Chapter 79 first quarter

"It is absolutely impossible for Araki Settsu-sama to betray Lord Nobunaga. Please immediately tell Settsu Mamoru to quell such rumors." At the end of October of the lunar calendar in the sixth year of Tensho, Hashiba Hideyoshi successively received news that Araki Murashige was acting suspiciously, so he sent envoys to Arioka Castle in Itami without hesitation. Hideyoshi, who is pragmatic by nature, can't think of any reason for Araki Murashige to betray, so he thinks there is still a chance to cancel his impulsive decision.However, Hideyoshi's younger brother Koichiro Hidecho is not so optimistic.

He is not as keen on fame and fortune as his elder brother and knows how to deal with it dexterously, so he understands the physical and mental suffering and exhaustion of following Nobunaga, a strict dictator.However, there is another person who can understand Murashige's mood better than Koichiro and others, and that is Akechi Mitsuhide. Mitsuhide, like Murashige, joined the Oda family from Ashikaga Yoshiaki's vassals. He still kept the traditional values ​​and the order concept of the old system in his heart. He believed that Nobunaga's strength-oriented and revolutionary reforms were fundamentally a Ruthless destruction of tradition.

But relatively, Mitsuhide is also very aware of how strong and powerful these ruthless practices have brought Nobunaga and the Oda family, and Araki's conspiracy has absolutely no chance of success.For this reason, Akechi Mitsuhide also sent envoys to Arioka Castle to dissuade Murashige. There is no record in historical materials of the words Hideyoshi, a typical pragmatist, and Mitsuhide, an intellectual advocating the old system—the two people who will stage a fateful confrontation in the future—dissuaded Araki Murashige with words.But judging from the previous situation, Hideyoshi should let Murashige recall the kindness of the Oda family to him and Nobunaga's high evaluation and attention to him, hoping that he would realize how unfavorable it is to betray the Oda family; sympathy and tell him how low the chances of success are.The more realistic people are, the more often they talk about metaphysical spiritual demands. This is almost a common phenomenon regardless of the age.

In the face of the envoys sent by his old and new friends, Araki Murashige only reluctantly responded with ambiguous answers, but in action he began to prepare for the rebellion more actively.Murakami was terrified in his heart. He knew that once rumors of treason spread, even if he changed his mind and was forgiven, he would still be executed sooner or later.To Araki Murashige, Nobunaga was an extremely terrifying person. "The situation is not good..." After entering November, Hideyoshi couldn't help panicking.Garrisoned in Harima, the Hashiba Legion, which is stubbornly resisted by Mori in the west and Changzhi in the interior, is most afraid of rebellion from Settsu in the east.If not handled properly, the entire legion will be isolated.Such a sense of crisis began to spread throughout the Shushushan camp.

However, at such a critical juncture, someone volunteered to go to Arioka Castle to persuade Murashige, and that person was Kuroda officer Wei Xiaotaka. "Settsu Shou and his subordinates all believe in Christianity. As long as you tell him the laws of heaven and understand the situation, you will be able to persuade him to give up his thoughts..." The officers, soldiers and guards fiddled with the cross hanging around their necks, and asked for orders on their own initiative.He has always been confident in his resourcefulness and eloquence. "This is really wishful. It would be great if he could be persuaded."

Hideyoshi agreed to let Kuroda take the risk in this way. On the one hand, he had the mentality of being a dead horse as a living horse doctor, and on the other hand, he also hoped to use this to give the officers, soldiers and guards a chance to make contributions. (As things stand now, I'm afraid it's useless to go.) Koichiro understands Murashige's mood better than his elder brother, so he judges this in his heart, and also wants to dissuade Guanbingwei.However, he didn't really do that.Objecting to the lord's decision at such a juncture is definitely not a good strategy. Even if my elder brother's prediction is wrong, my own judgment is correct, and it will only damage my elder brother's authority, and it will not do any good.As an aide, of course, you must restrain yourself from comparing your intelligence or popularity with the lord.

Kuroda Kanbei's bold action turned out to be worse than Koichiro predicted.Kuroda, who visited Arioka Castle, had no chance to see Murashige, so he was arrested and imprisoned. He lived in prison for more than a year. At that time, the prisons in the city were extremely small, with neither ventilation nor sunlight. Prisoners could neither stand nor lie down, but could only sit on the damp ground and wait for death or miracles.Especially when the city was surrounded or attacked and there was insufficient food, they were more often starved to death.Therefore, when Hideyoshi captured Arioka Castle and rescued Kanbei Kuroda, more than half of his hair had fallen off, and he became disabled with one foot unable to straighten.

Kuroda Kanbei deserves sympathy, but the actions he took seem a little reckless.In addition to him, during this period, in order to suppress the impact of Araki Murashige's rebellion, Araki, Mori, and Honganji, in order to more effectively play the role of rebellion, the two camps launched diplomatic wars one after another. Take more realistic responses. However, in the diplomatic tug-of-war that lasted from the end of October to the beginning of November in the seventh year of Tianzheng (1579), the Oda family won an overwhelming victory-not only did no general rebel with Araki Murashige, even Araki's right-hand men, Takayama Ukon and Nakagawa Sebei, are still staying at Oda's house.

It is almost entirely the credit of Akechi Mitsuhide who persuaded and retained the two major generals Takayama and Nakagawa.When Mitsuhide knew that Murashige could not be kept, he immediately changed his policy and started to weaken the support troops of the Araki Army.His experience as a retainer of General Ashikaga played a great role at this time.In addition, many of Mitsuhide's subordinates (the generals of the support department directly under Nobunaga) who belonged to the old system, such as Hosokawa Fujitaka and Tsutsui Junkei, also became a great help.These people can occupy high positions in the Oda family, which has a calming effect in itself.

Takayama Ukon of Takatsuki Castle and Nakagawa Sehei of Ibaraki Castle did not rebel with Murashige, so that the Oda family kept the water transportation of the Yodo River, and was able to maintain the Harima, Izumi, Osaka and other fronts and the contact and supply routes between Kyoto and Azuchi.Conversely, Araki Murashige's basic strategy of mastering Settsu and cutting off the Oda family's connection failed from the very beginning. More than a year later, Murashige moved from Arioka to Amagasaki to continue the war of resistance, but it was not enough to pose a great threat to the Oda family.The Maori family acted cautiously and did not boldly support Araki.Therefore, the fate of Araki Murashige was decided the moment Takayama and Nakagawa turned their backs.

(Great.) When Harima's Hashiba camp learned that Takatsuki Castle and Ibaraki Castle still belonged to the Oda family, and the supply route was cut off, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.Hashiba Hideyoshi immediately went to Beijing along the supply road, and on November 13th, he met with Nobunaga at the newly built Nijo Castle, and participated in the combat meeting held to deal with the village's rebellion. Hideyoshi was not very satisfied with the resolutions at the meeting.The mission of the Hashiba Legion is the same as in the past. It only needs to be responsible for the pacification of Harima, and the heavy task of crusade against Araki is entrusted to the troops led by Nobunaga's eldest son Nobutada.In addition, Takayama Ukon, Nakagawa Sehei and others who left Araki were incorporated into Akechi Mitsuhide's subordinates, making Mitsuhide's military strength the highest among the Oda family. More than a month later, Koichiro learned about this from his brother who had returned to Harima, and it was only for the first time that Koichiro realized that Hinata Mori Akechi Mitsuhide was his brother's opponent, and realized the new task he should take on. (The competition between my brother and Hinata Mori depends entirely on China.) For the Oda family, which occupies a vast territory in the central part of the Japanese archipelago, the battles in Harima, Tanba, and Settsu were only small-scale border battles, and the confrontation between the Maori who owned eleven countries in China was the most important. The battlefield of a showdown.Only by doing meritorious service here can one become the highest-ranking retainer of the Oda family.Now his elder brother Hideyoshi has been lucky enough to enter Harima and become the vanguard to attack China.However, Akechi Mitsuhide is not a fuel-efficient lamp. Of course, he also wants to join this war and make greater achievements.Moreover, passing through Tajima from the Tamba and Tango areas in charge of Mitsuhide, you can enter Inaba and Hoki, which belong to the Mori family.Mitsuhide's strategic vision is extraordinary, and of course it is impossible to ignore this point. (Be sure to capture Tajima before Akechi-sama...) Thinking of this, Koichiro once again realized how important his responsibility is, because his brother had already handed him Taketa Castle, the entrance to Tajima.