Chapter 143: Layout Again (I)

Although it feels a little pity, he decided to save his dignity with his life, and I can't dissuade him from anything. From my standpoint, the Kobayakawa naval army must be destroyed, and this is a prerequisite for my willingness to negotiate peace, especially after learning this trick. Moreover, it is precisely because of his enlightenment that he is able to express his calm bearing and solemn posture, which may be a suitable destination for a samurai who has suffered a crushing defeat and lost power.

When Nomi Sokatsu left, Yoshikage and Iwamatsu Jing's father also dealt with the post-war matters and came to Tenjin Sansei to report to me. I was very happy to praise the three of them, and asked them how they decided to come back.

Iwamatsu Jingding was very modest, and gave all the credit to the leading Shinkage and Takenaka Shigeharu: "The Kobayakawa Navy used this trick very well, and we were almost deceived. However, they also had some flaws, so they were recognized by Lord Shigeji. First, the wreckage left behind by the port Kobayakawa naval forces, some of which were not warships at all; The second is that their move of burning military funds and the pace of retreat also seem to be crisper, which seems to mean that the wall is clear and the enemy is deep; Then, the remnants of the island navy suddenly harassed Shikoku with great fanfare, obviously trying to attract our navy to come back to help, and the meaning of the conspiracy was too strong...... Therefore, when Futami sent a liaison ship and said that he was preparing to go to Hagigi Port after the inspection, Shigeji-sama guessed that the Kobayakawa naval army might not have been destroyed, but was hiding and preparing for a surprise attack......"

"You have this guess, didn't you remind Guangcheng?" I interrupted him and asked.

"It's a reminder," Yan Song Jingding smiled helplessly, "But Lord Guangcheng is too active, and when we sent a boat to make contact, he had already left Zhoufangtan, and even the contact person he sent earlier was left on our side. ”

"As soon as this guy sees an opportunity to make meritorious contributions, he is more active than anyone else," I couldn't help but complain.

"Lord Guangcheng also wants to complete the task of the main hall......" Iwamatsu Jingding said, wanting to defend Futami Mitsusei. I waved him off: "You don't need to say more. He has never discounted the opportunity to make meritorious contributions, and there is always a surplus, which I know in my heart...... Let's move on to the reinforcement."

"Yes," Iwamatsu nodded, "Originally, we were going to send a ship to investigate first. However, Shigeji-sama believes that the Sekien Strait is very important, and if there is a mistake, it must be reacted immediately. Anyway, the current naval force is very sufficient, so just prepare for the battle directly, and if you investigate, it will delay time...... When the head of the family heard this, he immediately made a decision, and asked His Royal Highness Yoshijing and his subordinates to lead the Dinghai detachment to support the Guann Strait, and then stay here to guard the rear road. ”

"Well, you're doing a good job," I nodded, "and it's decided that you'll be in charge of the affairs of the Strait of Én, and immediately send someone to inform Xuanxiu of Katsuyama Castle and Iejiu at the front; Then there is the matter of the transport fleet, whether the fighting subsides or not, the military transportation line must be restored first, but there is a ready-made fleet between Minami Iyo and Mimitsu Port, and I decided to transfer it first...... This matter is the responsibility of Yijing and Jingding. ”

Together, they received the commandment.

……，……

With the resumption of the passage of the Guann Strait, the situation on the front line was stabilized; The news of the destruction of the Kobayakawa naval army had a great impact on the morale of the two sides. With great momentum, we cleared Nagayama Castle, Himeyama Castle, and Shogatake Castle on the southeast periphery of Takamine Castle, and joined near Konomine, where Takamine Castle is located, and then Shimazu Iehisa went to meet with Shinkei and accepted the position of deputy general of the combined forces. As for the chief general of the coalition forces, of course, it was Shinkei himself, who set up his headquarters at Ryufukuji Temple at the foot of the mountain, which is where the former Ouchi clan hall is located. Since the construction of the castle by the Ouchi Kyohiro, the Ouchi clan has been the residence of the Ouchi family for more than 100 years, until the rebellion of the Tao Taka house, the residence hall was burned down, and a few years later the temple was built on the original site by Ritakagen to worship the Bodhi of the late lord Ouchi Yoshitaka.

However, Xinjing did not attack Takamine Castle, but only held its position, built fortifications around Longfu Temple, and waited for the Li family to take the initiative to attack, or accept our peace conditions.

However, according to the insider's information, the Ri family's family was extremely divided on the matter of peace, and the retainers were divided into two factions and quarreled over the matter, and Yoshikawa Moto-nt heard that Kobayakawa Takakei intended to give in, and even rushed over from Hagi Castle in person to argue with Takakei in front of Toshimoto. He believed that with the current situation of the two sides, it was more than enough to hold Gaoling City, and if it was not good, it could be delayed until the time of agricultural busyness, waiting for the Kira family to withdraw their troops by themselves; At this time, if you give in easily, it will only reduce the prestige of the Li family and make the wealthy families under his command deviate from morality. However, Longjing believes that things cannot only look at the present, but should follow the general trend, the Kira family is based on Kyushu and Shikoku, and there is a naval army that controls the entire sea area, and it has the tendency to sweep the world, and the strength of the Eli family is absolutely impossible to confront such a force; This time, the Kira family only dispatched the strength of four sub-countries, and the Li family had to go all out, so taking the opportunity to give up a sub-country and strive to join the camp of the Kira family must be much more favorable than the conditions that can be obtained after the decisive battle between the two sides.

On the surface, Kobayakawa Takakei's consideration is long-term. However, in the current Toshika, Takakei has fallen behind Yoshikawa Moto's reputation by a large margin due to the loss of the Kono family, the loss of the Uki family, and the loss of all the water army, so although there is the support of the elder retainers of the Motosho era such as Kuniji Motosho and Kumagai Nobunao, he was unable to convince Toshikawa Mototo's strong opposition. In addition, Gen NT's deputy general Kuchiwa Tsuryo and Gen Sho's grandson Xù Tomotohide (also Naito Takato's brother-in-law and Li Takato's brother-in-law) also chose to echo Yuan NT because of their respective positions, and even Takakei's deputy Fukuhara Sadatoshi also had reservations about the peace because the matter involved Sugimatsu Chiyomaru, which made Kobayakawa Takakei very passive for a while.

It wasn't until the news that Futami Mitsunari attacked Iwami Silver Mountain in the eastern part of Iwami Province and robbed him of thousands of pieces of silver, that the matter of peace negotiations took a turn for the better. Yoshikawa Gen first led his army out of Takamine Castle and hurried to Iwami Ginzan to stabilize the situation, and then the rest of the retainers and wealthy clans also realized that all the other countries of the Rika family were on the verge of the sea and could be suddenly attacked at any time, and unless they thought of a way to contain the Kira naval army, most of the Rike clan was not safe...... This fact was so urgent that it finally reversed public opinion at home and allowed Kobayakawa Takakei's opinion to prevail.

In late June, Fukuhara Sadatoshi and Ankokuji Huiqiong of the Rika family went to the Shinkei Army and expressed their intention to accept the peace talks. Shinkei sent Shigeharu Takenaka to sign an oath with him, and then left Fukuhara Sadatoshi as a hostage and led the whole army back to Katsuyama Castle. Soon after, Ankokuji Huiqiong arrives again and presents an affidavit signed by Toshimoto, a territorial sub-account of the Naga-N country, a samurai kana directory, and a reservation for Sugimatsu Chiyomaru in the two counties of Miyu and Atsusasa, in exchange for Fukuhara Sadatoshi as a hostage. At this point, the peace agreement between the two families was officially reached, and Shinkei completed the task, leaving Shimazu Yoshihiro and Satsuma Kuni, and ordered Takenaka Shigeji to return to Shikoku with the army of Ah B and Sanki, and then led Shimazu Iehisa, Sugimatsu Chiyomaru and Tsushima, Hasuike, and Asaki Sanbei to come to Tenjin Sanri to pay respects.

This time he performed well, although it was thanks to the mention of Shigeharu Takenaka and others, but after all, it was commendable. I complimented him with satisfaction, and met with him with Chiyomaru Sugimatsu.

Sugimatsu Chiyomaru is six years old this year, because his father had rebelled, and was not accepted by Li Hui Yuan, thanks to his uncle Fukuhara Sadatoshi's statement of interests, this was forgiven, and in the Li family Yuanfu, named Sugikuro Motora, inherited more than 1,100 stone territories in Toyoura and Otsu counties of Changen Province. However, after the Battle of Sekigahara, due to the significant shrinkage of the Rike family's territory, Sugimoto Ryo was also transferred to the Zhou Defense Kingdom, and the territory was reduced to 100 koku, and he became a samurai (lower-level feudal warrior) of the Choshu Domain. At the end of the Edo period, the head of the family, Sugi Fumitsunojin (who was the younger brother of Nogi Noshinori), founded Matsushita Murajuku (now Matsu Yīn Shrine), which was later presided over by Yoshida Matsu Yīn, and cultivated Ushishi such as Genrui Kusaka, Shinsaku Takasugi, Kogoro Katsura (Takado Takayoshi), and Minoru Yoshida, as well as Meiji elders such as Hirobumi Ito and Aritomo Yamashina......

Of course, Xinjing didn't know about these things. He looked at Sugimatsu Chiyomaru with interest, probably wondering why I looked at this little one differently. And under his gaze, Matsuchiyomaru couldn't help but shrink his small body, and a nervous expression appeared on his face.

As the head of the Ouchi family, even with the blessing of his uncle Fukuhara Sadatoshi, he is definitely not happy in the Li family...... I thought in my heart, and after soothing the kind words, I instructed Xinjing to serve him later, and awarded the Wanxing form of 50,000 stone territories in the two counties of Mei and Housha, with Yasuho Yamauchi as the afterthought.

"When the time is right, I will arrange for you to inherit the family name of the Ouchi family." I promised him.

Hearing me say "Ouchi's family", the expression on his little face suddenly tightened, obviously he had heard it many times, and it was not a pleasant experience. Despite this, although he probably didn't know the meaning of inheriting the Ouchi family, and he didn't understand the weight of my promise, he still bowed his head obediently and agreed.

When Yasutoyo Yamauchi took him down, Shinjing asked me suspiciously, "My father said that he would inherit the family name of the Ouchi family, what is the reason for this?" ”

"What do you think it is?" I asked rhetorically in a good mood.

He tilted his head sideways and thought, "Is it to contain the Li family?" ”

"Containment?" I laughed, "The Li family who has a territory of 70,000 stones with a territory of 70,000 stones has restrained the Li family of a million stone territory? ”

"This ......," Shinjing laughed embarrassedly, "and ask my father for advice." ”

"It's to divide the Li family." I replied.

"Split the Fortune Family?" Xinjing's eyes widened, "Didn't you say that you can't even contain it?" How can it still be divided? ”

"Well...... Let's put it this way," I organized my thoughts, and then asked Shinkyo, "Do you think the Rika family will be willing to give up a country this time—especially Yoshikawa Moto; "Of course not." Xinjing replied.

"So, if I go a little too far, such as ordering the navy to seize Yoshikawa Moto's fishing boats and merchant ships from time to time, or occupy one or two desert islands, and so on, while Kobayakawa Takakei, who is in charge of foreign affairs, is in charge of the whole thing, and at most says a word or two of strong protest and condemnation, then many people in the Ri family will definitely have a great bad feeling towards the family, right? Especially Yoshikawa Moto, maybe even Kobayakawa Takakei is to blame, right? I said a little wickedly.

"This ...... That's true. However, it made the Li family feel bad for their own family...... "Xinjing raised his head and looked at me a little worriedly, as if he was worried about whether I had suffered from Alzheimer's disease in advance.

"So seeing this situation, His Royal Highness Yuliang, who is good at wooing, will he vigorously woo the Li family? Who will he woo? I asked him step by step.

"It's definitely going to be wooed, and the targets are Yoshikawa Gento and Kobayakawa Takakei," Shinkyo replied, his face suddenly realised, "Kobayakawa Takakei has suffered our big losses many times, and he knows that our side is terrible, and he can see the general trend of the world, so he must be trying his best to maintain the relationship with us; However, Yoshikawa Motoge is very strong, and in the face of our deliberate provocation, he will definitely throw himself at His Royal Highness Yura...... Then neither of the two parties could persuade anyone, and the father added another fire, and the Li family would definitely start to split. ”

"Well, that's right," I nodded, "Actually, there has been a rift between the two rivers for a long time, and the two sides had a quarrel for a while over the question of whether to form an alliance with the Uki family, and finally Kobayakawa Takashi won, and then used this bī to oppose the Mimura family, which had been in the alliance for decades, and took advantage of the situation to take the country of Beichu into the bag...... A little earlier, the two had an argument about the key issue of the strategy, Yoshikawa Moto-nt wanted to invade the east, extend his power into Kinai, and learn from Ouchi Yoshiko to go to Luo; Kobayakawa Takakei wanted to take advantage of the naval army and attack Kitakyushu and Shikoku first to stabilize his strength...... Of course, I agree with Takakei Kobayakawa. ”

"This is similar to my father's current strategy," Xinjing said thoughtfully.

"Takakei Kobayakawa is a smart man." I nodded.

"It's just that Kobayakawa Takakei's prestige has been hit repeatedly, and he can't convince Yoshikawa Moto's NT, and he can't dominate the foreign policy of the Rika family." Xinjing said with emotion.

"Yes, some people think long-term, but the vast majority only think about the present," I was also very emotional, and then I couldn't help but think of monkeys. This wise monkey has a strong ability to seize opportunities and adapt to changes, but out of narrow-mindedness, he will always leave long-term hidden dangers for the sake of temporary victory. Because of this, when later generations talk about him, they will always regret making a lot of assumptions for him, such as "if you don't leave so many powerful appearances", "if you don't go on an expedition to Korea to consume troops", "if you don't kill Toyotomi Shuji" or "if you kill Tokugawa Ieyasu", etc., in an attempt to redeem his mistakes. However, under the circumstances at that time, his response was good, but he was limited by his vision and could not take into account the long-term future.

In short, if you want to know the reaction of the monkey, everything is based on the current utilitarian point to speculate. Even if history repeats itself, he will still make similar mistakes, thus leaving a lot of hidden dangers again, so that future generations will continue to sigh for him.

It is in this way of speculation that I am sure that when the monkey sees the evil of the Li family and me, he will definitely vigorously win over the Li family; When he saw that Kobayakawa Takashi was unmoved, he concentrated on wooing Yoshikawa Moto. And I am equally sure that with his ability and that peculiar charm, he will definitely succeed.

- This is the so-called tacit understanding.