The famous generals in the middle and late Warring States Period, known in the world as "the most powerful general of the Warring States Period", "Heihachi of Oni", the Four Tokugawa Kings (Tadaji Sakai, Naomasa Ii and Yasumasa Kanbara), the Three Great Tokugawa Heroes (Naomasa Ii and Yasumasa Kanbara) One of Kanbaru Yasumasa). Born in Mikawa on February 8, the 17th year of Tenmon (1548), Honda was the eldest son of Tadaka. His childhood name was Nanosuke, and he was commonly known as Heihachiro. The Tokugawa family at that time was still called the Matsudaira clan and was subordinate to the powerful Tokai Imagawa Yoshimoto. The Matsudaira family had been weak since the Qingyang period and was caught between the Owari Oda clan and the Tokai Imagawa clan. Because the Matsudaira clan fell to the Imagawa clan, and the family governor Hirohito was killed, his youngest son Takechiyo (Ieyasu) became a hostage of the Imagawa clan. The Matsudaira retainers naturally became the vanguard of the Imagawa clan to fight against the Oda clan. When Tadakatsu was one year old, Tadaka, Tadakatsu's father, went to war in Anxiang Castle against Oda Nobhide. In the end, he was hit by many arrows and died of massive bleeding. He was only twenty-two years old. Before his death, he shouted "Nabe Rib, you must become an outstanding person". "Samurai!" After losing his father, Zhongsheng and his mother Xiaoye moved to Dongcun, where they learned calligraphy, martial arts, marksmanship and other skills. In the first year of Hongzhi (1555), eight-year-old Zhongsheng went to Miaoyuan Temple and learned Sun Tzu's art of war from the monk Qingquan. He completed the course the next year and was praised as a genius by Qingquan, so he began to wander around Sanhe. In the autumn of the third year of Hongji (1557), Tadakatsu was summoned as a valet by Matsudaira Motoyasu, who had just entered the Yuan Dynasty. Tadakatsu was just ten years old at that time. Since then, Tadakatsu has been following Motoyasu (Ieyasu) and became an indispensable confidant. In the second year of Eiroku (1559), the twelve-year-old Tadakatsu Yuanfu. In May of the following year, Yoshimoto prepared to go to Luo and began to plan to cross Owari. On the 19th, Tadakatsu followed Yuanyasu to transport grain and grass to Dagao Castle, preparing to attack Enter Owari. It happened that the Oda army sent troops to disrupt the situation, and Motoyasu and others went out to meet the Oda army, which also became Tadakatsu's first formation. Tadakatsu fought bravely in this battle and won the praise of many Matsudaira veterans. Tadakatsu's martial bravery first appeared. After Yoshimoto was attacked and killed in the Battle of Ogaima in the third year of Roku (1560), the Imagawa clan was on the verge of collapse. In addition, the new family governor Zhenzhen did not take active actions, which caused the surrounding anti-Imagawa forces to suddenly reverse. Matsudaira Motoyasu It was no exception. When Ujizhen offered to return Okazaki Castle to win over Motoyasu, it made Motoyasu (renamed Ieyasu) have independent ambitions. Finally, Ieyasu decided to become independent and join the anti-Imagawa ranks. In the fourth year of Eiroku (1561), Ieyasu sent troops to attack Mikawa Nagasawa Castle. Tadakatsu followed his uncle Honda Taduma to attack the city general Ohara Hizen, who was guarding the town. Tadakatsu attacked enemy soldiers everywhere during the battle. Tadama stepped forward to guard the city in order to avoid accidents. The captured enemy general's head was surrendered to Zhong Sheng, and said: "Zhong Sheng, all we need to do in the war is to obtain the enemy general's head!" Zhong Sheng was furious after hearing this, and angrily said to Zhong Zhen: "I will use the head that others gave me." What does it count as your own merit?" Then he immediately rode into the enemy's formation, and soon took the newly captured enemy's head and said to Zhongzhen: "A warrior's merit should be earned by himself, how can he accept it from others?" Ieyasu was overjoyed to learn about this incident later and greatly appreciated Tadakatsu's bravery. In the fifth year of Eiroku (1562), Matsudaira Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga formed the famous "Seisu Alliance". When Ieyasu arrived in Seisu City, the retainers and soldiers of the Oda clan did not respect Ieyasu. He immediately stepped forward and shouted: "The Ieyasu-den of Mikawa has formed an alliance with the Oda-den of Owari as a friendship. I came here to pay my respects today. You don't know how to treat me politely, but you are being rude. This is Do you want to treat allies like this? Please discipline yourself!" Such a loud shout shocked the soldiers and retainers on the scene, and the scene was silent, and Ieyasu was also very happy. After the Qingzhou Alliance, Ieyasu focused on pacifying and unifying Mikawa, and implemented a series of improvements for this purpose. However, due to too hasty implementation, it finally resulted in Mikawa Ichikui in September of the following year, and the Ichiki clan was disrupted everywhere. Ieyasu immediately ordered Tadakatsu and Kanbaru Yasumasa Waiting to send out troops to fight for peace, Tadakatsu set out wearing the newly made deer horn pocket and the famous gun "Dragonfly Kiri" newly given by Ieyasu. When the crowd saw Tadakatsu, they shouted "This is Heihachiro of Dragonfly Kiri!" and immediately broke up. In December, Tadakatsu and others attacked Yikui's bases, Jigongji Temple and Shougenji Temple, and defeated its leader, Hoshiya Hanzhi. Mikawa Yikui was declared peaceful. After the war, Ieyasu discussed his merits and rewards at Miaoyuan Temple, and Tadakatsu won " With the feeling of "the most meritorious", he has since been recognized as the most powerful general of the Matsudaira family.
In November of the 10th year of Eiroku (1567), Ieyasu reorganized the organization of retainers and legions, and Tadakatsu was included as one of the seven generals directly under Ieyasu's main formation. In the eleventh year of Eiroku (1569), after the castles of Hamana and Hikimano were captured, Tadakatsu and Kambara Yasumasa were ordered to send troops to launch a campaign to attack Kakegawa Castle and Tengata Castle. At the end of June, they captured the Tombs of Tombs and Takaten Castle. , Yuanjiang was finally basically pacified. At that time, Oda Nobunaga was seeking peace with the Mino Saito clan, moving towards Kamiro, and supported Ashikaga Yoshiaki as the fifteenth shogun. However, due to the return of Asai Nagasawa to Asakura and other anti-Oda forces, Nobunaga was forced to retreat from Vietchu. , the famous "Kanazaki Queen" occurred. Ieyasu returned to assist Kinoshita Hideyoshi in the rear to repel the pursuing enemy troops. Tadakatsu also led the artillery team to assist in the battle and successfully retreated. Soon after, the angry Nobunaga was killed in the first year of Motogame (1570). The Battle of Anegawa began in June, and Ieyasu, as an ally of Nobunaga, also joined the war. On the 22nd, Tadakatsu followed Ieyasu to send troops to Hamamatsu. On the 27th, he joined Oda Shi in Anesawa. On the 28th, In the official battle of Japan, Tadakatsu led a single cavalry to fight against the enemy general Naotaka Masaki, defeated him, and assisted Oda. The Tokugawa Allied Forces won. After the war, Nobunaga said to Ieyasu in the military meeting: "It is Mikawa's meritorious service that the actual battle is true, but I learned that your family has a young general wearing the Kabuto of Antlers who fights bravely. No matter what, please let me fight with him." "How do you feel about it?" After Ieyasu summoned Tadakatsu into the account, Nobunaga praised him: "Honda Heihachiro, Nobunaga learned about today's battle. You fought bravely and bravely. You are really the 'Japanese Fei'!" He also poured a glass of wine for Tadakatsu as a reward, which showed Tadakatsu's bravery and impressed even the pretentious Nobunaga. Honda Tadakatsu was known by later generations as "Honda Heihachi, the only fierce general in the Eastern Kingdom, and Tachibana Munege, the only fierce general in the Western Kingdom." In history, or in the eyes of later generations, the image is mainly about martial arts. Honda Masanobu of the same clan once criticized him in person. Tadakatsu was brave but resourceful, but in the eyes of his powerful enemies such as Nobunaga, Shingen and Hideyoshi, they all admired Tadakatsu's calm deployment and combat arrangements. In addition, Tadakatsu was also famous for building castles, such as Okazaki and Toki. With Tadakatsu in charge, to be fair, if Tokugawa Ieyasu had not had Tadakatsu's assistance and a desperate fight, the Tokugawa family might have perished as early as the Battle of Mikatahara; in addition, he had many battles with huge differences in the number of soldiers. , it is often possible to defeat a large number of people with a small number, which cannot be achieved by relying solely on personal bravery. Therefore, later historians also compared Honda Tadakatsu to "Japan's Zhao Zilong", which may be more appropriate! Honda Tadakatsu was feared by people. Whether it was Mikawa, Anegawa or other battles, people's expressions changed when they saw Kabuto Kabuto, Dragonfly Kiri or Tadakatsu's Zhongkui horse seal. In the fifty-six battles, no one was injured. Some people even call Tadakatsu the incarnation of "Hachiman Bodhisattva". Once, when Tadakatsu was ordered to attack Yoshida Castle in Imagawa, he saw a young samurai fighting with him, but he was always defeated. Tadakatsu In the end, instead of killing him, he accepted him as a retainer. In any case, there is no doubt about Honda Tadakatsu’s contribution to the establishment of the Tokugawa world.