Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

Wait two or three years, find some fault, and that will be enough to wipe out their family. At that time, whether to fight or kill, it will all be up to you, Oda Nobuo, with a single word.

Let's be patient for now and try to calm things down.

"Urgent report!" The group was having a small meeting, and in principle, no one would dare to disturb them. The only possible person to do so was Aizu Arisu.

"Summon him." Hijikata Yuuki, who was standing at the door, glanced at Nobuo and then opened the barrier door.

The barrier door opened smoothly, and an urgent letter was handed in by a servant. Hijikata Yuhisa took the letter and dismissed the servant, who knelt and returned to the end of the corridor.

The express delivery was immediately handed to Nobuo. Nobuo unsealed the package and quickly read through its contents. He visibly became enraged, almost to the point of wanting to devour someone.

There was only one reason: the Aizu vassal state rebellion resolutely rejected the peace treaty with the Niwa clan and their request for a transfer of fiefdom. They declared their determination to revive the Ashina clan, and Oda Nobukatsu had no choice but to agree to this.

"Outrageous! Utterly outrageous!"

Nobuo clenched his fists and slammed them heavily onto the tatami mat. The three trusted ministers quickly looked at the urgent letter, and after reading its contents, they had to admit that these people were extremely arrogant.

It should be understood that Nobuo was not without the strength to attack them, but he simply did not want to incur large-scale debt and thus suspended the vanity project of the Todai-ji Great Buddha Hall.

If Nobuo really got serious, he could easily muster an army of 200,000 or even 300,000, let alone 100,000. With the troops of Oshu and Ushu eating their own food, the troops of Kanto carrying provisions into battle, and the troops of the western provinces arriving by ship, he could definitely send hundreds of thousands of people from Aizu to their deaths.

The thoughts of the Suda, Shirakawa, Yuki, and Tamura families were actually not that complicated. First, the Oda family's restraint in handling the situation after the incident created a huge misconception for them.

Not only were they not reprimanded or punished in any way, but the messengers who went to Kyoto to appeal and the laborers in Osaka were also released back to Aizu.

This led the people of Aizu to believe that the central government in Kyoto was still focused on appeasement and was unwilling to send an army of 100,000 to Aizu, a poor and remote place, to conquer them, these poor devils.

When it comes to war, the cost-effectiveness ratio must also be considered.

No one wants to fight a losing battle. It's either a political battle or an economic one. Ieyasu attacked Osaka for the sake of unifying the country, so he was willing to fight even at a loss. Nobunaga's conquest of the Kinai region, even forcing the Ishiyama Hongan-ji Temple to pay tribute, was a profitable economic battle (and, of course, a political one).

Now that the country is unified, Aizu is not a wealthy place, and attacking Aizu would inevitably result in huge losses. As for a political war? The people of Aizu feel that it is just a small-scale local skirmish, and so far its impact has not extended beyond Aizu, nor has it reached the point of affecting Oda Nobukatsu's reputation.

Secondly, even today, Nobuo is still sending people to try and reconcile. What does this indicate? It indicates that the conditions Nobuo has proposed have not yet reached his bottom line.

This means the transfer of the three Aizu families to fiefdoms and the return of Niwa to the mainland. It's similar to the tactic of asking for an exorbitant price in negotiations and then settling for a lower one.

They believe the current conditions are still negotiable and they haven't yet tested the waters. They just need to delay a little longer, wait a little longer, and make a few more trips back and forth.

The good days of him truly ruling the local area with 80,000 koku of grain, becoming one of the "Three Elders of Ashina," and reigning supreme in the region will surely come.

Finally, and this is quite crucial, the people of Aizu also understand that once they leave Aizu, they are considered worthless, even less than cattle or horses. Given any chance, they are unwilling to leave their homeland and want to stay in Aizu.

Many powerful figures in Japan's Sengoku period fought tirelessly their entire lives for a single ditch or a patch of forest. Just like in the Crayon Shin-chan movie "The Storm Called: The Great Sengoku War," the protagonist Ijiri Matahei Yoshitoshi's father and elder brother both died defending Kasuga Castle.

His patriarch, Kasuga Yasutsuna, the head of the Kasuga family, also lost his brothers and sons and fought for decades. In order to protect them, he even married the heroine to his enemy, Okurai Takatora.

When Hiroshi told him that there was no Kasuga family in later generations, his desolation, silence, and pain were so moving and real.

They fought with all their might to preserve their family name and territory, but in the end, they left nothing behind.

The emotions that people have for their family name and former territories are difficult for many in later generations to understand. They would not hesitate to lose their lives for it.

"What a fool! He must be punished severely!" Oda Nobuo, having finished pounding the tatami mat, was enraged and ready to kill.

If it were Oda Nobunaga's time, he wouldn't care about this or that. If he couldn't get over this grudge today, he would write Oda Nobunaga's name backwards tomorrow.

So now that Oda Nobukatsu has taken over, people think he's stopped killing. Every ruler kills; the only difference is how many.

"Please calm down, please calm down." Ataka Kiyoyasu also felt that the Aizu people were really too arrogant. They had already given them a way out, yet they still acted like this.

Although the idea here is to wait a few years and then refine it, as long as you act respectfully and carefully, and don't let anyone find fault with you, how can it be changed?

Unless the male members of the family have all died, resulting in no heir, or the family has committed another crime and is therefore being asked to change their status.

As the ruler of the land, Oda Nobukatsu also represents the order of the land. Regardless of whether this order is good or bad, Oda Nobukatsu is the embodiment of order. At present, the Oda regime is still relatively well-governed, and although the ministers have their own ulterior motives, they will not allow Oda Nobukatsu to disrupt the order.

Therefore, as long as no mistakes are made, even if one is reluctant and feels a great deal of disgust, one will not change one's name casually.

Historically, even if the Edo Shogunate wanted to remove Fukushima Masanori, they would have to fabricate a serious crime against him for renovating Hiroshima Castle without permission in order to change the situation.

If even the order itself does not abide by the law, then the collapse of that order is imminent.

"Imperial edict: Order the people of the Western Kingdom to march to Kyoto!" Nobuyuki hadn't expected that the Aizu Ikki would be so ungrateful for his offer of a way out, and would refuse so decisively.

As a citizen of the world, I speak to you politely not because I lack the ability to use force, but because I am "kind".

“It’s not that bad,” Yuriko Takikawa also advised.

"Shouldn't we kill such a lowly scoundrel!" Nobuyuki raised his hand to signal, "Don't try to persuade me anymore, it's pointless."

Alas, if the three of you knew that Nobuo's temper was flaring up, then not even nine oxen could pull him back. It's also the fault of the Aizu people for being so ungrateful; why did they directly reject Nobuo's offer of amnesty?

When he really gets ruthless, who can be more ruthless than Oda Nobuo?

His father is a tyrant, and he is a little tyrant.

The three bowed and withdrew. Meanwhile, Tokugawa Ieyasu and his entourage, still in Kyoto, immediately received news that Nobukatsu had ordered the western provinces to march on Kyoto, and also that the Aizu rebels had refused to agree to a peace treaty. With differing opinions, everyone guessed that this battle was perhaps unavoidable.

In particular, Tokugawa Ieyasu had clearly inquired with Oda Nobukatsu, who was unwilling to personally lead the army. Therefore, it was inevitable that Tokugawa Ieyasu would ultimately become the commander-in-chief of the Taira clan.

Although serving as the general of the Heisei (Pacification Alliance) might offend the people of the eastern provinces, Tokugawa Ieyasu had already shown favor to them in general, so a bit of authority was needed.

Only by combining kindness and severity can one truly secure their position as the top power in the East. These feudal lords in Japan will indeed be grateful for your kindness, but they will only truly submit if you have a firm hand on the sword.

Killing those powerful families, or the most prestigious families in Kanto, might have negative consequences. Killing a few people from small provinces with tens of thousands of koku of rice is the perfect target.

Fellow villager, may I borrow your head for a moment?

Tokugawa Ieyasu was not in a great hurry; he was indecisive about whether to appease or suppress. But if Oda Nobukatsu was determined to fight, he would have to gain political capital from the war.

Putting everything else aside, just the death of Niwa Nagahide alone opens up a new position for chief retainer. Even Mori Terumoto could challenge him; my qualifications as Tokugawa Ieyasu are at least eight times greater than Mori's.

A person's life is full of burdens and burdens, and the way is far and the path is the same!

Life is just like being a "laborer," isn't it? What job isn't hard? It's all about endurance. As long as your spirit isn't worn down, then suffering and tears aren't so bad.

Maeda Toshiie, who had long supported the campaign, immediately expressed his support and even volunteered to serve as the vanguard of the Taira-Aizu campaign. As a senior retainer, he certainly wouldn't be assigned such a task. Besides, attacking Aizu wouldn't be too difficult, and Nobukatsu might need to find two trusted men to escort him.

Things have progressed to this point, dragging on and on, and more than half of summer has already passed. Even if we were to launch a campaign, it would be difficult to actually mobilize troops this year. But we must still project a show of force, and our attitude must be resolute.

Shichibei and Hideyoshi, far away in Kumamoto, received the imperial edict and immediately set sail for Kyoto. Various feudal lords also flocked to the capital. After paying their respects to Oda Nobukatsu at the capital, Nobukatsu formally announced the campaign to subjugate Aizu.

Fortunately, Nobuo had wise advisors around him who first waged a public opinion war. Earlier, Nobuo not only did not punish the Aizu people for their unauthorized attack on Aizu Castle, but also generously promised them additional fiefdoms. It was the Aizu people's disobedience to the king's rule and their failure to follow the king's way that provoked the attack.

I've said all the right things, but you won't listen! You deserve to be condemned.

First, they silenced the people of the Eastern Kingdom, preventing them from openly expressing their anger. The Wakatoshi clan copied Nobuo's letter to the people of Aizu countless times and distributed them to all the lords and nobles of the Eastern Kingdom. They clearly told them that the Grand Chancellor was compassionate.

It's simply that the people of Aizu don't know how to appreciate kindness!

With this public opinion in place, Shichibei, upon arriving in Kyoto, felt that the situation wasn't too bad. It was essentially a case of offering courtesy before resorting to force, demonstrating Oda Nobuo's sincerity towards the people of the eastern provinces.

You ask where the sincerity was for the deceased families of Go and Nihonmatsu-Hatakeyama? What sincerity do the dead need? They're all dead, they should just be ashes in peace.

So how do we get the war funds?

borrow!

Oda Nobukatsu, as the Grand Chancellor, personally summoned merchants from Kyoto, Sakai, Hata, Hirado, Nagasaki, and Bōtsu, demanding that they raise at least 800,000 kan (a unit of currency) within a month for the war effort. This was all borrowed by Oda Nobukatsu; once Aizu was captured, he would collect a batch of tsūriki (traditional Japanese currency) and tōbetsu (traditional Japanese currency), and the interest would be paid within the year.

The repayment issue can be discussed later. In any case, since Oda Nobuo personally spoke up, everyone present had to give him some face.

Shichibei swallowed hard, and under the watchful eye of Oda Nobuo, he gritted his teeth and was the first to express his willingness to lend 300,000 kan.

The cash flow has been largely depleted. You asked about the money from last year's tribute rice sales; shouldn't most of it have already been recovered this year? That's right, it has been recovered, but now it's almost the end of summer, and we need to prepare a huge sum of over two million guan to pay for this year's tribute rice.

Even with the support of other wealthy businessmen, at least a few hundred thousand yen would still be needed to cover the costs. This money was the foundation for Shichibei's reputation in the Japanese business world, and not a single penny could be touched.

If the rice price payment is delayed, the reputation of the entire Kawamura-ya will collapse.

With Shichibei leading the way with 300,000 kan, the remaining 500,000 kan would be shared by the various trading ports and merchants in Kyoto. Before the meeting, Shichibei had made it clear to everyone that Nobuo had called them here to contribute money, so they shouldn't even think about running away.

The original estimate was 600,000, but now the asking price is 800,000. With the increase in the amount, the merchants around him all looked troubled. But they had no choice but to borrow, as they still needed Nobuyuki to maintain the great order of unification and stability in the world to do business.

So everyone started contributing, some giving 20,000, some 30,000. After a quarter of an hour of fiddling with the abacus beads, they finally raised 800,000 strings of cash for the war expenses.

Without further ado, all the money must be in place within a month, first deposited into Tian Xinxiong's private treasury, and then transferred in one go to the army that will pacify Aizu.

We must swiftly and decisively quell the chaos in Aizu!

Chapter 629 120,000 Troops Set Off for Northeast China

At Oda Nobuo's request, 70,000 cavalry, including Oda Nobushige's Shinano troops, Kaiyama Prefecture's Masamitsu, Suruga Prefecture's Takeda Nobufusa, Minomori Tadamasa, Owari Prefecture's Takayama Shigetomo, Nakagawa Kiyohide, Tsuda Nobuhisa, Ise's Miyoshi Yasutoshi, Harada Nobumasa, and the Moroma Kaishu, were all transferred to Tokugawa Ieyasu's command.

With Tokugawa Ieyasu as commander-in-chief and Oda Nobushige as Nobukatsu's deputy, along with the armies of Tokugawa, Yuki, Sakuma, Yoshikawa, and Satomi from the Kanto region, the army numbered over 120,000 and marched to attack Aizu.

In addition, Nobukatsu dispatched another 20,000 hatamoto (military officers) and foot soldiers to Nagoya Castle in Owari Province as reinforcements for Nobuo. This group consisted mainly of former Oda Nobutada troops who had been taken in by Oda Nobunaga, and they were more familiar with Owari when they came to defend it.

It wasn't that Nobukatsu disliked his elder brother's former subordinates; it was simply a normal military mobilization. Since the Tenryō (Imperial Domain) was located within the Kinai region, the 80,000 Hatamoto cavalry were inevitably filled with troops from various provinces within the Kinai. Even Takayama Shigetomo might not feel comfortable sending these men, unfamiliar with Noo, to Nagoya Castle.

Thieves pass by like combs, soldiers pass by like fine combs; this isn't just a local phenomenon, these days armies are all the same all over the world.

The army was primarily commanded by Makai, a former retainer of Oda Nobutada. Since Oda Nobuyoshi only received 250,000 koku when he returned to Shinano, he couldn't recruit all of his father's million-koku samurai retainers. He could only select a portion of the samurai, led by Dan Tadamasa, while the rest were incorporated into Nobunaga's army.

For example, Gamo Ujigo, Toyama Tomotada, and Saji Kazunari were all assigned by Nobuo to Nagoya Castle to serve as garrison commanders.

It's already August, and snow falls in Aizu in October, making it quite difficult to capture Aizu this year. Nobukatsu is certainly annoyed by the arrogance of the Aizu people, but he's not a simple fool, so he orders all troops to first assemble in Edo.

Kawamura Shichibei Nagayoshi directed the supply of military provisions and weapons to Edo Castle. In effect, the central government funded the construction of a port for Tokugawa Ieyasu with a throughput comparable to that of the major ports in the Kinai region.

The manpower gathered in Edo was primarily for the large-scale renovation of Edo Castle. Once the port was completed, Shichibei was responsible for continuing maritime transport to Edo. Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Kanto lords were responsible for building a road from Edo to Aizu.

A road of 300 kilometers is neither long nor short. However, to transport an army of 120,000 and maintain its logistics, the construction of wide and smooth streets was an enormous undertaking.

The main tasks this winter are the construction of Edo and the building of roads. Once these two projects are completed, the 300-kilometer military logistics line from Edo to Aizu will also be completed.

When the time comes, the army will storm into Aizu and kill 50,000 people. Oda Nobuo's name will have to be written backwards.

The estimated war cost was 600,000 kan, so why did Nobuo borrow an extra 200,000 kan? It was precisely for this reason, and also to provide food for the army in winter, effectively turning the army into an engineering force.

Both Shichibei and Hideyoshi, who arrived in Kyoto, were very supportive of these two major projects. While it might seem that Tokugawa Ieyasu benefited from these projects by having them renovate Edo Port, they were also crucial for the Oda clan to strengthen their control over Oshu.

This port and this road before us can be used to kill the rebels of Aizu, and also to kill other rebels in Ōu. Wherever His Majesty the Great Chancellor's streets extend, the glory of his rule will cover that area. Streets and post stations are important carriers of dynastic rule; the extension of roads is the expansion of royal power.

Although it will cost money, and a lot of money at that, no problem. Strengthening our rule over the East is something we must do. We can also record the entire project in detail, since a 300-kilometer long-distance land supply route is quite an important military project.

Even though it's not useful now, it's still a valuable experience. Keeping it on file might come in handy someday.

When the order to subjugate Aizu was issued by the Grand Chancellor, the people of Aizu finally began to panic and sent envoys to Kyoto once again. The conditions were immediately relaxed, with the hope that Aizu would be divided in two: the western 250,000 koku would remain the territory of the Niwa family, while the eastern 250,000 koku would be restored to the Ashina family.

To demonstrate their sincerity, they promised to send Ashina Moriyuki to Kyoto, making him a de facto hostage. They swore to all the gods and Buddhas that they would never betray Oda Nobukatsu for all eternity.

It's like the baby died and you came to nurse.

What's the point of saying such things now that things are already at this point? It's completely useless. Oda Nobukatsu didn't want to see any of those worthless Aizu envoys. The previous delays by the Kyoto central government were actually the last window of opportunity for the people of Aizu.

Once the window of opportunity closes, it'll be too late. There will never be another chance for those three families in this lifetime. Oda Nobuo wouldn't have any face left unless he sent their entire family to their deaths.