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

After obtaining the approval of Ouchi Yoshitaka, the Aki Takeda clan was officially allowed to deal with the Numata Kobayakawa clan.

After careful discussion, it was decided that Takeda Shigekiyo's son, Takeda Nobushige, grandson of Takeda Motoshige, would marry Kobayakawa Shigehira's sister, the daughter of the previous head Kobayakawa Masahira, as his principal wife in order to inherit the family name of the Numata Kobayakawa clan.

The Aki Takeda clan also gave Kobayakawa Shigehira a certain amount of "retreat allowance" and allowed him to live in Ginzan Castle with some of his retainers. As for most of the retainers of the Numata Kobayakawa clan, led by Tasaka Yoshiakira, Takeda Nobumasa promised that they would retain their original positions and territories, which undoubtedly won the favor and support of these retainers.

In the first month of 1544, Takeda Nobushige officially married the daughter of Kobayakawa Shohei and changed his name to Kobayakawa Nobuhira. At the end of the month, Kobayakawa Nobuhira formally accepted the transfer of Kobayakawa Shigehira in Takayama Castle and became the th head of the Numata Kobayakawa clan.

In order to help Kobayakawa Nobuhira secure his throne, at the suggestion of Takeda Motomitsu and Takeda Shigekiyo, Takeda Nobumasa sent 300 troops and several retainers to Takayama Castle, nominally to assist, but in fact to help Kobayakawa Nobuhira intimidate the pro-Mōri faction in the city.

As expected, after the Aki Takeda clan moved into Takayama Castle, with the cooperation of retainers such as Tasaka Yoshiakira, many pro-Mōri retainers within the Numata Kobayakawa clan were purged one after another. Some fled, some disappeared inexplicably, and some were unfortunately assassinated. Before long, the pro-Mōri faction in the castle was almost wiped out.

Among these pro-Mōri retainers, the "leader" was Nomi Takaoki, the lord of Chausuyama Castle in Aki. He was from a commoner family of the Numata Kobayakawa clan. As early as when Kobayakawa Takakage moved to Takehara Kobayakawa, he had been secretly communicating with Mori Motonari and was one of the retainers who supported the unification of the two Kobayakawas.

However, Ouchi Yoshitaka did not allow Kobayakawa Takakage to inherit the Numata Kobayakawa clan as he wished, but allowed the Takeda clan from western Aki to enter Takayama Castle. This made Nomi Takaoki feel that something was wrong, and before Kobayakawa Nobuhira entered the castle, he led his family to retreat to Chausuyama Castle, hoping to buy time for Mori Motonari and Kobayakawa Takakage to send troops to support them.

However, Mori Motonari knew that Ouchi Yoshitaka made such an arrangement because he did not want the Mori clan to unify Kobayakawa and form a monopoly in Aki. In this case, if he forcibly intervened in the internal disputes of Numata Kobayakawa, it would be equivalent to directly opposing Ouchi Yoshitaka. This consequence was still unbearable for Mori Motonari.

Therefore, Mori Motonari did not send troops to support Chausuyama Castle as Nomi Takaoki had imagined. Instead, he sent envoys into the city and gave him two options to choose from. One was to stay in the Numata Kobayakawa clan, continue to serve Kobayakawa Nobuhira as a family elder, and secretly communicate with the Mori clan and wait for the opportunity; the other was to retreat to Kimura Castle with his family and accept the protection of Kobayakawa Takakage.

Nomi Takaoki knew very well that he had long been branded as a pro-Mōri faction. Even if he stayed in Takayama Castle, he would not be valued by Kobayakawa Nobuhira, but might become the primary target of his elimination.

Therefore, after thinking it over again and again, he decided to accept the second path. Shortly after Kobayakawa Nobuhira entered Takayama Castle, he fled to Kimura Castle with his family. Chausuyama Castle was soon taken over by Kobayakawa Nobuhira and entrusted to Tasaka Yoshiakira, just like the castles of those pro-Mōri retainers.

At this point, the Aki Takeda clan and the Mori clan had basically divided Aki. Overall, in terms of the navy, after absorbing the Numata Kobayakawa and the Noma clan of Yano Castle, plus the Shirai clan of Niho Castle, the Aki Takeda clan's naval strength was slightly better than the Mori clan's.

On land, the Mori clan, which had powerful people such as Kumagai, Amano, Shishido, Hiraga, and Takehara Kobayakawa, was more powerful than the Takeda clan in Aki, which had just integrated the Yoshikawa and Numata Kobayakawa clans. The Kumagai and Shishido clans were particularly brave. The former had a feud with the Takeda clan in Aki and became the vanguard general of Mori Motonari against Takeda Nobumasa. Fortunately, with the 500 elite soldiers brought by Takeda Motomitsu from Tango and the hundreds of elite soldiers trained by Yoshikawa Oki, the Takeda clan in Aki was able to barely maintain its advantage in the confrontation with the Mori clan.

This situation of mutual advantages and disadvantages and interweaving is the most cost-effective way for Ouchi Yoshitaka, who had just experienced a devastating defeat, to maintain his influence in Aki.

Especially with the unification of the Iwami and Aki Yoshikawa clans, the Ouchi clan was able to retain its bridgehead in Iwami, which was a very important fulcrum for the subsequent recapture of Iwami Silver Mine and even the counterattack on Izumo.

With the support of the civil faction headed by Sagara Taketoshi, in Ouchi Yoshitaka's mind, the importance of the Aki Takeda clan has slightly surpassed that of the Mori clan. This makes both Mori Motonari and Sue Takafusa very uneasy. A potential crisis is spreading within the Ministry of Defense and Aki.

However, at least with Ouchi Yoshitaka in charge, Aki Takeda and Mori at least maintained superficial harmony, and they even worked together in the subsequent attack on Bingo Kambe Castle, repelling the pro-Amago faction Yamana Riki and helping Ouchi Yoshitaka win the first victory over the Amago clan after the disastrous defeat of the Izumo expedition.

While the situation in Aki was temporarily stabilized, the Wakasa Takeda clan, which had been recuperating for more than two years, had achieved some success in systems such as land inspection, separation of farmers and soldiers, and military service, and had accumulated a relatively strong fortune through policies such as overseas trade and Rakuichi Rakuza. It decided to take advantage of the fight between the Urakami clan and the Akamatsu clan to use military force against the Bizen Urakami clan, intending to extend its influence to the Seto Inland Sea, form a monopoly on the land route between China and Kinki, and thereby obtain greater wealth.

In fact, a big part of the reason why Yoshishige was able to make up his mind to take this step was because of Ukita Naoie.

After Yoshishige decided to keep a low profile and recuperate, the Takeda clan of Aki and the surrounding forces basically maintained relative peace. Whether it was the Asakura clan in the east, the Amago clan in the west, or the local powerful families in Mimasaka, none of them dared to provoke Yoshishige when he was at the peak of his power.

There was only one direction where some fighting took place, and that was the area around Washiyama Castle where Ukita Naoie was the lord, which is at the junction of Mimasaka and Bizen.

As mentioned before, although Ukita Naoie served as the lord of the castle, he had to fight and seize all the land he knew. Therefore, in order to eliminate Shimamura Morisaki and avenge his grandfather, the first thing he had to do was to capture Chausuyama Castle and Daisenyama Castle where Sasabe Kanjiro was stationed and subdue the Sasabe clan.

As long as we eliminate this important ally of Shimamura Morisaki, we can open the door to attack Tenjinyama Castle from the south. With this achievement, we will surely be rewarded and respected by Yoshishige. (End of this chapter)