Japan's Sengoku Period: The Sanada Clan's Ambition

Chapter 3: Assessment of Dishi City, Deployment of Troops!

The tenth year of Tianzheng, the end of March.

After the Takeda clan was destroyed, the Oda clan rewarded those who had contributed to the victory.

Takigawa Kazumasu, who made great contributions in the conquest of the Takeda clan, was appointed "Kanto Governor" and received the territory of Kozuke Province and Shinano County. Combined with his original territory in Ise, his total koku (a unit of rice measure) reached 800,000 koku.

The original subjects of Shinano and Ueno provinces all became Takigawa Kazumasu's subordinates and sent hostages to him.

Suruga was then granted to Tokugawa Ieyasu by Oda Nobunaga, giving the Tokugawa family control of the three provinces of Tōtōmi, Mikawa, and Suruga, roughly equivalent to the former "first archer of the Tōkaidō" Imagawa family.

Kai Province was granted to Kawashiri Hidetaka, Anayama Nobuhito was transferred to Suruga, and the rest of Shinano Province was divided among other Oda retainers.

Thus, the territories belonging to the Takeda clan were distributed to the Oda clan, and a new era began in Kai and Shinano provinces.

Shinano, Toishi Castle.

After returning to his domain, Sanada Masayuki quickly summoned the retainers of the Sanada family for a meeting to make a decision.

This was Sanada Nobuyuki's first time participating in such a formal meeting since his time travel, and he was quite excited.

The Sanada family originated from the Umino clan, a powerful family in Shinano. During the time of Sanada Masayuki's father, Sanada Yukitaka, the family moved from Umino village to Sanada village, and from then on, they used Sanada as their family name.

Initially, the Sanada clan was not a retainer of the Takeda clan; the governor of Shinano was the Ogasawara clan at that time.

However, during the reign of Takeda Nobutora, Shinano was attacked by military means, and the area where the Umino clan lived was also captured. The Umino clan fled to Kozuke, and the Sanada family was among them.

Sanada Yukitaka was an idealistic and ambitious samurai who was unwilling to waste his time in Ueno and eventually chose to join the Takeda clan.

In the decades that followed, Sanada Yukitaka served Takeda Shingen faithfully and rendered many meritorious services, earning the reputation of "Kōdanjō" (a high-ranking official in charge of attacking the enemy) and gradually becoming a powerful retainer of the Takeda clan.

Toishi Castle was the territory granted to Sanada Yukitaka by Takeda Shingen, and from then on, the Sanada family truly became a national lord and possessed their own territory.

In recent years, Sanada Masayuki has also conquered Azuma and Tone districts in the Ueno region, expanding his sphere of influence into Ueno Province.

If calculated by the koku (a unit of dry measure), the Sanada family's territory was roughly 7 koku (the Sanada family used the kan-gao system before the Edo period; for ease of understanding, this book will use the koku system).

The term "stone high" simply refers to the output of the land.

The more Shi Gao you have, the higher your output and profits will be, and the more troops you can deploy.

Therefore, Shi Gao (石高) can be directly equated with strength.

Of course, the amount of rice (a unit of currency) does not reflect the true strength of a daimyo. It also depends on the daimyo's control over the territory, the loyalty of his retainers, and whether there are other resources such as mines and ports within the territory, which will also affect the specific strength.

However, judging from the Sanada family's situation, a mere 70,000 koku of rice was enough to make them a very weak and insignificant vassal state, far from being a significant force.

At this moment, inside the palace of Toishi Castle, the retainers of the Sanada family gathered together.

Sanada Nobuyuki had also reviewed the Sanada family's retainer directory beforehand. It was a thick booklet filled with the names of more than 300 people, but many of them were unknown figures.

There were only a handful of people that Sanada Nobuyuki could recognize.

The first person sitting on the left below is Yazawa Yoritsuna, who is considered the head of the Sanada family and serves as the castle lord of Ueno Numata Castle.

Yazawa Yoritsuna was the third younger brother of Sanada Yukitaka, and his territory was in Yazawa Village, Oki District. He was adopted into the Yazawa clan (a collateral branch of the Suwa clan) at a young age and inherited the headship of the clan. Later, he followed his older brother Sanada Yukitaka and served the Takeda clan, making great contributions in battles such as the capture of Azuma District in Ueno and Numata Castle.

Sitting behind Yazawa Yoritsuna was his eldest son, Yazawa Yoriyasu, commonly known as Sanjuro.

Beside Yazawa Yoritsuna are Kamahara Shigeharu and Tsuneta Nagayuki, both members of the Sanada clan. Their fathers, Tsuneta Nagasawa and Kamahara Shigesumi, died alongside Sanada Nobutsuna (Sanada Yukitaka's eldest son and former head of the Sanada family) in the Battle of Nagashino.

Both the Kamara and Tsuneta clans were members of the Kozuke province. When the Takeda clan attacked Kozuke, Sanada Yukitaka's two other younger brothers, Tsuneta Takayane and Kamara Yukisada, were adopted into the two families respectively.

Yazawa Yoritsuna (Sanada Masayuki's uncle), Tsuneda Nagayuki (Sanada Masayuki's grand-nephew), and Kamara Shigeharu (Sanada Masayuki's grand-nephew) were the core of the Sanada family's control over the Ueno territory.

After the three, the main retainers included Suzuki Shigenori, the castle lord of Kurumi Castle in Ueno, and Kawahara Tsunaie (Sanada Masayuki's cousin).

After everyone was seated, Sanada Masayuki, who was in the main seat, spoke. "Gentlemen, orders have come from Minowa Castle, requesting our clan to send troops to attack the Uesugi clan of Echigo."

As soon as Masayuki Sanada spoke, the crowd erupted in chaos.

Fight Uesugi?
what?
"Quiet!" Sanada Nobuyuki shouted from the side, "It's not just our main clan sending troops alone, and there's no need to fight a decisive battle with the Uesugi clan."

"The Oda clan's invasion of Echigo is mainly focused on the Echigo-chu region, and the battle at Uozu Castle is currently extremely fierce."

"The Oda clan hopes that Lord Takikawa will lead the troops from the Koshin region into northern Shinano and contain the northern Shinano region in the Kawanakajima area."

After hearing Nobuyuki Sanada's explanation, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

After the hall returned to calm, Sanada Masayuki continued, "As per Lord Takikawa's request, our clan will need to send 800 men this time."

"Genzaburo, you will read out the specific troop deployment plan."

"Ha!" Sanada Nobuyuki quickly responded, then turned to face the crowd, "This time, the troops in the Ueno region will remain unchanged, and only the troops in the small prefectures will be mobilized."

"All soldiers and civilians in small counties and prefectures shall be dispatched according to the rules and shall assemble at Dishi City three days later."

The Sanada family implemented a policy of combining military and agricultural service, with the main military force consisting of farmers and soldiers, and of course, a number of samurai who had taken off their jobs.

Taking the Sanada family's military service system as an example, for every 10 koku or more of fiefdom, one foot soldier was required (the specific requirements would be further subdivided, for example, stipulating that a certain retainer would be required to provide arquebus foot soldiers, spear foot soldiers, archer foot soldiers, or even mounted soldiers, etc., with different standards for different types of soldiers).

Those who performed military service received tax reductions, while those who did not were required to pay annual tribute and other miscellaneous taxes. The Sanada family then used this tax revenue to support samurai or foot soldiers who were specifically responsible for combat.

After Sanada Nobuyuki finished reading the battle plan, everyone nodded in agreement. They then left Toishi Castle one after another to begin the war mobilization.

"Gensaburo, take a look at this."

After everyone left, Sanada Masanobu called Sanada Nobuyuki to his side and handed him a letter.

Sanada Nobuyuki took it and saw, "Good heavens, the Takeda Extermination Order."

As the name suggests, the Oda clan ordered the purge of the remaining retainers of the Kai Takeda clan, and anyone who handed over Takeda clan relatives and close retainers would be richly rewarded.

“Father, the Oda clan’s move is undoubtedly aimed at completely eliminating the Takeda clan’s influence in the Koshin region.”

“Of course I know, but these are people I fought alongside, and I can’t bear to do it.” Sanada Masayuki sighed.

Although he joined the Oda clan, Sanada Masayuki still identified more with the identity of "Takeda retainer".

"Father, may I ask if you have any plans for Shinano?" Sanada Nobuyuki suddenly asked.

Sanada Masayuki's eyes narrowed as he looked at his "reckless" son in disbelief.

"Shinano?"

"With Mori Nagayoshi stationed at Kaizu Castle and Takigawa Kazumasu controlling Saku District, the Oda clan's control over Shinano is quite secure."

"Do you really want to snatch food from the tiger's mouth?" Sanada Masayuki chuckled and shook his head slightly.

Even though he claimed to have inherited Takeda Shingen's "true teachings," he dared not say that he could pull off any tricks in Shinano.

The Oda clan is now so powerful that Sanada Masayuki feels no desire to resist.

“But what if something happens to the Oda family?” Sanada Nobuyuki countered.

Sanada Masayuki laughed heartily, "Hahaha, what other unexpected changes could possibly occur?"

"It's impossible for Oda Nobunaga and his son to suddenly die, is it?"

　According to records, when the Takeda clan was attacked, a retainer said, "As long as Mount Fuji and Mount Asama do not erupt, our Takeda clan will be as stable as Mount Tai." As a result, Mount Asama did erupt just two days later, causing the morale of the Takeda clan to waver.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)