Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 202: Three Alliances
Oda Nobunaga did not invite Yuanye to his home in Kiyosu Castle for a hospitality. Instead, he organized a hunting trip and set the meeting place at Kiyojiyama on the southwest side of Kiyosu Castle. Although it is called Kiyojiyama, it is actually a large hill with an altitude of only a little over 28 meters.

This should be a manifestation of goodwill. After all, he is a little hesitant to let Yuanye enter Qingzhou City again.

In the hunting camp, Yuanye saw Matsudaira Motoyasu, a great historical figure, for the first time.

Unlike what he had imagined, Matsudaira Motoyasu looked a little short - he was estimated to be only 1.55 meters tall, but he was wearing a bamboo green straight-down suit, with his hair covered with a short black hat, and he was only about twenty years old. Overall, he had delicate features, was quite graceful, and a little handsome, and did not look like the legendary old turtle at all.

Probably, he had been a hostage in the Imagawa family since he was a child and was greatly influenced by the Higashiyama culture, which resulted in his literary temperament prevailing over his samurai temperament, making him look gentle and non-threatening.

Perhaps it is because he has been a hostage since he was a child, his personality seems to be more conservative. In addition to being respectful to Oda Nobunaga, he also strictly observes etiquette in his words and deeds. Whatever Oda Nobunaga says is what he does, and he basically never refutes it. He is also very polite to Harano, a quasi-ally he just met, and is unwilling to take the lead in everything, keeping a very low profile.

Even though Yuanye's apparent strength is far inferior to his, he still remains like this and appears to be very low-key.

Well, judging from the surface strength of the three families, the strongest is Oda Nobunaga, who controls seven counties, followed by Matsudaira Motoyasu, who controls two to three counties, and the last is Hara, who only occupies one county, Chita County.

As for Oda Nobunaga, he was still the same, unhappy in all kinds of ways. He was even sarcastic when he saw Harano, the guest invited by him. But he was essentially a man with clear goals. Currently, in order to deal with Oda Nobumasa and Saito Tatsuoki, Harano was needed again. Although he was sarcastic, he did not press him step by step, which was regarded as tacitly acknowledging that Harano was already the "Lord of Chita".

After all, Yuanye really did not betray the alliance. He just took over the territory left behind by the Imagawa family after their defeat. He couldn't find a reason to scold him even if he wanted to.

However, his "tolerance" only goes so far. Although he did not say it explicitly, he hinted at it in his words and deeds. As long as Harano dared to cross the Odaka River and get closer to Atsuta Port, the alliance between the Oda and Nohara families would be invalidated. Don't blame him for being ruthless and directly launching a large army to attack. Even if he had to make concessions to the Saito family, he would have to teach him a lesson first.

At the same time, regardless of whether Harano was willing or not, he domineeringly included the Matsudaira family into the protection system, saying that the Nohara family and the Matsudaira family should live in harmony, and Harano was not allowed to cross the current border to occupy Mikawa's land, otherwise he would launch a punitive attack.

At present, Oda Nobunaga is the most powerful, so he naturally leads the alliance. He sets the tone without saying a word and does not allow others to refute.

Yuanye had no choice. The natural disasters disrupted all his expansion plans. Now unless he was willing to have a fierce fight with the Oda and Matsudaira families, this was the only option.

The framework of the "Three Alliances" was thus established. Oda Nobunaga gained the most advantage. The threats from the east and south were basically eliminated, and he could calmly withdraw troops to attack Inuyama Castle and then go north to Mino. Matsudaira Motoyasu also gained a lot of benefits. The threats from the west and southwest were also eliminated. He could concentrate on suppressing the Ikko clan rebellion and launching an attack on East Mikawa, and had the opportunity to unify Mikawa and become the master of a country.

Harano Norimasa started to go to jail, and all ways to expand his territory were blocked. The only benefit was that his current territory was publicly recognized by Oda Nobunaga.

Even though he was mentally prepared for this, he still acted extremely unhappy. However, he had a history of causing trouble many times before. After achieving his main goal, Oda Nobunaga did not dare to really anger him, lest he hold a grudge and reignite the war on the Ōtaka River. Therefore, he made many concessions with Matsudaira Motoyasu in other aspects.

Including but not limited to restoring Harano's right to use trade routes, opening the Owari Mikawa market, increasing the purchase price of military supplies, granting free passage and tax exemption to Wanjin's caravans, etc. At the same time, they are willing to support Harano in building a navy, support him in opening up trade routes, and allow Wanjin's navy to dock and resupply at will in their territory - Oda Nobunaga and Matsudaira Motoyasu did not value the navy very much, and Harano's navy could cooperate with them in battles, which they believed was equally beneficial to both of them.

At this point, Yuanye's face looked a little better. After all, with the navy he had territory. He could still continue to develop and expand his influence. He didn't necessarily have to go to Nishimikawa to fight to the death with Matsudaira Motoyasu.

It is difficult to have everything go as planned in this world. There are gains and losses. Just make do with what you have!

Oda Nobunaga, Matsudaira Motoyasu and Harano all got what they wanted, and only then was the "Three Family Alliance" officially established. From then on, the three of them worked together to fight against the "Three Kingdoms Alliance" of Takeda, Imagawa and Hojo in the east, against Saito and Rokkaku, a pair of bad friends in the north, and against Asakura Asai, two friends in need, in the west. They were like grasshoppers on the same rope, and would die together.

The alliance was concluded, and Oda Nobunaga got the upper hand. He was instantly excited and wanted to show off his skills. He really started to organize hunting. Matsudaira Motoyasu had no objection and followed behind Oda Nobunaga to help him. At first glance, you might think he was a hostage to the Oda family again.

Yuanye had no interest in hunting, and he didn't care about ranking or whether the Nohara family could demonstrate their strength. He just sent Aman to fight for him and didn't care about anything else. He spent more time eating barbecue with Aqing.

Oda Nobunaga was just feeling depressed because he didn't get much benefit from the alliance this time, so he left Niwa Nagahide to accompany him and let him go. After all, Yuanye was only the third in strength, and it was good that he, as the eldest, was willing to play with the third, and he had no intention of trying to please the third.

Yuanye still didn't care. He was already thinking about how to form a navy and how to use it to develop. But as soon as he had some free time, he soon discovered something strange.

He brushed a layer of oil on the grilled meat and sprinkled some spices on it, then turned to Niwa Nagahide and asked, "Have Lord Kazusuke and Lord Nohime reconciled?"

Nohime was the legitimate daughter of Saito Dosan and the principal wife of Oda Nobunaga. The two were already married when Harano traveled through time. However, it was said that Oda Nobunaga disliked this young widow very much and always kept her locked up in his house and ignored her. As a result, Harano had been in Owari for so many years without ever seeing her once.

But now the situation has changed. Oda Nobunaga brought Nohime with him to the meeting. He went in and out with her every day, and had meals with his two allies, Harano and Matsudaira Motoyasu. Sometimes he brought Nohime with him, and they looked like a model couple. This is a bit abnormal. His true love should be Ikoma Yoshino, who even gave birth to a son for him in secret!

Niwa Nagahide also looked at Nohime who was waiting at the camp gate to welcome Oda Nobunaga back, and hesitated to speak. After a moment, he said with an unnatural expression: "During this period, the lord is more fond of Her Highness Nohime..."

"Are you really reconciled? Didn't you say before that..." Yuanye still couldn't believe it.

Niwa Nagahide had adjusted his facial expression by this time, and said solemnly: "It was just a rumor before. The lord has always been very... fond of Princess Nohime, and there is absolutely no disrespect in it."

Yuanye still didn't believe it. This matter might be able to fool people outside the Oda family, but it couldn't fool him, who knew the inside story of the Oda family.

In the past, he often dealt with Maeda Toshiie, Niwa Nagahide, Sawaki Yoshiyuki and others. These retainers of Oda Nobunaga who came from small families never expressed respect for Nohime, at least they never took her seriously, and simply treated her like a transparent person. Moreover, Oda Nobunaga even locked his wife up with his most hated mother, and kept his true love hidden outside. This shows that he really didn't care about his wife.

Suddenly his attitude changed...

Yuanye asked directly: "Is it for the great cause of Mino?"

Niwa Nagahide held his breath for a while, sighed, and said nothing. After all, Harano had been in the Oda family for so long, and there were some things he really knew that could not be lied about.

Harano was certain that Oda Nobunaga now had the intention to annex Mino. In order to ensure that he had the "great righteousness", he pulled Nobunaga out and began to show his "affection" to ensure that the "letter of inheritance" left to him by Saito Dosan would be effective, so that he, the "son-in-law of Mino", would be widely recognized.

Or, did he want to show his goodwill to the Mino nobles by "favoring" Nouhime, so that they would not resist so fiercely in the future?
Oda Nobunaga has now become a pragmatist. Maybe this is what growth is!

Yuanye didn't expect that as Oda Nobunaga got older, his way of doing things had changed a little. In the past, he didn't really take the overall situation so seriously, and he actually learned to act according to the situation.

He was eating barbecue and watching Oda Nobunaga's wife. When Oda Nobunaga came back, Nohime immediately went to greet him and welcomed her husband's victorious return.

Oda Nobunaga also handed her the prey he had hunted himself. Although he didn't talk or laugh in front of her, his attitude was not as casual as usual and showed some respect.

Yuan Ye watched the couple's performance with great interest, but soon noticed that several unfamiliar retainers around Oda Nobunaga paid special tribute to Nohime and respectfully presented the prey. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Who are those people?"

Niwa Nagahide took one look and said, "It's Lord Mori, Lord Hotta, and Lord Inoko."

Hara had no impression of Horita, Inoko and the like. His knowledge of history was not good enough to remember such unknown people. But he had an impression of the family name Mori. After all, Mori Ranmaru was the most well-known surname around Oda Nobunaga, and many of his stories had appeared in his books. Mori Kashinari was Mori Ranmaru's elder brother, if he remembered correctly.

He immediately asked, "Is it Master Mori Kecheng?"

"Yes, it is Lord Morizaemon."

Yuanye nodded slowly. He understood. These were the people left behind by Saito Dosan! Now these remnants couldn't survive in Mino, so they came to join Oda Nobunaga? With the help of these people, it would be at least 30% easier to enter Mino!
No wonder Oda Nobunaga dragged his wife out to show her to the public. It turned out that part of the reason was to win over the hearts of his father-in-law's remnants.

This guy Oda Nobunaga has really changed!

But this should be a good thing, right? The more mature this guy is, the less crazy he should be, and the more he should unite with Wan Jin as his ally. Overall, this should be a good thing.

Yuanye handed the cooked skewers of meat to Aqing and felt a little relieved.

The previous window period was ruined by natural disasters, so it’s not too late now. Oda Nobunaga has spent so much time trying to swallow Mino that he probably has no time to pay attention to him. He can just take the opportunity to go to sea!

should be no problem!
(End of this chapter)