Although the defeat in the battle of Komaki Nagakute was only a temporary setback for Hideyoshi, his strength was not weakened and he could still pose a threat to Ieyasu.
Naomasa Ii had advised Tokugawa Ieyasu not to just stare at the minor prince Sanada Masayuki, but Ieyasu did not accept it. Soon after, Ieyasu received news that Hideyoshi Hashiba had assembled a large army against him.
Tokugawa Ieyasu's chief retainer, his prediction can be called a divine accuracy. He had accurately predicted the rebellion of Ishikawa Shumasa, which had a great impact on Tokugawa Ieyasu, who withdrew the forces of Naomasa Iii and Sanada, and suspended the attack on the Kanto Koshino area.
However, just when Ieyasu was worried about this, a big ** occurred in Kyoto, which caused Hideyoshi to terminate his plans for Ieyasu. If this event succeeded, Hideyoshi could destroy Ieyasu's rule.
In 1586, Hideyoshi Hashiba became the "Taisei Minister" under the title of the Kyoto Imperial Court, and received a new surname "Toyotomi" from the emperor.
The surname Toyotomi is the highest profile in Japanese history since Fujiwara, meaning that Hideyoshi became the nominal monarch of Japan. Daimyo such as the Mori family, Uesugi Keikatsu of Echigo Province, and Ukita Hideya of Bisaku all became vassals of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and obeyed his orders.
However, Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hojo Clan Masashi in the Kanto region, as well as the daimyo in the Tohoku region, had not yet surrendered. Hideyoshi ordered all the daimyo in Japan to go to Kyoto to personally meet him in person to express his submission, an act known as "Joraku".
Daimyo such as the Maori family and Uesugi Keikatsu responded positively and went to Luo one after another.
During Japan's Sengoku period, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a great rival to Tokugawa Ieyasu. However, Tokugawa Ieyasu was slow to go to Luo, which troubled Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi had already learned how powerful Tokugawa Ieyasu was, and he knew that there would be no good fruit to eat when he fought Tokugawa Ieyasu again.
Therefore, Hideyoshi needed to come up with a way to subdue Tokugawa Ieyasu without using force. Through the persuasion of Oda Nobuo, Tokugawa Ieyasu finally went to Luo. However, Tokugawa Ieyasu was always looking for an excuse to stall for time.
At this time, Ishikawa Shumasa revealed Tokugawa Ieyasu's intentions to Hideyoshi. Tokugawa Ieyasu stepped up his training and strengthened the castle walls to prevent Hideyoshi's invasion. If Hideyoshi launched a large-scale attack, both sides could suffer as a result.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi was well aware of Tokugawa Ieyasu's strength, so he changed his previous hard-line attitude and instead adopted a policy of softness and courtesy to Tokugawa Ieyasu. In order to make Tokugawa Ieyasu submit to him, Hideyoshi decided to marry his sister to Tokugawa Ieyasu.
At first, Tokugawa Ieyasu planned to send Yasukei Amano as a dowryman, but Hideyoshi thought that Yasukei Amano was too famous, and hoped that Ieyasu would send Tadaji Sakai or Naomasa Ii.
Tokugawa Ieyasu then sent his retainers Tadakatsu Honda and Yasumasa Kamihara to Osaka to meet Hideyoshi as a gesture of friendship. However, despite this, Ieyasu himself was reluctant to go to Osaka in person.
The Osaka castle tower was the place where Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi got married, but Ieyasu did not go there for a long time. Hideyoshi used hostages and other means to urge Ieyasu, but Ieyasu still did not act.
In order to reassure Ieyasu, Hideyoshi sent his mother as a hostage to ensure Ieyasu's safety. Ieyasu was finally persuaded to set off from Suruga on October 20 and arrived in Osaka.
On the 27th, Ieyasu saluted Hideyoshi's courtiers, and the daimyo of the world saw the power of the Toyotomi regime. Next, Hideyoshi took Ieyasu to visit the Osaka Castle Tower. In November, Hideyoshi asked the imperial court to knight Ieyasu, and Ii Naomasa, Honda Tadakatsu, and Sakakihara Yasumasa were also promoted.
Hideyoshi highly praised Naomasa Ii for his martial prowess and political prowess, and promoted him to a separate daimyō. These were Hideyoshi's methods of dividing and disintegrating Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi proposed to give the surname Toyotomi in order to win over Ii Naomasa, but Naomasa refused on the grounds that his real surname was Fujiwara and he could not change his surname Toyotomi. Hideyoshi then presented him with his own saber as a token of respect.
In Osaka, Naomasa Ii once said to Hideyoshi, "I never sit with anyone who has turned my back on the sovereign, and I feel very humiliated that I cannot sit down with Ishikawa Shumasa even though I am your subordinate." ”
Hideyoshi praised this, calling Ii Naomasa "a good man of the Tokugawa family", a move that further proved his loyalty and courage to the Tokugawa family. Naomasa Ii accompanied Ieyasu back to Okazaki Castle, and the Tokugawa staff were reassured that Hideyoshi's mother had also returned to Osaka Castle.
Now, Hideyoshi's main task is to bring the Hojo clan into submission. He had tried to adopt a policy of softness towards the clan and intended to give him the same preferential treatment as Ieyasu. However, the clan was hard and soft, and kept dragging on the order to Kamiraku, which made Hideyoshi lose patience.
In 1588, Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued the "Sword Hunting Order", and the daimyo in all parts of Japan were not allowed to go to war with each other.
Hideyoshi had been urging Shoro to come to Osaka to worship him, but Masa had ignored Hideyoshi's request. The clan occupied the eight prefectures of the Kanto region, the land was fertile, and the country was rich and strong, so he was arrogant and did not pay attention to the general trend of the world, and classified Toyotomi as the same rank as Uesugi and Tokugawa.
Hideyoshi appointed Tokugawa Ieyasu as the vanguard of the Hojo expedition, because the expeditionary army was passing through the Tokugawa territory, and Ieyasu ordered his men to set up teahouses at post stations along the road for the soldiers to rest.
Ieyasu also appointed Naomasa Ii as the commander of the Tokugawa army in the crusade against Hojo. Hideyoshi ordered the troops of the daimyo to be ready, and in February 1590, he marched to Odawara Castle, the main city of the Hojo family.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi conquered Odawara Castle and took over the Kanto region, making Tokugawa Ieyasu a daimyo in the Kanto region. However, Hideyoshi's steps after the war to relocate Tokugawa Ieyasu's fiefdom to Kanto were actually a covert subjugation of his Meisheng in order to weaken his power.
Ieyasu was unhappy with this, but he could only accept it. Despite this, the Kanto region became very prosperous under the rule of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Edo Castle later became the capital city of the Tokugawa Shogunate, so the Tokugawa Shogunate was also known as the Edo Shogunate.
Ii Naomasa was the tallest of the Tokugawa family's retainers, and he excelled under Tokugawa Ieyasu. However, Ii Naomasa's harsh approach to the army led many of his soldiers and retainers to Honda Tadakatsu.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi died after worrying about the future of his son Toyotomi Hideyori, and Tokugawa Ieyasu began to fight for the world. He ordered Fukushima Masanori, Hosokawa Tadashi and others to be the vanguard and go to Aizu to conquer the disobedient Uesugi Keikatsu.
Subsequently, he summoned all the daimyo who were willing to listen to him at Osaka Castle, declared Uesugi Keikatsu an enemy of all Japan, and ordered them to go on a crusade against Uesugi. Naomasa Ii was also involved in this crusade.
Before that, Japan had not been at war for ten years. However, when Tokugawa Ieyasu learned of Mitsunari's rebellion, he immediately announced that Mitsunari was also a rebel.
Soon after, Mori Terumoto sent troops to occupy Osaka, declaring Tokugawa Ieyasu an illegal force.
Naomasa Ii played a key role in the Battle of Sekigahara. As a member of the Eastern Army, he led an attack on the Western Army at the beginning of the war, defeating Ukita Hideya's forces and playing a decisive role in the victory of the war.
At the same time, he also wrote letters to Kobayakawa Hideaki and Mori Terumoto, among others, expressing Tokugawa Ieyasu's favor to them, in order to win them over. The severity of the battle was staggering, with soldiers on both sides pushing each other, guns firing, and shouts shaking the earth, and the battle continued until dark.
However, the Satsuma samurai led by Shimazu Yoshihiro did not give up the attack during the retreat, and they faced Ii Naomasa's troops, and although they were heroic, many of them were eventually killed by the Tokugawa army, and Shimazu Toyohisa himself was killed by Ii Naomasa.
Despite this, Naomasa Ii's performance still proved his strength and leadership, and his role in the war cannot be ignored.
Toyohisa Shimazu, the name may sound a little unfamiliar. However, if you know the history and culture of Japan, you will know that he is a very important figure.
Toyohisa Shimazu was one of Japan's famous leaders of the late Edo Restoration, the 19th governor of the Shimazu clan and the last samurai lord in Japanese history.
Toyohisa Shimazu had great influence in politics, military affairs, and culture, and he was one of the important promoters of Japan's modernization.
Naomasa Ii was accidentally shot by Yoshihiro Shimazu's musketeers during the battle, and shrapnel got stuck in his thigh bone, leaving him limping and becoming disabled for life. His injuries also laid the groundwork for his untimely death.
According to the Spectrum Bulletin, after Naomasa Ii was wounded by the Shimazu army, Tadakatsu Honda, who was not far from here, led 500 men to intercept Shimazu Yoshihiro. However, due to the roundabout march of the Shimazu team and the **, Honda Tadakatsu's horse was hit, and he was unable to stop Shimazu Yoshihiro, and the Shimazu army slipped out of the nose of the Tokugawa army.
Tokugawa Ieyasu's two retainers, Honda Tadakatsu and Ii Naomasa, interceded with Sanada Masayuki and his son, respectively. Honda Tadakatsu interceded for Sanada and his son because Sanada Masayuki's son Sanada Nobuyuki was his son-in-law, and it was human nature to intercede for his in-laws.
And Ii Naomasa is because many of the members of the Red Reserve Army are reorganized from the Takeda Army or have been trained by the Takeda Army, and the Sanada family has a good network on the Takeda side, and the members of the Red Reserve Army also asked Ii Naomasa to intercede with Ieyasu for Masayuki after hearing about it.
Naomasa Ii himself is a good person, and he also thinks that Masayuki is worthy of his intercession, so he came here.
After weighing the pros and cons, Ieyasu and his son decided to pardon Sanada Masayuki. They are well aware of the hard work that Tadakatsu Honda and Naomasa Ii have put into their family, and they decide to repay their loyalty and dedication.
After hearing Ieyasu's decision, Naomasa Ii and Tadakatsu Honda were deeply grateful. Ii Naomasa eventually died in 1602, two years after the Battle of Sekigahara, at the age of 41.
Although Naomasa Ii and Tadakatsu Honda are both the Four Heavenly Kings of Tokugawa, their fighting styles are completely different. Although Honda Tadakatsu wore only light armor in every battle, he was never injured.
On the contrary, Naomasa Ii wore heavy armor in every battle, but after each battle, he was scarred and even died of an old illness** caused by a gunshot wound in the Battle of Sekigahara. Ieyasu also once mocked Naomasa Ii on this matter.
However, after Ii Naomasa's eldest son, Ii Naokattsu, succeeded to the throne, he was dissatisfied with Ieyasu because of his frailty, mediocre ability, and drunkenness. Since Ii Naokatu's wife was the granddaughter of Ieyasu's retainer Torii Mototada, and Ii Naokatsu disfigured her face, Ieyasu decided to change Ii Naokuma to a small daimyo and let Ii Naomasa's second son, Ii Naotaka, inherit the orthodoxy of the Ii family.
The Ii Red Reserve, the elite unit of the Tokugawa Army, was also given the command of Naotaka Ii.
Naotaka Ii was not born to Naomasa Ii's main family, so he had no advantage in inheritance. He saw his biological father very few times, and Naotaka Ii's path to the throne was not all smooth sailing.
However, his life is changed by a white cat. During a trip to Edo, he was attracted to a white cat and followed it into a temple. Unexpectedly, a thunderstorm caused Naotaka Ii to stay in the temple for the night and listen to the Dharma once.
The abbot of the temple didn't know that he was Naotaka Ii, but he was very happy here. After leaving, Naotaka Ii sent people to repair the temple and renamed it "Haotokuji Temple".
Since then, Haodeokji Temple has gradually become lively because of the blessings of the white cat and Naotaka Ii and has become one of the most prosperous temples in the area. This also strengthened his beliefs and worked hard to bring prosperity and glory to the Ii family.