Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 190: All Living Things Part
On an evening in Owari in mid-May, the wind was cool and slightly salty.

Matsudaira Motoyasu rode on his warhorse, feeling the cool breeze blowing from the ocean to the land, and looking at the twinkling lights on Odaka Castle in the distance. He remained calm and silently waited for the report from the front.

A few days ago, the Matsudaira family joined Imagawa Yoshimoto's army heading to Kyoto with more than 3,000 people. Imagawa Yoshimoto was also very generous. He selected 1,000 people from the more than 3,000 people to be commanded personally by him, and gave him a task - to reinforce Otaka Castle.

The Oda clan had been besieging Otaka Castle for almost two months, but they did not launch a forceful attack. Instead, they simply destroyed the rock fortresses of Otaka Castle's branch castles and attacked the villages and fields attached to Otaka Castle, causing a shortage of military rations for Otaka Castle, which gradually became difficult to sustain. Therefore, Matsudaira Motoyasu's first priority was to break through the encirclement of the Oda army and deliver a batch of military rations.

Now Matsudaira Motoyasu has arrived near Otaka Castle and has sent out his capable retainers to investigate the situation and see if they can sneak in under cover of darkness.

Not long after, several balls of fire suddenly exploded in the darkness ahead, and there were also shouts and the sounds of arrows breaking through the air. Then the shouts became louder and louder, and a large ball of fire was cast from the Marugen Fort in the distance to illuminate, and with the faint light it began to pour fire on the enemies on the road.

More than ten minutes later, the front team of the Matsudaira family withdrew, and the area around Marugane Fort became quiet again. The people of the Oda family retreated into the darkness again and began to become suspicious.

The Matsudaira family's hereditary retainers Sakai Tadatsugu and Ishikawa Sumomasa followed and found Matsudaira Motoyasu. Sakai Tadatsugu reported to him: "My lord, the Oda family is well guarded. There are trenches dug on the main road and sentries stationed. It is not easy to pass through."

Matsudaira Motoyasu remained silent for a while as he looked at Odaka Castle.

Sakai Tadatsugu and Ishikawa Kazumasa looked at each other and were not surprised.

This lord, who was only seventeen years old, had a rough life. His family was in turmoil when he was young, and he was sent to Sunpu Castle as a hostage. On the way, he was abducted and taken to Oda Danmasatada's house, where he stayed as a near-prisoner for more than a year. Then, he was traded to the Imagawa family as a bargaining chip, and began to live in the Imagawa family for a long time, living under the nose of Taihara Yukisai. He developed a taciturn, deep and forbearing character, and he really didn't talk much.

Sakai Tadatsugu and Ishikawa Sukemasa stayed silent with him for a while before Ishikawa Sukemasa suggested, "My lord, let's retreat and set up camp. His Highness Jibu Daifu (Imagawa Yoshimoto)'s army is right behind us. Once His Highness Jibu Daifu's army arrives, the siege of Otaka Castle will naturally be lifted."

Matsudaira Motoyasu finally retracted his gaze and shook his head slightly, saying, "No, we must complete the task assigned by His Highness the Minister of Justice."

Sakai Tadatsugu hesitated for a moment, feeling that he didn't need to be so devoted to the Imagawa family, the nominal "ally" and actual "ruler", and hesitantly said, "But it's too difficult. The Oda family has stationed a lot of people here. There are 1,200 people in the two rock forts blocking the road alone, and an unknown number of miscellaneous soldiers. Most of the cities in the north are also controlled by the Oda family, and the Oda family elder, Sakuma Shigeshige, is still in charge here..."

Simply put, the Oda family in this area can mobilize at least more than 3,000 combat forces. Even though many of them are recruited from the Owari powerful families and are slightly weaker than the direct forces controlled by the Oda family, this is definitely not a force that can be ignored. If they all rush towards them, they can be easily defeated.

Not to mention that they were accompanied by more than a hundred pack horses carrying 450 bundles of rice. They couldn't run faster, and it was very difficult to break through the enemy's blockade.

Matsudaira Motoyasu glanced at Sakai Tadatsugu, but without sighing, he said calmly: "Lord Sakai, I know all this, but... His Highness Jibu Daisuke's success in going to Kyoto is a foregone conclusion. We, the Matsudaira family, must demonstrate our value and show our obedience. We have no choice."

Ishikawa Sumomasa and Sakai Tadatsugu fell silent at the same time, and couldn't help but think of the good things that Imagawa Yoshimoto had done in the past two years - he carried out large-scale land seizures in Suruga and Totomi, increased the annual tribute and military service of the powerful families, and all those who dared to express dissent or resist were killed or exiled. Even some powerful families who were simply suspected of having ulterior motives were killed by him.

Now that Imagawa Yoshimoto has come to Mikawa with great force and is about to take over the world, it is time for them, as "vassals", to change their status, demonstrate certain values, and show an attitude of complete obedience. Otherwise, it will be doubtful whether the Matsudaira family can continue to exist.

Sakai Tadatsugu and Ishikawa Sukemasa thought for a while, their faces became serious, and they turned their gazes to Otaka Castle. They began to consider how many lives they would have to sacrifice in order to break through the obstruction of the Oda family. But after thinking about it, they were still not sure, as the Oda family had placed too many people here.

Matsudaira Motoyasu suddenly pointed to the north and asked, "Is that Terabe Castle?"

"Yes, that's the direction of Terabe Castle." The war between the Matsudaira family and the Oda family has lasted for three generations. As a senior retainer of the family, Sakai Tadatsugu is very familiar with the border area of Owari and Mikawa. He immediately said, "It's a small castle with 40 rooms from east to west and 20 rooms from north to south. Why do you ask this, my lord?"

"That should be where the Oda clan stored their military supplies, right?" Matsudaira Motoyasu continued to ask. Sakai Tadatsugu and Ishikawa Sumomasa thought about it. The Oda clan rushed to build a fortress, and the scale of the rock fortress was not large, so it could not store much food supplies. They must have transferred food from nearby cities, so they nodded and said, "It is most likely there."

"Then I'll have to trouble you two to take 500 men with us to attack Terabe Castle again, and it would be best if we could set it on fire." Matsudaira Motoyasu's voice was still calm, without any emotion, as if his long-term "study abroad" life had made him accustomed to speaking like this.

Sakai Tadatsugu and Ishikawa Sumosho were also veteran warriors who had fought many battles. They immediately realized that this was a good idea, but they immediately asked in unison, "My lord, do you want us to lure away the Oda clan and personally lead the troops and food to storm Odaka Castle?"

"Yes."

"This..." Ishikawa Sukenaga hesitated for a moment and said, "This is a bit too risky. Why don't you stay at the back and let Lord Sakai and I lead the team to give it a try?"

Matsudaira Motoyasu shook his head slightly and said softly, "We must show obedience, Lord Ishikawa. Obedience is the only way we can go."

Ishikawa Suzemasa thought about it and realized that nothing could better demonstrate loyalty than the head of the Matsudaira family personally leading people to risk their lives to deliver food, so he silently endured it and stopped objecting.

At the same time, his eyes towards the young lord also changed slightly, as if he saw the shadow of his grandfather in Matsudaira Motoyasu, the "hero of the world" who "could pacify the world at the age of thirty", but Matsudaira Motoyasu was not as flamboyant and cheerful as his grandfather, but was equally smart and full of action.

He was stunned for a moment, then thought it was an illusion. He quickly retracted his gaze and began to discuss the details of the action with Sakai Tadatsugu. Finally, it was decided that Sakai Tadatsugu would lead 500 people to take a detour to Terabe Castle and set it on fire, pretending to be attacking the city. After Sakuma Shigeshige sent people to rescue, Ishikawa Suzemasa would lead 300 people to attack the rock fortress from the other side to attract the attention of the remaining defenders. Finally, Matsudaira Motoyasu personally led the packhorse team and some elite Lang gangs to rush into Otaka Castle in one go.

This was an extremely crude plan, and whether it would succeed depended on whether Sakuma Shigeshige was willing to cooperate. However, their team of a thousand people had no other choice. Otherwise, they would not be able to rush into Odaka Castle at night, and by dawn, when the nearby rock fortresses could figure out their number and position, they would not even have this chance.

The plan was set, and they soon took action separately.

Matsudaira Motoyasu continued to wait with his lips pursed and a serious face. After more than half an hour, a fire suddenly broke out in the direction of Terabe Castle, and countless flaming arrows streaked through the night sky and flew towards the top of the city. From a distance, the momentum seemed extremely loud.

Afterwards, there was indeed movement in the two forts of Washizu and Marugane, where the main forces of the Oda clan were concentrated. They each sent a support force to Terabe Castle. Otherwise, if Terabe Castle was lost, they would not be able to stay here any longer.

After the Oda family's reinforcements cautiously moved away, Ishikawa Sukemasa also launched a harassing attack, attacking the Washizu and Marugane forts from a location far away from Matsudaira Motoyasu, and setting fires everywhere, causing quite a stir.

Matsudaira Motoyasu took a look at the fire, waved his hand, and without saying a word, he led the packhorse team and set off, walking first.

…………

At the same time as Matsudaira Motoyasu took action, Harano also entered Oda Nobunaga's residence.

Imagawa Yoshimoto came with great force. When he set out from Suruga, he brought 25,000 men with him, claiming to have an army of 100,000, and aimed directly at Kyoto. At the same time, he left behind reliable troops of several hundred or a thousand men to take over the local areas along the way to ensure that his retreat would not be cut off.

However, the number of his troops did not change much. He brought along all the local nobles he could see along the way, and even the number of troops expanded to 27,000 to 28,000 people. Amid the noise, their momentum was further enhanced.

Imagawa Yoshimoto made such a big noise, he was almost shouting with a loudspeaker that he was going to Kyoto. The Owari nobles were not dead, so they were naturally terrified. They were so scared that their crotch cloths were wet. Now they all gathered in Kiyosu Castle and began to discuss what to do - 100,000 people from the Imagawa family were coming to kill them, they were going to die!
Yuanye also came to attend the meeting, ready to see all kinds of people.

(End of this chapter)