Wanli 1592

Chapter 1166
February [-]th, the second year of Longwu.

In Nagoya Castle, Matsuura County, Hizen Country, Ieyasu Tokugawa is holding a financial meeting and government affairs meeting for the new year, reviewing the past, looking forward to the future, and announcing what everyone needs to do and the goals to be achieved in the new year.

Seven years have passed since that shocking battle, seven years have passed since Japan was three-pointed, and seven years have passed since Tokugawa Ieyasu left his hometown and was forcibly entrusted to an unfamiliar place in West Japan.

This year, Tokugawa Ieyasu will be 57 years old. He already feels that his body is not as good as before, and his energy is not as good as before.

After the war that year ended, he, his vassals and the daimyos of the alliance were forcibly relocated to West Japan by Xiao Ruxun, the Ming general who oppressed Japan at that time, where they took root and lived, occupying one-third of the land of Japan. The other two-thirds are in the hands of Toyotomi.

Originally, he planned to break the Toyotomi clan's domination of Japan in one fell swoop, and then negotiate a peace with Ming Dynasty to bring peace back to Japan, but things went against his wishes. The centipede of the Toyotomi clan died but did not freeze. Stand firm, right here in Kyoto.

Kyoto has been the capital of Japan for hundreds of years. It not only has a strong political background, but also has a righteous name, as well as the "emperor" who is still recognized by the world despite having no real power.

During the Warring States Period, the biggest wish of the princes from all over the world was to "go to Beijing", to get the approval of the emperor and the court, to obtain the position of the general who conquered the barbarians, and then to open the government, govern the world, and become the actual ruler of Japan, just like Toyotomi Hideyoshi back then Same.

Although Toyotomi Hideyoshi died, the Toyotomi clan was still there. Under the leadership of Toyotomi Hideji, the Toyotomi clan stood up again in Kyoto.

Both Maeda and Ishida Mitsunari obviously supported Toyotomi.

Although Ishida Mitsunari is not likable, Maeda Toshiie has great prestige. As long as he is there, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's close party and Owari faction can maintain basic cooperation. Be big.

It also includes the shame and hatred of Tokugawa Ieyasu for killing Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Even if many big names have internal conflicts, they will stand together and unanimously when fighting against Tokugawa Ieyasu. If this is the case, Tokugawa Ieyasu will always be suppressed in West Japan Can't move.

But it's not all bad things. It's not all bad things for Xiao Ruxun to entrust the slightly dilapidated West Japan to Tokugawa Ieyasu, otherwise Tokugawa Ieyasu would not accept it like that.

West Japan was indeed devastated by the war, but it also made it easier for Tokugawa Ieyasu to quickly sort out internal affairs, redistribute the enfeoffment, quickly stabilize people's hearts, and establish effective rule. At the same time, West Japan has a relatively strong maritime advantage in the traditional sense.

Toyotomi's remaining water power was acquired by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and he was able to organize many maritime merchant fleets to go south to Southeast Asia to do business with large and small countries and tribes in one year after the war, earning money and increasing income. , to repair the broken West Japan.

Compared with the more serious internal disputes in East Japan, the internal disputes in West Japan are smaller, which is more conducive to external development rather than internal consumption.

Tokugawa Ieyasu maintained the largest territory and the greatest interests, and was able to develop into the largest and strongest force in West Japan, with absolute dominance.

But Toyotomi Hideji did not. In order to win people's hearts and make up for the loss of some daimyos, the Toyotomi family not only did not get anything, but also entrusted some of the territories that were originally taken into the hands of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the strength of the family was greatly reduced.

It can be said that without the support of the Maeda family and other princes, Tokugawa Ieyasu would not be afraid of Toyotomi Hideji at all, but it was the group of princes who were in trouble. Although there were many conflicts, they always treated Tokugawa Ieyasu with disgust. and antipathy, irreconcilable.

Of course, the power of the Toyotomi family is not easy.

Maeda Toshiie had high prestige and seniority, and it was all up to him to preside over the overall situation of the Toyotomi family after the war.

In terms of government affairs and military affairs, without his cooperation and support, Toyotomi Hideji basically could not accomplish anything, because the first batch of daimyo who supported him were basically killed by Xiao Ruxun in North Korea.

Including Kato Kiyomasa and Konishi Governor, who were heavily relied on by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, all died miserably. Toyotomi Hideyoshi's own retainer group is still relatively small and cannot become his full reliance.

Ishida Mitsunari is another big stick that is easy to absorb hatred. Without the reconciliation in Maeda Toshie's drama, it is really hard to say whether the Toyotomi family will fall apart.

Maeda Toshiie is really an indispensable person on Toyotomi's side.

Not only must he restore the strength of the Toyotomi Clan, but he must also do his best to adjust the contradiction between the Owari faction and the Japanese government, and he must also restore and accumulate internal strength to prepare for the unification war that will inevitably occur in the future .

It's not a good thing for his life span to have no skills.

Therefore, during these seven years, Tokugawa Ieyasu could clearly feel the slow internal development of Toyotomi and the accelerated aging of Maeda Toshiie.

Tokugawa Ieyasu is good at forbearance, which has something to do with his childhood experience. A person who is good at forbearance will not easily get agitated and do some shocking things. Killing Toyotomi Hideyoshi has consumed decades of his savings It is impossible for him to become restless in a short period of time.

So he developed himself silently in order to take a solid defensive position while waiting for the death of Maeda Toshiie and the intensification of internal conflicts within the Toyotomi clan.

He is used to forbearance, just like he is used to eating, drinking, breathing and sleeping.

He has always been forbearing, and of course forbearance is not necessarily all good.

Just like before, he endured and endured, but he hadn't endured the death of Maeda Toshiie, but he waited for the news of civil strife in the Ming Dynasty, which was pressing on both of them.

The news of Xiao Ruxun's Northern Expedition was known to Tokugawa Ieyasu in Nagoya Castle one month later. He was shocked, but not surprised.

In his view, conflicts between the military and the imperial court are inevitable. Only by mastering the army can one have strength, and the army is the foundation. Xiao Ruxun is so famous, so capable of fighting, the imperial court will definitely doubt him, suspect him, and force him to rebel. up.

This is great news for Japan. With Xiao Ruxun's Da Ming coercing the world, but losing Xiao Ruxun's Da Ming will greatly lose its deterrent power to the outside world. At that time, Da Ming, who is in the midst of civil strife, will definitely have no time to pay attention to Japan. At that time, it was his chance to send troops to Shi Jian to take Shi Jian back and win the world!

Naturally, he didn't think that Da Ming would be defeated by Xiao Ruxun. Xiao Ruxun's defeat and death were certain, and Da Ming's power would definitely suffer huge damage. When the news of Xiao Ruxun's death came, it was time for him to act!
Of course, a month later, he discovered that the Toyotomi clan had also adopted the same countermeasures as him, and stationed troops in the Iwami area to monitor the movements of the Ming army in the direction of Iwami.

Even if Xiao Ruxun is dead, Wu Weizhong is still famous, and his 1-odd army is not easy to match.

If they underestimated them, it is not impossible to overturn the ship in the gutter. The combat effectiveness of the Ming army left an extremely profound impact on them.

The existence of these fears made them face the Ming army more cautiously, and listened carefully to the news of the civil war in the Ming Dynasty, but the direction of the civil war made them feel more and more strange, and felt that something was wrong.

Xiao Ruxun fought stronger and stronger, and the Ming government army got bigger and worse. In the end, in less than half a year, Xiao Ruxun actually broke into Beijing, and... became emperor!
(End of this chapter)