Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 253 Hopefully!

Regardless of what the Kitabatake family thought, Haruno continued to push forward step by step.

After wiping out the remaining powerful samurai clans between Nozu Castle and Anno Castle, they finally arrived at the area around Anno Castle, which is the bend of the Nozu River.

The Nogawa River is the largest river in Ise Province. It originates in the Ise Mountains. Although the river is short, it has a large volume of water and a very rapid current. It flows into Ise Bay from the west-northwest.

Simply put, Nogawa is a bit peculiar; it appears almost as a straight line on the map, a type of mountain-source river unique to peninsula terrain.

Upon reaching Shimoguri District in Ise Province, the Nogawa River is blocked by mountains, making a small bend and forming a small river bend plain. Anno Castle is situated on a mountain within this bend, surrounded by water on two sides, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

This area is also the heart of Shimogura County, with convenient access to water, fertile land, and abundant fields. Since the Heian period, numerous manors have been built here.

Yuan Ye led his men up a small hill, gazing at Anong City in the distance. After a few glances, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, "No wonder Japan has always been known for its autonomy, with local separatists frequently defying the imperial court's commands..."

Japan, as an island nation, has a truly peculiar terrain. Over 80% of its total area is mountainous, forming various places like Anong Castle, where there are pits every three steps and rivers every five steps. Everywhere is a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. As long as the imperial court weakens slightly, the local magistrate will immediately turn into a local tyrant, making it difficult for anyone to deal with him.

It is probably because of this terrain that the Japanese later developed a culture of valuing local autonomy. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing for the plains. While it may cost more lives to fight, it can save a lot of money to defend once the battle is won.

"What did you say?" Aman followed behind him, not hearing what he said.

She was tasked with finding tobacco seeds, and after urgently transporting the unfortunate wandering samurai back to Wanjin and subjecting him to "severe torture," she had figured out how tobacco had been introduced to Kansai—it was brought by a Nanban missionary who was wandering around with local Kyushu merchant ships.

That fool actually preached in the area around Ishiyama Honganji Temple, the stronghold of the Jodo Shinshu sect, and was almost beaten to death by the monks. It was only by spending money that the Kyushu merchants saved his life, and now he has been driven back to Kyushu.

However, some of the good things he brought did circulate on a small scale in the local area, including tobacco, which became a kind of "medicinal material" in the area, said to be able to remove dampness and cure diseases.

Aman has already sent people to Kansai to retrieve it. If they can't buy it, they'll steal it. He estimates they'll be able to get it back by the end of the year. With nothing to do, he came over to find Yuanye and Aqing again. Just as he followed Yuanye up the hill, he heard him talking to himself.

"I didn't say anything, I just thought the city was nice," Yuan Ye casually replied.

"It really is a great city!"

Aman stood on tiptoe and looked at Anong City, then at the flat and fertile land in the river bend. She liked it a little but also felt a little regretful. Yuanye refused to let his men become warriors, let alone grant them land. Otherwise, with the friendship that had saved Yuanye's dog's life, it would have been easy for her to become the lord of Anong City.

That way, she could take the surname "Annong" and be called Anongman from now on.

Well, she still hasn't figured out what her surname should be. Currently, she's registered under the surname Haruno Osamu, and her name is Haruno Mitsuru.

She felt that Anong Mang was better than Nohara Mang, and pondered for a while whether she could trick Nohara Mang into handing over Anong Castle. But she quickly remembered that the castle had not been captured yet, so she hurriedly asked, "It looks like things are going to be difficult here. It seems that the Kitabatake clan does not want to retreat any further. Are you confident?"

"Don't worry, this isn't a problem." Haruno had been plotting against Ise for a long time and knew that Okawachi Castle and Anno Castle were the core of Kitabatake's rule. He never intended to fight them head-on—he could definitely win if he did, but the situation on the Ise Peninsula was complicated. Defeating Kitabatake wouldn't be a permanent solution. For the sake of stability, he wanted to conserve his strength as much as possible to deal with unforeseen circumstances.

For example, if the Miyoshi clan launches a surprise attack while the battle with the Kitabatake clan is at a stalemate, or after the Miyoshi clan has just defeated the Kitabatake clan, it could easily benefit the enemy and be highly unwise.

The Wanjin Army was indeed a strong army, but it could not defeat the Japanese medieval army in a way that could reduce the size of the enemy. It was okay in open field battles, but casualties were still inevitable in urban warfare. It also did not have the ability to blow up every house and every rock fortress it saw - this is impossible even in the 21st century. Urban warfare still requires human lives to be paid for, not to mention that its productivity was not even a fraction of that of the 21st century.

Therefore, we should save money where we can. It's not easy to accumulate capital, so we can't squander it. Before, the Kitabatake clan didn't want to risk their lives to attack his fortifications, but now they don't really want to risk their lives to attack Anong Castle.

The so-called strategy is to not do what the enemy wants you to do, but to make the enemy do what you want him to do, and to fully mobilize the enemy.

That's about it. Yuanye wasn't exactly a natural-born general; he just learned as he fought.

Aman hadn't been in the Wanjin Army for a while, so she wasn't clear on the specific strategies and tactics. She also liked to give random, nonsensical orders in this regard. Yuanye was too lazy to explain in detail to her, so he just gave her a perfunctory answer and carefully observed the terrain in the area, considering whether it would be good to put the "command post" here. Meanwhile, Aman's attention was drawn to the plumes of smoke rising from the south bank of the Nongchuan River.

This is the Wanjin army attacking the local samurai of Ise who refuse to leave their homes and insist on "risking their lives for their home." She couldn't help but point at the smoke pillars again and express her opinion, insisting that she could do a better job if she led the men.

At this moment, a guard from Wanjin climbed up the hill and whispered a few words to Aqing.

Aqing quickly came over to relay the message: "Your Highness, more envoys have arrived, from Kameyama Castle and Senjiro Castle. Also, envoys from the Kitabatake family have come again."

Aman turned around and said to Yuanye, "Has the Kitabatake family sent someone again? What conditions will they offer this time? Last time they wanted to send a princess, but this time they might be willing to give two."

"Why don't you meet her? You can take the princess in first. I think the dog princess isn't very big, so she probably won't be able to have a son. Having the Kitabatake princess give birth to two sons would be fine too. The Kitabatake family is quite respectable; they're a noble family, and it wouldn't disgrace our family."

She was spouting nonsense, but Haruno glanced at her and ignored her, turning to Kiyoshi and saying, "The Kitabatake family is nowhere to be seen. As for the others... just find someone to deal with!" It was true that he was currently at war, but he hadn't stopped making social connections during this time. Whether it was powerful clans in Ise or distant daimyo and minor daimyo, whether they were human or not, they all wanted to send someone to talk to him. Some minor clans in Ise had even begun to surrender to him, wanting to switch allegiance and become adopted clans in Okinozu. If Haruno agreed, they were willing to come and help him besiege the Kitabatake family together.

Most of them are ambitious people who see danger as an opportunity. They don't even understand what Wanjin is all about, yet they want to get on this fast ship.

The Kitabatake clan came to negotiate peace. Even though Kitabatake Tomokyo refused to back down and seemed determined to fight a battle with Wanjin in the vicinity of Anon Castle, he secretly sent envoys every day to express his willingness to form a marriage alliance with Wanjin and repeatedly explained that there was no need for the two sides to fight to the death, as that would only benefit others.

Anyway, we can talk first, there's no need to rush into a fight. If Wanjin really wants some benefits, we can discuss it.

He completely ignored these people. Ise Province would become part of Wanjin in the future, and even the Ise Peninsula would become part of Wanjin in the future. By controlling the Ise Peninsula, he could reach into the Seto Inland Sea, which is the essence of Japan.

Well, in later generations it was Tokyo Bay, but in this era, Tokyo Bay was still a den of pirates. The Seto Inland Sea was the real treasure trove, flowing with gold and silver every day.

Therefore, all the samurai on the Ise Peninsula had to leave. The original ruling class was now his enemy. Even if he could appease them for a while, a conflict would eventually break out. Feigning compliance would not be of much use.

In cases involving fundamental conflicts of interest, diplomacy plays virtually no role.

The struggle for the most fundamental means of production cannot be won through words alone.

Haruno immediately sent A-Qing to deal with the messengers. He dealt with those who were far away for a while and sent those who were nearby away. Then he asked if the troops were in position. After confirming that they were, he ordered, "Get moving! Put some pressure on the Kitabatake clan!"

The number of troops at the front line in Wanjin has now swelled to more than 7,000, with more than 3,000 field troops, more than 1,000 logistics personnel in Wanjin, and nearly 3,000 laborers hired from Ise. This does not include the laborers working in the Shikazu Port area and the transport teams on the road. If those are included, the number is close to 10,000, which gives the Kitabatake clan a numerical advantage.

Of course, it's just a numerical advantage. Those people can't go to the battlefield, and Yuanye doesn't intend to let them die in vain, but it can still boost morale.

At his command, the Wanjin Army split into three groups and began to advance towards the river bend, fighting for the ferry crossing on the Nongchuan River, searching for places to forcibly cross the river on rafts, and even attempting to build a bridge across the river.

The Kitabatake clan, naturally, couldn't just stand by and watch, and began to launch a counterattack, relying on Nogawa.

By the next day, the area around Anong Castle was in complete chaos, with small-scale battles raging constantly. Some small groups of the Wanjin Army had even crossed the river and begun to try to eliminate the Kitabatake clan's strongholds along the river.

"The progress is slow. Are the people in front slacking off?"

After observing for more than a day, Aman felt that the Wanjin army was acting strangely this time. It seemed like they weren't going all out, and they seemed too concerned about casualties. Some of the laborers were even building fortifications. Aman couldn't help but feel a little eager to go to the front lines to supervise the battle. She was a little hesitant to lead the charge. She had finally achieved a good life and become a person of high status. She was no longer a "survivor" with a worthless life. She didn't really want to die now, but she was still fine with kicking other people's butts and making them charge.

There was no way Yuanye would lead the charge, nor could he be the first to lead the charge. He simply sat on the mound and oversaw the overall situation. Upon hearing this, he said, "Don't talk nonsense if you don't understand. Just apply pressure. The progress doesn't matter. This was all planned in advance!"

"What do you mean?" Aman was confused. Since they had already started fighting, it was best to finish the battle quickly.

"Haven't you noticed that there aren't enough frontline combat personnel?"

"There is one regiment that is not here. Didn't they go back to Rokujin Port to rest and recuperate?" When Aman came here before, he saw them in Rokujin Port and asked about it. Apparently, they were resting and recovering temporarily after the clearing mission was over, and also to ensure the stability of the rear and serve as a reserve force.

However, after she blurted out her words instinctively, she immediately realized what she meant and exclaimed in surprise, "They went to Ōkōchi Castle? Did they take a boat to launch a surprise attack on Ōkōchi Castle?"

Haruno nodded slightly: "The Kitabatake clan wants us to suffer a bloody defeat at Anon Castle. They don't want us to have an easy time either. We certainly can't let them have their way. Even though we've practiced siege warfare eleven times, there's no need for a direct assault. We should still play to our strengths."

We have a large navy, while the Kitabatake clan only has a few dilapidated ships that cannot stop us from deploying troops by sea. Of course, we can't let our navy just drift at sea and do nothing. We must do something to them. This is the perfect opportunity to kick them in the ass.

By now, the 800 men of the First Regiment, who had finished their rest, and the 600 armed sailors in the fleet, totaling 1,400 men, should have already landed in Deer Bell County.

It would be great if we could take Ōkōchi Castle, but it doesn't matter if we can't. As long as we cause trouble there and make Ōkōchi Castle soundly alarmed, that's enough.

At that point, the Kitabatake clan will no longer be able to stay hidden in Anno Castle and will have to return to their aid.

"The terrain of the river bend makes it difficult for us to penetrate, but if they want to come out and easily return to Luling County, they'll have to ask us for permission. Then they can test the effectiveness of our field fortifications."

In war, of course, we should take the lead. He still wants the Kitabatake clan to come and fight him, and he is reluctant to lose too many people in street fighting. Now it depends on whether the flanking force can achieve success.

Hopefully!

(End of this chapter)