Chapter 8 8. The Cruelty of the Warring States Period

The Yamauchi army's momentum did not break through the Shirakawa family's diehards' defense in Honmaru. Before sunset, the armies withdrew from the city that had been destroyed by war like a tide. Except for some who stayed behind to guard, they were not worried that the hundreds of remnants of Honmaru would retake the outer city.

That night, the family sent samurai with flags into the city for the first time to negotiate, and the specific results are unknown.

But after returning to the camp, Kobayata saw that his villagers, even the soldiers who should not have been on the battlefield, were packing their bags. Especially the old family of the village chief, who looked harmless and was better at cooking than fighting, was folding and packing a small-sode (women's clothing) that looked very expensive (good!), the brilliance of the silk was quite dazzling under the light of the campfire. The other few had paintings and calligraphy, porcelain, and even go boards and pots in their bags.

Mmp, Kobayata regretted it for a while, the Ninomaru was full of samurai houses! At that time, there was a war, and everything you looted was yours. Why was he so stupid to pretend to be dead? I risked my life to fight on the top of the city wall, and you slackers have made a fortune.

Turning back to look at the village chief, this man actually brought a 13- or 14-year-old little girl who was still crying. Wait! Your daughter is staying at home well. When you get closer, you can see whose daughter you have kidnapped. You are 35 or 36 years old, and you still catch such a little girl, you beast!

I won’t say anything about the old cow eating tender grass, can you not look so lecherous in public! We are fighting a war, please be serious.

Looking at these slackers happily holding their packages, hugging little girls (that word is a taboo word), snoring. Xiao Pingtai slapped his forehead hard: "Xiao Pingtai! Xiao Pingtai! How can you be so stupid, you missed such a good opportunity to make a fortune!" With tears of regret, he spent the night half-dazed and half-awake.

The next day, a sedan chair was carried out of the city, and several maids helped a girl in gorgeous clothes who was obviously only 13 or 14 to enter the shogunate. This was obviously the princess (hime) of the Shirakawa family.

"She should soon become the concubine of Yamanouchi Yoshiharu, right?" Xiao Pingtai thought so, but he could not envy her except for a few words, just watching.

After another hour, the main gate of Honmaru opened, and about a hundred old, weak, women and children and dozens of injured samurai foot soldiers also left the city. They were both for treatment and hostages.

At noon, two samurai in white inner clothes and two sword-wielding warriors walked out of the city. On the avenue outside the city gate, the two samurai sat on the straw mat and drank a dish of wine each.

Then the older samurai wrote something quickly on the paper with a pen. The young samurai responded: "Life for fifty years is like a dream, a bubble, and a shadow; like dew and lightning, you should view it like this."

Soon, the two drank a few dishes of wine each, and no one urged them, and they committed seppuku without hesitation, and the two accompanying warriors quickly came to their rescue. The heads were quickly presented to the main shogunate. It turned out to be the two people of Shirakawa-kata and the young master.

In the afternoon, all the people in the city lined up to surrender. Seeing the blood-soaked straw mats, some covered their faces and cried, some sighed, some were silent, and some cried loudly. Several samurai, old or young, also committed suicide at the place where Shirakawa committed seppuku at noon.

The remaining people hugged a boy of five or six years old and knelt on the ground at a distance from the shogunate. They bowed their heads and knelt to show their submission and prayer to Yamanouchi Yoshiharu.

And Yamanouchi Yoshiharu had to show his tolerance and kindness at this time. He showed mercy to the youngest son of Shirakawa and allowed him to go to the Matsureki Temple in Yamanouchi's territory to become a monk, and had someone shave his head on the spot. Almost all the samurai or foot soldiers in the city surrendered, and the Shirakawa family was completely destroyed.

The samurai looked at whether Yamanouchi Yoshiharu was willing to be employed. Those who were willing to be employed could earn a little salary. If you don't want to be employed, then I'm sorry, please find another job or go back to your hometown to farm. The ronin industry is also very promising.

Then, of course, the rewards were given according to merit. Hosokawa Saijo ranked first because of her merits in the Shimoyama Ichiban Gun and the Ejiri Ichiban Ride. She was granted an additional 500 kan in a certain county of Ejiri, enjoying the reputation of having the same salary as her father and son.

Others were given a sword, a horse, gold, and a letter of thanks, yes, a thank-you letter plus a little consolation money. Otherwise, there were so many fierce generals under Nagao Kagetora, and some of them took 20 or 30 blood-stained letters of thanks. If all of them were rewarded with land, I'm afraid that even if you gave all of Japan to Nagao Kagetora, it wouldn't be enough. If you make a little contribution, you will be promoted to a samurai, and you will be granted hundreds of koku of zhixing. That's the brainless plot of brainless novels.

And what about Hosokawa Saijo's lucky general Kobayata? He was summoned by Hosokawa and asked to be his foot soldiers and stay in Ejiri for security. He was also given five kan of money, yes, Kobayata was the first to make two contributions for him, and he was worth these five kan of money for braving the hail of bullets.

Kobayata declined the call for the foot soldiers, and Hosokawa Saijo was indifferent. She asked someone to bring a bowl of rice to Kobayata and sent him away.

Is it cruel? No, it's just the daily life of the Japanese Warring States Period.

Please rest assured, bosses, there are more than 150,000 words in the manuscript!