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

"Are you talking about Shikano Nyudo?" asked Takeda Kuninobu.

Yamagata Morinobu nodded and said, "Who is that? He seems to have strong hostility towards our family."

"The Shikano clan is a branch of the Yamana clan. They have followed the Yamana clan in their battles since the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Their head followed the Yamana clan to Kyoto during the Etoku Rebellion and died in Kyoto. Even so, they remained loyal to the Inaba Yamana clan for more than a hundred years. The current head, the Shikano Nyudo you mentioned, is one of the few hereditary retainers in Inaba who wholeheartedly serves Yamana Samasuke."

After hearing what Takeda Kuninobu said, Yamagata Morinobu had more respect for the lord of Shikano Castle.

"In your opinion, if we open the city and surrender, will that person surrender?" asked Yamagata Morinobu.

"Excuse me for being frank, but it's very difficult. If he was willing to surrender, he wouldn't have brought the only army in his family to Tottori Castle." Takeda Kuninobu replied, "In fact, I sought help everywhere at the beginning, but I was just pretending in front of Yamana Samasuke and didn't have much hope for reinforcements. I didn't expect that this Shikano Nyudo would actually come to reinforce. I was really moved and at a loss." Takeda Kuninobu replied rather embarrassedly.

"So what do you decide to do?" Yamagata Morinobu continued to ask, "As far as I know, among the 500 people guarding the city, more than 100 are from Shikano Nyudo and more than 100 are from Sasuke's Makai. These soldiers loyal to Sasuke already account for more than half of the total force. Moreover, among the remnants of your army that escaped from Yagi Castle, how many of them are truly obedient to you and willing to surrender to the main family with you?"

"I have indeed calculated what you said," Takeda Kuninobu replied confidently, "According to your inference, the forces that truly stand on my side should be around a hundred people."

"Can these 100 people force the remaining 400 people to open the city?" Yamagata Morinobu continued to ask a question, and asked in a concerned tone:
"To put it bluntly, if I reach an agreement with you, but Shikano Nyudo and his men disagree with opening the city, and then launch a mutiny to seize your power, then can you still calmly fulfill your promise to your family?"

Takeda Kuninobu was at a loss for words and thought, "Yes, even though I am the mayor of Tottori Castle, I do not have an advantage in terms of military strength. If I want to realize my plan, I must be ruthless.

"What do you think, Lord Morinobu?" Takeda Kuninobu sincerely wanted to get a solution from Yamagata Morinobu.

"It's not that difficult, there are two ways to go." Yamagata Morinobu replied, "One is tomorrow morning, you take Shikano Nyudo and Yamana Umakai out of the city on the pretext of destroying the main family's fortifications outside the city. I will set up an ambush on the road you must pass, and wait for the 'fish' to take the bait, and then destroy it in one fell swoop.

Second, tonight, you will replace all the night watchmen with your own people. When night falls, order the city gates to be opened, and I will lead the army to attack the city. I promise you that as long as the soldiers in the city surrender and do not resist, I will spare their lives, but if anyone resists, I will not be polite.

In this way, your risk is eliminated, the family's goal is achieved, and casualties in the city can be minimized. This is the safest plan I can think of."

"These two methods are indeed... indeed good..." Takeda Kuninobu had very complicated feelings. He wanted to open the city and surrender smoothly, but he did not want to harm the soldiers in the city who were loyal to the Inaba Yamana clan. Faced with this dilemma, he was unable to make a decision.

"Lord Sheng Xin, do you think this will work? I will order my men to open the Ote Gate and the Hante Gate tonight. When you lead your troops into the city from the Ote Gate, some soldiers will surely be defeated and try to escape from the city from the Hante Gate. Can you just let them go, please?" Takeda Kuninobu asked sincerely.

"Give them a chance to live and give them a chance to return to Tenjin Mountain or to besiege Shikano Castle?" Yamagata Morinobu frowned and asked coldly:

"I don't know much about Luye City, but the fortifications of Tianshen Mountain City are also very strong. If the two or three hundred people who escaped return to Tianshen Mountain City and continue to resist, how can I explain to my lord? Can you afford the loss of time, manpower, financial resources, and materials caused by this?"

"Yes, Yamashiro no Mori, don't let your softness ruin Wuweidian's trust in you." Yoshimi Nobuyuki was also worried that he would suffer from indecision, so he advised from the side: "The fact that Wuweidian sent Lord Sheng Xin here is enough to show that they value you. What you need to do now is to hand over Tottori Castle to Wuweidian as soon as possible and clear possible obstacles for him, and don't create unnecessary trouble."

"I understand." After repeated persuasion from Yamagata Morinobu and Yoshimi Noritaka, Takeda Kuninobu finally made up his mind, "Then let's follow the second method. I will arrange everything at midnight tonight, and then I will fire the whistling arrows as a signal. Please be ready."

"That's great. Your lord's respect for you is worthy of your trust." Seeing that the time had come, Yamagata Morinobu slowly took out another letter from his arms and handed it to Takeda Kuninobu with a smile.

"What is this?" Takeda Kuninobu asked curiously.

"You will know the answer once you open the letter, sir." replied Morinobu Yamagata.

Takeda Kuninobu quickly opened the letter and took out the paper to read it quickly. Just as Yoshishige expected, the expression on his face changed from curiosity to shock, and then from shock to joy. After reading this short letter, he was so excited that he couldn't calm down for a long time.

"This, this is really written by Wuweidian?!" Takeda Kuninobu asked in disbelief.

Yamagata Morinobu nodded, very satisfied with the excitement shown by Takeda Kuninobu. It was obvious that he was indeed moved by Yoshishige's letter.

"Excuse me, sir, what is written in the letter from Wuwei Palace that makes you so excited?" Ji Jian Fanlong asked with pretended curiosity.

"In the letter, Takeiden addressed me as uncle and promised to give me the status and treatment of a member of the Wakasa Takeda clan after the Inaba issue is resolved."

Takeda Kuninobu was overwhelmed with emotions at this moment, and was extremely excited. Thinking that the "Inaba Takeda Clan" would be recognized by the main family more than 50 years later, and that he would become a member of the Wakasa Takeda Clan, he finally made up his mind and was ready to hand over Tottori Castle to Yoshishige.

"Congratulations, sir," said Yamagata Shengxin, who was also beside him. "My family is small, and there are only a few followers. The lord can give you such a promise, which shows that he absolutely values ​​and recognizes you!"

"Really?!" Even Shan County Shengxin said so, Takeda Kuninori was extremely excited and satisfied. Compared with the 4,000-koku rank, the status of this sect was the best reward for him.

"Lord Morinobu, Lord Nagato-no-kami, please go back and tell Takeei-dono that I will hand over Tottori Castle intact to the Takeda family according to the method we just discussed. Please rest assured." Takeda Kuninobu carefully put away the letter and solemnly promised to Yamagata Morinobu and Yoshimi Noritaka. "Then I'll leave it to Yamajo-no-kami." The two of them returned the greeting to Takeda Kuninobu solemnly, and then left Tottori Castle on the grounds that time was running out.

After receiving Yoshishige's two major promises, Takeda Kuninobu felt much more confident and immediately began to make arrangements after seeing the two off.

In fact, Takeda Kuninobu did not have to make much preparation. Not to mention that the soldiers guarding the Ote Gate and the Quwawa leading to the tiger's mouth were all his confidants, even one of the two hand-held gates in Tottori Castle was guarded by the Makai people who obeyed his orders.

The only gate guarded by Shikano Nyudo is the problem that Takeda Kuninobu urgently needs to solve.

However, this was not a big deal. That afternoon, Takeda Kuninobu ordered people to prepare a banquet, ostensibly to entertain the Kano army that had come from afar, but in fact to remove all of them from their important posts and replace them with soldiers under his own command.

Although at first, Shikano Nyudo refused to attend the banquet, after all, it was a critical moment and the city defense must not be relaxed.

But he could not resist Takeda Kuninobu's repeated invitations and the instigation of the samurai around him. He thought that his soldiers had not had a peaceful meal since they entered the city, so he finally agreed to lead the Shikano samurai to the banquet and handed over the important task of defense to Takeda Kuninobu.

That night, everything went according to plan. Shikano Nyudo and his warriors enjoyed a long-awaited feast. During the banquet, everyone toasted each other and chatted happily until late at night. Many warriors simply fell asleep and snored. This scene made Takeda Kuninobu realize that the time had come.

"call out!"

At the signal of Takeda Kuninobu, a whistling arrow broke through the night sky, and the originally tightly closed Otemon slowly opened, and the two curved wheels connected to it also opened at the same time.

Sakakibara Nagamasa and Yoshimi Noritaka, who were near the mountainside, ordered their men to go and investigate the situation as soon as they received the signal. After learning that several gates had indeed been opened, they immediately led their troops into the first Quwawa and quickly advanced towards the Honmaru.

At the same time, in order to ensure that everything was foolproof, Morinobu Yamagata outside the city also ordered the Takeda army to block the two hand-held gates of Tottori Castle to prevent any soldiers from breaking out and escaping in the chaos.

Under the watchful eyes of Takeda Kuninobu and his soldiers, two thousand Takeda troops filed in from Oteguchi and, led by Sakakibara Nagamasa, galloped non-stop towards the palace.

At this time, more than a hundred people including Shikano Nyudo were drunk in the palace. From the palace to the corridors outside the palace, there were Shikano soldiers and some of the stable men lying drunkenly everywhere.

When Sakakibara Nagamasa broke into the palace, he saw the scene inside and without saying a word, he ordered the Takeda army to start a massacre. Amidst the flashing of swords and the shadow of sabers, a massacre took place.

Those defenders who were soundly sleeping died directly in their sleep. Those who were confused and staggering were beheaded one by one before they could figure out the situation. There were a few defenders who could drink well and tried to take up weapons to resist, but the incident happened suddenly and the Takeda army was large in numbers, so they did not hold out for long before they were all killed.

Only a small number of defenders escaped from the palace and joined with some of the Makai who came to support them, trying to fight and retreat, and escape from the two hand-held gates. However, they did not know that the two gates had already been controlled by the Takeda army from the inside out, and even if they rushed to the gates, they would not be able to escape death.

Sadly, in their eyes, these two gates were still their hope of escape, so they tried their best to break out to the gates.

As the stragglers were cleared, more and more Takeda troops joined in the encirclement and suppression of the remnants. Facing the fierce and ferocious Takeda troops, they gradually lost their strength and were completely wiped out before they even reached the Gandachi Gate. At this time, it was only a little over half an hour before the Takeda troops entered the city.

As the smoke cleared and the cries of grief gradually ceased, Sakakibara Nagamasa, accompanied by Takeda Kuninobu, inspected the battlefield and after a careful search, finally found the body of Shikano Nyudo in a corner of the palace. Although he was stabbed several times, he still held a wakizashi tightly in his hand, his eyes were wide open and his expression was ferocious. This scene made Takeda Kuninobu feel ashamed.

In the subsequent first inspection, the Takeda army counted that a total of 337 defenders were killed, and no rebels escaped. At this point, Tottori Castle officially fell into the hands of Yoshishige, and Takeda Kuninobu led more than a hundred soldiers under his command down the mountain and joined the Takeda army in the conquest of the remaining castles in Inaba.

On the morning of the 23rd day of the first lunar month, the Takeda army, which had just rested, marched towards Tenjinyama Castle under the leadership of Takeda Kuninobu. At noon, they occupied the castle of the Inaba Yamane clan without bloodshed.

Yamana Yutoyo, who learned that Tottori Castle had been captured by the Takeda army, successfully entered Ushio Castle with the help of a handwritten letter from Takeda Kuninobu. Afterwards, at Yoshishige's request, he marched non-stop to other castles in Inzai. In four days, he successively captured Tobita, Kano, Katsuyama and other castles, and finally completed the occupation of the four counties of Inzai on the 27th day of the first lunar month.

Yoshishige ordered Yamagata Morinobu to lead 2,000 troops southward to launch a strong attack on the Kusakari clan, the only remaining force in southern Inaba that refused to surrender. At the same time, he led the remaining 4,500 troops to Kamego Castle at the border between Hoki and Inaba, and met with Yamana Yutoyo who arrived earlier to discuss the next plan.

The Kusakari clan, whose castle was originally located in Yodoyama Castle in Chizu County in southern Inaba, was for a long time subordinate to the Inaba Yamana clan, but as its strength grew, it gradually seized large tracts of territory in southern Inaba.

After the current head of the family, Kusakari Hiratsugu, ascended the throne, he sent troops to the neighboring province of Bimasaka and defeated the Urakami clan who occupied the three provinces of Harima, Mimasaka, and Bizen. He brought the counties of Tohokujo, Nihokujo, Eida, and Yoshino in the north of Bimasaka into his sphere of influence, and built Takayama Castle (Yahazoo Castle) in Tohokujo County as his new residence. Relying on the two castles of Yodoyama and Takayama, he gained control of the border between Inaba and Mimasaka.

Relying on the control of as many as seven counties in Inaba and Bimasaka, and having successively defeated the punitive armies of the Inaba Yamana clan and the Urakami clan, Kusakari Hirotsugu was fearless against the surrounding forces, even the Amago clan.

After learning that Yamana Yutoyo had captured Wakasa Castle, Kusakari Hiratsugu immediately sent 1,500 troops from Yodoyama Castle to attack Hatto County where Wakasa Castle was located, occupied many villages, and ignored Yamana Yutoyo's order to withdraw.

At that time, Yamana Yufeng considered that his troops were insufficient and was eager to go north to Tenjinyama Castle to join Yoshishige, so he did not get involved with him. Now that the overall situation in Inaba has been determined, he asked Yoshishige to send troops south to drive the Kusakari clan out of Chito and Hatto counties in order to achieve control over the entire Inaba area. (End of this chapter)