Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 197 News from Kyoto

On September 12, 9, Nobuoshi Shimizu also came to Okayama along with Francis's Nanban merchant ship. Ukido, who had been training in Okayama for many days, finally got their own iron cannons.

There are not many of these iron cannons, but they are of good quality. They are all standard Nanban iron cannons. The reserve teams are envious. They hoped to share them evenly, and let the iron cannon brigade still holding wooden sticks start training with live ammunition.

However, Xiujia's consideration was the consistency of the ammunition caliber, so he rejected the proposal. It happened that there were exactly 400 Nanban guns, and Xiujia handed over all of them to the two standing teams, Qinglong and Suzaku.

All of a sudden, there were bursts of iron cannons firing under the whole of Okayama City. As for the other reserve teams, they could only hold firearms and prepare the iron cannons that were squeezed out to start training in turn.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Xiujia asked them to select Miao characters with high shooting accuracy through alternate design, and the others focused on training the movement of loading and adjusting iron cannons. The purpose is to conduct three-stage shooting training. to design the enemy.

As for the Nanban half-length plate armor, Xiujia handed over the design plan he had thought up to Akashi Quandeng to take it to the long ship, and handed it over to the craftsmen there to modify and forge it.

Three days later, Ishida Mitsunari escorted the supplies borrowed by Hideyoshi from Hideyoshi to Okayama, and together with him were the daimyos of Tanba and Tango.

As the nominal commander of the Four Kingdoms Legion, but actually the supervisor of the army, Hideka gave Ishida Mitsunari a very high courtesy and greeted him personally.

Hideka himself led Ishida Mitsunari back to Honmaru, and at the same time ordered Kamei Tomoki to receive the military rations, and the iron cannons were handed over to Akashi Quanto to distribute to each reserve team. At this point, half of each reserve team finally had real iron cannons.

"Ah~ Lord Ishida is finally here. I have been waiting for a long time in Okayama." The Xiu family greeted Sancheng very humanely.

Due to his personal character, Sancheng got off his horse all the way, walked up to the Xiu family and bowed slightly to greet the Xiu family, "Hashiba Zuomen guards His Royal Highness Ankang, the Lord Hashiba Dai Nayan ordered me to deliver the supplies His Highness needs to Okayama , Your Highness can send someone to check it."

"Oh, what needs to be checked, my father and Lord Ishida will definitely give it to me. I have prepared a banquet in the city to welcome you all, please come in quickly." After finishing speaking, the Xiu family stretched out his hand to make an invitation pose.

I don't know if Ishida Mitsunari is just pretending or if he really has a social barrier, the Hide family has given him face like this, he still said in a business-like manner, "It's better to make a clear calculation."

Xiujia stopped smiling when he heard his request.

Fortunately, who is Hideka, who has rooted Hashiba Hideyoshi for so many years, and he is good at facial expression management, which didn't even make Ishida Mitsunari feel abnormal, Hideka said with a smile, "Master Ishida is really hardworking and dedicated to the public. If this is the case, Shinjuro and Sao The two of you are in charge of cooperating with Ishida-sama to figure it out."

As the protagonist of the scene, since Ishida Mitsunari does not go to the city, Hideka can only sit with him at the tea stand at the gate of the city, and as the host Hideo does not go to the city, Hosokawa Tadakashi and others who came with Ishida Mitsunari can only sit with him. I can stay with you in the city.

Hideka even chatted closely with Ishida Mitsunari, although nominally boasting of Ishida Mitsunari's seriousness and responsibility for doing it himself, in fact, he mentioned his name many times to let everyone present remember that it was this man who made everyone remember The wind blows in the city.

This can be regarded as [-]% of the Xiu family's secret revenge.

Fortunately, Xiu's family is good at life, so they rented a few tea stalls in the surrounding area, and ordered people to take out their own collection of Longjing tea leaves from the city to make for you daimyos to enjoy. In addition, they also ordered people to go to the castle town to buy some tea and fruit snacks Bring it here to cushion the stomachs of the daimyos.

As for the group of soldiers, the Xiu family did not forget that Hanfang Zhengxing, Hanfang Zhengcheng, father and son had long ago brought them to the cleared space to resettle them.

In order to show the friendship of the landlords, Yu Xijia specially made barley tea for this group of soldiers who had never seen the world, and distributed miso according to the head.

During the Warring States Period in Japan, each daimyo prepared their own rations for marching and fighting. Soldiers would bring kombu (seaweed) or vinegar cloth for seasoning, and it was rare to eat delicious miso.

Vinegar cloth is simply cloth that has been boiled in a solution of vinegar and salt.When eating, just put the "vinegar cloth" in the water, and the vinegar smell inside will come out.This is a way to store vinegar. After all, cloth is easier to carry than liquid vinegar, and it is still taken as a snack in peacetime.

But please believe me, its taste is really unpalatable, it smells like the smell of rotten socks that have been unintentionally uncovered after years of intensive physical labor, anyway, the Xiu family absolutely refuses to eat them.

Due to the difficulty of carrying, miso is rarely used as a condiment for marching dry food, and it will only be replenished when it is replenished at the military station.

The reason why Ukido is rich and powerful is because he specially prepared 3 different flavors of miso for soldiers to choose from, including Sanuki miso with a slightly sweet taste similar to Kyoto miso, Kansai white miso with finely ground rice and a hint of miso. Bitter Tokaido miso.

The reason why the Xiu family prepared this way is because the composition of troops under Okayama Castle is extremely complicated, but most of them come from the territory under the control of the Oda family.

It is normal to prepare Kansai miso. After all, most of the ashigaru, including Ukita Quanjun and other daimyos, are native Kansai people.

It is Xiujia's intention to prepare Sanuki miso that is similar to Kyoto miso and Tokai miso that is specially purchased from far away.

Because now most of these daimyos started their fortunes from Owari with Oda Nobunaga, and many Owari ashigaru were favored by superior samurai and entrusted to Tango, Tamba, Harima, and Kinki.

They are precisely the cornerstone of the current team, and they who have not returned to their hometown for many years must be extremely eager for the taste of their hometown.

There are many low-level samurai who put the miso in their pockets, stick their fingers in their mouths and cry "this is the taste of hometown".

Xiujia won the hearts of this group of low-level samurai at a very small cost. Just paying attention to a small detail made this group of low-level samurai grateful to Xiujia.

Back at the foot of the Okayama Castle, Hideka was pulling the daimyos to flatter each other, Hideka noticed the details in Ishida Mitsunari's words before, and asked curiously, "Has Father already worshiped the Dainagon?"

Horio Yoshiharu, who is the oldest here and who is closest to Kyoto and appointed to take charge of Tanba, explained to Hideo, "This is only a posthumous award. The emperor has not yet received a reward for the civil strife of Hiraoda Owari and Tokugawa Hamamatsu. Now it can only be regarded as making up for it." That's all."

Horio Yoshiharu said very plainly, and the daimyo who didn't know the details didn't pay attention to this detail, thinking that this was the reward Hashiba Hideyoshi should have received.

Only the Xiu family sitting in the main seat understands the deep meaning. The Xiu family clearly knows how difficult it is to be promoted from the third to the third, and this rank is already beyond the scope of ordinary Genpei. Even the Tsinghua family is basically end.

Previously, only Oda Nobunaga used force to force the court to grant him the official position of the right minister, and Hideyoshi's promotion to the right three dainagain also represented his formal abandonment of the idea of ​​relocating the right guard general and opening.

Although Hideyoshi is not by Hideyoshi's side, the whole process is indeed clear. It is precisely because the quest to become Ashikaga Yoshiaki's adopted son failed and was humiliated that Hashiba Hideyoshi was determined to suppress the head of the shogunate.

Under the planning of his old friend Ju Ting Ji Qing, he presented Hideyoshi with the first version of "The Fusion of Gongwu".

Many people think that the reform of the combination of public and military was carried out in Japan during the Meiji period. It is actually incorrect. As early as Oda Nobunaga, he and his subordinates generally rejected the official position of the Ashikaga Shogunate and accepted the official position of the imperial court. He is paving the way for the abolition of the shogunate and the implementation of the combination of public and military.

As his heir, Hashiba Hideyoshi obviously understands this, and now Kikutei Kiharu mentioned it again just to wake him up.

In fact, Juting Jiqing also had selfish intentions in sending out the military combination. It is said that his latest version clearly restricted the official positions that the samurai could obtain.

The purpose is very clear, we Gongqing can take your Yuchai family to play together, but you have to cooperate with us to become a master and suppress those bastards who only know how to fight.

Obviously, from the final execution of Hideyoshi, Hideyoshi did not fall into the trap, even though he had an almost morbid pursuit of his background and family status.

But at this moment, his mind was still clear, he knew very clearly which side his base was on, and he also knew very clearly that the only thing that the minister could give him was title.

He therefore accepted Kikutei's suggestion, but revised it privately, and at the end of 1585, with the prestige of Ieyasu Fukutokugawa, forced the court to back down.

Today's Hideyoshi has completely controlled the former territory of Oda Nobunaga, and has even expanded it. He has not even lost to Oda Nobunaga in terms of power. "That's all.

At this moment, Hideyoshi may have thought of countless ways to restrain him, but unfortunately they are not very decent. After all, the Oda family is like his father who raised him, but he wants to swallow him.

Maybe Hashiba Hideyoshi doesn't care about the whole reputation, but he doesn't care about the "injustice" rumors about Hashiba's family.

More importantly, if his ruling power is based on Xiake, how can he ask other daimyos to obey the samurai class system?
If one day, there is an ambitious guy who wants to take over the Yuchai family's world, why should the heir of the Yuchai family use the name of "righteousness" to call on all daimyoqin kings?

But now, with the combination of the public and martial arts being pushed to Hideyoshi, he seems to see a hope, a way that nominally does not have any way to damage his reputation-the emperor's imperial bestowal.

There is nothing wrong with Hashiba Hideyoshi being a retainer of the Oda family, but the Oda family is also a retainer of the emperor. Of course, the emperor has reason to ask the Oda family to list the Hashiba family as direct vassals and break away from the control of the Oda family.

Of course, this is only the first step. The second step is to strengthen the bond between the two families while diluting the memory of the Oda family in the old territory through transfer of seal and marriage.

The third step is to suppress Oda Nobunaga, the soul of the Oda family, through promotion in the official position, so as to suppress the Oda family spiritually. After a few generations, when people only know Hashiba but not Oda, they will be able to turn the Oda family into ministers.

Here is a piece of cold knowledge. Until the time of Sekihara, the relationship between the Oda family and the Toyotomi family has always been the relationship of allies. Toyotomi Hideyoshi did not convert the Oda retainers until his death. This is why Ishida Mitsunari is talking with Oda Hidenobu The reason why the confidence is so insufficient when the conditions are met.

Of course, the above content is all understood by Xiujia through historical analysis, and it is still unknown whether the third part will exist or not.

Don't think that the road of combining public and martial arts is easy to go, it will inevitably trigger a backlash from the Gongqing family, after all, there are only a few top official positions, what does it mean that your martial arts family occupies all of them?

In addition, Oda Nobunaga has been promoted to the right minister, and he is the second official. The only one who can be higher than him is the Taizheng Minister who has always granted the dead and not the living. Otherwise, Hideyoshi would not try to engage in "" Off the white" way.

The use of "engagement" here does not mean that "Guan Bai" is an official position created by Hideyoshi. In fact, he has had it since ancient times, and it is a product of the era when the public officials took over the emperor (the era of Guansho).

When the Emperor was young, the Taizheng Minister presided over the political affairs and was called the Regent. After the Emperor became an adult and took charge, the Regent was renamed Guanbai.

In other words, before Hideyoshi, "Guanbai" was not within the official position system of the law system, and it was an official position outside the system similar to the general who conquered barbarians. However, since Hideyoshi became "Guanbai", it was included in the law system. The official rank of the first one just suppresses the first two of the ministers on the right.

Hideka was thinking about Hashiba Hideyoshi's big chess game in Kyoto, and was so distracted for a moment that he didn't notice Hosokawa Tadakashi's compliments. Hideka didn't realize his gaffe until he was reminded by Sho Naokiyoshi next to him.

"What did Yue Zhongshou just say?" Xiujia asked apologetically.

"Ah, we just said that the troops under His Highness's command are really unique. When I came from a distance, I heard the groaning of iron cannons under the Okayama Castle. I thought it was a grass thief attacking."

The Grass Bandit is a derogatory name for the Changzonggabu family in the Hashiba family, because the family crest of the Changzonggabu family is the seven wood sorrel pattern.

The Xiu family didn't know how to answer this question, so they could only smile awkwardly. After all, what they said was actually a bit of an insult to the Yuxi family. Changzong and my family have all gone to Okayama, and no one from the Yuxi family sent a message, saying It's unreasonable to go out.

"I heard that His Highness is organizing an iron cannon reserve team and let them form an army alone. I think His Highness must have a new tactical idea. Would you like to teach me?" Hosokawa Tadakashi continued jokingly.

You must know that even in Hashiba Hideyoshi's banner team, the Iron Cannon Team is the Iron Cannon Team in name, but in fact, more than half of it is mixed with the light-footed bow.

Firstly, the iron cannon needs to be shot at a distance of 2 meters. Instead of wasting these gaps, it is better to plug in a person to supplement the output. The iron cannon is designed with a reloading interval, which is a problem that cannot be compensated even with three-stage shooting, so it will be used Output more sustained bows and arrows as a supplement.

It's no wonder that when they heard that the Xiu family had organized a group of iron cannons to make them stand alone, they all expressed curiosity.

But there is really some secret in Xiujia, "There is no such thing, only Iron Cannon Dole"

(End of this chapter)