Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 289 Don't bully the poor
Xiukang generally agrees with Hideo's argument, but still asks, "In this way, won't the main family also become a vassal of the Tokugawa Council?"

Xiujia retorted, "Of course it's different. Didn't you forget what I said earlier, His Highness Guan Bai's treatment of Beixin is actually difficult to weigh, and neither the Uesugi nor the Tokugawa family can be offended.

Before, there was no way but to forcibly determine the ownership of Beixin, but when you, a new star, appeared, there was one more possibility for Beixin's disposal - partial direct ownership. "

What Hideka said was all the truth. Historically, Hideyoshi’s disposal of Hokushin was the territory of most of Takai, which was led by the Takanashi family, and the territory of Mizuchi County, which belonged to Shimadzu, Yuchuan, and Suda, totaling about 10 koku.

The northeast part of the small prefecture to which the Sanada family belongs is about 2 koku, plus 1.8 koku from Agatsuma County, where Ueno Iwaku Castle is located, as an independent daimyo to Hideyoshi. (Numata Castle is still given to Hojo to ease the relationship with Hojo.)
In addition to the above two places, the remaining about 30 shi in Shinano were all given to Tokugawa Ieyasu, which itself is also a kind of appeasement to Tokugawa Ieyasu.

However, judging from the fact that Hideyoshi let the Sanada family, which is the connecting place of the two, serve as a buffer zone independently, Hideyoshi still has some selfishness in the arrangement of the Shinano collar.

Since the Sanada family can become an independent daimyo, why not the Ogasawara family, who are hereditary guardians of Shinano?
"You mean, let Shinano Guardian go back to Shinano as a direct subject of my father?" Xiuyasu confirmed to Xiujia.

Xiujia nodded and confirmed: "I think my father will be very happy to be able to gain the loyalty of Ogasawara, a famous family of Genji."

"Zhike 2 stones, Gengji 3.5 stones, Antan 3 stones, the total number of Zhixing is about 8.5 stones. This should be the final number of Zhixing you get."

"8.5 shi?" Xiukang was stunned by this figure. How could he have thought that just being a wedge into another family would double his knowledge and behavior so many times.

"For His Highness Buguanbai, you are his wedge into the Shinano Kingdom, and you are a retainer who directly pledges allegiance to him.

As far as the Uesugi family is concerned, it can be regarded as comfort that Masaka can be their vassal and obey their orders.

The Uesugi family was originally unwilling to continue to expand the war, and its main experience is still placed in Shibata and other places in the northern part of Echigo.

Compared with North Vietnam, where the wealthy family is scattered and independent, it is obviously not wise to spend so much time fighting against the Tokugawa family, who is comparable in size to him, at the risk of offending His Highness Guan Bai.

For His Highness Tokugawa, you are his son, and if you come to Shinano without any family background, he must send retainers to assist you, so that you can rule the rest of Shinano without blood.

You must know that the current chaos in Shinano is caused by His Royal Highness Tokugawa's loss of reputation over Shinano's rule, and what he paid was only the 2 koku that originally belonged to the Sanada family in Xiaoxian County.

This is a good strategy to kill three birds with one stone. I think neither Toyotomi, Tokugawa or Uesugi would reject such a proposal. "

Xiukang was extremely convinced by Xiujia's explanation, but Xiukang still raised a question to Xiujia, "According to you, this is indeed an arrangement acceptable to many parties. Even my own strength can be greatly improved. Great strength.

But there is still a problem, Hachiro, as you said, my foundation is still very weak, and the retainer group is not satisfied that I can control the Ogasawara family. The Tokugawa Council will inevitably send retainers, so I, the Ogasawara leader, will not be able to be controlled by me soon. ?So how can my ambition be manifested? "

From Xiukang's words, Xiujia could already feel his deep hostility towards his own father, and even used the unfamiliar title of "Tokugawa Councilor" for him.

Although Xiujia was very satisfied with Xiukang's statement, it was not good to expose his mentality prematurely, so Xiujia said, "Yu Yisong, you can go and don't treat your biological father as an enemy. From now on, everyone They are all retainers of the Toyotomi clan.

Even if there are some small conflicts, the retainers he sent must think so badly.You have to make a proper distinction, and properly promote newcomers who have no foundation in Junyuan San to compete with Tokugawa veterans.

No matter how much the Tokugawa Council can send retainers, it will send you a few elders to help you coordinate political and military affairs. He is not capable of sending so many samurai to the grassroots.

Even if the retainers from the Tokugawa side become the elders, if the new senators you promote control the middle-level members of the family, won't the elders have to get your consent if they want to issue orders?In this way, won't they be emptied by you in turn?

You must always remember that military power must never be released!

One's own banner and attendants must be led by a trustworthy person, and this person cannot have anything to do with Tokugawa's former ministers.

If you add the new members of the reserve team who have been favored by you, as long as you have the military power, the entire Ogasawara clan is still in your hands. "

Xiujia explained to Xiukang the process of how he controlled Yuxijia's rights. Xiukang couldn't believe Xiujia's operation, and sighed, "Can I still do this?"

The Xiu family also provided him with another idea, "If you are still worried, you might as well ask His Highness Guan Bai for some retainers, this will also help you quickly establish your own grassroots retainer group.

But remember, you can only ask for one person at most for the elders, and you need more grassroots warriors. I think there are many good Miao characters in His Highness Guan Bai's banners and horses.If you are willing to mention it, His Highness Guan Bai will definitely agree. "

Xiukang wrote down all the suggestions of the Xiu family, and there are still questions to ask. Just outside the door of this matter, the samurai of the Niwa family issued a report, "Reporting to Mikawa Mamoru and Lieutenant General Zuo Jinwei, we have already caught fresh river turtles. Is your highness now taste."

Seeing that Wang Ba had been arrested, the Xiu family immediately pressed Xiukang's mind to continue to explore and said, "This has been said so much, let's talk about it after lunch."

Then he said to Niwa Samurai outside the door, "Is it ready so soon? Then present it."

Xiujia rubbed his hands together and looked towards the door with full expectation, anticipating what kind of delicious food the other party would present to him.

Who would have imagined that after the samurai was ordered to change hands, he grabbed a living turtle and stabbed its backyard with a knife to force it to stretch out its head, and then chopped off its head with a knife.

Then use the pottery dish to pick up the blood left from the neck. When the dish is full, wipe the bloody hands and present it to Xiujia with both hands. Now present it to Your Highness, Your Highness please enjoy."

Xiujia looked at the slightly viscous red blood in the dish, and felt a little overwhelmed in his heart.

Yes, that's right, he is indeed a warrior, and he has been on the battlefield and killed people, but that doesn't mean he is a savage who drinks blood.

Many people in China believe that turtle blood can restore yang energy and cure impotence, so they flock to it.

However, the medical knowledge of later generations told him that some parasites in the blood of this animal can even survive in a high temperature environment of 300 degrees.

People in China know how to mix white wine and antiseptic, but in Japan it’s fine, just drink it directly.And until later generations, the introduction of turtle blood is still an indispensable dish for the banquets of nobles and gentlemen.

But after all, this is in someone's home, and they presented it as a gift. You told them that there are bacteria and parasites in it and you can't drink it. Aren't you slapping someone in the face?
Seeing that Xiujia hadn't picked it up for a long time, the warrior raised his head in doubt, trying to test Xiujia's attitude.

Fortunately, Xiu's family turned around and said, "It is rumored that turtle blood has the effect of nourishing tuberculosis, strengthening yang, and greatly nourishing deficiency of yin, isn't it?"

Although the samurai didn't know much about medical skills, he also heard about the effects of turtle blood, so he agreed, "General Zuo Zhong is really well-informed, turtle blood does have the effect of strengthening yang, and it is a good product for men to prolong life. Please eat it while it is hot."

Listening to his words, the Xiu family was as speechless as if they were hearing "this medicine is poisonous, please drink it while it's hot".

But the Xiu family still politely refused, "Since it is a Yang-enhancing thing, Sanheshou and I will not eat it. After all, the grade is still young, and it is when the Yang Yuan is sufficient. If you add more, I am afraid it will be a loss if it is full. But so Naturally, a good product cannot be discarded for no reason, so let it be rewarded to the warriors waiting outside the palace."

When the three warriors outside the palace heard that His Highness had rewarded the "Supplementary Goods", they knelt down and praised the Xiu family, and the warriors brought out by Yuxi's family were extremely grateful.

On the other hand, Xiukang, who was next to Xiu's family, looked at the turtle blood in the bowl with some envious eyes, but Xiu's family who was older than him didn't drink it. Make a gesture and give your share to your subordinates.

Of course, don’t drink turtle blood. You must eat turtle meat boiled in miso fighting sauce, especially the collagen on the turtle shell. This is the real nourishing food.

After a full meal, the team prepared to return the same way, but as soon as Xiujia and others left the main hall, they saw a pair of teams winding on the east plain on the higher Honmaru. 2000 people up and down.

Coupled with the banners displayed in the formation, it all tells that this is an army.

Facing the army coming from the east, the defenders in Zhouqiao City became serious and began to ring the bronze bell hurriedly to let the peasants, soldiers and samurai from the castle town enter the city for defense.

The Xiu family's team only has a few dozen people, even though everyone is a warrior who is one against ten, but facing the absolute difference in numbers, it is still recommended that the Xiu family rest in Zhouqiao City and wait for reinforcements from the direction of Toyama City.

In their view, although Zhouqiao City is small, its construction is extremely strong, and it cannot be captured in a short while.

The Niwa family samurai in the team sent two horses out of the city, one rode across the river to inquire about the army's intentions, the other waited at the base of the castle, and if they saw that the other was in a bad situation, they immediately went west to ask for help from Toyama Castle.

And Xiujia also dragged Xiukang and the others to the scull platform amidst the shouts of "Your Highness has not put on armor yet, it is dangerous to climb high", looking at the army's strength.

Just kidding, according to the current situation, this pair of troops is at least 1km away from Zhouqiao City, what kind of weapon can hit so far.

As soon as Xiujia climbed up the tower, he heard the samurai on the other side of the tower shouting to the bottom, "The new Miyagawa Castle on the other side has opened!"

"Boom~" This news caused a commotion among the crowd. If the enemy on the other side is really, then the opening of the new Miyagawa Castle means that Zhouqiao City has become a new front line.

It doesn't matter that they died as samurai, but there are still two daimyos in the castle.Should I take advantage of the current gap to send the two Highnesses back first?

Xiujia ignored the quarrel under the oar platform, and looked towards the direction of the army.

As the distance drew closer, the Xiu family could vaguely see their family crests and flag seals, but because the distance was still too far, they could only see a black circle of family crests, and it was really hard to see the contents clearly.

"It's the black sun flag, it's the flag of the bandits." The warrior on the oar platform next to him exclaimed again.

I want to popularize science here. At that time, Japanese farmers were uneducated, and they couldn’t make any fancy patterns when they made Ichikui. Therefore, the soil Ichikui initiated by simple farmers mostly used black sun patterns as their symbols.

"Your Highness, the bandits are powerful, please go back to Toyama Castle first." Now, even Qingshui Xin, who always obeyed Xiujia's orders, was flustered, and kept calling Xiujia under the oar platform.

It would be a different matter if they were all wearing armor, they might not be incapable of fighting.

But today they are out for a parade, and there is no one in the whole team wearing armor, why don't you hurry up and run while the refugees are coming.

But Xiujia still didn't make a decision, and Xiukang beside him started sweating anxiously.

Fortunately, the eyes of Xiujia's perennial balanced diet are finally put to use at this moment. Although I still can't see the color of the family crest clearly, I can clearly see the words written on the 4 square meter printed flag. I can vaguely see that it is a The word "Bi".

After the queue marched another 100 steps, the flag was finally confirmed. It was the character "Bi" and the flag seal of Echigo Army God Uesugi Kenshin.

And next to the word "Bi" is the flag seal of the word "Yi" of Uesugi Jingsheng, the head of the Uesugi family.

"There's no need to withdraw, it's the Uesugi family's team." Xiujia told everyone truthfully what he saw.

And not long after, the Niwa family samurai who went to confirm the identity of the team also returned with several horse-riding samurai, shouting loudly, "It's the team of Uesugi's attendants!" Then everyone let down their guard slightly.

To say that the bamboo sparrow pattern (Uesugi Sasa) modified by Uesugi Jingsheng is too compact, the proportion of the skylark is enlarged, and a large number of bamboo leaves are used to fill the gaps in the original Uesugi family’s bamboo sparrow pattern.

In addition, most of today's family crests are decorated with black patterns on a white background, doesn't this look like the Kuro no Maru pattern of a thief from a distance.

In addition, the Uesugi Sasa Bamboo Sparrow pattern was just replaced by the Uesugi family this year, and everyone is not familiar with it, otherwise there would not be such a big oolong.

That is to say, the Xiu family saw through this Uesugi pattern that has been passed down for hundreds of years, but they couldn't get used to the original version.

I am afraid that this is not the first time that the Uesugi family has encountered such troubles along the way, so after contacting the Niwa family samurai this time, they quickly sent two samurai to return along the road with the Uesugi family tattoo aloft.

After all, this place is getting closer and closer to Toyama Castle, where Hideyoshi is located, and it will be difficult to deal with it if it is regarded as a rebellious army.

(End of this chapter)