Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 16: The Loser of Owari

Although Yuanye cursed Aman in his heart for being a foul-mouthed brat who spoke without respect and was a pure wild child, he still felt that she was a treasure. Only a "professional" like her could describe the situation of a family in such detail - the Maeda family controlled three cities, nine villages (three of which were concurrently managed and could only obtain a portion of the profits), a shrine territory, with an apparent stone height of about 5000 stones and an actual strength of 7000-8000 stones. It had more than ten retainers and samurai, nearly a hundred gang members, and if they wanted to fight to the death, they could also arm more than foot soldiers.

This strength is nothing compared to the whole of Japan, but it is considered quite powerful in Kaito County of Owari Province.

Before, he thought that the Maeda family was just an ordinary wealthy family, but now it seems a bit presumptuous.

What's more important is that he heard news about the future "Kaga Hyakumangoku Daimyo" Maeda Toshiie, who is the fourth son of the Arako Maeda family. This guy is only fifteen or sixteen years old now, and should be childhood sweethearts with his cousin, stepsister and future wife, Matsu, in Arako Castle.

This guy survived all the way to the Tokugawa Shogunate, and his behavior was acceptable in the treacherous Japanese Warring States period. At least he was good at being a fence-sitter and taking sides. If he can't go back to the modern era, he should be able to avoid a lot of pitfalls by observing and imitating his approach.

Yuanye wrote these down on a piece of paper and asked Aman expectantly, "What about the Oda family?"

The Oda Clan of Owari Province is the highlight and must be understood in detail.

"The Oda family is much more complicated. They have been in Owari for about 150 to 160 years and have given birth to a lot of people." Ah Man ate the chicken very hard, chewing his nails and frowning in thought. "My grandfather told me that the Oda family used to be a local powerful family in Echizen, similar to the current Maeda family, with a strength of 7,000 to 8,000 stones, but their family status is higher. They are a priest family of the Kenjin Shrine (the famous sword that enshrines Susanoo's body to fight against thieves), and have always served as the shrine's chief of Oda Manor - if Oda Manor is included, they are equivalent to the real lord of a city, with a strength of 10,000 to 20,000 stones, much stronger than the Maeda family."

After a pause, she asked Yuanye, "Do you know who is the current guardian daimyo of Owari Province?"

"Well, it's Shiba..." Yuanye wasn't really sure, he just had a rough impression, which he learned by chance while playing "Taikou 2".

"It's Sasaki Yoshitsugu." Aman said for him, disdainfully, "That guy has long been a puppet, even worse than a dung beetle, but his ancestor Sasaki Yoshimasa was quite powerful. About 150 or 60 years ago, he served as the guardian of Echizen and also led Owari Province.

It is said that at that time the Sasaki family regarded Echizen as their base and all the local powerful families had been conquered by them, so they sent the powerful powerful family Oda Tsunematsu to Owari as the guardian to manage the territory and extract the land for him.

Later, it was Yoshimasa Sasaki's turn to go to Kyoto as the Kanrei, and Oda Tsunematsu followed Yoshimasa Sasaki to Kyoto. His younger brother Oda Tsunetake took over as the Shugodai, and the Asakura family became the Shugodai of Echizen.

Ah Man took a breath, picked up the teacup and took a big sip to moisten his throat. He couldn't help but sigh, "This is tea from Ming Country, right? You really live a luxurious life."

"That's right, Ming Dynasty's green tea." Yuanye didn't expect that green tea already existed in the Ming Dynasty and was sold to Japan. However, he drank tea not for luxury enjoyment, but to supplement vitamins and maintain his stomach and intestines to ensure good health.

A-man drank the tea bowl empty, licked his lips, his eyes rolled around, and his frowning eyebrows rose and fell.

Originally, she was very angry because her righteous plan of robbing another gang member failed and she was beaten by Yuanye. She wanted to take revenge after escaping, such as making up some dirty rumors about Yuanye. Anyway, she couldn't suffer in vain.

But Yuanye is so good at spending money, no, so generous, and eats so well, it would be a fool not to take advantage of the good things. It seems that she can find a way to stay for a few more days. Anyway, her grandfather has gone to the vicinity of Minghai Castle, and she doesn't know whether the Imagawa and Matsudaira families will attack, let alone when they will attack, and they can't come back in a short time. It's hundreds of times better to stay here with tea to drink and chicken and rice to eat than to perform and beg for food.

As for gathering information, it seems that there hasn't been any major changes in Kuno Castle. I think the same should be true for Katsubata Castle, Gudu Castle, and Suemori Castle. I can just make up something I knew before and get by.

She was making a sneaky calculation in her mind, but she continued to speak seriously, "Then after 70, 80 or 100 years, I'm not sure, the uncle and nephew of the Ashikaga family fought for the shogun's shitty chair (Onin War), and the three governors and four officials each joined a faction, and they were divided into the East and West armies and fought, and it was a pile of shit. The Sasaki family also split, and two people fought for the right of succession. Sasaki Yoshitoshi joined the East Army, and Sasaki Yoshimasa joined the West Army, and they also started fighting.

At that time, the Echizen guardian Asakura Takakage followed Sasaki Yoshirashi and joined the Western Army. He was said to be very powerful and had a lot of background in Echizen. He beat the Eastern Army several times. Then the Eastern Army bribed Asakura Takakage and seemed to make the Asakura family traitors on the condition that they would appoint the Asakura family as the official Echizen guardian daimyo.

At this point, she sighed, "The Asakura family is different from the Oda family. The Asakura family is a branch of the Sasaki family and a hereditary retainer of the Sasaki family. They are regarded as confidants. However, in order to remove the word '代' and become a daimyo, they betrayed their lord Sasaki Yoshimasa without hesitation, tied him up, and broke into Sasaki Yoshitoshi's castle, and took them both to Kyoto, completely occupying Echizen. They are really morally corrupt, worse than pigs and dogs - my grandfather said so."

"Well, well, worse than pigs and dogs. Then, let's talk about the Oda family." Echizen is next to Owari, and it is necessary for him to understand the situation, but there is no rush. Harano doesn't care whether the Asakura family is better than pigs and dogs. He still wants to hear about the current situation of the Oda family first.

"At first, I was just like you, I disliked my grandfather's nagging, but if I didn't explain this clearly, I was afraid you wouldn't understand. You don't look that smart!" Aman retorted first, and then continued to speak honestly, "After Sasaki Yoshikazu and Sasaki Yoshitoshi were betrayed by the Asakura family and abducted to Kyoto, they were not beheaded because of their status and position. They fled to Owari one after another, which resulted in Owari splitting into two factions.

Oda Toshihiro (commonly known as Ise-no-kami), a descendant of Oda Tsunematsu, supported Sasaki Yoshimasa.

Oda Toshisada (commonly known as Yamato-kami), a descendant of Oda Tsunetake, supported Sasaki Yoshitoshi and his son Sasaki Yoshihiro.

The two factions fought fiercely in Owari. Later, Oda Toshisada, a descendant of Tsuchimatsu, defeated Oda Toshihiro, a descendant of Tsuchimatsu, drove Sasaki Yoshimasa out of Owari, and by the way, seized the position of "Owari Province Shugodashi" from Tsuchimatsu's line.

For the next few years, the Tsunematsu and Tsunetake branches of the Oda family continued to fight each other in Owari with their powerful families until the Eastern and Western armies stopped fighting. Only then did the two sides negotiate and agree to divide the eight counties of Owari equally.

The Oda Ise-mori family of the Tsunematsu line occupied the four upper counties of Owari, namely, Hakuri County, Nakajima County, Kasugai County, and Niwa County, and used Iwakura Castle as their residence.

The Oda Yamato no Kamiie of the Tsuchitake clan occupied the four counties under Owari, namely Kaisai County, Kaito County, Aichi County, and Chita County, and used Kiyosu Castle as their residence.

This is the general layout of Owari, do you understand?"

At first, when Aman listened to her grandfather talking about these old almanacs, she was completely confused. All she could think of was Oda. It was only after she continued to learn how to identify family crests that she was able to barely figure out the family disputes and their origins. Now she doubts whether Yuanye can sort things out at once.

If that didn't work, she could tell him again for the sake of the chicken for dinner.

Of course Yuanye could understand. After all, he didn’t go to high school in vain. High school teachers would like to finish three years of courses in one year, and then use two years to prepare for the college entrance examination. What does what Aman said count for?
Besides, he took notes, so he could sort it out at a glance. To put it simply, during the Onin War, the Eastern and Western armies fought each other, and the Asakura family betrayed the Sasaki family and occupied the Sasaki family's stronghold. The two prospective heads of the Sasaki family were forced to flee to Owari, causing the Oda family to split into the upper and lower families, each occupying four counties.

He said directly: "I understand. Let's continue. Is it time to talk about the Tiger of Owari?" Aman looked at him doubtfully, not quite believing that a prodigal son could be so smart, but continued: "Yes, during the period when the Kiyosu Castle Tsunetake family ruled the four counties under Owari, three branch family heads served as magistrates (originally referring to people who act according to the will of the emperor, here referring to assistants, deputies who have not been recognized by the court), collectively known as the Kiyosu Three Magistrates.

Yes, they are the current three families of Oda Inaba-no-kami, Oda Fujizaemon, and Oda Danmasato.

Over the next few decades, these three families gradually gained control of the four counties under Owari. Then, about 23 years ago, Oda Nobuhide took over as the head of the Oda Danmasatada family and became the lord of Katsubata Castle. He was only 16 or 17 years old at the time. He was the Tiger of Owari. "

Yuanye nodded. Judging from the time and Maeda Toshiie's age, this "Tiger of Owari" was probably the biological father of the "Big Fool of Owari" Oda Nobunaga.

He took notes and motioned for A-man to continue.

Speaking of the "Tiger of Owari", Oda Nobuhide, Aman's expression became much more cautious. "Oda Nobuhide is called the Tiger of Owari, but he is actually the same kind of person as Saito Dosan of Mino. They are both very sinister. They should be called the Twin Snakes of Tokaido."

She first complained, marked the location of Katsubata Castle on the handmade map, and then frowned and said, "How should I tell you about this person... Uh, do you know how Furuno Castle fell into the hands of Oda Nobuhide?"

Yuanye didn't say anything, but signaled her with his eyes to stop keeping her in suspense.

Only if he really traveled through time, otherwise if it was put in a historical novel from Qidian, even if explaining the background was essential and would be useful in the future, but a chapter of 5,000 words would contain long passages of outdated history, and all the readers would curse it.

He refused to follow the lead, and A-man was a little dissatisfied, but for the sake of the chicken, he continued, "Nakono Castle was built by the Imagawa family. The Imagawa family started in Suruga Province, and then swallowed up the neighboring Totomi Province to the west, and then continued to infiltrate the west, invaded Mikawa Province, and even took advantage of the internal strife of the Oda Yamato family to attack Nakono in Owari and built a big city here, which is now Nakono Castle.

At that time, the head of the Imagawa family, Imagawa Ujimoto, settled his youngest son, Imagawa Ujitoyo, here, and forced the nominal guardian of Owari Province, the Sasaki family, to marry a princess there, preparing to slowly swallow up Owari just as he had swallowed up Mikawa.

At this time, Oda Nobuhide had already defeated the main family of Kiyosu Oda and the other two magistrates, and the main family married a daughter to him, and the two sides reconciled. The Iwakura Oda family in the upper four counties also surrendered. Then Oda Nobuhide looked at the Furuno Castle and Atsuta Port next to his territory and became greedy, but he did not dare to attack this big city by force, so he tried to please them and worked hard to learn renga (a traditional Japanese literary activity in which several or more than a dozen people recite waka poems one sentence at a time).

Oh, I forgot to mention that Imagawa Ujitoyo was also a prodigal son. He loved renga parties, often got drunk, and lived a very extravagant life.

Anyway, Oda Nobuhide catered to his tastes and often attended Imagawa Ujitoyo's renga drinking parties, becoming his close friend.

Then, about eighteen or nineteen years ago, Oda Nobuhide suffered a stroke while attending a renga drinking party and was about to die. Before he died, he begged Imagawa Ujitoyo to call his retainers so that he could take care of his affairs after his death.

The idiot Imagawa Ujitoyo agreed out of weakness, but it turned out that Oda Nobuhide was pretending to be sick. That night, he led his retainers to suddenly set fire and kill people in the city. He also sent people to attack the city gate and let the men and foot soldiers outside the city in. They broke into Imagawa Ujitoyo's house without much effort, and finally Imagawa Ujitoyo was captured alive and thrown out of the city.

I heard that he was too embarrassed to return to Suruga, and he went to Kyoto, and he's probably dead now."

"What happened next?" Yuan Ye was fascinated. "Didn't the Imagawa family try to retake the Furuno Castle?"

"No, Imagawa Ujimoto died, and his sons were fighting for the succession. The Imagawa family had no time to care about Owari's affairs, and even Mikawa. Then Matsudaira Kiyokasu of Mikawa took the opportunity to seize power. This man was quite powerful, and began to expand his territory westwards, and fought with Oda Nobuhide again.

Originally, Oda Nobuhide seemed to be at a disadvantage, but for some reason, the Matsudaira family suddenly fell into internal strife, and Matsudaira Kiyokasu was stabbed in the back and died in the chaos. Oda Nobuhide took the opportunity to attack Mikawa and occupied the Ansho Castle in Nishi-Mikawa.

Ah Man kept on talking about how Oda Nobuhide had dominated western Mikawa, taking advantage of his illness to kill him, launching attacks every year, and turning the Matsudaira family into cowards. Then he continued, "When Oda Nobuhide had subdued all the powerful families in western Mikawa, he continued his efforts and was ready to take over the Matsudaira family's castle, Okazaki Castle, and completely occupy Mikawa. As a result, the succession dispute of the Imagawa family ended at this time, and the Matsudaira family was forced into a corner. Seeing that they were about to be destroyed, in order to get the support of the Imagawa family, they took the initiative to lick the stinky feet of their enemy, the Imagawa family, and sent their heirs as hostages.

Although they failed to deliver it and were kidnapped halfway, they still succeeded. After receiving support from the Imagawa family, the Matsudaira family and Oda Nobuhide fought intermittently in Higashi-Mikawa for five or six years. Oda Nobuhide ultimately failed to capture Okazaki Castle. In the end, both sides took a step back and fell into a stalemate.

During this period, the Saito family in Mino was in civil strife, and Oda Nobuhide took the opportunity to expand his territory to the north. He invaded Mino several times and occupied Mino's Ogaki Castle, seizing a large piece of land. He was about to reach the Saito family's residence, Inabayama Castle, and had great hope of completely occupying Mino.

Ah, let me think about it, I was there at that time, but I was very young, probably...

It was probably in the 16th year of Tenbun, yes, it was September of the 16th year of Tenbun, the month when I had my first drink. Oda Nobuhide mobilized all his Imonshu, Kokuminshu and local powerful families, a total of 8,000 people, and also joined forces with some local powerful families in Mino, a total of more than 10,000 people attacked the outskirts of Inabayama Castle. However, Saito Dosan was not a pushover. He first acted like a turtle and refused to come out. When the Oda army was looting and burning everywhere in the castle town, he suddenly went out of the city and counterattacked. The Oda army was not prepared at all, and was attacked head-on. They cried for their parents and the whole army collapsed.

Oda Nobuyasu, the younger brother of Oda Nobuhide, Oda Inagaki's family head Oda... I forgot what his name was, Oda Nobuhide's retainers Aoyama and Sanemon, his important retainer Chiaki Kiimori, and Owari nobles Maeda Heihachiro and Sasamatabeimon. Anyway, many of Oda's retainers and local nobles died, too many to count. There was no family in Owari without casualties.

I heard that more than a thousand people died on the spot, more than a thousand drowned in the Kiso River while fleeing, more than two thousand were captured and surrendered, and finally less than three thousand people managed to escape back to Owari. There is still a tomb of heads (Kyokan) at Kanaguchi, which is full of the heads of the Oda family. You can see it when you pass by. "

阿满说完，还好心在地图上标上加纳口的位置，就在稻叶山城以南数里处，似乎准备让原野将来也去看看那个奇景，最后又总结道：“织田信秀就是这样一个人了，比较阴险狡诈，有野心，爱四处打仗，威风过也挨过揍，一生折腾出不少事儿。”

Yuanye had no interest in looking at a dead person's head. Considering that Aman had said before that Oda Nobuhide was going to die, he asked again: "So, that failure was a big blow to Oda Nobuhide, and now he has been devastated?"

"Of course it was big. He was forced to ask for peace, and let his eldest son Oda Saburo Nobunaga be engaged to the daughter of the Saito family. He also swore in public that he would never set foot in Mino again, and was forced to give up all the territory he had occupied before." Aman said with some gloating, "Not only that, his family and retainers suffered heavy losses. The Kiyosu main family in the lower four counties and the Iwakura family in the upper four counties, which had already surrendered, began to pretend to obey him but secretly disobeyed him. In fact, he could no longer control the eight counties of Owari. The local powerful families and samurai also suffered heavy casualties, and they were full of resentment towards him, and they cursed him behind his back and asked him to die soon.

In the 17th year of Tenbun, it should be. The coalition forces of Matsudaira and Imagawa gathered forces in Okazaki to recapture Western Mikawa. He called on the Imon clan, the powerful families, and the retainers to fight, but not many people paid attention to him. In the end, he only gathered less than 4,000 people and was defeated again by the enemy. Not only did they lose Western Mikawa, but they were also invaded by the Imagawa family into Owari, and Niwa County and Kasugai County were eaten up. Now the Matsudaira Imagawa family is still frequently heading south to harass the central part of Aichi County, and they are almost reaching Atsuta Port. That is the lifeblood of the old man Oda Nobuhide. If Oda Danmasatada loses it, the family will be completely finished. "

At this point, Aman confidently asserted, "So, now the Tiger of Owari is useless. I heard that he spends all day drinking and having fun in Suemori Castle (one of Oda Nobuhide's castles). He is so decadent that he looks like a lost dog of Owari. There is no need for you to care about him so much!"

(End of this chapter)