In the study room of the Governor's Palace, it was still Taishi Yang Conggao sitting on the main seat, Yang Jisheng, the governor of the East, respectfully accompanying him, and Wang Zhi and Hong Tiezhu were also present, and the four of them seemed to be discussing something around the Dongying map on the desk.

This map is a map of the distribution of various forces in Dongying drawn by Wang Zhi based on his business experience in Dongying over the years, and it is densely packed with various surnames of Dongying, and Yang Cong is a little dazzled when he sees it.

Which ones did the first batch of iron cannons sell to?

To be honest, Yang Cong's mind was also messed up at this time, because he was not familiar with the history of Dongying, and he was even more confused about the trend of Dongying's Warring States, the only thing he knew was that Toyotomi Hideyoshi finally defeated all the princes, unified Dongying, and ended Dongying's Warring States turmoil.

The so-called "heroes in troubled times" dare not let Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a hero, stand out from the troubled times in the east.

At this time, his purpose was very simple, that is, to use iron cannons to break the balance between the various princes of Toei, so that they would be caught in an endless war, so that Toyotomi Hideyoshi could not unify Toei and end the troubled times of the Warring States!

To put it simply, it is to let them keep fighting, keep fighting, and the longer the fight, the better, so that Dongying will not rise, and the Ming Dynasty can plunder the silver produced by Dongying through various means.

This method is really a bit despicable to say, in order to maintain his image, he naturally will not say it in public, so he called his disciple Yang Jisheng and his cronies Wang Zhi and Hong Tiezhu to the study and discussed behind closed doors.

His idea is really good, as long as he stops Toyotomi Hideyoshi and makes him unable to dominate Dongying, the Ming Dynasty will be able to reap the benefits of the fisherman and make a lot of war money, the problem, there is no Toyotomi prince on this map at all!

What's going on here?

He searched carefully on the map for a long time, but in the end he found nothing, and in desperation, he could only ask helplessly: "Wufeng, have you heard of Toyotomi Hideyoshi?" ”

Toyotomi Hideyoshi?

What's that?

Wang Zhi shook his head without hesitation and said, "The villain hasn't heard of it." ”

Yang Cong asked again: "Are there any of the princes of Dongying or their generals surnamed Toyotomi?" ”

Toyotomi?

He hadn't heard of that last name yet!

Wang Zhi shook his head firmly and said, "No, the villain has never heard of the surname Toyotomi. ”

No?

Is it a problem with translation?

After all, Toyotomi Hideyoshi is the name of later generations, and it is not clear whether it is such a name at this time.

Yang Cong thought for a moment and simply asked, "Then which prince do you think is the most powerful in Dongying at this time?" ”

This question is a bit difficult, Wang Zhi thought for a while, and then said carefully: "At this time, the difference in the power of the various princes in Dongying is not very big, and it is relatively powerful, there are indeed a few, but if you want to say which princes are the strongest, this villain really can't make a conclusion." ”

When Yang Cong heard this, he fainted at the wrong point.

This seems to be a bit different from what he expected, you know, Toyotomi Hideyoshi organized a large army to attack Korea in the twenty years of Wanli, that is to say, he should have been in the east before the twenty years of Wanli.

At this time, it should be almost the last year of Jiajing or the early year of Longqing, that is to say, this is not a few years away from the Wanli Dynasty in history.

It stands to reason that at this time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi should launch a big war to unify Dongying, no matter how bad it is, he should also become the most powerful prince of Dongying, Wang Zhi actually said that the difference in power between the princes of Dongying is not very big, what does it mean?

There was not much difference in power between the various princes, so how could Toyotomi Hideyoshi complete the unification in a short period of time?

He was stunned for a long time, and then said helplessly: "Okay, then you can tell me roughly which princes are more powerful in Dongying now." ”

This is easy to say, Wang Zhi pointed to the map without hesitation and said: "This Dongying princes want to compare their strength together, and there is really no way to compare, because many princes do not have borders on each other, and they have not competed with each other, so the strength of the princes of Dongying can only be compared piece by piece." For example, on the island of Kyushu where we are now, there are three strongest forces, namely the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma domain, the Ryuzoji clan of Hizen Province, and the Otomo clan of Chikugo Province. “

Who are these people?

Yang Cong of the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma clan has heard of it, and he seems to have a bit of strength, but he has no impression of the Ryuzoji clan of Hizen Province and the Otomo clan of Chikugo Province.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Zhi pointed to another island on the map and introduced: "The strongest force on these Shikoku Islands should be the Tosa Province Nagamune Ibu clan, looking at their posture, it is very likely that they will dominate Shikoku Island." ”

Well, this Tosa Province Changzong I clan Yang Cong is even more unclear.

Wang Zhi pointed to the largest island in Toei and continued: "There are many strong feudal clans on this Honshu island, including the Niko clan of Izumo Province, the Takeda clan of Kai Province, the Uesugi clan of Echigo Province, the Oda clan of Owari Province and the Hojo clan of Sagami Province, and so on. “

What is the Niko clan of Izumo country, the Takeda clan of Kai country, the Uesugi clan of Echigo country and the Hojo clan Yang Cong of Sagami country are not impressed, but he seems to have a little impression of the Oda clan of Owari country, it seems that Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a retainer of the Oda family from the beginning, and Oda Nobunaga seems to be quite famous.

He couldn't help but ask, "The Oda clan of Owari Province, Oda Nobunaga?" ”

When Wang Zhi heard this, he couldn't help but be surprised: "My lord has also heard of Oda Nobunaga!" This guy is indeed very powerful, just a few years ago, he just defeated the East China Sea overlord Kanegawa clan, sitting on most of the territories of the four countries such as Owari, Suruga, Enoe, and Mikawa, and Shigao is already close to one million, if you say which of the princes of Dongying can complete the unification, this Oda Nobunaga is indeed the most likely. ”

The stone height is roughly the harvest amount of the farmland cultivated land standard, and the stone of Dongying is only about half of the stone of the Ming Dynasty, however, the million-stone height in Dongying is also relatively exaggerated, according to this income, it is not a problem for the Oda clan to raise 50,000 horses.

Of course, 50,000 horses is not worth it for the Ming Dynasty, but for the princes of Dongying, it is more terrifying, and later generations often say that the so-called melee of the princes during the Warring States period of Dongying is actually a fight between villages, and it can be regarded as a large army if you pull out a few hundred people.

Although this statement is a bit too derogatory to the strength of the princes of Dongying, it also illustrates a problem from the side, that is, the strength of the princes of Dongying is not an order of magnitude with the Ming Dynasty, you must know that there are more than 60 vassal states in Dongying at this time, but the whole together is less than 600,000 troops, that is to say, the average of each vassal state is less than 10,000 horses, and 50,000 troops are enough to crush the average vassal states.

Yang Cong couldn't help but ask with interest: "How many people does this Oda clan have, and is there 50,000?" ”

Wang Zhi estimated: "50,000 may not be there yet, but 40,000 should be there." ”

That's right, the strongest in Dongying should be this Oda clan, and if you want to prevent the unification of the Warring States of Dongying, you have to guard against this Oda clan.

So, how can the expansion of the Oda clan be stopped?