Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 151 Negotiation
Both sides were cautious about the peace talks, mainly because they were afraid that the other side would ambush and kill them. There was nothing much to say about the peace talks themselves, and the real negotiations had actually been completed on the battlefield.

The reason why Toba Hiromichi wanted to have a face-to-face meeting was more because he wanted to see Harano in person and judge him personally.

After a day of communication, the next morning, Toba Hiromichi, Asahina Yasunaga, and Sakai Tadashi led 20 followers to a flat area a little east of the center of the battlefield. Yuanye also set out at the same time, and came out of the gap in the sheep wall with Aman, Aqing, and 20 followers.

The two sides met at the agreed place, and the attendants of both sides set up bamboo mats, tables, wine and food. After checking each other, they retreated a certain distance as agreed, and then the main person came on stage. According to the agreement, neither of them brought strong bows, iron cannons or swords, but only ceremonial weapons.

The two parties sat down at their seats, one in the east and the other in the west, and after a brief self-introduction, they began to look at each other.

Yuanye had been fighting with the enemy for more than a month, and this was the first time he had seen the three senior generals of the enemy. Asahina Yasunaga and Sakai Tadashi were both in their thirties, more than 1.5 meters tall, short and strong, and both had traditional topknots. They looked like very traditional and old-fashioned Japanese samurai, but Asahina Yasunaga was more elegant, while Sakai Tadashi had a large square face with more angular features and looked very serious.

Toba Hiromichi is in his fifties, less than 1.5 meters tall, with the same hairstyle as Asahina and Sakai, a long goatee, and no armor. Although he is called a samurai, his temperament is more like that of a scholar.

Yuanye took a close look at the three men. Of course, Toba Hiromichi had the highest status among them. As the uncle of the world's number one guardian daimyo, he should be looked up to by everyone in Japan. However, his focus was different. Most of his thoughts were focused on Sakai Tadatsugu - this man should be a relative of Sakai Tadatsugu, who was known as the leader of the "Four Divine Generals" of the future Tokugawa family, one of the "Second Most Important Ministers of Tokugawa", and the "Elder of the Tokugawa World". It was just not known whether he was his cousin or not.

Of course, at this moment, Sakai Tadatsugu is not worth mentioning.

During this period, Tokugawa Ieyasu was "studying abroad" in the Sunpu Castle of the Imagawa family, and was under the supervision and instruction of Taihara Yusai at Rinzai-ji Temple. Even at this time, he was not called Tokugawa Ieyasu, but probably Takechiyo, or Matsudaira Motoyasu - the one who was sent to the Imagawa family as a hostage, was kidnapped halfway and given to Oda Nobuhide. Later, Taihara Yusai led 7,000 people to break through Anxiang Castle and captured Oda Nobunaga's illegitimate eldest son. Oda Nobuhide used Takechiyo to exchange his eldest son back.

Aman had previously fiercely criticized this deal as a loss, saying that a country bumpkin's illegitimate son was not worthy of being the head of the Matsudaira family. In addition, there was a fujoshi manga in later generations about Sanboshi (Oda Nobunaga) and Takechiyo (Tokugawa Ieyasu) "loving each other (being gay)" when they were young. Yuanye accidentally saw it and was disgusted for a long time, leaving a deep impression on him.

Therefore, at this moment, Sakai Tadatsugu should be serving Tokugawa Ieyasu (Takechiyo, Matsudaira Motoyasu), also in Sunpu Castle, and is an unknown little person. His relative Sakai Tadatsugu is also not famous, and is also a little person. But if Hara can stay in the Chita Peninsula, he will become a neighbor of the Tokugawa family one day in the future, and he will probably have a lot of dealings with the Sakai family, so he took a closer look at him.

Yuanye was looking at Sakai Tadamoto and the other two, and Sakai Tadamoto and the other two were also looking at him. He felt that he lived up to the name of "brave general" and was indeed big. Even if he was not as exaggerated as the rumors said, with a height of two meters and one, but one meter and eighty was considered top-notch in this era. These two who were over one meter and one who was over one meter and fourty sat face to face with him, and he still felt oppressive.

However, Yuanye's appearance was not as fat as they imagined. Instead, he looked quite handsome, with a gentle and kind temperament. He did not look like a madman who would risk his life to fight with others.

But his bravery should not be false. Just look at him bringing only two warriors with small surnames, most of whom are dressed as maids, and he dared to come for the meeting, which shows that he has absolute confidence in his martial arts and skills.

The four of them looked at each other for a moment, still silent. Finally, it was Asahina Taishinaga who lost his temper first and said directly: "Lord Nohara, now the situation is very clear, you have failed. Now please leave gracefully, we can promise not to pursue you!"

Yuanye didn't say anything. He was not very good at speaking and he didn't know how to quarrel with others. He had never done that since he was a child. When he was young, he usually beat people directly. So Aman, who was very good at quarreling, immediately took over the conversation and said disdainfully: "Leave with dignity? You can talk nonsense like this after you attack the top of the city!"

"How dare you!" Taishang Asahina was furious. He didn't expect that a little maid who came here to fill in the numbers would dare to interrupt him, so he slammed the table and stood up.

"Let go of your dung beetle!" Ah Man was not afraid of him. He also slammed the table and stood up, pointing at him and scolding, "If you don't accept it, then go ahead... If you don't accept it, let's fight!"

She was also afraid. The savings she had saved for more than a year were all gone. She was heartbroken and didn't want to fight anymore. But in a negotiation, she had to be full of momentum. She could lose the battle but not the battle. She still had the courage to have a "one-on-one fight" with Asahina Taishinaga. At least she couldn't be at a disadvantage in words. If Asahina Taishinaga really wanted to fight her, with her mediocre martial arts, she would definitely lose without a cannon sneak attack. But she could send Qing to the battle. Qing learned the Yamabushi technique, which in a sense was a technique specifically designed to kill heavily armored warriors. She still had a certain chance of winning against Asahina Taishinaga. Asahina Taishinaga didn't want to fight anymore, but he also didn't want to damage his own momentum. He immediately grasped the hilt of the knife and was about to curse back, but Sakai Tadamoto stopped him and said to Nohara indifferently, "Lord Nohara, we can capture Anxiang Castle, and your castle will be no exception. Please think carefully. This is the last chance."

Anxiang Castle is the pillar city of Nishimikawa and it is also a big city. The city walls are not shorter than those hastily built in the wilderness, and the number of defenders is about the same, more than a thousand. At the beginning, the "Tiger of Owari" Oda Nobuhide used this city as the foundation to suppress the powerful families of Nishimikawa, but he was defeated by Taiyuan Xuesai with 7,000 people. He piled up the earth on the top of the city and repelled Oda Nobuhide's rescue. In total, he killed and captured more than 2,000 people of the Oda family, and only suffered 1,500 to 1,600 casualties. It can be said to be a great victory.

Sakai Tadamamoto's implication was that now was not the Imagawa family's limit. If Suruga was willing to mobilize and send another 7,000 men to beat him, it would be easy. However, it would be difficult for Yuanye to resist with 6,000 men. If he was beaten and forced to abandon the sheep wall, if the Imagawa family sent another 7,000 men, he would be dead.

Yuanye also pushed Aman down, but ignored the threat and said in a deep voice: "So, you are planning to mobilize on a large scale to attack a small noble family in Chita County? If you are not afraid of embarrassment, I am also willing to accompany you, please come on!"

Sakai Tadamoto was silent. Considering Harano's stubbornness, it would be of little use to withdraw a few people from Suruga. It was indeed not appropriate to mobilize a large number of people from afar to strangle a powerful family and grab a piece of barren land. What if Harano changed his mind after they sent people over, broke through to the port, cleared the waterway and escaped? The Imagawa family would become a huge joke, especially on the eve of going to Kyoto. They dared not take such a risk.

At the same time, the Imagawa family is now sorting out the internal powerful families to ensure that there will be no problems with their old nest when they head west to Kyoto. Taihara Yukisai's health is not very good, so it is not a good time to start a war.

But he couldn't lose the momentum, so he loosened the hand that was pulling Asahina Taicho, suggesting that he continue to argue with the other party, but at this time Toba Hiromichi finally spoke, waving his hand and said: "Okay, everyone knows the current situation, so don't say these useless words."

The scene quieted down and the stage of mutual threats ended. Even though it was a bit redundant, this was how negotiations were in this era.

Toba Hiromichi pondered for a moment and then said to Nohara, "Lord Nohara, can you really not reconsider yesterday's suggestion?"

"I'm sorry, but it's not convenient for me to join the Imagawa family." Yuan Ye replied politely, "I have fallen into this predicament, and His Highness Oda Josousuke has helped me a lot. I will not take the initiative to attack the Oda Danmasatada family."

He refused to be anyone's "foster child", he just said this to make it sound better.

Toba Hiromichi hesitated for a moment, then said, "Lord Nohara may not know that more than 20 days ago, the three countries of 'Kashojun' had agreed to become relatives by marriage, so... we cannot allow you to stay here, do you understand?"

In this era, the best way to Kyoto is through Mikawa, Owari, and Omi. The Chita Peninsula is located on the south side of Mikawa entering Owari, and it is still a very difficult route. If someone takes over the entire Chita Peninsula, this route can be cut off at any time. Yuanye knew this, but he didn't expect that the "Kasho-Suruga" Tripartite Alliance had been established. He knew that this was one of the prerequisites for the Imagawa family to go to Kyoto. If the rear was not stable, they would not dare to leave Suruga. But he didn't know when this happened, and he couldn't even remember when the "Battle of Okehazama" happened.

It’s not his fault. Before he expected to travel through time, who would remember these trivial things?
For example, in which year did the Battle of Wuchao take place? How many people usually remember it?
However, Yuanye finally understood why the Imagawa family was willing to sacrifice so many lives to beat him. The Imagawa family might go to Kyoto at any time, and they had been preparing for this for many years. They were very afraid that someone would block the road, or at least they were worried about unnecessary troubles along the way and wanted to eliminate them as soon as possible.

But Taiyuan Xuezai is still alive, and the "Kasho-shun" Tripartite Alliance has just been formed. It seems that it is not yet time for the Imagawa family to go to Kyoto. Is it because they are not sure when to go to Kyoto? Are they waiting for a certain opportunity? Or is it that the backbone of the Imagawa family, the military advisor Taiyuan Xuezai, is about to die, and his death has caused another wave of turmoil in the Imagawa family, which has delayed time?
Harano's mind raced as he analyzed the current situation and discovered that it was worse than he had expected. He had accidentally gotten involved in the Imagawa family's "plan to go to Kyoto" and was therefore considered a big trouble.

It was just that he couldn't solve this problem. He hadn't expected the "Three Kingdoms Alliance" to happen at this moment. He could only emphasize that he had no ill intentions: "My previous promise is still valid. I have no intention of being an enemy of the Imagawa family. Before the Imagawa family leaves Chita County, I will never attack any forces belonging to the Imagawa family, let alone interfere with your going to Kyoto."

The question is back to the starting point: how can we ensure that Yuanye will not cause any trouble on the Chita Peninsula?

(End of this chapter)