Mount & Blade: Warband in the Sengoku period of Japan

In the valley beneath the inner palace of the swamp, a battle is about to erupt.

The Nanbu clan's vanguard consisted of two to three hundred elite foot soldiers armed with three-section spears.

However, this time, when the long, gleaming spear shaft came crashing down, many of the warriors in the first row on Chen Daoyuan's side fell to the ground.

Chen Daoyuan's heart skipped a beat. He swung his spear, stabbing the foot soldier in front of him to death, then deflected the spears on his left and right, and turned to look at his own lines.

The warriors who were knocked down did not suffer any obvious injuries; instead, they lay sprawled on the ground, struggling to get up.

It's still a problem with physical strength!

Chen Daoyuan's mind raced, and he shouted, "Those who can still run, charge with me! Charge forward!"

After drinking, Chen Daoyuan protected his head and face, raised his spear, and charged into the foot soldiers' line. Many warriors also mustered their remaining strength, raised their swords, and charged forward to kill the foot soldiers.

Elite foot soldiers are still foot soldiers, and Chen Daoyuan quickly broke through their line. Looking around, he saw about thirty other samurai like him, and he counter-charged, scattering the foot soldiers in front of him. The remaining samurai, however, were exhausted and became entangled in close combat with the foot soldiers.

Chen Daoyuan didn't care about anything else. He raised his spear high and shouted, "Charge! Charge! Charge with me!" He led more than thirty warriors to continue charging forward.

At the inner gate of the Swamp Palace, the square formation composed of the Mother-of-the-Arms and the Horse-riding Clan stirred. Soon, the front row of Mother-of-the-Arms charged towards Chen Daoyuan and his men.

The clash of dozens of people wasn't so crowded. Chen Daoyuan dodged the warhorse coming straight at him. As for the two swords slashing down between the warhorses...

"Clang, clang..." The familiar scene of the broken sword was repeated. However, this time, Chen Daoyuan was a little overconfident. He felt his calves go weak and, like his companion, was slashed back several steps.

Chen Daoyuan steadied himself, glanced at the still swaggering enemy main force ahead, gritted his teeth, ignored the cavalrymen in their mother's clothes who had lost their swords, picked up his somewhat heavy steps, and continued to charge forward.

In the center of the main camp, the figure on horseback waved his fan. The row of bannermen warriors in front of him drew their swords and charged towards Chen Daoyuan.

Chen Daoyuan glared hatefully at the samurai leisurely riding his horse in the main camp, then turned and ran.

He's not a real Gundam. It's one thing for him to fight in the chaos of battle, but for him to go and fight a row of elite samurai by himself is obviously a stupid thing to do.

Behind them was a chaotic battleground, with foot soldiers clashing with the main force of Shiba samurai, while the knights of the Mother Cloak were also locked in melee with smaller squads of Shiba samurai. One side was exhausted and unable to cut down anyone, while the other side couldn't break through armor and was equally incapable of inflicting damage.

Chen Daoyuan rushed back into the battle of the Shiba warriors and used his spear to kill two of them who were still on horseback, allowing the Shiba warriors to regain the upper hand. However, this advantage did not last long. With the addition of the Hatamoto warriors, the Shiba warriors finally ran out of energy and were all tackled to the ground by the Hatamoto warriors.

Chen Daoyuan was also surrounded by several Hatamoto samurai. After he killed three of them with his spear and sword, his knees buckled and he knelt on the ground. Then he was overwhelmed by the Hatamoto samurai who rushed up to him.

A sense of despair welled up in Chen Daoyuan's heart. He pulled out the Lion Steel M4 hidden at his waist and stabbed wildly at the person pressing down on him, while struggling desperately with his hands and feet.

Just as he was about to exhaust himself, he suddenly heard a series of loud shouts, and then, with a few stabs as the two warriors on top of him stopped moving.

Pushing aside the corpses on his body, Chen Daoyuan sat up. Around him, the hillsides were filled with foot soldiers carrying the banners of the Shiba clan, while in front of him, the main force, arrayed with their backs to the city, was running frantically toward the city gate.

Chen Daoyuan glared hatefully at the figure riding into the city before turning back to look behind him.

He immediately spotted the beautiful figure dressed in a hesitant-colored, narrow-sleeved kimono, galloping towards him on horseback with a sword drawn.

"Thank you so much, Nobuko." Chen Daoyuan stood up and thanked Nobuko while panting heavily.

Nobuko ignored his thanks, her large eyes still filled with the lingering anxiety and faint anger: "Dogen-dono, you were too reckless! Those who rush for profit from a hundred miles away will fall like generals... Don't you know this principle?!"

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." Chen Daoyuan felt a pang of guilt, especially as his gaze fell upon the black-armored warriors lying on the ground around him.

These heavily armored warriors withstood the charge of the Nanbu clan's elite cavalry head-on with minimal losses. However, here, exhausted, they were pinned to the ground by Nanbu clan foot soldiers and lost their lives to a small knife that pierced through their armor. Even Chen Daoyuan himself almost lost his life here.

Ultimately, it was because I got carried away.

Fortunately, Shiba Takashi and Nobuko had already mustered their troops and set off from Kurikawa, arriving just in time.

As night fell, the Shiba army lost its momentum to seize the opportunity to attack the city, so it simply gathered its troops and set up camp in front of the inner city of Numamiya.

When the headcount was taken at night, Chen Daoyuan, who had led three hundred armored soldiers on a raid, had lost more than sixty men in the battle, a loss of more than 20%. It should be noted that in the large-scale battle outside Hachiman-daira where hundreds of infantry and cavalry clashed, the losses were only two dead and a dozen seriously wounded.

Fortunately, Sibo Quangao didn't say much, but gently advised Chen Daoyuan to take this as a warning and not to do it again.

That night, Chen Daoyuan was exhausted, but he couldn't fall asleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the scene of being pinned to the ground by a group of warriors. So he put on his clothes, left the tent, and went to the Beishangchuan River alone.

Sitting down by the river, Chen Daoyuan found a suitable stone, took out his beloved Lion Steel M4, carefully washed it in the river water, and then slowly sharpened the knife on the stone with the help of the river water.

The whetstone made of M390 blades is actually not sharp enough to grind it, but this is Chen Daoyuan's stress-relieving habit. When he had any mental stress at work, Chen Daoyuan would take out the whetstone in his office cubicle and carefully grind this Lionsteel M4. After grinding it, the mental stress would be worn away, and his colleagues and superiors in the office would be much more polite to him.

The blood-stained M4 seemed to have gained something different. After cleaning and polishing, the cold blade reflected an exceptionally eerie gleam in the moonlight.

He heard soft footsteps behind him. Chen Daoyuan put down the knife in his hand and turned around. It was Nobuko.

"I'm sorry, Princess, I disappointed you during the day."

"No, that's not true... I just hope you won't be so reckless and adventurous anymore." Nobuko lowered her head and touched the hesitant-colored, narrow-sleeved kimono she was wearing. "The Japanese admire cherry blossoms, but you are from Ming China. Shouldn't you appreciate peach blossoms more? Cherry blossoms are beautiful, but nothing lasts. Peach blossoms may be less vibrant, but they can turn into abundant fruit in the future... In the future, please think carefully before you act, Dogen... lord."

The last word was uttered softly by Nobuko, almost swallowed back entirely. Unfortunately, Chen Daoyuan neither understood the meaning behind her shy address nor noticed the blush on the girl's face in the night. He simply said calmly, "Yes, Princess, I will remember."

"You don't have to call me Princess..." the girl whispered.

"What?" Chen Daoyuan didn't hear clearly.

Nobuko pursed her lips: "I'm curious about your little knife; its design is quite exquisite and unique."

"Oh. You mean this?" Chen Daoyuan looked at the girl's cute face and suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He simply took off the leather sheath from his belt and threw the knife and sheath to Xinzi: "This is a knife I brought from my hometown. It's not very valuable, but it's been with me for a long time, and I've grown attached to it. Since you like it, I'll give it to you."

In the darkness, a strange light flickered in Nobuko's large eyes, and she did not refuse: "Yes, I understand."

After saying that, Nobuko pulled out her M4, looked at the blade, grabbed a handful of hair from her temple, cut it off with one stroke, then took out a silk handkerchief from her bosom, carefully wrapped the strand of hair, took two steps closer and handed it to Chen Daoyuan: "Daoyuan-kun, please keep this safe... I'll go and talk to my grandfather about it now."

Chen Daoyuan was completely bewildered. He took the handkerchief with both hands and looked at Xinzi, who turned and ran away in the moonlight. He wondered if he had made some incredible request or agreed to some important agreement in a daze.

As expected, early the next morning, Chen Daoyuan was summoned to the central command tent by Sibo Quan.

"Lord Chen." At this moment, Shiba Tsuneko was exceptionally solemn and dignified. He no longer spoke Chinese to Chen Daoyuan, but instead reverted to the slow, deliberate Japanese that he had used when he first met this Lord Shiba. The senior retainers and generals standing on either side of him were equally solemn: "Since you joined, the contributions and merits you have made to the Shiba family have been witnessed by the authorities. Now that the outcome of this battle has been decided, this pre-battle assessment is being held today to determine your rewards."

Chen Daoyuan lowered his head and listened silently.

"First of all, the authorities will bestow upon you the title of Left Guard Commander, in the name of Left Guard Commander."

Zuoweimenwei is an official title, similar to the Xun Guan in ancient China, but more complicated.

After the establishment of the shogunate system, the major departments of the Japanese imperial court were "contracted out" to each other. The heads of the contracted departments would then recommend (or promote) the substantive positions within their departments according to the four levels of "chief official, vice-chief official, judge, and chief clerk".

The Oshu Shiba clan has long been a contractor of the Imperial Guard system, with the head of the clan calling himself the Left Imperial Guard Commander, the First Rank Chief Officer of the Imperial Guard. However, according to the rules of "master and retainer not serving in the same office" and "recommendation after being downgraded two ranks," the official positions granted to retainers were often the lowest ranks in the Imperial Guard, namely the Guard Office, which is one rank lower than the Imperial Guard, and the administrative ranks of Captain (Jankan) and Chief (Shi).

Chen Daoyuan had known all this beforehand. To put it another way, from then on, he was on equal footing with the future Oda Nobunaga, because Oda Nobunaga's official title was Danjo-chū, which was the third-rank judge of the Danjodai.

"Secondly, when the authorities announced that you were transferred from Toritsaki Castle in Hieikan District to Iwate District, you were allowed to choose a site to build your own castle and establish your own family name. From then on, you were specially permitted to attend a meeting of the Shiba clan."

Chen Daoyuan's eyelids twitched. The transfer of the title was exactly what he expected, and it was a group of disciples, which Sibo Quangao had already promised.

However, after Sibo Quan Gao made his promise last time, Chen Dao Yuan asked Bei Xin Ai about it. Most of the time, the members of the same family would be given a surname or something similar. After all, the members of the same family are just family members in common terms. But the old man didn't mention this matter. Such an unruly "forced selection" - don't the genealogists and elders around him have any objections?

Chen Daoyuan glanced around. The elders sitting on either side of him either had smiles on their faces or looked on with envy, but none of them looked displeased.

Then, Spogong's slow, deliberate voice rang out again, which answered his question.

"Finally, in recognition of your merits and considering the mutual affection between Nobuko, the eldest granddaughter of the Shiba family, and you, we hereby bestow Nobuko upon you in marriage. From this day forward, you will be a member of the Shiba family's grandson-in-law clan. We hope you will continue to strive for excellence and make new contributions to the family!"

"Huh?" Chen Daoyuan exclaimed in surprise, "Mutual affection?"

"Hmph." Shiba Tsugaku pretended to be angry and said, "Nobuko already told me that you two have swapped wakizashi and hair. What, are you still denying it?"

Chen Daoyuan quickly shut his mouth. Although his heart was full of questions, he could leave the questions for later. Right now... Recalling Nobuko's figure under the moonlight last night, Chen Daoyuan quickly lowered his head and, for the first time, knelt down in a formal sitting posture before Shibo Quan Gao, bowing deeply: "Thank you for your kindness, Grandfather."