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

Chapter 46 Returning to the Country Alone
"You want me to kill my brother?!" Asakura Kagetaka widened his eyes and looked at Maebami Kagetada in disbelief: "Isn't it enough to let him live in seclusion..."

Qianbo Jingzhong shook his head:

"My lord, think about it yourself. Zong Chun has been in office for more than 20 years. His power is deeply rooted in the eight counties of Echizen. If you spare his life, you will be hanging a sword over your head.

Not to mention how many powerful families would rebel in his name, let's just talk about Zong Di. If he returns to the country and recruits soldiers in the name of Zong Chun and attacks Ichijodani directly, with the influence and appeal of the two, the main family may not be able to cope with it.

The only way now is to completely remove Zong Chun, the nail that is holding us back, so that those forces opposing our family will be leaderless and it will be easier for our family to defeat them one by one."

"If you want to wipe out the roots, then Changyaksha must also be taken..." Although Asakura Kagetaka's original intention was to keep Changyaksha by his side as a hostage to threaten Asakura Takakage, he also knew that this little kid was extremely intelligent and he liked him very much, so he did not have the intention to kill him for the time being.

"Chang Yasha has to stay for the time being." Maebami Kagetada replied, "My lord, you should know that Chang Yasha's mother is the daughter of Takeda Motomitsu and the sister of Takeda Nobushige. In other words, he is the nephew of Takeda Nobushige. If you are not good to him now, I am afraid it will affect the relationship between the main family and the Takeda family."

"If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have thought of this relationship... In that case, I'll leave Zong Chun to you." Asakura Kagetaka said, and then added softly: "Don't make him suffer too much."

"I understand."

Two days later, a hunter found Asakura Takakage dead at the foot of a cliff not far from Hongxiang Temple. Later, in his meditation room, the monks found a suicide note filled with reflections on his extravagant life in the first half of his life, his guilt towards the Asakura clan and the people of Echizen, and his pessimism and despair about the future life of seclusion.

And one day earlier, on the 16th day of the first lunar month, Nobushige received a secret letter from Asakura Kagetaka at the main camp of Tennozan, informing him that he had succeeded in Ichijodani, but Asakura Soteki did not recognize his status as the head of the family and still insisted on attacking Kuniyoshi Castle. He was far away in Echizen, and there was nothing he could do except cut off the supply of food and grass.

"What a cunning fellow!" Nobushige handed the secret letter to Yamamoto Shigeyuki and others to circulate, and said angrily: "This time, Ryouzaemon is really abominable. He speaks so righteously, but in fact he just wants to make the main family and Soto fight each other so that he can profit from it."

"My Lord, what do you think?" Yamamoto Shigeyuki asked, "Matsunobu doesn't acknowledge his identity. This should be within our expectations."

"What I'm saying is that he lied in his letter that Zongdi was unwilling to withdraw his troops and insisted on attacking Kuniyoshi Castle. I absolutely don't believe this."

Seeing that everyone was confused, Xin Zhong said directly:
"Think about it, if Munetoki did not recognize his identity, shouldn't he have led his troops back to quell the rebellion? Why did he insist on attacking Kuniyoshi Castle when food and grass were insufficient? The reason is very simple. He wanted to use this letter to strengthen my hostility towards Munetoki, so that I would stop thinking about surrendering to Munetoki, and then fight to the death to delay the Asakura army, indirectly buying time for him to stabilize the rear.

I even doubt whether Sotachi knows what happened in Ichijodani. From what I know about him these days, he is cautious by nature. If he knew that there was a fire in his backyard, he would definitely return to rescue after weighing the pros and cons, instead of wasting the already scarce food and grass to fight to the death with our army in Kuniyoshi Castle. "

"Then my lord, what should we do?" asked Katsuhisa Kuriya from the side. He knew very well that if they continued to waste time like this, it was hard to say which would happen first, Kuniyoshi Castle would be broken or the Asakura army would run out of food and grass. Action must be taken now to change this tense confrontation.

"Shigeyuki." Nobushige called out.

"I'm here." Yamamoto Shigeyuki limped over to Nobushige.

"Take your three hundred troops and head straight for Jinshan City as planned. I want you to burn all the food and fodder in the city, leaving not a single bag behind!"

"Ha, I obey your command!" Yamamoto Shigeyuki rubbed his hands together, thinking that it was finally time for him to show his skills.

"Genbei, prepare the troops in Kuniyoshi Castle. The counterattack could begin at any time!"

"I obey your command!" Katsuhisa Kuriya responded loudly. "By the way, go back and pick a group of trustworthy soldiers, about 200 people, and I will make arrangements for the follow-up." Nobushige ordered.

Katsuhisa Kuriya nodded, then turned and left the main camp and returned to Kuniyoshi Castle.

"The rest of you, please follow me in the main camp and wait for good news!"

"Ha!" Morihisa Kagawa, Kiyonaga Matsumiya and others responded in unison.

Just as Nobushige expected, in Nakayama Castle not far away, Asakura Soteki was anxiously waiting for reinforcements and food from Echizen. Until the evening of the 17th day of the first lunar month, he had no idea what had happened in Ichijodani.

"Genbansuke, is there any news about the people we sent out?" Asakura Sotei paced back and forth.

Asakura Kageren shook his head: "We have sent several groups of envoys, and they all said that they didn't see any reinforcements or the team escorting food and grass."

"This shouldn't be the case. According to the time, we should have entered Tsuruga. How come there is no news at all?" Asakura Sotoki said to himself with a frown.

"Could there be some accident along the way?"

"Impossible. There are more than 3,000 troops, and they are all marching in my Echizen territory. What accidents could happen?" Asakura Sotei shook his head.

At this moment, a messenger ran into the hall and handed over a secret letter with the Asakura family crest "Sansheng Mugua" printed on it.

"Has there been a letter from Ichijodani?" asked Asakura Sotei.

The envoy hesitated and nodded in panic: "Yes, it's a letter from the lord."

Asakura Soteki didn't think much about it. He opened the letter in front of Asakura Keiren, Asakura Kagetaka and others. After reading it carefully, he couldn't help but feel suspicious.

"My lord suddenly fell seriously ill and asked me to return to Ichijodani, saying that he had something important to tell me."

"Didn't he write back a few days ago saying that he was in good health and there was no need to worry? How come he suddenly became seriously ill just three or five days later?" Asakura Keiren was also quite puzzled.

"If he is really seriously ill, then His Highness cannot delay and must set off immediately to return to Ichijodani to avoid missing out on important events." Asakura Kagetaka said, "Genbansuke, you are one of the Four Bugyo, do you want to go back with His Highness so that you can take care of him on the way?"

"Okay." Asakura Keiren nodded.

"No," Asakura Souji declined everyone's kindness:
"The war is now at its most intense. If we are not careful, all our efforts will be wasted. With the Right Guardsman (Asakura Kagetaka) here, we can be safe on the front battlefield.

But I am really worried about Sun Jiulang in the Northwest Qulun area. I am afraid that he will make some mistakes while I am away. After I leave, Xuan Fanzhu will keep an eye on him for me. If there is anything important, please contact him in time. Once I finish my work, I will come back as soon as possible. "

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(End of this chapter)