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

Chapter 45 Long Night and Many Dreams
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, at noon, in the large hall of the Asakura clan's mansion, Asakura Takakage's only six-year-old son, Nagayashana, accompanied by his wet nurse, attended the grand ceremony of handing over the family headship.

At the ceremony, Asakura Kagetaka solemnly took over the seal symbolizing the power of the Asakura family from Asakura Takakage, and officially became the eleventh head of the Echizen Asakura clan.

Afterwards, Asakura Takakage, who had been in power for 27 years, took the initiative to announce in front of everyone that he would go to Hongxiang Temple to become a monk, and took the Buddhist name "Daxiu Sojun". From then on, his family often called him "Sojun".

"Brother, I want to adopt Choyasha as my adopted son. What do you think?" After the ferrying ceremony, Asakura Kagetaka came to Choyasha, teased him with a smile, and asked Asakura Takakage who was sitting next to him.

"You, don't you have Jingjing?!" Asakura Takakage asked nervously, "Chang Yasha is my only son. Please consider our brotherhood and let him go."

The "Kagekage" mentioned by Asakura Takakage was Asakura Kagekage, the legitimate son of Asakura Kagetaka who had just come of age not long ago and was only fourteen years old at the time.

Seeing Asakura Takakage so nervous, Asakura Kagetaka sneered, "Brother, what are you talking about? I saw that Chang Yasha is very talented, so I wanted to keep him by my side and train him. If he can become an important branch of the main family in the future, wouldn't it be a happy thing? Don't think too much."

"But..." Asakura Takakage wanted to continue to fight for it, but thinking of his family being prisoners, in order not to anger Asakura Kagetaka, he had to say against his conscience: "Since the lord likes Chang Yasha, it is his blessing. From now on, he will be in your hands."

"We are all brothers, it's too formal to say these things." Asakura Kagetaka pretended to be polite and said, "I'm thinking about giving Chang Yasha a coming-of-age ceremony in a few days. I've even thought of a name for him, let's call him 'Yeonkage'."

"It's all up to you. As long as Chang Yaksha can live well, I don't care." Asakura Takakage replied dejectedly. He should have been the one to give the name, but now even this small right as a father has been taken away from him. He can hardly imagine how he will live in the future.

"In that case, it's settled." Asakura Kagetaka touched Chang Yasha's round little head and said kindly to the nurse, "Take Chang Yasha away to rest first."

"My lord, I have one more thing I want to ask you." Looking at the departing back of Chang Yasha, Asakura Takakage felt sad, but at this moment, he could only bury the resentment and grief deep in his heart.

"What's the matter? Feel free to tell me." Asakura Kagetaka responded casually.

"I want to know what your plans are on the Wakasa front, and how you plan to explain it to Lord Sotachi," asked Asakura Takakage.

Asakura Kagetaka frowned, stared at Asakura Takakage for a moment, and said, "Since my brother has become a monk, it seems that I shouldn't ask about these worldly matters."

"I am sorry for speaking too much." Asakura Takakage hurriedly apologized, "But I still want to say one thing. The battle in Kuniyoshi Castle is at a critical moment. My lord, please send troops to support the front line. Don't give up all the previous efforts."

"Got it," Asakura Kagetaka said expressionlessly, "I will consider what you said carefully. It's getting late, brother, you should go back to Hongxiang Temple early."

"Then I will take my leave first."

Asakura Takakage bowed and left, unaware of the cold look in Asakura Kagetaka's eyes fixed on him.

After the banquet, everyone left one after another, except for Maenba Kagetada, who was kept by Asakura Kagetaka.

"It all seems like a dream." Asakura Kagetaka still couldn't believe it. Just a day ago, he was just the governor of Ono County, but overnight, he became the head of the Echizen Asakura clan. The "rebellion of the inferiors over the superiors" that often occurred during the Warring States Period was also happening in the Asakura family.

"Congratulations, my lord, but you seem a little unhappy." Qianbo Jingzhong's ability to read people's expressions should not be underestimated.

"Just now, Sojun told me that he wanted me to send troops to support the Wakasa front. It was only then that I remembered that our family still had 10,000 troops in Sotachi's hands." Asakura Kagetaka looked worried: "If Sotachi really returns to Ichijodani, how should I respond?"

"My Lord, I feel that Zong Chun's suggestion is motivated by impure motives."

"how do I say this?"

"Think about it. How should we send troops to support the Wakasa front at this time? Which troops should we send? Who will command them after they are sent?"

Seeing that Asakura Kagetaka didn't understand, Maenba Kagetada simply said straight to the point:

"Now, although you have succeeded as the head of the family, you only have 3,500 soldiers under your command. In this situation, how can you have extra troops to support the front line?
Should we send these 3,000 people? That would give the powerful families in Sakai and other counties who are loyal to Munejun an opportunity to take advantage of the situation; should we send the Ashiwa clan and the Makai clan who were detained yesterday? I'm afraid they will surrender to Munenoshi directly at the front line and fight back to Ichijodani with him.

Therefore, I think that Zong Chun is nominally thinking about the overall situation, but in fact he wants to take this opportunity to fight for a chance to make a comeback. He is so cunning that even if he retires and becomes a monk, we must be on guard against him. "

"What you said seems to make sense." Asakura Kagetaka nodded slightly, "So what you mean is that we won't send troops to support Zongdi?"

"Neither sending troops to support nor ordering Zongdi to withdraw his troops is the best strategy."

"You've confused me again..."

Qianbo Jingzhong continued to explain: "You just said that Zongdi has 10,000 troops. If he returns to Ichijodani, our family will be in trouble.

In this case, why not let him exhaust the 10,000 troops on the front line? Without reinforcements and food, the fighting power will certainly be greatly reduced. At this time, you write another letter, falsely claiming that Munetsuzu refused to obey orders and refused to withdraw, in order to sow discord between Munetsuzu and Takeda Nobushige, so that the latter dare not surrender but fight to the death.

It won’t be long before Zongdi’s army either loses morale and is defeated, or runs out of food and fodder and disperses. In short, they will no longer be able to pose a threat to the main family.”

"So that's how it is." Asakura Kagetaka suddenly realized and couldn't help but praise Maemaya Kagetada for his good strategy and decision-making.

"But what if Munetoshi doesn't get reinforcements and food supplies and withdraws his troops back to the country on his own?" Asakura Kagetaka still couldn't help but worry.

"With an army of 10,000, without the supplies from the main family, how could he get enough food and grass to go all the way back to Ichijodani? Besides, the lord could still write a letter to Takeda Nobushige and ask him to tie up Munenoji for a few days, and eventually achieve a result that was beneficial to the main family."

"Hearing you say that, I feel relieved." Asakura Jinggao breathed a sigh of relief. "So what should I do now?"

Maebami Kagetada quickly held up two fingers and said, "First, in the name of Sojun, summon Sotei to return to Ichijodani alone. Second, to avoid any more trouble, send Sojun to see Hachiman Bodhisattva as soon as possible."

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(End of this chapter)