Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 587 Self Defense

Date Masamune finally went south alone with "evidence". Of course, one person here is an imaginary number, which means that he did not bring military power and important ministers, but there were still 200 banner guards moving forward, and finally passed through Gaocheng. He was stopped by Suga Masari, who had been waiting here for a long time.

Suga Masatoshi doesn't think about the conspiracy behind the letter, and he has a bad sense of Date Masamune, so after stopping Date Masamune, he said to him, "Date Palace, Dainagon, please go to Lifu City alone."

A warrior guarding him shouted, "We are the guards of the lord. We have always been there where the lord is. Even if we die, we will die together. There is no reason to abandon the lord."

However, Masatoshi Suga ignored them. He pointed to Hideka's Banner Samurai who came with him, and a person appeared from behind them.

"Does Dr. Zuakyo still remember me?" Kagawa Kei shouted to Date Masamune, "In the name of my lord, I will lead the elite Banner of Toyotomi's family to protect Dr. Zuakyo to Lifu."

After all, he deliberately took a few Banner warriors forward a few steps, so that everyone in the Date family could clearly see the [Armed Forces] on their side.

Hideo's banner and attendants are two troops composed entirely of samurai and samurai children, so their equipment is excellent.

Leaving aside the swords and guns forged by the long boats, everyone is wearing a light blue war jacket. The front half is forged as a whole, and the back is made of a large piece of armor combined with rivets to make a Nanman body.

The grass canopy and armor sleeves are made of large pieces of iron armor bound with iron rings, and even the calves and forearms are protected by a curved hand. In a critical moment, you can directly use your arms as a shield to block the opponent's slashing.

Banners wear iron helmets on their heads, with their own unique front stands on their heads, with a uniform blue feather in the middle, plus their cheeks and throat chakra, exuding a frightening murderous aura everywhere.

In fact, it is different from the original banner group that was sent down to each reserve team to serve as officers. Now the samurai in Xiujia's banner group are all promoted from the samurai who performed well in the standing and various reserve teams in the past. Everyone has their lives on their backs. Will use the simplest way to end the enemy's life.

Although only 50 people were brought out, the momentum of these 50 bannermen has surpassed the 200 people behind Date Masamune.

You must know that Date Masamune, as the former Ou Dragon, his banner itself is also very elite, and the equipment is not bad among daimyos, but it is still somewhat weak compared with Hideka's banner.

The equipment of Xiujia's banner team is far more than this. They are also equipped with a recurve short bow for each person for riding and shooting, two quiver bags with 24 arrows each, and standard riding equipment provided by Xiujia. Use war horses.

Of course, if your family is richer, you can configure better war horses yourself.

This set of equipment can no longer be said to be rich, it is simply a luxury.

In fact, there is no shortage of horses in Japan, but most of them are short mountain horses, which are barely enough for riding, not to mention riding and shooting. Most of them can only be used for farming or consignment like cattle, and the price is 80 Pass left and right.

Hideya holds Iyo and Ezo in its hands, and is the two major producing areas of Japanese native horses. Especially in Iyo Hideya, horse management is implemented. Farmers who domesticate horses are not only tax-free but also receive subsidies. The annual production of horses is about 350-450, including war horses. 200 horses up and down.

秀家收购的价格为50~150贯文，而在市场上驮马单价为70~100贯文，战马则不会低于200贯文一匹。

Ezo and stallions are taller and stronger than Iyo horses. They are essentially subspecies of Mongolian horses, and due to the warm Pacific Current, Ezo horses actually eat no worse than Mongolian grasslands.

After being domesticated, the Xiu family fed alfalfa and sweet elephant grass, and they grew stronger than those in the natural environment. Almost every horse can be used as a war horse.

The Ezo Governor's Mansion produces about 500 horses a year, and the scale is still expanding. 200 horses are left for personal use, and 300 horses are transported south to Xiujia. The purchase price is 180 guanwen.

However, such high-war horses already belong to the range of good horses in Japan, and the unit price of a horse will not be lower than the price of a hundred gold.

This price is slightly higher than that in Europe. Taking Britain as an example, before the 13th century, the price of ordinary war horses was 5 to 8 pounds, which was equivalent to 10 to 16 kilograms of silver, and the price of high-grade war horses was more than 20 pounds, which was equivalent to 40 kilograms of silver.

But after 13 pounds, European countries have introduced policies to encourage domestication of horses.

According to the statistics in the second volume of "History of Agriculture in England and Wales", the average price of agricultural horses after 1300 was only 10 shillings (0.5 pounds), and the average price of horses pulling carts was slightly better, with an average price of 17-20 shillings. It fluctuates between shillings (0.85-1 pound), but it is not uncommon for individual bad horses worth only 2-3 shillings.

而战马的价格也被压到了5英镑以下，1298年，英王爱德华一世出征苏格兰时，军中21%的战马低于6镑，39%的战马价格在6-10英镑，30%的战马价格在6-20镑之间，仅有11%的战马价格超过20镑。

Leaving aside the war horses, the cost of this set of armor alone would not be lower than 80 guanwen, and the cost of a banner samurai including the war horses would be around 300 guanwen.

Date Masamune looked at Kagawa Keunori. He knew this valet who had been with the Xiu family and handled affairs for the Xiu family. Since he came to pick him up in person, it also fully demonstrated that the Xiu family would not give him Opportunity to veto.

He could only say to the samurai on the left and right, "Just wait for me here. The banner of Toyotomi's family will go back with me. There must be no safety problems on the way."

Although his valet and Banner tried to argue repeatedly, he still refused the request, and returned to Lifu City alone with his things and Xiangchuanjing.

His speed is considered fast. He set off from Ishinomaki Castle and finally returned to Lifu City in the late third day. At this moment, Lifu City has already been controlled by the Xiu family. Wuqitong pattern instead.

Date Masamune came to Lifu City and stopped for a while, as if he was feeling the atmosphere here. This time entering the city had a great impact on his Date family. There is no chance of getting out of here.

Kagawa Kei did not chase him away, but watched Date Masamune, the former Ou Yu overlord's last time, as if he was watching a play.

But Date Masamune was never one to admit defeat. He took a deep breath to encourage himself, and clamped his legs around the horse's belly to urge the horse to go inward.

For such a major event as the rebellion, no matter how late Date Masamune came, Hideie and Asano Nagamasa had to summon him immediately.

And in order to show that he attaches great importance to Date Masamune, Hideka summoned important ministers under Lifu City to attend and put pressure on him, just to let Date Masamune understand that this matter is not something that can be fooled around casually.

There are 16 Date retainers headed by Date outside to observe, in order to reflect the impartiality.

Behind the important ministers and on the wall corridor are 30 soldiers who attended as nonvoting officers. Once Date Masamune was convicted, he would step forward to take him down and maintain the situation on the scene when necessary.

"His Highness Dai Nayan~! Attendant Asano, Your Highness~! I came too late, I came too late~"

However, unlike Hideo who was expected to be escorted in by two samurai, Date Masamune began to call out the names of Hideo and Asano Nagamasa from a long distance this time, and ran into the hall with small steps. He fell down in front of the two of them.

Date Masamune howled at the two of them in his weeping tone, "It is the most reassuring thing for me to see you two safe and sound today. It is not good for me to control the retainers, so that I ran into the two adults, please Forgive me, both of you, if you want to punish Masamune, there is no other way!"

As he spoke, he wiped away the tears that were not there in the corner of his eyes with his sleeve.

Date Masamune's behavior is actually very smart, he is very clear about what he is talking about today, it is his conspiracy to rebel in the letter from Naichi Kui.

But he avoided talking about it first, as if there was no such thing at all, and wanted to characterize the military chaos in Rili Prefecture before as a problem on his own side, in order to show weakness to the Xiu family.

In fact, it was very risky for him to do so, because Hideyoshi and Asano Nagamasa came here with Hideyoshi's business, and the Date family's use of force against them is essentially no different from plotting a rebellion.

That's why Date Masamune, before Hideka opened his mouth, first characterized the armed conflict as a "collision" rather than a military chaos.

Because he is very clear that the focus is no longer on the qualitative nature of this matter. Once the qualitative nature of the letter is confirmed, his own matter will no longer be paid attention to.

On the other hand, if the letter is exonerated, I will show the enemy's weakness first at this moment, but it will make it difficult for the knife stretched out by the opposite side to strike.

Sure enough, seeing Date Masamune's appearance, Asano Nagamasa spoke first and said, "Doctor Sakyo should be clear about the matter discussed today. Let's not mention other trivial matters for the time being. Let me explain the matter of Kazuki in your letter first." .”

In fact, Hideka intends to follow Date Masamune's words to characterize the armed conflict the day before yesterday. Since it was the topic that Date Masamune opened up, I will follow along and deal with you, right?

But Asano Nagamasa's sudden opening made Hideo swallow the words that were on his lips.

The most uncomfortable thing for the Hide family is that Asano Nagamasa didn't know if he was talking about it, but he actually said [other small things]. Are you categorizing the military chaos the day before yesterday?
You've already talked about trivial matters. If the Xiu family insists on holding on to it, won't it make me look like a little chicken?
So when Asano Nagamasa finished speaking, Hideya stared at him reflexively, with a hint of displeasure in his eyes, but it was a pity that Asano Nagamasa did not see this look.

"Today I came here to justify this matter!" Date Masamune explained, "I don't know what the letter is, this matter is a traitor's attack on a minister!

My loyalty to His Highness Guan Bai, and my respect for Da Nayan and Asano's attendants can be learned from time to time, and I ask you two adults to be aware of it! "

Regarding Date Masamune's refusal to acknowledge this matter, Hideka and Asano Nagamasa had expected it, and then showed him the original letter, and asked him for confirmation, "The handwriting and monogram on this letter have been compared and confirmed by many people. The way you write, is there anything else that can be faked?"

It was Asano Nagamasa who asked the question, and instead of agreeing with Hideo before, he was the one who took the lead in the questioning this time.

After all, the Hide family's status is somewhat special, plus the previous conversation between Hide family and Toyotomi Hideji in Agatsuma Castle, and the emphasis on the Date family will inevitably lead to unnecessary misunderstandings.

However, Hideka noticed Date Masaru's small unnoticed movement, he seemed to be gesticulating something with his finger on the monogram.

After a while, he seemed to be relieved, and replied in a more confident tone, "My lords, this letter is definitely not from my handwriting."

"It's not from your handwriting? Are you saying that the notes and monograms above are not your handwriting?" Asano Nagamasa asked.

"It does look like me, but I heard that this letter was sent by Suda Hoki, so it can be explained." Date Masamune replied calmly, "This must be faked by Suda Hoki!"

"Nonsense! You gave it to me with your own hands. Let me hand it over to Bessho Awaji."

Before he finished speaking, a shout came from outside the house, and it was the "witness" Hoki Suda sent by Nobushige Sanada.

Now Viida Masamune refuted him for forging letters to slander his lord, which is an extremely bad thing for a samurai.

Hideka brought Suda Boki here for the purpose of serving as a witness to correct Masamune Date in cooperation with Nakajima, who was captured before.

But right now he came out without calling, which really disrupted the arrangement of the Xiu family.

Coupled with Asano Nagamasa's random characterization of the matter before, and Date Masamune's natural performance, Hideka suddenly felt that the situation was out of control.

When Asano Nagamasa saw Suda Hoki coming out, he said to him: "Hoki Mori, since you have come out, let's talk about the situation of this letter."

From what Asano Nagamasa said, it can be seen that at this moment he still trusts Suda Hoki.

"Danayan, attendant, my Masamune Date's Yubi, who often writes copywriting for him." Suda Hoki stepped forward in response, and answered after saluting, in which the title of his former master was actually straight Calling them by their first names shows no respect at all.

"Among them, I found that Masamune Date had contact with Ichikui many times, and I hinted at Masamune Date several times, hoping that he would pay attention, but he ignored them all.

A few days ago in Ishinomaki Castle, when I accidentally discovered that he had written another letter to the leader of Ichikui who occupied Sanuma Castle, I tried to catch up with the attendants who delivered the letter, and defrauded the letter from them, and sent it to Sanada-sama place. "

Suda Hoki's explanation is still logical and self-consistent, so Asano Nagamasa asked Date Masamune, "Is there anything else you can say now, Dr. Sakyo?"

"Hahahaha~" Date Masamune said with a smile when he was questioned, "It's absurd, saying that I have been in contact with a group of people, do you have evidence?
We all know that the most important character of a samurai is loyalty to his lord. I thought I was kind to you and helped your family a lot, but in the end you betrayed and framed the lord. How can you be so unfaithful in the world? generation? ! . "

As he spoke, he stood up, looked around and asked, "Masters, do you want to trust such a treacherous villain who was framed before?"

(End of this chapter)