Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 142 Morinaga Ke defeated Ota in the first battle and Hideyoshi returned to Sumata for discussion
At the insistence of Ikeda Hengxing, Hideyoshi agreed to exchange the arrangement of the two, although Masakatsu Hachisuka was very unhappy about losing this opportunity to make great contributions.

But the strength of the disciplined people is here. The super daimyo wants to compete with you, and at the same time, his master has agreed, so you can only pinch your nose to admit it.

After introducing the military plan, Hideyoshi left Hachisuka Masakatsu alone and confessed, "Swapping your arrangement with Settsu Mamoru is a last resort decision, but your position is also very important, whether it is to intercept the reinforcements of the Tokugawa family, or Support Settsu Mori nearby, you will be the number one combat force, please let me see your bravery."

If the early Hachisuka Masakatsu was a single-minded reckless man, now he followed Hideyoshi to fight in the north and south, and received the education of Hanbei Yu Hashiba Hidecho, although Hachisuka Masakatsu is still a little impulsive, he has become a Qualified general.

When Hachisuka Masakatsu heard that Hideyoshi specially arranged for him to stay, he was flattered and said, "Hideyoshi, just take care of it, I will not embarrass our Hashiba family."

Hachisuka’s “Hideyoshi” really called Hashiba Hideyoshi’s dream back to 18 years ago when I waited for him to meet him in the upper reaches of the Yamakisogawa River. Now that time has passed and the identities of the two have undergone earth-shaking changes, he is the only one who still calls him that Own.

Hideyoshi touched Hachisu and Masakatsu Ka said, "I'll leave it to you when the time comes, Xiaoliu."

Sumata Castle is only a small city, and cannot accommodate too many soldiers. After Hideyoshi separated 2 people, there were still 2000 people left in Sumata Castle, which still exceeded the limit that the city could accommodate, so many soldiers came along Set up camp under Sumata Castle for repairs.

After the generals dispersed, Hideyoshi looked at the deserted Sumata camp, and called Ishida Mitsunari, who had been serving at the side, and said, "It's deserted, Sakichi thinks of something to do."

"Thinking of something?" asked Ishida Mitsunari, looking at Hideyoshi in a daze.

"How can we say that we are all Oda's army occupying righteousness. Although the opposite side is rebellious, many of them are just coerced. Just like last time, adjust the opposite side."

In Hideyoshi's cognition, but right? Hearing that the moment his army arrived at Mino, the opponent was outnumbered, and the fighting spirit of many daimyos must have been shaken. It is bound to make them rebel before the battle and defect to their own clan, which is tantamount to a heavy blow to the morale of the Tokugawa-Oda coalition forces.

On the second day, when Hideyoshi felt bored and was gambling with Fukushima Masanori and others, Ishida Mitsunari came hurriedly from outside the hall, holding a notice in his hand, and came to report to Hideyoshi.

"Oh~ Sancheng, what's the matter?" Hashiba Hideyoshi asked with a hasty glance at Sancheng just as he was getting excited.

"The Tokugawa army distributed this notice everywhere in the Nobi area, and all the words on it were unfavorable to His Highness." Ishida Mitsunari replied breathlessly.

"Is it a call to action again? It's written in a manner, and I don't know who to read. Throw it aside. When I beat them down, they will naturally not dare to talk nonsense." Not surprised, replied indifferently.

Seeing Ishida Mitsunari standing on the side and not retreating, Hideyoshi, who felt disturbed and excited, pushed the cards on the table, and said with some disappointment, "Then let's listen to the letter written by the Tokugawa Councilor, and the organization Is there any difference between what His Highness Tian Attendant wrote?"

Hideyoshi had already closed his eyes, and was about to listen to Ishida Matsunari recite the content above, but Ishida Mitsunari didn't say a word for a long time, Hideyoshi said impatiently, "Idiot, I asked you to read it to me, but you didn't listen?" Are you there?"

"But the above content is really."

"What is it really? Anyway, Tokugawa Ieyasu has already spread this proclamation everywhere. What is the difference between reading it here for everyone and reading it back for them? Read it and listen to it. Let us see how His Royal Highness Tokugawa's writing works." Sample."

"The content above is really too vicious. It actually said that your highness has perverted the law, and the crimes committed are too numerous to record. His highness Tokugawa was forced to raise troops to restore justice."

Hideyoshi interrupted Ishida Mitsunari's words and said, "Don't read this kind of beginning. How can there be a statement saying that he is unjust? To be honest, Tokugawa and his fellow have listed my crimes."

"First, Your Highness Hideyoshi"

"Hey? That Tokugawa guy is so polite, would he call me Your Highness? Read it as it is."

"Your Highness, there's no need to do this. The above addressing His Highness is mostly contemptuous and dirty words. We just need to listen to the content." Ishida Matsunari replied with some embarrassment.

He originally wanted to tell Hideyoshi what Tokugawa said about Hideyoshi, but who would have thought that Hideyoshi would ask him to recite the original text that scolded him. .

"Do you think this notice was written specifically to annoy me? I just want to hear whether Councilor Tokugawa's writing is better than that of a farmer like me. Just read it."

"Yes, first of all, Hideyoshi's son is from the countryside. Tugouer, he was a pawn in front of the right mansion at the beginning. Later, he won the trust of Nobunaga, picked him up from the trivial, enjoyed the generous rewards, and did not want to repay the kindness of Nobunaga's descendants. , He even forgot his father's great kindness and usurped the king and the throne."

In fact, when Ishida Mitsunari just started to recite, Hashiba Hideyoshi's face was already gloomy. Now after Ishida Mitsunari finished reading the first sentence, his tone was indifferent as if he was going to kill him, but he pretended to be indifferent and said, "Look, sure." If you want to write it like this, Nobuo Oda wrote it in the same way back then, it’s not new at all, is there any more? Does the second article include insulting the young master and occupying the wife’s room of the former master?”

"The second article says that you tortured and killed the lord's son Nobutaka and his biological mother, and now you send troops to Oda to serve His Royal Highness Nobuo. It is a great rebellion, but to let the Oda family perish and exterminate the country. Your malicious intentions are beyond words."

When Hideyoshi heard the second content, he jumped up from his seat, grabbed the notice to confirm the content on it, threw the notice on the ground and cursed, "This is all bad things done by Mr. When it hit my head, it really hurt me, and it hurt me."

"How can I let the lord's heirs perish and exterminate the country? Isn't Xiusheng, Xinzhen, and the three mages all good? Xinxiao and Xinxiong rebelled successively. As one of the elders of the Oda family, can I not suppress the rebellion for the master? Are you saying that the murder of Nobutaka's mother and son was done by that idiot Nobuo, I didn't know it beforehand, so why blame me now?"

"Send me troops to attack Heitian Castle on the other side. I will spend the night in the city today and use Ieyasu's head as a chamber pot! Send troops!"

At this moment, Hideyoshi was extremely irritable, and at the top of his voice he asked his subordinates to cross the river to attack Kuroda Castle. At this moment, Hideyoshi could not wait for the strategy to take effect.

Hideyoshi kicked the disabled Kuroda officer and guard to the ground and said, "Tokugawa Ieyasu is so dirty to me. If I don't act, the world will think I'm a guilty conscience. Whoever persuades me to stop the army now, I will kill him to sacrifice the flag." .”

In the afternoon, the army of Sumata Castle slowly left the castle and moved towards Yanazu. In fact, after the army started to move, Hideyoshi already realized that he had fallen into Tokugawa Ieyasu's aggressive strategy.

The Tokugawa family, dominated by Mikawa samurai, was supplemented by Takeda's strong soldiers after the Tokugawa family evaluated Shinano. It can even be said that the Tokugawa army is the strongest field army in the world today.

As for Hideyoshi's army, most of the old soldiers in Kinai, their fighting will is much different from that of Shinano Sangougou's troops. Now that there is not much difference in numbers, Hideyoshi is really not sure of victory.

Now that I think about it, Tokugawa Ieyasu deliberately put the blame for Nobuo's crimes on his own hat, I am afraid he is forcing himself to take the initiative to attack, thus revealing his flaws.

"Ah, I've been tricked, I've been tricked, why was I so careless at the time?" Hideyoshi blamed himself while riding on the horse, patting his shiny forehead.

But now that Hideyoshi has uttered his big words, he has no choice but to speak out. If he goes back to Sumata City at this moment, he will end up being afraid of Tokugawa Ieyasu being ridiculed by the world.

When Hideyoshi was so entangled with Hideyoshi, Maeno Nagayasu, who was clearing the way ahead, came to Hideyoshi with a bloody samurai and told him, "My lord, this is Mr. Mori's samurai Murata Yoshihei. He brought Musashi keep the news."

"You are Mori Musashi's retainer? Why do you look like this?"

The samurai said out of breath, "Your Highness Hashiba, my lord was attacked by Yasomasa Kanbara on the side of the mountain. The whole army failed in a bloody battle. I escaped from the battlefield."

Morinagako had previously accepted the task arranged by Hideyoshi to detour the upper reaches of the Kiso River to cut rafts, rush down the river to break the floating bridge on the Kiso River, and cut off the connection between the Tokugawa and Oda armies.

In order to ensure privacy, Hideyoshi only asked him to lead 1000 troops, but this army was the real elite of the Mori family, and the general garrison was no match at all, because it was small and capable.

But now, Hideyoshi heard the news of the Rangers' defeat, and asked in surprise, "How could this be? How could Kanbara Komasa appear there? How many enemies are there?"

"No less than 8000 people came from Higashi Mino. It seems that they were reinforcements from the Shinano side. Kanbara Komasa was the vanguard. Later, Matsudaira Shu saw the banners of Yasushige, Shibata Shigemasa, Ashida Nobumori and others. "

"Is there a Shinano banner?" Hideyoshi continued to ask.

"The battle situation is too chaotic, I can't see it very clearly, but I saw the Kiso family's flag."

"Where's Musashi Mamoru? Is he okay?"

"Musashi Shou led us to break out to the south, and met the team of Oda's servants. The two armies were attacking and our family was completely defeated. I don't know where Musashi Shou is now."

Hideyoshi was very dissatisfied with the information he brought, but he could only wave his hand to let him go down to rest, and said to the left and right, "Go and call the officers and soldiers."

In fact, there was no need for Hideyoshi to call. After seeing Maeno Changyasu walking back with a man, the army suddenly stagnated, and the officer and guard knew that something might have happened, and rode to Hideyoshi's side.

After Hideyoshi saw that Kanbei had arrived, he shared the information he had with Kanbei Kuroda, and Kanbei asked with a serious expression, "What is your Highness going to do? Do you still need to return to Sumata for the military meeting?"

"To tell you the truth, I'm actually not very confident about crossing the river in the Tokugawa army's field battle. Now that reinforcements have arrived, I don't know what will happen there. If I lead the army across the river rashly, I may fall into the enemy's army Trap, so I did have the idea of ​​​​retiring from the army, it's just..."

Kanbei Kuroda has been with Hideyoshi for so many years, he knows what fart he wants to fart as soon as he pokes his butt, after all, it's not because of face. "Your Highness, why don't you go to the Kiso River to fight for a while, fire a few rounds of iron cannons, and then use the excuse that the Kiso River is fast. On the grounds that it is not easy to cross the river, return to Sumata and discuss again."

"Okay, let's do that."

The Kisogawa River is one of the few large rivers in Japan with extremely abundant water flow. Even in the dry season in winter, the river surface is still 30 meters wide and more than 10 meters deep. Now it is the end of March, and it is normal for the water to surge in the rainy season. This is indeed a Very good excuse.

So Hideyoshi's 3-strong team continued to march forward to the Kiso River, and ordered the iron cannons to fire empty guns at the opposite bank, and the movement was not insignificant.

Then, on the pretext that the Tokugawa army was afraid of their own army and did not dare to go to war, they ordered the army to return to Sumata, and notified the Gifu daimyo to come to Sumata to participate in military service.

The 1200 people stationed on the opposite bank were Kohama Takashi's [-] people. After discovering Hideyoshi's movements, they immediately went to report to Tokugawa Ieyasu, while he himself stood ready to guard the river bank.

As a result, Xiao Binjinglong, who looked at death like home, waited for a long time, and the Yu Chai army on the opposite side retreated from the distance, and the action really made him puzzled.

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At night, Sumata was illuminated by firewood pots and torches, and the second military meeting of the Hashiba Army was being held in the Honmaru of Sumata Castle.

In fact, this anticlimactic attack as early as in the afternoon confused many people. At that time, Hideyoshi did not have enough information on the situation on the front line. At this moment, after the ninja's investigation, Morinagako's situation has been ascertained, so he is here. Narrated at the second military meeting.

"Everyone, at noon today, the Tokugawa family's Shinano reinforcements came from Higashi Mino, and happened to come into contact with the Musashi guards who were marching up the Kiso River along the Xiangshan River. Musashi guards escaped and returned to Gifu. Mamoru Musashi, tell us about the situation."

In the meantime, Mori Changke retreated the girdle and grass sleeves, and his upper body was bandaged and said, "It's really bad luck. Our family just crossed Xiangshan and encountered a large group of Tokugawa troops in the Zhuban area, so we broke out in Zhuban. Encounter."

"For Zhuban, it's Mino Ota, right? Has Ota Castle fallen too?" Niwa Chohide interjected.

"I'm afraid it is. The cities that Dongmei Nong is still holding on to now may only be left with a few cities, mainly Yancun. This is also the reason why I chose to break out to the west. It is a pity that I met someone who heard the voice and came to check. Oda Nobuo's team finally returned to Gifu with only a hundred people under the death battle of the retainers."

Mori Chang could say here, bowed to Hashiba Hideyoshi and said, "I'm sorry, Your Highness Quanda Nayan, I didn't complete your task."

Hideyoshi, who did an excellent job on the scene, immediately put on a flattered expression, and ran up to help Mori Changke said, "Your father and I are old friends, how can I bear to see you in prison and come back alive?" That's good, don't make any big moves, everything is healing."

Then Hideyoshi said to the daimyo sitting there, "After the Musashimori raid was exposed, the strength of the two armies is very close. At this moment, the outcome of the raid is uncertain. I decided to rest temporarily and wait for Koichiro's Ise Front Army to join me. Attack the Tokugawa-Kitabata Allied Forces."

"Beibata?" Some generals were a little confused by this title, Hideyoshi simply explained, "As the son of His Royal Highness You Fu, he didn't want to serve the Three Masters Palace, but wanted to usurp the throne while he was young. That guy Nobuo doesn't deserve the title at all. I am Oda."

Hideyoshi's explanation caused a burst of laughter. Indeed, as Hideyoshi said, Nobuo, that big fool, is really not worthy of using Oda's Miao character, so they all laughed off Hideyoshi's act of changing his name without authorization, but at this moment, another There was an excited sound.

"Aren't we just sitting like this now and not doing anything? Even if the reinforcements come from the opposite side, there are only more than 5 people. Our army still has an advantage of 7 people. To attack Oda's attendants, and then cross the river to encircle Tokugawa's councilors. It’s not like the strategy can’t be implemented!”

Everyone searched for their reputation, and it turned out that it was Ikeda Hengxing who sent it. Hideyoshi frowned slightly, and quickly changed his face and coaxed him, "Oh, Settsu Mori, wait a moment, the news just arrived today, My younger brother Koichiro has already captured Matsushima Castle, and he will join us soon, and by that time, the army of our family will exceed 10, so wouldn't it be more certain to win?"

Ikeda Hengxing gave a noncommittal "hum" and stopped talking. Hideyoshi stopped when he saw this thorn, but the atmosphere in the shogunate was a bit awkward, so Hideyoshi said with a hippie smile
"I just arrived in Mino yesterday, and I invited you to Sumata to participate in the military meeting, but I didn't entertain you well. Now that the situation is becoming confrontational, and you are all here, why don't I treat you well as a landlord. "

"Zuoji, order me to go down and cook a table of delicious food. I want to make my name with you today, and I won't return until I'm drunk!"

Hideyoshi is an expert in setting up the atmosphere. Under Hideyoshi's mobilization (mainly to dance in person), the atmosphere of the entire shogunate became enthusiastic again. The daimyo put aside the differences behind them and ordered them to hook up and call each other brothers. They were so happy.

Only Ikeda Hengxing, who was sitting in one of the upper positions, was drinking alone in a sullen mood, out of tune with the situation in the entire hall.

(End of this chapter)