In order to maintain the rule of the Toyotomi family, Toyotomi Hideyoshi established the "Five Old Systems" during his lifetime to contain the powerful Tokugawa Ieyasu. The existence of Maeda Toshiya made the "Five Old Systems" play an important role after Hideyoshi's death, and Tokugawa Ieyasu did not dare to act rashly. However, the death of Maeda Toshiya changed the situation, and Tokugawa Ieyasu began to gradually encroach on the power of the Toyotomi family, eventually establishing the shogunate. As a result, some people can't help but wonder if Maeda Toshiie had not died, would there have been a situation similar to Tokugawa Ieyasu's founding of the shogunate
Prior to 1598, the distribution of the five old Toyotomi shitakas was as follows: Tokugawa led with 2.56 million koku, Mori and Uesugi tied for second with 1.2 million koku each, Maeda with 1.04 million koku and Ukita at the bottom with 570,000 koku. While Toyotomi Hideyoshi was still alive, the Maeda Toshiie announced his seclusion, passed the family governor to Toshinaga, and divided the family between Toshinaga and the Toshimasa brothers (Toshinaga held 830,000 koku and Rimasa 210,000 koku). Therefore, in fact, when the Maeda Toshiya was still alive, Tokugawa Ieyasu was already capable of confronting the Toshiyasu, but due to the existence of the "Five Old Systems", it was not easy for Ieyasu to monopolize power. Similarly, if Maeda Toshinaga is still alive, it will not be easy to turn the situation upside down.
After the death of Maeda Toshiie, Tokugawa Ieyasu faced a very different situation, and his ability to suppress Mori, Uesugi and Ukita while attracting a large number of princes to serve him clearly played an important role in the possession of 2.56 million koku in Kanhachishu. However, even though Tokugawa Ieyasu died first, Maeda Toshiie was still alive, and it was far more difficult for him to pacify Mori and Uesugi and attract the great princes to join him. The Rike family can't gain prestige as one-sided as Ieyasu in reality, and his strength and ability are not as good as Ieyasu, which is one thing. On the other hand, during the Toyotomi regime, it was recorded in the "Minister's Appointment" that Tokugawa Ieyasu was "Minamoto Ieyasu" and did not need to be recognized by the Toyotomi surname, while Maeda Toshiya was "Toyotomi (Chen) Toshiyasu", which was almost equivalent to Toyotomi Clan, which meant that he had joined the system of the Toyotomi regime. In this system, there is no "Zhengyi General", and the highest position is (samurai) Guan Bai. Therefore, legally, even before Tokugawa Ieyasu, it was impossible for Maeda Toshiie to create a shogunate like Ieyasu did.
In general, even if the Maeda Toshiya did not pass away but Tokugawa Ieyasu died first, the Toshiya would not have fought for the dominance of the Toyotomi family and established the shogunate like Ieyasu did. If Maeda Toshiie had not died and Tokugawa Ieyasu had died first, he would not have been able to establish the shogunate.