Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 68
Although on June 6, the fireworks of Honnoji Temple had already begun to disperse, Hideyoshi, who was on the front line of Bichu, did not know that he was still fighting to capture the Mori family.

With the retreat of Takakage Kobayakawa on May 5 and the surrender of Soji Shimizu on June 31, Hashiba Hideyoshi finally won the first important city since the Beichu Raiders.

At the same time, with the retreat of the main force of the Maori family, the defenders of Arahira Yamashiro and Oniseki Castle guarding the junction of the mountainous area and the Bichu Plain also chose to surrender to Hideka.

The two armies totaled 3.7 people, and continued to approach Xingshan Castle and Chausu Mountain Castle, where the Mori family was currently stationed. The army arrived in the Zhongzhuang area on the morning of the 3rd.

Sanyang Avenue passes through Zhongzhuang, and on the mountains on both sides of the avenue are Chausu Mountain Castle and Xingshan Castle. It can be said that these two cities are like two warriors, one on the left and the other on the right guarding the few passes on the Sanyo Road.

Seeing that the Oda army was approaching here, the three Mori sects had to abandon their previous suspicions and fight against the enemy together.

In fact, as early as the last time on the banks of the Nagara River, Takakage Kobayakawa asked the Maori diplomatic monk Anguoji Huiqiong to bring the five Western Kingdoms in exchange for the terms of surrender for peace.

However, Hideyoshi had already asked Nobunaga for reinforcements, and Nobunaga had already replied that he would lead 5 troops to support. Hideyoshi had no possibility of choosing to negotiate a peace at that time, otherwise it would be like a monkey slipping away from Nobunaga all the way, with Nobunaga's temper Hideyoshi will definitely be killed.

Let’s talk about Takakage Kobayakawa in Chausuyama Castle, seeing that the Oda Army, which has gathered Ukido’s forces, is already on par with them in terms of military strength, he still decided to send Anguoji Huiqiong to negotiate again in the spirit of peace.

Anguosi Huiqiong, who came down from the mountain, was not received by Hideyoshi immediately. It turned out that Hideyoshi had already received the shocking news.

Hideka, who has been paying attention to the historical process, asked the Ninja Army to infiltrate and pay attention to the situation in Kinai as early as last year when he took over the family governor. Before going to Maori in March, he specifically told Tsusue Sanzhicheng to pay attention to the situation in Kyoto and report immediately no matter what happened.

The change at Honno-ji Temple in the early morning of June 6 shocked Kinai, and also let the ninjas dispatched by the Xiu family to pay attention to the situation in Kyoto know the news at the first time, and rushed to deliver the letter day and night.

After 1 day and 1 night, the transmission without changing the letter.This letter, which determines the fate of the world, was finally delivered to Xiujia at noon on June 6.

At this time, Xiujia was in Hideyoshi's shogunate, following Hideyoshi's arrangements for the siege of the city tomorrow. Suddenly, the chief attendant, Suga Masatoshi, came in from outside the shogunate, opened the curtain of the shogunate, and ran to Xiujia and whispered, "News from the Ninja Army came from Kyoto. Sealed and tied with a red cloth band."

Suga Masari was about to take out the bamboo tube from his bosom after saying that, but Xiujia raised his hand to stop him.

After the Xiu family suffered from the loss of information, in order to facilitate the rapid transportation and confidentiality of the information, they all required that the information be put into bamboo tubes, sealed with wax oil and stamped, and tied with black, blue, and red cloth strips according to the priority of the information. transportation.

The red cloth strip signifies an urgent matter, and the envoy changed people all the way to deliver it to Xiu's family without stopping.

After hearing the news from Kyoto, Hideyo got up and left the shogunate after apologizing to Hideyoshi. Although Hideyoshi was a little strange, he didn't say much and nodded in agreement.

Immediately after Hideka followed Suga Masari out of the shogunate, he reached out to take the bamboo tube that Suga Masari handed over, before opening it, he said anxiously, "Where is the messenger?"

"It has just been sent to the Ukita camp, and Date Masakura is taking care of it, so you have to pass it on."

The Xiu family confirmed the seal on the mud seal and the integrity of the bamboo tube seal, tore off the cloth tape, cut the seal with a dagger, twisted the bamboo tube, and took out the letter.

The ninjas in Kyoto only left a few words in the letter: "On the morning of June 6, Akechi Hiroshi attacked the Honnoji Temple with the defenders, and both the generals of the right mansion and the left guard were killed."

Xiujia closed the letter, put it in his arms, and said, "No need, the left and right are just sending letters alternately, and I'm afraid I don't know the specific content. If there is another letter coming later, I will go straight to the shogunate to deliver it. If there are flying feet who come from Kyoto in person, they will also be sent in."

"Yes" Suga Masari received the order and was about to leave but was stopped by the Xiu family.

"Wait a minute, let's arrange for the guards to keep an eye on that Hikyaku. If Hikyaku comes to deliver the letter later, it should be like this. They must not be allowed to contact anyone, and they are not allowed to talk to them. All the people who have spoken are guarded together. You Send me the letter yourself."

Masatoshi Suga looked at Hideo with a serious face, realized the seriousness of the matter, and said seriously, "Please rest assured."

Hideka watched Suga Masari leave, looked up at the sky that was frightened by the drizzle, a big stone in his heart finally fell, and the occurrence of Honnoji's change finally indicated that the trend of history did not deviate too much, and the layout in front of him There will be no problems.

After sorting out some emotions, Xiujia walked into the shogunate again with a gloomy face, and the Hashiba clan banner warriors stationed on both sides opened the curtain of the shogunate for this small but 40 koku daimyo.

At this time, Hideyoshi's military deployment has ended, and he is joking with the generals.Hideya walked straight towards Hideyoshi, ready to tell him the news.

Suddenly the shogunate opened again, and a samurai came in and reported, "The Maori envoy Anguoji Huiqiong asked to meet the lord."

Hideyoshi seemed to be in a good mood, sat down in his seat and said with a smile, "Oh? Is Anguoji Temple coming again? Let's pass it on quickly."

"Wait" Hearing that Hideyoshi summoned Hui Qiong from Anguo Temple, the Hideyoshi halfway stopped the samurai who had just received the order and was about to leave, "Let Master Anguosi wait outside for the time being, and I will pass it on again later."

The samurai did not accept Hideyoshi's order, but looked up at Hideyoshi, confirming Hideyoshi's order again.

Hideyoshi was a little puzzled. After Suga Masari came in out of nowhere to lure Hideka out just now, Hideka who came in again had a gloomy and terrifying face, and directly stopped his order. Even though it was just a trivial order, this was something Hideka had never done before. .

"Hachiro, what happened?" Hideyoshi couldn't help asking.

Xiujia's face changed again, and he said with a smile: "Father, it's all right, it's just a letter from home. This is a letter, please read it, Father." After saying that, he took out the letter from his bosom, walked to Hideyoshi and handed it to Hideyoshi.

"We'll talk about small things like family letters later, let's see what new conditions the Mori family has brought." Hideyoshi didn't expect Hideka to interrupt his order because of such a small matter, and said a little displeased.

"Father, you should take a look first, the matter of the Mori family is a trivial matter." Hideka almost handed the letter directly to Hideyoshi's face.

Hideyoshi was a little puzzled, he had never seen such a disrespectful move by Hideo, and opened the letter with some displeasure.

At the beginning of the period, Hideyoshi was silently reciting "June 6 morning, Akechi Hinata Mamoru." Suddenly Hideyoshi's voice of reciting in a low voice stopped, his eyes were wide open, and he couldn't say a word for a long time.

Hideyoshi's figure was a little unstable, as if he was about to fall off the saddle, but luckily Hideyoshi immediately supported him.Hideyoshi's actions finally caught the attention of the generals who were laughing and beating and scolding. They all stepped forward and asked, "My lord (Harma Mori), are you alright?"

Hideyoshi deserves to be a person who can become a man in the world. Of course, he knows the power of the short 26 characters in the letter from the Xiu family. This matter must not be spread, not even his own generals.

Even with the support of Yuxi's family at this moment, the total force has reached 3.7, but it is still less than the Maori family. If this matter is leaked, what will the Maori family do?Just thinking about it makes me feel scared.

It can even be said that Nobunaga's subordinates, who are currently only temporarily attached to Hideyoshi's command, will do what will they do after knowing this?
Historically, when the news reached Kazumashi Takigawa in Kanto, the wealthy clan under him who surrendered instantly collapsed and scattered, causing the situation that had already suppressed Hojo to collapse instantly, and he himself was forced to leave Kanto under the attack of Hojo's family.

Hideyoshi looked at the generals who were gradually approaching, held the letter in his hands, calmed down his emotions and said, "Everyone, go back and prepare for the time being. We will attack the city according to the arrangement tomorrow, and the officers, soldiers and guards will stay here for now."

Until the generals left the shogunate, the samurai, who was still a hero just now, could no longer hold on. He grabbed Xiujia and asked, "How did you know the news? Is the news reliable?"

Hideyoshi was a little frightened by Hideyoshi's sudden attack, Hideyoshi stared at Hideyoshi with red eyes at this moment, thinking that Hideyoshi was already in blood and extremely unstable at this moment.

Hideka encouraged and comforted Hideyoshi, and said that this was news from the ninjas in charge of Kinai. The source of the news is absolutely reliable, but the specific situation will have to wait for the next letter.

Only then did Hideyoshi let the Hide family go, panted heavily and sat on the mat without saying a word, the Kuroda officers and soldiers were stunned, what kind of plane did these two father and son fly?He wanted to ask, but was stopped by Hideyoshi raising his hand.The three of them just sat in the shogunate, waiting for the second letter to arrive.

After about 3 hours, the sun had already set to the west and was about to set. The curtain was pulled back again, and a samurai reported that "Mr. Masatoshi Suga, the chief attendant of Mr. Ukita Hide's family, is seeking an audience outside."

Hideyoshi and Hideyoshi said almost simultaneously: "Hurry up and let someone come in."

Masatoshi Suga walked into the shogunate, which was clearly in summer but felt a bit chilly, knelt down and saluted, "A letter from Kyoto, please hurry up in red."

Hideyoshi stood up from his seat without waiting, went to Suga Masari and grabbed the bamboo tube. He opened it and read the letter inside. The letter recorded in detail what the ninja in Kyoto saw on June 6.

Hideyoshi was dumbfounded and read the letter several times before handing it to Hideyoshi.Since Xiuzai already knew the whole story, he only read it once to confirm that the matter followed the historical trend, and then handed it over to Kuroda Kanbei, the third member of the shogunate.

In the end, Kuroda, like seeing a ghost, double-checked it several times. Looking at the performance of the two when they saw the change of Honnoji Temple, Hideka was a little guilty. He only watched the performance once, which might cause misunderstanding.

Fortunately, both of them focused on the content of the letter and did not pay much attention to Xiu's family.Especially Hideyoshi, even took back the letter in the hands of Guanbingwei to confirm the authenticity of the contents of the letter.

After seeing the letter here, this middle-aged man in his 40s sat down on the mud floor, pushing and kicking like a child, and made a roar from the depths of his throat, which could no longer be expressed by crying .Tears streamed down his cheeks mixed with snot.

It was the first time for Xiujia to see such a side of Hideyoshi. No matter how critical the situation was, Hideyoshi always had an optimistic attitude.

In fact, for Hideyoshi, Nobunaga should be regarded as his relatives. His father passed away when he was young, and his mother no longer cares about him after remarrying.

The young Fujikichiro learned to be self-reliant at an early age. In order to survive, he worked as a tenant farmer, bought needles, worked as a handyman for Tsudaya, and worked as an ashigaru in Suruga.

Until I met Nobunaga when I was almost 30 years old, Nobunaga didn't think he was humble, and was trained and supported by Nobunaga himself. Many ways of imperial servants and methods of marching and fighting were learned from Nobunaga.

His 20 years of brilliance, without Nobunaga, would be impossible to talk about. Hideyoshi, who has been Nobunaga's servant and warmed straw sandals for Nobunaga, can even be said to regard Nobunaga as his second father.

Later, he finally raised that ugly face, touched his nose and tears and said, "Where is Feijiao now?"

"When I saw the first letter, I ordered Masatoshi Suga to keep him alone and not to have contact with anyone."

"Yes, I have already mobilized two guard teams to take care of the two people, and strictly ordered the warriors of the guard team not to talk to them." Suga Masatoshi has never seen a monkey like this before. He cooperated with the order of the previous Hideo family, and he didn't know what it was. Such a major event would make these two big names so nervous.

Seeing that the Xiu family had done everything in this matter, Hideyoshi didn't say anything else, but Guan Bingwei said at this time, "My lord, sorrow to sorrow, this is a golden opportunity for your lord to take the world away, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"Please go back to Shijinei immediately, and challenge Rizhou Shou (the Tang name of Akechi Mitsuhide Hinata Shou) in the name of revenge for Lord Youfu. If you succeed, you can use this to command the world and the princes will gather under your command. I hope the Lord will make a quick decision."

At the end of Kanbei's topic, the subject of Hideyoshi has changed from an equal adult to a master-slave master. It can be seen that Kuroda Kanbei has chosen to bet on Hideyoshi.

Of course, Hideyoshi knew what Guanbingwei said, and Hideyoshi also knew that even if he didn't say it, the essence of the matter would not change. Hideyoshi himself had already noticed this, but they didn't say anything until Guanbingwei was so anxious that he took the initiative to speak out. Follow the monkey to persuade him to come in.

Why?Because the second half of this remark is something that can only be understood but cannot be said, not to mention that there is a Suga Masatoshi who does not know what is going on and is listening, and has not retreated!

Didn't you see that the 20-year-old strong young man was trembling uncontrollably when he heard what the officers and soldiers said, "Order the world, and the princes gather under his command?"

Saying this sentence directly exposes your ambition. Kanbei is indeed talented, but he can't hide things in his heart. When Hideyoshi wrote him a letter worthy of a brother, he could go to Hanbei Takenaka show off.

It's just that Hanbei rescued him that time, but no one rescued him this time.

"This person is terrifying!"

Hideyoshi glanced at Kanbei, and then looked at Hideie who was looking at Kanbei with stern eyes. The performance of the two had already left an answer in Hideyoshi's heart, "Hachiro is really too kind."

Hideyoshi once again became wary of Kanbei, so that no matter what Kanbei helped him pacify the world, he finally only gave him a fief of 12 shi, because he was afraid that this person's ambition would be made after he had the corresponding strength. Bad behavior.

There is a story that after Hideyoshi pacified the world, Ishida Mitsunari cooperated with Hideyoshi to divide the world. He was a little curious that the Kuroda officers and soldiers who had made great contributions only had 12 shi. "

The monkey said with a smile, "Imagine if the Si people had lands with millions of stones, the world might not belong to me."

Then combined with the actions of Kuroda Rusui during Sekigahara, Hideyoshi is indeed a good judge of people.

When Hideyoshi heard the news of Nobunaga's death, Hideyoshi's heart was greatly shocked. He didn't expect to have these interests at all, and he cried like a baby regardless of decency. At that time, Kanbei Kuroda already had a plan in his heart. .

"Guanbingwei, don't talk too much, don't say nonsense that makes people don't know what you mean." Hideyoshi reprimanded Guanbingwei.

Kanbei is a wise man. His problem is that when he is excited, he drags out his own mind without hiding it.But when he heard Hideyoshi's reprimand at this time, he also quickly realized that he had said something wrong and couldn't help regretting, "Stupid as I am.".

"My lord Guan Bingwei was probably caught in the rain. He had a fever and talked nonsense. As a courtier, the Patriarch suffered a catastrophe. It is the right thing to avenge the Lord. Afterwards, all kinds of nonsense that a courtier can't do." The Xiu family followed suit. Hideyoshi reprimanded Kanbei
"Yes, yes, Master Bizenshou taught you a lesson." Kanbei looked at the impassioned Hideo, and apologized sincerely, but he defined Hideo in his heart: what's the use of just being able to fight, and he has no sense of politics at all. Sure enough, he was still a child.

"Father, what should be done now is to race against time to negotiate a peace with the Maori family. After the peace is confirmed, a part of the army will be left to monitor Maori. The large army will pass through Shangluo on the Sanyo Road without stopping, and will fight with Akechi Mitsuhide to avenge the right minister and his son. .”

Hideka ignored Guanbingwei and continued to Hideyoshi.

"Father, please let your children accompany you in this battle. I will risk my life to follow Father!" After saying that, Xiujia knelt down to Hideyoshi and said, "Father, please make a decision."

"Hachiro..." Hideyoshi looked at Hideyoshi, tears shed on his face again, but this time they were tears of emotion, he lifted Hideyoshi up, patted Hideyoshi and said.

So the three of them quickly discussed the major policies, and after confirming the acceptable negotiation conditions, they ordered Hui Qiong of Anguo Temple to be summoned.

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As a digression, it is another 5000-word chapter, and there will be another one later, about the giant slewing. The battle of Yamazaki should happen the day after tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

I have spent so much pen and ink today describing the performance of Kanbei Kuroda, Hideyoshi, and Hideo after receiving the information, and I am also paving the way for what will happen later. It is really not water.

(End of this chapter)