In the last issue, the story of the "Battle of Kanazaki Temple" was told, and under Hideyoshi's desperate cover, Nobunaga finally withdrew safely to Gifu Castle. After this battle, Nobunaga and the monkey were frightened into a cold sweat, and the monkeys still woke up frequently in their dreams for many years after that, which showed the thrill of this battle. Having suffered such a big loss, he was still attacked from behind by his brother-in-law, and Nobunaga's character naturally did not give up.
On June 24, 1570, just two months after the Battle of Kanazaki, Nobunaga again led an army of 30,000 men to attack the combined forces of Asai and Asakura. However, this time both sides were prepared, so after only one day of fighting, the Asai family retreated to Otani Castle, while the Oda Army used Yokoyama Castle opposite as its base, and the two sides began to confront each other.
In fact, once caught in a tug-of-war, the Oda Army would be in an unfavorable situation, because at this moment the "anti-Oda Alliance" had taken shape, and the Oda family would fall into passivity if they were not careful. After only 10 years of conquest since the Battle of the Barrel Pan, the Oda family has occupied 8 countries and controlled Kyoto, which now has nearly 3 million stone territories. The rapid expansion of power has brought nobunaga not only territory but also challenges, and almost all the countries have listed Nobunaga as the primary enemy, threatening Nobunaga's domain at all times.
Warring States Sphere of Influence
Every time Nobunaga attacked a country, he left a small number of troops as a guard, and the remaining 30,000 troops remained with Nobunaga as a mobile team and continued to fight everywhere. Therefore, seeing that it was impossible to capture Otani Castle in a short period of time, Nobunaga appointed Monkey as the captain of the Kita Omi Guardian, and based on Yokoyama Castle, he continued his rebellion, leaving him with 3,000 guards, and he led the main force back to Gifu Castle.
Fast forward two years, in the second year of Motokame (1572), Nobunaga's three sons held a crown ceremony on the same day, the eldest son Nobunaga was 16 years old, the second son Nobuo was 15 years old, and the third son Nobuo was 15 years old. Hideyoshi had to go to Gifu Castle in person to pay his respects. So the monkey personally led 200 subordinates and rushed to Gifu Castle at night.
"Haha, the monkey is coming!" As soon as he entered the door, Nobunaga was very happy to greet Hideyoshi to sit next to him, and then brought a large bowl of wine: "Come, have a drink!" Hideyoshi's alcohol intake was very small, and he had to rush back to Yokoyama Castle tonight, and the monkey was afraid of delaying things, but he knew that if he didn't drink it, Nobunaga would definitely be angry, so he quickly took the wine bowl and shouted, "Today is the big day of the three princes, this wine must be drunk!" Then, in an exaggerated gesture, he just lifted the wine bowl, but suddenly stopped: "I have to take this wine back to the city and drink it with the brothers who are guarding the city", and then poured all the wine into the gourd, leaving only a small sip, and finally drank it dry, while making an exaggerated expression.
Nobunaga saw this, knew that he was playing a little clever, and just laughed and said that it was over. At this time, the monkey was already a big red man in Nobunaga's eyes, and if he changed to someone else, he would definitely provoke Nobunaga's anger. To put it more, at this banquet, the famous Nobunaga punched Mitsuhide, and Nobunaga's eccentricity towards monkeys can be seen.
In addition to paying homage to the three sons, the monkey also took the opportunity to report to Nobunaga the latest situation in Yokoyama Castle: it was all trivial and trivial, but he reported them one by one to get Nobunaga's latest instructions. "Such a small thing also needs to ask me?" You monkey! Nobunaga laughed and scolded as he gave new orders.
With Hideyoshi's talent, of course, he can stand alone, and the reason why he still has to report everything in detail is because his boss is too difficult to serve: Nobunaga likes subordinates with opinions, but he does not like his subordinates to act arbitrarily, and the proportion of this is difficult for ordinary people to grasp.
In this meeting, for example, the monkeys have not seen Nobunaga for several months, and although nothing major has happened during this period, the monkeys still have to report the progress one by one so as not to be suspicious. Coincidentally, on the night that the monkey returned to Yokoyama Castle, the Asai family led 10,000 elite soldiers to launch a night attack, at this time the monkey had just left Gifu Castle, there were only 200 subordinates around, someone suggested that the monkey report to Nobunaga, apply for more troops to go to the siege, but the monkey did not adopt, but went straight to the battlefield with 200 subordinates: the monkey knew that the time had come to act arbitrarily, and if he reported to Nobunaga at this time, it would undoubtedly be "trouble" in the report, and even if the final problem was solved, he would be regarded as a useless person by Nobunaga, and at this time Nobunaga would like to "make his own decisions." "People.
But two hundred against ten thousand is also too disparity, isn't this a death? In fact, the reason why Hideyoshi dared to face the battle was because there were still two cards in his hand: one was that there were still 3,000 soldiers in Yokoyama Castle, commanded by Takenaka Hanbei, and the monkeys had already made arrangements before leaving, coupled with the command ability of the half-guards, the strength of the two sides was not so disparity on the surface; the second was that the monkeys' rebellion work had lasted for two years, and many of the soldiers of the Asai family were already in a state of inability to work. These two points are superimposed, giving the monkey the confidence to guard Yokoyama Castle.
Takenaka Hanbei (iconic Ichitani helmet)
In fact, as the monkey expected, when he rushed back to Yokoyama Castle and attacked the Asai Army with the Half-Guard, someone retreated in advance, which led to the failure of the night attack, and the Asai Army retreated back to Otani Castle.
On August 28, 1573, Hideyoshi led a team as the vanguard, and Nobunaga led 20,000 troops to launch a fierce attack on Omi. Nobunaga attacked the Echizen Asakura army first, which had always been the backing of the Asai family, and Nobunaga was the first to cut off this reinforcement. This time, the Asakura army was obviously vulnerable, and was soon flattened by the Oda army, mainly due to the continuous counter-offensive work.
After taking Echizen, the Asai family in Kita-Omi had no support, and soon Otani Castle fell, and the city lord Asai Nagamasa committed suicide by caesarean section, resisting Otani Castle for four years and disappearing in flames.
After the victory, it was time to discuss the merits and rewards, so far Nobunaga had not given his vassals a great name, and nearly 3 million stones of territory were all directly under Nobunaga. According to the custom, priority should be given to Shibata, Niwa, Sakuma and other generations of courtiers, but Nobunaga did not hesitate to give Kita Omi to the monkeys, and ordered the monkeys to change their surnames.
It should be noted here that hideyoshi at this time was still called "Kinoshita Fujiyoshiro", and in the eyes of most of the courtiers, he was always the impression of the villain who carried a gourd and ran around behind Nobunaga. Nobunaga lifted him out of the dust, and in order to give the monkey a personal appearance, he also transferred the Ashikaga Shogun's family pattern (Kirihata pattern) to him, and now he has changed the monkey's surname in order to get rid of his previous stereotype.
Five-three-tree leaf pattern vs five-seven-tree leaf pattern
"Monkey, change your name now!" Nobunaga commanded in an unmistakable tone. After receiving the order, the monkey hurriedly ran out of the big tent, ran between himself and Nobunaga's military tent, and when he returned, he knelt down in front of Nobunaga: "The minister has thought it through, and the minister will change his surname to "Habuki"!" Monkey then explained the origin of the surname: taking a word from the names of the two elders, Shibata Katsuya and Niwa Nagahide, as his new surname, so that even if he was the first daimyo to be sealed by Nobunaga, he would not make the faces of the two elders too ugly.
Taikaku Kirito (Exclusive to Toyotomi Hideyoshi)
In fact, the monkey thought of this surname the first time Nobunaga asked him to change his surname, but it was inevitable that he would be too "chicken thief" to leave the impression that Hideyoshi still went out for a run before reporting to Nobunaga, and the monkey's heart was evident!
"Haha, you monkey!" Nobunaga was also impressed by the monkey's cleverness, so the monkey changed his name to "Habushiba Hideyoshi" and became the new lord of Kita-Omi, so what did the monkey do after becoming the lord of the country? Pay attention to me, here is the front of Japan, let's continue to talk about the next issue ~