Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

However, Asakura Yoshikage was no ordinary man, and he did not come directly to the rescue of Kamaji Castle. Hori Hidemura mobilized 5,000 troops to defend the castle to the death, and Oda Nobunaga would not be able to take Kamaji Castle in a short time.

Therefore, Asakura Yoshikage devised a strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao," directly attacking Azai Nagamasa's rear end. Instead of rescuing Kamaji Castle, he besieged Odani Castle, hoping to force Nobunaga to lift the siege of Kamaji Castle and rescue his good brother-in-law, Azai Nagamasa.

"Wow, the Asakura family is indeed a powerful clan with a century-long history; they're skilled in martial arts." Shichibei clicked his tongue as he looked at the military report sent back from the front.

"Master, master, the lady is about to give birth!"

Chapter 236 Asakura's Fall in an Instant

Mother and child are safe.

Shichibei, upon hearing the news at the foot of the castle, was quite anxious to return. The young general, true to his name, was indeed very petite. With such a small frame, natural childbirth would present many difficulties.

But in the end, it was a close call. After all, unlike the samurai women of the same era who had their first child at the age of twelve or thirteen, the young general was already seventeen or older when she had her first child, and her development was basically complete.

However, there was still one thing that worried Shichibei slightly. In later generations, babies were typically born weighing 7.6 or 8.4 pounds. The baby in front of him was just a little short of 5 pounds. However, the samurai women who came to help with the delivery said that this weight was considered quite normal for today.

Considering the young major general's mere 90 pounds, it's quite remarkable that he was able to give birth to a 5-pound baby. There were no major problems after the delivery; everything is fine, and he just needs to rest well.

All around him were congratulatory messages; dozens of his "best friends" had come to visit the young general. Shichibei turned them all away; she'd just given birth, and he'd let her rest for a few days. "I, Shichibei, will definitely remember this favor," he said. "As for the debts your husbands and your fathers owe, those are minor matters. A little interest will cover them all, don't worry."

Upon hearing the news, Oda Nobumasa rushed to congratulate Shichibei. He personally drew his bow and performed a ritual to ward off evil and bring good fortune to Shichibei's child. If Sakuma Nobumori or Oda Nobuhiro were here, they would likely have done the same.

This young man is definitely capable and can be guided.

Along with the good news from Shichibei's family, good news from the battlefield also reached Gifu Castle. Full of confidence and believing that his escape route was secure, Asakura Yoshikage personally led an army of 25,000 south to besiege Odani Castle.

At Odani Castle, Azai Nagamasa mustered 5,000 men to defend the castle to the death, creating a stalemate between the Asakura and Oda armies north of the river. Similar to Oda Nobunaga's plan, Asakura Yoshikage also did not bring any small pack animals, relying on the supply lines of Echizen Tsuruga District to besiege Odani Castle, waiting for Nobunaga to come and break through his strong defenses.

Both sides want to encircle and attack reinforcements, thus stretching the enemy's supply lines and increasing the difficulty and uncertainty of their resupply.

Furthermore, relying on the marriage alliance reached with Honganji Kennyo, Asakura Yoshikage earnestly requested Kennyo to launch the Ikko-ikki once again, calling on the followers of Jodo Shinshu to rise up in the Kinai region and attack the various forces that were allied with Oda.

However, Nobunaga also possessed considerable strategic resolve, remaining stationary around Kamajima Castle. He then ordered Hosokawa Fujitaka and Wada Koremasa to deal with Settsu, Miyoshi Yoshitsugu and Hatakeyama Akitaka to deal with Izumi, and Matsunaga Hisahide and Matsunaga Hisamichi to deal with Yamato.

He also ordered Mori Yoshinari, who was guarding Usayama Castle, to suppress the potentially recurring Hexagonal forces, and to be wary of Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei, which had previously been friendly with the Asakura family and had once sheltered the Asakura-Hori alliance.

As long as these other complex forces are prevented from attacking Nobunaga's rear or storming Kyoto, thus driving the current Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki out of the capital, then even if they successfully defend themselves, Nobunaga will compensate them for any losses that follow.

At this time, the Ikko-ikki uprising of Omi Shimura, who responded to the attack on Oda Nobunaga by the Buddhist monk Kennyo Shonin, broke out. More than 6,000 Ikko-ikki members began to attack Yokoyama Castle, which was defended by Hideyoshi.

Nobunaga astutely seized this opportunity and immediately proclaimed that he would turn back to rescue Yokoyama Castle, a key town that had established communication with Gifu. His reasons were very compelling and convincing.

To increase credibility, Nobunaga immediately abandoned the siege of Kamajima Castle, leaving only 3,000 cavalry, led by Inaba Ittetsu, to guard the area near the castle as a rearguard.

Upon hearing this news, Asakura Yoshikage was overjoyed, believing the opportunity had arrived. Ignoring the advice of his family and associates, he abandoned the advantages of being close to the Echizen headquarters, where he would have ample support and favorable terrain. Instead, he ordered Asakura Kagekage and others to lead 3,000 troops to guard Odani Castle, while he himself led 22,000 men, preparing to launch a strong attack on Nobunaga's rear.

Then?

Then Nobunaga ordered 3,000 Mikawa cavalry, led by Sakai Tadatsugu, to flank and rescue Odani Castle. Together with Azai Nagamasa inside Odani Castle, they broke through Asakura Kagekage's guard forces, completely blocking the Asakura family's route back to Echizen Tsuruga from the north bank of the river.

Moreover, taking initiative, Azai Nagamasa and Sakai Tadatsugu joined forces with 5,000 men to catch up with Asakura Yoshikage, who was heading south, and prepared to attack Asakura Yoshikage from both sides with Oda Nobunaga.

Meanwhile, Nobunaga was not idle either. Together with Hideyoshi, they decisively defeated the Shimura Ikko-ikki with a force seven or eight times larger, beheading 670 people. With the capture of Shimura Castle, and the earlier annihilation of Kanemori Gobo's Ikko-ikki, the Jodo Shinshu's influence in Omi was almost completely eradicated. After this battle, they were no longer capable of launching a large-scale Ikko-ikki uprising.

When Asakura Yoshikage arrived at Anegawa, preparing to attack Nobunaga's rear, he was surprised to find that the Oda army had set up fortifications of all sizes along the Anegawa River, as well as two thousand arquebuses to properly prepare for his attack.

Just as Asakura Yoshikage hesitated about whether to retreat slowly, news of the defeat at Odani Castle reached the camp. The Asakura army's retreat route had been cut off, and there was no other way but to defeat the enemy in front of them and break out of the encirclement.

A bloody battle officially began on the banks of the Anegawa River.

At first, the Asakura clan lived up to their reputation as brave warriors of Echizen, launching a series of attacks against the Oda army in as many as seven waves. They once scattered nine formations of Oda's troops, almost making Nobunaga consider withdrawing his troops.

After five hours of fighting, as the afternoon approached, Asai Nagamasa and Sakai Tadatsugu, who had come from Kotani, launched a surprise attack on the rear guard of the Asakura army. The rear guard of the Asakura army was almost thrown into chaos, and Asakura Yoshikage had no troops left to deploy besides the rear guard.

Later, Asakura Keiyuki of Kitazura, wielding a seven-foot-five-inch-long greatsword, charged back on horseback against the Mikawa and Kotani forces, fighting fiercely and shedding blood, killing seventeen people in succession.

He eventually died from exhaustion, and the remaining two thousand-plus troops collapsed in a rout. The Otani forces then charged straight at Asakura Yoshikage's main camp, but Yoshikage escaped on horseback, barely managing to avoid defeat.

At this point, the entire Asakura army collapsed, and more than forty families, including the prominent retainers of the Kitasho Asakura, Mukohisa Asakura, Yamauchi Asakura, Inmaki, Kurosaka, Koizumi, Takahashi, Sasaburo, Tomita, Torii, Muno, Hagiwara, Fukuoka, Handa, and Hori, who had participated in the battle, were all killed.

More than 890 warriors were killed in the battle. The elite warriors of Echizen Ichijodani, who had accumulated their strength for five generations since Asakura Takakage, suffered a near-devastating blow.

The battlefield at the Anegawa River was a scene of death, with over six thousand dead. It was like a living hell. Even the generals of Oda's army had never imagined that a single victory would result in such a situation.

Nobunaga immediately ordered a search for Asakura Yoshikage's whereabouts and demanded that all his men kill the Asakura soldiers who were fleeing in Omi Province, preventing them from escaping back to Echizen.

"how?"

Just three days after learning of Nobunaga's great victory at Anegawa, representatives of merchants from Ōtsu, Katada, and Kusatsu rushed to Gifu to ask Shichibei to act as an intermediary and request Nobunaga to withdraw from Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei.

"How did it come to this?" Shichibei had originally thought that Nobunaga would press his advantage and advance further.

He could either annihilate Horihide Village at Kamajima Castle or charge straight at Echizen Ichijodani Castle and wipe out the Asakura clan completely. But to everyone's surprise, Nobunaga turned and headed to Kyoto instead of launching a fierce attack on the fleeing enemy.

Well, it's also Shichibei's fault for staying in Gifu and not being able to get information. Nobunaga was originally going to attack Echizen, but Wada Koremasa, the lord of Settsu Takatsuki Castle, went out to meet Ikeda Tomomasa, Araki Murashige, and Nakagawa Kiyohide.

Guess what? Wada Korechika betrayed his own father. Upon hearing that his father was in dire straits, he actually led his troops to turn around and run away, which directly led to Wada Koremasa's death in battle.

The entire region was shaken, and the Miyoshi Triumvirate and the Settsu Ikeda Clan seemed poised to send troops to Kyoto.

Kyoto was a place Nobunaga had to defend, and with no other choice, Nobunaga had to lead his troops to Kyoto to prepare to resist the offensive of the Miyoshi Triumvirate.

Soon after, they received intelligence that Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei was harboring hundreds of defeated Asakura soldiers. Old grudges were compounded by new hatred, and the Oda army directly deployed its forces in front of Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei, ordering Mount Hiei to hand over the defeated Asakura soldiers.

At this time, the abbot of Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei was Prince Kakusho, the son of Emperor Go-Nara and the younger brother of Emperor Ogimachi, holding the title of Nobunaga. Prince Kakusho directly rejected Nobunaga's request and warned him that Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei was a sacred temple protecting the nation, and that the Oda army must not act recklessly.

The root of the conflict between Enryakuji Temple and Nobunaga was Nobunaga's strict promotion of "one-official authority" in his new territory. This is a very big issue, but to take just one point, it means that there can only be one head in the entire territory, and government orders can only be issued by the lord appointed by Nobunaga. All other forces are stripped of all political power.

Having established himself in Shiga District of Omi Province for hundreds of years, Eizan had effectively become the local ruler. How could he allow Nobunaga to strip him of all his secular power in addition to the Meisei Kendanji domain?

Since the establishment of the Muromachi Shogunate, the authority of the local governors in various provinces had been gradually weakening, and their influence in the regions had been decreasing. However, power is something that never disappears; if the governors lost their power, then a local force would inevitably take over that power.

In some places, it might be the governor's deputy seizing power, or even the governor's retainer. In Shiga County, however, it was Eizan who seized this power.

Such actions were nothing short of treason in the eyes of Nobunaga, who aspired to unify the country by force.

Last time, Nobunaga was too preoccupied to deal with Eizan. This time, Nobunaga arrived at Eizan with the prestige of a great victory, yet Enryakuji Temple still resisted the king's command, which was a slap in the face to Nobunaga.

Without much hesitation, Nobunaga issued the evacuation order for Mount Eizan, requiring all men and women on and around Mount Eizan to leave within seven days. Anyone remaining on Mount Eizan after seven days, regardless of their social standing (monks or laypeople), was to be considered a traitorous villain of the Asakura army and executed without exception.

Prince Kakushu was alarmed and personally went to Kyoto to plead with his elder brother, Emperor Ōgimachi. Meanwhile, the townspeople of Enryakuji Monzen-cho asked merchants from nearby Ōtsu and other places to come and beg Shichibei to persuade Nobunaga to intervene.

What does that mean?

It was a compromise: Nobunaga would withdraw his troops and leave, while Eizan would continue to protect the defeated Asakura army. Of course, there was a price to pay; the withdrawal wasn't for nothing.

The gold award is five hundred pieces!

In other words, if Nobunaga withdrew the proclamation and withdrew his troops, Enryaku-ji Temple and Monzen-cho would give the Oda family a huge sum of 5,000 taels of gold (historical fact).

Of course, this was a private gift; on the surface, Nobunaga had to have been "dismissed" by Prince Kakushu. To put it bluntly, Nobunaga had to be scolded away by Prince Kakushu, leaving out of fear of Emperor Eizan's authority.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen, it's not that I don't want to help, but I can't help with this." At first, when he heard that it was five thousand taels of gold, Shichibei was still weighing the pros and cons, but when he heard that he had to be "dismissed," he refused outright.

Are you kidding me? Listen to yourselves, are you even speaking human language? Nobunaga brought over 40,000 men, almost 50,000, to Mount Eizan. And you, some so-called prince, repelled them? Is that behaving like that?

You really have a magic trick? Just unleash a Five Thunderbolts spell to kill Nobunaga, and then the 50,000-strong army will collapse and be done with it.

On such a crucial issue of right and wrong, they actually thought that five thousand taels of gold would be enough to make Nobunaga abandon all shame, crumble the legitimacy he had painstakingly built up in the Kinai region, and slink away in disgrace?

If you're mentally ill, you should just kill yourself; staying alive is just a waste of rice.

"Please, you must persuade me. I beg you." As a result, these merchant representatives immediately knelt down before Shichibei, their heads slamming onto the floor with loud thuds.

"Why bother, everyone?" Shichibei thought to himself, what are you trying to do?

“We are all followers of the Tiantai sect, and we really cannot bear to see our temple destroyed.”

"Then we should persuade the mountain gate to expel the remnants of the Asakura army."

"A poor bird takes refuge in one's bosom; a benevolent person will feel pity for it."

"..."

With just one sentence, Shichibei was speechless; he had truly taken the moral high ground. The Asakura army was in dire straits and had come seeking refuge; not helping them would be a disservice to their Buddha's benevolence.

I just can't reason with you old, superstitious, feudalistic men!

Shichibei was about to wave his hand, signaling the men outside to come and drag these people away. But one of the merchant representatives pulled out a knife and said that if Shichibei didn't try to persuade them, he would commit seppuku at Kawamura-ya.

Fine, fine, so you're trying to use moral blackmail, huh?

If you're so capable, go ahead and cut it. If you kill yourself, I'll try to stop you.

Feeling morally blackmailed, Shichibei lost his temper, stood up, pointed at the man, and shouted. Later, all you encounter on the internet are keyboard warriors, talking about gas cylinders, V, the old farmer's infiltration and killing of Judge Wang—you never see anyone actually do it, just empty talk.

To everyone's surprise, the merchant representative was also tough. No sooner had Shichibei finished speaking than he plunged his knife into Shichibei's abdomen. The knife stabbed from left to right, the cut being at least ten centimeters long, and blood and internal organs immediately flowed out.

Depend on!

This is this...

Shichibei, who had been somewhat agitated, immediately calmed down and called for a doctor. However, the merchant representative simply stared wide-eyed at Shichibei, his eyes clearly conveying the message that Shichibei should try to persuade Nobunaga.

Before the doctor could arrive, the merchant representative who had committed seppuku was bleeding profusely, his blood soaking the floor and dripping onto the muddy ground through the cracks in the floorboards.

Chapter 237 Ruishan's Arrogance Leads to His Own Death

"Kawamura Shichibei Nagayoshi, you too will act as a persuader!"

Nobunaga stood in front of the curtain, while Shichibei knelt on the ground. Behind them was the gate of Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei, which had become one of the two major Buddhist temples in Japan since it was founded by the monk Saichō.

"I had no choice but to accept this important request." Shichibei didn't pretend to be any noble righteousness; he was simply there because someone had entrusted him with this task.

A promise is a promise. Since I promised that person I would persuade them to commit seppuku, and they did, I'm coming myself. In business, integrity is fundamental. Integrity is the foundation of any business; without it, how can one establish oneself in the Japanese business world?

With so many people witnessing and hearing it firsthand, Shichibei, being a man of principle, felt compelled to come to Mount Hiei.

By the time Shichibei arrived at Mount Hiei, it was already the fifth day since Nobunaga had issued the prohibition order. Before reaching Nobunaga's main camp, Shichibei had visited several of Oda clan's generals and retainers, including Sakuma Nobumori, Niwa Nagahide, Murai Sadakatsu, Kinoshita Hideyoshi, and Akechi Mitsuhide, and had strongly advised and urged Oda Nobunaga to reconsider.

In particular, Sakuma Nobumori and Akechi Mitsuhide even grabbed Nobunaga's sleeves to offer their advice. As a result, Nobunaga flew into a rage, slapping Sakuma Nobumori's hand away. As for Akechi Mitsuhide, he even swung his horse-drawn baton and struck him hard on the head.

Even now, Mitsuhide Akechi's scalp still has a large, red, swollen gash that is very noticeable.

Everyone had advised against it, even suggesting that the imperial court issue another edict ordering Mount Hiei not to accommodate any groups other than monks. This would allow Mount Hiei to back down gracefully, and Nobunaga could then capture and kill hundreds of defeated Asakura soldiers.

The root cause is something everyone understands.

The two sides were vying for control over the Omi-Shiga district, and for influence in the religious sphere within future political life. This was related to the simple matter of 5,000 taels of gold, or the nominal value of the Omi-Shiga district being 50,000 koku, but its actual value being no less than 100,000 koku, but the connection was not significant.

When it comes to the issue of political discourse, it's already reached a point of no return. After all, politics can only have one leader; either you bow down and submit, or you fight to the death to determine a victor.

Throughout history, whether it's the Roman Triumvirate or the regents of China, the final result has always been a fierce struggle until the last victor emerges and takes power.

In an era when the central government's power was weak, temples like Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei seized enormous religious influence and political power. Sooner or later, the newly established central government would have had to address the issue of religious interference in politics.

In other words, if Nobunaga had encountered this situation, then Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu might have also adopted such radical measures.