Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 168: Momota Castle is a great place!
Harano served as the vanguard of Oda Nobunaga to rescue his father-in-law. With a team of more than 500 people, he headed straight north along the main road. After camping at Kamimatsukou for a night's rest, he soon entered the sphere of influence of the upper four counties of Owari.

Currently, the head of the four upper counties of Owari is Oda Nobunaga's uncle Oda Nobuyasu, who is also an in-law ally of Oda Danjotada's family. At the checkpoints along the way, he only showed appropriate vigilance and did not stop them. Naturally, Harano and his party would not cause trouble, so they continued to go north along the main road, and avoided any city they encountered, not wanting to cause any trouble at all.

This was the first time that Hara entered the upper four counties of Owari, and he couldn't help but look around while marching.

Seeing that he was interested, Maeda Toshiie immediately changed his job to a tour guide and introduced him to various "scenic spots" as they walked. He was very familiar with the route, especially the area near Iwakura Castle. He even knew which wine was the best and where he could hunt different animals.

Yuan Ye was surprised when he added what he had seen and heard, and couldn't help asking, "Why are you so familiar with this place?"

Maeda Toshiie pointed to the northwest corner of Iwakura Castle and chuckled, "Of course I know it well. I go there often and have been to all the places nearby."

Yuan Ye looked at the place he pointed at from a distance. It seemed to be a village. He was not able to react for a moment and asked curiously, "That village? Is it special there?"

Maeda Toshiie didn't say it directly, but just winked and said happily: "Of course it's special, that's Koorori Village."

Yuanye was stunned for a moment, and after some recollection he remembered what a place like Kooriya was - this was the place where Oda Nobunaga pursued true love. The elderly widow whom he loved to the core, Yoshino Ikoma, the mother of his future legitimate son and daughter, lived in Kooriya.

No wonder Maeda Toshiie was so familiar with the area around Iwakura Castle. It turned out that he came here with Oda Nobunaga to pick up girls and often wandered around the area.

Yuan Ye became even more curious and asked Maeda Toshiie, "Where is that person now?"

"Of course, at the Ikoma family!" Maeda Toshiie pointed at Koorori Village again, "Where else could it be if not there?"

Yuan Ye couldn't help but wonder, "Your Highness didn't take her to Qingzhou City?"

Maeda Toshiie immediately shook his head: "No, that person's identity... uh, it's not very convenient to go to Qingzhou City."

Yuanye remembered that the woman who could be considered Oda Nobunaga's cousin, Oda Nobunaga's mother was not dead yet. Even if Oda Nobunaga wanted to take Ikoma Yoshino home, Ikoma Yoshino probably didn't want to go.

Probably they would have to wait until Oda Nobunaga moved his residence to the castle before the two of them could live together!

Yuanye's thoughts were wandering, his desire for archaeology was aroused. He wanted to see what this "Lady Yoshino" who could confuse a troublemaker like Oda Nobunaga looked like, but it was definitely not convenient now. He could only take another look at Koorori Village, bypass Iwakura Castle and continue walking north.

He will find another opportunity in the future. He is more or less interested in historical celebrities, especially famous women. He must take a look at them - it is not considered as being unprofessional. Any modern person would be the same. They would all want to take a look.

By the time it was almost dark, the exploration team ahead had already found a campsite that was sheltered from the wind and close to water. Their small team set up camp to rest for the night and set out again early the next morning.

Maeda Toshiie had been following for a day and a half, and was also carefully observing Yuanye's group of "lang gangs". It seemed that he had the mission of evaluating Yuanye's strength, but he did not talk about this matter. During the day, he still followed Yuanye and chatted with him.

After rushing along the main road for most of the day, Yuanye saw a strange "small city" in the distance. The city was not big, but the castle town was not small, several times larger than the castle town of Iwakura Castle.

Maeda Toshiie knew that he was not familiar with the four upper counties of Owari and that he only knew the names of many places but not what they looked like, so he immediately introduced them to him: "Saburo-sama, that is Shotoku-ji Temple."

Yuanye suddenly realized that this was the "Kannon Temple" of the Upper Four Districts of Owari, or the "Headquarters of Industrial and Commercial Administration" of the Upper Four Districts of Owari. No wonder there was such a large "castle town", it seemed that industry and commerce were very active!

Maeda Toshiie was also familiar with this place, and he sighed with some nostalgia: "When His Highness first became the head of the family, he came here to meet with His Highness Dosan! Looking at it now, it feels like a lifetime has passed. It's been a long time."

Yuanye nodded slightly. He had also heard related rumors about this matter in later generations. It was said that Oda Nobunaga completely conquered Saito Dosan during the meeting in Shotokuji Temple, making Saito Dosan sigh from the bottom of his heart, "Alas! My son is only fit to be a slave to Kamisamasuke!" He also determined that Oda Nobunaga's son-in-law was his true heir. All his own legitimate and illegitimate sons had to stand aside. He would not feel at ease until Mino was handed over to Oda Nobunaga.

Yuanye asked Maeda Toshiie with great interest whether this was true, and Maeda Toshiie widened his eyes in shock and said in surprise: "There is such a rumor? At that time, the former lord just passed away, and Your Highness came to renew the alliance between the two families." "That's a rumor." Yuanye was not surprised. He probably didn't know which "court writer" in later generations wanted to glorify Oda Nobunaga, so he used Saito Dosan as a stepping stone. This is basically a routine operation in Japanese biographies and nothing surprising.

He just asked out of curiosity about the scene when the two parties met. It felt very normal, similar to the situation when he negotiated with the Imagawa family. Both sides were afraid that the other side would suddenly attack and kill them, and more energy was put into guarding against each other. The actual meeting time was very short, and after renewing the alliance, they went back to their own homes. There was nothing special about it.

Then Yuanye stopped caring about this "historical anecdote" and set his sights on the Shotoku-ji Temple. He watched people coming in and out of the "castle town" from afar. Immediately, a green light flashed in his eyes, and he couldn't help but sighed: "There are a lot of people here!"

The Shotoku-ji Temple looked so fragrant. It would be great if it could be on the Chita Peninsula, or even better, right next to him. If he could take over the entire Shotoku-ji Temple, he probably wouldn't have to worry about manpower for a year or two.

Maeda Toshiie had not yet taken charge of his own business and had never been bothered by a lack of manpower. He did not understand what he was talking about at all, and simply said, "There are more than 700 stores here, so of course there are a lot of people."

There are more than 700 shops. How many workshops and craftsmen are needed behind them?
Yuanye became even more relaxed and fascinated, and was very envious. Seeing him like this, Maeda Toshiie thought that he had long heard of the name of Shotoku-ji Temple but was sorry that he had to attend to military duties and could not go for a visit. He described to him the bustle and prosperity of Shotoku-ji Temple, and mentioned the roots of Shotoku-ji Temple - a branch of the Japanese Jodo Shinshu sect, the main temple was Ishiyama Honganji Temple located in Settsu Province, which is Osaka, an important city in Kansai, Japan today.

Yuanye didn't pay much attention to it at first, thinking it was just adding to the "common sense" of the time, until he heard the name of Ishiyama Honganji, then he realized it and asked in surprise, "Is the Shotokuji branch of Ishiyama Honganji?"

Maeda Toshiie didn't know why he was so curious, but he scratched his face and answered, "Yes, I heard that Shotoku-ji Temple is 70 or 80 years old. It was built by Rennyo, the fifth-generation grandson of Shinran Shonin, so it seemed to be called Renge-ji Temple at first. Later, the shogun's younger brother Ashikaga Yoshi came here to become a monk, and the residence of that great man seemed to be called Shotoku-in, so it was changed to its current name... It was changed only 20 to 30 years ago, right? Not too long anyway."

Yuanye nodded slowly. He knew that Shinran Shonin was the founder of the Pure Land Buddhism sect in Japan, and was revered as "Master Kenshin". What's more important was that before Shinran Shonin became a monk and practiced in Mount Hiei, his family name was Fujiwara... The real Fujiwara, not a fake Fujiwara made up in his own family tree. His family status was extremely high, and he had a huge influence within the temple family.

The temple was built personally by his fifth-generation direct grandson, so it was a legitimate existence in the Jodo Shinshu sect. Hara had never expected that the influence of Ishiyama Honganji had now expanded to Owari. No wonder Ishiyama Honganji and the wealthy merchants of Sakai-machi had always disliked Oda Nobunaga. It turned out that the two sides had already had conflicts of interest.

In fact, the two sides were about to have a bigger conflict. Shotoku-ji was a powerful force entrenched in Owari. According to Oda Nobunaga's temperament and the economic policies he was pursuing, it would sooner or later come and kick it. It was possible that Ishiyama Honganji would continue to cause trouble for the Oda family in the future. They had been fighting with the Oda family on and off for more than ten years, and even Kaimachi was surrounded by Oda Nobunaga. This had a lot to do with Oda Nobunaga's raid on Shotoku-ji.

Well, he was not clear about this history, and didn't know whether Oda Nobunaga really confiscated the Shotoku-ji line, but he guessed that it was almost certain, and Oda Nobunaga would definitely do such a thing.

I can only say that history is truly amazing. I didn’t expect that a war that would kill tens of thousands of people and affect hundreds of millions of people more than ten years later would already have foreshadowing.

Yuanye sighed in his heart, and no longer envied the unlucky Zhengde Temple. He led the team to bypass it. Zhengde Temple was a holy place with white walls, green tiles, and melodious bells. They didn't care at all. It seemed that they were very powerful. A team of five or six hundred people was not enough to make them overly vigilant.

That night, Yuanye and his men set up camp again not far from Shotoku-ji Temple. The location of Shotoku-ji Temple, if calculated leniently, was already on the border of Ono, otherwise Saito Dosan and Oda Nobunaga, the father-in-law and son-in-law, would not have chosen this place to renew their alliance - in this era, the boundaries between countries were not so clear, and there were no things like boundary markers. Powers were also intertwined, and there were many powerful families spanning the two countries, so no one could tell exactly where the border was.

After resting for a night, Harano, the Manzu Army and Maeda Toshiie officially entered Mino, or the area that had been repeatedly fought over and changed hands between Mino and Owari for decades. The first place they arrived at was the area around Sunomata Castle.

Sunomata Castle is located on the south bank of the Kiso River. It was once the bridgehead for Mino to attack Owari. However, Mino and Owari are now at peace, and this castle... or rather this large rock fortress has been abandoned. The moat has been almost filled up naturally due to years of lack of maintenance, and many of the wooden walls have decayed and collapsed, and it has basically lost its defensive capabilities.

However, Yuanye still personally led people to investigate, not because he wanted to do archaeology, but because the geographical conditions here are really favorable - there are three major rivers in Mino Province, from north to south they are the Hida River, the Nagara River and the Kiso River.

Not to mention the Hida River, this river originates from the Kumano Mountains in Echizen and mainly flows through the northern part of Mino, and has little to do with him. The Nagara River and the Kiso River meet in the Sumata area, and many tributaries intersect with each other, and then flow southward separately and flow into Ise Bay through Owari.

In other words, to the north of Sunamata Castle is a dense water network, behind which is Inabayama Castle, and along the Kiso River to the northwest is Ogaki Castle. It is difficult to attack Inabayama Castle directly from Owari. In that era, crossing two large rivers and more than ten small rivers to attack a castle is a dead end. Therefore, the only way is to go west first, cross the Kiso River, and then attack from the land between the two rivers to take it.

But this is not important. Yuanye did not intend to launch a surprise attack on Inabayama Castle this time. He just had his eyes on this water network that connects with the Owari River.

He can build a bridgehead here and transfer people to the Chita Peninsula by water!

Sun Yat-sen Castle is a good place, it belongs to him temporarily!
(End of this chapter)