Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 583 Chaos
Since being frightened by Ishikawa Goemon that year, Hideka sleeps very lightly at night, and the slightest disturbance outside will wake Hideka up from her sleep.

Just like this at this moment, listening to the sound of rushing footsteps outside, and the sound of chattering and chattering came from outside soon after, this is by no means the sound that should be in the city late at night.

Xiujia suddenly sat up from the bed, held the samurai sword to the side, looked outside vigilantly and asked, "Who is it? What's the matter?"

Hearing the movement in the house, the real job at the racecourse who was in charge of night duty tonight reported to Xiujia, "Is the lord awake? Mino Mori-sama (Ota Sukomasa) has something urgent to see."

"Who?" Xiujia came to his senses when he heard Senior Minister Ota's name.It is very rare that you can let your family stay in such a late night, you must disturb yourself, and it must be something of great importance.

Thinking of the rumors in the history of the previous life, Xiujia suddenly blurted out, "But something happened at Date's house. Is it because the city is on alert now, or is Date Masamune leaving the front line?"

Hearing that Xiujia guessed that Daida Masamune might rebel on the front line, the people outside the house suddenly calmed down for a moment, and then whispered to each other. They couldn't believe that Xiujia's guess was so accurate before knowing the information.

Hearing that Xiujia already had a presupposition in his mind, Ota Susuma stopped thinking about it and told Xiujia calmly: "Your Highness, just as you expected, Date Masamune has signs of rebellion at the front line!"

In fact, although Xiujia already had some guesses in his mind, he was not prepared at all. After all, he is currently in Lifu City, the main city of Date's family. If Date Masamune really counterattacked, he might have to confess here it is.

It's actually hard for the Xiu family to imagine that the Date family, which is twice as powerful as it was in history, dares to risk the world's disgrace and attack him. Even if he takes himself down, what's the point? Isn't he afraid of Toyotomi Hideyoshi? A northern expedition to Ou?

If you don't understand it, you don't understand it. After hearing the explosive news, the Xiu family immediately let people in from outside to report to him in detail.

"Where did the news come from, come in and talk."

Following the Xiu family's order, the door was opened, and a gust of cold wind blew in from the outside.

Different from maintaining a certain temperature inside the house, the outside of Leefu City in February is still snowing, and the temperature is still so cold.

As the real job of the Xiu family's horse farm, he immediately brought a mink fur coat from the side to keep the Xiu family warm, and the other servants filed in and began to light candles around them, and at the same time, they brought two of them from outside. A brazier used by those on the night watch to keep warm.

Ota Zizheng brought Suga Masatoshi and Sanada Nobukatsu into Hideo's house, and Hideo's first eyes saw Sanada Nobukatsu who was still wearing armor and wearing a coir raincoat to block the wind and snow.

Generally speaking, people who came to see Xiu's family would wash up in advance, for someone like him who was so dusty that he didn't even take off his coir raincoat, one could imagine how urgent it was.

"You're not that, you're not that." In desperation, Hideka couldn't remember the person's name all of a sudden, only remembered that he seemed to be Sanada Nobushige's younger brother.

"Hai, my subject is Nobukatsu Sanada Genshiro, and he came to report to the main hall at the order of his elder brother that Dr. Date Sakyo intends to rebel!"

After Sanada Nobukatsu finished speaking, he took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Hideo, continuing to say, "This is a secret letter personally sent by Date Masamune Yubi Suda Hoki, with Date Masamune's monogram on it as evidence. Jointly attack our army."

Ya is also used as a painting, a charge, a flower book, five clouds, and a flower character. In North Korea, it is called hand-jue. It is a signature style that replaces a signature. Usually, one to two characters in the name are used to sketch in consecutive strokes and overlap each other. Sometimes some symbols are added, so the shapes are strange and artistic, and are often used in calligraphy works.

The most famous monogram in Chinese history is that of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty.Song Huizong used a monogram resembling an elongated "Heaven" on his paintings and calligraphy, which is said to symbolize "one person in the world".

Monograms were introduced to Japan in the middle of the 10th century (middle of the Heian period).After the Kamakura period, it began to be divided into three types: samurai type used by samurai, public type used by ministers, and Zen monk type used by monks.

During the Warring States Period, the forms of Japanese monograms began to diversify. For example, Oda Nobunaga used the "Lin" monogram, Toyotomi Hideyoshi used the "Xi" monogram, Date Masamune used the wagtail-shaped monogram, and so on.

Historically, Xiujia's depressing flowers looked like the cursive characters of Xiu, which looked a bit like the inflated traditional Chinese character "Wei".

Hideka received the letter from Sanada Nobukatsu, and the letter had already been opened, but Hideka did not question his authenticity, and shook off the letter very handsomely, and began to read it under the lamp of the horse farm.

When Xiujia received the letter, he confirmed Date Masamune's monogram on the side, and read it after confirming that the monogram was correct.

Skipping some red-tape politeness, Xiujia quickly locked on the key point, "Now that Toyotomi is powerful, I don't want to accept Awaji's submission.
Toyotomi Danayan ordered Sekibai Hideyoshi to deal with Ou, and all those who participated in Ichikui's order will be dealt with with ten draws and first-class Ezo.

Ezo is bitterly cold, and it is difficult for the people to survive without one, among which the hardships and dangers are no more than I can say.Now the only way to defeat the enemy is to let the Nan Lao know that our northern soldiers are strong, so that they dare not be contemptuous.

The identities of Toyotomi Kanto and Toyotomi Echizen are too special. Even if they win, they are still afraid that the officers and soldiers will make a comeback to save face, which is an unacceptable strategy.

In the middle of the road there is an army whose generals are all young generals who are neglected in the battle formation. The number of soldiers is [-], which is nothing to worry about.

Three days later, when the enemy attacked Suzuka Castle, the rear line must have been negligent in guarding against it. Awaji could have led the rebel army to enter and defeat Sanada's army.I deployed soldiers in the back field to clear up the remaining soldiers to strengthen the momentum.

Masamune worships. "

Xiujia read the letter faster and faster, and his tone became more and more intense, until later he even began to gnash his teeth.

After reading all the letters, even if they have heard the general content from Sanada Nobukatsu before, Suzumasa Ota and Toshito Suga have an unbelievable expression, "What? How could this happen!"

Hideka couldn't believe the contents of the letter, so he examined it again, and looked at the monogram in the lower left corner again, and after confirming that it was Date Masamune's monogram, he handed the letter to Suzuki Ota for him confirm.

"That's right, this is Date Masamune's monogram. I was lucky enough to see it when I wrote a letter with Satake Hitachi in the past." Ota Susuma confirmed.

"Go and get the letters between Date Masamune and me." Hideka still didn't dare to confirm the authenticity of the letter, and turned to the horse farm manager and said, "It's those few times that he and I shirked and refused to send troops. .”

Not long after, the letters were brought in. Xiujia put several letters together and spread them out, and began to look for words for confirmation.

Seeing the appearance of Xiu's family, Ota Zizheng who was at the side was very anxious, but now he is in Lifu City, where the Yida family's main city is the place where dragons' pools and tigers' dens are located, how could they review the letters so calmly?

You must know that if the content of the letter is true, every minute wasted will add 1 point to your own danger.

"My lord! It's better to believe what you have than to ignore what you don't have!" Ota Zizheng persuaded Xiujia, "How to grasp the situation and take the initiative is the key now. Whether it is true or not, first prepare to let the army outside the city Let's enter the city!"

"My lord! Don't stop being disturbed by it." As soon as Ota Zizheng's voice fell, Suga Masatoshi on the side also persuaded: "Please give me an order, I will go out to prepare my army, but I just ask you to guard with Mino Stay here for a while, and I will definitely use the fastest time to break through the city!"

Xiujia always felt that there was something wrong with this letter, but the current situation was urgent and there was no time to think about it.

What they said was also reasonable, anyway, it is always right to be on the defensive, and with this letter in hand, even if Date Masamune went to sue Hideyoshi, he would have a reason to occupy the city.

But he still asked Nobushige Sanada about the situation in the north, and Nobushige Sanada's response.

Sanada Nobukatsu replied, "After receiving the letter, my brother has recruited two adults, Iwagi and Soma, and they all feel that I am afraid that people are watching around. It may be more dangerous to take people out of the city, so I chose to stay behind closed doors at the Nakatsuyama Pavilion. I plan to investigate the situation tomorrow morning before making a decision."

Nobushige Sanada's choice is relatively conservative, but it is also the most appropriate. Historically, the Gamo clan chose to stay behind closed doors at Mingsho Castle until Date Masamune went south to Shangluo before bringing the team back.

After all, this is the enemy's home field. No one knows whether the villagers on the side of the road are the enemy's spies, whether there are ambushes hidden in the surrounding cities, villages, ruins, and forests, and they are waiting to go out of the city to attack.

When an army cages the city, it seems to be shrunk in a tortoise shell, and the effectiveness of the defense is strengthened. After coming out of the city, the team can only move in a long snake formation, and the middle row of the team is the most vulnerable place to be attacked.

Once the attack is successful, it will be difficult for the generals to organize a counterattack.

After making up his mind, Xiujia put down the letter first, raised his head and ordered to Ota Jingzi, "Go and order all the servants in the city and the banner to return to the building immediately, and all the warriors put on their armor and prepare for the battle."

"Hayi" Ota Jingzi naturally knew the danger of this matter, and the Xiu family responded and planned to send the order as soon as the order was issued.

"Wait a minute!" The Xiu family called him who was in a hurry, "Everything is going to be done in secret, don't startle the snake."

"Ha Yi, the subject knows"

"Wait a little longer!" The Xiu family suddenly stopped Ota Jingzi, who was about to leave, and ordered him after a moment of deliberation, "Send someone to search up and down the city of Lifu in the name of patrolling the night to see if there is anything in the Yida family. No action."

"Yes..." Ota Keiko was finally able to die this time. As he left, there was movement in the Xiujiafan mansion. Banner samurai and attendants were woken up in a low voice, and they were ordered to wear clothes from person to person. An order to put on armor and prepare for battle.

After Ota Keisuke left, the Hide family looked at Suga Masari and said, "You too, go out of the city in the name of passing orders for me, and after you go out, rectify the soldiers in the castle town and force them into the city. If the Date family refuses to let them, they will attack with all their strength." city."

"Hi" Suga Masari responded.

Hideka stretched out his hand and tightly held the hands of Masatoshi Suga on the opposite side and promised, "Rokunosuke, now all of my wealth and life are in your hands, and my Kanto 5000 army is entirely up to you to take charge! After this matter, no matter whether it is true or not, I will definitely Remember your credit."

"Your subjects don't need rewards. It is the lord who promoted your subjects from ordinary people to daimyo. Without the lord, I am nothing. Please rest assured, Minong Mamoru and the lord, I will definitely control the whole city as soon as possible."

Masatoshi Suga said, he didn't stay here any longer and walked around, and was detained by the Xiu family for a while.

Hideka looked at Suzumasa Ota and said, "I would like to ask Mr. Ota to go to Honmaru himself, and Mr. Itachi to come and talk about something about his brother.

Before that, you have to go to the mansion of Mr. Asano Nagamasa and ask him to stay overnight.

This fact is a bit appalling, please go to meet him in person, tell him about this matter, let him send someone down to support Suga Masari into the city, and come here to meet me. "

The Hide family and Asano Nagamasa were considered guests in the city of Leefu, so they did not bring many people into the city. The Hide family had a special status, and brought more than a dozen retainers, 20 attendants, and 50 bannermen into the city.Asano Nagamasa only led 40 retainers and bannermen.

The combined strength of the two families has just exceeded a hundred people. If the Date family really makes a move, it will be difficult to hold on. Now they can only pin their hopes on the 5000 soldiers outside the city.

However, it is very difficult to break down the city from the outside. Regardless of the fact that Lifu City was just the residence of Date Jizong in the past when he lived in seclusion for the elderly, this city was built on a natural peak of 90 meters. It is a challenge to attack the city from the bottom of the mountain A very difficult thing.

If there is a slight blockage during the siege, the more than a hundred people of Hideka and Asano Nagamasa alone will not be able to support them, so it is very important to cooperate with the inside and outside.

"You and Meinong go to Asano's attendant, lead people down to the city from him, and keep them well along the way, so that when you attack the city, you can open the city gate together."

During the Warring States period, in the small town of an ordinary samurai family, there would only be a dozen half-conscripted and half-professional ashigaru stationed with the samurai at home, the purpose is only to prevent the invasion of rogues.

Once there is a war, it will be mobilized according to the scale of the war, and the military account staff will be brought to the main house to report, and some people will be left to guard the city.

It is true that Lifu Castle is the current home of the Date family, but the main force of the Date family has been dispatched to the north, and there are 5000 troops of the Hide family in the castle town. When Date Masamune left, only 300 people were left in the city.

If there is no situation that Hideka doesn't know, it shouldn't be difficult to rely on 40 people in the hands of Asano Nagamasa to take down the gates of the cities along the way.

The Hide family's order was issued, but Ota Susumasa had a different opinion, "My lord, the situation in the city is now in crisis, are you going out of the city in disguise with Masatoshi Suga?
I left in the city to lead everyone to set up doubts, and when you get safely to the city, isn't it much safer to take people back to Lifu City by yourself?
And besides, is it really necessary for me to find Date at this time?If the content of Masamune Date's letter is true, I'm afraid they are already preparing to act now! "

His proposal was also approved by Suga Masari, and Suga Masari even expressed that he would definitely take the Hide family out with all his might.

At this time, another attendant of the Xiu family, Kagawa Jing, came back from the outside in the wind and snow, and said to the Xiu family, "I took a few people around the mansion, and made a few points in Ninomaru. After looking at it, the situation is as usual and there is no special movement."

Hearing the answer that Kagawa Jingze brought back, Xiujia's eyelids twitched, and he suddenly discovered the biggest contradiction in this matter!

(End of this chapter)