Chapter 159: Winter in Kinai (I)

From the moment the army crossed the Minami Omi Province and entered the Tokaido, Keisei kept sending people back to report in detail on the progress of the expedition. Perhaps due to the fact that it was the first time that the entire aspect was presided over alone, the main general Nobuyi and the deputy general Keimasa were very cautious, and they meticulously advanced along the official road until they reached Suruga Province and got in touch with the Higashiyama Province Takigawa Ichiyi stationed in Kai.

At the time of the military discussion, Keimasa proposed a plan to secretly Chen Cang, and he suggested that Shinkei stop at Suruga, confront the Hojo family's Odawara Castle across the Hakone Tenha, and at the same time recruit the allied forces of the five countries of Ise, Owari, Mikawa, Enoe, and Suruga, and make it appear that they would forcibly break through and surround Odawara Castle; On the other hand, Shimazu Ihisa led part of his forces to Kai, where he joined up with Takigawa Kazuki's Higashiyamado Army and took on the task of conquering Ueno Province alone. In this way, with the hard work of the main general and the deputy general, it will definitely be able to contain the main force of the Hojo family, greatly reduce the difficulty of attacking Ueno Province, and ensure that the predetermined goal is completed before the snowfall.

Of course, Xinjing and Keimasa were not without nothing to do, they could first clear the local terrain, familiarize themselves with the Tokaido feudal clans and the wealthy clans, and capture one or two branch cities in advance to lay the foundation for the official conquest in the coming year. After all, the Higashiyama Road was rugged and difficult to pass, and if it was a large-scale attack on Odawara Castle by nearly 200,000 troops, it would definitely have to take the Tokaido line. In this regard, we also have an absolutely superior naval army, which can cooperate in terms of marching and supply.

This plan not only received the approval of Xinjing, but also made me appreciate it very much. For this reason, I very cooperatively sent the chief Nakaii Nobunao and Ome Fumoto Masasumi back to Japan to assist Nobuyo in mastering the Tokaido Army, and also agreed to another proposal of Keimasa, after Nobuyi raised troops from Ueno the following year, he would be mainly responsible for moving to various parts of the Kanto region, uprooting the various strongholds garrisoned by the Hojo family one by one, and all the peripheries of Odawara Castle would be handed over to him, and he would lead the Tokaido Army alone.

At the end of September, the Tokaido Army was assembled and joined up with the Kinai Army at the Kise River, where Minamoto Yoritomo and Takeda Nobuyoshi had joined forces, to threaten Yamanaka Castle, one of the ten castles in Hakone. This castle is the westernmost branch of Odawara Castle, and it is also the most important stronghold of the Hojo family to defend Suruga, and it is not to be neglected by the Hojo clan and the direct father and son of the Hojo clan. Therefore, they sent the head of the Tamamachi Hojo clan and the grandson of Hojo Tsunari (his father Hojo clan Shigeru and eldest brother Hojo clan Shun were deceased) to lead 4,000 men from their headquarters into the castle to prevent our side from breaking through, and the rest of the Nirayama, Shimoda, Matsuida, Iwatsuki, and Bowlatata castles also deployed additional forces to strengthen their respective defenses.

Obviously, the Hojo family was completely fooled. They believed that there were the chief and deputy generals of the expedition on the Suruga side, Nakajii Inobunao and Ome Fumoto Masamune, and the veteran general Tokugawa Ieyasu held the position of military commissioner, and they also had an advantage in terms of troops, and even the two frigates "Kenye" and "Wuchang" also drove over, and from time to time fired a few shells at Odawara Castle on the sea surface of Sagami Bay; On the Ueno side, Takigawa Kazuki, Mori Nagaka, Kawajiri Hidetaka, Inaba Sadatsu, Kanamori Nagakin, Xué Mountain Nobuyuki, Sanada Masayuki, etc., who are in charge of the raiders, are either old generals of Oda, or Takeda's subordinates, and they can only be in charge of flank containment. As a result, they concentrated most of their forces around Odawara Castle, leaving only Hojo Takahiro, who had repeatedly swung between the Uesugi and Hojo families, to sit in charge.

It wasn't until Shimazu Iehisa and Ishiya Nomasa appeared in Ueno Province and led Tsushima Bei, Kanie Bei, Mie Bei, and the Kawachi National People's Association to attack Minowa Castle, and announced the news that he and Takigawa Kazuki were in charge of Ueno Province, so as to recruit the wealthy clans of Ueno Province, that the Hojo family understood that Ueno Country was also an important target for our side. However, at this time, the defensive posture around Odawara Castle had been established, and there was indeed a large army stationed in front of them, so they did not dare to change their course rashly, and could only watch as the castles of Ueno Province fell or surrendered one by one, watched all the wealthy clans fall into the arms of the Shimazu and Takigawa families, and watched the daimyo and wealthy clans in the rest of the Kanto region secretly communicate with Ishiya Nobumasa, who was in charge of the strategy.

By this time, the goal of this expedition had been basically completed, and the army could be disbanded by victory. However, Xinjing was a little skilled, he launched a large army to surround Yamanaka Castle, divided the left, center and right three armies, and launched attacks in turns day and night. Hojo Katsu then divided the defenders into three divisions, one for the front and one on the flank, so as not to be exhausted by our three directions.

The situation was thus temporarily deadlocked. Fortunately, the weather hasn't turned cold yet, so you can practice more with Xinjing, and I didn't interfere with him much.

Something happened in Kyoto, and I had to be a little more vigilant. This incident originated from the list of monks promoted by Maeda Genyi, who listed nearly 30 people's temple registrations and Dharma names, all of whom were monks who showed sè in the temple grid and temple leader survey some time ago. He hoped that in this way he would be able to reward these monks and give them a certain status, so that they could negotiate with the temples and better serve the temple and the shogunate.

Because the monks are promoted from the bottom, the monks awarded to them are not high, but they are just ordinary monks and monks under the Dharma seal (big monks, monks), Dharma Eye (big monks, young monks), and Faqiao (barristers, lawyers), and most of them are low-level cultivators, and only five people are awarded high-level lamp positions. Such a monk and monk, even Maeda Xuanyi, who served as the secretary of the Ministry of Justice, can make a direct decision, and the reason why he sent it to me is more out of his loyalty and expression that he does not dare to be specialized. And I was about to agree with a cursory glance, but suddenly I found a very special name in the list of five people who had pre-ordained the lamp position.

Daitokuji Temple always sees the courtyard such as the water garden clear!

As far as I know, the person who held this name in history was Kuroda Takataka, a retired monk, so he was called Kuroda Rusui. Then now this Rusui Sonokiyoshi is likely to be him, because after the Battle of Harima, his body was not found on the battlefield, but the samurai and ashigaru who surrendered to Sei rumored that he had died long before the fall of Himeji Castle.

If the number of the Dharma is not enough, the temple name is another big doubt. Daitokuji Somiin, which was Nobunaga's Bodhi Temple, was headed by Oda Nobuo. The last time Oda Nobuo participated in the war, he served as a deputy general in Hideyoshi's main camp, and he had a lot of handovers with Kuroda Takaka as Hideyoshi's military division, and it was reasonable to take Kuroda Takaka in. And Kuroda must have other intentions to sponsor my career so enthusiastically, otherwise how could Nobuo allow it? After I ordered him to become a monk, he always held a grudge against him, and it was impossible for him to allow the monks to work for me.

Of course, regarding this matter, with Kuroda Takataka's eloquence, he will definitely be able to say a good job of the priesthood, and even his identity can be concealed, after all, no one would have thought that he would "come back from the dead" and hide it under the nose of the shogunate. If I hadn't known the origin of this Dharma name, I would never have noticed a low-level monk who was about to be conferred the title of mortal monk in my capacity as a general.

"This Dharma name is very Zen! There is a saying that 'the benevolent man is happy with the mountain, and the wise man is happy with the water', presumably there is some origin," I made a mark at the top of the four words "Rushui Yuanqing", returned the list to Maeda Xuanyi, and ordered him: "Go and investigate this person immediately!" ”

Tian Xuanyi's face was a little surprised, but he was unambiguous.

I nodded slightly. Genya Maeda is a delicate person, and he will definitely be able to do it very satisfactorily. With Kuroda Takataka's identity and the salient characteristics of lameness, once he is targeted by the temple shrine and the metsu group, his identity can no longer be hidden.

Sure enough, two days later, Maeda Genyi came to Luyuan Temple again and reported to me, "Gongfang Hall Mingjian! The monk is like Mizuen Qing, and his secular identity is the former mastermind of the enemy Hideyoshi, and it is rumored that he has long been killed, but now he is hidden in the lower monks, which must have another plan...... His Majesty failed to find out in time, and he was really terrified! ”

"It's not your fault. You are a temple practitioner, with a very high status and busy with official business, so naturally you won't notice an ordinary temple monk," I secretly screamed in my heart and asked him, "So did you catch it?" ”

"This person claims to be born in Kii Province, so he is in charge of liaison affairs with the Rinzai sect's Zenlin Temple, and now he is under order to go out and is not in the temple," Maeda Genyi bowed to the ground and reported eloquently, apparently making a detailed investigation and consideration, "The Buddhist temples in Kii Province are mainly believed in Shingon Buddhism and Iljo Buddhism, and there are not many Rinzai temples, and Zenrinji Temple is only one of the 33 Guanyin spiritual fields in the country, and its influence is not very great. Therefore, his subordinates believed that his main target was temples and shrines such as Neraiji Temple and Kumano Sansha, which had a large number of territories, and wanted to take advantage of the shogunate's reduction of the temple's territory to incite them to rebel against the shogunate. In addition, although Honganji Xianru retired, his son Kyoru remained in Kii Hidaka Gobo, and it is said that he always cherished the desire to revive the Ichijo sect...... Your Majesty is brave and asks the Gongfang Hall to quickly order Kishu Nayan to lead the army back to the town to prevent chaos in the country! ”

"It's not busy," I thought for a moment and rejected his proposal, "Kishu Nakayana is stationed in Sawa Yamashiro to pacify the two places of North Omi and South Omi. These two places were an important foundation of Hideyoshi in the past, and he had fought under Keisohide for a long time, and if he rashly transferred away from Kishu Nakayana, I am afraid that those frustrated samurai would take the opportunity to set off the countrymen and fall into Kuroda Takataka's calculations. ”

"What then?" After all, Maeda Genyi is not very good at military strategy, and when he heard this, he immediately became a little anxious, "Now that Kinai is empty, all the forces of Tokaido are on the Suruga front, and Hokuriku can't go out due to the weather......"

"There are also four potentials. It won't be difficult for them to cross the sea to support Kiikoku," I interrupted Maeda's words, "You should immediately send someone to Genraiji Temple, contact Master Honor, who has been promoted to the head of the temple, and ask him to do his best to maintain the situation...... Kumano Sansha will also send people, they have a deep relationship with the wealthy clans in the south, and I will also ask Xiujing to cooperate with you. ”

"What about Takataka Kuroda? Do you want to issue an arrest warrant? Maeda asked.

"No need. Once we act, how can a person as smart as him fail to see the situation? I shook my head slightly and smiled bitterly in my heart.

The problem of Genraiji Temple is that I am too soft-hearted. Originally, I remembered the love they had helped me pacify the Saga people back then, and also remembered the origin of the blessing that had been given to him when Shinkei was born, so I did not gather the forces of the entire Kinai to forcibly suppress Neraiji Temple like Hideyoshi in history, but hoped that with the great prestige of pacifying the Kanto region next year, they would disband the monks and obey the shogunate temple system without blood. After the incident, I will give them the same status as Koyasan and Kyoo Gokokuji Temple, and serve as the head of Shinyi Shingon Buddhism (Koyasan and Kyoo Gokokuji are Koyoi Shingon sects).

Fortunately, Kii is remote, there are many dangerous terrain in the country, and the monks and soldiers of Genrai Temple are mainly local wealthy families, and there will be no political demands except for retaining the temple territory and extraterritoriality. Therefore, even if they rebel, I don't have to worry about them threatening the position of the shogunate, but only holding back some of my power there.

I hope Jingxiu doesn't mess around! Needless to say, he himself still has many powerful people who are loyal to the Yuliang family, and if he also follows the incident in Kita-Omi, Zhou Jing may have to work hard. Not to mention the devastation of the people of the country, it was also a blow to the prestige of the shogunate. Moreover, when such a thing happened, for the sake of the shogunate's law, I could only order Keihide to be executed and hung on the side of the Rokujo River in Kyoto.

I really don't want to see that.

……，……

In mid-November, Neraiji expelled Maeda's envoys and officially raised a banner against the shogunate, and was immediately besieged by Hosokawa Shinyuki, Kira Kinsadada's Shisei, and Katsugano Motonobu who remained behind. Considering that Neraiji Temple has been in business for hundreds of years, the defense is very strong, and the monks are good at iron cannons, I did not let Hosokawa Shinyuki attack, but just asked them to build a large number of castles and moats on the outskirts of Neraiji Temple to dissipate the spirit of the temple and prevent the monks from disturbing the Kii country.

Following their movements, the two countries of Yama yīn Inaba and Tajima, and the Northern Omi Province of Kinai took place at the same time. The uprisings in these two places are also related to Kuroda Takataka, and the inoue no house, Kuriyama Riyasu, Kuroda Ritaka, Kuroda Toshinori, Kuroda Naoyuki, Musato Tomonobu, Goto Keiji, etc., known as the "Kuroda Eight Tigers" in history, have appeared in the ranks of the rebellious party. Among them, Inoue Nobo and Kuriyama Riyan are senior genealogies of the Kuroda family, Kuroda Ritaka, Kuroda Toshinori, and Kuroda Naoyuki are Kuroda Takataka's brothers, and the father of the mother Sato Yushin, Soga Ichishin, is Kuroda Takada's father for decades, and Goto Keiji is the son of the Kuroda family's retainer Goto Kikuni, who was raised by Kuroda Takataka since childhood. The seven were all close retainers of the Kuroda family, and they had always insisted on following Hideyoshi, but they were not pardoned by the shogunate, and it was reasonable for them to rise up against the shogunate now.

When I received the news from both places, I immediately dismissed Hideko from his position as deputy director of the Kyoto Office, and ordered him to return to the consul country to preside over the meeting, and join forces with Izumo and Iwami's Gamo Nobuhide to extinguish the conflict between the two countries; On the North Omi side, I heard that the person in charge was not Jingxiu, so I didn't send any orders, anyway, with Zhou Jing's prestige and ability, it was not difficult to eliminate those stubborn and wealthy samurai.

Looking at the withered vines outside the window, I suddenly remembered that winter seems to be a good time to build various projects and strengthen the foundation of national politics.