Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 275 The Disposal of the Niwa Family
Nagamune’s faithful relatives were very quotable and said that Senkumamaru had been delivered to Okayama Castle the next day, but the Hide family had already left Okayama and embarked on the road to Osaka Sanjin.

Accompanying Hideka were two squadrons with a total of 67 samurai attendants, two brigades with a total of 2 samurai from Hashimoto, and two backup teams of Okubi and Kurashiki Ubi, with a total of 130 entourages.

Taking advantage of the reorganization of Akasaka Bei and Kurashiki Yubei's return to the direct jurisdiction, Hideka took the opportunity to exchange the captains of the various backup teams under his command.The captain of Okubi was changed to Tomoyuki Kakunan, one of the leaders of the Konoe samurai group in the Naoya era, and Ryosuke Takahashi, the original captain of the left side of the upper road, was transferred to the captain of Kurashiki's right side.

Although the number of troops led by the Ukita Hide family is not large, it is a rare gathering in the Kinki area in recent years.It's no wonder that when the Xiu family led the army to march, the people along the way looked sideways, wondering if there was another war somewhere.

Because Hideyoshi was in a hurry, he planned to go to Echigo to end the dispute between the Tokugawa and Uesugi families before the university closed the mountain, so the Hideyoshi family could only move forward in three steps and two steps.

Hideka was going to repair at Harima Ako that night. Half a year ago, the flag representing the Uki family was still hanging on the top of the castle. One month ago, there was still a flag representing the Niwa family hanging on the top of the castle. Now Now they are all replaced by Hideyoshi's Wuqitong pattern.

Niwa Nagashige may feel that the cause of his father's death is not honorable, so he violated Hideyoshi's decree and buried him privately before his body was inspected.

For this reason, the Niwa family was punished by reform, and the transfer of 40 koku from Harima to Echizen Komatsu Castle was granted to 5 koku.

The political charm behind the sharp reduction of the Niwa family's Zhixing is very strong. One is because the Niwa family committed crimes against the wind shortly after Hideyoshi came to the throne; the other is that Hideyoshi hopes to weaken the influence of Oda's old ministers .

After all, the relationship between him and the Oda family is very delicate. He did not raise the banner of rebellion against the Oda family in any name, but only crushed the Oda family by re-establishing the status of the imperial court and through official positions.

I understand that the relationship between the Oda family and the Toyotomi family belongs to you, but no one has pierced the window paper.

Hideyoshi, who was not in the right position, was naturally afraid of the influence of the old man Niwa Chohide in the Oda family. Even after his death, he was still afraid that the Niwa family would use his prestige to cause riots.

In other words, even without Niwa Nagashige's act of burying his father privately, the Hide family would do everything possible to find reasons to reduce the title of Niwa's family.After all, if you can't handle your father, can't you also handle you?
When the couple of the Hide family came to Murotsu the next day, they happened to meet the last group of the Niwa family who left for Kaga. It was Niwa Nagashige's younger brother Niwa Nagamasa who was leading his family to Kaga.

Unlike the Xiu family's flags and banners, the Niwa family seems a bit downcast. The Niwa family, who used to have a special status in the Oda family, is now bowing down in front of his former younger brother and giving way to the Hide family.

Hideyoshi, who was riding on a horse, recognized Niwa Changzheng at first sight, but the Niwa family has lost its former glory, and now these women's clothes and daily necessities can't find enough coolies to help carry them away. Many maids On the back are special racks to carry the items moved from Murotsu Castle.

Hideka reined in the horse in front of Niwa Nagazen and said, "Long time no see, Niwa-sama, it seems that you need some help. If you don't mind, we can go on the road together. Anyway, we take the same road to Osaka."

"I still don't dare to bother Lieutenant General Zuo. Our Niwa family can handle these things." Niwa Nagamasa still dare not accept Hide's kindness. After all, the number of executions and identities of the two families are very different, only 5. Shi Xiaoling's Niwa family is a little too high for Xiguo Million Stone.

"You don't have to be polite, I have enough people here, and I just want to ask you something, why don't we talk about it as we walk?" After finishing speaking, Xiujia turned around and greeted Shimizu Nobuo, "Send someone to pack the bags of Niwa's house and find the civilian husband Let’s pick it up and head to Osaka together.”

Niwa Nagamasa is indeed a little bit powerless with the current team of the Niwa family. After all, the power of the Niwa family is not as good as before, and the attitudes of many famous names on the road trip have changed. He also reluctantly agreed.

Niwa Changzheng was invited by Hideo to join the team marching to Osaka, but his figure was half a horse behind Hideo to show his respect for Hideo.

"Niwaden, is this going to Kaga? When I was in Okayama, I heard that Guan Bai's disposal of Niwa's family has been settled, and he transferred the title to Kaga, right?" Seeing that Niwa was following him, the Hide family took advantage of the situation Started talking.

Niwa Naga was hearing the Hideka's question, and quickly replied: "It is true that it has already come down, and Kaga Komatsu was awarded 5 koku from Harimotsu. Hey~ I regret not listening to Your Highness's advice, if I can hold on that day , saying that it is impossible to persuade brother not to make such a wrong move."

Hideka heard Niwa Nagamasa's speech, and felt that he hadn't recognized the essence behind the Niwa family's change, so he said cryptically, "Actually, whether I remind you or not, the end of the Niwa family is doomed, but It's just a matter of time."

Although Niwa Nagamasa was two years older than the Hide family, he didn't have the experience of the two generations of the Hide family, and he didn't quite understand the meaning of the Hide family. Meaning? I don’t quite understand.”

Hideka has some sympathy for Niwa's family, but it doesn't mean that Hideka will be so unobtrusive as to expose the darkness of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's politics in public.

So Xiujia just smiled slightly and said, "It doesn't matter if His Highness Niwa doesn't understand now, you will definitely understand in the future."

"Actually, the Niwa family is now transferred to Kaga, maybe it is your new starting point, the beginning of the new life of the Niwa family.

The fixed reward of 5 shi is very suitable, just enough for a knowledgeable person to develop a samurai family. With Gorozaemon and his lord, I believe that the Niwa family will be revived soon.

Besides, Niwa's family was sealed in Kaga Territory, which is the territory of Sensei Toyotomi. Sensei Toyotomi is a kind and friendly person, and being a neighbor with him can get a lot of care from him.

Isn't the Sakuma family, the lord of the 8-stone city of Noto Matsuba, who built his achievements from the foundation of the 5-stone collar? "

Although he couldn't explain the reasoning to Niwa Nagamasa, Hideka still expressed comfort to Niwa's family transfer, and cited the example of Sakuma Shengzheng to encourage Niwa Nagamasa.

In the view of the Hide family, Niwa Nagahide's upbringing is very good, and his heirs, whether it is the two brothers Nagashige and Nagamasa, or Todo Takayoshi, have shown excellent political ability.

Hideka is full of curiosity about their performance, and doesn't want to affect their fighting spirit because of the reduction of the title of Niwa's family.

Niwa Changzheng heard about the safety of the Xiu family, smiled and said, "Toyotomi is indeed a good person. I heard that it is with his help that the family can retain the territory of 5 shi, and only he is willing to accept the family to Canada." He Shoufeng.

The most important thing is that he adopted Senmaru as his adopted son, and promised to educate him to be a samurai like his father. "

"Senmaru? Isn't that the historical Todo Takayoshi?" Hideka heard Niwa Nagamasa chanting the name, and couldn't help but think in his heart, "Historical corrections are really everywhere."

Many people just think that Todo Takayoshi is the adopted son of Todo Takatora, but few people know that in history, Senmaru was first adopted as an adopted son by Hashiba Hidecho, and it was not until 1587 that he confirmed that he would welcome Hideyoshi's nephew Hideho as his adopted son-in-law. Senmaru was adopted by Takatora Todo, who had no son.

In history, the time when Toyotomi Hidecho adopted Senmaru was very ingenious. It was not long after the Battle of Yamazaki. It can also be seen from this that Hashiba Hidecho adopted Senmaru to some extent, and there was some wooing of Niwa Naghide.

However, the Hashiba family in this life is too strong. To win over Niwa Nagahide and Ikeda Hengxing, you only need to obey the interests, and you don’t need these media to bind. The son is the adopted son.

It's just that even though he didn't adopt him at that time, he followed the wheel of history and adopted Xianmaru as his adopted son three years later. The Xiu family can smell the meaning of it from afar.

The most important point is to wipe Hideyoshi's ass.

Hideyoshi looked at the Niwa family's knife very comfortably, and went to Niwa's house seven out of ten times, but such a drastic reduction of the seal will inevitably trigger the reaction of the old man Oda.

After all, the generals are old acquaintances, many of Hideyoshi's current team members are from the Oda family, will they be worried about Hideyoshi facing him in the future?
In order to make up for Hideyoshi's extreme behavior, Changxiu could only come forward to admit it, transferred the Niwa family to his own territory, and adopted Senmaru as his adopted son, so as to appease the heart of Oda's old minister in the territory.

The meaning of adopting Senmaru can be told to other daimyos that we are just discussing the matter. It is an indisputable fact that the Niwa family was punished for the first violation of the law, but the Niwa family is still favored by my Toyotomi family.

Others would not know the filthiness of it, in their view, Hideyoshi hacked a servant he trusted around him, the effect of killing chickens and respecting monkeys was really remarkable, and immediately frightened the group of jumping clowns.

It's just that they don't know that the Niwa family and the Toyotomi family are not as harmonious as they appear. The Hide family killed other family's chickens to frighten their own wild monkeys.

The second purpose, and the most common one, is to take hostages from Niwa's family for Hideyoshi.

After all, Hideyoshi has just reduced the title of the Niwa family, and it would be extremely mean to ask for hostages from the Niwa family. Now Hidecho uses the excuse of having no heirs, so that he can justly ask for hostages of the right age from the Niwa family.

Perhaps the Xiu family thought too much, treating a gentleman's belly with a villain's heart, but after so many years following behind the Hideyoshi brothers, what these two brothers are best at is singing a bad face and a bad face.

It seems that Xiuchang has been wiping his brother's ass (in fact, it is), but who knows if the two brothers cooperate?

It's just that the identities played by the Toyotomi brothers are different from the usual imperial family.

Others are relatives who act as bad guys and pretend to be black faces, and the lord comes forward to be a good guy and clean up the mess. In this way, not only can the fault be returned to others, but also a wave of goodwill and authority can be gained.

But on the side of the Toyotomi brothers, the identities of the two have been passed on to each other. In the past, this would only appear between the monarch and the successor, and it would only appear when the monarch needed to gather popularity for the successor.

"Is it true? Uncle Xiuchang has finally made up his mind to adopt his adopted son to inherit the family business?" Although the Xiu family was not optimistic about Xianmaru's adoption to Xiuchang, they still congratulated with an excited expression. "From now on, we are considered relatives. To be honest, I have a marriage contract with Uncle Hidecho's eldest daughter, Kikuhime, so Senmaru and I are also considered relatives."

"Ah! Is that really the case? Then from now on, Xianmaru will thank His Highness for taking care of him."

Although there is no relationship between Senmaru and the Niwa family from a legal point of view, Niwa Nagamasa is still very serious and asks the Hide family to help take care of his younger brother, and the Hide family also promises to give help within their ability.

Due to the fact that the female relatives were brought in the queue, the speed of the Xiu family's team was slowed down to a certain extent, so they could only spend the night in Gaosha City that night.

And that night, when Hideka was preparing to stay overnight, he suddenly heard that Niwa Nagamasa was asking to see him, so Hideka who was about to rest had to get dressed again to meet Niwa Nagamasa.

"What's the matter, Niwaden, what's the matter with coming to me so late?"

The Japanese are quite taboo about calling at home at night. Hideka doesn't believe that Nagamasa Niwa doesn't know the meaning of it, but Nagamasa Niwa still chooses to come. He must have something to tell Hideka, so Hideka was also aroused. curiosity.

"When I was in Shijin, Your Highness once persuaded us to handle my father's affairs carefully, and regretted not listening to His Highness's words, which caused our family to be punished.

When my brother was in Osaka, he was taken care of by Toyotomi Councilor. According to what he said, it was all entrusted by His Highness. The family never thought that it would be a blessing in disguise. Here, on behalf of the Niwa family, I would like to thank His Highness.

In the future, whenever His Highness needs the help of the Niwa family, the Niwa family will definitely help His Highness. "

After Niwa Changzheng finished speaking, he gave a deep salute to Xiujia, the importance of etiquette made Xiujia unable to react for a while.

Hideka's brain didn't realize at all, what exactly is the "blessing in disguise" that Niwa Nagamasa said, and it seems that after the change of Niwa's family, he didn't feel any sorrow, and even seemed to be showing off with Hideka.

It is true that Xiujia wrote to Toyotomi Hidecho after the accident at Niwa's house, asking him to help take care of him. He also gave his own ideas in the letter, but the specific operation was thought up by Toyotomi Hideaga , including the matter of adopting Xianwan as an adopted son.

No matter how godly the Hide family is, no matter how reasonable their words are, it is impossible for the Hide family to intervene openly in other people's heir selection. This is why the Hide family was so stunned when they heard that Senmaru had become Toyotomi Hideaga's adopted son.

But I have to say that Hidetaka's move was beautiful, and it did resolve the tension between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Oda Jiuchen to a certain extent.

After all, it is well known that Hidecho Toyotomi has no heirs, and now that he has adopted Senmaru as his adopted son, he may inherit the knowledge and practice of 85 koku from Echizen Kaga and other countries in the future.

Now that the Niwa family is brought under the command, it is very likely that it is paving the way for the road after Senmaru, so that the Niwa family can become an important branch of the Kitanosho Toyotomi family.

This is also the reason why the Niwa family accepted the change punishment so readily. In their view, compared with the flashy 40 koku, it is more objective for their heirs to inherit 85 koku. Tian Katsunari, Mizoguchi Hidekatsu and others all recommended him to Hidecho, and the Niwa family had the illusion that they were borrowing the Toyotomi family to revive their souls.

Hideka didn't know the inside story, and was a little confused about Niwa Nagamasa's thanks. When Hideya knew the inside story, he immediately felt that "the clown is me".

But more importantly, Hideka didn't think that the Toyotomi brothers would make such a stupid operation. It was an excellent opportunity to weaken the Niwa family, but they still wanted to give away their hard-earned family fortune.

Therefore, looking back at the operation of Toyotomi Hideaga's adoption of Senmaru, it is a bit intriguing, and the "young" Hideka couldn't understand the mystery for a while.

(End of this chapter)