Chapter 654 60. War or Peace to Be Decided

Looking at Oishi Ujiteru's gloomy expression, he wrote a document requesting Odawara Castle to send an envoy to negotiate, and picked a captive samurai he trusted, gave him a horse and sent him back to Odawara.

With so many famous samurai of the Hojo family, everyone actually wanted to kill them with a knife, and then immediately pounced on Hojo and bit his flesh. However, if this can be used as a condition, it is not impossible to negotiate.

Oishi Ujiteru and more than 30 samurai generals of the Hojo family were temporarily imprisoned in Gotoku-ji Temple (this is the later name, now called Hongtoku-ji Temple), all weapons were disarmed, and 500 people were sent to surround the temple and guard it intensively. The samurai who lost their army were just ordinary people after all, and their discouragement was exposed.

It is said that this Gotoku-ji Temple may not be famous in history, but it buried the future Tokugawa shogunate leader Ii Naosuke, and became the family temple of the shogunate's hereditary successor, Omi Hikone Domain Ii.

There is also a very strange story here. It is said that one day, Naotaka Ii, who came to Edo to pay homage to the general, was tired and happened to see a big tree growing lushly on the side of the road, so he stopped his horse and rested under the shade of the tree.

Not long after, the sky darkened, which is normal in Japan, and it rains from time to time. Naotaka Ii also sighed that he was lucky to find such a big tree to hide from the rain.

When he was sitting under the tree and bored, a round big white cat passed by him. Naotaka Ii was not a cat lover, but he was attracted by such a snow-white cat and followed it.

The cat seemed to be guiding Naotaka Ii, walking and stopping, and took Naotaka Ii to the eaves of the gate of a small temple. Naotaka Ii, who was about to pet the cat, was suddenly frightened by a terrifying thunder.

A divine thunder fell from the sky, and the big tree where Naotaka Ii had just rested was split into charred wood. If Naotaka Ii was still under the tree, he would have died.

It was the white cat that saved my life!

Looking back, there was no white cat around! Naotaka Ii was amazed and thought that this small temple was protected by the "lucky white cat". So he donated a lot of money to the temple and ordered the Ii family to support this Gotokuji Temple from generation to generation.

And Gotokuji Temple became the origin of the Japanese lucky cat!

It is said that the lucky cats in Gotokuji Temple are still very effective today. People who come to ask for lucky cats will send the lucky cats back to the temple for worship after their wishes are fulfilled. The number of lucky cats exceeds 10,000.

I just don't know if Oishi Ujiteru can get the protection of the lucky white cat like Naotaka Ii and turn danger into fortune.

The Hojo samurai who was sent to deliver the message ran into the 20,000 troops of the Hojo clan after passing the Koki Castle. Only then did the clear news that Oishi Ujiteru's army was annihilated and Musashi was almost completely lost was brought to Hojo Ujinao and others.

Hojo Ujinao was still young. After Oishi Ujiteru lost contact, the only ones who could actually speak to the Hojo clan were Fujita Ujikuni with 10,000 people, Imagawa Ujiki with 6,000 people, and Utsuchi with 4,000 people. These three brothers were arguing over whether to fight or make peace.

The retainers of the Hojo clan were also arguing endlessly. The Odawara Assessment Conference, which once united the retainers, became a quibble conference!

As soon as the conservative Oishi Ujiteru left, Fujita Ujikuni's radicals took the initiative, and Imagawa Ujiki took the initiative to give up many of Suruga's defenses in order to come back to preserve Odawara. As a result, Fujita Ujikuni said that he would gather the entire army to actively attack the coalition forces, while Imagawa Ujiki and Utsuchi advocated defending Odawara to the death. As long as the coalition forces retreated, Musashi could be restored.

After arguing for three or four days, Hojo Ujinao finally stood on the side of Fujita Ujikuni, and 20,000 troops came out in full force, trying to save the defeat and stop the enemy from entering the country.

So when they received the news that Oishi Ujiteru's army was completely destroyed, Kobayata also received the news that Hojo's army had come to Koki Castle.

After a brief discussion, the Yamauchi army gave up Koki Castle as a goodwill before the peace talks, and ordered the troops to withdraw. Prepare to gather 50,000 people and have a good talk with the 20,000 people of the Hojo army.

The Hojo family still has two countries, and the two counties of Suruga are still resisting. It is indeed still one of the most famous daimyo in the world. Even if the coalition led by the Yamauchi family has the upper hand, it cannot be ignored.

After confirming that more than 30 core samurai, including Oishi Ujiteru, were unharmed, the Hojo family transported 300 stones of rice. It was used as food for the 3,000 captured Hojo elite soldiers, and also expressed the sincerity of willingness to negotiate.

The Hojo family had not known the situation in Musashi before, but now that they were fully aware of it, seeing that Edo Castle had been burned down, the pro-war radicals including Fujita Ujikuni temporarily became conservative.

Their condition was to admit defeat, and the existing territories occupied by the coalition forces would be disposed of by the coalition forces. The revived Musashi guardian Ogigayatsu Uesugi family and the Musashi guardian-deputy Edo Ota family were both recognized by the Hojo family. The Hojo family gave up supporting the former Koga shogun Ashikaga Yoshiuji, who was still in their hands, and recognized the Kanto general status of Kogawa Yoshizumi.

The Hojo family gave up all the territories of Musashi Province except the three counties of Kurara, Tachibana, and Tsuzuki near Sagami Province. And they paid 5,000 kan of Yongle money or 5,000 taels of gold for the captured Hojo people.

This condition meant that the Hojo family would pay nothing except 5,000 taels!

The Yamanouchi family naturally refused. Anyway, Imagawa Ujiki still had the territory of Izu, so the Yamanouchi family naturally demanded that Suruga be completely spit out, and nothing could be left. This made Imagawa Yoshichika's position as the guardian of Suruga completely solidified, and he could threaten the Hojo clan's stronghold, Izu and Sagami Province, at any time.

In addition, the Uraga area of ​​Miura County in Sagami Province, that is, the Yokosuka Port that became famous in later generations, must be ceded, but not to the Yamanouchi family or any other family.

Izu is the foundation of the Hojo clan. Now that he still has strength, he will not agree to cede it. However, the Uraga Port on the Miura Peninsula is only a garrison of the Sagami Navy. It is still far from Odawara, so it can be negotiated.

Uraga Port was opened as a free port, and the Yamanouchi and Satomi clans stationed 300 soldiers in Uraga respectively. The warships of the Yamanouchi and Satomi clans were allowed to dock and station here at will.

Nanman ships were also allowed to trade here, expanding the radiation network of Nanman trade from Sagami Izu to the entire Kanto hinterland. In the form of trade, the Yamanouchi clan's royal merchants were the pioneers, and the Yamanouchi family was the leader, gradually guiding and commanding the Kanto daimyo and the powerful families, at least in terms of economy, to launch a united front against the Kanto forces.

More importantly, Shimoda in Izu has opened its port, and Shimoda and Uraga are just Luda and Weihai. With Sagami Bay sandwiched in, Odawara Castle will be open.

The Yamanouchi family will not directly take over the land in Kanto, or in other words, they will not directly take over the land in Kanto for the time being. This will not stimulate Kenshin Uesugi, who has fundamental interests in Kanto, and can also gain the goodwill of the Kanto forces.

The last point is, of course, that the Hojo clan and all parties of the coalition forces will sign a two-year armistice agreement, and everyone will go home to prepare for war, and if they are dissatisfied after two years, they will fight again.

War?

Peace?

It's up to you, the Hojo clan!

Happy New Year!