Tokugawa Yoshinobu had been living in the fiefdom of Kii Domain, and he was reluctant to go to Edo Castle to meet the Shogun, and the provinces hated each other. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Tokugawa Yorinobu didn't think he had done anything wrong, the two support armies were defeated and lost, and the shogunate had 20,000 people defeated, if he hadn't preserved his strength at that time, the Tokugawa family might have been ousted from the shogun's throne by now, and what he did was to preserve the vitality of the Tokugawa family, and he couldn't get such injustice.

The unsuccessful Iemitsu was only concerned about the delay in the rescue, and his narrow-mindedness was really cold, didn't he want to think about the consequences of the failure of the reinforcements, and then all foreign aid in Edo would be cut off, and the Tokugawa family would be doomed.

To be honest, let a stuttering and irritable person take the post of shogun, Tokugawa Yorinobu can't understand his father Tokugawa Ieyasu's thoughts, but this is not something he can decide, all he can do now is to be out of sight and out of mind, and Iemitsu will not take a punishment against him.

It can be said that the relationship between the Tokugawa clan of the Kii clan and the Tokugawa family of Edo fell to a freezing point, and there was a sense of old and dead contact until the outbreak of the Choshu Domain rebellion.

The Kii Domain was not very far from the reserve reserve, and everything that happened there was clear about the Kii Domain, and the scouts were constantly coming and going from Wakayama Castle, and they were constantly reporting the military situation in front of them, and Tokugawa Yoshinobu was closely watching the movements of the rebels.

The Choshu Domain drove straight into Aki Province and defeated the Hiroshima Domain, and the military information about the siege of Fukuyama Castle came one by one, and Tokugawa Yorinobu had ordered all the Shobi and Ashigaru in the domain to be mobilized in case of an emergency.

He estimated that soon Edo Castle would come back and have a good talk with him, and his nephew was capable of this, and the Wakayama Domain, a close domain, would have to send troops to quell the rebellion.

Sure enough, five days later, the group rushed to Wakayama Castle to meet him, the lord of the Kii Domain, who was the lord of Doi Toshikatsu and his party.

Tokugawa Yoshinobu immediately met with Doi Toshikatsu, anyway, Doi Toshikatsu also came to pay his respects on behalf of the shogunate, and this face still has to be given.

"Meet Your Excellency." Toshikatsu Doi knelt down and saluted according to the rules.

"Please get up, old and middle-aged." Tokugawa Yoshinobu said with a smile.

Toshikatsu Doi was also the lord of the Furukawa Domain, and Tokugawa Yoshinobu couldn't be too rude.

"This is a letter from His Royal Highness the Great General to His Excellency the Great Nayan." After seeing the salute, Doi Toshikatsu bowed and presented a letter.

Tokugawa Yoshinobu stretched out his hand to take it and then opened it to watch.

In the letter, Tokugawa Iemitsu rarely lowered his posture, and even recalled the scene of the first time he met Tokugawa Yorinobu when he was a child, and said that his grandfather and father had passed away, and now the national fortune is difficult, and several uncles need to vigorously support Yunyun.

It was the first time that the arrogant Iemitsu had spoken to his uncle in such a tone, and there was even a hint of flattery in the letter, which made Tokugawa Yoshinoshi feel a lot in his heart, indicating that this unsuccessful nephew finally bowed his head and said soft words.

It's not an apology, but no matter how bad Tokugawa Iemitsu is, he is also the general of the Tokugawa shogunate, and if he can do this, Tokugawa Yorigen is also satisfied, can he still make Tokugawa Iemitsu kneel down and bow down, at least Tokugawa Iemitsu admits that there is nothing wrong with Tokugawa Yorinobu before.

Tokugawa Yoshinobu, who had little smile when he met, showed a sincere smile, and asked people to watch tea to entertain this old courtier of the Tokugawa family.

"Old and middle-aged, the western Choshu Domain has defeated the Hiroshima Domain and besieged Fukuyama Castle for several days, this is the latest enemy situation, it is said that the Choshu Domain has 10,000 soldiers, not very many, but the combat power is quite strong, and there are a large number of cavalry."

Tokugawa Yoshinobu, who was in a good mood, took the initiative to tell the general's feelings, so that Doi Toshikatsu also knew about the situation after the preparation.

"In this way, the Choshu rebels have not yet entered Bizhong, and they are still attacking Fukuyama Castle in Bigo."

Doi asked with a bow.

"Exactly, now some scouts from the Changzhou Domain have entered Beizhong to investigate, and a large number of soldiers have not stepped into Beizhong."

Tokugawa Yoshinobu nodded.

Doi Toshikatsu breathed a sigh of relief, it was good that the army of the Choshu Domain did not enter the binzhong.

According to the order of the shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu issued a summoning order to the surrounding daimyo of Yamato, Ise, Tanba, and Mino.

A few days later, the 1,000 permanent members of the Owari clan were the first to arrive at Wakayama Castle, and Toshikatsu Doi first arrived at the Owari domain on his way to the Kii domain, where he met with Tokugawa Yoshinao, another lord of the Owari domain.

Tokugawa Yoshinao had suffered a major blow in the First World War more than a year ago, and the current standing capacity had only recovered to 5,000 people, so this time he only sent 1,000 feudal soldiers to report, which was actually a sign of support.

In the following ten days, more than 10,000 other daimyo feudal soldiers arrived, and it was said that there was a gap according to Tokugawa Yorinobu's expectations, but Tokugawa Yoshinobu did not say much.

After all, the daimyo who followed Tokugawa Yoshinao on the expedition more than a year ago and almost completely wiped out their army were almost not compensated by the shogunate, but their feudal lords were allowed not to go to Edo to meet the shogun that year, and the expenses were reduced for them in disguise, but this was far from enough, you must know that the losses were the top combat power of each daimyo.

Therefore, this time, the daimyo who could have sent two or three thousand feudal soldiers only sent 1,000 feudal soldiers, and those who could send 1,000 feudal soldiers only sent 500 feudal soldiers, which is a bit of a coping situation.

But Tokugawa Yoshinobu really can't be more serious, after all, the Tokugawa shogunate is not too authentic, and it can't ask too much for these daimyos.

Tokugawa Yoshinobu didn't wait too long, because Fukuyama Castle had been besieged for months, and he didn't know how long the food in the castle would last, so Tokugawa Yoshinobu led 11,000 other daimyo feudal soldiers and 5,000 feudal soldiers from the Kii domain to the north through the Uchijiang River, and drove directly to Harima, where more than 4,000 local daimyo feudal soldiers gathered and passed through Bizen directly to Bichu Fukuyama Castle.

When Tokugawa Yorisen's army was still dozens of miles away from Fukuyama Castle, this army was already more than 23,000 people, and of course there were 3,000 people transporting baggage behind, after all, the grain and rice needed by so many feudal soldiers were not a small number, and the grain route behind it must be safe.

In Tokugawa Yorinobu's view, there was no suspense that the 20,000 army was against the 10,000 rebellious army of the Chōshū Domain.

The army of the Choshu Domain has besieged Fukuyama Castle for nearly two months, but only nearly 10,000 troops want to capture Fukuyama Castle.

Yamauchi Nobumasa was a siege, waiting for the city to run out of food, and it would fall on its own like a ripe fruit.

Mizuno Katsunari and Mizuno Katsutoshi were also anxious, there was less than a month's food left in the city, and if reinforcements did not come, they would have to fight.

But the large army on the opposite side has a large cavalry army that they cannot shake at all, it is simply a suicidal attack.

On this day, when they were anxious, the army of the Choshu Domain outside the city suddenly withdrew and headed east, leaving only nearly a thousand cavalry to continue to watch Fukuyama Castle.

Mizuno Katsunari and Mizuno Katsutoshi both thought that it might be reinforcements coming, so they had two choices, one was to immediately send troops to attack the rebellion of the Choshu Domain, of course, there was a risk here, God knows if the rebellion of the Choshu Domain was deliberately selling a flaw, so that they thought that the reinforcements were coming to a close place, and then spread the net and waited.

After luring the feudal soldiers of Fukuyama Castle to leave the fortified castle, a large number of cavalry troops besieged it, and as long as the feudal soldiers were defeated, the fortified fortress of Fukuyama Castle was within reach.

Besides, they could hold on to the castle with the Fukuyama Domain, but if, in case, the Choshu Domain defeated the feudal troops who came to their aid and turned back to continue the siege, they would still not be able to hold out for long.

The elders of the Fukuyama clan were also arguing, some asked for troops, and some were old and serious defenders of the city, and the two sides were at loggerheads, and no one could convince anyone, but they only added trouble to the two masters.

And time passed in this kind of grind.

At this time, Nobumasa Yamauchi was leading more than 7,000 Changshu Domain's standing forces to the east, and there was no way to do it, except for the soldiers who stayed behind in Hiroshima Castle and suffered casualties, there were so many troops left in the Choshu Domain.

"General Yamauchi, our army is more than 7,000 people, I'm afraid it's not the opponent of the shogunate's reinforcements."

The Masuda Yuan family was a little sad.

In the First World War in Hiroshima, it should be said that the new standing combat power of the Choshu domain was quite strong, and this is indisputable.

But no matter how strong the combat power is, it is good to have one block, two blocks, and three in the battle array, and the opponent is the majority, three times that of their 7,000 people, and the difference in numbers is a bit big.

In the history of the Warring States period, tens of thousands of people have never been defeated by one enemy or three, and all of them were won by the superior in numbers.

The most famous battle of Nagashino, Takeda relied on 12,000 troops against the 35,000 troops of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, and finally Takeda trusted the command of nearly 8,000 casualties, many loyal family elders died in battle, and the Takeda family Miao character was cut off, and there was no Takeda in the Warring States period from then on.

"Lord Masuda, this is a crucial battle for my Choshu Domain to regain its homeland, and despite all odds, we must hold on, as long as we hold on until the arrival of the cavalry of the Ming army, it will be a victory. Ben General had absolute confidence in the cavalry combat power of the Ming army. ”

Nobubu Yamauchi has a good heart.

From the perspective of the Masuda Motojia, the general did not hesitate at all and was full of confidence in the decisive battle.

The Masuda Motoya could only nod yes, and swallowed back the advice of avoiding the war first, gathering the ashigaru in the domain, and then fighting a decisive battle, alas, it is still Yamauchi who is in charge.

In fact, Yamauchi Nobumasa is also playing drums in his heart, if the opponent is 15,000 people, then Yamauchi is still very confident in victory, but the opponent is 20,000 people, and after the Ming army stayed behind with 500 people to monitor Fukuyama City, only 2,000 Ming cavalry participated in the decisive battle, and Yamauchi Nobumasa also felt that it was a little too little.

The strength of the other party is not weak, and even the soldiers of the Kii Domain are quite strong.

However, at this time, it is too late to say anything else, and now the brave wins when the two meet, and taking a step back is the abyss. (To be continued.) )