Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 195 Matsudaira Motoyasu ran away
The miraculous Battle of Okehazama ended.

In addition to the world's first guardian daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto who was pinned down in the mud and beheaded by two unknown men from the countryside, the Imagawa family also suffered heavy losses. A large number of core retainers and gang members died in battle, and the leaders of the powerful families in Suruga, Totomi, and Mikawa who followed Imagawa Yoshimoto's main camp were almost completely wiped out. The Oda family launched a surprise attack with more than 2,000 people and took more than 3,000 heads alone, many of which were well-known high-ranking samurai.

Old acquaintances of Yuanye, Toba Hiromichi and Asahina Yasunaga, who had blocked his way and beaten him up at Shinwanjin, also died here. Their heads were also chopped off. Moreover, the battlefield was chaotic in the heavy rain that day, and it was all close combat. Afterwards, they could not explain how they died or who killed them. Their deaths were extremely miserable.

But Yuanye no longer cared about these details. He returned to Shinwanjin by boat on the night of the Battle of Okehazama.

He had been planning for this day for a long time, and Xinwanjin had already entered a wartime state. With his order, the Xinwanjin army, which had 2,000 soldiers (including 600 professional logistics personnel and 200 gendarmes), immediately moved, taking more than 2,000 strong laborers as auxiliary troops, a total of more than 4,000 people, and divided into several groups as planned and began to move north and west.

The northern route is the main force, led by Yuanye himself, and Yuya Castle is the closest to Shinwanjin, or it can be said that part of the village in Shinwanjin is occupied by the Yuya family's territory. The two have always been entangled and it is difficult to distinguish between you and me. Now it is natural to take him as the first one to be attacked, in order to eliminate hidden dangers, reduce the pressure of defending the home, and by the way ensure the safety of the rear transportation routes.

So at dawn the next day, Yuya Castle was surrounded by Wanjin's army.

The Miya family has been facing the evil neighbor Harano for a long time, and has long felt that their future is in danger, but now that the enemy is really coming, they are still scared to the point of peeing their pants.

The head of the Goya clan, Goya Ujiie (Chubeimon-no-jo), looked at the gourd flags flying outside the city and the more than 3,000 Wanzu soldiers preparing for the siege in the rising sun, his face looking grim.

More than 3,000 people are certainly not enough to compete for the world, but for an ordinary local noble family like the Goya family, it is an unmatched force. Not to mention that the Wanjin army has withstood the siege of the Imagawa family and the Matsudaira family. The Matsudaira family's heavy armored samurai method of breaking the city and the Imagawa family's earth-piling method of climbing the city were all defeated by them. Their combat power is absolutely first-class. Even if the number of people is equal, the Goya family will never be their opponent.

"My lord, what should we do now?" The old retainers of the Yuya family looked at the Wanjin army outside the city with an unhappy expression.

The Miya clan came to their senses, and faced with an extremely powerful enemy, they had no way to deal with it, so they could only force themselves to remain calm and say, "Don't worry, they won't dare to do anything. The Nohara clan, the Imagawa clan, and the Matsudaira clan have an alliance, so they won't dare to do anything. The Imagawa clan... the Imagawa clan will also rescue us, and His Highness the Minister of Justice (Imagawa Yoshimoto) is nearby, so we just need to hold on... just hold on for three to five days.

Yes, we only need to hold on for three to five days!"

The more the Goya family talked, the more confident they became. They felt that in a sense this was not a bad thing. Maybe they could use the Imagawa family to get rid of this evil neighbor who was frantically stealing land. The Goya family's elders and retainers were also cheered up when they heard this. They felt that the head of the family was right. The Imagawa family was heading to Kyoto. If the Nohara family dared to make trouble now, they would be courting death!
The atmosphere on the top of Goya Castle turned good again. At least most of the retainers had regained their fighting spirit. They felt that even if they could not defeat the Wanjin Army in a field battle, it was not impossible for them to rely on the city to hold out for a few days. There was still a certain probability that they could defend their family property. At this time, several knights rushed out of the Wanjin Army, waving golden gourd flags, ran to a place within an arrowhead's reach of the city, dismounted and waited there.

According to the default rules of warfare of that era, this meant that the other party wanted to talk, and the envoy's personal safety would be guaranteed by default.

The Goya clan did not hesitate. They were confident, but it was better not to fight. After all, the Nohara clan was really strong. If the castle was not defended, even if Imagawa Yoshimoto sent a large army to burn Shinwantsu to the ground, the Goya clan would be finished.

He asked his sons to guard the city and then he personally took two retainers out of the city to talk with the Nohara family.

When he approached, he recognized Aman at a glance. He knew that she was a big shot in Xinwanjin and an absolute confidant of Yuanye. Yuanye often sent her to handle many things. Even though he couldn't stand her pretending to be a fake warrior, he still dismounted and bowed, and asked politely: "It turns out to be Lord Aman. I wonder what you are doing here?"

Ah Man didn't have time to exchange pleasantries with him. She had a lot on her mind right now. She raised her eyebrows and said directly, "My master has ordered that Lord Yuwu should vacate Yuwu City. You can take all your belongings with you. We will not stop you. The time limit is half an hour."

The Miya family was not surprised and was confident, saying directly: "That's impossible, Lord Aman! Even if we are willing to give in, His Highness the Minister of Justice will never agree!"

After a pause, his words became tougher. "And I know that Lord Nohara has an alliance with the Imagawa and Matsudaira families. You have seized the Goya Castle by force. This is an act of breaking the oath. Lord Nohara, aren't you afraid of retribution from the gods and Buddhas? Aren't you afraid that Lord Jibu Daisuke will hold you accountable?"

"You are really not well-informed!" Ah Man patted his helmet, pulled out his knife again, and said disdainfully, "Didn't you take a close look at what I was wearing and holding?"

The eyes of the Miya family fell on the "Eight Dragons and Five Pieces" on Aman's head, and then looked at the famous sword "Souzo Samamonji" in her hand. He felt that it was indeed too gorgeous and a serious presumption. Even with Yuanye's status and position, he was not worthy of wearing it, but he did not recognize what it was. Moreover, Aman had been walking around in the neighborhood for a long time in recent years, and she dressed very gorgeously and ostentatiously every day, as if she wanted to wear all her wealth on her body to show off to others. It was nothing to care about if she was a little more flashy.

Well, with his status and position, he had only seen Imagawa Yoshimoto from afar when he attended a tea party at Mikawa Okazaki Castle, and didn't recognize his sword or helmet at all.

The Goya family didn't know what was good, and Aman was unhappy. He cursed directly: "You are such a country bumpkin, even a dung beetle is more knowledgeable than you! Open your eyes and look carefully, this is Imagawa Yoshimoto's Hachiryudou and Sozo Samamonji! The old guy Imagawa Yoshimoto is dead. He was killed by the Oda family at Okehazama Mountain yesterday afternoon. The Imagawa family has begun to flee in an all-out manner. The alliance between our Nohara family and the Imagawa family and the Matsudaira family has ended. What's the point of you saying this!" "Imagawa... His Highness Jibu Daisuke is dead?!" This news was like a bolt from the blue, and the Goya family was dizzy and couldn't believe it at all. They instinctively retorted, "That's impossible!"

The Imagawa clan sent 50,000 troops to Kyoto. They were the most powerful daimyo in the world. Even Kyoto was shaken when they set out. Who in the world could kill them? And how could they kill them?
"It's up to you. I've said everything I need to say! From now on, the clock will start ticking. You only have half an hour. If there's still one person from the Yuya family left in the city after half an hour, you'll all die!"

Aman didn't care whether he believed it or not. He just threw down some harsh words, got on his horse and was ready to leave.

Yuanye sent her to persuade them to surrender, but the siege would take time to prepare, and breaking the city would also delay time and inevitably result in casualties, which was not cost-effective. Moreover, the in-law relationships between the Owari clans were a mess. If he killed all the clans on the Chita Peninsula at once, the political risk would be very high and the sequelae would be serious. That's why he tried to persuade them, hoping that these people would voluntarily give up their territory, even if they moved all the things in the city away.

If they have the ability, they can move the city itself. Anyway, he doesn't like this "small earthen wall" made of a mixture of earth and wood. According to the plan, the core city of this area will be rebuilt on the seaside in the future, and a dock will be needed to facilitate the transportation of materials.

But he was just persuading them. He needed a larger territory to obtain raw materials and more people to train the army and expand his strength. If these people insisted on not leaving and refused to give up their land and population, then he would have no choice but to attack the city. If the entire Miya family died then, it would not be his fault.

The Warring States Period was essentially about fighting for territory. If you were not strong, you should leave. This had nothing to do with morality.

Aman was too lazy to persuade them and just wanted to leave. The Goya clan believed it a little. After all, if Imagawa Yoshimoto was not dead and had tens of thousands of troops nearby, the Nohara clan would not dare to annex them at this time even if they were crazy. And if the Imagawa clan was really defeated by the Oda clan and had given up the annexation of Owari and the rule of the Chita Peninsula, then...

The Goya family looked at the neatly arrayed Wanjin army, then looked back at the dilapidated Goya Castle, and thought about how the new Wanjin had been seizing their territory in recent years, and in the end only this castle and the nearby fields were left. There were only a hundred or so retainers and a few hundred miscellaneous soldiers in the city who could fight back, and they would definitely not be able to resist if a real fight broke out.

Should we fight to the death and hope for a miraculous victory, or surrender and save the lives of our entire clan?

The Miya family's brain raced. Although they didn't understand it for a moment, they quickly reached out and called Aman: "Wait, Master Aman, since His Highness Jibu Daifu has already... then our Miya family is willing to offer a hostage and serve His Highness Nohara in the future. What do you think about this?"

This means that they want to become a powerful vassal of the Nohara family, and be willing to pay annual tribute to Nohara, provide military service and labor, and follow him to war.

They couldn't win the fight, so it was okay for them to surrender to the Nohara family in order to keep their land. After all, they had been foster children of the Shiba family, the Oda family, the Matsudaira family, and the Imagawa family before. It didn't matter if they called Nohara "Dad" again, at least they wouldn't be uncomfortable with it.

Ah Man had already climbed onto the horse's back. He looked down at him and said nonchalantly, "Wanjin doesn't need noble families. You trash are useless. You only have half an hour. Either leave your land and people behind and get out, or just die. That's it!"

After saying this, she turned her horse around and rushed back to the army with her men. She really didn't care.

Yuanye has developed a larger cannon, which is said to be able to bombard cities. He has also trained a "special operations team" that can blow up city walls. She has not seen it yet and wants to try it on the Yuya family. After all, this family is really weak. It would be best to pick the weakest opponent for the first actual combat.

She rode her horse through the formation and came to a small mound behind the formation. Yuanye was sitting on a stool reading the information just sent by the "Survivors". He didn't care to see her come back and didn't even ask about the Yuya family.

If the Oda family does not leave the city and surrender after half an hour, we will directly break into the city and try to end the battle within three hours. We will then continue to move north as planned, capture Takeda Castle, and fight all the way to the "Otaka River" line. Then, while ensuring that there is no worry about the retreat, we will establish defensive positions along the river there and expand westward in order to lock the Oda family out of the Chita Peninsula. If the situation permits, we can even try to infiltrate from the northeast corner of the Chita Peninsula and plot against the land and population in Mikawa.

But according to the latest news, the land and population in Sanhe may be difficult to deal with, and it may be difficult to eat...

Seeing that he looked unhappy, Ah Man took the information and looked at it without knowing why. He was slightly surprised and said, "Matsudaira Motoyasu ran away? He ran away last night?"

Yuanye nodded slightly, but he was not in a very good mood. He was still thinking about launching a surprise attack on Matsudaira Motoyasu at Marugane Castle. However, Matsudaira Motoyasu was smarter than he thought and reacted super quickly. He fled as soon as he received the news of Imagawa Yoshimoto's death. He must have already fled to Mikawa by now.

After the Battle of Okehazama, not only the Oda clan would rise, but the Matsudaira clan would also rise accordingly. However, Matsudaira Motoyasu ran so fast that there was no way to stop him, and it seemed that it would be difficult to avoid the emergence of the Tokugawa clan.

What a pity!
(End of this chapter)