Chapter 1627: Tachibana Muneshige

"You're absolutely right. I hadn't thought it through clearly." Zhao Song murmured to himself. "Now that you've put it that way, I understand much better... His Majesty truly has remembered old ties with us. Even if our Liaodong Army scatters in the future, at least everyone will still have a future to count on."

"So we must handle everything properly and not fail His Majesty's goodwill, right? Do you understand now? In a position like this, not just me — even Grand Commander Chen can't show any favoritism toward you or the men below. We've already received more than enough consideration! Marshal Zhao, let me be even more frank with you. Given your past qualifications and meritorious service, plus your achievements in this campaign against Japan, who else in the army — aside from the few grand marshals — could compete with you? Once those grand marshals retire, I'd say you even have a shot at becoming Minister of the Army someday! So... Marshal Zhao, you must be prudent in word and deed from now on. There are things you cannot do, and you mustn't let those above or below think you're too self-serving."

Yan Guang's words stirred something in Zhao Song's heart, and he suddenly felt enlightened. All along, he had simply followed the grand marshals — especially Grand Commander Chen — into battle, taking it as a matter of course that he would fight under their command, never once considering his own future prospects. But now that he thought about it... it actually made a great deal of sense.

He already had countless meritorious deeds to his name and was now the Count of Xingyang in the Great Han. How many men in the army had been enfeoffed as counts? Sooner or later, these grand marshals would all return to the capital to take up posts or retire into private life. When that time came, with his achievements and his status as a distant relative of the imperial house, becoming the de facto leader of the entire army was not beyond imagination... If His Majesty did not trust him deeply, why would he have entrusted such a mission to him?

It seemed there truly was no need to rush.

"Alright, no need to say more for now. We can only steel ourselves and fight this battle well, so that His Majesty finds us useful... and reliable. Besides, if we want the other armies to be genuinely convinced, we have to show real ability — petty tricks won't help." Zhao Song fell silent for a moment before continuing. "Rest assured, I never intended to suppress Li Huanghe and Ma Tongji. They are, after all, Great Han nobles of merit. No matter what, I wouldn't let the two of them come to harm. I only wanted Bi Su and the others to win the first honors."

"Good that you had no such intentions. His Majesty's assignment of the other two regiment commanders to those two men was indeed most fitting. They are very likely the next generation of military standouts His Majesty has his eye on, so I think it best that Marshal Zhao maintain good relations with them." Yan Guang nodded. "Alright, I've now said what I needed to say to you. These are things I can only say to you once. From here on, we continue to handle matters strictly by the book, and I will no longer turn a blind eye to these little things of yours... I hope Marshal Zhao will not hold it against me."

"How could I hold it against you! You've spoken such heartfelt words to me today — it shows you've always kept our friendship close to your heart. I couldn't be more pleased!" Zhao Song laughed and patted the map on the table. "Rest assured, I've taken all of this to heart, and you won't need to remind me again. It's fortunate you did — now I don't have to worry about the brothers going forward... We just need to fight this battle well."

His earlier solemnity gone, he began pointing and gesturing excitedly across the map, laying out his strategy for the coming operations. "I read the plan you wrote last night. It truly has many merits. Our forces have now fought their way into Kyushu and seized large stretches of coastal land in two areas. At the very least, the landing operation has been concluded with complete and perfect success. Next, we should continue our sweep and take the entire island of Kyushu as soon as possible."

"That goes without saying." Yan Guang had resumed his rigid expression. "Since the bulk of the army is now ashore, Marshal Zhao, it is time for us to go ashore as well. Otherwise, what would it look like if the officers and men below are fighting and bleeding at the front while we watch from the sea? And living under someone else's roof like this — it doesn't sound good if word gets out."

The Great Han Navy was directly under the emperor's command, with the emperor exercising control through the navy's independent military administration. Because the high officials of the Military Council had never been able to meddle in naval command, the council's staff officers had always harbored some resentment toward the navy. Yan Guang, being the sort of man he was, had scarcely given the navy people a pleasant look the entire journey. Fortunately, Zhao Song, mindful of the bigger picture, had always treated the navy with great forbearance, which was the only reason no conflict had erupted between the two services.

"Then let's begin the move tomorrow. Get all our people off the ships and onto land — that's the proper way to direct a campaign!" Zhao Song made the decision at once. "It's just that the command post apparently can't be set up in Nagasaki. That place has already turned into a living hell."

"Turning into a living hell is a good thing. That way, the powerful families and domain lords elsewhere will see the fate of those who oppose us." Yan Guang replied with chilling callousness. "Moreover, the more devastated Nagasaki is, the more displaced and destitute commoners there will be — and the easier they will be for us to make use of..."

"Those words truly must not be spoken outside." Zhao Song laughed heartily, then gestured at the map again. "As for those powerful families and domain lords, intimidation is necessary, but intimidation alone won't suffice. We can't drive all of them to desperation. How to pacify them will likely depend on that Sir Zhou... Ah, I truly hope Sir Zhou lives up to his name and handles things thoroughly. I'm rather looking forward to the day when the Kyushu lords flock around me like stars around the moon!"

And at that very moment, Zhou Pu, whom they had mentioned several times, was indeed busy toiling away at the task of winning over the powerful families of Kyushu.

Compared to before, now that the Great Han had invaded and repeatedly crushed the shogunate's armies, his work was several degrees more dangerous — yet he also had considerably more confidence to draw upon.

After the Shimazu clan raised its great army and stormed the Nobeoka Domain, killing its lord Arima Naozumi, they had chosen to hold their forces in place for the time being — to avoid clashing with other major domains before they had declared their stance. They merely dispatched a few samurai in secret to seek out the Great Han army and establish direct contact.

At the same time, they sent envoys in all directions to those domain lords they thought had a chance of being won over, preparing to persuade them to join this great enterprise of opposing the shogunate and restoring the kingly way.

Originally, in this great enterprise, the Kato family of the Kumamoto Domain, which held the entire province of Higo, could have served as a major ally. The founder of the Kato family was Kato Kiyomasa, one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's great generals and one of the Seven Spears of Shizugatake. Kato Kiyomasa had rendered countless meritorious deeds under Hideyoshi and received repeated commendations, participating in most of the wars Hideyoshi had led — including the campaign against Korea — and had been granted vast territories in Higo Province on the island of Kyushu.

But after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death, the various power factions began to struggle against one another. After a long period of hesitation, Kato Kiyomasa ultimately chose to side with Tokugawa Ieyasu. And so in the end, when rewards were distributed, Tokugawa Ieyasu increased Kato Kiyomasa's holdings, allowing him to annex the territory of his former colleague Konishi Yukinaga, making him a great lord with a domain of 520,000 koku.

However, because of Kato Kiyomasa's origins, the Tokugawa family never ceased its surveillance and control over the Kato house, repeatedly suppressing them by various means — just as they suppressed the family of Fukushima Masanori, who had been enfeoffed in the Hiroshima Domain. After Kato Kiyomasa's death, his son Kato Tadahiro inherited the Kumamoto Domain, but was likewise harshly suppressed by the shogunate.

Originally, this enmity toward the shogunate could have made them allies of the Great Han and the Shimazu clan. But most unfortunately, just the previous year, the shogunate had suddenly charged the Kato family with misrule leading to unrest among their retainers, disrespect toward the shogunate, rebellious intent, and other crimes, forcibly transferring the Kato family to the northern province of Dewa — and their domain was reduced to a mere 10,000 koku, a humiliating punishment. Like the Fukushima family, this was part of the Tokugawa house's purge of those former Toyotomi Hideyoshi vassals who had surrendered.

The Kato family was forced to leave the Kumamoto Domain, and as yet there was no new domain lord. The territory was temporarily administered by shogunate officials. It was said that the shogunate intended to transfer Hosokawa Tadatoshi, the exceedingly obedient lord of the Kokura Domain in Buzen Province, to this place, making him the new master of the 520,000-koku domain — but the formal order had not yet been issued.

To be honest, this affair was one of the reasons that spurred the Shimazu clan to resolve to rebel against the shogunate. The Kumamoto Domain lay right at the doorstep of the Satsuma Domain. Simply because of past historical conflicts with the Tokugawa house, a great domain lord of 520,000 koku had been forcibly driven from his lands. This could not help but make the Shimazu clan — which had likewise had conflicts with the Tokugawa house — feel that when the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold.

With no hope of winning over the Kumamoto Domain for the time being, Zhou Pu, after several discussions with Shimazu Yoshihiro, ultimately decided to make Tachibana Muneshige, the lord of the Yanagawa Domain, their primary target for recruitment.

This Tachibana Muneshige had a most remarkable background. He was not originally surnamed Tachibana. He was the eldest son of Yoshihiro Sadanori, a senior retainer of the Otomo clan, and his childhood name was Yashichiro. Later, because he inherited the family name of the Takahashi clan, he changed his name to Takahashi Munetora.

From childhood, he possessed great courage and martial prowess, and gradually earned a reputation in the surrounding region. When he grew up, he caught the eye of Tachibana Dosetsu, another senior retainer of the Otomo clan at the time. Because Tachibana Dosetsu had no adult heir of his own, he adopted him as his son and son-in-law, having him inherit his Tachibana family name. (Interestingly, Tachibana Dosetsu's original name was Hetsugi Morichika; he himself had inherited the Tachibana family name and lands through marriage and adoption.)

After marrying Tachibana Dosetsu's daughter, Tachibana Ginchiyo, Tachibana Muneshige soon became the new head of the Tachibana house following Dosetsu's death.

Because of their loyalty to the Otomo clan, Tachibana Dosetsu had been constantly at war with the Shimazu clan, the dominant power in Kyushu at the time. The two sides clashed in several great battles, and Tachibana Muneshige, fighting with great bravery, repeatedly repelled the Shimazu clan's attacks. For this, he was commended time and again by Otomo Sorin, the supreme commander of the Otomo clan.

Later, Otomo Sorin submitted to Toyotomi Hideyoshi and became one of his great generals, and Tachibana Muneshige likewise transferred into Toyotomi Hideyoshi's service, where he earned Hideyoshi's considerable admiration.

Because he was extremely active as a vanguard in Hideyoshi's campaign to pacify Kyushu and achieved illustrious merit, Tachibana Muneshige was richly rewarded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who granted him lands totaling 132,000 koku around Yanagawa Castle as his family domain. Hideyoshi even personally declared, "Honda Tadakatsu in the east, Tachibana Muneshige in the west — they are the peerless warriors of east and west."

Having been treated so generously by Hideyoshi, Tachibana Muneshige was naturally deeply grateful and fought valiantly for him ever after.

Because he was based in Kyushu, he also joined Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea at a very early stage, clashing repeatedly with Korean and Ming armies. Of course, due to the Ming army's formidable strength, Tachibana Muneshige ultimately achieved no brilliant results, and in the end, following Hideyoshi's orders, he withdrew back to Japan along with the great army that had invaded Korea.

By this time, the political winds in Japan were about to shift — Toyotomi Hideyoshi had died of illness, and his Council of Five Elders and Five Commissioners had begun a fierce struggle over the power he had left behind.

In the course of this struggle, the chief elder Tokugawa Ieyasu and the chief commissioner Ishida Mitsunari became mortal enemies, and each began rallying supporters in preparation for a decisive showdown.

As the man hailed as the Peerless Warrior of the West, Tachibana Muneshige naturally became a target of Tokugawa Ieyasu's assiduous recruitment. But faced with Ieyasu's overtures, he replied directly, "If I were to forget Lord Hideyoshi's great kindness and join the Eastern Army, I would rather die," and then joined the Western Army to take part in the campaign against Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Yet, though he fought with great courage, the Tokugawa house still won this war that decided Japan's fate, defeating the Western Army's daimyo one by one. After retreating all the way to Osaka, Tachibana Muneshige had originally wished to continue fighting the Tokugawa, urging the Western Army's supreme commander Mori Terumoto to keep resisting. But Mori Terumoto had already been scared out of his wits and, for the sake of his clan's survival, no longer wished to continue the fight. He chose to submit to Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Seeing that resistance against the Tokugawa house's military might was no longer possible on the main island of Honshu, Tachibana Muneshige fled back to his domain in the Yanagawa Domain on Kyushu and continued to resist Tokugawa Ieyasu. By this point, Ieyasu naturally showed no more courtesy. He issued orders commanding all the daimyo in Kyushu who had submitted to him to attack Tachibana Muneshige. Only Shimazu Yoshihiro sent troops at the time to aid the Tachibana house.

Although Tachibana Muneshige and the Tachibana army resisted fiercely, circumstances were stronger than men, and they were ultimately surrounded on all sides. Though his will to fight still burned fiercely, Tachibana Muneshige was forced to make the same choice as his comrades and surrender to Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The Tokugawa house's retribution was always severe. Though Tachibana Muneshige behaved with great deference, Tokugawa Ieyasu did not forgive his offenses but instead imposed a harsh punishment — he confiscated the Tachibana family's 130,000-koku domain in the Yanagawa Domain. Tachibana Muneshige was for a time reduced to a ronin, living a life of wandering and destitution.

After suffering such a great loss, Tachibana Muneshige finally began to understand that he needed to change his approach. He no longer openly and sharply expressed anti-Tokugawa sentiments; instead, he began to curry favor with Tokugawa Ieyasu, and at Ieyasu's invitation, served as Captain of the Inner Guard, receiving a new domain of 5,000 koku.

After Tokugawa Hidetada succeeded to the position of shogun, since Hidetada had already formed a good impression of him, he transferred Muneshige to the Tanagura Domain in Mutsu Province, making him a daimyo once more. Mutsu Province lay in the bitterly cold northernmost reaches of Honshu, with extremely barren land and a sparse population. Although his domain was increased several times to 35,000 koku, it could not be mentioned in the same breath as his former holdings.

The Tachibana family's original fief was awarded by Tokugawa Ieyasu to his meritorious retainer Tanaka Yoshimasa. After his domain was forcibly transferred, Tachibana Muneshige had no choice but to travel north to take up his new post. During this time, his wife Tachibana Ginchiyo chose to remain behind, simply moving outside the castle town to live in seclusion in the countryside, and she passed away early at the age of just thirty-four.

Over the next decade and more, Tachibana Muneshige continued to assiduously ingratiate himself with the shogunate and gained its trust. Then an opportunity for a reversal of fortune arrived. After Tanaka Yoshimasa's death, his son Tanaka Tadamasa, who had inherited his domain, also died young soon after. Because Tanaka Tadamasa had no son, the line ended without an heir. After deliberation, the shogunate decided to reclaim the Tanaka family's domain, and a portion of the Yanagawa Domain was returned to Tachibana Muneshige.

After more than a decade of endurance and waiting, Tachibana Muneshige finally returned to his original domain and once again became the lord of the Yanagawa Domain — though the size of his holdings had shrunk from 130,000 koku to 109,000 koku. He was also the only domain lord who, after being transferred away, ever managed to return to his original domain.

After more than ten years of tempering, and with advancing age, Tachibana Muneshige's formerly fiery temper had greatly mellowed. Since returning to the Yanagawa Domain and resuming his post as domain lord, he had never again stirred up any conflict with the surrounding domain lords. He simply lived quietly within his castle town, as if... as if he were merely waiting to die of old age. He was now past sixty — by the standards of this era, a rare old man indeed.

But could the blood of a general who had once ridden the storm truly cool so easily? Shimazu Yoshihiro did not believe so. And when the Great Han and he himself had begun to make their moves, Tachibana Muneshige had not displayed any heroic fervor for a fight to the death. His reaction was, rather, somewhat peculiar — he had mobilized his domain early on, conscripting large numbers of domain samurai and peasant soldiers, yet he kept his forces in place, neither cooperating with the shogunate to resist the Great Han army's invasion and the Shimazu clan's expansion in the surrounding area, nor siding with the Shimazu.

Shimazu Yoshihiro judged that Tachibana Muneshige was still deeply hesitant, still in a wait-and-see state, perhaps even at a loss as to what to do. He therefore decided to send his nephew Shimazu Tadayoshi to undertake the work of persuasion and help the Tachibana house see the situation clearly and make up its mind. Zhou Pu, for his part, expressed that he too wished to go to the Yanagawa Domain and persuade this old general.

Although Shimazu Yoshihiro urged Zhou Pu not to act rashly, citing safety concerns, Zhou Pu refused. He knew that the Great Han army urgently needed the aid of the Kyushu powerful families. He also knew that the more he did now, the more the army would respect him, and the greater the rewards the imperial court would bestow in the future. He therefore resolved to take the risk once more and accompany the Shimazu clan's envoy to the Yanagawa Domain.