Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 133 The Premonition of Komaki's Long Hand
What Hideyoshi said was, of course, the progress of his adjustments to Oda Nobuo's family.

Before Jianyue, Hashiba Hideyoshi and Oda Nobuo were quasi-allies without an alliance. Oda Nobuo’s territory was divided by Shibata Katsuya and Oda Nobutaka, and they would be wiped out by both of them at any time, so he actively contacted Hashiba Hideyoshi.

After Jianyue, Oda Nobuo violated Hideyoshi's wishes, tricked his younger brother Nobutaka into Kaisong and killed him, leaving a very bad influence in the Oda family.

Oda Nobuo thought that after removing Nobutaka, he would be a well-deserved second opinion of the three mages.At that time, I held the Patriarch of the Oda family in my hand, and coerced the emperor to command the princes. No one in the world would dare to disobey. At that time, I was the actual master of the power in the world.

But after Jianyue, the big names of the Oda family moved closer to Hashiba Hideyoshi one after another, which aroused the dissatisfaction of Oda Nobuo.

In particular, Hashiba Hideyoshi made a small move in the documents, turning the first vassal of the Western Kingdom into Yukido's retainers. The controlled stone height has exceeded 630 million stone.

With the addition of Ikeda Hengxing, Niwa Nagahide and others who stood on the same front, today's Oda family has actually been emptied, and the Oda family, once the overlord in Kinai, has been swallowed by Hashiba Hideyoshi.

After the Battle of Kidake, Oda Nobuo thought that he had made great contributions and should be awarded the title of Mino, and no matter how bad he should be, he should also get the territory of Kita Ise, so that his territories could be connected together.

However, after the war, Hashiba Hideyoshi borrowed the name of the three masters to poach Oda Nobuo's Niwa County and reward him to Ikeda Hengxing, who was transferred to Mino, and only gave Oda Nobuo Nagashima and Kameyama 20 shi as compensation.

What's more important is the lack of Niwa County, like a sharp knife, piercing into Oda Nobuo's confidant Qingzhou Castle, which made him have to relocate his base city to Long Island to avoid the threat of Mino.

In the eyes of Oda Nobuo, the land of Long Island is the land he deserves, but now it is used as a bargaining chip for the transfer. How can he not make him feel angry, so he began to fight with Hashiba Hideyoshi openly and secretly.

At this time, although the Oda family has become the nominal co-owner, and most of the family's retainers have been turned into Hideyoshi's retainers, Hideyoshi still maintains the respect on the surface, and holds a meeting of the Oda family in Azuchi every month.

It was at this useless meeting that Oda Nobuo stumbled Hideyoshi with a childish mentality. In short, what Hideyoshi said, he must say in reverse.

In fact, judging from what Nobuo has done in history, he should be clearly aware of the threat of Hideyoshi, and he has been trying to suppress the rise of Hashiba Hideyoshi. However, the political level is not at the same level, and Hideyoshi pushed him on the floor to finish the abuse.

History does not give the losers a chance to defend themselves. In many literary works, Oda Nobuo is portrayed as a guy who does not have a B-face and does not have an AC number in his heart. In fact, from the perspective of an independent third party, Nobuo Just doing what its identity should do.

Let me ask, if Nobuo did not resist, and was very obedient to help Hideyoshi to pacify the world, would Hideyoshi let Oda Nobuo lead a million-dollar kingdom after the war?If Oda Nobuo has a million stones, what is the legitimacy of his downfall?
Therefore, there must be a battle between Hideyoshi and Nobuo. Even if Nobuo obeys, Hideyoshi will find excuses to change the Owari Oda family. For Nobuo, it is better to stand up and fight for life than to sit and wait for death. .

For Oda Nobuo, the situation at this time is also different from a year ago. A year ago, he was surrounded by Shibata and Oda Nobutaka, and he was in danger of dying at any time. There was no one around him to rely on Allies in the country can only unite with Hideyoshi, whom he once looked down upon.

Now that his territory has been connected in a straight line, he holds the million-dollar land of Owari-Ise and the two countries, and behind him is Tokugawa Ieyasu who owns a million-dollar. In his opinion, he might not have the strength to fight Hideyoshi.

That's right, when Hashiba Hideyoshi was struggling against Shibata Katsuie, Tokugawa Ieyasu was also developing secretly.

Tokugawa Ieyasu first dispatched Ishikawa Shusho to bring the "Hatsuka" teapot as a gift on May 5, the first time after Kidake's victory, to congratulate Hashiba Hideyoshi on his victory over his defeat.

After confusing Hideyoshi, Ieyasu quickly reorganized the territory, and launched an invasion of Kai in July of the 11th year of Tensho (1583).

In order to quickly assess Kai and Shinano, Ieyasu offered a lot of favorable conditions for the investment of the two countries, so that he completed the suppression of Kai and Minami Shinano in October of the same year. At this time, Ieyasu already had 10 million Stone territory.

In October of the same year, although the encirclement network against Hashiba Hideyoshi was not proposed in name, but with Tokugawa Ieyasu as the core, it connected in series Chosogabu Motokin, Kiine Laizhong, Oda Nobuo, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Hojo Ujimasa, etc. People, the encirclement network targeting Hashiba Hideyoshi has actually been formed.

In order to stabilize Tokugawa Ieyasu, isolate Oda Nobuo, and use Tokugawa Ieyasu to assess the credit of Minami Shinano and Kai.

Hashiba Hideyoshi specially asked the court to recommend Tokugawa Ieyasu as the post of the three counselors, and even ranked Tokugawa Ieyasu ahead of Hashiba Hideyoshi when ranking the official positions of the imperial court.

But Tokugawa Ieyasu is not the idiot Mori Terumoto, he is not a person who can be stabilized by just a few empty checks, and he himself has the ambition to rule the world, so what Hideyoshi is doing at this moment will inevitably become useless.

After Hideyoshi heard that they launched a military alliance against him, he completely let go of his illusions and took up arms to prepare for battle.

But at this time, both sides are not ready for the battle. Hideyoshi Hashiba has just experienced the tragic victory of Jianyue, and the transfer has just ended. Many daimyos are new to the new collars, so they have not fully grasped their strength.

And for Hideyoshi, the chessboard of war has never been limited to the battlefield, and he has already begun to investigate the retainers of Oda Nobuo and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Relying on his extraordinary size of 630 million shi and adjusting the progress of the enemy, the longer the delay, the better it will be for him. This is why he started building the city of Osaka in August.

On the one hand, you can find out the details of each daimyo through daimyo contributions, and on the other hand, you can use fortification as an excuse to delay the war, gain time for yourself to master new skills, and to adjust the enemy.

In history, if it wasn’t for Tensho’s 12th March, Oda Nobuo discovered his retainers Okada Shigetaka (Owari Hoshizaki Castle), Tsugawa Yoshifuyu (Ise Matsushima Castle), Asai Nagato (Owari Kariyasu Kajo Castle) Secretly informed Hashiba Hideyoshi's situation.

And Oda Nobuo, who found out that they knew Hashiba Hideyoshi, directly ordered them to be executed.The family elder killed as soon as he said, which indeed to a certain extent deterred other retainers who had not been exposed.

At the same time, Hideyoshi's adjustment strategy was completely exposed, and there was no need to continue to adjust the strategy. Hashiba Hideyoshi may use the Osaka fortification as an excuse to continue to delay for about a year to find a suitable opportunity.

The ensuing Tianzheng earthquake directly caused Hideyoshi heavy losses and directly hindered his opportunity to crusade against Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Just imagine, if the three of them hadn't been discovered, Hashiba Hideyoshi spent a year to clean up the Owari Oda family, and the Hashiba army, who was recuperating after a year, would go down under the leadership of the leading party. Zhang, then attacked Tokugawa, will history be rewritten?Does Tokugawa Ieyasu still have a chance to take over the world?

Ishida Mitsunari heard that Hashiba Hideyoshi asked about the adjustment of the Owari Oda family, and replied to Hideyoshi very respectfully, "Genbo Yun (Tsugawa Yoshifuyu), Nagatomori (Okada Shigetaka) and Miyata Maru (Asai Nagatoki) are very good. Obedient, after returning to Oda's house, I have been persuading His Highness Ise not to go to war."

"I have already used the three of them as an opportunity to conduct an investigation on Kawaguchi Munekatsu, Yamaguchi Shigemasa and other retainers, and the results are expected within two months."

To say that the secret communication between them and Hashiba Hideyoshi began with Hideyoshi's plan to divorce them. The three elders just got on the thief's boat, and reluctantly took on the task of spying for Hideyoshi.

The above three family elders are the elders sent by Oda Nobunaga to Nobuo for the purpose of discipline when he let Nobuo join the Kitabata family, and they are quite prestigious in the Owari Oda family.

It turned out that as early as this year's Chinese New Year, Hideyoshi asked Oda Nobuo to come to Azuchi to participate in the meeting in the name of Hexi, the titular ruler of the Oda family. The elders make a survey.

Oda Nobuo was unwilling to go, but it was under the constant persuasion of the three elders that Oda Nobuo agreed to come to Azuchi to meet the three masters.

When the two of them met in Azuchi, Hideyoshi deliberately said indifferently in front of Nobuo during the third round of drinking, "Rumors are spreading in Kyoto, saying that His Highness Oda Ise has formed an alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Hojo clan government. It's me." After speaking, he looked at Oda Nobuo who was sitting opposite him while holding the wine glass.

Facing Hashiba Hideyoshi's sudden attack, Oda Nobuo and the three family elders were extremely nervous in Omi Azuchi Castle controlled by Hashiba Hideyoshi, fearing that they would die under the knife in the next moment.

Oda Nobuo regretted it even more, and hated the three people who persuaded him to come to Anzu in his heart.

Unexpectedly, Hashiba Hideyoshi's words changed suddenly, and he said with a hippie smile, "Actually, I knew it when I was here. This must be the fake news that Tokugawa Ieyasu sent Iga Ninja to Kyoto. The purpose is to drive us apart. What do you say?" Isn't that right, Your Highness Oda?"

"Yes, yes" Oda Nobuo, who was extremely flustered in his heart, couldn't hear what Shinihashiba Hideyoshi said. He was terrified in his heart, and only knew to bow his head in agreement, and kept wiping the sweat from his head with the handkerchief in his hand.

Nobuo's embarrassment was naturally caught in Hideyoshi's eyes, and he smiled slightly, knowing that his strategy had succeeded, and continued to say, "It's just that I know it's a rumor, and many family members who don't know why don't know, even His Royal Highness the Three Masters asked I said, 'Monkey! Are you going to start a war with Nobuo?' What do you think I should answer?"

Oda Nobuo couldn't reply Hideyoshi's question at all. Oda Nobuo, who was extremely arrogant at the Azuchi meeting before, was completely wilted at this time, and he only hoped that Nenghou would wait until the dinner was over and escape back to Long Island.

Hideyoshi looked down on Nobuo's uselessness very much. Seeing that Nobuo didn't answer, he continued, "I don't think it's better than this. You hand over the hostages to me, so that no one will talk outside."

The three family elders at the same table felt a "thud" in their hearts when they heard that Hideyoshi asked Nobuo for hostages.Last year, Hideyoshi asked Nobutaka to take his biological mother as a hostage, acquiescing to his invasion of Oda Nobuo, but in the end he still launched the Battle of Kidake.

He also threatened Nobutaka not to support Shibata Katsuya. After being rejected by Oda Nobutaka, Hashiba Hideyoshi killed Nobutaka's biological mother.

Now that Hideyoshi is repeating his old tricks, is he also planning to use this to threaten Nobuo?It's just that Nobuo's birth mother, Ikomaden, is dead, and Hideyoshi asked for the feared Nobuo's eldest son, Hideo.

And Oda Nobuo, who heard Hideyoshi asking for a hostage from him, finally came back to his senses, and looked at Hideyoshi dumbfounded. After all, in the name of Oda's family, he was still ahead of Hideyoshi, so why did Hashiba Hideyoshi ask him for a hostage?

Hideyoshi said from the side, "There's no need to be nervous, and you don't need any important people. Just leave the three elders here and leave them to me."

Hideyoshi's request was beyond the expectations of the four, but Nobuo, who had already been intimidated by Hideyoshi at this moment, couldn't seriously think about the reason, agreed immediately, and fled back from Azuchi Castle in a hurry the next morning long island.

The remaining three received preferential treatment from Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi attempted to use the Three Kingdoms of Ise, Owari, and Iga as bait to induce the three to surrender, but they were rejected by the three. I have an idea and continue to adjust the strategy.

He fabricated a story that Tokugawa Ieyasu used Oda Nobuo to test himself, and forged the letters he secretly communicated with himself for the three to check.

As a result, these three fools really believed it. The three people who were originally from the Oda family vowed that they would persuade Oda Nobuo to maintain the superficial peace of the Oda family for the sake of the overall situation.

After getting the answer, Hideyoshi was very satisfied, and sent the trio gifts back to the territory. In the name of the three mages, he gave the trio very rich rewards. What do you ask Oda Nobuo, the governor who fled back to Long Island from Azuchi, to think of the trio?

You said that these are the rewards given by the three mages in gratitude for the stability of the Oda family. The key is whether Oda Nobuo believes it or not?Suppose you were in the position of Oda Nobuo, would you believe it?
After the three of them came back, Oda Nobuo alienated the three of them. In the eyes of the three, it just became the evidence that Oda Nobuo insisted on going his own way to be used as a gun by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Withdraw from the alliance and place peace in the Oda family.

Hideyoshi was quite satisfied with the results of Ishida Mitsunari's operation, and said to him, "The adjustment is not urgent. At present, we only need to stabilize Oda Nobuo and adjust the Owari Ise flow time for us."

"However, you also need to start preparing war materials. My estimated time for the war is the end of the year. You should try to prepare the materials for the winter war before the middle of the year. After the autumn harvest, launch an attack on Owari Ise. What happened in Osaka , you just let it go for a while."

"Kai, I'll go get ready right away." Ishida Mitsunari saluted Hideyoshi very respectfully, then turned and left.

Hideyoshi stood up from his seat, fiddled with the branches beside him, and murmured the names of several people, "Mitsuhide Akechi, Katsuie Shibata, Nobutaka Oda, Ieyasu Tokugawa, Nobuo Oda."

(End of this chapter)