Japan's Warring States Period: The Rise of the Wakasa Tiger

Chapter 128 Internal and external cooperation
Due to insufficient military force, at the recommendation of Naito Katsutaka, the brothers Wada Shojo and Wada Akiyoshi, who had just surrendered to Itsumi Masatsugu the day before, jointly took on the responsibility of defending the Hongokan and Tatsujo areas.

At this time, Hongo Mitsuyasu, who was under house arrest in Hongo-kan, learned from the guarding samurai that Yoshishige had led a large army to the east bank of the Saburi River.

He expected that neither the Wada brothers nor the Itsumi father and son were a match for the Takeda army under Yoshishige. Therefore, while the Wada brothers were leading their troops to Tatsu Castle to resist Kumagai Motonao, he seized the opportunity and summoned some of his trustworthy retainers to discuss sending people to Kumagai Motonao's army to cooperate with the Takeda army to attack from both sides and capture Tatsu Castle.

At this time, the Wada brothers were struggling to survive in Dacheng and had no time to pay attention to the unusual movements in Hongo-kan.

Faced with a Takeda army that was six times larger than his own, Wada Shojo immediately sent people to ask for help from Naito Katsutaka, who was attacking Ishiyama Castle. However, the latter was also powerless. Not only did he have no extra troops to support the city, but even the command of the existing army had been seized by Itsumi Masatsune, who called it unified command.

On the evening of the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, Hongo Mitsuyasu, with the cooperation of some of his retainers, designed a plan to kill several samurai who were ordered by the Wada brothers to guard him, and quickly gained control of Hongo-kan.

After half a day of fighting, Kumagai Motonao basically cleared the defensive fortifications outside Tatsuya Castle and completed the siege of Tatsuya Castle's Honmaru and Ninomaru.

Upon hearing that Tatsu Castle was under siege, Hongo Mitsuyasu hurriedly led a group of retainers to Kumagai Motonao's residence and offered to write letters to the retainers and defenders in the castle to persuade them to surrender. He believed that many of them were deceived by the Wada brothers and failed to see the current situation clearly. As long as he came forward to write letters to persuade them to surrender, Tatsu Castle might fall without a fight.

Speaking of writing letters, that night, the Wada brothers also received the latest secret letter sent by Naito Katsutaka.

The letter said that Yoshishige's 3,000-strong army had been stationed in Oguruda Village, north of Ishiyama Castle, while Itsumi Masaki had concentrated his forces in Kubo Village, between Ishiyama Castle and the Saburi River. At dawn tomorrow, a major battle would begin at the foot of Ishiyama Castle, and the outcome might be known tomorrow.

The entire letter did not directly respond to the Wada brothers' request for help, but only hoped that the two of them could hold on to Tatsuki City. On the one hand, they could delay the 600 troops under Kumagai Motonao and prevent them from going south to support Yoshishige; on the other hand, they could prevent the Takeda army from advancing westward from Tatsuki City and tear down the defense system that Itomi Masaki had painstakingly built.

After reading the secret letter, the Hetian brothers felt as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water on them, and they felt chilled from the inside out.

"Brother, haven't we been abandoned by Suruga-no-kami and Uchi Kuransuke?" Wada Kensho asked with embarrassment.

"So what if it is, and so what if it isn't?" Wada Shojo sighed helplessly, "Uchizokusuke's letter is just to appease us. If Suruga-no-Kami wins the battle tomorrow, we will be at the bottom of the list as we are on the periphery. If Suruga-no-Kami loses, we, as his 'allies', will not have a good time."

"According to what you said, even if we win the battle tomorrow, we won't gain much. On the contrary, if we lose, we will have to face the punishment of post-war settlement... This is too unfair!" He Tian Xiansada muttered unwillingly.

Wada Shao Ding shook his head helplessly: "Isn't this the norm in troubled times? For small people like us, our fate is never in our own hands. What else can we do except drift with the flow like duckweed?"

"If I had known this would happen, I should not have believed Uchizokusuke's lies and placed our lord under house arrest. Now, we have no way out." Wada Kenshin sighed.

At this moment, there was a sudden noise outside the hall, and the flickering firelight shone into the hall through the window.

Seeing this, the Hetian brothers felt something was wrong and hurried out to investigate. When they opened the palace door, they saw fires in many places in the city. The soldiers hurriedly put out the fires with water, but the fires were too big and there were too many fire points. Even though everyone tried their best to put out the fires, there was still no sign of stopping the spread.

"Damn it, there must be a spy who took advantage of the chaos to set the fire." Hetian Xianshang was very angry.

"When the wall falls, everyone pushes it down," Wada Shaosada sighed, "The situation has developed to this point, and those who don't want to die have started to 'jump off the ship to escape'. This is understandable."

"If it really doesn't work, we should just open the city and surrender. There's no need to sacrifice the lives of our entire clan for Suruga no Kami and Uchi Kuransuke." Wada Noritada suggested. "Do you think it's too late to surrender now?" Wada Shojo asked in return, "Since we launched a coup and put the lord under house arrest, there is no turning back."

As they were talking, a samurai from the Wada family ran up to the two of them and said in a panic and hasty voice: "Your Highness, this is bad, the south gate of Honmaru has been opened!"

"South Gate?! Isn't there Tagawa Oki-no-kami stationed there? How could it be opened?" Wada Kensada was immediately shocked when he heard this. You know, the South Gate is the largest and most solid gate in the main castle of Tatsuma Castle. If it is opened, it means that the main castle will no longer be able to stop the enemy's attack.

"This..." The warrior hesitated, and Wada Kenshin was so angry that he cursed: "Asshole, it's already this time, and you just say it when I tell you to!"

"Your Highness, the one who opened the city gate was Tagawa Oki-no-kami!" the samurai reported to the Wada brothers tremblingly.

"Where is the Takeda army? Have they rushed in now?" Wada Shojo was not as excited as his brother. He seemed to feel that he would face this moment sooner or later and had already prepared himself mentally.

The warrior nodded and said, "The enemy has already rushed in. We brothers are still resisting, but the disparity between us and the enemy is too great. I'm afraid we can't hold out for much longer... Your Highnesses, please withdraw from the city through the Handshake Gate!"

"Can we retreat?" Wada Shojo said with a wry smile, "The Takeda army is everywhere on this mountain. I'm afraid we'll be caught as soon as we leave the house."

"We have to give it a try. We have no other choice." Hetian Xianshang said anxiously.

Although they knew that there was little hope, the Wada brothers still came to the vicinity of the gate under the escort of three or five samurai. As the gate slowly opened, they saw the densely packed and furious Takeda army. The leading general smiled strangely and said, "I am Kuchiki Yahachiro Hidemitsu. I have been waiting for you for a long time."

Without saying a word, Kuchiki Hidemitsu ordered his men to strip off their weapons and escort the Wada brothers to the palace to await Kumagai Motonao's decision.

Inside the palace, the Wada brothers knelt on the ground limply like eggplants hit by frost. They felt that they could not escape death today.

After a while, Kumagai Motonao arrived at the palace under the escort of a group of Takeda troops, but he did not sit on the seat of honor. Instead, he left it to Hongo Mitsuyasu who had made great contributions. After all, this castle belonged to his Hongo clan.

"Your Highness, if it weren't for your letters, it would have been difficult to capture the city of Dacheng." As soon as Kumagai Motonao sat down, he thanked Hongo Mitsuyasu who was sitting above him.

After hearing this, the Wada brothers finally realized that the arson in the city and the opening of the South Gate were all the "masterpieces" of Hongo Mitsuyasu.

"What are you talking about?" Hongo Mitsuyasu responded modestly, "All this is thanks to Your Highness. If you hadn't come to Dacheng, I might still be under house arrest in Hongo Mansion."

"Hahaha!" Kumagai Motonashi laughed heartily, "Let's get back to the point. Your Highness, have you figured out how to deal with these two brothers?"

Recently, a friend left a message saying that the plot is a bit too slow. How should I put it? It can be sped up, but some details and foreshadowing will have to be abandoned. I know that everyone pays to read the book, so I will try to be as fast as possible. Please rest assured that there will be no chapters that are too boring.

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(End of this chapter)