Mount & Blade: Warband in the Sengoku period of Japan

Chen Daoyuan was quite intelligent, and he immediately understood the deeper meaning behind Bei Xin'ai's words.

So this guy's escape route was to seek refuge with someone else...

However, Chen Daoyuan was somewhat confused. Had he really developed a domineering aura because of his transmigration?

After a moment's thought, Chen Daoyuan gave a deliberately wicked smile: "Serve the country for life? A true man lives between heaven and earth; how can he remain subservient to others for long?"

Bei Xin'ai was taken aback, but instead of immediately bowing and calling him godfather, she smiled knowingly and said, "Since you have such ambitions, how do you intend to achieve them?"

Chen Daoyuan, however, did not respond to his words: "Lord Sun Jiro, you flatter me. I've been wandering around in the mountains since landing, and I've only been down there for a few days. I haven't even memorized the roads between Takasui-ji Castle and these villages yet, and I'm completely clueless about any of the famous lords around here. Why don't you tell me your opinion? You seem completely unsurprised by my ambitions, so I suppose you've already prepared your answer?"

Bei Xin'ai nodded: "That's true. Then I'll start by offering my humble opinion."

As they spoke, the two arrived at the edge of the sandy area in the courtyard. Kita Shin'ai squatted down, picked up a twig, and began to write and draw on the sand: "Our region of Ou has two major drawbacks. One is the small population. Ou is not Kanto or Kinki after all. Although it has grain-producing areas such as Shiwa District and Yokote District, it is still sparsely populated. In local battles, it is not easy for one side to mobilize eight hundred people. It is far less grand than the battles in the Kinki and Tokai regions, which often involve three to five thousand people."

Chen Daoyuan watched as Kita Shin'ai sketched the terrain of the northeastern tip of Honshu Island on the sand. He thought to himself, what kind of large-scale battle could three or five thousand people be? Not to mention the monsters across the sea who could mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops at a time, even Japan itself, decades later, didn't it also pull out hundreds of thousands of people for the Battle of Sekigahara?

"Therefore, a general like Lord Chen, who can fight against a hundred men, might not be able to rule the world in the Tokaido, but he can become a hegemon in Oshu."

After finishing the map, Kita Shin'ai pointed to a spot in the center of the Ou region with a small twig and said, "This is the Shiwa District, which is occupied by the Takasui-ji Shiba clan. This place seems to have abundant grain and a large population, but in reality, it is a dead land for the Shiba clan."

As Kita Shin'ai explained, he pointed to the map: "To the north, the Nanbu clan occupies a large flat area at the northernmost tip of Mutsu Province. They have no worries about their rear and have Ryota Baba, making them strong and well-equipped. Although Shiba Tsutaka has taken Iwate District, the Nanbu clan is still difficult to challenge in terms of strength. Next, the Osaki family to the south and the Mogami family to the west are both branches of the Shiba clan. Not only would it be against morality to attack them rashly, but the Osaki and Mogami families are also stronger than the Shiba family. I'm afraid they will be difficult to defeat."

The beach is not far to the east of the Shiba family's house. Now that they are surrounded on all sides, it is difficult to move in any direction. No wonder Kita Shin'ai said it was a death trap.

"However, this area is not entirely devoid of room for maneuver." Kita Shin'ai then drew three small circles on the map in the gap between the circles representing Mogami and Osaki and Takasui-dera Castle: "South of Takasui-dera Castle, in Hanamaki District and Kitayama District, there are the Hienuki and Waga clans. West of Shizukuishi District, across Mount Ou, lies the Onodera clan in the Senhoku region. Although these three clans are small, if we can take them all down, we can double the size of the Shiba clan's territory."

Kita Shin'ai looked up at Chen Daoyuan's physique: "Previously, Shiba Sengo didn't dare to target these places because he was afraid that after the main force moved south or west, the Nanbu clan would take advantage of his weakness to invade from the south. But now that we have Lord Chen, this is no longer a problem. After all, Lord Chen can defeat an army of five hundred men by himself. Whether he leads the troops west or south, Takasui-ji only needs to withdraw about a thousand foot soldiers and leave most of the troops to defend the city."

"Neither the Hienkan clan nor the Waga clan have more than a few hundred soldiers. Even the Onodera clan, which is stronger, is almost exhausted after Onodera Tanemichi has been fighting the local lords of Senhoku for several years. Once the Shiba clan takes over these three clans, they will have much more confidence to either confront the Nanbu clan in the north or plot against the Osaki clan in the south."

Kita Shin'ai dropped the branch: "Another major drawback of the Ou region is the small population."

Seeing that Chen Daoyuan's expression did not change, Kita Shin'ai did not keep him in suspense and explained: "The Oshu region not only has few commoners, but also few samurai and talented people. Take the Nanbu clan as an example. The first to ninth households in the Nanbu clan are all branches of the Nanbu family. Even the main branch of the Sanhe clan, the Hoku, To, and Nan families, along with the Nishi family which has no heir, are all brothers who were separated from the previous head of the family. The Shiba clan is the same. The Oshu Kanrei Takamizu-dera Shiba family, the Oshu Tandai Osaki family, and the Ushu Tandai Mogami family all use the double-lined family crest. The members of the Takamizu-dera Shiba clan, the Shizukuishi clan and the Inogari clan, are both sons of Shiba Tsuneaki. The brothers of the next head of the family, Shiba Tsuneaki, are the Hosokawa clan, who were the Hosokawa Kanrei's collateral descendants who followed the Shiba Gosho to the Shiba district."

At this point, a sinister sneer appeared on Bei Xin'ai's face: "Sir, you may not understand our rules here. In a family, the head of the family trusts the most not his own brothers, but his descendants from different surnames."

Chen Daoyuan understood this point; even if his kinsmen became his retainers, the claim to their bloodline still existed.

"That's why Harumasa, the head of the Nanbu Ujiie clan, isn't most worried about the Shiba clan to the south, but rather about his own clans, the Hachige and Kūge. His most suspicious relatives are also his own clans, the Hokuge and Higashige. The same applies to the Shiba clan. Shiba Tsuneaki is already 64 years old. Once he dies, Shiba Tsuneaki will be nothing more than an average man. Can he control his two brothers, Shizukuishi Castle and Inokari Castle?"

After listening for a while, Chen Daoyuan finally spoke: "So, you mean to instigate internal strife between the Nanbu and Sibo clans to profit from it?"

Kita Shin'ai nodded: "As for the Nanbu clan, we don't need to do too much. My lord, you only need to weaken the power of the Nine Households and the Eight Households with one or two battles, and Nanbu Harumasa will take action against these two families on his own."

"As for the Shiba clan, all you need to do is secure a position within the clan, and then wait a few years for Shiba Tsunetaka to pass away... I've heard that Shiba Tsunetaka has an only daughter who is quite favored by Shiba Tsunetaka. You could consider a way to achieve this, sir. Moreover, if you inherit Shiba Tsunetaka's family name, we can also try to take advantage of the Osaki clan, since Shiba Tsunetaka's original name was Osaki Tsunetaka."

In short, the way Japanese nobles played games was similar to that of medieval nobles in that they could claim titles based on blood ties, family names, and marriage.

Chen Daoyuan's mind flashed back to the round face of the beautiful girl who had left the city... Was she a little too young? Let's take it slow and talk about it again in two years.

Bei Xin'ai was also thinking of other solutions for Chen Daoyuan: "Actually, in the past two years, if you had just found an opportunity to lead people to conquer the Bai Guan clan or the He clan, your entire clan would have been a sure thing. I just don't know what your current status is in Gaoshui Temple City, and how long it will be before you can lead an army on your own."

"I was just appointed as a Ma Huizhong the day before yesterday," Chen Daoyuan said, revealing his newly acquired title.

"The Ma-gei clan? That's fine too." Kita Shin'ai stroked his chin and thought for a moment. "Then why don't you write a letter now, sir, reporting that the Nanbu clan has harassed us repeatedly, and that you plan to lead a counterattack? Ask Shiba Sengoku to send one hundred Ma-gei warriors to assist you, and then you can conscript two hundred foot soldiers from your own village. Then head north and capture two of the Nine-Headed Clan's fortresses. Next time, you'll be able to lead about five hundred men to fight the Hiegawa clan on your own."

"That simple?" Chen Daoyuan suddenly felt that Bei Xin'ai's credibility was still not enough. Letting him lead two hundred men to attack the Jiuhu clan in the north... it sounded like a gift. This person seemed to have more confidence in his own strength than he did.

However, this strategy of racking up battle merits is indeed worth learning from. But before setting out, Chen Daoyuan still planned to conduct a thorough reconnaissance in the north.

"Let me consider this matter... Lord Sonjiro, what benefit would it bring you if I were to lead the troops to conquer the Nanbu clan?"

Bei Xin'ai straightened his posture and knelt on the ground, bowing his head and bowing to Chen Daoyuan: "In that case, I can go from being one of the four sons of the Nanbu clan, who are suspected by many, to being the trusted head of the Chen clan, who is not of the same surname."

So that's how it is. Chen Daoyuan couldn't help but narrow his eyes and re-examine Bei Xin'ai from head to toe. She really is a ruthless person.

However, Chen Daoyuan was still somewhat uneasy about Bei Xin'ai, so he summoned Xiao and ordered him to take men to guard Bei Xin'ai. Although he was no longer tied up, he was temporarily confined to the side courtyard of the fortress to prevent him from running around.

Then, Chen Daoyuan summoned Shinji and sent the ninja to use his special skills to scout out the territories of the Kyuhebe and Hachihebe clans, which are closest to the Nanbu clan in the north.

Finally, following Kita Nobuai's plan, Chen Daoyuan wrote a report in the room. The content was exactly as Kita Nobuai had said. He first informed the Imperial Palace Lord that the Nanbu clan had sent people to harass them again, and that he had decided to lead a team to the north to retaliate. He hoped that they would send some support.

The letter was written quickly, but Chen Daoyuan hesitated for a long time before deciding whether to send it... Bei Xin'ai, oh Bei Xin'ai, is this person really trustworthy?

Chen Daoyuan pondered the name repeatedly in his mind, when suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him, and he remembered why he had an impression of this name.

This impression, of course, comes from the game Taige 5DX.

Anyone who's played Taiko 5 Deluxe should know that Koei Tecmo, that bastard, made this game with a really disgusting feature: to experience more of the story, customize your own generals, and other in-depth content, you have to collect 500 cards of characters, skills, and encounters through its card collection system. And to get character cards, players need to control the initial protagonist and wander around the map chatting with generals, giving them gifts, and building up their favorability.

In Chen Daoyuan's memory, he vaguely remembered trying to increase his favorability with Kita Shin'ai. After all, the name was a bit special and more memorable than the other Warring States generals. Although he had played the game two or three years ago and couldn't remember Kita Shin'ai's specific stats and backstory, Chen Daoyuan was quite certain that this person had been made into the game by Koei Tecmo.

Don't underestimate the minor characters in Koei Tecmo's games. Even the most insignificant figures in these historical games are historical figures who left their mark on history.

No wonder that 17-year-old boy could calmly and thoroughly analyze the situation in the entire Ou region in front of him.

Chen Daoyuan wasn't a collector of historical figures, but judging from Kita Nobuyoshi's abilities, he was clearly much more capable than the unknown Ryokawa Nobutsugu.

"I hope Anji won't mislead me." With that thought in mind, Chen Daoyuan sealed the letter he had written and sent it directly to Gaoshui Temple Castle.