Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 167 Striker
Harano had a smooth journey through Owari and arrived at the outskirts of Kiyosu Castle before noon on the second day. His identity was different now. He was the legitimate son-in-law of Oda Danmasatada and an openly declared ally. He received a high-level reception without even notifying Oda Nobunaga - the magistrate of Oda Danmasatada directly placed him and his army in a farm, saving them the trouble of setting up camp on their own, and immediately sent a batch of comfort supplies.

There was no need to worry about placing the army in Yuanye. The Wanjin Army now had a relatively mature command system and related drill manuals. Such trivial work would naturally be carried out by officers at all levels according to the drill manuals. He looked out at Kiyomizu Castle and observed the changes that had taken place over the past year. Even in this era, Oda Nobunaga was still good at managing the economy. At present, it seemed that the castle town of Kiyomizu Castle, which had been burned twice, had regained its vitality and seemed to have expanded in size.

Perhaps as Oda Nobunaga's power grew, he was able to promote the "Rakuza Rakuichi" policy more easily, and Owari's industry and commerce were developing rapidly. However, his relationship with the temple families and wealthy merchants should have become worse.

At least the people in Arashi Kannon Temple should hate him even more and probably wish he would die soon.

Yuanye looked at Kiyosu Castle from afar for a while, and secretly sighed that Oda Nobunaga was not idle either, and must have made a lot of money this year. He was also jealous that Oda Nobunaga had so many people. Just as he was about to look away and take a rest, he suddenly saw a team of horsemen in black clothes running quickly towards the farm, carrying the "Yongle Big Money Flag".

This flag is usually only used by Oda Nobunaga himself. Other teams traveling alone mostly use the "Five Papaya Flags". Yuanye raised his eyebrows and called a few of his own people to welcome the guests at the gate of the manor.

When the cavalry entered the farm, it was indeed Oda Nobunaga himself. He was still wearing the "Crescent Moon Gusou" and eagle feather knuckle that were part of the betrothal gift sent by Hara no Yama, and a scarlet haori on the outside. He still looked so arrogant and domineering.

But after not seeing him for a year, he had grown a short beard and looked much more mature. He reined in his horse in front of Yuanye and looked down at him, as if he was still in a bad mood, but he patted the whip and didn't say anything strange. He got off the horse and asked calmly, "Is Ah Quan okay?"

"Everything is fine." Yuanye replied, reaching back to take the letter handed by Aqing, and then handed it to Oda Nobunaga, "This is her letter to Your Highness."

"Hmm..." Oda Nobunaga replied vaguely, his expression slightly relieved, he tore it open and took a look before handing it to Ikeda Terumasa, then walked inside, "It's noon, let's eat here!"

The second half of the sentence was not addressed to Yuanye. As soon as he finished speaking, Ikeda Terumasa had already begun to direct other retainers to unload the things from the horses, and called on the village head and magistrates to help prepare the lunch.

Soon, Oda Nobunaga and Harano sat down in a large house. In front of each of them was a table, some dishes and a pot of wine. Ikeda Terumasa also specially prepared a pot of fine tea for Harano and smiled at him very gently.

This was the first time that Harano and Oda Nobunaga sat together in a year.

Yuanye was ready to listen to him talk about the past and why he wanted to set up his own business, but Oda Nobunaga didn't mention it. He just picked up the wine cup and took a sip, stared at him for a while, and said in the tone of an elder brother-in-law: "You, you should be nicer to Aquan!"

Yuanye didn't mind his tone and didn't have any opinion. He was his brother-in-law, so it was all like that. Besides, the Dog Princess was a softie, and he wouldn't bully a softie, so there was no point.

Seeing how honest he was, Oda Nobunaga's expression softened, as if all his previous grudges had been alleviated.

He picked up the wine cup and took another sip, then said, "It's great that you can come so quickly!"

"Your Highness, thank you for the compliment. I originally promised to help each other, so of course I had to come earlier." Yuan Ye didn't want to talk about family matters with him. He took a sip of tea to accompany him and started talking about business. He asked with concern, "How are the preparations going, Your Highness? When do you plan to hold a military meeting?"

Oda Nobunaga's expression was not so gentle again, and he immediately looked a little ugly. His emergency mobilization was not going well, and the powerful families did not dare to provoke him now. They could obey his orders, but it was impossible to say how fast they would act. There were always difficulties and problems. Even though Yuanye's ally had arrived quickly, most of those guys were still on their way!

But family disgrace should not be made public, so he simply said: "I will need a few more days here, so you don't need to attend the military meeting. Leave early and cross the Kiso River first!"

This was to let the Wanjin Army serve as the vanguard and open a passage for his large army in advance (if anyone dared to block it), and this was his original plan. After all, the Wanjin Army had only four or five hundred people, and was not qualified to serve as a support for him. It was just right to use them as the vanguard - the Lang party that could confront the Imagawa family head-on was still trustworthy in terms of combat effectiveness.

But after he finished speaking, Ikeda Terumasa tugged at him from behind, and then he realized that Yuanye was now an ally, even if he was a weaker ally, and it was not appropriate to use such a commanding tone. He coughed dryly and added, "What do you think?"

Yuanye had no objection. The Saito father and son were in the middle of an internal conflict. It was estimated that the people on the Nobi border were in a panic and no one would have the intention to defend. Moreover, even if he encountered the Mino nobles who resisted resolutely, he was not a fool and would not fight back with his head. He could just wait for Oda Nobunaga to catch up with him with a large army.

At most, he would be laughed at a few times. He didn't care about face, so it didn't matter. "No problem, I'll leave in a while." Yuanye nodded and agreed, but immediately asked, "But what's the situation in Minong... How is it now?"

He wanted to ask if there were any changes, but it was inconvenient, so he changed his mind. Oda Nobunaga immediately asked Ikeda Terumasa to put out the map and inform him of the latest situation - Saito Dosan had done all kinds of bad things in the past, and now the whole of Mino is against him. He can't stand in the Kameyama Castle area at all, and is moving south (fleeing) in an attempt to meet up with Oda Nobunaga as soon as possible.

Yuanye looked at the stick figure map of that era for a while, estimated the approximate location of Saito Dosan, discussed the marching route with Oda Nobunaga for a while, and borrowed some horses, mules, and miscellaneous soldiers and grooms from him, and completed the simple military plan - mainly because Saito Dosan was now being chased by his son, and was running into obstacles everywhere, with no powerful family welcoming him to stay. It was hard to say where Saito Dosan would be and what the situation would be when they arrived in Mino, so they could only improvise.

After the military meeting was completed, Oda Nobunaga was very satisfied to see that Harano was very cooperative. He felt that even if Harano fled to the Chita Peninsula and set up his own camp, he would be more reliable than the local powerful families around him. If this ally Harano dragged his feet and insisted on acting with him, he would have trouble saying anything. However, reinforcements are always needed, and it is always good to have a strong force there as a fulcrum as soon as possible.

Yuanye is doing pretty well the way he is now, and he feels much less resentful.

He was ready to give Hara no a little tax reduction (the customs fee of Atsuta Port, Hara no now relied on selling goods at Atsuta Port and selling saltpeter to the Oda family to avoid fiscal deficit) as a reward. At the same time, he was also willing to reveal some of his real plans. He pointed at Ogaki Castle on the map and said meaningfully: "When you get to Mino, pay more attention to this area!"

Yuanye shifted his gaze to Ogaki City and pondered for a moment, not surprised.

Mino Province belongs to the Higashiyama Province and has many large mountains. The southern part of Mino and the area bordering the north of Owari are in the shape of an "eight", with slowly opening mountains on both sides. Ogaki Castle is located at the top of the "eight", and is the core city that controls southern Mino and connects northern Mino. Whoever can capture Ogaki Castle can basically control the northern end of the Nobi Plain, as well as a large section of the Nagara River and the Kiso River. It is a place that military strategists must fight for - in the future Battle of Sekigahara, the Eastern and Western armies will fight for the world, and Ogaki Castle will be the main stronghold of the Western Army.

Now let's see, on the one hand, Oda Nobunaga went to fulfill the alliance and rescue Saito Dosan, and on the other hand, he wanted to take the opportunity to enter Mino, at least like his father, the "Tiger of Owari" Oda Nobuhide, he took Ogaki Castle in his hands and expanded his influence to southern Mino. Oda Nobuhide occupied Ogaki Castle for a while, but when he continued to go north to besiege Inabayama Castle, he failed to take it after several attacks. When he was about to withdraw his troops, he was counterattacked by Saito Dosan and retreated all the way back to Owari, and Ogaki Castle was lost again.

Yuanye nodded and took on the task again, feeling that it made sense.

This is the Warring States Period. Even allies cannot get a free lunch. All actions are very realistic. When the Saito father and son just started to quarrel, the son-in-law went to their house to persuade them to stop fighting and had already prepared to steal some things.

…………

Oda Nobunaga was thinking about his father-in-law's territory, and Harano was also thinking about the population of his eldest brother-in-law's father-in-law. They were very active. Seeing that it was still early, they had no plans to spend the night in Kiyosu Castle. They prepared to rush to Mino, first to find a place that could transfer the population back to Owari, and then find a few nearby Mino nobles to rob.

He put a lot of thought into the Wanjin Army. Even though they had no military experience and had basically tried various things, the Wanjin Army could still be described as "small but powerful". With his order, the Wanjin Army, which had just completed its stationing, started moving again and soon prepared to set off. Even before the horses, mules and grooms promised by Oda Nobunaga arrived, the vanguard exploratory troops of the Wanjin Army had already set off.

Yuanye sent Aman to watch in front, and he followed behind with Aqingzhu. After waiting for a while, he saw Maeda Toshiie, wearing armor and with his red mother's gown flying, coming with his retainers and a group of grooms and mules.

Yuanye waved his hand, signaling the auxiliary troops to take over these temporary logistical personnel, while he went to meet Maeda Toshiie - it had been agreed before that Maeda Toshiie would follow him and be considered a liaison and guide sent by Oda Nobunaga.

Maeda Toshiie dismounted and asked in surprise, "Are we leaving now?"

"Of course. Didn't I say it before? We'll set off right away." Yuanye said casually, and his eyes swept over Maeda Toshiie's retainers and party, and found that there were several new faces. It seemed that Maeda Toshiie had been doing well in the past six months and his strength had also improved.

"I thought we could only set off tomorrow." Maeda Toshiie glanced at the main force of the Wanjin Army that had already started to set off, and couldn't help but exclaimed, "As expected of Saburo, he really has the demeanor of a famous general, swift as the wind, aggressive as fire!"

Yuanye was familiar with him, so he laughed and scolded him, "Stop flattering me." Then he and Aqing got on their horses one after another and said to him directly, "Let's go too, and set up camp at Shangsongkou!"

Maeda Toshiie's face turned serious. He assigned his own pedestrian group to join the transport team of the Wanjin Army. He himself and several retainers mounted their horses and followed behind Yuanye, whipping the whip and setting off.

(End of this chapter)