Mount & Blade: Warband in the Sengoku period of Japan

The conquest of the He clan was uneventful, even simpler than capturing Toriyazaki Castle. The head of the He clan was more ambitious but incompetent than the Hiekaku clan. When Chen Daoyuan's black-armored formation arrived, he was unaware of what had happened at Toriyazaki Castle.

Having dealt with the two local lords caught in the middle, the Shiba clan nominally unified most of the rich Kitakami River Valley.

Further south, the Danze Plain is currently occupied by the Baishan Clan and the Jiangla Clan, both of whom belong to the Kasai Clan.

Although the Kasai clan was at most a town mayor in Chen Daoyuan's eyes, they were currently the top power in Oshu. The Kashiyama clan and the Jiangla clan had no intention of moving north for the time being, so it was best if they could live in peace.

After unifying the Kitakami River Valley, the Shiba clan entered a period of peace, with the busy farming seasons of summer and autumn being the most important time for domestic affairs.

Chen Daoyuan's life also settled down, and he did nothing more than three things every day: practice martial arts, supervise the artisans and women in Mikabori to produce armor, and train soldiers at Toriyazaki Castle.

To Chen Daoyuan's bewilderment, the old man Shiba Quan Gao showed him extraordinary trust. After pacifying the Hiekara and Waga clans, he did not take back the hundred horse warriors, but instead allowed Chen Daoyuan to further gather more wild warriors.

However, in name only, someone was still assigned to lead these warriors and monitor Chen Daoyuan.

This person was not Shiba Akane, the young master of the Shiba family, but another candidate who surprised Chen Daoyuan: Princess Shiba, Nobuko Shiba.

Not long after Old Man Shibo returned with his grandson, he sent people to build a new residence in Toriyazaki Castle. Nobuko then moved into the residence with a group of maids and guards, and continued to spar with Chen Daoyuan in the castle's training grounds every day.

Chen Daoyuan was initially a bit confused, but in his memory, there seemed to be quite a few examples of female rulers during the Warring States period, such as Ii Naotora and Akai Teruko. The most famous one, of course, was Tachibana Ginchiyo, the ruler of Chikuzen Hakubai and Tachibana Hayaki.

It seems these female warriors are quite capable... Of course, Chen Daoyuan also took the opportunity to ask about Bei Xin'ai, his only subordinate.

Bei Xin'ai stared at Chen Daoyuan for a long while before finally saying in a resigned tone with dead fish eyes, "Well, it's probably because the direct descendants of the Shibo clan don't have many offspring, so they had Princess Ji step in..."

Chen Daoyuan didn't really ponder Kita Shin'ai's expression and tone. Right now, it's the busy farming season, and Chen Daoyuan's territory includes the farmland that originally belonged to the Hienkan and Waga clans, as well as the daily production in Mikahoshi. Chen Daoyuan dumped all these administrative affairs on Kita Shin'ai. The young Sonjiro was bearing a workload that he shouldn't have to bear at his age, and recently he has indeed been feeling a sense of death after working overtime for a long time.

However, even though Sibo Quangao granted Chen Daoyuan the authority to recruit soldiers, Chen Daoyuan was still unable to expand his manpower by much.

Even including the wild warriors who defected after the failures of the Baiguan and He clans, as well as the strong farmers and hunters gathered from the territory, Chen Daoyuan only expanded the size of the Ma Hui team to two hundred people.

Moreover, it would be difficult for this group to conduct US military-level recruit training according to Chen Daoyuan's wishes.

The reason is simple: the food supply is insufficient.

The Shiba family is truly out of food right now. The only reason they can support this 200-strong off-duty army is because Shiba Sengoku left half of it for Chen Daoyuan when he swept away the Hiekkan and Waga clans. Otherwise, during this lean season, even Chen Daoyuan would go hungry.

No wonder old man Shibo was so generous as to leave all 100 horse rewards to Chen Daoyuan.

This is not Shiba Inugami's fault. If it were Chen Daoyuan, he would probably have gone all in just like Shiba, after seeing the swords and armor in the Mikabori warehouse.

Sigh, the steel sword and armor are quite nice, but I've heard that the Asonuma clan in Tono County are having a pretty good time lately...

Chen Daoyuan made a decision: after the autumn harvest, he would take advantage of the winter to study how to implement the contents of that small chemical engineering book. Sometimes, chemical fertilizers are more effective than steel.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, the autumn wind rises, the yellow leaves fall, and the rice in the fields turns into golden grains, which are then harvested and stored by the farmers wielding new sickles... After completing the manufacture of the armor, Chen Daoyuan took the initiative to use the substandard manganese steel produced during the crucible steel smelting process to make a batch of farm tools.

With the help of these new farming tools, the grain yield in the Beishangchuan Valley is even higher than last year. Because of the timely harvest, the rice in the fields was not affected by the unpredictable weather in the area, and almost all of it was stored.

This pleased Shiba Tsugaku greatly. What pleased him even more was another piece of news: just this September, the main residence of the Nanbu clan, the Sanhebe branch, was ravaged by a great fire! (Historically, this fire actually occurred in September 1539; this is just a fictionalized account.)

The fire destroyed the stronghold that the Sanhubu had built up over many years. More importantly, a significant portion of the new grain harvested by the Nanbu clan this year was also burned!

"If Heaven grants an opportunity and you do not seize it, you will suffer the consequences." Shiba Sengoku immediately made a decision, ordering Chen Daoyuan to lead all the Mabui samurai and an equal number of foot soldiers to escort the newly harvested grain from the south and the armor and swords from the Mikahochi warehouse northward to Iwate County. He then mobilized the main force to depart from Takasui-ji Castle.

The Nanbu family just experienced a fire, and the upcoming winter will definitely be tough. Let's go and bring them some warmth!

Chen Daoyuan immediately accepted the order, instructing Bei Xin to guard the house while simultaneously gathering manpower and supplies.

However, before he set off, an unexpected figure stepped into his museum.

"Your Highness, are you also going to war with me?" Chen Daoyuan stared blankly at Xinzi, who was fully armed.

Nobuko was dressed in the same short-sleeved riding clothes she had first met, but now she wore an extra chest cover. Her hair was tied up with a headscarf and pulled into a high ponytail at the back of her head. She carried a longbow on her back, the waist knife that Chen Daoyuan had given her hung at her waist, and a naginata, also given to her by Chen Daoyuan, in her hand. She was leading a group of chestnut-red warhorses, accompanied by two maids dressed in similar armor and four guards. She stood in the front courtyard of Chen Daoyuan's residence.

Nobuko nodded solemnly: "I am a woman of a samurai family who has come of age. As long as you, General, nod, I can go to war with you. I heard that you will be staying in the North Palace at Toriyazaki Castle to manage internal affairs during this campaign. You will need a deputy general to share the military affairs with you. I believe you know my abilities. Please let me serve as your deputy general."

Chen Daoyuan scratched his head. After spending this time together, he had indeed come to know Xinzi's abilities very well.

In terms of personal combat skills, she is no match for most lower-ranking samurai. Moreover, it's not an exaggeration for Nobuko to say that she has Shiba Tsuyoshi teaching her military affairs. When Chen Daoyuan trains samurai, she sometimes observes and offers practical advice from time to time, so she does have some military knowledge.

After some consideration, I felt that there probably wouldn't be an opportunity for Nobuko to be on the front lines this time. As she said, it would indeed be necessary to have her as an assistant by my side.

So Chen Daoyuan nodded: "Alright then, but this time you can only act as my strategist. If a battle breaks out, you must immediately leave the army and retreat."

Nobuko bowed slightly: "Thank you, Lord Dogen."

Together with Nobuko, they completed the final reorganization of the army. The group set off from Toriyazaki Castle, passed Takasui-dera Castle, and traveled north along the Kitakami River. They traveled for a day and a night, stopping and starting along the way. The next morning, they arrived in Iwate District and entered the Kurikawa-kan, the front line of the confrontation between the Shiba and Nanbu families.

Actually, this place is much further south than the Daibo Fortress where Ryokawa Nobutsugu was stationed. However, the Daibo Fortress is actually a flat valley in the mountains on the east side. Ryokawa Nobutsugu was sent there to prevent the Nanbu clan from taking a detour and launching a surprise attack on Iwate County from the southeast. Because of Chen Daoyuan, it is said that there has been quite peaceful there for the past six months.

Things aren't so peaceful in the Kurikawa area. Takizawa, which is north of Kurikawa, is the core battleground between the two sides, and for the past six months, there has been a large-scale brawl with two to three hundred people on each side almost every month.

To be fair, Shiba Tsugaku was indeed very patient. He locked the newly made armor in the Mikabori warehouse for half a year and didn't send a single piece to the front line in Iwate County.

This time, however, was different. Shiba Inugami's plan was to capture the northern Numamiya Castle in one battle.

Kitayama River flows south from the mountains in the north. After passing the Iwate River mouth south of Numamiya Castle, there is a large, rolling mountain area to the east and the entire Shizukuishi Basin (or Iwate Plain) from Hachimantai to Shizukuishi District to the west.

If the Shiba clan can seize the mountain pass plateau of Numamiya Castle and lock down the Iwate River mouth, they will be able to control the entire essence of Oshu, including the Shizukuishi Basin, the Morioka Plain, and the Kitakami River Valley.

Historically, during the Edo period, after the Nanbu clan moved to Iwate District and established the Morioka Domain, the total yield of these lands was estimated at 200,000 koku (in reality, the climate in the Tohoku region of Japan is not very good, and the area east of the Oku Mountains is heavily affected by the "back wind of the mountains," so the yield is somewhat inaccurate, but it is definitely around 150,000 koku).

Moreover, once the opposing side loses Hachimantai, the balance of power between the Shiba clan and the Nanbu clan will be completely reversed.

However, before facing the Nanbu family's army, Chen Daoyuan first had to confront Shiba Tsuneaki, who was stationed here.

For some reason, Chen Daoyuan always felt a little guilty when he met with Shiba Tsuneaki...

Both had the same round, ancestral face, but compared to Shiba Tsuneaki, Shiba Tsuneaki, who was receiving Chen Daoyuan in the courtyard of the Kurikawa-kan, clearly had a more military bearing.

Shiba Tsuneaki was also not tall. He wore a set of silver-white contemporary footwear and a white jinbaori, which, combined with the black two-pointed shiba clan crest on the jinbaori, made him look exceptionally solemn.

The middle-aged samurai's expression was even more serious than that of Shiba Kenko. When he sat upright on the raised tatami seat in the main hall, he was not sitting on the cushion, but rather sitting steadily on a small stool with his legs spread apart, exuding more imposing presence than his father.

Fortunately, Shiba Tsuneaki's cold gaze did not linger on Chen Daoyuan's face for long. Instead, he glanced at him and then fixed his gaze on Nobuko, who had followed Chen Daoyuan into the main hall.

"Why are you here?"

Chen Daoyuan didn't know what Nobuko's expression was like, but he heard Nobuko's soft voice behind him: "It was Lord Daoyuan who agreed to let me come with him as his deputy, Father."

Shiba Tsuneaki's cold eyes immediately returned to Chen Daoyuan's face. He stared at Chen Daoyuan for a while, seemingly with a profound meaning, until Chen Daoyuan felt somewhat uncomfortable. Then, he slightly toned down his sharpness: "Is that so... very good... Chen Daoyuan, nice to meet you. I am Shiba Tsuneaki."

"I have met you before, Your Highness."

"Alright, that's enough of the pleasantries. Chen Dian, do you have any ideas for the upcoming military strategy?"