Japan's Warring States Period: The Rise of the Wakasa Tiger

After obtaining the approval of Takeda Motomitsu, Yoshishige summoned Kagawa Mitsukage again.

On the one hand, he wanted to tell him that he was going to send troops to escort Hikorokuro to Aki and asked Takeda Motomitsu to accompany him. On the other hand, he wanted to hear his attitude towards achieving peace with the Ouchi clan.

Of course, Yoshishige had long known that the patriarch of the Aki Takeda family was pro-Ouchi, but he still had to pretend and listen to how the current situation in the western country had evolved.

Just as Yoshishige had expected, Kagawa Mitsukage expressed his gratitude for the dispatch of troops and also expressed his support for peace talks with the Ouchi clan.

As mentioned before, in the Battle of Aritanaka-Ide, Takeda Motoshige, the head of the Aki Takeda clan, died in battle along with the heads of the Kumagai and Kagawa clans. Logically, these two clans should have regarded the Mori clan as their mortal enemy and would not negotiate peace with the Ouchi clan behind Mori Motonari.

But in the turbulent times of the Warring States, there are no eternal enemies, let alone eternal friends. Preserving the family's reputation in the midst of storms is what the head of a family should do.

Faced with the relentless pressure from Mori and Ouchi, Kumagai Nobunao had taken the lead in changing his flag and joining the arms of his mortal enemy. This also relieved Kagawa Mitsuki, the head of the Kagawa clan, of his psychological burden, and he began to frequently contact Ouchi and Mori, intending to continue the Aki Takeda clan as much as possible while safeguarding the interests of the Kagawa clan.

Therefore, upon hearing that Yoshishige was going to send Takeda Motomitsu to Ouchi-kan, Kagawa Mitsuki expressed strong approval and support. He also assured Yoshishige that he could accompany Takeda Motomitsu to Ouchi-kan if necessary, believing that with his "assistance", it would not be difficult to achieve peace with Ouchi and Mori.

Kagawa Mitsukage believed that the possibility of peace talks with the Ouchi clan leading to the split of the Aki Takeda clan was not high.

First of all, he had the same idea as Yoshishige. With Takeda Motomitsu and the 500 Takeda troops in charge, and the support of the pro-Ouchi retainers such as the Kagawa clan, Hikorokuro would definitely be able to secure his position as the head of the Aki Takeda clan.

Secondly, although Shinagawa Nobumasa seemed to be determined to avenge Takeda Motoshige and was irreconcilable with Ouchi and Mori, he was actually just using this incident as a cover to cover up the fact that he was secretly communicating with the Amago clan.

To put it bluntly, the current Aki Takeda clan is even more miserable than the Yamana main family. The latter at least still has a few important ministers who truly follow Yamana Tasukuyoshi, while the former's family is either pro-Ouchi faction or pro-Amago faction, and there are very few who truly care about the Takeda clan.

Overall, there were relatively few retainers who were pro-Amago clan, and they had previously chosen to side with the Amago clan because of the feud with the Mori clan and the aggressiveness of the Ouchi clan.

If Hikorokuro can put aside his family feud after succeeding as the head of the family, and Takeda Motomitsu can persuade the Ouchi clan to agree to peace talks, then the prerequisite for the Aki Takeda clan to side with the Amago clan will no longer exist, and the pro-Amago faction in the family will find it difficult to gain a foothold.

In this situation, except for a few diehards who will follow the Amago family to the end, most of the retainers will change their minds, making the Aki Takeda clan united again, although this unity is based on the premise of being pro-Ouchi clan.

Of course, Kagawa Mitsukage would not say "on the premise of being friendly to the Ouchi clan", but Yoshishige knew it very well. However, at the moment, there should be no haste. The most important thing is to let the Aki Takeda clan survive. As for how to win the hearts of the people and enhance prestige in the later stage, this can be done slowly.

"Then, Lord Guangjing, what do you think would be beneficial or harmful if our family formed an alliance with the Ouchi clan?" After getting a satisfactory answer to the previous topic, Yoshishige immediately started the next topic.

"Are you planning to form an alliance with the Ouchi clan?" Kagawa Mitsuki was surprised and delighted. "That's great!"

At this moment, he thought that if the Wakasa and Aki Takeda clans were on good terms with the Ouchi clan, he would have strong support both within and outside the Aki Takeda clan. At that time, he could serve as a link to maintain the relationship between the three parties and thereby strengthen the strength of the Kagawa clan.

"This is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" Kagawa Mitsuki secretly rejoiced.

"Lord Guangjing, please tell me what 'could not be better' is?" Yoshishige wanted to take this opportunity to inquire about the current strength of the Ouchi clan from this pro-Ouchi faction retainer of the Takeda clan.

"Your Highness is in Hokuriku and does not know much about the situation in the Western Kingdom. Let me put it this way, in the Western Kingdom now, Ouchi says he is second, and no one dares to say he is first." Kagawa Mitsuki introduced proudly, as if he was already a retainer of the Ouchi family at this moment.

Immediately afterwards, Kagawa Mitsuki informed Yoshishige of the recent movements of Ouchi and Amago in detail.

It turned out that as early as the first year of Tenbun (1532), Shoni Sukemoto, who was fighting against the Ouchi army in Kyushu, pulled Otomo Yoshitsugu of Bungo Province into his camp, and the battle between the two sides was inseparable.

In order to gain a just cause, Otomo Yoshitsugu sent people to Kyoto to meet Ashikaga Yoshiharu, and contacted Akihisa Amago and anti-Ouchi forces in Aki and Shikoku, planning to form an encirclement network against the Ouchi family.

However, considering the powerful strength of the Ouchi army, Akihisa Niwa was unwilling to break off relations with Ouchi Yoshitaka, so he turned to expanding eastward. In 1536, he successively captured the two countries of Bitchu and Bimasaka and continued to attack eastward.

In 1538, Akihisa Amago led his army to attack Harima Province, defeated Akamatsu Masamura, and rebelled against Bessho Noriharu (controlling the eight counties of eastern Harima), nominally completing the control of Harima.

Just when Niwa Akihisa conquered three countries in succession and intended to go to Kyoto, the situation in Kyushu underwent a fundamental change.

In 1515, Ouchi Yoshitaka obtained the position of Dazai Daini from the imperial court, and then surrounded Shoni Sukemoto and forced him to commit suicide.

In 1515, Otomo Yoshitsugu was forced to negotiate peace with the Ouchi clan, and the encirclement plan against the Ouchi clan failed, so Akihisa Amago had to shift his attention back to the west.

At the same time, Ouchi Yoshitaka, who ended the war in Kyushu, also turned his attention to Aki Province in the east and intervened in the civil strife of the Hiraga family in Tosaki Castle in Aki Province. This put Aki Aki under great pressure, and he had to withdraw the main forces to Izumo in early 1540 to prepare for the fight with the Ouchi clan.

In order to take the initiative, the Shingu Party launched the advance war against the Mori clan mentioned above. However, the failure of the advance war did not dampen the fighting spirit of Akihisa Niwa, but instead aroused his anger. The Ouchi clan also realized Akihisa Niwa's true intention, and a bigger storm was about to come.

After listening to Kagawa Mitsuke's eloquent introduction, Yoshishige had a relatively clear understanding of the situation in the West at that time.

"In other words, Ouchisuke has eliminated the worries in Kyushu, and the Amago family has also stabilized the eastern border. Both families are now turning their attention to the Chugoku region?" Yoshishige confirmed with Kagawa Mitsuki.

Kagawa Mitsui nodded: "To be fair, the new head of the Amago family is indeed capable, otherwise he would not have been able to conquer three countries in three years. But overall, Ouchisuke should be slightly better. It is definitely a good choice for Your Highness to form an alliance with the Ouchi family at this stage."

"Don't think that you are in the limelight now. In the future, you will just be making wedding dresses for others." Yi Zhong couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

"In that case, I hope you, Lord Mitsuki, will bear with me during this visit to the Ouchi family," Yoshishige said politely. "A foreign minister will definitely fulfill his mission," Kagawa Mitsuki answered confidently.

On July 10, Takeda Hikorokuro returned to secular life from Seiun-ji Temple. Two days later, he completed his coming of age ceremony and officially changed his name to Takeda Nobumasa.

After everything was ready, on July 15, accompanied by Takeda Motomitsu, Kagawa Mitsukage and others, and escorted by Shirai Kiyotane and 500 standing troops, the sixteen-year-old Takeda Nobumitsu set out from Tajima Kosumiyama Castle, heading west, passing through Tajima, Inaba, Hoki, Izumo, and Iwami, and finally entered Aki Province on August 3 and arrived at Sadoh Ginzan Castle.

Although the whole process went smoothly, two minor incidents occurred along the way.

One is that when the army passed through Tsurumine Castle in Keida County, Tajima, Yamana Yutoyo had already arrived from Yagi Castle and was waiting at the foot of the castle with his retainers.

As the head of the Yamana clan, it shouldn't be necessary for him to pay so much attention to Takeda Motomitsu and Takeda Nobumasa. Obviously, he did so because he had something to ask for.

After Tsurumine Castle was conquered by the Inaba Yamana family earlier, the buildings in the castle and the castle town were completely destroyed. In view of this, Yamana Yufeng could only order people to barely clean up a house and invite Takeda Motomitsu to have a few drinks.

Takeda Motomitsu was in a hurry to travel and wanted to refuse, but Yamana Yufeng was so kind that he couldn't refuse, so he had to go in and talk.

After entering the residence, Takeda Motomitsu looked around and found that it was generally clean, but there were still scars from the fierce battle and traces of charcoal burns on the walls and beams. He couldn't help but sigh: "The battle at the beginning of the year really destroyed this place."

"That's right. Those guys from Inaba burned, killed and looted along the way, turning Tajima into a mess and the people were living in misery. Look at this room, I had my people clean it up, but it's barely presentable." Yamana Yufeng sighed helplessly.

"War is like this. No matter if you win or lose, you have to pay a price. Forgive me for being frank, but if Your Highness had not led the troops to invade Tango, there would not have been such a disaster. The Yamana family could have lived in peace in Tajima. Don't you agree?"

"You are right. I was foolish at the time and did something stupid. As a result, Tajima is now divided into three parts and many people have fled. This is all my own fault."

Yamana Yufeng's attitude was sincere and his words were earnest. It was obvious that he really regretted invading Tango.

"It's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep have been lost." Takeda Motomitsu comforted him, "As long as Your Highness works hard to govern the current territory, I believe that the people will come back."

"Thank you for your kind words." Yamana Youfeng bowed and thanked him. "Now that we are talking about this, there is something I would like to ask Your Highness."

"What's the matter?" Takeda Motomitsu knew that Yamana Yufeng would not be so attentive for no reason, and this glass of light wine was not so easy to drink.

"Last time, our family signed a contract with your party and Inaba to divide Tajima into three parts. I wanted to manage the limited territory in my hands well and restore order in the territory as soon as possible. But Inaba did not stop. It sent troops to provoke every few days, making the people on the border in a state of panic."

"Since the contract has been signed, why would you go back on your word?" Takeda Motomitsu asked in confusion.

"I guess he is still unwilling to give up most of his adoptive father's county to his family."

Yamana Yufeng said helplessly: "Thanks to Wuweidian's mediation, our family was able to retain most of our adoptive father and Qida County. But now, Yamana Masamichi, relying on the support of the Amago family, frequently provokes at the border between the two counties.

A few days ago, he even sent people to Yagi Castle, saying that the refugees of the family had gone to his territory to plunder villages, and demanded that the family cede more than a dozen villages in the south of his adoptive father's county to him as compensation, otherwise he would send troops to seize them. Tell me, how can I agree to this request? "

"It's only been half a year since the contract was signed, and he has already gone back on his word. He is truly despicable," Takeda Motomitsu felt very sympathetic when he saw the head of the Yamana main family being bullied by the branch family. However, he was still curious and asked, "But why are you telling me this, Your Highness? You should know that I have retired now and have no friendship with the Inaba Yamana family."

"I know that, but aren't you going to Aki? You should pass by Tsukiyama Tomita Castle on the way, right?" asked Yamana Yufeng.

"Of course. On our way west, we must go to Tsukiyama Tomita Castle to visit Lord Nagahisa and His Highness Akishisa." Takeda Motomitsu affirmed.

"In that case, I have an unreasonable request, and I hope Your Highness will agree to it." Yamana Yufeng pleaded earnestly.

"You hope that when I visit the Amago family, you will ask them to restrain the prince of Inaba and prevent him from going too far, right?" Takeda Motomitsu asked.

Yamana Youfeng nodded seriously, "That's right. To be honest, if ceding a few villages can bring peace between the two sides, I will accept it. I am afraid that he will continue to push for more, asking for a dozen today and another dozen tomorrow. I only have this little territory, and I am afraid that I will have no place to stand in the near future."

"To be honest, Your Highness may not like to hear it," Takeda Motomitsu said truthfully, "My main mission this time is to escort Hikorokuro to Aki to inherit the position of head of the family. We have to pass through many territories of the Amago family, which is already a trouble for them.

If I were to make such a request to Lord Nagakuni and Lord Akikuni on behalf of Your Highness, I'm afraid it would be a bit reckless. After all, compared to the Inaba Yamaji family, the relationship between the main family and the Amago family is not as close. If I rashly pass on the message for you, I'm afraid it would backfire and make them think that I'm trying to sow discord."

After listening to Takeda Motomitsu's words, Yamana Yufeng felt that although it was harsh, it was not without reason. After thinking for a long time, he had to give up in dismay: "Your Highness, what you said is indeed reasonable. Then I will not trouble you with this matter. I will find a way to solve it myself."

Seeing the lost look on Yamana Yufeng's face, Takeda Motomitsu also felt a little worried: "The Yamana clan was kept in the first place to serve as a buffer zone to avoid conflicts with the Amago clan. If this buffer zone no longer exists or turns to the Amago clan, the main clan will be in a passive position.

Especially since I am about to go to the Ouchi family to persuade them to form an alliance with the main family. Once the alliance is formed, the importance of the Yamana main family will be even more prominent. In order to ensure that the power is not affected by the war, the Yamana Youfeng force cannot make any mistakes for the time being. "

Thinking of this, Takeda Motomitsu suggested to Yamana Yufeng: "Your Highness, why don't you send someone to Wakasa to inform Takeno-dono of this matter? He is the head of our Takeda clan and a companion of the shogunate. He can say things that I am not comfortable with, and he can do things that I am not comfortable with. If he knows about this, maybe he will have a plan to deal with it."

"Yes, why didn't I think of that!" Yamana Youfeng slapped his head and suddenly realized: "Wuweidian is resourceful and will definitely find a solution. Thank you for your guidance, Your Highness. I will leave for Wakasa tomorrow to seek good advice from Wuweidian." (End of this chapter)