As soon as the Tohoku Coalition Army arrived in the eastern part of Edo Castle, they received an invitation from Ogasawara Tadashiyoshi to go to the Toyotomi Army garrison in the south of the city to participate in the military council.

Although Ogasawara Tadashi was only a courtier, his status as the "chief delegate of Renna" who could mobilize 20,000 troops stationed in Korea and the important minister around Hideho had surpassed that of ordinary local daimyos. At his invitation, Date Masamune, Yoshinobu Satake, and Shiranaga Honjo did not dare to slack off, and immediately set off for Otemae Town after settling down the army.

On the way, Date and the others witnessed the blackened ruins in front of Otemon, the wind swept the ashes on the ground into the sky, and some of the unburned beams and columns made a "squeak" sound, and as soon as the wind passed, the walls collapsed, and a few unextinguished flames hinted at the ordeal experienced here yesterday.

Seeing this scene, everyone sighed, and Satake Yoshinobu was even more worried: "How many people should be displaced because of this, and the prosperity that Edo has accumulated over the past ten years has been destroyed today." ”

When Date Masamune heard this, he teased: "Jingzhao, you and I are both samurai, although this meeting is rare, it is not uncommon. When you pacified the Dapeng clan and the 33rd Pavilion in the south, I heard that many cities were also burned, did you ever think about the people like this at that time? ”

"Mutsu Shou you......" Date Masamune's words made Yoshinobu Satake's face red, and he looked at Date Masamune with a look of resentment, and just wanted to open his mouth to argue with him, but was interrupted by Honjo Shiranaga.

As an important minister of the Uesugi clan, Honjo led 5,000 troops to participate in the battle, although the strength was not as good as Date and Satake, but in terms of seniority and bravery, it was not inferior at all. When Date Masamune attacked Fukushima Castle, his retainers suggested that he burn down the castle town, but Masamune rejected this suggestion on the grounds that "whether Fukushima is owned by me or not, the people need a place to live and work in peace."

When this news reached Honjo's ears, he was really admired, and for a moment, he seemed to see the shadow of Kenshin Uesugi who had established himself as "benevolent" in Date Masamune. Therefore, after receiving the order to open the castle, he did not reject the Date army, which had conquered the city before, but met Date Masamune with a smile and enmity, and soon completed the formation and marched to the south according to Hidebo's instructions.

Although Honjo Fanchang said that he was close to Date Masamune, he also knew that the three families were all guilty ministers, and they must not still have conflicts at this time, so when they saw that the two were about to have a dispute, he hurriedly mediated: "In today's world, anyone who wants to make meritorious contributions has no clean hands, and no one really wants to put the people to death, and if you want to blame the group of stubborn guys in the city, they have to ignore the current affairs and fight to the death, but they don't know that this not only harms themselves, but also harms the people who trust them." This was the case with the Dapeng clan back then, and the same is true with the Tokugawa clan today, how much truth does the two highnesses say below? ”

In just a few words, Honjo shifted the focus of the conflict from the attacker to the defender, and his explanation not only eased the conflict between Date and Satake, but also gave Satake Yoshinobu, who was not good at words, a step.

"Echizen Mamoru is worthy of being a confidant and important minister of Aizu, and what he said is really every word, and he admires it." Date Masamune obviously heard the meaning of Honjo's words, and felt that it was really unnecessary to make trouble with the Satake family for this kind of thing, so he took the lead in making a statement, which can be regarded as a step back.

Satake Yoshinobu has a straightforward temperament, and he wanted to argue with Date Masamune about this matter to the end, but he was also worried that he was not as good as Date Masamune. When he was struggling with how to organize the language to fight back, he heard Honjo's words, and his anger suddenly subsided a lot, and Date Masamune also took the initiative to resolve the tension in a timely manner, so Satake Yoshinobu had no choice but to stop there, after all, there was a bigger problem that he needed to solve than arguing over this trivial matter.

"I admire Mamoru Echizen as soon as possible," Yoshinobu Satake said respectfully, "The situation is grim, and instead of worrying about the heavens and people here, it is better to take Edo Castle as soon as possible and return the people to a pure land of peace." ”

After that, Satake Yoshinobu also bowed slightly to Date Masamune, and Masamune smiled, and the two reconciled. Honjo was also very relieved to see this, but he didn't expect that he could mediate for a while, but he couldn't mediate for a lifetime, and after many years, the two families finally met each other.

At his urging, the group continued to ride their horses westward, and after a short time they arrived at the Toyotomi army headquarters in Otemae-cho. At this time, Ogasawara Tadakimasa and Asano Nagamasa and others were discussing what to do next, and the biggest influence on their plans at this time was the secret letter from Hideho that they received earlier.

Facing the map of Edo Castle spread out on the table, Date Masamune was confident, he pointed to the bamboo bridge gate of Sannomaru and said: "According to my observation this morning, this is the weakest part of the entire castle, the bamboo bridge gate and a tiger mouth are connected, this tiger mouth has a side gate on the east side, southwest leads to the inside of Sannomaru, as long as our army concentrates its forces to occupy the tiger mouth, it can drive straight in." This area is the closest to the Sannomaru Palace, so as long as it can occupy the Palace, there is nothing to fear from other places. ”

This tactic was supported by Shigenaga Honjo and Yoshinobu Satake, both of whom expressed their willingness to lead their own forces in an attack on the tiger's mouth. But what they didn't expect was that Ogasawara Tadakiyo did not immediately support their proposal.

"Mutsu Mamoru Mamoru , I'm afraid the attack on Edo Castle will be put on hold for the time being." Ogasawara Tadakiyo handed Hideho's letter to Date Masamune, and he and Satake were both disappointed after reading the letter: "I beg your pardon for not being able to understand, since the Tokugawa army that fled to Ueno has been trapped in Minowa Castle, shouldn't the Right House cut down the grass and eradicate the roots, let us take Edo Castle, and completely conquer Kanto?" ”

"The conquest of Kanto is not the destruction of Kanto." Ogasawara Tadakiyo said, "Minowa Castle was easier to capture than Edo Castle, and since the Uchifu and the Tokugawa clan's important ministers were in Minowa Castle, Edo would open the castle if they could be persuaded to surrender." On the other hand, if Edo had been defeated first, causing casualties to the families in the castle, the Tokugawa army in Minowa Castle would probably have wanted to break the net and fight against the water, and at that time, I am afraid that it would cause great losses to both sides. Even if the Tokugawa Sect is completely wiped out, those daimyo who followed the right house will be frightened, thinking that the Hojo clan was still retained in the daimyo family character, not to mention the inner house that followed Nobunaga Gong and Taiko to live and die? ”

"When Minowa falls, Tokugawa falls, and when Edo breaks, Tokugawa jade is broken. Is this what the right house means? Date Masamune asked.

"That's right," Ogasawara Tadakiyo nodded: "There are more than 20,000 Tokugawa troops in Minowa Castle, and there are more than 10,000 in Edo. This is also the original words brought by the right house trustee. ”

"If that's the case, I'll have no choice but to obey." Date Masamune replied helplessly, thinking that the last chance to make meritorious service would be lost, and he was also disappointed in his heart.

At this moment, Asano Nagamasa suddenly stood up and expressed his different views on Hideho's approach to asking for the attack to be stopped: "It is for virtue to besiege but not attack, but the villain is afraid of power but not virtue." If our army does not attempt to attack at all, I am afraid that the guys in the city will think that we are afraid of them, so that even if the city is surrendered at that time, they will not have any reverence for us, which is really unacceptable. In the next suggestion, Honmaru can not fight, but Sannomaru and Nishimaru must be taken down, so that they know that we have the ability to destroy them, and only because of benevolence and intention to spare their lives, so that their arrogance can be suppressed. ”