Chapter 56 fourth quarter
Takeda Shingen died.At this moment, the crisis of Oda Nobunaga has almost gone.
However, the Takeda family kept Shingen's death secret, and it took a long time for the incident to become widely known, but Nobunaga got the news immediately.Ten days later, on April 11, in Nobunaga's letter to Uesugi Kenshin, he stated how to attack the Takeda family who had lost Shingen as soon as possible.As expected of Nobunaga, his ability to gather information is indeed superior.
But he wasn't the kind of man who was happy to breathe a sigh of relief when the crisis was over.When Takeda Shingen removed the boulder above his head, he immediately started to get rid of those obtrusive and annoying ghosts. The first target was Ashikaga Yoshiaki, followed by Asakura and Asai.Nobunaga first intensified his oppression of Yoshiaki and induced him to rebel for the third time.
After Takeda's going to Kyoto disappeared, Ashikaga Yoshiaki's situation has significantly weakened, but this conspirator still does not give up, expecting China's Maori to follow Takeda, and fled from Kyoto on July 3, in Uji's Maki Makishima City raises troops.Nobunaga hurried to the capital on the huge ship that Niwa Naghide was ordered to build, and quickly surrounded Makishima on the 16th.This time Kinoshita Hideyoshi and Hidecho brothers also led the army.Takeda's pressure disappeared, and now no one can contain the actions of the Oda Army.
The rapid action of the Oda army made Ashikaga Yoshiaki panic, and sent his son Yoshihiro as a hostage to beg for peace, but Nobunaga had no scruples and ignored his plea, and exiled Yoshiaki to Wakae in Hanoi.Only then did the Ashikaga Shogunate really disintegrate.
It's just that Nobunaga still betrayed Yoshiaki's favor, that is, to extradite Yoshiaki to the Mori family in accordance with his expectations.After moving to the Mori family, Yoshiaki still retains the vacant position of general, and continues to plan to overthrow the Oda family.There is a school of thought that one of the reasons why Akechi Mitsuhide attacked Nobunaga at Honnoji Temple was that he was instigated by Yoshiaki, because in Mitsuhide's letter to Terumoto Mori, words such as "To General Tadana Ashikaga" appeared.If there is such a thing, then Oda Nobunaga's rare kindness has ruined himself.The Warring States Period was such a competitive society where the weak preyed on the strong, either you die or I die.
In this incident, Kinoshita Hideyoshi did not play any important role in the military, but because he was ordered to send Ashikaga Yoshiaki to Sakai City and hand it over to the Mori family, he gained a lot.This task means that Kinoshita Hideyoshi has officially become the person in charge of fighting with the Maori family.Four years ago, Tajima sent troops to aid the Maori family. It seemed futile, but now it has been rewarded in this way.And at this time, among the envoys sent by the Maori family to pick up the general, there was a monk named Anguosi Huiqiong.Getting acquainted with him through this negotiation will bring great benefits to Hideyoshi in the future.
In this way, the Ashikaga Shogunate faded out of the stage of history, and Oda Nobunaga successfully drove away the "internal enemy" after the "foreign enemy".As if to celebrate this event, Nobunaga changed the reign name to Tensho.When the yuan was changed four years ago, Nobunaga wanted to use Tensho, but Yoshiaki insisted on using Yuangui, and the two had a very unpleasant fight over this.Perhaps Nobunaga wanted to use this change of origin to tell the people who is the real "man of the world".
Then it was the turn of Asakura, Asai, and Hideyoshi Kinoshita as the protagonist.
"First of all, according to the usual practice, Koichiro will lobby those rural samurai."
After Hideyoshi completed the task of escorting Ashikaga Yoshiaki back to Yokoyama Castle, he said this sentence at the beginning, that is, he would start with procuring surrender as in the past.
Not only did the elder brother order Koichiro in this way, but he also set his sights on the important figure of the Asai family - the lord of Yamamoto Castle, Akan Awaji Shoushatsu.
This time the Xuanfu was quite easy.Everyone knows that the situation in the world has changed, and they almost can't wait to accept the lobbying of Brother Kinoshita.It took less than three days for Aguan Zhenzheng to surrender to Nobunaga under Hideyoshi's intermediary.
In the meantime, Akechi Mitsuhide and others captured the two castles of Kido and Tanaka in Omi Takashima County, and Hosokawa Fujitaka, Mibuchi Fujihide and others easily captured the territory occupied by Iwasei Tomotsu, one of the three good people. Diancheng.
(It turns out that the trend of the times is like this...)
This overnight change made Koichiro feel deeply afraid.The mighty anti-Oda alliance collapsed in response to the failure of Takeda Shingen and Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who had no direct influence, and lost all fighting spirit.
(People's hearts will naturally move closer to the strong.)
Thinking about it this way, Koichiro seems to be able to understand why his brother is willing to overcome all difficulties and risk his life in order to succeed.When a person walks uphill, surrounded by others, he is almost unstoppable, but once he starts to go downhill, he will soon be surrounded by everyone.
But Hideyoshi has no time to fall into this kind of sentimentality, his mind is only thinking about how to take advantage of this great opportunity to encircle Asai Nagamasa who is at a disadvantage.Nobunaga's pace is far more aggressive than Hideyoshi.
Oda Nobunaga returned to Gifu on August 4th. On the 8th, when he received the news that Aguan Zhenzhen had surrendered, he immediately shouted: "Fujikichiro, let's go." He ordered Fujikichiro to send troops immediately in the middle of the night.
At this time, Nagamasa Asai didn't know that Aguan had surrendered to Nobunaga. He was surprised enough to see the Oda army suddenly coming, but he didn't expect to see Aguan standing in the vanguard, and he was so frightened that he almost fainted.Asakura Yoshikage received the emergency notice from Otani Castle, and led a hastily formed army of 20,000 soldiers to Dayue City to the north of Otani Castle on August 10th.For Asakura Yoshikage, who has always been slow to move, such a performance is not easy, but also because of this, there is a lack of preparation in all aspects.So when they were attacked preemptively by the Oda army, they were involved in a fierce battle before they had time to reorganize their army.
From August 12th to 13th, the two armies fought in a wide mountainous area. Asakura's army was defeated and fled, while Oda pursued the victory and entered Tsuruga in one fell swoop.Years of patience broke out in one fell swoop, and Nobunaga's army pursued him with a fierce offensive.It is said that Oda's vassal Kanematsu Masakichi (also known as Kanamatsu Matashiro) fought with bare feet, and his feet were stained with blood. Nobunaga couldn't see it, so he took off the straw sandals hanging around his waist "in the middle of his feet" and handed them to him.This pair of "feet" is now in the Toyoki Ergong Exhibition Hall in Nagoya City, and it has become a physical evidence to estimate the fierce battle that day.
On August 17, Oda Nobunaga entered Echizen and continued to attack Asakura Yoshikage.Yijing gave up his base Yichenggu and fled to Shantianzhuang. On the 20th, the whole family committed seppuku together, and the famous Chaocang family was completely destroyed since then.
After Asakura's demise, only Asai Nagamasa's Otani Castle was left alone in Kita Omi.When Oda Nobunaga attacked Asakura and wiped out his entire family for ten days, Asai did not take any action.Important subordinates such as Isino, Miyabe, and Aguan have rebelled one after another, and more than half of the territory has been occupied. The Asai family may not have enough strength to contain the Oda army.Then Takeda retreated, General Ashikaga was exiled, and the Asakura family, which he had always relied on, was defeated. Asai must be very depressed.
Oda Nobunaga returned from Echizen to Mount Tiger Gozen on August 26, and launched a full-scale attack on Otani Castle at dawn on the 27th, and of course sent Kinoshita Hideyoshi, who had been fighting against the castle for a long time, as the vanguard.
Kinoshita Hideyoshi led a small number of elite soldiers to attack Kyogoku Maru through Shoo Maru from the north, while the main force of Kinoshita Army attacked from the foot of the mountain at the same time, and successfully occupied the fortress in the blink of an eye.The strategy this time is almost the same as the strategy adopted in the previous attack on Inabayama Castle.From this point of view, the commander of the frontal attack force must be the same as at that time, Hidecho Koichiro.Although he has no extraordinary creativity or bold and amazing actions, he has excellent execution ability and can complete the established decisions calmly and surely.The elder brother made bold breakthroughs and the younger brother performed steadily. The complementary roles played by the two brothers have not changed throughout their lives.
After capturing Kyogokumaru, a strong fortress at the eastern end, Hideyoshi continued to attack Xiaomaru with all his might, forcing Asai Nagamasa's father, Hisamasa, to commit suicide.
The next day, the twenty-eighth day, the entire Oda Army dispatched to attack the surviving Honmaru. Asai Nagamasa knew he was outnumbered, so he released his wife, Nobunaga's younger sister Ashi and three daughters, and sent a letter through Hideyoshi. Chang's side, and then committed suicide, the Asai family perished, only eight days later than the Asakura family.However, the blood left by Asai Nagamasa still had a profound impact on Japanese history.Of his three daughters, the eldest daughter later became Hideyoshi's concubine Yodo-kun, the second daughter married Kyo Goko, and the third daughter became the main wife of Tokugawa Ieyasu's heir Hidetada, and gave birth to the third general Iemitsu and others.
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