Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 246

Hideyoshi's reward for Niwa Chohide was still an order given by Guan Bai, and it was an appointment that could not be refused.But unlike Takakage Kobayakawa, Niwa Chohide hadn't sensed Hideyoshi's sinister intentions at this moment, and accepted it quite excitedly.

After Niwa Nagahide's award was over, Hideyoshi's meeting with the great masters in the capacity of Guanbai also came to an end.

Amidst the voices of everyone bowing their heads to "send off Guan Bai", Hideyoshi dragged his large black court clothes and left again.

Hideyoshi has made such a big show, so it is naturally impossible for this group of daimyos to hold a meeting and end it.

After the morning assembly, Hideyoshi specially arranged for the afternoon Noh dance. In the courtyard in front of the palace, the performance was performed with a curtain around it.

Then a new question arises, why did Toyotomi Hideyoshi, as the master, not come out to host the Noh dance in person, but asked his younger brother Hidecho to hold it?

The answer is obvious, this Noh dance party is just a pretense to sell dog meat.

The daimyo sat on both sides of the courtyard in front of the palace, drank and had fun, while watching the dance performance of the ape musician, very happy.

But in private, daimyo were constantly being called away by the attendants of Toyotomi's family, and brought to the castle tower not far away to be received by Hideyoshi in person.

The purpose of the interview is naturally to use words to test the attitude of these daimyos towards themselves, whether they understand the general trend of the world, and are willing to change from the tent of the Oda family to work under their own command.

Obviously, Hideyoshi was not satisfied with Niwa Nagahide's temptation in the morning, and Hideyoshi was not satisfied with the final result.That's why Hideyoshi chose another method, interviewing these daimyos separately.

As early as the beginning of the Hideyoshi court meeting, Hideka had already hinted in words about the daimyos such as Sakuma, Nakagawa, Tsutsui, etc. who were friendly with him, and I think there would be nothing wrong with their answers.

As for the daimyos such as Hori, Mori, and Ikeda, judging from the historical results, even if they did not make a wise decision at the time, they should find ways to make a remedy later.

If he was really inflexible and didn't understand that Hideyoshi summoned him alone to ask him about his attitude towards the Toyotomi family, and then the Hideyoshi family would come forward to bridge the gap, maybe he could still get favors from those families.

Of course, Hideyoshi’s arrangement will not end here. According to Hideo’s original plan, the North Army Corps needs to organize 1 people to stand in the mountains in the south of Yamato in turn, and the Daimyo of the Nongwei Group needs to gather more than 5000 people in Iraq. Block off the retreat route of the Kii people.

These all require Hideyoshi to assign tasks to the daimyos present through a large meeting.

And Hideka, as Toyotomi Hidecho's lieutenant general and the military supervisor of the Ise region, naturally accompanied Hidecho to the Shishi City of Yamato Kingdom.

In fact, as early as when Hideyoshi went to Kyoto to advance Guanbai affairs, his plan to encircle Kii on three sides had already begun. The best proof is that the northern army regiment that had just ended the war was recruited again.

The terrain of Yamato Kingdom is very interesting. The total amount of Zhixing is 44 shi. There are 15 sub-counties in total, including 13 counties in the north and 2 counties in the south. The two counties in the south occupy the general area of ​​Yamato, but they only produce less than 5. Shi Zhixing; on the contrary, the 13 northern counties accounted for more than 8% of the total output.

The reason for this is simple, because most of Uchi and Yoshino counties in the south are covered by the Daiji Mountains, and only a very small part of the plains passing through the Yoshino River in the north are cultivated.

It is not accurate to say that it is not suitable for farming, because even in later generations there are still 49 villages, large and small.

The formation of these villages, without exception, comes from the villages reclaimed in the mountains by refugees who escaped war or tax payment. For ordinary people, this mountain is a real place outside the law, a valley of silence.

Having said so much, many people may not have much impression. Let me give you an example.Laoai Mountain, where scientific expedition personnel disappeared and died some time ago, is the last virgin forest in China.The Daji Mountain area where Yamato Yoshino County is located is equivalent to Laoai Mountain in China, and it is an inaccessible place.

We often hear that many celebrities in Japan, such as Sanada Masayuki, Sanada Yukimura and his son, were exiled to Koyasan.The Koyasan area still only belongs to the northern part of the Kii Mountains, not far from the Yoshino River at the foot of the mountain. Even if you are exiled, you cannot say that you have left modern social life.

But if you choose to exile yourself deep in the Kii Mountains, then you are really isolated from the world.

In the late Ming Dynasty, a foreign prospecting team entered here to explore the mineral deposits, and found that the locals here were still wearing ancient coarse cloth kimonos, holding a sword in their hands to resist the entry of outsiders.Even though it has been 30 years since the Meiji Restoration, they still think that the current Tokugawa shogunate ruled the world.

But don't think that this is the modern version of Peach Blossom Spring. The people living in the deep mountains and old forests are actually not as happy as Chinese scholars think. If the productivity is not liberated, they can't even satisfy food and clothing.

The area where Hideka is currently located is Toshi Castle, where the Toichi County in the south of Yamato is located. The reason why Hidecho chose this place as the base city is because it is not far from the rebellious soldiers in Yoshino County, so it is convenient for commanding in the center.

At the same time, there is Yoshino Mountain on its south side as a barrier, which prevents the main general from being attacked by rebels in advance.

Of course, this is not a garrison station, but the main city as the central command. In the city, there are only more than 1000 people and part of the army of Toyotomi Hidecho Banner, and the total strength does not exceed 2000.

At Hideya's suggestion, Hidecho stationed 5000 troops in Gojo Castle, Uchi Prefecture, 1000 troops each in Yoshino and Oda Castles on the north side of Yoshino County, 2000 troops in Takatori Castle, and the above 1 troops were all reserve forces.

The remaining 4000 people were divided into 3 teams, marching from the left, middle and right respectively, building a city at each key node, stationing an army of no less than 100 people, and continuing to investigate inward.

The west was in charge of Maeda Toshinaga, who led 2000 Noto people, starting from Gojo Castle to cut off the connection between Koyasan and Yamato, and then continued southward to the coast of Totsu River.

Although the land of Noto does not have the outrageous side of the Kii Mountains, most of the area is also surrounded by high mountains. Hidecho sent the most difficult tasks to the Noto people because they are the most adaptable to similar environments.

In the middle route, his vassal Aoki Kazuki led 1000 Kaga people to go forward, first to the deepest village that the official can grasp, and then to explore south.

On the east road, 1000 people led by Shan Ruo Wuxin continued to trace the source along the Yoshino River.

After assigning these tasks at the Hideo family, Toyotomi Hideaga added another one, which was to relocate the population of Yamauchi Somura out as much as possible, and cut off all possible supplies for them.

Hideka's plan was very effective. The Left Route Army Maeda Toshinaga came to report and wiped out a small group of nearly a hundred rebels on the third day after entering the mountain. Now he has controlled the Tengu Mountain in the east of Mount Koya.

Because this place is too important, after leaving 300 people to garrison, the main force continued to explore the Totsukawa area southward.

Compared with the battle that took place on Maeda Toshinaga's side, the middle and east roads did not encounter any battles at all.Instead, the leaders of several villages along the way were relocated out, and a total of more than a thousand people were brought out, and Xiuchang was properly placed on both sides of the Yoshino River.

This information allowed Xiujia to confirm that the forces of the Kii people were still circulating in the Kii region, and their core forces had not been transferred to Yamato or even Ise. This was undoubtedly very good news for Xiujia's siege network.

But the more you explore the mountains, the more difficult it is, because this is an inaccessible place, there is no road at all, and no one knows where to go next.

The most important thing is that due to the unique climate of the high mountains, the water vapor blown from the Pacific Ocean gathers here, and the carrion and rotten leaves of animals that have not been sorted out for thousands of years rot and deteriorate wantonly on the land, emitting harmful gases. That is what people often call miasma.

These soldiers who entered the mountain became unwell after only a few days, with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea, and the disease began to spread among the soldiers.

There was no way Xiuchang could only order the soldiers to withdraw and only garrison important fortresses.The sick soldiers were transported to Oda Castle alone for treatment, and all water sources were ordered to be boiled before use.

Despite effective planning, the disease began to spread through the regiments of the Union Army, and an invisible fear permeated the soldiers.

The soldiers all said, "Daji Mountain is the territory of evil spirits, as long as you step into it, you will bring misfortune."

"It's impossible for those bastards from Jiyi to live in the mountains. They died long ago after entering, and we don't know how long we will be stationed."

Everyone is afraid of entering the mountain like a tiger, and the key points in the mountain must be garrisoned.There is no way that Hashiba Hideaga can only ask for a reserve team of about 500 people, and each time he enters the mountain to stay for 10 days, he can withdraw.

Counting the days of going in and out of the mountain, it was basically when the third reserve team entered the mountain, and the second reserve team, the farthest reserve team, almost settled in the southernmost city of Tojinchuan.

In order to make up for the shortage of troops, Hidecho had to dispatch 5000 Ise people from the Ise area to join the team on duty in turn.

But there is also good news. As the direction of Jiyi continues to penetrate inward, the defenders stationed at Tiangudong have repeatedly intercepted the routs who tried to escape to Yamato. This is the most important pass connecting Kii and Yamato Mountains. The front line of defense.

After being supplemented by the Ise crowd, Hideyoshi ordered them to cooperate with the troops in the direction of Ise, continue to explore southward along the Totsu River, and finally meet with the troops of Kii and Ise at the Shinmiya Castle.

At the same time, Hideyoshi also offered a very high reward. The head of each rebel can be exchanged for 5 pennies, a hanging of meat, two fish, and a cup of wine.And it does not limit the people who come in exchange for rewards.

In other words, the monks and soldiers in the mountains and the people in the village were encouraged to kill those rebels and exchange their heads for necessary living supplies.

Or encourage the rebellious soldiers to kill each other, and those who surrender with their heads will not only forget the past, but also get the same reward.

All kinds of distrust began to circulate between Gen Laizhong and the Hatakeyama family.

Not only is there a fear of being black and black among the forces, but there is also distrust within one's own family.

The Hatakeyama family only had three or two shrimps left after the death of Hatakeyama Zhaotaka and Hatake Gaozheng. How could there be so many lofty ideals of restoring the country? Root to many things to go.

Now that the power of the crowd is declining, and even I have to go into the mountains to eat grass roots, how can this group of samurai masters agree.

Together, the three or two samurai directly killed the last member of the Kiibatayama family, and went down the mountain to surrender and change the family.

The collapse of the Hatakeyama family became the mourning song for the failure of the Kii Rebellion.After six months of siege, Ota Castle finally surrendered, and the last resistance force in Kii territory was only Genlaizhong.

The people of Neraiji Temple are originally from the Shingon sect in the Koyasan area. In the past, the temples headed by Kongoji Temple on Koyasan still offered their help in the friendship of the same sect.

Now Hideyoshi directly blocked the road, no one was allowed to enter or leave the mountain gate, and the incense in each temple was directly cut off.

In the deep mountains of Jiyi, even if you farm in the mountains, how much can you harvest? Most of the monks' food sources come from the mountains.Now Hideyoshi is cutting off their sources of income and food across the board, forcing them to make choices.

Sure enough, as time went by, some temple monks began to have conflicts with Genlaizhong, and there were even incidents where the monks of the King Kong Temple cut off the heads of Genlaizhong and went down the mountain to exchange for food.

In the end, under the guarantee of Hashiba Hidecho, Dr. Suzuki Satoshi's seppuku was exchanged for the surrender of Nelaizhong headed by the Suzuki family.

So far, the Kii War, which lasted for more than half a year, finally ended in May 13. Because the Kii War was delayed for more than half a year, the daimyos such as Tsutsui Sadaji, who had not been transferred, could finally start preparing to go to the new territory.

Of course, due to Kii's military exploits, Tsutsui Joji was praised by Hideyoshi. His knowledge and practice were 18.8 koku from Mikawa Okazaki, and he was granted the title of Mikawa Okazaki Castle 20 koku.

Kiyohide Nakagawa conferred 12 koku from Yoshida and 1 koku to the northern part of Toehama.So far, Kiyohide Nakagawa has truly become the front line facing Tokugawa Ieyasu, and its border line is completely bordered by the Tokugawa family.

As the commander-in-chief, Hashiba Hidecho was promoted to the official position of Nakanogen, and at the same time, under Hideyoshi's operation, he received the five-seven-pattern flag seal bestowed by the emperor, becoming the second member of the Toyotomi family besides Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

As a consultant, Xiujia also received the five-santong pattern flag seal from the emperor.

As mentioned above, the Wusan Tong pattern flag is divided into two types: the transfer with the permission of the emperor and the direct gift of the emperor.The transferred flag cannot be transferred again, and the pattern on the flag cannot be changed in its own style.

The emperor's bestowal is divided into two types: bestowing on you alone and bestowing on your family, both of which can change their own style, the difference is that one can be bestowed and the other cannot.

What Hideyoshi asked Ishida Mitsunari to bring at the beginning of the Shikoku war was the Wusantong pattern flag that was bestowed by the emperor and integrated into his own style.

Today, the emperor bestowed the original five-san paulownia pattern flag, which is also the highest specification, and can be transferred to the five-san paulownia pattern flag for the entire Bizen Hashiba family.

Even though she didn't get any substantive seals, Xiujia is quite satisfied with the current result.

Now that the Wusan Tong pattern has not been issued by Hideyoshi, getting such a flag means that you have become a top family recognized by the emperor, who can "raise troops and fight against chaos, and fight against rebellious officials"!

　The chapter name is wrong, this is chapter thirteen

　　
　
(End of this chapter)