Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 038: Changes in Dongying Island (Part 2)
For a long period of history, Japan was not a centralized country. Its political system was closer to the feudal monarchy model of medieval Western Europe. The emperor was the nominal monarch, the shogun was the biggest warlord and the chief leader, and below him were dozens or even hundreds of highly independent daimyo (county heads, village heads) and even more so-called powerful families (village heads ).
In 1467, the Onin War broke out in Japan. The Ashikaga family, the leader of the alliance at that time, completely lost power. Japan entered the so-called Warring States Period and the country fell into endless wars.
In 1560, Oda Nobunaga rose to power. In the next 20 years, the Oda family grew rapidly and was able to crush all other lords. However, in 1582, Oda Nobunaga was betrayed by his general Akechi Mitsuhide and was killed in an attack. The Oda family quickly split and declined.
As another general of Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi inherited the greatest legacy of the Oda family. Then, through various means, he quickly forced other Japanese lords to surrender, nominally completing the unification and ending the Warring States period in Japan.
However, the foundation of the Toyotomi family was not solid, and in the process of unification, diplomatic means were used more than military means. This led to the fact that although many Japanese daimyo nominally submitted to the Toyotomi family, their own strength was not weakened much. Take the grain output of the territory, which best reflects the strength of the Japanese daimyo at that time, as an example. The direct territory of the Toyotomi family was only 2.2 million koku, while Tokugawa Ieyasu, the elder of the Toyotomi family, had a territory of 2.5 million koku.
Therefore, after Toyotomi Hideyoshi died, Tokugawa Ieyasu started to stir up trouble, which finally made Ishida Mitsunari, who regarded himself as the protector of the Toyotomi family and the guardian of morality, unable to bear it, and he gathered a group of Toyotomi retainers to start a war against Tokugawa Ieyasu. The decisive battle was the Battle of Sekigahara.
After the Battle of Sekigahara, Ishida Mitsunari was beheaded, and the Toyotomi family's civil and political faction headed by him was wiped out. The Toyotomi family's direct territory was reduced to 800,000 koku. Several powerful daimyo who were dissatisfied with the Tokugawa family in the past and whose territories exceeded 1 million koku also had their territories reduced to varying degrees. The territory of Tokugawa Ieyasu and his relatives soared to 6 million koku, accounting for more than one-sixth of the total koku in Japan.
In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu was promoted to Shogun and became the de facto ruler of Japan.
However, this kind of rule was much looser than China's centralized imperial system: the Tokugawa family was just another general leader of the Japanese feudal lords. Although this general leader was much more powerful than the previous one, under the general leader, each daimyo still had a high degree of independence.
Moreover, the previous leader of the alliance, the Toyotomi family, was only greatly weakened, but not destroyed. Although the Toyotomi family only had 800,000 koku at that time, they had a solid foundation (Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a first-class money-making skill), business (Osaka, the core of the Toyotomi family, was the economic center of Japan from this era until the beginning of World War II), and sympathizers (former retainers of the Toyotomi family, ronin who lost their territory in the war).
Therefore, both Tokugawa Ieyasu and Tokugawa Takechiyo, who was a time traveler, regarded the Toyotomi family as a thorn in their eyes and had to get rid of it as soon as possible.
Moreover, compared with the original historical plane, the Tokugawa family at this time still had a hidden danger: Takechiyo was too young.
Let's look at the Toyotomi family, the predecessor of the Tokugawa family. Toyotomi Hideyoshi had no children in his early years, so he made his nephew Toyotomi Hidetsugu his heir. As a result, when Hideyoshi got his son Hideyori in his later years, he was so impatient that he killed Hidetsugu, who had been had certain qualities of a ruler. It's okay to kill him, but the key point is that after Hideyoshi killed Hidetsugu, he didn't live long either - when he died, Toyotomi Hideyori was only five years old!
So in the historical dimension, even though Tokugawa Hidetada's main force was not present at the decisive battle and caused such a big mess, Ieyasu still endured it: an adult heir with a certain amount of experience is extremely important to the survival of the family.
However, in this dimension, due to the appearance of Susanoo in the sky, Tokugawa Ieyasu suddenly had an idea and directly named the newborn Takechiyo. As a result, Tokugawa Hidetada misunderstood Ieyasu's intention and committed suicide. This resulted in the heirs of the Tokugawa family being the same as the Toyotomi family: the helmsman was old, and the successor was still a child.
Forget about Susanoo. The Japanese have a better attitude towards religion than the Chinese, but only a little better. After more than 200 years of the Warring States Period, the Japanese samurai class at this time is more concerned about who can preserve their territory and keep their family name. Under the premise that everyone does not know that Takechiyo is actually a mature time traveler, the daimyo cannot help but have doubts about the future of the Tokugawa family.
Therefore, Takechiyo told Tokugawa Ieyasu that after the flintlock musket was mass-produced, he should send troops to destroy the Toyotomi family in advance. This would not only stop the ambitions of some ambitious people, but also show the strength of the Tokugawa family through this battle. More importantly, Takechiyo also wanted to be the general commander to establish his prestige among many daimyo and samurai.
"Takechiyo, why are you so hostile to the Toyotomi family?"
I don't actually hate the Toyotomi family. On the contrary, in Japan at that time, people preferred Toyotomi Hideyoshi to an old turtle like you. But what can I do? I have no choice but to take my stand.
Looking at the silent Takechiyo, Tokugawa Ieyasu simply squatted down and said, "Takechiyo, although after more than two hundred years of the Warring States Period, all kinds of morality and beliefs have been ruined. But now that our Tokugawa family has won the world, we must take the lead in morality. Otherwise, we will not be able to sit firmly on the world in the future. To take the lead in morality, we can't force the Toyotomi family too obviously and harshly. We need to give the Toyotomi family opportunities repeatedly, until they fail to seize these opportunities, and let other daimyos feel that the Toyotomi family is hopeless, then we can take action. This takes time."
Time? What I lack most now is time! Alas, we Japanese are too few in number, which resulted in Amaterasu's lack of power in the divine world, so she sent me back to this era. How great it would be if I were sent back to the 1930s. China was so weak at that time! It's not like now. Although the Ming Dynasty seems to have only 30 or 40 years of life, as long as the time traveler slightly corrects the chaos, it can burst out with great power! Time, I really can't wait!
"Takechiyo, even if we don't talk about morality, we have to look at the current situation around us." After all, he regarded this person as his heir, so Tokugawa Ieyasu still patiently continued to persuade him: "Look, there are many sympathizers of the Toyotomi family now. Kato Kiyomasa and Fukushima Masanori are both famous generals who can fight. There is also Sanada Masayuki, who used more than a thousand troops to hold back your third brother's 30,000 troops. Although he is a ronin at this time, as long as there is a war, he will definitely jump out to fight against us... That is your second brother Hideyasu. Although he is my son, he went to the Toyotomi family as a hostage at a very young age. Studying, getting married, and becoming a feudal domain were all arranged by Hideyoshi. He has a deeper affection for the Toyotomi family. These people are still here. If we take action now, the resistance will be quite large. Life is like carrying a heavy load and traveling a long distance. Haste makes waste. Waiting is necessary and meaningful."
I know you are a very long-lived old turtle. You still have ten years to live from now on. Most of the people mentioned above have been outlived by you. But, ten years later, I wonder how much the person on the other side of the sea has grown? After I take over the Toyotomi family ten years later and inherit your position, I will have to spend time to reunite the remaining daimyo and establish a centralized power, and then I can send troops across the sea to conquer Korea again. But by then, if things go wrong, the person on the other side will attack us!
"That's all I have to say today. Anyway, just wait patiently! You are the one who will control Japan in the future. You are patient and will outlive all your opponents. This is our Tokugawa family's greatest reliance. You must remember this."
