Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 147 The Big Tail Battle (End)

Unlike Ikeda Hengxing, when Inaba Kazutetsu was retreating northward, he met Hachisuka Masakatsu who came to meet him. Seeing that Hashiba's army had reached the river, Kanbara Yasumasa, who was in charge of the pursuit, reined in his horse and returned to the battlefield of Ichinomiya.

Hachisuka Masakatsu did not dare to pursue and set up a military station on the side of the road to gather the rout troops, and then took the main force to cover the Inaba army and converged in the direction of Hideyoshi's main force.

All of Hideyoshi Hashiba's information on the battlefield came from the soldiers who had fled from the front line until Mitsunari Ishida reported in the middle of the night, "Master Ikeda Teruma is back."

Hideyoshi ran out without wearing any shoes, hugged Huizheng who was crying, and expressed condolences to him.

Hideyoshi wanted to find out about Ikeda Hengxing's situation from Ikeda Huizheng's mouth, but Huizheng himself knew nothing about it.

Until the noon of the next day, it was reported from the direction of Na Furuno that the Tokugawa Army had already publicized and beheaded the head of Ikeda Settsumori. This decisive battle involving 10 people ended with Hideyoshi's defeat.

Due to Ikeda Hengxing's fault, Hashiba's side lost more than 1 people in the battle near Inuyama, and the concentrated Ashgaru was also temporarily unusable because of fear. As a result, Hashiba's military strength at this moment could not effectively suppress the Oda Tokugawa coalition forces.

Fortunately, Hashiba Hideyoshi's main force was not lost. After capturing Kuroda Castle and forcing Honda Tadakatsu back, Hideyoshi began to attack Cheongju, Kanie and other cities.

On the Oda-Tokugawa side, despite the victory, the Oda Army lost a lot. Tokugawa Ieyasu placed the main force in Cheongju and Naguno, and Oda Nobuo set up the main battle in Komakiyama Castle in the north. Cities show horns to each other, ready to support.

But it's not all bad news. Ise's Hashiba Hideyoshi successfully persuaded Oda Changmashi to surrender through a strategy, which made the 1 Oda Army and Nagashima Castle surrender Hashiba Hideyoshi on the spot.

Hashiba Hideyoshi surrounded Cheongju Castle on April 4, and his younger brother Hidecho crossed the Kiso River and took Kanie Castle on April 5, threatening Na Furuno from the side, and threatened to cut Tokugawa's retreat.

However, due to the tragic result of Ikeda Hengxing's big roundabout strategy last time, Hashiba Hideyoshi did not allow Hashiba Hidecho to continue to lead the army to the east, but let him go north to sweep Haixi and Haidong counties, and then came to Cheongju to fight with himself. confluence.

Hashiba Hidecho, who received the order, left Takikawa Kazuyoshi to defend Kanie Castle, then turned north to surround Cheongju Castle with his elder brother.

At this time, the defender of Qingzhou City was Hideyoshi's old friend Ishikawa Susho. The city was guarded by 2500 Okazaki congregants and 1500 Oda troops. Outside the city, with the confluence of the two armies of Hashiba, the surrounded army had exceeded 11. million people.

In fact, from the perspective of the battlefield situation, Hashiba Hideyoshi still has the initiative on the battlefield, and even because of the arrival of his younger brother Hidecho, the balance of victory and defeat tilted towards him again.

In order to ensure the retreat of the Furuno Tokugawa Army, Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered Sakai Tadaji to lead Kanbara Yasumasa to seize Kanie Castle in the west. At the same time, he ordered Ii Naomasa and others to go north to occupy the Oida and Oida Castles on the banks of the Nikko River, and to support the Ishikawas of Qingzhou Castle at any time. just.

On Hideyoshi's side, Miyoshi Hideji was ordered to be the acting general, and 1 people attached to Hachisuka Masakatsu went to Iwakura to confront Oda Nobuo in Komakiyama.

Order the Ise Legion under Hideji Hashiba to cross the Shinkawa, a tributary of the Nikko River, to suppress Oida Castle and Oida Castle. It is best to capture the two castles, cut off the support of the Tokugawa Army from Cheongju Castle, and force Ishikawa in the castle to surrender.

Due to the small wings of the butterfly, the surrounding environment that Hideyoshi needs to face at this moment is much better than in history, and at the same time, his own strength is also much stronger than in history.

Hideyoshi did not choose to persuade Nobuo to surrender after besieging Nobuo as in history.Instead, he chose to continue to mobilize superior forces to fight against the Oda-Tokugawa coalition forces.

For Hashiba Hideyoshi, he still has a trump card that he has not used, that is, Hashiba Hideyoshi, who is known as the "West Country Warrior", so he is not in a hurry, and chooses to use a steady and steady approach to oppress the Tokugawa army.

Therefore, the entire Owari situation has been spent in aimless confrontation from early April to mid-June.

Of course, there were also some small-scale wars, such as Hashiba Hidecho's attack on Oida and Oida, such as Kanie Castle being recaptured under Sakai Chuji's attack, Takikawa Kazuyoshi fled back to Otsu and so on.

All Hideyoshi thinks about at the moment is one thing: Nobuo, that guy, it's almost too much, it's time to surrender.

For Hashiba Hideyoshi, although spring plowing and summer cropping have been somewhat delayed, he has a strong local foundation, and he has enough capital to fight against Tokugawa Ieyasu.

However, Oda Nobuo lost most of his skills, and now only half of Owari territory is in his hands. In addition, his territory was burned on the main battlefield, which made his military rations really unbearable.

Sure enough, as Hideyoshi expected, Oda Nobuo sent his vassal Kanematsu Masayoshi to Hideyoshi's tent to find a peaceful solution to the war in the thick tail.

The condition put forward by Oda Nobuo is to surrender to Hideyoshi on the condition of ceding Ise country and retaining Owari.

What did you say?Nobuo's side didn't think about it at all, not to mention that the war has already entered Owari; you have lost 4 of Owari's eight counties, and you still expect to keep Owari's entire collar?

What's more, the reason why you raised the army was that Hideyoshi defeated the superiors and bullied the old owner of the Oda family. Now you, the leader of the Oda family, directly choose to surrender and submit to the attack. You are not telling the world that Hideyoshi Hashiba is just as you said. person?
So this condition is absolutely unacceptable to Hideyoshi, and Hideyoshi also set a condition for Nobuo, admitting that he was talking nonsense before, surrendering to the Oda family governor and three masters, and then transferring 25 shi to Ise Matsushima.

Judging from the above conditions, Hideyoshi is indeed much tougher than in history.

Just when the two sides were arguing until the beginning of July, Hashiba Hidecho reported to Hideyoshi that the Tokugawa Army stationed in Odai and Oida suddenly broke out from the city uncharacteristically, crossed the pontoon bridge stationed on the Nikko River and withdrew to Nafuro. Ida City.

With the fall of Da and Xiaojingda Castle, Ishikawa Shuzheng, who was stationed in Qingzhou City, knew that he had no need to stick to it. He finally became an outcast and chose to surrender to Hideyoshi Kaesong.

Don't listen to what Baidu Encyclopedia said, think that Ishikawa Shumasa is the second minister of Tokugawa, so he is surprised by his betrayal.

You must know that although Tokugawa Ieyasu was born in Okazaki, he had already moved his residence to Hamamatsu. In 1583, in order to better attack Kai and Shinano, and to avoid Hashiba Hideyoshi’s soldiers, Tokugawa Ieyasu once again moved his residence to Hamamatsu. Junfu.

Although Ishikawa Shumasa was nominally a left-behind soldier of Okazaki, and was granted the extremely honorable and independent power by Ieyasu, but it must be known that the essence of the Mikawa samurai had been taken away by Ieyasu and distributed among Shunen San, Shinano, and Kai.

Even Tadaji Sakai, Anping Castle, who was on the Owari Mikawa front line, was serving in Sumfu. ​​Why was Ishikawa Shusho not allowed to go to Ieyasu Honjo to explain for several years?It can be seen that long before Ieyasu moved his residence to Hamamatsu, he had resistance and fear towards Ishikawa Suzumasa, and after moving to Junfu, he was completely excluded from the power core of the Tokugawa family.

It can be seen that in history, Ishikawa Shuzheng chose to betray Tokugawa Ieyasu, and there are traces to follow.

In today's world, Ishikawa saw that the Hashiba Army's Sawajiri Essence pattern had been hung on the Oida Castle by the Nikko River, and he knew in his heart that he had been abandoned by Tokugawa Ieyasu, so he chose to open the castle to Hideyoshi that night surrender.

The capture of Qingzhou City further expanded Hideyoshi's advantage in the Owari battlefield. As long as the Furuno Castle is captured, Tokugawa Ieyasu can be forced to retreat to Mikawa, cut off Oda Nobuo's support, and then close the door to him.

At noon the next day, a samurai warrior with a goose feather pole stuck in his back rode a fast horse to the head of Qingzhou City. He ignored Hideyoshi's order to dismount his horse and rushed into Honmaru, shouting "emergency military situation!" , Meinong guards the emergency military situation."

The envoy was quickly brought before Hideyoshi, and he reported to Hideyoshi, "After the Tokugawa army withdrew from Oi and Oida Castle yesterday, our family stationed in the two cities to monitor Nakono Castle in southern Nikko Sichuan.

But when it was dawn, there was no smoke burning in the opponent's city, and there was still no movement after three poles. Mino guards sent envoys to go to Furuno to investigate, and found that Furuno was already an empty city, and Tokugawa Ieyasu retreated overnight. "

"What? Is what you said true? Where did Tokugawa Ieyasu retreat? Can you send scouts around to guard against Tokugawa's surprise attack?"

Hearing the news from the messenger, Hashiba Hideyoshi asked nervously. First, he was really frightened by the surprise attack of the Tokugawa family, especially in front of the high-mobility Akabi. The Walled City has changed hands several times.

The second reason is that Hideyoshi already feels that he has a chance to win, and he is really unwilling to let his prey escape like this.

"Yes, we have confirmed again and again that Furuno City is empty and there are no defenders in the city. I don't know where the Tokugawa Councilor has gone. I just asked some villagers and they replied that last night a large group of people only raised a few torches and headed south. went.

The Mino garrison sent scouts to investigate to the south, and found that the cities of Obata Castle and Suesori Castle in Aichi County, the Gokisho of Chita County, Atsuta and other cities had heavy Tokugawa soldiers. Tokugawa Ieyasu presumably retreated to Narumi Mikawa. "

"What? Ieyasu ran away?" Hideyoshi was a little surprised by the sudden change in front of him. He was still fighting with himself for a city and a village a few days ago. Why did he suddenly ignore the Sanhe people in Qingzhou City? Withdrawn?

"Your Highness, Tokugawa must have been afraid of your majesty and felt that he could not win, so he retreated." Fukushima Masayoshi heard that Tokugawa Ieyasu had retreated. This protracted confrontation finally came to an end, and he flattered Hideyoshi happily. road.

Although Hideyoshi listened to Fukushima Masanori's flattery very much, he still had doubts about the situation on the other side. As far as he knew, Ieyasu was definitely not such a guy who gave in easily to himself.

"Your Highness, shall we enter Naguye Castle and send people to attack Aichi County to completely defeat Oda Nobuo? No matter what happens in Tokugawa, we need to do this step." Military Adviser Kuroda Kanbei Aside suggested.

"Well, what you said is right, then move the main formation to Nafurano, order Koichiro to go north to take charge of the sweep of Aichi County, Suesori and other cities, and then cooperate with Hideji to encircle Komakiyama Castle." Although Hideyoshi didn't know What exactly happened on Tokugawa's side, but Kanbei Kuroda's suggestion was a surefire solution, and he immediately made arrangements for the generals.

"By the way, tell Nobuo the news of Tokugawa's retreat, and then ask him if he will accept the 15 shi of the Kiriyama Imperial Palace. If he still doesn't accept it, I will attack the city."

Oda Nobuo succumbed. On July 7, Oda Nobuo personally came out of Komakiyama Castle, escorted by the Hashiba Army to Nakono Castle, had an audience with Hideyoshi, and bowed to him, expressing his submission to him. .

"The guilty minister Oda Nobuo, here to plead guilty to Hashiba Gondai, please forgive him."

"Yeah, isn't this His Royal Highness Oda Attendant? What's the matter, how can you do such a big gift to me, get up, get up, I can't bear it. Saji, quickly help Oda Attendant up. "

Hideyoshi was delighted to see Oda Nobuo who was lying on the ground towards him, but he still had to do superficial efforts, but Oda Nobuo still said to him resolutely, "The sinful minister slandered Quan Da Nayan, without authorization. I am guilty of starting a civil war in the Oda family, please forgive me in Nayan, and please speak a few words of kindness in front of His Royal Highness the Three Sorcerers."

Hideyoshi listened to Nobuo's words, wondering who he was inspired by, he seemed to be enlightened to his words of pleading guilty, first asked for forgiveness from himself, the "victim", and then made it clear that he was asking the governor of the Oda family Surrender, breaking the "lie" of his own gag.

Hideyoshi was very satisfied with Oda Nobuo's performance, and went down to sit in front of him and said, "Cha Kenmaru, I watched you grow up, and I know you are a kind-hearted child. This rebellion will definitely happen. You have listened to the evil words of the treacherous officials to confuse the public, right?"

"Yes, I have committed the crime of ignorance, please forgive Quan Da Nayan." Nobuo would have been severely reprimanded by Hideyoshi, but he didn't expect Hideyoshi to let him go down the steps directly, so he simply borrowed a donkey to go downhill and said.

"Then hand over the traitor, and hand it over to me and the three mages, and you can transfer it to the Wushan Imperial Palace with peace of mind."

Hideyoshi said in a serious manner, but Oda Nobuo was stunned, he just borrowed a donkey to go downhill, he didn't know who the traitor Hideyoshi was talking about, and he didn't know what to reply for a while.

Seeing that he hadn't answered for a long time, Hideyoshi said with a cold face, "What's the matter, don't you want to?"

"No, it's just that I don't know how many traitors there are."

"You don't need to worry about these. I will distinguish between your retainers. Those who are guilty will be punished, and those who are innocent will be spared. You can go to the Wushan Imperial Palace with peace of mind."

People under the eaves had to bow their heads. Oda Nobuo already knew that he had no right to refuse, so he lowered his head and said "yes"

Hideyoshi was quite satisfied with Nobuo's attitude, turned around and returned to his seat, and said inadvertently on the way, "Nobuo, do you think I look like a monkey?"

Um?What is the problem?
Although Nobuo still looked down on this former retainer of the Oda family in his heart and always called him a monkey in his heart, he still said on this occasion, "How could your highness be like a monkey? I just looked at your highness's back, as if seeing Looking like my father, His Highness is a lion from Osaka!"

"Is that so?" Hideyoshi looked at him jokingly and said, "Hahahaha, I will remember your answer, and remember to serve the public wholeheartedly in the future."

Just when Oda Nobuo was about to retreat, Otani Yoshitsugu ran in from outside the hall panting, and whispered in Hideyoshi's ear, "Tokugawa, Tokugawa is here."

Hideyoshi heard a shock, but saw Oda Nobuo on the side, so he called Ishida Mitsunari to take Nobuo down.

After Nobuo walked away, he pulled Otani Yoshitsugu's clothes and asked, "What's the matter, the Tokugawa army is attacking? Where are you now? How many people have come, bragging about the conch and preparing to go out."

Seeing Hideyoshi's extreme reaction, Otani Yoshitsugu said quickly, "That's not the case. Councilor Tokugawa has arrived at Sumori City with a hundred or so people in his mother's clothes. He sent his old man Tadashi Sakai to inquire. Greetings Your Highness."

Hideyoshi couldn't believe his ears, so he asked Otani Yoshitsuji to repeat it again, and after getting the same answer, he ordered the important ministers at home to be summoned to meet Sakai Chuji together.

And Sakai Chuji also brought Hideyoshi the answer he wanted, Tokugawa Ieyasu officially chose to surrender to Hashiba Hideyoshi!
(End of this chapter)