In fact, upon learning of Hidebo's victory at Aizu, Ishida Mitsusei began to think about a change of strategy, believing that in the near future, the struggle within the Toyotomi regime would no longer be a struggle between the Omi faction and the Owari faction, but a confrontation between the faction led by himself and the Hideho faction.

The reason why he insisted on using "countermeasures" instead of struggle is very clear, that is, the struggle in the future will not be as fierce and obvious as the struggle between the Omi and Owari factions, but will be more of a mutual test and check. Although this state of affairs is not what Ishida Mitsunari hopes for the most, it is far better than the previous open and secret battles, and it is also a model that has to be compromised at present.

In order to ensure that he is not at a disadvantage in this mode, Ishida Mitsunari must ensure that he maintains the same strength as Hideho, and at the very least, a force that should not be underestimated, whether in the center or in the locality, and in order to do this, Ishida Mitsunari can be said to have racked his brains.

In the center, Ishida Mitsunari first tried his best to integrate the faction and ensure internal unity; Secondly, because Horio Yoshiharu in the "Three Middle Elders" had already joined the Yamato Toyotomi clan and was deprived of the position of the middle elder, Furuta Shigeran, who was added in, fled to Sakai Port Akira to protect his life, and Ikoma Kinmasa and Nakamura Kazushi also took refuge in Hideho after the war.

However, Mrs. Yodo was quite skeptical of the reason Ishida Mitsunari said, especially after learning that Ishida Mitsunari had received Mori Terumoto and Kuroda Rusui, she had even more scruples, so he did not fully agree to Ishida Mitsunari's request, but only dismissed Furuta again, and as for the other two, they need to wait for Hideho to return to Beijing and everyone will discuss and decide.

Ishida Mitsunari seemed to have expected this outcome, and he did not dwell too much on this matter, but set his sights on the Imperial Horse Valley. As the elite directly under the Toyotomi clan, the strength of the Imperial Horse Yard suffered a serious setback after the Osaka Rebellion, and with several rounds of purges after the war, the Imperial Horse Yard, which had more than 15,000 people earlier, only 2,000 people remained before Hideho's expedition.

After Ishida Mitsunari's efforts, the size of the Imperial Horse House rose to 12,000 people, and he also rebuilt the Shichiju-gumi, still with Shohisa Shosui as the pen, in addition to Matsuura Hideren, Mano Yoriho, Ito Nagashi, Ken Soho, Nonomura Yukinari These five people are still the head of the group, and the previous achievements of Majima Saburo Uemon (Majima Mitsuyoshi) and Sagishima Sasaku (Sagishima Takayoshi) were also promoted to the head of the group.

The strength of the Shichite-gumi ranged from 1,500 to 2,000 troops per team, and Shohisa Shohisa did not have a direct samurai, but he could mobilize all the teams and the naval forces on the Kizu River, and he had the supreme command of Osaka Gomaji. The growth of the Imperial Horse Castle not only provides a strong guarantee for the defense of Osaka Castle, but for Ishida Mitsunari, his contribution will also win the closeness and trust of these group leaders, especially the two young group leaders who have just been promoted, and they will be full of gratitude to themselves, so that every move in Osaka Castle will be controlled by themselves at any time, and the safety of Hideyori will be guaranteed as much as possible.

At the same time, Ishida Mitsunari and others also seized the time to contact the local powerful daimyo, and it was obvious that the two elders, Ukita and Maeda, were already standing by Hideho's side, and Ishida Mitsunari felt that there was no need to waste energy on them. The reason why they agreed to meet with Kuroda Rusui and Mori Terumoto is also something that can't be helped, after all, the other powerful daimyos are either following Hideho or Tokugawa Ieyasu, and at this time, these daimyos are either still in Kanto, or they are ordered to stay in their skills, and it is difficult to come to Osaka to negotiate with the commissioners, so only Kuroda Rusui and Mori Terumoto, who arrived one step earlier, can meet.

Although Kuroda and Mori are both defeated generals, Ishida Mitsunari does not mean that their military fortunes end here, on the contrary, Kuroda Nagamasa and Mori Hidemoto have made great contributions under Hideho, and there is a very high possibility that the two families will be punished less, especially Kuroda Rusui, who won the territory of the Mori clan at the last moment, and can make up for a lot with this record.

Thinking of this, Ishida Mitsunari felt that these two families could still be used, even if they were forced to transfer the power of the family to Kuroda Nagamasa and Mori Hidemoto after the war, as long as they were alive, they could have a certain influence and constraints on the family's decision-making, which was enough for Ishida Mitsunari.

Ishida Mitsunari understands that the biggest difference between himself and Hideho is that his prestige is attached to the Toyotomi clan, and Hidebo's prestige, except for the early stage was given by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was accumulated little by little by himself in the later stage, and he also has strong military and financial resources, which is also not possessed by the executives.

Therefore, if you want to compete with Hidebo, it is obviously impossible to rely on your own strength alone, and Ishida Mitsunari must make everyone feel that in addition to Hidebo, he is also the guardian of the Toyotomi clan, and even said that his influence within the Toyotomi regime is not inferior to Hidebo. Only in this way can we attract the attention and closeness of those forces who are dissatisfied with Hideho but are cautious by nature, and this part of the forces is precisely the most worthy of winning over at present, Kuroda and Maori.

According to ordinary people, the Kuroda family disturbed Kyushu, the Maori clan troubled, and the face would be changed or even destroyed, but the two were unwilling to surrender to Hideho, which in addition to the records of the two young masters made them feel confident, and the analysis of the situation after the war also made them feel that they could gamble again.

As early as the meeting at Mihara Castle, Kuroda Rusui persuaded Mori Terumoto not to return directly to Hiroshima, which was tantamount to passively allowing others to slaughter, but should do the opposite, since there was a guarantee of Mori Hidemoto, why not try to achieve a better result?

After a long night of talking, Kuroda Rusui finally succeeded in persuading Mori Terumoto to return to Osaka Castle with him and meet Ishida Mitsunari. The two sides also tacitly agreed, and soon reached an agreement, that is, Ishida Mitsunari promised to exonerate the two families in the post-war disposition, while Kuroda Rusui and Mori Terumoto should use their respective prestige in the family to prevent the two families from getting too close to Hideho, and at the same time, they also wanted to serve as two nails to nail Ishida Mitsunari to Kyushu and Chugoku, observe every move in the local area, and report to the commissioners as soon as there is news.

From his point of view, Ishida Mitsunari's approach was a necessary choice to protect the Toyotomi clan, but in the eyes of foreign daimyo such as Kuroda and Mori, it was a rare opportunity to use the internal struggle of the Toyotomi regime to realize his ambitions.