Chapter 4 The Second Story Jinwu Zhongnayan-2

The Toyotomi family, who sent out their adopted son, made every effort to prepare for Xiuqiu.First, take out the 30,000 koku salary from Bingo Mihara Castle as a gift to Takakage, his adoptive father.As pension expenses, this salary can be said to be extraordinarily large. "The night is long and the dreams are many, it is not too late." So, in the third month after the matter was decided, Hideyoshi sent Hideaki to leave the capital and go to Longjing's castle - Mihara Castle in Bingo.Hideyoshi prepared a large-scale and colorful honor guard for the young man.He deliberately selected two daimyo-level generals who were capable of fighting well to act as Xiuqiu's personal elders, in an attempt to increase Xiuqiu's social status.The person involved, Xiuqiu, just resigned to fate and acted at the mercy of others.

When Xiuqiu and his party entered Mihara Castle, various ceremonies and Buddhist ceremonies were held to become the head of the Kobayakawa family.During this period, Long Jing has always maintained the gentle and kind expression unique to the elders, but those old servants who have been in Kobayakawa's house for many years can see the faint melancholy expression on the face of the master Long Jing.Everyone bit their lips in silence. Some even cursed behind their backs: "Look at that stupid face!" Even people like Yida, the elder of Kuangzhen Temple (now Zongguang Temple) under Sanyuan City, secretly wrote in his diary after paying homage to Xiuqiu:

Being stupid and rude is a sign of ruin for a family business.Sad, sad. On June 12, the second year of Qingchang (1597), Long Jing passed away at the age of sixty-six.All the territories that Longjing owned before his death, including Zhuqian and other places, totaled 522,500 stones. These have become Xiuqiu's family property. Shortly after inheriting the family property, the order for the second invasion of North Korea was issued.Xiuqiu was placed under a new destiny.He served as Marshal (Commander-in-Chief) of the Grand Army. When dispatching such a large-scale expeditionary force, from a purely military point of view, I am afraid that only someone like Tokugawa Ieyasu, the chief daimyo of the Toyotomi family, would be suitable to be the commander-in-chief.However, from a political point of view, this is impossible.Because if a great man is appointed as the commander of the expeditionary force, he will command the foreign expeditionary force in the field, gain popularity and fame, and for this reason, after returning victoriously, there is a danger of changing the domestic political system.

However, it was suggested that Ieyasu should be the commander.And in fact, Ieyasu once said: "With me here, Your Highness (referring to Hideyoshi) does not need to wear armor." This means that he is willing to be the commander of the expeditionary force and do it for Hideyoshi.This can be said to be a polite remark from Ieyasu, but it also shows his attitude.Regarding this expedition across the sea, like most other daimyos, Ieyasu was opposed to it in his heart.Even so, he seemed to have thought in his heart that he should at least talk to Hideyoshi about becoming a commander.It is said that when one of his subordinates brought up this matter, it was as if someone had seen through his mind. Ieyasu was very upset and said, "Don't talk nonsense. If I go on an expedition, who will guard Hakone! "

Not long before this, Gamo Shigo, the lord of Aizu who owned a territory of more than 910,000 shi, died.When he was dying, in front of his cronies, he cursed in a very disgusted and contemptuous tone: "This monkey boy, he is not dying, he must have gone crazy." It is said that this was the private criticism of most of the daimyos against the conquest of Korea.Hideyoshi launched an expedition to North Korea just to satisfy his own vanity, and for the princes, there was no material benefit.During the first expedition, the territories of the princes of all parties were exhausted and withered.Now that they have to send troops on an expedition again, consuming the national treasury, the prestige of the Toyotomi family has dropped sharply because of this.However, compared with the past, Hideyoshi is a different person.Unaware of this change in the situation, he asked the vassals who did not go on an expedition and stayed at home to send people and money to start large-scale construction projects in other places in the Fushimi area.The construction of this city was not for military purposes or reasons, but for the so-called sake of his son, that is, to give Osaka Castle to Hideyori, who is still an infant, while he owns Fushimi Castle.From then on, when Hideyoshi dealt with all aspects of government affairs, he always planned for Hideyoshi first, and this became his only starting point for thinking about problems. "This monkey boy... has gone crazy", the sentence that Gamo Shixiang scolded is not without reason.

A series of unfortunate things befell Jinwu Zhongnayan Kobayakawa Hideaki, one of which can be said to have become the commander of the expeditionary force under this situation. Xiuqiu led an army of 163,000 people with 42 daimyos, crossed the sea and entered North Korea, and set up a base camp in Pusan ​​Prefecture behind the front line.Kuroda Rushui, who did not wear a military uniform, followed Xiuqiu to North Korea and served as his staff officer. The vanguards of the expeditionary force were Kato Kiyomasa and Konishi Yukio. Although they often had an advantage in the battle against the enemy, they were different from the first time they sent troops. The labor porters also have a strong sense of war weariness, so they sometimes suffer unexpected defeats.

The situation on these battlefields was reported to Fushimi Castle one by one by the supervisor (supervisor).After Ishida Mitsunari received these reports, he reported them to Hideyoshi. Ishida Mitsunari, who served as the supervisor of the army during the first expedition, fully exposed his prosecutor-like character at that time. As the target of the attack, Hideyoshi was reported one by one.Ishida Mitsunari's temperament is that he cannot tolerate any small mistakes of other people, as well as undisciplined and impolite behaviors.For this reason, every general who went to the expedition made Hideyoshi unhappy.For example, Kato Kiyomasa almost lost the daimyo's black hat.During the second expedition this time, Ishida Mitsunari stayed in Fushimi Castle, but the reports sent back to the country were reviewed and sorted by him, and then passed to Hideyoshi's ears.

Naturally, Hideyoshi was not happy with the current situation of the expeditionary force, nor was he satisfied with any of the generals. During the tenth month of the expedition, the famous Ulsan City Defense Battle took place.Kato Kiyomasa stood alone and fought against the 40,000 troops of the Ming Dynasty. In the end, he even ran out of food.Kato sent someone to rush to the base camp in Busan, begging for help. Kuroda Rushui suggested: "General Jinwu, we must act against the clock on this matter!" Later, in the name of Xiuqiu, he issued military orders to all the generals, marching from all directions at the same time, and encircled the enemy. After a large-scale contest, he obtained 13,230 enemy heads. big victory.Xiuqiu was very interested in the actual combat he experienced for the first time, and he couldn't sit still in the military tent anymore.The 40,000 troops of the Ming Dynasty fled around the battlefield, and the Japanese army chased the fleeing enemies like hunters chasing wild deer, and easily took off their heads.

"I'm going to kill too!" Xiuqiu also had the urge to kill.Thinking of this, the young man's temper made him unable to restrain himself.The staff tried to prevent him from going out, but after he drove them away with a whip, he whipped his horse into the enemy's line.In order to defend Xiuqiu, Xiuqiu's guards had to chase desperately.Chasing down the fleeing enemy requires neither courage nor great martial arts.Xiuqiu rode on the horse like crazy, killed thirteen enemies, and he himself was spattered with blood. Finally, he was exhausted and ended the killing game.

The incident was immediately reported to Fushimi. Hideyoshi awarded certificates to the three generals including Kato Kiyomasa who made great achievements in the defense of Ulsan City. He was also deeply satisfied with the role played by the reinforcements led by Hideaki. Hideyoshi was like a child who left home for a hike, happily saying: "Kingo is really good!" When he is in a good mood, Hideyoshi still has a charm that often makes people around him fall in love with him. However, Hideyoshi's mood completely changed after a few days.If this kind of sudden change happened in the twentieth century, it would be better to say that it belongs to the field of medicine.

Hideyoshi suddenly said: "Jin Wu will not tolerate it." This was not because he had seen any new materials from Xiuqiu. The report he read was still the same as last time, but his view on the report had changed. Ishida Mitsunari's opinion changed Hideyoshi's view.Sancheng thinks that if Xiuqiu's prestige has been greatly improved because of the Ulsan city siege this time, then he has to be said to be very dangerous to Xiulai in the future.Xiuqiu's elder brother Guan Baixiuci has been killed, and for Xiulai, this is one less threat.The rest are Xiuqiu and the Tokugawa Ieyasu from the Kanto. As a foreign vassal (collateral vassal), Ieyasu has too much power. For Ishida Mitsunari, ensuring Hideyori's safety was the only political principle.Just because Hideyoshi understands this, he especially favors and reuses Sancheng.In addition to being very loyal to Hideyoshi, Sancheng has a feeling of admiration for Yodohime and her son. This feeling can even be said to be a kind of nostalgia for the hometown.Thirty percent are from Kita Omi.Yodohime is the daughter of Kita Omi's daimyo Asai clan who was destroyed by Oda Nobunaga. The people of Kita Omi regard this lady as a god emotionally.Needless to say, among the daimyos of the Toyotomi family, those from Omi formed a salon with Yodohime as the core, and this salon also formed a boudoir. After Yodohime gave birth to Hideyori, this group of Omi school daimyos became It became the mainstream faction among the ruling officials of the Toyotomi family.In this regard, daimyos from Owari, such as Kato Kiyomasa, Fukushima Masanori, and Kato Yoshiaki, have a deep friendship with Beizhengsuo, who is also from Owari, since they were young. The center forms the boudoir, and in everything, Ishida San becomes the center's enemy.Most of the generals who are fighting on the front lines in North Korea now belong to the party of the North Korean Political Bureau.In the future, if this party brings out Xiu Qiu to compete with Xiu Lai, what will be the result? Sancheng said: "Your Highness's elevating General Jinwu will be disadvantageous to Hideyoshi." Among the people, people believe that Guan Baixiuci was killed because of Ishida Mitsunari's slander.Not to mention whether Sancheng was involved in slander at that time, in short, the demise of Hideyoshi was indeed consistent with Sancheng's political views and Hideyoshi's interests at that time.Moreover, the demise of Xiuji has indeed made Xiuyao's future safer. "Oh, you're right, it turns out that's the case." Hideyoshi believes that Sancheng's explanation for Xiuqiu's behavior makes sense.As the commander-in-chief of an army, he cannot rush into the enemy's battle line by himself like a single-handed warrior.In addition to this one, there are many other misbehaviors. Hideyoshi thought, "Should Xiuqiu be punished?" However, what Sancheng said was just a matter of lack of self-cultivation as a general, a moral issue, not a crime.What's more, it didn't defeat the battle because of it. Rather, it boosted morale and led to a big victory.Therefore it is difficult to punish him. However, there must be punishment.Judging from Xiuqiu's actions, he arbitrarily destroyed the military system established by his adoptive father Longjing.For this reason, the soldiers of Kobayakawa's family were deeply confused and at a loss as to what to do.Long Jing, even in the eyes of ordinary people, is a famous general of his generation.The soldiers under him were sincerely convinced by him, so Kobayakawa's family was strong and strong, and the military law was strict.But ever since Xiuqiu came to Kobayakawa's family as an adopted son, he often ignored the military system for no reason.For the deceased adoptive father, there is no respect at all, no humility and obedience at all.If Hideaki's behavior is like this, then after Hideyoshi's death, he will definitely adopt the same attitude towards the Toyotomi family.This is the so-called stupidity and pride.Although he is a dull person, if there are bad people carrying the sedan chair and blowing the trumpet for him, maybe he will cause a big disaster.Xiu Qiu's existence is not only of no benefit to Xiu Lai, but must be a great harm. Hideyoshi said: "You are right. The fiefdom of 520,000 shi in Zhuqian is too big for Xiuqiu." He believes that with a large area of ​​land and a strong army, people will flatter him; if there are not many lands, people will not flatter him. "Take back his original fief, and give him about 150,000 shi in Echizen. You should check carefully which land is given to him." Hideyoshi ordered Ishida Mitsunari to put this matter into practice on the spot. In the second year, that is, in April of the third year of Qingchang (1598), Xiuqiu received an order to return to China.He had to leave the troops of Kato Kiyomasa and others on the battlefield, and returned to the court with his own squad, and came to Fushimi Castle.At this time, Xiuqiu was still full of dust. The period of life in the Korean battlefield can be said to be the most proud period of his life.When he left, Fushimi Castle was still under construction, but now, a majestic and magnificent castle stands in front of him.Xiuqiu boarded Fushimi Castle with excitement and paid homage to Hideyoshi. However, a strange thing happened.From the middle of the hall, Hideyoshi scolded.Hideyoshi reprimanded him with a loud voice that shook the house, and rushed into the enemy's line with the soldiers to claim meritorious service during the anti-siege battle in Ulsan, and even said: "I regret it now, I shouldn't have appointed someone like you as an admiral." He didn't say a word about his military exploits. "What's going on here!" At first, Xiuqiu didn't know why and was stunned for a moment.Then, he realized that this was probably caused by Ishida Mitsunari's slander.And that's what the generals on the Korean battlefield secretly resented. "No, no, nothing like that..." Perhaps it was because of his natural timidity, when he got emotional, he would stutter and stutter, making it almost difficult for people to hear what he said.Probably because of stuttering, the voice of speaking became higher unconsciously.This tone made people feel that he was trying to intimidate his adoptive father.Xiuqiu yelled loudly: "There is no such thing. Your Highness must have heard someone else's wrong report. If you don't believe me, please call the Supervising Army, call this brat, Zhibu Shao, and let us confront His Highness in order to argue. Right and wrong." Hideyoshi also shouted in Owari dialect with a louder voice than Hideaki: "What are you talking about?" Although his voice was still very loud, he was already very old after all, and his frail appearance made people worry that he was terminally ill.This person who once created history, his rationality has gone somewhere, and now only the impulse of emotion is left, which makes his thin and small body tremble violently.From Hideyoshi's point of view, the reason why this eccentric boy (although he was actually twenty-one years old at the time) became a nobleman and daimyo was entirely single-handedly promoted by him.Forget all this, how ungrateful it is to yell loudly at an old man who is dying! Hideyoshi didn't say a word, it was like losing his tongue.Sadness and anger dominated him, making his body in the brocade robe tremble.This can be said to be the first time in Hideyoshi's life.Hideyoshi, who used to be eloquent, witty, and extremely rich in vocabulary, has become a completely different person today.He stood up without saying a word, left his seat, and walked towards the back room. Hideyoshi ordered the waiter beside him, "I want to sleep for a while." A few days ago, he was so weak that he became incontinent in bed and got wet.Today's Hideyoshi was crying on the bed.He regrets, he is disturbed.When he thought of that ungrateful fellow who was supposed to be Shurai's protector, he felt that he couldn't just die like this.Hideyoshi renews his determination to punish Xiuqiu. On the other hand, in the lobby, Xiuqiu raised his voice and insulted Hideyoshi's cronies and staff members loudly.He shouted: "Give me three deals!" Sancheng came to the hall from the back room. "Your Excellency Jinwu, hello!" Ishida Mitsunari stared at Xiuqiu while staring at him, and said calmly: "From the situation just now, His Highness will not calm down immediately. Turn around and wait for him to feel better." When the time comes, I will mediate it for you, and you should go back early today!" Holding the handle of the short knife stuck in her waist in one hand, Xiuqiu took a step forward and shouted, "Master Zhibu!" He really wanted to cut 30% off.However, Masahiro Yamaguchi, who served as Hideyoshi Taifu's official residence Xuanbotou, stopped him.However, Xiuqiu put aside Yamaguchi's hand and said loudly, "Are you missing a nostril with Jibu?" The position of Taifu has returned to his own territory - the 60,000 stone Kaga Daishoji City.At this time, one of his accompanying elders, named Sugihara Shimono, hugged Xiuqiu who was fighting from behind. During this period, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the head of the Toyotomi family who happened to be present in order to meet with Hideyoshi, watched the dispute from the sidelines from the sidelines.After a while he stood up and said calmly: "Your Excellency Jin Wu, I'm going to the city, let's go together!" At this time, Xiuqiu may have been under a kind of coercion, and suddenly became quiet, like a swinger who has recovered from a high fever.It was said that the scene was a little comical. Ieyasu's recent impression in the government office of Toyotomi's family is that he is an honest, trustworthy and personable elder.However, what he was planning in his mind was the political changes that would inevitably come after Hideyoshi's death.Ieyasu took advantage of the favorable condition that he had gained the trust of the Beizheng Institute for a long time, and tried to gain the trust of her fellow party daimyos through the Beizheng Office. For this reason, during this period of time, whenever he had the opportunity, he tried to give them favors. .Although Xiuqiu said he was ignorant, he was after all a great name with a fief of 520,000 shi, and he was also the nephew of the Beizheng Office.After this incident, Ieyasu began to show an even excessive concern for this young man. Xiuqiu was almost pulled and pushed down Fushimi Castle by Ieyasu.When he returned to the mansion, he ordered the servants to bring wine.After drinking three or four cups, he became so drunk that his breathing became short of breath.Because this person is not born to drink. Not long after Xiuqiu arrived home, Master Kozo visited Hideyoshi as an envoy.About this filial Tibetan master, I have already mentioned it in the first story of this book, "Killing Guanbai".This is a female official in charge of housekeeping in the inner palace of Toyotomi's family.Since Hideaki was a member of the Toyotomi family and received courtesy from his fellow clansmen, the envoy he sent was not a samurai serving as a servant in the government office, but the head of the Toyotomi family.It was this nun who persuaded Xiuci to leave Juledi.This person is tactful in the world, and everyone respects her very much.When this nun acted as an emissary to deal with the two adopted sons of the Toyotomi family, she played a devilish role both times. The nun looked down and said: "Your Highness has ordered that all the territories in Chikuzen and other places have been taken back. Please leave for Echizen immediately." "I..." Xiuqiu wanted to shout, "I didn't do anything bad!" But he was finally at a loss for words.I saw his lips trembling as he opened and closed, and his breathing was rapid.When Master Xiaozang saw his appearance, he became frightened and wanted to run away as soon as he finished the above sentence.Xiuqiu grabbed the nun's sleeve. "Nun, nun, I'm not guilty!" "This is an order from His Highness, it will be good for you to obey it honestly." "I'm not guilty. But..." In Xiuqiu's mind, the scene of her elder brother Xiuci and his wife and concubine being brutally murdered suddenly appeared.Brother Hideji's crime is treason, it seems that there is no such fact, he is also innocent.Only now did I understand. Xiuqiu shouted: "Please kill me!" This is not due to insanity.From Xiuqiu's point of view, now is the calmest moment in his life. "Please kill me. If I live in this world, I have to obey the master's order and go to Echiqian. But if Master Meng grants me death, then I don't have to obey his orders. Nun, please tell me Master, let’s just kill Jin Wu.” Master Xiaozang hurriedly left Xiuqiu's mansion as if fleeing, but in this situation, it was difficult to return to Fushimi Castle to report to the master.She felt very embarrassed, and finally ordered the bearers to speed up their pace, head west along the main road, and rush to Ieyasu's mansion.Because she wanted to ask Jiakang to mediate. "What happened to you?" A smile appeared on Ieyasu's muscular cheeks. "It's about Master Jinwu." "What's the matter, Your Excellency Jin Wu?" "That Young Master Jin Wu has always been so irritable since he was a child, and when he makes a fuss, we have nothing to do with him." The nun reported Xiuqiu's situation to Jiakang and asked him to help.Ieyasu nodded, agreed to the request, and ordered the servant to rush to the Kobayakawa mansion immediately. Jiakang asked his servant to tell Xiuqiu: "For your safety, please obey the order for the time being regarding the transfer of fief." However, Ieyasu taught Xiuqiu again: "You don't have to leave Chikuzen immediately, and the important ministers don't transfer. Send the samurai who later surrendered and the newly accepted servants to Echizen first, and you need to send them in small groups. In short, Just make a gesture of relocation. Please follow my plan and buy time. During this period, I will try to intercede and mediate with His Highness Taihe for you, and ask His Highness to revoke his earlier order to transfer you to the fiefdom. After hearing Jiakang's reasonable and well-considered suggestion, even the furious Xiuqiu admired him, said "please take care of me" to the visitor, and entrusted this matter to Jiakang.Needless to say, Ieyasu agreed to help him. The next day, Ieyasu boarded Fushimi Castle, begging to pay homage to Hideyoshi alone as if he had something urgent to report.Hideyoshi came to the seat, but unexpectedly, Ieyasu didn't say anything, just lowered his head timidly and remained silent.Afterwards, say a word or two about the weather, and leave.On the second day after this, he also went to the city to ask for an audience, but his behavior was exactly the same as yesterday.The same goes for the third day. Hideyoshi was surprised and asked, "Neifu, do you have something to tell me?" Hideyoshi was always polite when receiving Ieyasu, treating each other as guests, not as his own servants.The language used when speaking is also different from that of other princes. A smile appeared on Jiakang's worried face, and he replied: "I wanted to mediate about the matter of Your Excellency Jin Yuzhong Nayan, and I asked for an interview for this, but seeing that His Highness seemed to be in a bad mood, I finally called It's hard for Xiaosheng to open his mouth." "Oh, so that's what happened!" Hideyoshi immediately became upset, and after saying this, he didn't say anything, and kept silent.Ieyasu was not reluctant, so he resigned.The next day, he went to the city to pay his respects.It was the same on the third day, always lowering my head patiently and looking down. After the two sat silently facing each other for several days, Hideyoshi couldn't help but asked Ieyasu again, "What's the matter with you, are you still obsessed with Kingo's affairs?" Ieyasu gave the same answer as last time. Hideyoshi finally lost his composure, and said, "Xiuqiu's guilt is obvious. But how to deal with it, let the inner government handle it!" Ieyasu put on an extremely happy expression, knelt down on the ground and replied: "Since this is the case, in order to keep the Toyotomi family's family business forever, I would like to consider it carefully and deal with it properly." Just hearing Ieyasu's words, Hideyoshi was so excited that tears welled up in his eyes. He sighed and said, "The words of the Neifu are really like gold and stones, and they are clanging. Please take care of this matter." Hideyoshi was not talking about Hideaki, but about Hideyoshi.What this means is that, for the sake of Xiu Lai's safety, please handle Xiu Qiu properly. Ieyasu got off Fushimi Castle, and after returning to his private house, he called all the elders of the Kobayakawa family to him, and conveyed Hideyoshi's instructions. All the elders are grateful to Ieyasu.Then, Ieyasu added: "As the head of the government, I will be in charge of handling His Excellency Jinwu's affairs. My real idea is to let His Excellency Xiuqiu stay in the original fief. However, considering His Highness Hideyoshi has already said that If I decide to let His Highness Jinwu stay now, it will run counter to His Highness Hideyoshi's instructions, which is very dangerous." Ieyasu made careful arrangements.He asked Jin Wu to "stay in his mansion first, and be careful in everything." Ieyasu said: "Wait for the good news in the future!" According to Ieyasu, Hideyoshi's life expectancy is not expected to be very long.Once Hideyoshi died, the matter would be over. Ieyasu's arrangement brought some confusion to the affairs.Xiuqiu's original territory in Chikuzen is now directly under the Toyotomi family's territory.Ishida Sancheng and the others urged Xiuqiu to hand over as soon as possible.For this reason, Xiuqiu went to Jiakang's house for help. Ieyasu taught him again: "You pay them back a little bit in batches!" For this reason, the Kobayakawa family gradually handed over a number of fiefdoms.Some of the retainers under the Kobayakawa family lost their territories, and some ronin began to be produced.When the number of such ronin increased to about a hundred, Hideyoshi died.This was August 18th in the third year of Qingchang (1598), exactly four months after Xiuqiu was convicted.Ieyasu's prediction became a reality, and Xiuqiu remained in the original territory without moving. After Hideyoshi's death, the current situation was in turmoil.In the summer of the fifth year of Qingcho (1600), Ishida Mitsunari raised his troops, saying that he would attack the traitor Ieyasu.From Sancheng's point of view, all of this is for Hideyoshi and Yodohime.He considered this matter seriously and believed that it was his duty to maintain Toyotomi's regime.Therefore, it is rather said that he thought and did this with a tragic mood. The princes of the world are divided into two factions, East and West. During this period, the Beizheng Institute lived in the capital. In order to hold Buddhist ceremonies and save Hideyoshi, she became a nun, and the Buddha was named Kodaiin.She insisted on the writer Kang's backing, and wanted to save the Toyotomi family through Ieyasu.She tried her best to persuade the generals under her influence to join Ieyasu's camp, and she was generally successful.The only thing she worries about is the ignorant Xiuqiu.She was afraid that he would be deceived by Xi Jun's sweet talk.Where the military flag points, only this young man is unpredictable.Someone from Gaotai Court called Xiuqiu to the capital, and carefully enlightened him: "Your Excellency Edo is your benefactor. You must not repay kindness with grievances, you have gone in the wrong direction!" After hearing this, Xiuqiu nodded silently. However, since Xiuqiu was already in Osaka, the trend of the times forced her to join the Western Army.In addition, Ishida Mitsunari, in the name of Hideyori, promised to give him a million stone fiefdom after winning the battle. Xiuqiu was a little shaken, thinking: "Let's join the Western Army." However, he also sent envoys to Kanto. At the same time, he joined the Western Army, participated in the attack on Fushimi Castle, which was defended by a small force of the Eastern Army, and took the castle.Which side does Xiuqiu belong to?What's more, after this, his instructions to the Western Army appeared to be very slow.For example, he stationed his troops in Gaogong in Omi for a long time, a place that had nothing to do with the war situation, and did not move. Ishida Mitsunari was suspicious of Xiuqiu's actions, and thought to himself: "This person will become a great harm to the friendly army, it is better to get rid of him as soon as possible." He made several opportunities to try to call Xiuqiu to him, but Xiuqiu didn't take the bait. Not only Ishida Mitsunari, but even Ieyasu from Kanto couldn't believe him. Jiakang thought to himself: "This kid is a fool anyway, no one knows how he will change his mind!" Therefore, he did not give a decent answer to the secret envoy sent by Xiuqiu. Ieyasu left Edo for the battlefield, camping at Odawara on the Tokaido.At this time, Xiuqiu's secret envoy came to Jiakang's camp again.Nagai Naokatsu under Ieyasu received him, and then reported the situation to Ieyasu.The secret envoy brought Xiuqiu's message, saying that he was preparing to betray the Western Army. Ieyasu immediately refused and said, "There is no need for an interview." Around this time, Ieyasu tried his best to secretly instigate rebellion against the generals who joined the Western Army. For this reason, the staff were very surprised by Ieyasu's unexpected attitude.The army led by Hideaki Kobayakawa is one of the few in the Western Army, and the number of soldiers is so large that it cannot be taken lightly.Besides, it's not that we asked him to do this, but that the other party offered to cooperate from the inside. He didn't even see the person who came. What's going on? "The villain's words are not credible, so ignore him." Regarding the reason for refusing to see the messenger, Ieyasu made this explanation.If he was negligent and fell into Xiuqiu's tricks, he would suffer a great loss in an emergency.Ieyasu probably thinks that this matter is more important than winning or losing, because it concerns his own reputation.Five days later, when Ieyasu arrived in Shirasuka, emissaries sent by Xiuqiu entered his camp for the third time.However, Ieyasu just sent a subordinate to deal with it. The Battle of Sekigahara began on the morning of September 15th in the fifth year of Qingchang (1600).Although Xiuqiu still belonged to the Western Army at that time, he stood still and set up an formation on the top of Mt. Matsuo, located in the southwest of the Guanyuan Basin, at an altitude of 293 meters, watching the battle from a commanding height. "What is Jin Wu's idea?" The soldiers of the eastern and western armies looked up at Xiuqiu's army on the top of the mountain, and said so in bewilderment.Xiuqiu's position was as high as in the sky. Needless to say, it was not easy to conduct field battles like this, and people doubted whether they even wanted to fight. However, Hiraoka Iwami and Inaba Tango, who were sent to Kingo by the late Hideyoshi, had already promised to support the Eastern Army from within the Western Army through Kuroda Nagamasa of the Eastern Army on the eve of the start of the battle.Ieyasu also agreed to Xiuqiu's request in the form of making Kuroda Nagamasa responsible.And it's not just a verbal guarantee, but also sent Sadaharu Okuheira from the Tokugawa family and Inosuke Okubo from the Kuroda family to Hideaki's army to serve as liaison and surveillance respectively.On the other hand, the Western Army also tried their best to win over Xiuqiu. Shortly before the start of the war, Sancheng persuaded Xiuqiu with the slogan "Fight for Your Excellency Xiu Lai!", trying to strengthen his determination to join the war.Sancheng knew that it was useless to just tell him the principle of loyalty, so he made a promise to Xiuqiu, promising him huge benefits.The so-called benefit refers to: "During the period before Hideyori grows up to fifteen years old, His Excellency Jinwu is completely in charge of the affairs of the world." This probably means that he should be promoted as Guanbai.Facing such a huge lure, Xiuqiu was quite tempted. In this narrow Sekigahara Basin, about 70,000 Eastern Army and about 80,000 Western Army faced each other.Early in the morning, when the rain that had been falling since last night stopped, the two armies began to engage in battle.The closer it was to noon, the more intense the battle became.As the main forces of the Western Army including Ishida, Ukita, and Otani fought desperately, the Eastern Army was under pressure, and the color of the flag obviously deteriorated.In this way, it was finally eleven o'clock in the morning.At this time, part of the Eastern Army had begun to show signs of defeat. However, at this moment, the 8,000 troops led by Xiuqiu still stood still, and they didn't even have the slightest intention to come down from the mountain and join either side of the Eastern and Western armies. Xiuqiu herself was very surprised by the current battle situation.Precisely because he expected that the Western Army to which he belonged would be defeated, he assured the enemy Eastern Army that he would respond from within. Unexpectedly, the current battle situation was not good for the Western Army.Standing on the top of the hill, Xiuqiu was thinking in his own way.He thought, let's take a look and see, when the time comes to see which side wins, join the side, there is nothing more cost-effective than doing so. On the other hand, for Ieyasu, the fighting situation of the troops led by Ishida Mitsunari was far beyond his expectations.After the battle, he did not know how many times he looked up at Mt. Matsuo. Ieyasu said to himself, "Has Jinwu not moved yet? Haven't you fought back?" However, there was no movement on the hilltop where the military flags of Kobayakawa's family were planted, and it was unclear where he was going.Xiuqiu's behavior was not what Ieyasu expected. It was nearly twelve o'clock when Ieyasu finally bit his fingernails with his teeth, which was his habit when he was in a difficult situation. Jiakang couldn't help repeating: "It's really heartwarming to be fooled by this villain!" Then, he resorted to extraordinary means - intimidation.Immediately ordered a foreign gun team to move forward, and after reaching the foot of the Matsuo Mountain position where Xiuqiu's troops were stationed, they fired continuously at the mountain. The fierce gunshots were like Ieyasu's rage. For Xiuqiu, this was the most effective move.When Xiuqiu on the top of the mountain heard the gunshots from the bottom of the mountain, she was startled and frightened, and almost issued a military order when Zhou Zhang was in a panic. It was noon.Kobayakawa's 8,000-strong army rushed down the mountain and killed their own camp.At this moment, the battle situation began to reverse. After the victory, the generals came to congratulate Ieyasu's military tent on the west side of the basin in an endless stream, but Xiuqiu, who made the most contribution to this victory, stayed in his position under the rain all the time. "I'm going to be scolded by Jia Kang." 秀秋害怕家康斥责他，也似乎不大明白自己所起的作用到底有多大。 过了一会儿，家康在自己的军帐中说道：“金吾阁下好象还没有来嘛。” 他命令负责联络的村越茂助去把秀秋接来。家康心想，这个蠢货真费手脚。 不一会儿，秀秋来了。黑田长政把秀秋搀进了家康的军帐之中。 家康唯独对秀秋以宾客之礼相待。他先是从坐着的案桌前站起身来，接着又解去了穿在身上的甲胄。 家康一边向秀秋点头致礼，一边说道：“中纳言阁下，此次足下战功卓著，想必足下今生无憾了吧。” 秀秋跪伏在地上向家康顶礼膜拜。这一举动完全象一个乡下人见到了皇帝一般。就如他一下子返回到了从前卑贱的身份似的。而这就是丰臣家的后代啊。这种卑躬屈膝、低三下四的样子，使在座的原丰臣家的各位将领们都感到害臊，大家都掉转了目光，不愿意看他。黑田长政忍不住对身边的福岛正则低声说了一句。 正则回答说：“那还用说吗？这是小雀朝见大鹰嘛！” 意思是说，因为有天壤之别，故出现此种情景，也是无可奈何的事。不过，似乎连正则自己也没有充分理解事情的真相。他所说的小雀却曾在几小时之内，一直掌握着历史的关键，最后由于过分的恐惧，而跳出来参战，从而帮助家康取得了天下。唯独家康知道其中的奥妙。连在九泉之下的秀吉，恐怕也未能料到，这位养子竟能成此大业——为摧毁丰臣家而起了决定性的作用。 家康嘉奖了秀秋的战功，战后，给了他备前、美作五十万石的封地，作为对他的战功的犒赏。但是，在这之后，秀秋日夜疯疯癫癫、淫佚无度，稍一饮酒，便醉了。 每次酒醉之后，他都说：“关原之战的头功是我的。” 他还把侍女们叫到一起，拔剑乱舞，做着打仗的动作。辅佐他的老臣们也都害怕他这种狂暴的举动，几个主要的老臣差不多都在他生前四散了。不久，他便患脑疾，于庆长七年（1602）九月在冈山城病殁。这时，离开关原之战刚好两年。 住在京城里的高台院得知这个侄子的讣报时，自言自语道：“已经过世了吗？” 她连秀秋死后的戒名都没有过问，仅仅说了这么一句。她一手造就的这个养子，只是在历史上担当了一名摧毁丰臣家的角色。