Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 211
On September 12, the 1584th year of Tianzheng (9), at the base of Jipu Castle.

Originally, the Xiu family rode a war horse and led their subordinate troops on the road of Yumusaki, but at this moment, the Xiu family was standing on the horse in Jipu Fishing Village, looking at the city on the top of the hill in a daze, unable to say a word for a long time.

Asano Nagamasa, as the general of the Central Route Army, is also accompanying Hideo at this moment, with his head lowered, sweat dripping from the top of his head.

And those who stood in front of the Xiu family were extremely ragged people, and they were not just "bewitched" by someone, they were so bold as to dare to directly charge against the court's loyal courtiers.

Xiujia really didn't expect that he would encounter the old-fashioned thing of blocking the "Yujia". In his cognition, the Japanese people are more submissive than the Chinese people.

What surprised Xiujia even more was that the person they sued turned out to be a famous name with tens of thousands of Shi Zhixing in Sanwei, and he was the backbone of the Four Kingdoms War.

If the things they narrated were true, it would be extremely disgusting to the Xiu family personally, but for the society at that time, the people's complaints to the officials were often handled by holding them up high and putting them down lightly. But there was no cause for excitement.

After being silent for a while, Hideya turned to look at Asano Nagamasa who came to greet him specially and asked, "Is there such a thing? Master Asano."

Asano Nagamasa leaned over to Hide's house and whispered, "But someone sued this matter again. Mr. Junmu Fukimura Joji also found some of the heads were unreasonable when he inspected the heads, but the three generals all claimed that the The people who were killed were all rioters, and they had their reasons, so I temporarily postponed their meritorious deeds and waited for you to decide."

After hearing Asano Nagamasa's narration, Hideka also understood the reason why he couldn't make a decision. The total number of soldiers commanded by Hoki's three generals exceeded 4000, which accounted for almost 1/3 of the deployment led by Asano Nagamasa. If there is a riot, then he must be the one who can't eat and walk around in the end.

Asano Nagamasa finally caught the opportunity to come out to lead the army, and he can earn military merits in a dignified way, how could he just watch this rare opportunity being disturbed by a few untouchables?
The Xiu family can already reproduce the scene in the main hall at that time, and Asano Nagamasa winked at Kimura more than once, asking him to find a step to go down, so let's recognize the head for now.

Unexpectedly, Kimura Joji, as a military officer, would not accept this set, and in the end he didn't even accept the compromise solution, and just walked away with his sleeves, which made everyone very embarrassed.

Now this difficult problem has been thrown to the Xiu family. If it was in private, the Xiu family might really press this matter for the stability of the army, but now it is in front of tens of thousands of people!

The soldiers behind the Xiu family were more or less from humble backgrounds, and tens of thousands of eyes were fixed on the Xiu family to see how the Xiu family would handle this matter, but any deviation would inevitably trigger a chain reaction.

After thinking about it, the Xiu family said to the dozen or so people kneeling in front of them, "I have received your grievances, and I will deal with them after I verify the facts."

Xiujia's attitude was excellent, but he didn't show any promises.

Just kidding, the big battle is imminent, there is no reason for a general to fight, even if the three Hoki people are under confinement, it will inevitably arouse the suspicion of the 4000 Hoki people. Stab the basket in your back.

The current Hideka understands Asano Nagamasa's thoughts, not to mention he doesn't dare, even Hideya himself doesn't dare.

Now the Xiu family wants to make a quick statement and coax these people away first. As for the matter of investigation and punishment, it will be postponed. When the victory is won, it is the Wu family's usual attitude to hold it high.

They didn't know that the Xiu family's statement didn't satisfy them, and they didn't know who took the lead, they wanted to surround the Xiu family to ask for an explanation, but fortunately, they were stopped by the banner warriors under the Xiu family's command, and they were not allowed to get close.

To be honest, no matter how pitiful what I said before, now it is a real collision with the army formation, the Xiu family can completely kill them according to the military law, and in the end both sides are clean.

Hideka and Asano Nagamasa solved the problem, not only would there be no legal risks, but they would also get a big favor from the three daimyos of Hoki, which would be beneficial in future affairs.

But this is really not the solution to the problem. Sometimes why do children have milk when they make trouble, because you and them will reason and they don't understand!
The person who sued someone in front of tens of thousands of people, no matter how reasonable and legal the words are, the reputation of the Xiu family is completely stinky, and under the spread of people with a heart, the image of a wicked official cannot escape .

So what if this road doesn't work? Let's continue coaxing. Seeing the broken clothes on their bodies, the Xiu family ordered people to find some regular clothes from their own clothes and change them into them, and asked everyone to take out the clothes in the water bag The water washes away the ups and downs on their faces, showing their image of being "close to the people".

Taking advantage of this time, Hideka said to Hanabou Masayuki and Oka Toshikatsu next to him, "Misaku Mamoru leads the army and continues to move forward. I will be in charge here with Harumiya Ryo. To ensure safety, you have arrived at Enokawa Castle. Control them on the grounds that I summoned Ukon Takayama and the other three generals."

"In order to prevent accidents, let the Qinglong and Suzaku two backup teams watch over the Boqi people. If there is any change, they will be dealt with as surrendering to the enemy, and the army will be mobilized to suppress it."

Gangli won the order and left first, leaving only the Banners and entourage with a total of more than 500 people to protect the Xiu family.

It was a helpless move for the Xiu family to do this, and it was not a problem to let the army stop on the road like this. The frontline army situation is urgent, and it is better for the soldiers to go to the next station as soon as possible to rest and wait for the next big battle.

Besides, in front of so many people, some things are difficult to deal with.

When the army disappeared on the top of the mountain, the Xiu family finally asked people to bring over the people who had just been dispatched. Hanfang Zhengxing specially selected a big stone for the Xiu family to sit on.

Seeing the Xiu family for the first time, the group of people knelt down again, "Your Highness, you are the kindest nobleman I have ever met, and you will definitely make the decision for us."

This group of people chattered and spoke local slang, and in the end the Xiu family didn't understand a word.

Finally, the Xiu family asked them to send a representative to speak to the Xiu family, and soon a young man was elected. The Xiu family was very curious, there would be a young man in the tragedy they described?Aren't they all killed?

After questioning, it turned out that he was a medicine merchant. Before Asano Nagamasa came to Yujian Mountain Castle, he went to the mountain to collect medicine and escaped unharmed. When he returned to Jipu, he met a neighbor who had escaped, and then he knew his hometown. Ruined truth.

While he was narrating, tears kept falling down, which moved the Xiu family. Under his repeated request, the Xiu family boarded the burnt Jipu City, admiring the masterpieces under their command in the ruins.

In fact, at this moment, the Xiu family has already made a final decision in their minds. Takayama Ukon and others should really have massacred the city here in Jipu, killing many innocent people, and what's more shameless, they even cut off their heads and claimed that It is the head of the rebellious people, and it is reported with military exploits.

Not only Xiujia, Hanabou Masayuki, Shimizu Nobuya and others also clenched their fists angrily and condemned the three of them.

But Xiujia knew that at the moment, whether the people in disorder or not is completely a matter of the people in power. Both Takayama Ukon and Xiujia can define "them".

But what about after the determination?Hideyoshi Hashiba is still on Hideyoshi's head. Whether he is guilty or not is always a matter of a word from those in power. The Hide family lacks irrefutable evidence that can really make a final decision. Without evidence, the Hide family can only continue to say good things and procrastinate. Wait until after the war to deal with it.

What Xiu's family didn't know was that this evidence came so quickly, on the night when Xiu's family arrived in Enogawa Castle, Kimura Joji presented a big gift to Xiu's family.

Let me put in here first, Enogawa Castle was not brought down by Asano Nagamasa. In fact, facing the aggressive situation of the Oda family, Kagawa, who was sealed in Higashiiyo by Nagamune Kabumoto before, was terrified.

In history, Kagawa Amiwa chose to abandon Tianwu City and fled back to Tosa directly when facing the aggressive offensive situation of Ukita Hideka and Hashiba Hidecho. He was treated by his father, Yuan Qin, and even poisoned his own son to pave the way for Sheng Qin.

The affinity of this era has actually fought two battles with the Xiu family, especially in the second Sanuki battle, he was almost surrounded by the Xiu family, so his fear of the Xiu family can be said to be engraved in his bones .

Changzong's relatives enshrined Kagawa in Chuanzhijiang, hoping that he would use the influence of the Kagawa family to plug this gap, and in the end he would have to wait until his reinforcements arrived.

However, Kagawa Ami, who has severe PTSD, actually ran away when Hideka's striker was besieging Uomiyama Castle, and when Daping Guochang was still sacrificing his life on the front line!
Chuanzhijiang City, which had lost its leader, was taken down by Hosokawa Tadakashi in such a muddle-headed way, and along with Chuanzhijiang, there was also Budden City.So far, all the four cities of Uokizaki have fallen, which represents the complete failure of the first strategy of the Nagamune clan.

Having said that, arriving at Chuanowe's Hideya means that he has stepped into Iyo's land, and his first part of breaking the game has been completed.

Due to the long-distance march, Hideka planned to hold a military meeting the next morning after resting on the Kawano River for one night, so on that day, Hideka, as the general general, celebrated the destruction of the city by Asano Nagamasa and others.

Of course, the daimyo who saw him had already noticed that the Hoki trio headed by Takayama Ukon and the host's Hideka were absent.

The three of them are being imprisoned in Chuanzhijiang City by the Xiu family at the moment, and the Xiu family is meeting Kimura Joji in the side hall.

Previously, Kimura Joji's refusal to accept the military merits of the three men caused a commotion in Asano Nagamasa's army. Hoki, as vested interests and even lawbreakers, openly advertised that the daimyo from Kyoto looked down on them and deliberately targeted them.

It was also because of this that Kimura Joji made up his mind to find out the truth.

During this visit, Joji Kimura brought the certification and physical evidence that he protected.The physical evidence is a few headless corpses, all of them are women. They all have knife wounds or gunshot wounds on their backs. Judging from their short stature, they don't look like the strong women that Takayama Youkon claimed before. .

The witnesses are a few children who were hidden in the cellar by their elders when Jipu City was destroyed. These are the results of Kimura Dingji's on-the-spot investigation.

After personally inspecting the corpse and inquiring about the situation of the parties involved, the Xiu family also sighed helplessly towards Takayama Youkon and the others, "It's useless to give you a chance, you have done a lot of bad things, and you don't know how to clean up the battlefield, so you just do it so grandiosely." Is it possible for someone to be held accountable?"

The factual evidence was already clear to Xiujia, and he turned his head to look at Hanabang Masayuki, as if expecting him to give his opinion. After careful consideration, Hanfang Zhengxing said to Xiujia, "His Royal Highness still remembers that when he returned from Azuchi, he passed by Kyoto and heard Is it the story of when Youfudian first went to Luo?"

The story Hanabang Masako told was exactly when Nobunaga went to Kyoto in September of the 11th year of Yonglu (1568). In order to quickly stabilize the rules established in Kyoto and to spread them widely, he specially asked people to make wooden signs and put them in various transportation hubs in Kyoto. Dao, and ordered a special person to preach, just to highlight the extraordinary military power of the thick-tailed army.

At the beginning of the establishment of the order, neither the daimyo of the Oda family nor the people of Kyoto took it seriously. After all, there have been thousands of daimyos in Shangluo over the years, and countless rules have been established. Did you follow the rules?
When they came to Kyoto, they just took it as a money bag. When Kyoto was so desolate that there was nothing to ask for it, they abandoned it like a pair of shoes. Who would really want to govern Kyoto?

But they were wrong, Oda Nobunaga took it seriously, so he killed two Owari samurai who raped prostitutes on the first day. You must know that these samurai fought with him from Owari, Many retainers, including Shibata Katsuya, pleaded for them, hoping that the net will be lenient.

But Nobunaga just wants to tell everyone that he is different from Ouchi Yoshiko!
After Nobunaga executed the two men, he also ordered their heads to be hung in Luozhong, Kyoto as a warning. Since then, the officers and men of the Oda family and the people in Kyoto have attached great importance to Nobunaga's words, and Kyoto has been able to make government orders accessible, and Kyoto has been governed. .

Masayuki Hanabou mentioning this story at this moment is undoubtedly reminding Hideka that the current Hideka is Oda Nobunaga back then, and the story of Minoura has already begun to spread. The same people.

Since the Xiu family inherited Yu Xi's family, they have always presented the image of an enlightened monarch. If he does not deal with Takayama Youkon and others, even if he wants to use the dragging formula, it will inevitably damage his image in the hearts of the people in the world.

After Huafang Zhengxing finished speaking, the hall fell into silence for a while, only the business of Xiu's family slapping the ground rhythmically.

As the beat became faster and faster, Hideka finally made a decision to "let Date Masakura send a squadron of Hatakemoto, and escort Takayama Ukon, Yamada Nobushige, and Nanjo Motosuke to Kyoto and hand them over to Father."

"Master Kimura has temporarily dismissed Asano's regiment commander, and will go to Luozhi to participate in this matter with physical evidence and certification."

"Draw out another brigade from the Banner Congregation, and then draw a regiment from the Baihubei. First, control the officers from the Hoqi Congregation and take them back to Gaosong to take care of them."

"Then let Harada Sadaza, Takeuchi Hisaji, Arimoto Saaki, and Shinmen Zongguan bring their subordinates, Misaku and other daimyo, to help control the sergeants of the Hoki people. They were transformed from the second team into the logistics team, in charge of the Takamatsu-Iyo front line. The transfer of military rations will continue until the end of the war, and Xinmian Zongguan will be the general."

"The resulting lack of strength in the Asano Army, ordered Toshikatsu Oka to lead the remaining 2100 people from Misaku, including Yoshioka Takakatsu, Miura Sadakatsu, and Emi Hidefusa, plus Fujido Takatora, Baba Shijia A total of 4000 people led by Baihubei and Heqibei will serve as guests to support the Asano Army."

After careful consideration, the Hide family finally weighed the pros and cons, and made a decision to deal with them, but Takayama Ukon and others are generals of the Oda family in name, and only the governor of the Oda family can punish them directly, and the Hide family can only report the situation .

In this matter, the Oda family's Dusan master was young, and the matter of the Oda family was left to the previous joint meeting to decide. In terms of jurisprudence, the current members of the joint meeting are only Hideya, Hashiba Hideyoshi, and Niwa Chohide.

But in fact, it was already a matter of Hashiba Hideyoshi's decision. Even if he went through the process on the bright side, the Hide family reported the matter and even escorted him to Beijing. He has already admitted that Wei Xiuji will follow suit.

Perhaps aware of the loopholes, Huafang Zhengxing made up his mouth and said, "This matter must not be publicized, everything must be done in secret, and there must be no fanfare. One is to save the face of our Four Kingdoms Legion, and the other is to prevent the morale of the army from being shaken. "

Hideka nodded and said to Kimura Joji, "Ryo Haruka's words are reasonable. Don't board the ship in Takamatsu when you go back. I will arrange for you to board the ship in Shidu and land directly in Osaka. Before meeting your father, Be careful and try to go where there are few people.”

Kimura Joji is so smart, knowing how much pressure the Xiu family is facing, he immediately said, "Don't worry, Your Highness, I will handle this matter well."

Looking at the back of Kimura Singji leaving, the Hide family was actually extremely disturbed in his heart, and he was even more resentful towards the three of Takayama Ukon, because the three people's outrageous behavior finally disrupted their own arrangements.

In the end, in order to strengthen the strength of the Central Route Army, they had to row over from their own side. The Xiu family in this matter had already begun to think about how to defeat the army god of the four countries, Chang Zongwo, without occupying an absolute numerical advantage. Yuan kissed.

Hideka originally wanted to downplay the matter and hand it over to Hashiba Hideyoshi to deal with it quietly. Unexpectedly, Kimura ran into Ishida Mitsunari who was transporting grain on the way back, and the matter eventually became out of hand.

(End of this chapter)