Can't bear Yodohime's kind invitation, Hideho had to lead his family to Osaka on the first day of the new year to spend the New Year with Hideyori's mother and son, as the only division of the Toyotomi clan, Hideho's role is far more important than the five elders and the five commissioners, especially for the orphans and widows in Osaka, having a room of relatives means that you can often visit the house, talk to the family often to pass the time, these ordinary people are accustomed to getting along in Hideyoshi's lifetime but dare not expect extravagantly

Yamato's Toyotomi Hidenaga, Owari's Toyotomi Hideji, Mino's Toyotomi Hidekatsu, and Tamba's Toyotomi Hideka Kobayakawa Hideaki were originally all branches of the Toyotomi clan in Settsu

These four clans firmly protect the clan in, and even if there is a major war, their vast fiefdom alone is enough to support it for a while, not to mention the powerful clan to support it

However, this stable order collapsed in just four years, and Toyotomi Hidenaga, known as the "Yamato Dainayan", died of illness first, leaving the Yamato Toyotomi family to Hideho, who was only fifteen years old; A year later, the "Prime Minister of Gifu" Toyotomi Hidekatsu died of illness on the island of Juto in North Korea, leaving behind a pair of orphans and widows of Ajiang and Mitsuko, and the Mino Toyotomi family was cut off; In another year, Yodohime gave birth to Hideyori, and Toyotomi Hidetoshi, who was the second in line to the throne, succeeded to Kobayakawa Takakei, and the Tamba Toyotomi family existed in name only; Two years later, Toyotomi Hideji was ordered by Hideyoshi to cut his stomach, and the family was spared except for a son and a daughter who escaped, and the Owari Toyotomi family was cut off, and Hidetoshi, who had changed his name to Kobayakawa Hideaki, was also killed, and all the Tanba territories were confiscated, and only Chikuzen Najima 300,000 stone was retained, and the inheritance of the Toyotomi clan was completely lost

Just when the natural disaster ** shattered the Toyotomi family and fell apart, the appearance of Hideho and the death of Hideyoshi are suspected to have saved this crumbling regime: Hideho's young and promising and respectful service to Hideyoshi made the latter relax his vigilance and did not treat Toyotomi Hideji and Toyotomi Hidetoshi as badly as Toyotomi Hidetoshi, and intentionally saved the last branch of the Toyotomi clan; Hideyoshi's death,Caused his punishment of Toyotomi Hidetoshi to be in vain,Although he lost many important ministers,But Toyotomi Hidetoshi still returned to Chikuzen from Echizen,Retain 300,000 stone of Zhixing,Although he has changed his surname to Kobayakawa,But with his blood connection with the Toyotomi family,Will not sit idly by and watch the Toyotomi family suffer,At least will not be moved

Returning to Kyushu, Kobayakawa Hideaki had mixed feelings, secretly glad that he had not been changed, and resentful that Hideyori's birth had led to his forced inheritance to the Kobayakawa clan, and it was precisely because of this complicated mood that he chose to get close to Tokugawa Ieyasu - the person who insisted on returning Chikuzen to the Kobayakawa family was the one who had frequent emissaries with the Kobayakawa clan of Edo Inner Prefecture and Edo, and how could the Nishikai Bibian Division, who controlled the nearly 30,000 troops in the three places of Goto Tsushima, not know, It can be said that at the same time that the envoy of the Kobayakawa family set off for the Fushimi Tokugawa family's Yashiki, someone sent the relevant information to Nishinomaru in Osaka

Just when Xiu came to Honmaru with Kikuhime and Ajiang and chatted with Yodohime without saying a word, Otawara, far away in Shimono, something happened that was more lively than the New Year

As early as a few weeks before the Chinese New Year, as the lord of Otawara, Yama Isharu went to the territory of the nearby wealthy clan to collect the annual tribute according to the custom in, but Otawara Kiyotai, who had changed his name to Otawara Yasukiyo, refused to pay according to Tokugawa Ieyasu's instructions, which greatly displeased the newcomer Yama brothers, and considering Hideho's instructions before leaving, they were also restrained and did not use force against this pseudo-Otawara clan

However, Otsuri Kiyotai regarded the Yamag brothers' forbearance as cowardice, and not only did he not pay the annual tribute, but also instigated the surrounding small wealthy clans to refuse to cooperate, especially the villages that fell into the hands of the three families of Oseki Sanno Narita, and their lands all refused the Yayama brothers' request on the grounds that they did not belong to the Otawara clan

Seeing that the end of the year is approaching, although with the help of the Ikeda Utsunomiya Gamo family, food and grass are not a problem, but this is not a long-term solution, if the first year does not receive the annual tribute, how can these domineering nobles be subdued in the future? In order to attract the wealthy families and landlords, Yama Ichiharu lied that he would give them a subsidy of 100 koku per family to cope with the possible food shortage in the spring of the following year

These wealthy families originally obeyed the call of Otari Kiyotai and did not intend to pay attention to Shan Yiqing, but the next day as soon as they heard that there was food to be delivered, they couldn't sit still, and went to Daejeonyuan in groups to meet Ohtama Kiyotai Although he also coveted the grain of 100 stones, he had always been cautious and deceitful, and only sent his son-in-law to participate in the assessment

Before the assessment began, Shan Yiqing ordered the wealthy who entered the hall to untie their swords and hand them over to the attendants outside the corridor to take care of

At the beginning of the assessment, Shan Chongqing pointed to the mountain of grain piled up in the corner of the room, and patiently persuaded these wealthy clans to return to their own families, ensuring that the first five lords who returned to their own families could each get a hundred stone of support rice, and each year in the future, these support rice could be used to pay the annual tribute that needed to be paid, for example, this year's harvest was good, and the output of a certain wealthy family's territory was 500 stones, according to the practice of "five princes and five people", he needed to hand over 250 stones, but with this 100 stones of support rice, they only needed to pay another 150 stones; If there is a famine year, they only have a harvest of 300 koku, but they have to hand over 250 koku, which is definitely unsustainable, but with 100 koku of supporting rice, they themselves can still have 150 koku of grain left, which is not better than the original Otawara clan?

However, this kind of "cash voucher" policy was very advanced and tempting, but compared to Tokugawa Ieyasu's ban, the lords had to politely refuse

"We, the Otawara clan, only said that we would give up the castle, but we didn't say that we would hand over the land as well, and Shimonosuke, I won't give you a bucket of grain in the next place," said Otatsu Kotai disdainfully on behalf of Omatari Kiyoyasu

"What about your lords?" Shan Yiqing asked quietly, and Shan Ji quietly sneaked out of the assessment room, leading more than 500 soldiers to surround the palace

"We used to be the head of the Otawara clan, but now that we have been placed under the jurisdiction of other daimyos, it is really difficult for a strong man to pay you the annual tribute," replied the head of the land that had been ceded to the Sano Oseki and Narita clans

"So, you're not going to pay tribute?" Shan Yiqing snorted coldly, with a hint of murder in his eyes

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