In japan's Warring States period, many daimyo emerged, and if you want to become a daimyo, there are basically three ways, the first is naturally hereditary, relatively speaking, this way is the simplest; the second method is to replace, that is, "lower Keshang"; and the third method is to wait for the title, which requires following a very capable lord, and it must have enough ability and merit, after all, Japan's territory is so big.
And the Yamauchi Kazutoyo who is talking about here became a daimyo through the third way, but the way he became a daimyō was not how strong his ability was, nor how much merit he had made, but the territory he finally obtained was even higher than that of Iyy Naomasa, who had made great achievements in battle, and the way he became a daimyō was actually by a letter from his wife; now let's see what this is all about.
Yamauchi Kazutoshi's father was originally a vassal of the Iwakura Oda family, and at that time could only be regarded as a low-level figure in the samurai class; after the rise of Oda Nobunaga, he launched an attack on the separated Iwakura Oda family, and Yamauchi Kazutoshi's father and brother were defeated and both died in battle; the thirteen-year-old Yamauchi Kazutomi and his mother and younger siblings escaped with the help of their courtiers, after which Yamauchi Kazutoshi defected to several lords.
During this time, he met Chiyo, a member of the Kenuchi Suke, whose father was the daughter of Wakamiya Kisuke Tomoyuki, a vassal of the Asai clan of Omi Kingdom. I don't know whether Chiyo has "Wangfu Luck" or the two "eight characters together", in short, Yamauchi Kazutoyo began to make a smooth career after marrying Chiyo. At that time, he had defected to Oda Nobunaga, but he was only a junior courtier, but he had always thought about how to get ahead.
Once, Yamauchi Kazutomi had a good horse, with a healthy physique, just right for him to fight, but he was shy, and did not have extra money to pay for the cost of buying a horse, Chiyo knew, and did not hesitate to take out his dowry and pay for Yamauchi Kazuho to buy a horse. Maybe at that time, Yamauchi Kazutoshi only liked this horse, and Chiyo only saw that her husband really liked it, so he bought it for him.
However, later, when Oda Nobunaga ordered his troops, he saw that Yamauchi Kazutoyo rode a military horse and wore a military uniform, which was very matched, and he praised Yamauchi Kazutoyo in public. This incident undoubtedly left a good impression on Oda Nobunaga's mind, and the accompanying by-product was the trust of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who later fought bravely at the Battle of The Sister River and was enfeoffed in the 400-stone domain of Omi Kingdom.
After that, Yamauchi Kazutoshi followed Toyotomi Hideyoshi on a southern expedition to the north, and at this time, Kazutoshi was quite brave in the army. Especially in the battle of Miki Castle, Yamauchi Kazutoshi and his beautiful sword skills quickly killed the enemy soldiers who infiltrated the army, which was highly praised by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and passed on as a good story. After that, Yamauchi Kazutoshi was regarded as a close general by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Yamauchi Kazutoshi's status was also getting higher and higher, and before Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death, he was already the daimyo who owned the 60,000-stone domain of Kakegawa Castle in the Toei Kingdom.
But if nothing else, his abilities are limited to this, because the history of him is "the talent of Yamauchi Kazutoshi, at best, as the lord of a city, at most there is a territory of 50,000 stones." But after toyotomi Hideyoshi's death, the war that broke out between Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi changed all that. After a detailed analysis, Kazutoyo Yamauchi thought that Tokugawa Ieyasu would definitely win, and he also went to the Eastern Army.
At this time, Chiyo, as a hostage, was taken to Kyoto, and Ishida Misei sent people to threaten Chiyo and force her to send a letter to Kazutoshi Yamauchi to persuade him to defect to the Western Army. However, Chiyo, for the sake of her husband's future, disregarded her life and death, pretended to agree, and wrote a letter of persuasion, while risking to attach a letter from her own family, which was roughly to persuade Yamauchi Kazutoshi to attach himself to Tokugawa Ieyasu and collect it in a thin rope of a bucket. This is the famous "笠のの文".
Yamauchi received the letter in its entirety and handed it to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was greatly moved to see it and praised Yamauchi Kazutoyo's tachiyoshi as "like the center of a tree", while the rest of the people were just "branches and leaves". Although Yamauchi Kazutaka did not make much contribution in the later Sekigahara Battle, with the credit of this letter, Yamauchi Kazutoyo received a fief of Tosa Kingdom that originally belonged to the Nagamasa clan, totaling 240,000 stones.
Many people may ask, is Tokugawa Ieyasu really given Yamauchi Kazuho so much territory because he was touched by this letter? In fact, you also underestimate Tokugawa Ieyasu, the "old fox", in fact, there are similar events in Chinese history, such as the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao burned the secret letters written by his courtiers to Yuan Shao after the Battle of Guandu, the key is to buy people's hearts, or "buy bones with thousands of gold".
In fact, at that time, Ishida Sansei's control of the family of the Eastern Army also caused Tokugawa Ieyasu a headache, and many of the military generals who had originally defected to him had begun to waver, and Yamauchi Kazutoshi happened to give Tokugawa Ieyasu the best "weapon" to solve internal problems. Tokugawa Ieyasu displayed the letter and praised Kazutoyo Yamauchi, which undoubtedly gave the wavering warriors a slap in the face and has been internally stable ever since.
Therefore, although Yamauchi Kazutoshi did not make any military achievements, just by virtue of the role of this letter, it was enough for Yamauchi Kazutoshi to receive a rich reward. I have to admire Kazutoyo Yamauchi, I really married a good wife, maybe Chiyo didn't expect this letter to be such a big help to her husband when she wrote it. And his descendants were also very lucky, Tosa Domain was one of the four domains of the fallen curtain, the fifteenth generation of the lord of the domain Yamato hall was listed as the "four sages at the end of the shogunate", for his merit was given by the Meiji Emperor for forty thousand stone reg, plus other income, Yamauchi clan was definitely one of the richest people at that time.