Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 233 Artificial Genius Strategist

Medieval warfare was slow-paced. After Haruno had done a lot of trouble for the Ise Peninsula, the expected main force of the Saito family had not yet arrived. It was still Iki Seibei and Osawa Masahide who were causing trouble on the border.

These two men did strengthen their forces, but not by much, and still lacked the ability to force the Wanjin army to retreat in one fell swoop. On the contrary, as the Wanjin army became more and more familiar with the surrounding area, it became difficult for their small units to cross the river and harass the enemy.

It's somewhat strange that the Saito family never fully mobilized.

Perhaps Saito Tatsuoki was also a fool?
Or perhaps the Saito clan had fought Oda Nobunaga in open battles many times before, and the "Six Men of Mino" had been reduced to the "Three Men of Mino," so they were already afraid and dared not enter Owari territory to fight Oda Nobunaga?
Haruno couldn't figure it out. He suspected that Oda Nobukiyo had lost his usefulness and had been abandoned by the Saito family, but that didn't concern him much. He preferred to be less stressed, since he didn't want to show too much of his military strength, lest the Oda and Matsudaira families become even more wary of him. Currently, both Oda Nobunaga and Matsudaira Motoyasu have left a certain number of troops in the Otakagawa area, and even though they are both busy fighting the enemy, they rarely draw men from there.

In fact, the same is true for Wanjin. Under normal circumstances, more than half of the Wanjin army would be stationed in Ōgaka Castle and along the Ōgaka River. Wanjin did not invest much in development in that area, and was prepared for a major war to break out at any time and turn it into ruins.

These days, even allies have to check and balance each other. Haruno's ambitions for the Ise Peninsula are hampered by his inability to launch a full-scale attack, which is largely due to his two allies.

Therefore, it's better to keep your skills hidden if possible, since there's no conflict of interest between this area and Wanjin anyway.

Yuanye simply guarded Matsukura Castle and continued to do nothing, spending his days reading books, playing chess, and holding hands with Aqing. His days were quite leisurely.

Oda Nobunaga, on the other hand, worked very hard. With little interference, his offensive was fierce and he swept through the manors and fortresses around Inuyama Castle, clearing them out in less than two months. He reached the outskirts of Inuyama Castle and captured the last branch castle of Inuyama Castle, Kokuji Castle, located in Kuji Mountain. The lord of the castle, Kojima Saemon, surrendered with his entire family and came under Oda Nobunaga's command.

At this point, Inuyama Castle was completely isolated. However, Inuyama Castle was still a large castle, and Oda Nobukiyo's faction had been cultivating it for a long time. A direct assault would certainly result in significant losses.

Oda Nobunaga was a man who cherished his army. This was mainly because he was also promoting the professionalization of the army, and he had a large number of full-time combat soldiers under his command. The compensation for the wounded and disabled was also very high. He did not want to spend more money on that, so he ordered the construction of rock fortifications around Inuyama Castle, intending to trap Oda Nobukiyo inside Inuyama Castle.

However, the siege was not tight. Apart from cutting off the supply lines, it did not prohibit the garrison of Inuyama Castle from leaving on their own. If Oda Nobukiyo was willing to leave on his own, Oda Nobunaga did not intend to kill him. After all, the two were from the same clan and did not have any deep hatred. In fact, they were allies before. The only disagreement was over the division of spoils.

The two sides then began to trade blows, with Oda Nobunaga occasionally launching a surprise attack on the castle or sending out the "Oda Arsenal" to snipe at the castle and wear down its defenses.

Inuyama Castle was in dire straits. Two years ago, there was a famine along the coast of Tokaido. Although Inuyama Castle was not as severely affected as the Chita Peninsula, there was still a large area of ​​poor harvest. The stored grain was not much, and it barely managed to hold on until the beginning of the following year. Some of the garrison troops began to leave the castle at night and flee to the wilderness.

By this time, Saito Tatsuoki had not only failed to lead the entire Mino region to the rescue, but instead quickly fled Inabayama Castle and went to Ukai, Yuko, and Ibi to fortify himself.

This was completely unexpected. Even Haruno was slightly surprised when he saw the news. No wonder Oda Nobukiyo was beaten for two months and besieged in the city for two months without receiving much reinforcements. It turned out that even his greatest hope was in danger of being unable to protect himself.

Oda Nobunaga was incredibly lucky; before he even engaged in battle with his formidable enemy, the enemy stabbed him three times in the back as a sign of humility.

No one has such luck!

If the Kitabatake, Hatakeyama, Miyoshi, and Rokkaku families were also engaged in infighting, killing each other in a bloody mess, he could easily cross the sea, land, and seize the spoils without losing a single soldier. Unfortunately, that's not the case. These families are not only not fighting amongst themselves, but they are also relatively peaceful with each other, and it doesn't seem like they are about to start a chaotic war.

After admiring Oda Nobunaga for a while, Haruno asked A-Qing, "the temporary head of the Eastern Depot, the reserve servant of the Western Palace Lady, and my friend who is also her personal ninja bodyguard and mount, what exactly happened at Inabayama Castle? Was it... Takenaka Hanbei who seized the castle?"

Takenaka Hanbei Shigeharu is quite famous in later literary works, anime works, and Taiga dramas. When it comes to genius strategists of the Japanese Sengoku period, he is the first one that comes to mind. He is known as the "Zhuge Liang of the Sengoku period," a figure whose intelligence is comparable to that of Zhuge Liang. His two most well-known achievements are "the ambush on all sides that defeated Nobunaga" and "the easy capture of Inabayama Castle by sixteen riders."

Haruno certainly knew about this person and these events, and had been interested in them for a while, but he didn't know when these events happened, and he also knew that Oda Nobunaga couldn't have died so early, and that Inabayama Castle wouldn't be occupied by Takenaka Hanbei for long. So he was too lazy to spend time and energy to care about it, had no desire to contact them in advance, and just waited to watch the show.

As a result, he didn't get to witness the "ambush and defeat of Oda Nobunaga," but instead the "easily captured Inabayama Castle by sixteen horsemen" happened first, which is a bit strange.

Aqing took out her notebook, flipped through the compiled intelligence, frowned and thought for a moment, then softly rejected Haruno's idea: "It is related to Takenaka Hanbei, but it was not him who seized the city, but his father-in-law Ando Morinari."

"Ando Morinari? One of the Mino Triumvirate, and Ando Morinari, the chief retainer of the Saito family?"

"Yes. Takenaka Hanbei is the lord of Bodhi Castle. His younger brother is living in Inabayama Castle as a hostage. Takenaka Hanbei entered the castle under the pretense of visiting the sick. That night, he led his retainers to set fire to the gate and then Ando Morinari led more than two thousand men into the castle and began to attack the garrison, causing great chaos."

Due to the unclear situation at night, Saito Tatsuoki, under the protection of his senior retainers such as Hineno Hironari and Takeshi Naomitsu, voluntarily withdrew from Inabayama Castle and moved towards the Ukai, Susumu, and Ibi areas.

After giving a concise and clear introduction to the situation, Aqing did not make any lengthy comments like Aman did. However, after thinking for a moment and flipping through the intelligence summary, he added, "This happened the night before last. Currently, Mino is in an uproar, and everyone is condemning Ando Morinari, calling him shameless, ungrateful, and a traitor to his oath. Not many people are mentioning Takenaka Hanbei."

After saying that, she started flipping through her notebook again, looking for information about Takenaka Hanbei.

"I see." Yuan Ye nodded slightly, roughly understanding what was going on.

As is customary, Takenaka Hanbei's fame is probably due to the influence of his descendants.

His descendants seem to have remained loyal to the Tokugawa Shogunate until its collapse, serving as its hatamoto (traditional retainers). Therefore, during the Edo period, it was customary for his descendants to write books glorifying their ancestor, omitting Ando-no-kami and the main force of the two thousand-plus men who captured the castle. Instead, Takenaka Hanbei, who was merely an inside man to open the gates, became the protagonist, miraculously capturing Inabayama Castle, the largest castle in Mino, with only a dozen or so retainers and followers. In other words, Takenaka Hanbei, with just a dozen or so samurai followers, scared away hundreds of retainers and thousands of followers from the Saito, Hineno, and Takekoshi families, among other powerful Mino daimyo clans.

This can't be explained by the darkness. Even if it were just a dozen people, it wouldn't be so easy to drive thousands of pigs out of the city. Let alone a group of warriors who have practiced martial arts since childhood and are experienced in battles, how could they be so timid and not even know the number of the enemy?
Comparing Takenaka Hanbei to Wuhou is too unfair to Wuhou.

That "ambush from ten sides and the great defeat of Oda Nobunaga"...

It's probably made up, maybe even from some storybook. I've always been very interested in the battle between Oda Nobunaga and Mino. It's undeniable that Oda Nobunaga suffered some minor losses in the Kiso River and Nagara River area due to the complex terrain. He got lost, was flooded, and crossed the wrong river, among other absurd incidents. Some of his relatives and retainers also died. But I've never heard of a major defeat, being ambushed and beaten like a dog back to Owari.

In each battle, the Saito clan suffered more defeats and their strength was greatly depleted. The Mino clans were no longer as excited as before; they no longer roared with excitement at the mere mention of fighting Oda Nobunaga, and they began to feel somewhat apprehensive.

As for the legend that "Oda Nobunaga promised half of Mino in exchange for Takenaka Hanbei's Inabayama Castle," although it has not happened yet, it sounds a bit absurd.

Inabayama Castle wasn't taken by Takenaka Hanbei; it belonged to his father-in-law, Ando Morinari. If Oda Nobunaga wanted to negotiate, he should have approached Ando Morinari, a powerful clan leader in Mino, not Takenaka Hanbei, who was just following orders.

It's somewhat reasonable to say that Oda Nobunaga promised Ando Morinari half of Mino, since he sometimes spoke without thinking. He had previously promised his uncle, Oda Nobumitsu, half of Owari, so promising Ando Morinari half of Mino wouldn't be a big deal. At most, Ando Morinari would just suffer a terrible fate in the future.

This is probably a case of misrepresentation; Takenaka Hanbei's descendants wrote a story to glorify their ancestor, attributing all of Ando Morinari's misdeeds to Takenaka Hanbei.

Haruno shook his head, no longer caring about this "man-made genius strategist" or the gains and losses of Inabayama Castle.

According to official historical records, Ando Morinari's capture of Inabayama Castle was probably just a common act of "overthrowing his superiors." He wanted to become the lord of Mino, but there were too many opponents, and he couldn't subdue powerful Mino families such as Saito Tatsuoki, the Hineno family, and the Takeshi family. So he was forced to compromise and make peace, and he withdrew his territory and returned Inabayama Castle.

Fortunately, with internal strife in Mino, and the Ando, ​​Saito, Hineno, and Takeshi families fighting each other, it's impossible for them to unite and rescue Inuyama Castle in the short term. Therefore, the Wanjin army won't face any pressure. If they wanted to, they could even consider crossing the river and launching a counterattack now, trapping Iki Seibei and Osawa Masahide in the castle and keeping them in line so they wouldn't have to think about rescuing Inuyama Castle.

Inuyama Castle is completely beyond saving. Without external reinforcements, there is no castle that must be defended. The internal strife in Mino will likely be the last straw that breaks the camel's back. Oda Nobukiyo should already start considering how to surrender in a more dignified manner.

This trip to help Oda Nobunaga fight was easier than expected. The fact that the entire Mino army came with great momentum did not happen at all, which meant that Harano benefited. As expected, Saito Tatsuoki was supposed to come with tens of thousands of troops to fight. Oda Nobunaga only brought him and Matsudaira Motoyasu to help because he was not confident of victory. Now that Saito Tatsuoki obviously could not come, the food, timber, and craftsmen that Oda Nobunaga had given him before were all for nothing.

Yuan Ye was in a good mood because he had managed to get an advantage. Seeing that A Qing was still searching for Takenaka Hanbei's personal information but couldn't find it, he pulled her hand and sat her down, laughing, "No need to look anymore. Don't worry too much about that person. He's just an ordinary nobleman."

Aqing stopped what she was doing and sighed softly.

She was naturally aloof and a bit clumsy. Being the "temporary head of the Eastern Depot" and in charge of intelligence work inside and outside Wanjin was really difficult for her. She was not used to it and did not have Aman's superhuman memory, who could answer any question Yuanye asked and talk on and on.

Anyway, she felt that she was not suited for intelligence work. Even though she came from a "primitive ninja" background, she just couldn't do this job well. She was not good at selecting intelligence, distinguishing between true and false information, and summarizing and analyzing it. She also couldn't bring herself to punish her subordinates who made mistakes or caused delays. These past few months felt like an eternity, even more tiring than going into battle.

If she could, she would prefer to continue being a simple human shield, just making sure that Yuanye doesn't get stabbed by someone suddenly. That kind of work is easy and enjoyable.

She squeezed Yuanye's hand back, poured him some tea, lowered her eyelids, and whispered, "I wonder how Sister Aman is doing..."

She missed Ah Man and wanted her to come back quickly to continue working as a factory manager so that the three of them could return to a normal life.

“Ah Man…” Yuan Ye took the teacup and took a sip, also missing Ah Man a little.

When this guy was around, I always thought she was a bit of a jerk. She came and went like the wind, causing chaos wherever she went. She was always racking her brains to ask for money, or she would brag about all sorts of things. She had saved Yuanye almost 180 times, making it seem like Yuanye used to bully men and women and prey on the common people. A whole bunch of people were lining up to take a number to assassinate him, and they would only be happy if they killed him.

But she went to Ezo to carry out a mission, and without her by his side, he was always making a fuss and finding fault with everything. Haruno also felt a little lonely.

After all, given his current status and position, the only one who would dare to be disrespectful to him and reach into his pocket to steal money is this wild child, Aman.

Ah Qing won't do. Ah Qing is quiet and won't say a word unless you hit her hard. Being with her is reassuring but not lively. Dog Princess won't do either. Dog Princess is gentle and, due to her upbringing, is very obedient and respectful to him. You could say that you treat each other with courtesy, but she's anything but lively.

If we're talking about true friends, the only one in the wilderness who I can trust, who can still move and call out, is Aman.

I wonder if she's doing alright now. Spring is almost here in Owari, and the weather is starting to warm up, but Ezo is at a higher latitude, so it's probably the coldest time of the year right now. I wonder if that wild child froze to death.

I think should not be?

(End of this chapter)