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

Chapter 24 Cooperation reached
Hearing Nobushige admit his identity so generously, Asakura Kagetaka was a little bit unconvinced: "Would the dignified guardian of Wakasa come to our Ono County with only three or five people?"

"It is precisely because I only have three or five people that I can get here. If I had brought a hundred or eighty people, I'm afraid I would have been stopped at Kaneyama Castle (the castle at the junction of Wakasa and Tsuruga), right?"

As he said this, Nobushige ordered Kumagai Takanao to take out the family seal and hand it to Asakura Kagetaka for inspection. Only at this point did he reluctantly believe Nobushige's true identity, but there were still many questions in his mind that had not been answered.

"Your Highness is the ruler of a country. Why are you here in Daye County?"

"I came here to make peace between the two sides."

"The two sides want to make friends? Your Highness might have found the wrong person. You should go to Ichijodani instead of my Haishan Castle. Besides, if you really want to make friends, would you place Shinkuro by my side?" I had heard before that Asakura Kagetaka was very suspicious, and when I saw him today, it was indeed difficult to deal with him.

"Your Highness, you are really overthinking it. Shinkuro did come to you on his own initiative, but he heard that the situation had changed and was concerned about Wakasa's safety, so he returned to his family. Please don't blame him." Nobushige's words were sincere, which reduced a lot of Asakura Kagetaka's anger towards Muto Mitsuyuki.

"I, the sinner Shinkuro, have failed Your Highness. Please forgive me." Seeing this, Muto Mitsuyu also bowed down and respectfully apologized to Asakura Kagetaka.

"Forget it, your mind is not on me. Leaving you is actually a good thing for our Asakura family." Faced with the sincere apologies of the master and servant Xinzhong, Asakura Kagetaka finally chose to forgive them. After all, his running away did not cause any loss to himself.

"Let's get back to business," Asakura Kagetaka thought that business was more important, so he got straight to the point and said, "Your Highness, what do you mean by the two sides becoming friends? Since Shinkuro has returned to Wakasa, you should already know that my Asakura clan will be making big moves in the near future."

"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't have risked coming to Haishan Castle to meet Your Highness." Nobushige replied: "What I mean by friendship is that I hope that the Ono people under Your Highness's command will not participate in the invasion of Wakasa."

"What a joke!" Asakura Kagetaka sneered, pressed the teacup in his hand heavily on the table, and said with a serious expression:

"You should know who I am. If I violate the order of the clan and make peace with you without authorization, and the news gets out, you should know what kind of severe punishment I will suffer! Don't say anything. I admire your courage and allow you to leave now. If you have unrealistic ideas again, don't blame me for being rude."

"Of course I know who you are." Nobushige did not get up and leave, but said something intriguing: "You are Asakura Danjo's younger brother, the most beloved son of Lord Zhenjing, and the governor of Ono County with a land of 100,000 koku."

"Why are you saying this?" Asakura Kagetaka said after thinking for a moment.

"You should know what I mean. You should also know that this is your only chance to realize your ambitions." Nobushige said in a calm tone, but Asakura Kagetaka was a little restless.

"My ambition is to assist my brother in establishing the eternal foundation of the Asakura clan, and you, Wakasa, are the first step for my Asakura clan to dominate the Hokuriku."

"It seems that His Highness still doesn't believe in my sincerity." Xinzhong smiled and said, "Since I took the risk to come here, I want to reach a cooperation with His Highness in person."

"What cooperation? I don't think I have anything to discuss with you Takeda clan. Let me tell you another piece of news. I have launched a full mobilization and will lead the army to Tsuruga soon. Your Highness, instead of wasting time here, you should go back and think about how to deal with the army of my Asakura clan."

"Really? Your Highness, I promise that if you really send troops to attack Kuniyoshi Castle this time, your dreams will be shattered and your ambitions will be out of the question."

"My ambition? Haha, it's just the first time we meet, but Your Highness seems to know me very well." At this moment, Asakura Kagetaka became interested. He became more and more curious about the young ruler in front of him and wanted to hear what he would say.

"Your Highness has won the important position of Ono County Magistrate with his three expeditions to Mino and two expeditions to Kaga. But I have heard that after the attack on Wakasa, Asakura Dansho will dismiss you from your post."

"Ridiculous!" Asakura Jinggao was furious: "You are trying to sow discord between me and my brother!"

"Didn't you get wind of it?"

"I..." Asakura Kagetaka was hesitant to speak. Indeed, Asakura Takakage had become increasingly distant from him recently. From time to time, rumors spread from Ichijodani to Inoyama Castle, saying that Asakura Takakage was preparing to incorporate Ono County into his direct territory.

"Rumors can't be trusted," said Asakura Kagetaka.

"What about yourself, Your Highness? Do you remember the love that Duke Zhenjing had for you when he was alive? Do you remember the fights between you two brothers for the inheritance of the family business? Do you remember that Dan Zhengan enjoyed himself in the city but put you in danger time and time again? Do you remember the painstaking plans you made to change the status quo? Do you remember..."

"That's enough, stop talking!" Asakura Kagetaka interrupted Nobushige, almost scolding him, "I didn't expect that I really underestimated Your Highness. You are thousands of miles away from me, but you can figure out everything about me. I really admire you."

"Your Highness, if I didn't know you well enough, I wouldn't have taken the risk to come here to see you." Xinzhong picked up the teacup, took a sip, and continued: "You should be thankful that it is me who came here, not Danzheng or Zongdi."

"Your Highness knows me well enough, but I know almost nothing about you. How can I trust you?" As the conversation progressed, Asakura Kagetaka's attitude gradually changed. "There is a long way to go. If the cooperation is successful, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

"Then tell me, how do you want to cooperate? And what can I get?" Asakura Kagetaka's tone was still flat, but Nobushige could hear that he was indeed interested.

"This cooperation is both simple and difficult. The key lies in your Highness." Nobushige glanced at Asakura Kagetaka and continued, "Isn't your Highness being ordered to mobilize the entire territory? What would happen if you took this opportunity to suddenly appear in Ichijodani?"

"You want me to take over the Ichijodani Castle while the troops in the rear are weak?" Asakura Kagetaka asked in surprise. In fact, this was just one of several plans he had come up with, but considering the feasibility, he didn't dare to act on it.

"That's right." Xin nodded.

"You should know that the military commissioner for this expedition to Kuniyoshi Castle is Munetoshi. If we fight him, I'm afraid that my Ōno-shu will not be a match for him." Asakura Kagetaka said with a wry smile, "Besides, with his prestige, it will be a question whether my soldiers are willing to follow me."

Nobushige could tell that Asakura Kagetaka was moved, so all that was left was for him to strengthen his confidence:

"Please rest assured, Your Highness. I, Wakasa, have also mobilized all my troops for this battle. Relying on the terrain of Kuniyoshi Castle, it will not be a problem to tie up old man Munite for ten days or half a month. You should be confident that you can capture Ichijodani within half a month, right?"

"If that's true, taking over Ichijodani should not be a problem. However, I still don't understand why Your Highness wants to help me take over Ichijodani? What benefits can you get?" Asakura Kagetaka said puzzledly. He firmly believed that there is no free lunch in the world.

"Benefits? Isn't that obvious? Of course it's the peace of Wakasa. I came here today to reach a peace with Your Highness. I hope that after Your Highness inherits the position of head of the family, you will stop and no longer invade my Wakasa." Xinzhong's words were so sincere that Asakura Kagetaka could not tell whether they were true or false.

"That's it?"

"One more request."

"But it doesn't matter."

"More than ten years ago, the Itomi clan rebelled, but was quelled with the help of the Asakura family. Now, Itomi Masaki has evil intentions and intends to seize power by attacking the Isshiki clan. I hope Your Highness will remember this cooperation and help me completely eliminate the Itomi clan."

Nobushige knew that if he didn't make some difficult requests, it would arouse Asakura Kagetaka's suspicion.

The Itomi clan had occupied Oi County for decades and its power should not be underestimated. More importantly, it had rebelled three times and had a long-term unfriendly relationship with the Takeda clan. However, due to its lack of strength, the Takeda clan was never able to eliminate this hidden danger that hindered the unification of Wakasa.

This matter was not only known to Wakasa, but also to surrounding forces, and Asakura Kagetaka should be no exception. Using the suppression of a rebellion in a county as a condition was just the right price, not too big or too small, and should be something Asakura Kagetaka could accept.

Asakura Kagetaka was also happy to accept this condition, not for any other reason, but because he had his own plan in mind: if he wanted to attack the Itami clan, he would have to cross the entire Wakasa, and then use the tactic of "destroying Guo by taking a detour" and suddenly attack when passing through the Takeda clan's mansion, and destroy the Takeda clan in one fell swoop and annex Wakasa. Wouldn't that be more effective than attacking Kuniyoshi Castle?
"I promise you," Asakura Kagetaka nodded, "As long as Your Highness keeps his promise and can hold Kagetsu in Kuniyoshi Castle for half a month, I will help you pacify the Itsumi clan when I take over Ichijodani."

After that, the two smiled at each other, raised their glasses and drank together, and the atmosphere instantly eased.

"But I still have a worry. What if Souji doesn't recognize me as the leader?" Now in Echizen Province, the only one who can give Asakura Kagetaka a headache is Asakura Souji.

"As long as Your Highness can 'settle' Choyasha, then according to the order of succession, the position of the head will definitely be yours. Moreover, by then, the matter will be done, and even if Sono is unwilling, he will consider the stability of Echizen and will never start another internal struggle. By then, Your Highness's position will be secure."

The Choyasha mentioned by Nobushige was the only son of Asakura Takakage and the childhood name of Asakura Yoshikage, the last head of the Asakura clan in history. At this time, he was only five years old and posed no threat to Asakura Kagetaka.

"I will send Chang Yaksha to become a monk first. If he has no second thoughts, I will protect his life. If he is used by someone with ulterior motives, it will be hard to say for sure."

"This is your highness's family affair, I just reminded you." After saying this, Nobushige bowed solemnly to Asakura Kagetaka and said, "In this case, the matter is settled. I can finally return to Wakasa with peace of mind."

This one may have a little more dialogue in the previous chapter, but it is all to pave the way for the subsequent plot. After all, it is not easy to convince an important official like Asakura Kagetaka.

Once again, I would like to ask everyone to read on, vote for the monthly ticket, and collect the book. If you have extra monthly tickets, please give me one or two. Xiongzai would like to thank you.

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(End of this chapter)