshihisa Shimazu, who attended the funeral of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Kyoto, and then visited Tokugawa Ieyasu, Maeda Toshiie and other elders. Ukita Hideie, who once served as the general of the Imperial Conquest, introduced the Shimazu family's achievements in Sichuan and Luliang to everyone, and everyone praised them.
Tokugawa Ieyasu said with emotion: "Thanks to the presence of Yoshihiroden, more than 100,000 of our soldiers were saved from dying overseas. This is a great achievement that has never been seen in this dynasty."
Maeda Toshiie continued: "Not only in this dynasty, but even in foreign countries, there is no one who can stand shoulder to shoulder with Yoshihiroden."
Terumoto Mori and Kagekatsu Uesugi also praised Shimazu Yoshihiro's achievements. Mouri Terumoto also pulled Shimazu Tadanagi's gloves and said, "I have heard about Shimazu's reputation as a book leader for a long time, and today I saw his face for the first time. He is indeed worthy of his reputation!"
All forces came to praise the Shimazu family. Not only did the Shimazu family make great contributions, but also because of the political situation at the time. After the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa and Ishida continued to fight secretly, each trying to win over major names to their side. The Shimazu family, which has strong strength and amazing combat power, is naturally the target of both Tokugawa and Ishida's efforts to win over.
Ishida Mitsunari changed his previous critical attitude towards the Shimadzu family. Seeing that several elders praised the Shimadzu family, he struck while the iron was hot and helped the Shimadzu family arrange several major events:
First, arrange for Shimazu Yoshihiro to enter the palace to meet Emperor Goyosei. When Shimazu Yoshihiro entered the palace, the emperor naturally expressed his appreciation, and he used this as an excuse to apply for official positions for several prominent figures in the Shimazu family.
On the first day of the first lunar month of the fourth year of Keicho, Shimazu Yoshihiro entered the palace to celebrate the New Year. He was promoted to the Council of Ministers for his military merits in Korea, and he was promoted to the fourth position. The Tsu family held the post of repair doctor, but his official position was promoted to the fourth rank of Shouchong, and he was on the same level as Shimazu Yoshihiro; Shimazu Toyohisa succeeded his father, Shimazu Iehisa, as the deputy minister of central affairs, and went up to the fifth rank of Shouchong.
Second, add a territorial seal to the Shimazu family. The main purpose was to transfer the 29,000 koku territory of Terazawa Hirotaka and Muneyoshi in Satsuma Izumi County to the Shimazu family.
It is said to be "transfer", but it is actually better to say "return". Because Satsuma Izumi County was originally the territory of the Sashu family of the Shimazu clan, due to the untimely death of Shimazu Tadatsu, the head of the Sashu family, the territory was confiscated by the Toyotomi regime and transferred to Terasawa Hirotaka and Mune Yoshitomo.
Hirotaka Terasawa and Yoshitomo Mune were both minor big names, and they were all on pins and needles when they were allowed to take advantage of the Shimadzu family, fearing that the Shimadzu family would take revenge. Therefore, Terasawa Hirotaka had already discussed with Muneyichi, and once there was an opportunity, they would request that the territory be returned to the Shimadzu family, so as not to hold this hot potato in their hands.
Now that Ishida Mitsunari has taken the initiative to propose the transfer, Terasawa Hirotaka and Soyoshi naturally agree with both hands and have absolutely no objection. In addition, during the lifetime of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the 19,000 koku "hidden areas" set up in Satsuma and Osumi will no longer be retained and will all be returned to the Shimazu family. As a result, the stone height of the Shimazu family's territory suddenly increased by 48,000 koku, reaching 627,400 koku.
Third, support Shimazu Tadahashi to formally succeed the family governor. In March of the third year of Bunroku, Toyotomi Hideyoshi personally arranged for Shimazu Tadahashi to marry him, and ordered him to marry Shimazu Yoshihisa's daughter Kameju and become Shimazu Yoshihisa's adopted son, thus establishing Shimazu Tadahashi as Shimazu. The status of an heir.
However, due to the military boom in North Korea at that time, it was not a good day to get married. Ishida Mitsunari asked Shimazu Tadahashi to cross the sea to North Korea first, and then hold a wedding with Kameju after returning home after performing meritorious services. This would be more effective. Just as Ishida Mitsunari expected, this time Shimazu Tadahashi returned to his country, he was completely transformed. He was no longer the young boy he was before, but became a decent samurai, somewhat like the head of a family.
Therefore, on the 15th day of the first lunar month of the fourth year of Keicho, under the sole control of Ishida Mitsunari, Shimazu Tadahashi and Kameju held a wedding ceremony and officially became the heirs of the Shimazu clan.
On the day after the wedding, Shimazu Yoshihisa personally held a "ceremony of conferring heavy books and treasures" to Shimazu Tadayake at his residence under Fushimi Castle, and announced that Shimazu Tadayake would succeed him as the governor of the family.
Most of the Shimazu family's valuable books and treasures were left in Osumi Fukuma Castle, Shimazu Yoshihisa's residence. At this time, Shimazu Yoshihisa carried three items with him: one was the official genealogy compiled by the Shimazu family, "Shimazu Family Orthodox Lineage" "Illustration", the second is "Iroha Song" written and written by Shimazu Tadayoshi, and the third is the famous tea vessel "Hirano Kansho Tea" gifted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi - which is actually a kind of tea can.
At this "ceremony of bestowing important books and precious treasures", Shimazu Yoshihisa personally handed over three family treasures to Shimazu Tadahashi. According to the precedent of the Shimazu family, this is proof of the legitimacy of Shimazu Tadahashi's succession to the position of governor. .
Although Shimazu Tadahashi succeeded the family governor, it goes without saying that the real power in the family is still in the hands of Shimazu Yoshihisa. Shimazu Yoshihisa's prestige within the Shimazu family is irreplaceable. As long as he survives, he is the unanimously recognized political core of the family. Even Shimazu Yoshihiro couldn't shake Shimazu Yoshihisa's status, let alone the fledgling Shimazu Tadashi.
On the other hand, after Shimazu Tadahashi succeeded to the throne, as Shimazu Tadahashi's biological father, Shimazu Yoshihiro's status became very delicate, and he was implicitly tied with Shimazu Yoshihisa as the "Overlord" of the Shimadzu family. If some things are not handled well, they may cause misunderstanding and suspicion among Shimazu Yoshihisa and undermine the unity of the family. For this reason, Shimazu Yoshihiro came up with a trick. He followed the example of Shimazu Yoshihiro, shaved his hair and became a monk, and took the name "Weishin" to show that he would retreat to the second line and had no intention of fighting for power in the front office.
However, although his name is the same as in the original history, it has aroused some people's thoughts: the great Ming Dynasty Guan Bai Gao's pragmatic name "Rishin" and Shimazu Yoshihiro's ordinary name "Weixin" seem to be Expressing his firm loyalty to high pragmatism and obedience.
Having said that, Shimazu Yoshihiro said he was a monk, but in fact, all kinds of large and small affairs of the Shimazu family, especially those major matters that required the approval of the Toyotomi regime, still had to be handled by Shimazu Yoshihiro. One of the most important things is to allocate the "floating land" detected during the Taige land inspection in the fourth year of Wenlu.
At that time, it was Shimazu Yoshihiro who promised to allocate these "floating lands" according to the military merits of his participation in North Korea, and he managed to gather more than 7,000 troops to cross the sea to North Korea. Now it is time to fulfill his promise.
The ins and outs of this matter are a bit long, so I won’t go into details here. In short, because Ishida Mitsunari spent a lot of money to win over the Shimadzu family, he readily agreed to Shimazu Yoshihiro’s request and issued the Shimadzu family a seal certificate signed by the five ministers. , the Tanegashima territory was returned to Tanegashima Hisato. The Chiran territory of Tanegashima Hisato remained unchanged, and Shimazu Masihisa transferred it to Ohsumi Tarumi.
Perhaps it is precisely because Mitsunari has done so many things to win over the Shimadzu family that he feels that the Shimazu family is his quasi-ally!
The Shimazu family is celebrating the fourth year of the New Year with many happy events and is immersed in a festive atmosphere. After the New Year, Shimazu Yoshihisa and Shimazu Toyohisa left Fushimi Castle on February 4th and returned to Osumi and Hyuga territories respectively. Shimazu Yoshihiro and Shimazu Tadahashi continued to stay in Kyoto to participate in the work.
At this time, the situation in Kyoto was extremely complicated. The contradiction between the "Bunji faction" such as Ishida Mitsunari, Konishi Yukinaga, and Masuda Nagamori and the "Martial Arts faction" such as Kato Kiyomasa and Fukushima Masanori intensified.
Tokugawa Ieyasu took advantage of the contradiction between the two factions and tried his best to suppress Ishida Mitsunari. He relied entirely on Maeda Toshiaki's mediation to barely maintain the peaceful situation and prevent the conflict from breaking out immediately. However, Maeda Toshiie was ill and did not have much time to live. He died of illness on March 3, the fourth year of Keicho.
Just when Maeda Toshiie was seriously ill and about to die, Shimazu Tadashi summoned his family's senior ministers in Beijing to hold a meeting at the Shimazu family residence. Ijuin Tadō was also present at the meeting. Since everyone in the world knows the importance of Maeda Toshiie at this time, and now that he is seriously ill and about to die, it is normal for the Shimadzu family to gather together to discuss countermeasures.
Before the meeting, according to the Shimadzu family's practice, Shimazu Tadahashi hosted everyone for tea. Ijuin Tadō picked up the tea bowl and took a sip. He found that the tea soup was extremely bitter and even had a slight odor, so he couldn't help but spit it out.
This move was extremely rude. When Ijuin Tadō was embarrassed, he noticed that Shimazu Tadashi and his entourage had weird smiles on their faces, and thought it was just Shimazu Tadashi's prank.
Ijuin Tadō is a veteran of the Shimazu family and has a distinguished status in the family. However, facing his young master at this time, he felt inconvenient and only bowed briefly to salute before planning to stand up and leave. However, it was too late, and soon, Shimazu Tadashi suddenly jumped up from the seat, and drew out the famous family sword "Takachiho Nagako" he wore. A flash of sword flashed, and Ijuin Tadō fell in a pool of blood.
The incident happened suddenly, like a rabbit rising and a falcon falling, in the blink of an eye. Everyone present was shocked and dumbfounded by the scene in front of them. Shimazu Tadahashi calmly took out the wiping paper, wiped off the blood on the knife, put the knife back into the sheath with a beautiful sheath, and coldly announced: "Ijuin Yuki. Kan (Yijiyuan Zhongdong's religious name was "Xing Kan" after he became a monk) was a traitor and committed numerous crimes. He has now been executed. His family and followers will all be pardoned, so don't be alarmed."
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Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "I am Liao Zhenxin", "Yun Fuyue Yu", "First Login", and "Broccoli" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
PS: I heard that China Literature has made some big moves recently? I was so busy that I didn’t understand it. I don’t know what the new trend is...
(End of chapter)
