[267] The Second Battle of Sekigahara 1

"Warriors, warriors of Japan, the moment of glory has finally arrived. Defend the emperor, defend the imperial power, and take back the emperor's power from the unscrupulous Tokugawa family. For the sake of our Holy Emperor, let's act together! Fujiwara Yoshimasa had some talent as a political orator, and he issued a call to action in the name of Emperor Masahito, calling on all the righteous people in the world to join the army of the Fallen Curtain.

Due to the severe punishment of the daimyo of the Western Army by the Tokugawa shogunate, Kansai was full of ronin born after the retainers of the former daimyo of the Western Army lost their source of livelihood. In their minds, the emperor will always be sacrosanct. And an important reason why they risked their lives so much was that after the Tokugawa family came to power, a series of harsh measures were taken against the samurai, so that the samurai of the Western Army, who were extremely beautiful in the past, became penniless beggars in the blink of an eye.

In this way, many ordinary people and ronin, attracted by the banner of "falling the curtain" on the emperor's side, joined the army one after another. Because there was no unified command on the part of the shogunate, and the weapons of the shogunate army were quite sophisticated, coupled with the support of the people, the shogunate army was completely broken all the way. The Shogunate soon broke through to Sekigahara and conquered Nagoya on March 28, marching all the way to Edo. With the support of the people, the army snowballed and grew bigger and bigger, from more than 10,000 people to more than 40,000 people.

In order to finance this fallen army, Song Youliang collected more than 3,000 old-fashioned arquebuses from the arsenals of various state capitals in China and sold them to Shimazu Hisamitsu, Mori Hidesa, Matsuura Zhennobu, Muneyoshi and Fujiwara Yoshimasa. The Tokugawa shogunate was very strict in the control of firearms, and daimyo like the Shimazu family, who were good at using firearms and had participated in the Western Army, were naturally among the strict controls, so even the Shimazu family, who was famous for their good use of muskets, could not get a hundred muskets, so they could only buy them from Song Youliang at a high price

The shogunate was very passive by the sudden onslaught, and Tokugawa Iemitsu obviously did not expect that the people of the Ming Kingdom would play the banner of the great political service that seemed to be justified, but it was impossible for him to accept it even if he was killed.

In the general's mansion, Masayuki Hoshina, the elder Sakai Tadakatsu, the elder Matsudaira Nobutsuna, Abe Tadaaki, and even the Kasuga Bureau who made Emperor Mizuo abdicate in anger.

Sakai Tadakatsu smiled and said, "General, gentlemen, the rebels have held the emperor hostage and rebelled in the name of the emperor, they will definitely not succeed!" ”

Masayuki Hoshina nodded, but said with a very cautious expression: "Lord Sakai, the rebels are extremely strong, and they have designated the Tokugawa family as an enemy in the name of Emperor Taishang. The remnants of the Western Army and the lowly non-people (in the history of Japan, the untouchables who were listed as the lowest level of society outside the four peoples were called "filth" and "non-humans"). Encouraged by them, he joined the rebels, and many townspeople (merchants) also contributed money to support the rebels. Now that the enemy is closing in on our Edo, we can't rely on Your Excellency's words to retreat from the enemy, right? ”

Sakai Tadakatsu said confidently: "On the surface, the enemy seems to be very strong for a while, but in fact they are a group of vulnerable rabble! But they are just like the Western Army faced by the Great Imperial Court back then, they all have their own ghosts. As long as we implement the strategy of division and disintegration, we can make them fall apart. After speaking, Sakai Tadakatsu added: "Of course, the army is indispensable. At present, the number of soldiers and horses gathered in Edo has reached 100,000. Are you still afraid of the 40,000 miscellaneous soldiers of those guys? ”

Abe Tadaaki nodded and said, "Yes, the reason why the rural daimyo of Shimazu, Matsuura, and Maori dared to rebel was because of the support of the Ming Kingdom. We should clearly raise the banner of 'Japan is the Japan of the Japanese', and say that those who cooperate with the Ming Kingdom are traitors to Japan, the scum of the Yamato nation, and the lackeys of the Ming people, and the Ming people have come to destroy Japan, and even send ninjas to spread rumors that Shimazu and others have united with the Ming people to kill His Majesty the Emperor, and so on. These means are used to demoralize the enemy and divide the weak-willed. ”

"Ninja?" Tokugawa Iemitsu was reminded by Abe Tadaaki like this, and then he remembered that he still had the Iga Ninja Army in his hand - Iga Concentric Group

Sakai Tadashi laughed: "Okay, let's start preparing for battle now!" ”

Tokugawa Iemitsu was very satisfied with the performance of his retainers, and said, "If you win, the army will be handed over to you." ”

"Hey!" Tadashi Sakai is subdued

"Zhongqiu, you are responsible for spreading rumors!"

"Hey!" Abe Tadaaki was subdued

"The supply of grain, grass and materials will be handed over to you!"

"Hey!" Baoke is in peace

"For the sake of the peace and prosperity created by the Tokugawa family and the Great Imperial Palace, let's fight!" Tokugawa Iemitsu roared in high spirits

Sakai then summoned generals at all levels to discuss the next step of the battle, which was attended by thirteen members of the Banner under the shogun and more than 30 feudal lords from Suruga, Enoe, Izu, and Ueno.

Sakai Tadakatsu carefully observed the terrain map and issued an order, first ordering the dispatch of messengers to explain to the princes that the emperor had been held hostage, and that the princes were obliged to rescue the emperor together with the shogunate army, and asked the daimyo to immediately send troops to assist the shogunate in the war.

He also ordered the defeated feudal lords of Matsudaira, Ooka, and Mizuno to lead their 30,000 soldiers to ambush in the hills west of Edo, and ordered the three feudal lords of Doi, Toda, and Nishio to lead their 20,000 men to the northwest of the Shogunate Army, and at the same time to contact the feudal lords in the northwest who had not yet colluded with the Shogunate to move to the rear of the Shogunate Army, in order to cut off the rear route of the Shogunate Army. He ordered the army directly under the shogunate and the armies of other daimyo to set up defensive lines in and around Edo Castle in order to eliminate the fallen shogunate.

However, instead of rushing headlong to Edo as Sakai had predicted, the army stopped at Sekigahara. The reason for this is nothing more than Song Youliang's remark that "where the Tokugawa shogunate was born, it should die there", which Fujiwara Yoshimasa thought deeply, so he and the daimyo decided to set up a battle in Sekigahara after some deliberation, and sent a war letter to Tokugawa Iemitsu, asking him to come to Sekigahara to fight to the death

On the map, Sekigahara is a narrow valley between Mt. Ibuki and Mt. Unzen, and it was the place where the Shogunate army withdrew to Kyoto and attacked Edo. Fujiwara's plan was that his army would establish a foothold in Sekigahara and resist the attack of the shogunate army, and then mobilize new troops and grain from Kyoto, and at the same time rely on the Ming army that came from the steady stream, as long as the Tokugawa army was defeated at Sekigahara, then the daimyo of the world would join forces to respond to their call

However, Fujiwara Yoshimasa soon found himself too optimistic, and Abe Tadaaki's strategy began to work, and many soldiers of the Shogunate Army thought that the Great Maseito was understandable, but after all, this was the matter of the Japanese themselves, so why should the Ming people get involved? And when they saw the humble attitude of Shimazu Hisamitsu, Matsuura Zhenxin and others towards Song Youliang, they also felt more and more that these two people were like slaves at the feet of the Ming people. Some of the daimyo who were forced to join the army of the Fallen Curtain also began to be distracted, and each had a ghost

Subsequently, the conflict began to escalate, and Shimazu Hisamitsu and Mori Shu believed that Fujiwara Yoshimasa was not qualified to be the general of the Shogunate Army. Fujiwara Yoshimasa was very interested in this, so he proposed that he only need to command the musket team. After the squeeze out of Fujiwara Yoshimasa, Shimazu Hisamitsu and Mori Shu began to sneer at each other and tear down each other in order to compete for the position of general general.

At this time, Song Youliang appeared in time, and he said to Shimazu Hisamitsu and Mao Lixiu: "Don't argue, I have found a person, who is more suitable for the position of general than the two." ”

"Who is better at commanding a battle than I am?" Shimazu said proudly

"I'm the master of the pikes!" The Maori Show is not weak

Song Youliang smiled and said, "The person I invited is Ukita Hideya~~~"

"Show Family?" Shimazu Hisamitsu remembered this brave general during the Battle of Sekigahara

In fact, the Ukita Hideya and the Shimazu family have a lot of origins, and the Hideya successfully evaded the pursuit of the Eastern Army in Mt. Ibuki, but the territory was confiscated by Ieyasu, and it was Kobayakawa Hideaki who inherited the Hideyashi territory. After that, the Hideya absconded to Satsuma Province, the domain of the Shimazu clan, and in 1604 they were acquired by the shogunate, but fortunately, Shimazu Iehisa and Maeda Toshinaga interceded for the Hideya, and the death penalty was exempted, and he was temporarily placed under house arrest in Suruga Kunikuno. In 1606, the Hideya family was exiled to Hachijojima by the shogunate, and today the Ukita Hideya is 73 years old

"The Tokugawa family is the number one traitor in the world, a great rebel!" The gray-haired Ukita Hideya is still loyal to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, "We are all righteous people with loyal hearts, and no matter how vicious rumors the Tokugawa family uses to deceive us, they will not discourage our loyalty." ”

After saying that, Ukita Hideya raised a long knife in his hand and said, "This knife is called Muramasa, and it is the most suitable to kill the head of Tokugawa Iemitsu." Japanese warriors and loyal people, under the guidance of Muramasa, will either die vigorously or steal their lives! ”

"Hey~~Oh~"

"Hey~~Oh!"

The Fallen Shogun let out a shout of victory

History was strikingly replicated at this moment, and the Ukita Hideya followed the example of Ishida Mitsunari and set up a main camp at the foot of Mt. Sasao, with 16,000 men and soldiers.

Yamanaka Village, located southwest of Ukita Hideya, was garrisoned by 5,500 Shimazu Hisamitsu troops

3,500 soldiers and horses of Songpu Town and 1,500 soldiers and horses of Zongyi were stationed on the plain south of Dongshan Road;

A total of 9,000 people, including Yoshikawa Hiromasa of the Iwakuni Domain, Mori Mitsuhiro of the Nagafu Domain, and Mori Mooga of the Tokuyama Domain, were stationed at the foot of Mt. Matsuo, where Kobayakawa Hideaki was stationed.

Five thousand men of Fujiwara Yoshimasa followed suit and entered the position, stationed in the Hokuni Kaido, located in Koike Village, near Ukita Hide's house;

15,000 people of the North Korean Army's Lim Kyung-yeong Division were deployed at Cheonmansan Mountain near the Shimazu troops;

The Ming army had 10,000 German troops and was deployed in the Nantian Manshan Mountain.

The rest of the Ming army troops under the leadership of Song Youliang lined up in the rear of the Shimazu army

Everything is ready, just wait for the arrival of the shogunate army

In the early morning of April 1 in the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty, the shogunate army under the leadership of Sakai Tadashi also reached Sekigahara, and the Second Battle of Sekigahara, which later generations called the fate of Japan, began