Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 750 Tsutsui Visits Late at Night
In November of the 3rd year of Qingchang, a group of nearly 11 soldiers left under the gate of Daban City under the sound of the Conch.This is a common ceremony for the army to go out to battle.

The noisy Osaka castle town has also become extremely quiet at this moment, and the townspeople put aside the work they are doing, or stay in their homes or kneel on both sides of the road.

It's just that the sobs of the common people can be faintly heard from the surrounding houses, and the common people kneeling on the side of the road also exude expressions of fear.

A formation flag with the pattern of Taige Wuqitong clears the way in front, which means that this army is from the army of Toyotomi's clan.

The five-seven paulownia pattern of the Taige is followed by the five-three paulownia pattern and the Bee Xu He Wanzi flag, which reveals the identity of the general in charge of the army.

The entire army is mainly composed of Toyotomi Banner. Everyone from samurai to ashigaru wears armor and body balls.Moreover, the ratio of iron cannons in this army is extraordinary.

Toyotomi's military service account was inherited from Oda's military service account, requiring that every centurion must have 10 people equipped with iron cannons.As iron cannons became more and more important in the Japanese army, during Toyotomi's crusade against Hojo, this ratio was required to be increased to 15 iron cannons for every [-] people.

The average rate of iron cannon equipment reported by the Hojo family from the 18nd year of Yuangui to the 11th year of Tensho’s military service was 14.3%. Equipment rate is [-]%
Even so, 3000 of this 1000-man army are equipped with iron cannons, which is obviously an over-ration.

This vanguard Toyotomi banner was originally asked by the Hide family from the Osaka side, and the general in charge of the army was one of the ten members, Hachisuka Iekeng.

Since the Xiu family had already made up their minds to cause chaos in Osaka, it was impossible to keep their allies in Osaka.If Kobayakawa Hideaki hadn't just been transferred to Wakayama, and he and Tsutsui Joji had other tasks, the Hideka would never have kept him in Osaka.

After the 3000 Toyotomi banner is the gentian Wuqitong pattern representing Xiujia, and the inverted gourd horse seal of Xiujia.After that, it included the flag seals of the Tokugawa clan, the Ikeda clan's butterfly pattern, and the Mori clan's crane の pill pattern.

This means that this army also includes daimyos such as Hideo, Tokugawa, Ikeda, and Mori.

It's just interesting that although Tokugawa Aoi appeared in the team, it was an 18-year-old boy who represented the Tokugawa family. That was the adopted son-in-law Ii Tadomasa (historical Matsudaira Tadaki) sent by Tokugawa Ieyasu under the command of Ii Naomasa.
Historically, because of the great power of Naomasa Ii, Matsudaira Tadakichi never accepted a concubine in his life.But in this life, there is no constraint from the boss, and Hideyoshi's order made Ii Tadamasa marry Otani Yoshitsugu's daughter as a concubine on the basis of Ii Naomasa's daughter Masako.

Now Masako and him have no children, but Otani Kichitsu's daughter has given him two sons.

What's interesting is that at the request of Tokugawa Ieyasu, both sons were "rewarded" with the Miao characters of Matsudaira, instead of being recorded as descendants under the Jingyi family.

Tokugawa Ieyasu certainly didn't want his good son Hidetada to leave, but among the grown-up sons, only Tadamasa Ii had heirs, so he was assured to lead the team out.

Coincidentally, Tadamasa Ii had been taking the place of his brother as a hostage in Osaka before, but this time he directly went into battle, but Tokugawa Ieyasu took away the hostages in Osaka in a disguised form.

Regardless of Toyotomi Hideka, Ikeda Teruma, or Ii Tadomasa, there were only a hundred attendants following them, and they didn't even wear armor on their bodies, because their military strength needed to be mobilized, and this time they came to Osaka just to start It's all about mobilizing the military.

After several daimyos, attendants, and banners, another five-seven-pattern flag was lit up, which was the Kataku five-seven paulownia pattern from the Okayama family and the Kikyo pattern of the Kuwayama clan.

The number of this army is quite large, there are more than 5000 people.For the Okayama clan far away in Kansai, dispatching such a large proportion of troops in an expedition to the northeast is considered a forced conquest.

According to Hideka's original plan, the Tohoku region mobilized 400 people per 300 shi, the Kanto region 200 people, Hokuriku and Tokaido 150 people, and Kinki and Kansai 6000 people. The Okayama Domain should mobilize [-] people.

Adding in the rule of half of the conscription and half of the garrison ability, the number of people following the Xiu family should be around 3000.

However, the mobilization of the Okayama domain was directly requested by Hideo, who personally sent people to Okayama to recruit.As for the military strength of the Okayama domain, Xiujia deliberately reduced the ratio of iron cannons, and the entire army of 5000 people only had 500 iron cannons, less than 10%.

Xiujia knew that with the current national strength of the Okayama domain, more iron cannons needed to be kept in the country to deal with the offensive of the Maori family in the west.After all, according to the requirements of the "Maori Family Documents", the proportion of iron cannons in the Maori family's army even exceeded that of Toyotomi's, reaching the level of 20 for every [-] people.

Shigeharu Kuwayama, who is carrying this Okayama Fan army, has a serious expression on his face. How could he fail to see the composition of this army? Basically, they are all members of the Nobuo faction, and the composition of the Misaku faction is less than 1/4 .

He knew that this was the Xiu family's plan to solve the problem of the thick-tailed forces in the Okayama domain once and for all, so he came up with a tactic to draw on the bottom line.It's just that he didn't expect that Xiu's family would take them to the northeast.

He turned his head and looked at the samurai with fanaticism written all over their faces. They only knew that this Northern Expedition was to open up territories for Japan, and Hideka might have promised that the land opened up could be distributed to the samurai to become knowledgeable, but they didn't know this How many people can go back to their hometown once they go there.

At the same time in Osaka City, Hideji was also standing on the gate tower watching the army winding westward below the city. At this moment, he only felt that going north seemed to be moved away by a mountain, which seemed incomparably easy.

Like him, Chacha and Tokugawa Ieyasu on the castle tower of Osaka Castle were watching the army marching out.Looking at the mighty army spreading under the city, Chacha asked Tokugawa Ieyasu in a babbling gesture, "His Highness Toyoharu was ordered to go to Ezo, why didn't the inner government stop persuading us? Now I'm afraid that Gifu will bully us again. The girls are on their heads."

Tokugawa Ieyasu was quite speechless about Chacha's performance, one of the reasons why Xiujia left was because of you!

It was agreed to form an alliance, to form an alliance, but you and your dog legs stabbed him in the back several times.Now that people don't play with you anymore, and they actively want to jump out of the intrigue here, but you think of wanting to keep it?
But he said on his mouth, "Your Highness, there is no need to worry. Even if His Highness Fengchun leaves, we will definitely fool the lord to be safe."

Tokugawa Ieyasu had his own thoughts during his conversation with Hideo yesterday.No matter how successful Hideji is on the surface, Hideji's reputation in the minds of the daimyos has gradually decreased with the performance of stretching the hips during the Keicho Rebellion.

Don't look at the group of powerful names still gathered around Xiuci, but how many of them are really single-minded.

What's more, Hideka and Tokugawa Ieyasu exchanged each other's part of the arrangement, and these arrangements will be gradually revealed in the future.

After all, no one in Leng wants to see a fool on stage, right?

Besides, he himself has a secret weapon.Every move and every thought of Hideji's side can't escape Tokugawa Ieyasu's eyes.

Tokugawa Ieyasu is not at all afraid of the seemingly strong Hideji now.

The core reason why Tokugawa Ieyasu seems a little tragic when facing Chacha now is that he wants to get more political chips on Chacha's side and make Chacha more dependent on himself.

The Okayama people led by Shigeharu Kuwayama also had a very important task, which was to escort the peasants to transport food and grass to Ezo.These folk husbands are the Kinki people who talked about the Okayama domain and Xiujia in the past few months.

At the beginning, Xiujia asked Osaka to send troops and provide food, armaments and civilians, but was opposed by Chacha who wanted to weaken Xiujia's power.

And Xiuci wanted to weaken the Xiu family and Chacha together, and once again came together with the Xiu family because of interests.

The Xiu family also took a step back, and took out the letter of guarantee signed by the lower-class commoners and low-level warriors who had piled up like a mountain during this period of time, filling two wooden boxes.

Xiujia directly stated that there is no need to conscript people's power from Osaka. These criminals have been given the opportunity but they don't cherish it. Let them escort the food to Ezo.

Interestingly, among them are not only the residents of Osaka Castle, but also the people of the surrounding farms, and even some low-level samurai directly under the Toyotomi family.

There are men and women, old and young, the Xiu family showed mercy and allowed the old and the young to stay, but both men and women were asked to distribute Ezo.Even so, the total number of people distributed in the end still exceeded 1.3 people.

This is also the reason why the people in Osaka not only did not send off warmly when the army went to Ezo today, but showed fear instead.

Looking at the brothers, fathers, and sons pushing supplies at the back of the queue, the common people were helpless.After all, the Xiu family had given them a chance, but they still couldn't control their mouths.

These were all those who were arrested and put in jail to wait for the Xiu family to come back to deal with them, not to mention those who whispered in private that they hadn't been caught.

But fortunately, the Hide family managed to make a warning this time, and no one in the whole of Osaka City or even Kinki dared to discuss the story of the Osaka Rebellion and the Okayama Clan.

As the biggest "victim" of this incident, the Okayama Fan has been rumored by the surrounding people for so long, and naturally gritted their teeth when they treated these "sinners". This is why the Xiu family entrusted them with the task of escorting the military equipment.

In fact, it was a bit early for the Xiu family to leave Osaka this time, after all, it was still several months before Chun left.Even the 2000 troops promised by the Maori family have not been mobilized.

But because there are so many oil bottles in the team, the speed of travel cannot be very fast.Xiujia only hopes to arrive in Kanto in mid-December. After celebrating the New Year in Kanto, everyone will take the military power of Kanto and cross the snow north to the northeast in early January.

Based on the thickness of the snow in the northeast, it is already remarkable to be able to arrive at the Qingjin Strait in March and wait to cross the sea.

It is very dangerous to march in the snow in winter in the Northeast. With the current means of keeping warm, there will be a lot of non-combat attrition.But this is worth comparing with the lack of materials in Ezo caused by not being able to transport materials to Ezo in time, which caused more attrition.

It has to be admitted that it is indeed the Little Ice Age.There are only 6 months of spring and summer in Ezo, and the remaining 6 months are covered with snow.

If the Xiu family can't use these 6 months to expand the control area as much as possible, then they will take another 6 months in Ezo to wait for the next wave of supplies to arrive.At that time, not dozens or hundreds of people will die.

Due to the existence of a lot of oil bottles, the army marched very slowly. After traveling for only 30 miles in a whole day, the army had to camp in Miyanozaka, Hanoi, even though it had just arrived at Fushimi Castle after two days of walking.

At Hideya in Fushimi Castle, I met Oka Jiali, who was arranged here.

The Xiu family handed the two brocade boxes to the opposite side and told him, "You put away the blue brocade box yourself, and you can open it when necessary. You help me hand over the red brocade box to Yamato Mori."

Yamato Mamoru is Tsutsui Sadaji. Although he was in Yamato for this evaluation, he was absent due to illness, and Hideka could not entrust him with his own arrangements.

As the daimyos of the Toyotomi family, especially the Kinki daimyos, they are subject to supervision, and they cannot easily leave their abilities unless they are ordered.So the Xiu family had no choice but to ask their retainers to hand over this brocade box to him.

These two brochures respectively record the tips to deal with in different situations. They are all coping strategies prepared by the Xiu family for allies and retainers far away in the absence of radio and WeChat communication.

In order to deal with different situations, the Xiu family prepared more than a dozen brocade pouches in each brocade box, with different numbers embroidered on the outside, and letters in the brocade box.

What Xiujia did not expect was that Xiujia, who was staying overnight in Fushimi Castle, met an unexpected guest in the middle of the night.

When the retainers quietly woke up Hideka, Hideka realized that Tsutsui Sadaji was already sitting in a side room waiting for Hideka's meeting.

"Why are you here? Didn't you say you were sick?" Hideka was surprised when he saw Tsutsui's scheduled arrival, and there was no sign that he had just recovered from a long illness on his face.

"Hearing that His Highness is about to travel far away, he came here to see him off. Because he was in Kinai, surrounded by powerful enemies, he felt uneasy, so he took the risk to meet His Highness in secret and ask for a way out."

Although Tsutsui Joji deliberately avoided Hideo's question, but from his angry words, Hideo had already heard that he might not have any illness.It's just something he couldn't pretend to protect himself.

Tsutsui Joji, who was in Yamato, must have received the news in Osaka, and he naturally knew that Hideka was about to lead the Northern Expedition.

Then, as the biggest thorn in Kinki who was placed by the Xiu family without any pro-vassal background, Tsutsui Joji naturally had to find a way to protect himself after the Xiu family left.

After all, in the eyes of many daimyos, Hideka's initiative to invite the Northern Expedition to Ezo was an expression of Hideka's abandonment of the political struggle in Osaka.Then the Xiu family's boat can't continue to ride, so it has to be marked with a question mark.

Hideka, who wanted to understand what happened, showed a trace of regret and guilt. He hadn't given Tsutsui a mission and retreat yet, so he could only force him to find a way to protect himself.

But the brocade box that was originally going to be handed over to Tsutsui Setuji has been handed over to Okana Toshi, and Hideka can only explain to Tsutsui Setuji.

Tsutsui Sadaji was silent after listening, as if he was engaged in a fierce ideological struggle.Seeing that there was no one around, Xiujia could only speak frankly about the ins and outs of his voluntary request for the Northern Expedition this time.

Tsutsui Joji frowned slightly after listening to Hideo's explanation, and after thinking for a while, he said to Hideo, "My eldest daughter is called Sakura, and now she is in her [-]th youth. I brought them together, I implore Your Highness to take care of it for you."

Hideka knew that Tsutsui Joji was sending him a hostage, so he said: "Since she is the daughter of the Yamato Mori family, I will definitely treat her as if she were my own daughter."

Unexpectedly, Tsutsui Joji retorted, "Your Highness misunderstood me, I want Sakura to serve His Highness in the future."

The Hide family was stunned for a moment when they heard Tsutsui Joji's request. The Hide family already had a daughter of the Tsutsui family, that is Tsutsui Joji's younger sister Fujihime, and now she wants to give her daughter Sakura to herself. Are the two nephews serving the same husband?

No matter how the story of the Xiu family is spread outside, the Xiu family still has a bottom line, and immediately expressed objection: "Your Highness Tsutsui does not need such a thing, I will really regard Ah Ying as my daughter, and I will definitely raise a daughter with Fengchun in the future." His identity will marry his glory."

But Tsutsui Joji still resolutely said, "Your Highness, please take care of Sakura."

Seeing Tsutsui Joji's resolute attitude, it is obvious that including Sakura into the Hide family's harem will make Tsutsui Joji feel more at ease, and the Hide family can only reluctantly agree, "But after all, with Atou here, Sakura can only be a concubine. room."

Seeing that the Hide family agreed to accept Ah Ying as the concubine Tsutsui Dingji, he breathed a sigh of relief, and then said, "I am also quite helpless, now I have 5 women under my knees but no son.

Among them are five girls called Ming, who were born in Tianzheng 20 years ago. I hope His Highness can take them away together this time.And I hope that His Highness can help her marry Her Highness Haruyoshi Maru. "

(End of this chapter)