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

Chapter 69 Adding insult to injury
After seeing off Isshiki Yoshiyuki, Nobushige turned to look at the kneeling Nobueka Harunobu with a serious expression.

This Nobunaga Harunobu was arguably the person the Takeda clan hated the most.

In 1501, Takeda Motonobu took advantage of the civil strife of the Isshiki clan and invaded Tango with all his might, seizing a large area of ​​territory in the eastern part of Tango, including Kasa County and Yosa County. He served as the guardian of Tango for a time and appointed Nobunaga Harunobu as the guardian. However, more than a decade later, under the auspices of the shogunate, Takeda Motonobu was forced to return the position of guardian to Isshiki Yoshikiyo, the previous head of the family of Isshiki Yoshiyuki.

After becoming a guardian, Isshiki Yoshikiyo tried his best to win over Nobunaga Harunobu, causing him to not only betray Takeda Motonobu, but also serve as a pawn of the Isshiki clan, rushing to the front line to resist the expansion of the Takeda clan, and constantly annexing and conquering the people of Tango who had surrendered to the Takeda clan.

The grief-stricken Takeda Motonobu passed away soon after. The Tango Shugodai ignored the Takeda clan's kindness at all and launched wars against the Takeda clan repeatedly, recaptured many cities for the Isse clan, and finally suppressed the Takeda clan's sphere of influence in Higashikasa County.

As a result, Noboru Harunobu gradually gained enough trust from Isshiki Yoshikiyo, obtained control over most of Xie County, and set up his residence in Fuchu Castle, becoming the most powerful person for a time.

After Isshiki Yoshikiyo died, the main Isshiki family died out. Nobunaga Harunobu, against all odds, appointed Isshiki Yoshiyuki from the branch family as the new head, taking the opportunity to undermine the Isshiki clan and expand his own power. Before the war, the Nobunaga clan had more than 20,000 koku, ranking first among the people of Tango Province.

Takeda Motonobu, Takeda Motomitsu, and Takeda Nobutoyo were the three successive leaders. After decades, they never gave up the strategy of attacking Tango. One of the important reasons was to defeat and punish Nobunaga Harunobu. Especially when the pirates moved their nest to Tango Peninsula, Nobunaga Harunobu provided them with shelter, which angered the Takeda clan even more.

However, due to the situation and lack of strength, the Takeda clan was never able to punish the traitor. Instead, they were exhausted and suffered greatly from the invasion of Tango pirates.

Now, this man who was hated by three generations of the Takeda clan was kneeling in front of Nobushige and a group of Takeda clan retainers. How could people not feel that their great revenge had been achieved and they were extremely happy?
Because he was seriously injured in the Battle of Kurabashi, Nobunaga Harunobu was kneeling, but in fact he was half paralyzed on the ground. The pain in his hip made him grimace, but facing the angry retainers of the Takeda clan, he still dared not breathe, and trembled as he waited for Nobushige's punishment.

At this time, Takeda Motomitsu was also sitting in the hall. He never expected that he would be able to see this treacherous guy fall into the hands of the Takeda clan in his lifetime. He felt extremely happy.

"Lord Enei, long time no see." Takeda Motomitsu, dressed as a monk, greeted Enei Harunobu with a smile.

"It's Lord Motomitsu, oh no, Hoshinji-dono..." Nobunaga Harunobu had fought against Takeda Motomitsu many times on the Tango front, so even though he had become a monk and changed his clothes, Nobunaga Harunobu could still recognize him.

"I am very pleased to see that Your Highness is in good health." Yan Yongchunxin looked embarrassed, but he tried his best to show humility and respect as he greeted Takeda Motomitsu.

Takeda Motomitsu hated this man in his heart, but he still smiled back: "The reason why I am in good health is because of today."

After that, he turned to Nobushige and asked, "Hikgoro, have you decided how to deal with this person?"

Xinzhong shook his head and replied, "I haven't thought about it yet. What suggestions does father have?"

"You were promoted by our Takeda clan, but you betrayed us at the critical moment, causing Lord Motonobu to die with regret." Seeing that Nobushige was throwing the blame at him, Takeda Motomitsu pointed his finger at Nobunaga Harunobu and said indignantly: "I will cut you into five pieces and use your head to sacrifice to our ancestors!"

When Yan Yongchun heard the letter, he collapsed to the ground, shaking uncontrollably, with yellow liquid oozing out of his lower body. This scene made everyone hold their noses and stay away from him.

"You have been the guardian for more than 30 years. How can you be so cowardly? You really bring shame to the samurai." Takeda Motomitsu sneered and immediately asked Nobushige to execute this man as soon as possible.

However, Nobushige did not approve of this approach. He saw the Tango leaders trembling like frightened birds beside Nobunaga Harunobu, and thought: "If I do this, it will certainly make me feel better, but my bad reputation for tyranny will surely spread in Tango, which will be detrimental to my future rule over Tango." Thinking of this, Nobushige comforted Takeda Motomitsu: "Father, although this man is hateful, he is still a guardian of a country. Moreover, 'do your job well', and many of the things he did were not wrong from his perspective. I suggest that you give him a chance to practice the honor of a samurai."

"You want to allow him to commit suicide?" Takeda Motomitsu said unwillingly, "It's really too easy for him."

"After all, my Wakasa Takeda clan is one of the 'Twenty-one Houses' appointed by the shogunate. We are of noble status. How can we be on the same level with such a rustic and uncouth person? Let him end his life on his own, so as not to dirty my Takeda clan's sword."

Since Nobushige had spoken, Takeda Motomitsu could not say anything more, so he just nodded and said, "Then I'll listen to you."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Hearing that he would not be tortured, Yan Yongchunxin finally calmed down a little. However, he had been domineering in Tango for half his life, and he obviously did not want to die like this. He wanted to make a final effort:

"If Your Highness can spare my life, I will serve you wholeheartedly and assist Shirai Tamebe... Oh no, I will do my best to help the Takeda clan govern Tango."

"After all, you still don't want to die?" Xin Zhong saw through this coward in front of him, and his words were full of disdain.

"I have been managing Danhou for more than 30 years. If Your Highness stays with me, it will be much more convenient and less effort to rule Danhou in the future." Yan Yongchunxin respectfully "sold" himself to Xinzhong, and his words were extremely humble and flattering.

"Is that so?" Xinzhong asked the people kneeling before His Highness, "Do you feel the same way?"

Those Chinese people were not fools. They had been oppressed by Yan Yongchunxin for so many years, and it was time for them to take revenge. Even if there were one or two of them who had a good relationship with him, they would all flee when disaster struck. Who would offend Xinzhong at this time? Therefore, in response to Xinzhong's question, no one gave a positive answer.

"From now on, you will be the Lord of Danhou. We, the subjects, will serve you with all our strength. Why do we need his assistance?"

"Yes, yes. From now on, you are the guardian of Tango and Shirai Tame is the deputy guardian. This guy has no right to speak."

"My lord, you don't know that we have been oppressed by this villain for many years. Now that you have eliminated this culprit for us, we are grateful to you. How could we still be in cahoots with this villain?!"

These Tango people were talking one after another, turning this post-war evaluation into a "criticism meeting". Nobushige and Takeda's retainers watched happily on the sidelines, but Nobunaga Harunobu was the only one with a grim face. He raised his hand tremblingly and pointed at these guys who were always servile to him. He was so desperate that he couldn't utter a word.

"Pfft!"

Yan Yongchunxin suddenly felt furious and spit out a large mouthful of blood. Then he felt dizzy and fell to the ground with black eyes.

The first chapter is a VIP chapter. I hope everyone will support it. Xiong Zai will be very grateful!

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(End of this chapter)