From late September, the Tokugawa shogunate's army marched in three groups toward Kyoto.

The first group was led by Tokugawa Yorinobu, the lord of the Kiyin domain, with more than 50,000 men and horses, and advanced along the Ise Road along the South Road.

The second group, led by the elder Sakai Tadakatsu himself, numbered about 100,000 and marched along the Nakasendo Road.

The third group was led by Tokugawa Mitsuki (guó), the lord of the Mito Domain, with 60,000 men and horses, marching along the North National Road, and Akira Yoshizawa, who was captured as a strong man, was among them.

The Mito Domain and the Kiyo Domain were daimyo of the pro-domain, and together with the Owari Domain, they were collectively known as the "Imperial Three Clans", and these three families were the daimyo of the Tokugawa clan, and they were the main pillars of the Tokugawa shogunate.

The Mito Domain, which had the feud alone, had 350,000 koku, which shows their strength.

Since the beginning of the war, the Tokugawa shogunate has mobilized a total of more than 400,000 soldiers and horses, and this time there are more than 200,000 people and horses who marched into Sekigahara.

On the fifth day of October, Sakai Tadakatsu's army arrived in Gifu in the area of Sekigahara, and to his anger, the first batch of 50,000 troops on the southern route arrived only one day earlier than him!

Not only that, as soon as Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the commander of the Southern Route Army, arrived in Sekigahara, he pointed at his nose and scolded the defeated and fleeing Ii Naotaka, and committed suicide by disemboweling the veteran in humiliation.

Tadashi Sakai forcibly suppressed his irritability and tried to calm himself down.

The Ming army defeated the defenders of the Hikone domain in just one day, which made him rediscover the strength of the Ming army, and the difficulty of fighting them seemed to have escalated.

Originally, he planned to use Hikone Castle as the front-line stronghold, and after the three armies of the shogunate were divided, he would attack Kyoto and Osaka in two ways, giving full play to the advantages of the shogunate's soldiers, making it difficult for the tomb robbers to take care of the head and tail, first defeating the Japanese traitors of the fallen Ming Dynasty, and then concentrating superior forces to deal with the Ming army.

Now it seems that this plan has undoubtedly failed, and the shogunate army can only shrink into Sekigahara.

Gifu, 300 miles from Osaka, the place name is the story of Oda Nobuya imitating China's King Wen of Zhou from Qishan and unified the world, and the new place name means that he will also unify the world in the future.

Tokugawa Mitsuyoshi, the lord of the Owari Domain stationed in Gifu, was in his early thirties, and his young name was Goro Hachi, and the word "light" in his name was given by Tokugawa Iemitsu, the general of the previous dynasty.

It is noteworthy that Tokugawa Mitsuyoshi married Tokugawa Iemitsu's eldest daughter, Chiyohime, as the main room, that is, the one who was given to him by Lan Haoran, the head of the Ming Army in Edo a few years ago.

It's not that Tokugawa Mitsuyoshi is generous and willing to cuckold, but that he has had a marriage contract with Chiyohime since he was a child, which is a close marriage.

And this kind of scandal, the shogunate has been in a state of blockade due to political influence, and Tokugawa Mitsuyoshi, who has been stationed in Gifu for generations, naturally does not know.

After taking over, he only faintly heard the news in the past few years, and there seems to be such a thing......

In the Japanese camp, Tokugawa Mitsuyoshi said to Sakai Tadashi worriedly: "My lord, the disastrous defeat of Hikone in the first battle has dealt a great blow to the morale of our army, how should we deploy next?" ”

Sakai Tadakatsu saw that the green hat king lacked confidence, and then looked at the several daimyo stationed in Gifu, it seemed that they also had this kind of emotion, thinking that it was the fiasco of Naotaka Ii that gave them a big blow.

Sakai Tadashi knows that the morale of fighting can only be drummed but not vented, even if it is pretending, it must pretend to be invincible.

He patted the Green Hat King on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Your Highness Guangyi, you are relieved, in fact, I have long expected that Hikone City will be lost. ”

"You've thought of it a long time ago?"

Tokugawa Mitsuyoshi's eyes were full of incredulity, and several daimyo present were also full of surprise.

Sakai Tadashi explained: "I asked Ii Naotaka to defend Hikone Castle to the death, in order to block the Ming army and the rebels, so that my shogunate army could enter Sekigahara first to deploy, and fight a decisive battle here, but I didn't expect that Ii Naotaka didn't listen to my orders, and rashly sent troops to defeat miserably......"

After hearing these words, Tokugawa Mitsuyoshi calmed down a little, nodded and said, "I see!" ”

Sakai Tadashi showed a confident smile and said: "Your Highness Guangyi, back then, Tosho Daquan defeated the Western Army in Sekigahara and seized the world, this time we fought a decisive battle with the rebels in Sekigahara, and the spirit of Tosho Daquan in the sky will definitely protect my shogunate army, this battle, the shogunate will win!" Tokugawa will win! ”

Tosho Daisei is the name of the god after the death of Tokugawa Ieyasu, which is equivalent to the temple name after the death of the emperor, and Sakai Tadakatsu brought out the great god of the Tokugawa family ancestor, which made Tokugawa Mitsuyoshi and others, who were originally a little afraid of war, cheer up again.

The few daimyo present are basically the descendants of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and in their hearts, Ieyasu's ancestor is a true god, and his authority cannot be shaken!

Tokugawa Mitsuyoshi was the youngest and the most easily fooled, and he was the first to raise his hand to express his position, and said loudly: "The shogunate will win!" Tokugawa will win! ”

Seeing the actions of the cuckold king, Sakai Tadashi breathed a sigh of relief, and turned into a pyramid scheme investment to continue to cheer everyone up.

He said with an expert attitude: "The defeat is only short-lived, just like when Tosho was in power, didn't he lose Fushimi Castle first, and Torii Mototada, one of the sixteen generals of Tokugawa, was also killed in Fushimi Castle!" ”

"The Ming army won once or twice, it does not mean that they are the final winners, in our Japan, the history of the Battle of Sekigahara will be repeated! The final victory must belong to our Tokugawa shogunate! ”

After hearing this, everyone thought about it, and it really looked like that.

Before the Battle of Sekigahara, the Western army was overwhelmed and captured Fushimi Castle near Kyoto, and the veteran Torii Mototada, who defended the castle, was killed in battle.

Such a comparison, history repeats itself!

Now the Western Army has become the Ming Army, and the Eastern Army is still the army of the Tokugawa family, and they will also have to face off on the Sekigahara battlefield.

What excites the shogunate daimyo is that Sekigahara is a treasure of feng shui for the Tokugawa family, and it is blessed by the heroic spirits of the martyrs, and the shogunate army has an overwhelming advantage of more than 200,000, so it is not a big problem to overthrow the Ming army and the rebels!

The audience was full of self-congratulatory feelings, only Sakai Tadashi was still sober, and he knew very well that the two battles were not comparable at all.

At that time, the western army attacked Fumi Castle and mobilized 40,000 troops, while the Tokugawa army defending the city was only 1,800 people.

Now, with more than 10,000 troops, the Ming army defeated 40,000 shogunate troops in just one day, and the 10,000 people defending the city were directly frightened and hurriedly abandoned the city and fled eastward.

Of course, this kind of gap, Sakai Tadashi will not say it to his face.

In that case, the scene will be very embarrassing, and this mobilization meeting will be abolished.

Looking at the descendants of the Tokugawa clan who were obsessed with the glory of the Tokugawa ancestors, Sakai Tadakatsu was greatly relieved, so he ordered the cuckold king Tokugawa Mitsuyoshi to immediately send troops and move to garrison Nangong Mountain, so as to seize this highland!