Edo Castle was originally built by Ota Michikan, an important minister of the Ogigaya Uesugi clan, and at first the castle was surrounded by swamps and rivers, and was almost deserted during the Hojo clan. After Tokugawa Ieyasu took over the Kanto region, he designated this area as the main castle of the Tokugawa clan in the Kanto region, and built a large number of buildings and water conservancy, which not only improved the harsh environment of the surrounding area, but also rebuilt the Honmaru, Ninomaru, Sannomaru, Nishimaru, Kitamaru, and Fukigami (the Tokugawa family's private garden, which also served as the house of the acting official and Ieyasu's fourth son, Matsudaira Tadashichi), and excavated moats represented by the Michigan and Oteho, making Edo Castle one of the largest cities in the Kanto region.

(Note: The reason why Edo Castle is not mentioned here as the first giant castle is that Odawara Castle has not yet been abandoned at this time, and according to historical records, Odawara Castle at this time should be the second largest castle after Osaka if it includes the structure; Although Edo Castle began to take shape at this time, the scale of the castle town was far below the above two castles, and it was not until Keichaga, Motowa, and Kanei that it officially became the first castle in the world. Although the scale of Edo Castle at this time was not as large, the basic division of the area was basically the same as that of later generations, and because the map between the Odawara conquest and the battle of Sekigahara was difficult to find, the following is based on the map of the Kanei period, and there may be errors in some gates, such as the Sakurada Gate, which was built in 1636. ）

Because Tokugawa Ieyasu took the vast majority of his family's troops, Tokugawa Hidetada had only 13,000 men left in his hands, of which 2,000 were still defeated soldiers who fled from all over the Kanto region. Long look at the first release of Chinese network.

On May 7, Asano Nagamasa led 12,000 troops of Toyotomi in the Tokaido provinces, including Suruga and Enoe, to capture the Fukigami area north of the province and the adjacent Kitamaru, and set fire to the houses and gardens of the Tokugawa clan and the palace of Kitamaru, in order to cause a psychological shock to the Tokugawa army in Honai. After a battle, the 8,000 Toyotomi army led by Shingu Yukitomo captured the castle town in front of Otemon, and immediately set up a garrison; Ogasawara Tadakiyo, after learning that all the Edowan naval forces had been wiped out, also left Shinagawa Minato, arrived at Nishimarushita at around 4 o'clock, and captured Nishimaru Castle Town after breaking through the outer Sakurada Gate, and then joined up with the forces of Shingu Yukito, and the two armies launched a tentative attack on the Inner Sakurada Gate and Otemon Gate leading to Sannomaru before sunset, but they were met with stubborn resistance from the Tokugawa army, and finally had to withdraw their troops and retreat to the castle town.

At this time, Edo Castle was crowded with a large number of retainers who had fled from all over the Kanto region, including Ieyasu's fourth son, Matsudaira Tadashi, the lord of Shinobi Castle, Matsudaira Yasumoto, Ieyasu's half-brother and the lord of Shimonoseki Seki Castle, and Matsudaira Ietada, one of the eighteen Matsudaira clans and the head of the Fukagozo Matsudaira clan.

At that time, the brothers Shigetada Sakai and Tadashi Sakai, who were the elders of the Edo family, advised Tokugawa Hidetada not to let these defeated troops into Honmaru, so as not to affect the morale of the defenders and prevent the Utsuyo from taking the opportunity to set fire to it.

Tokugawa Hidetada then ordered Matsudaira Tadashi to lead 2,000 men, including the defeated army, to defend Nishimaru, Matsudaira Yasumoto to lead 4,000 men to garrison Sannomaru, who faced the main force of the Toyotomi army, Matsudaira Ietada to lead 1,000 men to garrison the smaller Ninomaru, and the remaining 6,000 men to garrison Honmaru with Tokugawa Hidetada, of which 4,000 were placed under the command of the Sakai brothers as a mobile force.

Although he repelled an attack by the Toyotomi army before dark, Tokugawa Hidetada was not happy. He said to the Sakai brothers during the military meeting that night: "I never thought it was a good idea for the main hall (referring to Ieyasu) to retreat to Shinano, but since he had made up his mind, we had no choice but to hold on to the castle and wait for the change. At present, the Toyotomi army under the castle has a total of 35,000 men, and it is divided into north and south attacks, although the North Maru and Fukigami were lost earlier, but after all, the area is open and difficult to defend, and it is not a bad thing to concentrate the forces in the Uchihao. ”

"Thirty-five thousand people want to take Edo Castle, and it's too much to underestimate us." Sakai Shigetada said: "The art of war is cloudy, ten are to surround it, five to attack it, and multiple is to divide it, and now the enemy army is less than three times that of our army, and the fortified city is in hand, there is no need to be afraid at all." ”

"But judging from the offensive this evening, the Toyotomi army does not seem to be in a hurry to attack." Sakai Tadashi was a little puzzled: "It feels like tentative, and the minister wonders if they have other plans." ”

"That's what I'm worried about," Matsudaira Tadashi echoed, "The Toyotomi army outside the province was the first to arrive, but they didn't mean to attack the city at all, but they patronized and set it on fire, did they want to wait for our army to surrender on their own initiative?" ”

"He's not waiting for us to surrender." At this time, Matsudaira Yasumoto, who had been silent, suddenly spoke: "My Sekijuku Castle is close to Hitachi, but why did I flee back to Edo? That's because the Satake family blocked the border. At that time, I was wondering if that ghost Yoshishige was also ready to fall into the ground, and if the Toyotomi army still besieged it tomorrow, but this speculation was very likely to be true. He is not waiting for us to surrender, but for the Satake clan to send troops. ”

As soon as Matsudaira Yasumoto said this, the hall suddenly fell into a deathly silence. During this time, the Tokugawa clan had been anxious to deal with the attack of the Toyotomi army, and completely ignored the Satake clan, who controlled the 530,000 stone of Hitachi Ichigoku next to him, although the Satake clan had previously acquiesced to Tokugawa Ieyasu leading his troops to enter the Aizu region through his territory, but after the defeat of the Tokugawa army on the 23rd, the Satake clan severed ties with the Kanto. But after that, Totachi Kuniku was calm, and this near-neutral posture made Tokugawa Hidetada let his guard down.

"Ghost Yizhong will never be neutral until the end of the battle, after all, he opened the border for our army to pass through before, if the right government wins, it will inevitably be liquidated after the war, so he must be thinking about the next way out during this time." Matsudaira continued.

Tokugawa Hidetada nodded, agreeing with Yasumoto's speculation: "I have long heard that there are different opinions within Satake, and Tokisuke (Satake Yoshishige) and Kyozhao (Satake Yoshinobu, the Tang name of the official position of the right Kyoto doctor) had different opinions on whether to let the family go, and then it was the Tokisuke faction that gained the upper hand to pass, and now that the family is defeated, it is presumably its internal situation will also change, and it is not impossible to send troops to Kanto." ”

"That's true," Sakai Shigetada also realized at this moment: "This time to send troops to Aizu, the Satake family only sent 3,000 people, and if the current mobilization in the territory is concerned, there should be at least 12,000 troops to mobilize." If you really want to participate in the war, the situation of this family is not good! ”

Tokugawa Hidetada's heart was also furious, but there was nothing he could do, he could only encourage: "No matter what, Edo can't be lost, unless there is a letter from the main hall, I will never open the castle." I also hope that you will work with me to protect the foundation of the Tokugawa clan, and not let the gentleman of Koriyama take away the great rivers and mountains that should belong to us. ”

"Ha, we must defend the city to the death and not dishonor the Lord's order!" Sakai and the others all bowed deeply to Tokugawa Hidetada, at this time they were already grasshoppers on a rope, and they shared weal and woe.

On this night, inside and outside Edo Castle, except for the unburned buildings of Kitamaru, which "creaked" in the flames, it was quiet, and both the Toyotomi army and the Tokugawa army needed to rest well and meet a major battle at the dawn.

Not far away, outside the national capital Taicheng, there is also a team encamped.

In the main camp painted with family crests such as the Himaru fan, the Bamboo Pill Bird, the Kumetsu knot, and the Sendai Sasasa, more than a dozen military commanders sat around the campfire. Outside of the main camp, in the camp dotted with each other, was a huge army of 30,000 men, and their destination was Edo Castle, ten miles away.