Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 282

Since Hideyoshi wasn't angry with him, Hideyoshi didn't take it seriously anymore. After sending off Hidecho Toyotomi, he began to prepare for the task of hosting the intermediary the next day.

Early the next morning, Xiu's family went to the city to attend political affairs.

The main office of the Toyotomi era was in Nishimaru, located on the west side of Osaka Castle, and the nearest door was Oteguchi.

However, the mansion where Xiujia and Xiuchang lived was outside the jade stoma in the east, which made Xiujia have to make a big detour to visit the city.

The Osaka Castle at this time is not the property of later generations of parks. There are no taboos at the two gates, and you can enter as you want.

The Tamamakou is closer to the Sakura Gate of Oumoto Maru in Osaka. The entrance is the imperial palace where Osaka Castle participates in political affairs and the Toyokuni Shrine of later generations. People who are not authorized to enter are usually not allowed to enter from this side.

It's a pity that the Xiu family is an unlicensed existence.

Therefore, even though it seems that the Xiu family is the same as Xiu Chang, the mansion is set outside the jade stoma, but Xiu Chang can enter and leave the jade stoma at will, but the Xiu family cannot.

As a result, without Xiuchang's leadership, if Xiujia went to the city to participate in the work, he could only make a big detour and enter the city through Oteguchi.

In fact, it is not as good as the Mori family and the Tokugawa family whose residences were built outside the Oteguchi.

When Hideya entered Oteguchi, he happened to meet Hachisuka Housekeeper who was assigned to mediate the Shimadzu-Otomo peace talks like himself.

Who would have thought that this "uncle" who was 15 years older than himself would actually come up to him on his own initiative, and asked Xiu's family, "Good morning, Lieutenant General Zuo, you and I will be working together from today on."

"Ah, it's Hachisuka-sama, good morning," Hideka replied.

"Although Lieutenant General Yuchai is not very old, he already has the experience of stabilizing one side, and he is the adopted son of His Highness Guan Bai. Has His Highness Guan Bai explained to you about this intermediary mediation?" The two passed through After a round of cordial and friendly exchanges, Hachisuka's housekeeping went straight to the point and asked Hideka.

"To be honest, I have always used force to force the enemy into submission, and have never experienced the matter of finding an intermediary to mediate. On the contrary, Master Hachisuka, did you not ask the repair doctor after returning?"

Repair doctor is Hachisuka Masakatsu's official name. Although Hideyoshi, an old brother, has retired and gave up the position of house governor to his son's housekeeping, he did not return to the territory to live in seclusion, but still stayed by Hideyoshi's side as a "consultant" role , so it is an existence that lives in Osaka all year round.

The Xiu family was very strange. After receiving the mission yesterday, didn't Hachisuka's housekeeper go back and ask his father about the inside story of this matter?
What the Xiu family didn't know was that Hachisuka's housekeeping asked, but Hachisuka Masakatsu's answer was just "It's the first time you've been in charge of government affairs for Guan Bai. Read more, talk less, and do it according to Lieutenant General Hashiba's idea." .”

Good guy, the first lesson my father gave his son was how to make a "non-stick pan".

"My father said that His Highness is the main one." Hachisuka's housekeeping was also very honest, and directly informed the Xiu family of his father's arrangement.

"After His Royal Highness left yesterday, I deliberately searched for information about Otomo and the Shimadzu family. I learned that the two families have actually been fighting in Kyushu for nearly 20 years. Now that His Royal Highness has ordered peace talks in Osaka, I'm afraid there will be some Difficult."

Although the father has repeatedly explained that he wants to be a "non-stick pan", the character of Hachisuka Housekeeper determines that he is not the kind of person who likes to be a shopkeeper and let gaffes out of control.

You see, isn't this the initiative to reach out?

The two of them walked towards the Xiwan Yizheng Hall again and again, exchanging ideas.

Hachisuka Jiazheng first put forward his own point of view: "In my opinion, this matter is still based on the existing sphere of influence, and it is most practical to agree on a truce."

This idea was quickly refuted by the Xiu family, "A truce? How many years will the truce be? His Highness Guan Bai wants long-term peace and stability. How can a temporary truce be enough?
What's more, what is the connection between you raising this idea and the meeting you participated in yesterday? "

"Contact?" Housekeeper Hachisuka frowned.

"His Highness Guanbai is preparing for the military service arrangement for the Kyushu Conquest, and His Highness Wakayama is about to leave for Bungo. If it is just a truce, why does His Highness Guanbai make such a big move, even Mori Jinwu?
His Royal Highness Guan Bai made such a big move, and the Kyushu where he is located must have some schemes. As a result, the two sides agreed to armistice according to the existing scope. How can there be such a good thing. "

"If you want to say this, I really feel strange. If His Highness Guanbai really meant something to Kyushu, why did he still accept the auspicious 'Phoenix' sent by the Shimadzu family? And finally ordered us to be in charge of Otomo and the island. Harmony between the Jin family. The most important thing is"

Hachisuka's housekeeper glanced at Hideo, saw that he didn't respond, and then continued to say, "The most important thing is, let Lieutenant General Hashiba make sure you make achievements, or you will be severely punished?"

Hearing these words, Hideie suddenly stopped in her tracks, and turned to look at Hachisuka's housekeeping. "His Highness Hachisuka already has an idea in mind, right? The focus of this meeting is not the result at all, but the process."

It can make Hachisuka Masakatsu abdicate early as the house governor. Hachisuka housekeeping may have some minor problems, but it is definitely not comparable to a casserole like Fukushima Masamori.

Today Hachisuka Housekeeper seems to be asking Hideya a question from the perspective of a subordinate, but in fact he is looking for information from Hideya to confirm his own thoughts.

Now that the Xiu family seems to have seen through his thoughts, he simply stopped pretending to be a harmless little white rabbit, and responded with a smile, "His Highness Guan Bai wants to delay the pace of the Shimadzu family in Kyushu by negotiating peace." .”

After seeing Hideo's nodding response, Hachisuka Masakatsu smiled awkwardly, "So this is a task that will never end."

"For His Highness Guan Bai, no result is the best result." The Xiu family continued.

"However, His Highness Guan Bai's Kyushu Crusade Army will gather on a large scale after spring plowing, and it is still September. It is impossible for Major General Otomo and others to stay in Osaka for the first half of the year.

No matter how much this scene continues, it cannot be delayed for so long. "

"It doesn't take so long. We just need to wait for His Royal Highness Wakayama and Kobayakawa Jingo and others' vanguard formation to be completed, and the peace negotiation will be declared a success."

"There are more than [-] people in the vanguard army, can they deal with the Shimadzu family's offensive from three directions?" Hachisuka Jiazheng asked in surprise when he heard Hideka's answer.

This is actually a point that Xiujia only confirmed after yesterday's meeting.

When he got the news from Hidecho earlier, he also had the same thought as Hachisuka's housekeeping:

Why does Hideyoshi think that only Hashiba Hideji's vanguard army of more than [-] people can simultaneously deal with the Shimadzu family's offensive against the Otomo family from the three directions of Chikuzen, Buzen, and Bungo.

But after attending the meeting yesterday, the Xiu family was sure that this monkey really dared to think. In the final analysis, he lived so smoothly in this historical reincarnation that he was a little drifting.

I really think that Hashiba Hideji holding his own flag can deter the Shimadzu family from going too far. I'm afraid that in the end the vanguard will be beaten worse than in history.

But this was just Hideo's own guess, he couldn't tell anyone, so he could only use an awkward laugh to show his response to Hachisuka's housekeeping question.

"Let's think about the immediate matter first." Xiujia took the initiative to start the topic and said, "Think about what kind of conditions to ask, so that the Shimadzu family will not immediately agree or refuse immediately, and feel that there is a possibility of negotiation."

In fact, the two of them had already arrived outside the Nishinomaru Government Hall during this journey. The two took off their straw sandals and walked up the corridor. Hideka then continued the topic and said, "Let the Otomo-Shimadzu family withdraw from Chikuzen, Chikugo Ryogoku, and Hizen How about the seven counties in the north for His Highness Guan Bai?"

This is actually the thought of Xiujia after careful consideration yesterday.

The only fish on the negotiating table is doomed to be the Shimadzu family. Now the two families are fighting fiercely in Chikuzen, and the Otomo family only occupies a small amount of territory.

The Takahashi family and the Lixue family were originally powerful daimyos in Chikuzen, but now that they surrendered to Toyotomi, the Otomo family's influence in Chikuzen has basically withdrawn.

The Hide family is playing a word game here. It seems that the two families spit out Chikuzen at the same time. In fact, Otomo's territory has already been given to the Toyotomi family, and the only one who has been cut is Shimadzu.

But for Shimadzu, its rule over Chikuzen was mainly controlled by the people of the country who surrendered from the Ryuzoji family and the Akizuki Tanomi who rebelled from the Otomo family.

However, the Shimadzu family doesn’t actually have much territory directly under their jurisdiction in Chikuzen. For Shimadzu, spit out Chikuzen is as easy as scratching the skin.

It is very likely that in their initial psychological defense, this is one of the conditions that can be given up, and the Shimadzu family may directly agree.

Therefore, Xiujia must increase the size on this basis.

Chikugo country is the main traffic route of Kyushu, connecting Chikuzen to the north, Higo to the south, Hizen to the west, Buzen to the northeast, and Bungo to the east.

The reason why the Shimadzu family was able to launch an offensive against the only three remaining kingdoms of the Otomo family at the same time from three sides was because the leader of the Chikuzen kingdom was in hand.

It is important to state here that the Aso family, an important force in Higo, had just surrendered to the Shimadzu family not long ago. In other words, the Shimadzu family had just unified Higo before, making it possible to communicate with the territory of Chikuzen by land.

Previously, Shimadzu's family connected with Chikuzen, all by sea, and Hizen imposed a detainment policy.

In western Kyushu, it was not the main force of the Shimadzu family that fought against the Otomo family, but the coalition forces composed of 25 rebels from Otomo’s family, such as Qiuyou and Chikushi, and local forces headed by Nabeshima, the former ministers of Ryuzoji Temple. Commanding them was Takahisa Shimadzu's fourth son, Iehisa Shimadzu.

The main territories of the Shimadzu family in Hizen, Chikugo, and Chikuzen were concentrated in Hizen Territory. After Higo was captured by Shimadzu Tadahira in 1585, the Shimadzu family transferred the lords of Hizen and Chikuzen on a large scale. This enabled the Shimadzu family to strengthen their leadership over the four countries.

Nakahei Shimadzu may be unfamiliar to everyone, but he was actually Yoshihiro Shimadzu, the governor of the Shimadzu family in Sayu and Ryogoku.In 1586, he accepted Yoshiaki's preference and changed his name to "Yizhen", and the following year he changed his name to "Yihong".

In other words, the current Shimadzu family also needs to be repaired, master the newly conquered Higo collar, and strengthen their influence on Hizuki Shikoku.

The Shimadzu family may have the idea of ​​delaying time by negotiating a peace, as long as the conditions are right, the two sides have plenty of time to argue.

The Chikuzen and Chikugo countries are now the most easily separated neighboring countries for the Shimadzu family. After all, the Shimadzu family's influence here is not strong, and no vassals directly under them are enshrined here.

Shimadzu's rule here is similar to the "Western Region Protectorate" in the Han and Tang Dynasties. It has its own military guarantee, but the main combat force is provided by the local lords.

Hideka felt that it was not safe for him to cede the two countries of Chikuzen and Chikugo. What if the Shimadzu family directly threw out the two countries as burdens?
Anyway, he has never actually ruled these two countries. From the point of view of the Xiu family, exchanging the two Jiji kingdoms for Hideyoshi's promise is a sure-fire deal.

That's why Xiujia added the requirements of the 7 counties in northern Hizen.

At the time of Qingchang inspection, Hizen Kingdom had a total of 10 counties and 1 island with a total of 56 shizhixing, but now the known number of Zhixing in the imperial court accounts is only about 36 shi, of which the five islands belong to the category of Matsuura County.

The seven counties requested by Hideka are Jiren County, Yangfu County, Sangen County, Kanzaki County, Saga County, Matsuura County, and Ojo County.

Except for the five islands currently occupied by Li Dan and others, the number of Zhixing in the above-mentioned sub-counties is about 22 shi (about 37 shi in the account of Qingchang Township.), almost occupying the most essence of the entire Hizen The part is equivalent to letting the Shimadzu family cede the entire Hizen collar.

As mentioned earlier, Hizen is different from Chikuzen and Chikugo. The Shimadzu family has actual rule here, and the fourth son of the Shimadzu family was sealed in Nagasaki.

The Xiu family's request to divide Hizen's collar is the real killing move, which makes the Shimadzu's heart hurt.

But Hachisuka's housekeeping did not know the real situation of the Shimadzu family.

Like Toyotomi Hideyoshi before him, he believed that the power of the Shimadzu family had extended to Chikuzen through only a few words of information, and almost surrounded the Otomo family.

The difference in intelligence caused Toyotomi Hideyoshi's previous decisive battle with Owari and Tokugawa Ieyasu to end hastily, which resulted in the abortion of the plan agreed with Hideo to encircle and annihilate Tokugawa from the east and north. , until now the Xiu family is full of resentment.

But now, Hideyoshi, who knows the real situation in Kyushu, wonders if he will regret his hasty negotiation with Tokugawa?

Perhaps this is why Toyotomi Hideyoshi is so determined to attack Shimadzu in this life, throwing all the blame on the Shimadzu family.

Hearing the proposal proposed by Hideka, Hachisuka Housekeeper retorted in surprise, "Would it be too strict? The 7 counties of Chikuzen, Chikugo, and Hizen have a total of about 82 koku. Without such a high standard of punishment, I am afraid that the Shimadzu family will directly reject the peace agreement."

Perhaps Hachisuka's housekeeping did as he said, and carefully searched for the secrets between Shimadzu and Otomo's house, but he certainly doesn't know as much about the above information as Hideka, who has compiled data from later generations, so he is listening There was such a big reaction to this proposal.

But the Hide family is different. In Hide's view, the Shimadzu family may be reserved in order to maintain stability, but their attitude towards the Chikuzen and Chikugo countries will definitely not be as firm as the Hizen and Higo countries. In the end, The focus on both sides will inevitably be immersed in the discussion of Hizen.

But having said that, this is a Shimadzu-Otomo peace bureau in name, but in fact, it is the Toyotomi family who are in charge of mediation and mediation, which actually grabs the benefits and participates in the talks. It seems a little weird.

(End of this chapter)