Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 231 Endurance

Oda Nobunaga had actually been very respectful to Azai Nagamasa, inviting his two allies to the meeting early on to demonstrate his sincerity in forming an alliance. However, Azai Nagamasa showed him no respect whatsoever, changing his mind about the agreement made long ago and treating him like a complete idiot.

Haruno hadn't expected such a strange turn of events to occur halfway through. From a purely historical perspective, the initial cooperation between the Oda and Asai families was quite pleasant. During Oda Nobunaga's conquest of Mino, Asai Nagamasa did indeed hold back the Rokkaku family, making Oda's annexation of Mino exceptionally smooth. Unexpectedly, the two families even stumbled and struggled to reach an alliance agreement in the early stages.

This is not very reasonable. Oda Nobunaga needed Azai Nagamasa's help, and Azai Nagamasa also needed Oda Nobunaga's support. Moreover, in terms of strength, the Oda clan far surpassed the Azai clan. It should be the Azai clan begging the Oda clan. Azai Nagamasa could only mobilize a little over 10,000 men to fight even with all his might, while Oda Nobunaga could easily mobilize that number of troops.

If we call on Matsudaira Motoyasu and Harano, and it's three against one, we can wipe out the Asai family in no time.

Haruno was a little confused about what Asai Nagamasa was thinking, and asked A-Qing, "Have you found out what new demands the Asai family has made to the Oda family?"

This matter was not difficult to investigate. Oda Nobunaga was furious at the time, kicking the table away. There were many people present. Aqing directly took out his notebook and said softly, "It has been investigated. The Asai clan demanded that the Oda clan not advance on the Asakura clan during the alliance period. If there were any special circumstances requiring an attack on the Asakura clan, the Asai clan had to be notified in advance and permission obtained."

"The Asakura family?"

Haruno was stunned for a moment, not expecting that the Echizen Province's Asakura family was involved. He stroked his chin and pondered for a while.

The Asakura and Oda families share a common origin, having previously served under the Shiba family. However, during the Onin War, when the Eastern and Western armies clashed, the Asakura family seized the opportunity to defect to the enemy and occupy Echizen Province, the stronghold of the Shiba family.

The Shiba clan fled to Owari, causing the Oda clan to split into the Upper Four Districts and the Lower Four Districts, which led to several decades of fighting.

Even now, the Shiba clan has been almost wiped out in the Oda clan's civil war, but nominally, the Oda clan still supports the Shiba clan and acknowledges them as its nominal protectors. Therefore, they are naturally in a hidden hostile relationship with the Asakura clan, who are traitors to the Shiba clan.

Indeed, the Asakura family had always supported the Saito family. During the "Tiger of Owari" era, when Oda Nobuhide and Saito Dosan were at war, the Asakura family often went to Mino to help.

As Haruno pondered to herself, Aqing, thinking she was being asked a question, continued reading from the book without looking up: "Yes, it is said that since the Asai family ruled northern Omi, they have been on good terms with the Asakura family for three generations. They received help from the Asakura family many times when fighting against the Rokkaku family. The important officials of both sides often intermarried. So I heard that many of the Asai family's relatives and important officials opposed the alliance with the Oda family. It has been quite a big deal lately."

She paused, closed her notebook, and added, "These are also messages coming from Oda Nobunaga's residence. Some Oda samurai have publicly declared that they will teach the Asai family a lesson."

“So that’s how it is…” Haruno nodded slowly, having roughly figured out what was going on. Asai Nagamasa was different from the others.

Oda Nobunaga consistently pursued the "separation of soldiers and farmers," hoping to eliminate all the second-level lords to consolidate his power. Although he didn't achieve much success, he consistently focused on cultivating his own direct forces, enough to suppress the entire Owari region. His subordinates, such as the Shibata, Hayashi, and Niwa clans, dared not utter a sound, while smaller clans like Maeda and Sasa were even more silent, having to suppress their urges.

Not to mention Haruno, he drove away all the samurai on the Chita Peninsula, and demolished any temples or shrines that were even slightly improper. He was a true "one-man show," and he didn't even have a second-level lord under his command. He lived the most carefree life.

Matsudaira Motoyasu was slightly less adept in this regard. He had many second-tier lords under his command, some of whom liked to act independently. However, because of the even more despicable Imagawa family, coupled with his own resourcefulness and charisma, the powerful clans of Mikawa generally listened to him, and there were almost no instances of outward compliance but inward disobedience.

However, it seems that the situation is different for Nagamasa Asai; he appears to be unable to control the powerful clans in northern Omi.

This is probably normal. After all, the reason why Asai Nagamasa was able to rise to power was because the powerful clans in northern Omi exiled his father. Since they were able to exile the head of the clan, the Asai family's direct forces were probably very weak, or even non-existent. Asai Nagamasa was only seventeen or eighteen years old, still a young man. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that he could not control the powerful clans under his command.

When Oda Nobunaga was seventeen or eighteen years old, he was also overwhelmed by the powerful clans of Owari. This was something Harano witnessed firsthand, and he imagined that northern Omi was not much better off than Owari.

In a sense, Nagamasa Asai was probably a puppet jointly put forward by the powerful clans of northern Omi. This "Eagle of Omi" was not a true leader and his words carried little weight on many matters.

Without the immense pressure from the Rokkaku family, the powerful clans of northern Omi would have had to unite, and perhaps the throne of northern Omi would never have been held by Azai Nagamasa. The region would have long since descended into chaos, until a true strongman emerged.

It seems that Asai Nagamasa really wants to form an alliance with the Oda clan, as that would help him maintain his rule in northern Omi. However, some of his powerful clans may not like it, probably because they don't want the power of the clan head to increase too much. This is why this strange situation of adding pressure at the last minute, as if it were a joke, has occurred.

The Asai family is nothing to fear. A force that is not even united internally has no resilience and can be easily defeated!

After understanding the inner workings of the Asai family, Haruno couldn't help but underestimate them, and quickly put the matter out of his mind.

Whatever. The Asai clan has no future, it has nothing to do with him, and it's useless to him. Let Oda Nobunaga handle it himself. Besides, historically speaking, Oda Nobunaga swallowed his anger, so let him swallow it.

...Although Oda Nobunaga was a "fukushi" (a person who embraces unusual ideas), with eccentric aesthetics and independent thinking, he was still quite competent as a daimyo during the Sengoku period, and was sometimes very patient.

The old man who had watched him grow up rebelled, but he was able to refrain from killing him and even continue to support him in the position of a figurehead old man.

He was magnanimous in forgiving powerful clans who assisted in the rebellion, such as Shibata Katsuie. Not only did he not confiscate their property or exterminate their clans, but he also granted them high positions.
He didn't care about his elder brother's rebellion. Even when his younger brother rebelled twice, he only imprisoned him. Of course, his younger brother still died. Everyone said that he sent someone to assassinate him, but this cannot be proven. It cannot be ruled out that he died of a sudden illness or depression.
He only locked up his mother, who hated him and wanted to disinherit him, without much mistreatment. Even when Haruno seized Chita County first, he didn't rush across the Otaka River to deal with Haruno, this disobedient troublemaker. Instead, to stabilize the situation and ensure the uninterrupted supply of gunpowder and weapons, he married off his sister to him.

Oda Nobunaga was always a man with clear goals. To achieve his objectives, he could sometimes endure what others could not. And now, in order to restrain the Rokkaku clan and prevent them from causing trouble during his conquest of Mino, he endured it again. This is not the Oda Nobunaga in history books who would kill a bird if it didn't sing. If he had only killed and acted on impulse, he wouldn't have survived to this day.

After Oda Nobunaga locked himself in his house and raged all night, he unsurprisingly agreed to the Asai family's new conditions. He even agreed to the Asai family's request to hold the alliance meeting in the wilderness outside Matsuba Castle.

If the alliance were to convene at Komakiyama Castle, then Oda Nobunaga would naturally be the leader. However, the Asai clan refused to come and instead demanded that Oda Nobunaga come. In a sense, this was a demand for equal treatment, telling Oda Nobunaga not to think that he would be the leader in the future.

Alternatively, it is possible that some members of the Asai family deliberately sabotaged the alliance meeting, which is why they repeatedly challenged Oda Nobunaga's bottom line, hoping that Oda Nobunaga would reach his breaking point and expel the Asai family from the country.

From a historical perspective, this was an act that was almost suicidal, but the Asai family did it anyway. During this time, Asai Nagamasa seemed to have no opinion of his own, wavering back and forth, sending his close retainers to apologize and make amends one moment, and then sending messengers to urge the Oda family to go to Matsuba Castle the next, acting like a madman.

Rumors even circulated around Komakiyama Castle, claiming that Azai Nagamasa had decided to assassinate Oda Nobunaga during the alliance meeting in order to curry favor with the more important ally, the Asakura clan.

Oda Nobunaga acted as if he hadn't seen or heard anything. Even though his good mood was completely ruined, he still had a dark face and took Harano and Matsudaira Motoyasu with him to make sure the alliance was finalized.

It must be said that Oda Nobunaga was a man of unwavering conviction. Once he set out to do something, he would give it his all, regardless of losing face. Just like in history, in order to obtain enough gunpowder, he was willing to swallow his pride and become a teacher to a wealthy merchant under the Honganji Temple.

Haruno didn't care. It was Oda Nobunaga who wanted Mino. He was only there to support Oda Nobunaga because he was bound by an oath. He let Oda Nobunaga do whatever he wanted. Matsudaira Motoyasu, on the other hand, remained honest and dutiful. He did whatever Oda Nobunaga said and didn't think there was anything shameful about him rushing to form an alliance.

All three families are capable of easily defeating the Asai family on their own, yet they choose to fawn over them. It just goes to show how strange things can be; the world is a giant makeshift operation where all sorts of absurd things can happen.

However, Haruno is certain of one thing: Oda Nobunaga harbored a deep grudge against the Asai family. He probably showed them no mercy later on and even went so far as to kill his brother-in-law and son-in-law, Asai Nagamasa, and wipe them out completely. The root of the problem lies here—the Asai family was quite capable, exhausting Oda Nobunaga's patience in one fell swoop. Otherwise, given Oda Nobunaga's personality, even if the "bean in the bag" incident had happened, Asai Nagamasa might not have died.

Haruno has lost interest in Asai Nagamasa and feels he is not a good partner at all, so he just follows along to watch the show. And the show really does keep going. During the alliance meeting, the Asai family caused trouble again, saying that a marriage between the two families is possible, but it cannot be a princess.

The reason given was that Princess Ichi had a bad reputation. Her biological father, Oda Nobumitsu, was a god-hated person who had broken his oath before the gods, and his descendants were destined to die a terrible death. Many retainers of the Azai family opposed Azai Nagamasa marrying such a woman, fearing that the Azai family would also suffer misfortune as a result. They did not care that Princess Ichi was Oda Nobunaga's cousin and chief adopted daughter. Princess Ichi had a special relationship with Oda Nobunaga. During Oda Nobunaga's most difficult period, his uncle, Oda Nobumitsu, was his most steadfast supporter. If it weren't for Oda Nobumitsu, Oda Nobunaga might have been killed long ago.

Now that Princess Ichi has been insulted like this, Oda Nobunaga is furious. He was willing to marry Princess Ichi to him purely to show his sincerity in order to gain a reliable ally in the Kinki region and ensure the smooth progress of the Mino campaign. That's why he invested so much, but all his sincerity has been wasted.

He was now in a dilemma; whether he continued to endure it or turned against them, it would be very disadvantageous for him. For a time, he was cursing the Asai family in private. Fortunately, Asai Nagamasa knew about Princess Ichi's special status in the Oda family. In order to ensure that the Asai family would not be truly sidelined by the powerful clans below and to gain Oda Nobunaga as a strong ally, he became unusually tough and forcibly suppressed the opposition, stating that he would marry no one but Princess Ichi.

The two families argued for nearly three days over the engagement, and there were many minor farces before it was finally settled. The princess was still young, so the engagement was temporary, and the marriage would be considered in a few years. During this time, Asai Nagamasa went back to get a divorce and sent his current wife to become a nun.

The son can be kept; he can be considered Princess Shi's adopted son.

What a mess of things this is! Yuan Ye has broadened his horizons again. Even after living in this era for almost ten years, some things still seem magical to him.

With the marriage agreement finalized and the alliance between the two families a foregone conclusion, things proceeded much more smoothly afterward. Oda Nobunaga and Azai Nagamasa swore an oath before their respective guardian deities, promising to support and help each other from that moment on, working together with one heart and one mind.

Specifically, the Asai clan did their utmost to entangle the Rokkaku clan in Omi, while persuading the Asakura clan to stop aiding the Saito clan. Oda Nobunaga then married off his most beloved adopted daughter, promising to help the Asai clan deal with the Rokkaku clan after dealing with the Saito clan.

This can be considered a win-win situation for both sides!
Once the alliance was established, the Asai clan made a ruckus and left, and Oda Nobunaga was finally free to begin carrying out his father-in-law Saito Dosan's last wish to reclaim Mino.

The first thing to do is to kill Oda Nobukiyo, the lord of Inuyama Castle, who is a traitor in Owari!

(End of this chapter)