The Self-Cultivation of Warring States Warriors

Page 132

Judging from the appearance, all the generals are smart men, and none of them are willing to fight to the death.

Since that's the case, Shinzaburo wasn't in a hurry to pay attention to the battle, but instead turned his attention back to the four captured assassins.

In the 16th century, before the issue of human rights was even discussed, let's get started with the Great Memory Restoration Technique.

The retainers all knew that Lord Kubo Sado was compassionate and could not tolerate torture. So, without being told, they naturally knew to drag the prisoner out of sight and deal with him.

Not long after, a confession was obtained.

Katsura Yoshinobu, who was in charge of the matter, interrogated the four survivors separately. After summarizing the results, he concluded that the twenty or thirty assassins were local farmers who were also bandits. They had heard about the reward and sneaked over to try their luck. Seeing that the Kubo army had sent out their reserves, leaving their main camp vulnerable, they mustered their courage and launched the assassination.

At first, Shinzaburo didn't quite believe it.

It's not uncommon for wealthy and influential local families to secretly harbor soldiers and lead villagers in "hunts of fallen warriors." But to launch an attack before the war is even over, directly storming the main camp—isn't that a bit too aggressive?

However, Gui Yixin said that after interrogating him for a long time, he did not feel that there was any hidden secret.

Shinzaburo had no choice but to accept the current conclusion for the time being, emphasizing the need for further investigation and clarification of details. Since the prisoners claimed to be residents of a mountain village, troops were dispatched to the specific address to see if there was any noteworthy intelligence.

If it is ultimately determined that no further conspiracy was involved, then there is no need to implicate too many people. However, those responsible must be publicly executed as a deterrent.

Katsura Yoshinobu accepted the task.

……

The battle was basically over around 3:45 PM. After pursuing the enemy westward for more than 20 chō, the Kubo army did not go any further and withdrew. They finally regrouped at 5:00 PM.

The soldiers were all in high spirits and very excited, but they were too exhausted to celebrate and gradually returned to their camp to rest.

The following day, an examination of the heads confirmed the deaths of 71 enemy samurai and 155 armored men, estimating the overall victory at around 800, while their own forces suffered over 300 casualties. While not a complete victory in terms of numbers, it was enough to intimidate the surrounding neighbors, making the Kubo family's Aoi Rindan banner and Zhong Kui image horse emblem a nightmare for them!

Then, the head of the Monomi clan reported that Inaba Takeda, Mimasaka Miura, and Harima Uno had all fled back to their hometowns. Currently, Tajima Governor Shirogane Mitsunari has retreated to Tsurugamine Castle with a small force of less than two hundred soldiers.

So what are you waiting for?

Shinzaburo immediately mustered his troops and launched a westward attack, heading straight for the enemy's stronghold.

Before the siege could be completed, Mitsunari Kakiya abandoned the castle and fled. His cousin, Toyotsugu Kakiya, and his associates, including Toyonobu Yagi and Toyotaka Tadakatsu, all surrendered.

It's similar to the mechanism in the Nobunaga's Ambition game where you automatically acquire a castle after achieving "Prestige".

It was impossible for Shinzaburo to chase after the local tyrants to every ravine in Tajima Province in a short time, so all of the aforementioned people were pardoned.

This is also the meaning of Yamana Yutoyo.

Shinsaburo added a small condition: that he must pay a sufficient amount of "apology money".

After all, this operation was nominally to help a friendly daimyo quell a rebellion, and it was unlikely that the land would be directly swallowed up and given as a reward to the retainers. Therefore, at least five or six hundred kan of reward money would be needed to appease the soldiers, and this money was not something he planned to pay out of his own pocket.

Three people have offered to surrender, so let each of them bear two hundred strings of cash. If they don't have enough money, they can use grain to pay; if they don't have enough grain, they can go to their own territory and levy temporary taxes. As long as the result is achieved, that's all that matters.

Furthermore, the ancestral Tsurunomine Castle of the Kakiya family needed a new owner. Although the commoner Kakiya Toyotsugu promptly submitted, he only received his own share and was not allowed to inherit the main branch's property.

Shinzaburo politely asked Yamana Yuutoyo for his opinion: "Lord Yamana Kingo, who do you think would be the best person to guard Tsurumine Castle?"

Unexpectedly, Yamana Yutaka replied quite bluntly: "My second son, Ushichika, is fifteen years old and has just come of age. He is perfectly capable of taking on this responsibility!"

Their attitude was so self-righteous, they wanted to swallow the fruits of victory without any explanation, and they didn't even bother with a polite word of humility, as if they really thought that the Kubo family's army was there to do a good deed on a voluntary basis.

Shinzaburo almost laughed, but he held it back. He simply had someone summon Muto Shunshu and pointed at Yamana Yuyutaka, asking again, "In this battle, Lord Muto recruited nearly a hundred men on his own and cleverly ambushed and defeated one of the enemy's flanks. His contribution is truly outstanding. What do you think should be rewarded?"

Yamana Yufeng was taken aback, seemingly having not considered this question before. After thinking for a while, he said, "I am willing to repay you with the reward from Sanjiao Township."

Sanjiao Township is a remote mountainous area with an estimated yield of over a thousand koku. It is not far from Tsurunomine Castle and used to be under the control of the Kakiya family.

Giving away so much knowledge and action at once, even though it's at other people's expense, is still quite a lot.

But Shinzaburo immediately added fuel to the fire: "Then let Lord Muto take over the administration of Sansho Village and enter Tsurugamine Castle to assist your son in governing, what do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Yamana Yutaka stared in disbelief, looking around for a while. As if he had grasped something, he immediately became wary: "This is Tajima Province's internal affair, so Lord Kubo Sado need not worry about it!"

Shinzaburo shook his head and said leisurely, "That's not true! I am the San'in Toshinori appointed by the shogunate, and since Tajima belongs to San'in, it is naturally within my duties. Otherwise, why would I have brought seven thousand troops to quell the rebellion?"

Yamana Yutaka was both surprised and annoyed, his face turning red and then pale, but he dared not speak out. After a moment of silence, he said helplessly, "Then let Muto Shunsuke take over Tsurugamine Castle. It's better for my son to stay at home."

Shinzaburo didn't refuse at all, nodding confidently: "That's fine. Your son is still young, so it's better for him to stay with you for a few more years."

With a gloomy face, Yamana Yutaka claimed to be feeling unwell and turned to leave.

Throughout this process, Muto Shunshu simply stood by without saying a word, pressing his hand to his injured waist and abdomen, adopting a posture of enduring pain and waiting for orders. This not only demonstrated the strong will of a samurai but also fully emphasized his own hard work.

Only after Yamana Yutaka left indignantly did Shinzaburo finally shed his aggressive expression and reveal a relaxed smile.

The charade just now, besides being a power struggle, also had a hidden purpose, which I believe Mutō Shunshū can see through, so there's no need to explain further.

Shinzaburo's only worry was: "If I hand over Tsurugamine Castle to you, will things settle down?"

Muto Shunshu had been working underground for a year and a half, and had even risked his life to fight the enemy, all for this. Now, he was naturally on high alert, patting his chest and vowing, "I will definitely defend this castle for Lord Kubo Sado!"

Their attitude was quite proper.

But Shinzaburo still had to remind him: "Sōemon's (Mutō Shunshū's courtesy name) talent is beyond question. But to govern a castle, one person alone is not enough."

Muto Shunshu remained confident: "Thanks to Lord Kubo Sado's reputation and the money he has bestowed upon me over the years, I have made many friends. The hundred warriors you saw during the battle the other day are all capable men from Tajima Prefecture whom I have met in recent years. They own land and are not lacking in martial prowess, but in the past they could only languish in the countryside and were looked down upon by the governors and magistrates. Therefore, once they are appreciated, they will surely work hard."

After hearing this, Shinzaburo said thoughtfully, "The mountain people of Tajima seem to be particularly unruly."

"Indeed. As expected of Lord Kubo Sado, you saw through it at a glance." Muto Shunshu complimented, then explained, "Most of the local samurai nobles consider themselves high-ranking and are unwilling to take the heroes of the countryside as their retainers. As a result, the heroes of the countryside are also alienated from the samurai nobles. Therefore, the Tajima army is not as brave as the armies of other countries, but the people of Tajima are more ferocious than the people of other countries."

Shinzaburo then realized what was happening and nodded thoughtfully.

When Ōi Shigeie came to Noguchi Village, Funai District, Tanba Province, he learned that the people of Shimizu Village did part-time jobs doing business that required no capital, and said, "Such people have long been employed by daimyo in the eastern provinces."

It is evident that the pace of social change in Tanba was slightly slower than in Dongguo.

It now appears that the San'in region is significantly slower than Tanba.

……

That night, Gui Yixin returned with a stern expression after completing the tasks assigned to him two days prior.

He has confirmed that the previous assassination group was indeed made up of people from the nearby mountain valleys.

When they followed the clues to investigate, they found that only the elderly, women and children remained in the small village. Most of the able-bodied men had run away to "earn extra money" and then died at the hands of Kubo Jun.

However, those audacious old people, women and children, seeing that Gui Yixin's group was small, actually launched an attack!

They ran into a brick wall.

In the past two years, the Kubo family's direct-commission samurai have generally changed to better equipment. Their thick armor is not something that can be touched by the simple weapons in the hands of farmers.

Originally, Katsura Yoshinobu did not want to resort to violence lightly, but in self-defense, he had no choice but to fight back and start a massacre.

So when he returned to report, his expression was very serious.

It wasn't because they were reluctant to kill the old, young, women and children—sixteenth-century warriors wouldn't have such superfluous emotions.

Katsura Yoshinobu simply felt that there were too many troublemakers in Tajima, and worried whether the Kubo family could gain a foothold there.

Shinzaburo, however, was not so worried.

According to Muto Shunsuke, the local people were fierce, but the army was weak. Those "energetic rank-and-file people" had not integrated with the upper-level lords.

In this way, the Kubo family, as outsiders, could profit from the situation.

Sometimes they can cooperate with those above to suppress those below, and sometimes they can recruit those below to overthrow those above.

In short, we can use their strength against them and defeat them one by one.

252 broadcast because, four states alliance leaders

Muto Shunshu's contributions were quite significant. First, he infiltrated the Yamana family and stirred up chaos in Tajima province, giving Kubo's army a pretext to intervene. Then, he cleverly used ambushes in actual combat, laying a good foundation for the final victory.

But what Shinzaburo valued even more was that in just a year and a half, he had managed to gather many local "heroes" and even build a small team of nearly a hundred people. Such interpersonal skills and leadership qualities were the most valuable things of this era.

This is especially true for low-ranking samurai from humble backgrounds.

When Toyotomi Hideyoshi was still known as Kinoshita Tokichiro, if he hadn't won over the forces of the Kawanami clan and the Tsubouchi party, where would he have gotten so many opportunities to display his military and political talents?

Therefore, Shinzaburo decided to support Muto Shunshu to become the lord of Tajima Tsurunomine Castle, as the starting point for the Kubo family's conquest of San'in.

As for the claim that Yamana Yutaka discovered something fishy during the conversation and then angrily refused...

Wouldn't that be even better?

As a result, the only powerful force that Muto Shunshu could rely on was the Kubo family.

His wife and children are already in Xiaohang City, so his loyalty is trustworthy. However, it's always good to have a few extra precautions in case of unforeseen circumstances.

The specific amount of land allocated is not important. However, the power structure in Malaya is clearly very loose, with taxes and military service in disarray. Therefore, those who appear to have power may not actually be able to exercise it, and those who appear to have no power may still be able to wield it.

Previously, Muto Shunsuke didn't even have a formal identity. He could coax dozens of people into going to the battlefield just by using his connections and throwing money at them. This is a case of having no power on the surface but actually wielding power.

Now that we have a city, we should be able to manage things much more easily.

Perhaps they won't need anyone else's help to gain a foothold.

However, Shinzaburo still selected thirty relatively trustworthy young retainers from Tanba and Wakasa and ordered them to move to Tsurunomine Castle in Tajima Province, where they would be placed under the command of Muto Shunsuke.

This is not simply a matter of manpower allocation; its main purpose is for strategic planning.

So far, those children born into the Kubo family's inner circle are still minors; however, several new generations of samurai who served the Kubo family since their coming-of-age ceremony have already entered the workforce. They are like pure-blooded seeds sown in Tango and Tajima, and if they can take root and sprout under Shinzaburo's care, they have the opportunity to grow into the backbone of the family.

Take the Kawakatsu family of Tanba-Kuwata-Girashima Castle as an example. They had gradually prospered since the 13th century, and their clan had grown so numerous that there had even been several instances of illegitimate sons venturing out on their own. However, after forming a marriage alliance with the Kubo family, these problems were easily solved. First, two young men went to Ōyū Castle to serve Shingoro, then two more were sent to Tango, and now three more have been brought to Tajima. All the young members of the family have been settled, and there is truly a vast world for them to explore.

The villagers of Kubo Village are even more so; every family with a son is now at least a respectable samurai with a salary of thirty to fifty koku. The likelihood of a traitor among these people is certainly lower than normal.

……

Speaking of Yamana Yutaka, he was still angry about the appointment of Muto Shunshu as the lord of Tsurunomine Castle, but he immediately calmed down and went to apologize, and then continued to discuss other political matters.

This did not ease Shinzaburo's vigilance; on the contrary, it deepened it.

The demands made by Yamana Yutaka were also very clear.

When the conflict first broke out in Tajima, wasn't there a senior retainer named Tadashi Yoshiyoshi? That man first assassinated the previous governor, Daigakiya Tsuneshige, and was later killed by Tsuneshige's grandson, Mitsunari, and lost all his male relatives.

Therefore, Yamana Yutaka hoped to have his second son inherit the family name of the Tayusho family, and take the opportunity to annex the territory of Kinosaki County.

Shinzaburo readily agreed without much thought.

The atmosphere between the two sides finally eased somewhat.

Then, Shinzaburo received Shioji Kagoshi of Nikata District and Otagaki Terunobu of Asagi District in his tent.

These two men, seemingly loyal to the Yamana family's cause, actually have much more to their names. Shioji Kagoshi had long since joined Kubo's ranks through his close friend Nasa Yamatosuke, while the Otagaki family considered themselves staunch supporters of the shogunate.

As the victors of this battle, they naturally had the opportunity to plunder property and expand their territory. In the chaotic state of Tajima, how much spoils they actually obtained depended on their own abilities.

Shinzaburo had a pleasant conversation with the two men, and boasted a bit about "plotting a great cause together."

Then, the mission to help the Yamamami clan quell the rebellion was successfully completed, and it was time to return to Wakasa-Kohama Castle to wait for the next opportunity to take action.

Unexpectedly, before setting off, we were greeted by some unexpected guests.

Urakami Masamune, the lord of Muroyama Castle in Harima Iho County, Emi Hisamori, the lord of Hayashino Castle in Eida County, Maki Naoharu, the lord of Takata Castle in Kumi County, and Noriyoshi Yoshimi, the lord of Iwai Castle in Inaba Juno County...

They all sent messengers immediately upon receiving the news to congratulate the Kubo family on their victory in the Battle of Shikahara.

These people came from different backgrounds, territories of varying sizes, and distances from each other. They didn't have much in common, except that they all belonged to the "pro-Nizi forces" in the central region of the Western Kingdom.

During the time when Haruhisa Amago was still alive, he appointed Hisamori Ieyasu as the regional commander, with Seimei Uyama and Hisanobu Uyama as his deputies, to oversee Mimasaka. Together with Masashige Nakamura, the governor of Inaba, and Masamune Urakami, the governor of Harima, they constructed the eastern border.

Although this defensive line has been repeatedly attacked, it has remained basically stable over the years.

However, after Haruhisa's sudden death last year and Yoshihisa's succession, Kawasuke Hisamori, Uyama Seimei, Uyama Hisanobu, and others felt that the internal political situation was unstable and worried that their own foundations would be shaken, so they all returned to Gassan Tomita Castle in Izumo Province.

The pro-Nizar forces in the vicinity were leaderless and immediately fell into disarray, naturally causing widespread panic.

Meanwhile, the samurai and diplomatic monks of the Aki Mori clan were actively engaged in various activities, employing tactics of forming alliances and counter-alliances.

Soon, in the most important country of Mimasaka, the Miura and Shinmen families, who had been suppressed as the opposition, launched a counterattack. The flexible Goto family quickly changed its stance, while the Emi and Maki families, who were closest to the Amago family, were in a difficult situation.

Then, Inaba Nakamura Masashige was attacked and killed by Takeda Takanobu, who was close to the Mori clan, and Harima Urakami Masamune was forced to submit to the Mori clan by Urakami Munekage, who was also close to the Mori clan.

Generally speaking, due to Amago Yoshihisa's indecisiveness and hesitation, half of the foundation of the "Eleven Governors of Yin and Yang" collapsed within half a year!

At this time, Kubo's army entered deep into Tajima and defeated the Mōri faction's coalition forces. For Urakami, Emi, Maki, Yoshimi, and others mentioned above, this was undoubtedly a timely help and a much-needed relief.

They finally got a chance to catch their breath under the heavy pressure, so they sent messengers to establish contact, not only to express their gratitude and congratulations, but also to hope for assistance should they be attacked in the future.

Judging from this situation, as long as Shinzaburo gives the order, he can be hailed as the new leader of the central part of the western country.

Among the various forces, Akamatsu Masamune, the governor of Harima Province, held the highest position. The envoy he sent was also the most cultured, and he began by saying, "Now the Miyoshi is too far away to reach us, the Amago has fallen into decline, and the Mori are eyeing us covetously. The safety of the four provinces of Harima rests entirely on the shoulders of Lord Kubo Sado! We only hope that you can raise your banner and lead us to fight against the traitors, thus upholding the greater good of the nation and reassuring the hearts of our family members."

The others echoed this sentiment, and for a time, flattery and sycophancy became rampant.

Upon hearing this, all the servants and retainers standing by were overjoyed and felt extremely honored.