Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 963 - 795: Zhongzi Golden Body (Request for Monthly Votes and Subscriptions)

Chapter 963: Chapter 795: Zhongzi Golden Body (Request for Monthly Votes and Subscriptions)

On November 29, Shiba Yoshiatsu, the protector of Owari State, fled in unimaginable disarray from Kiyosu Castle.

Behind him were countless scattered samurai and a castle ablaze with towering flames and thick smoke rising into the sky.

Shiba Yoshiatsu was inexplicably panic-stricken and uncontrollably furious.

The Shiba family were descendants of Mikado Seiwa, successors to "Hachiman Tarou" Minamotoyoshi, and a branch of the Ashikaga Shogunate, one of the three administrators of the current Muromachi Bakuhu.

They also held long-standing positions as tantei of Mutsunokuni and Ushunokuni, as well as the rich subdivisions of Echimae, Wakasa, Ecchu, Yamashiro, Noto, Tohnee, Shinano, Owari, Kaga, Awa, Sado, among others.

In the samurai system, the Shiba family could be considered second only to one, but above tens of thousands.

Yet Shiba Yoshiatsu, as the next Bakufu administrator, who was to be the future chancellor of Fusou, now found himself having to flee from his own residence, running away in total disarray.

"These damn Jin People! How dare they?"

Shiba Yoshiatsu kept running and had covered a distance of forty li. He reached a hilltop and there, while angrily cursing, he looked back with awe and panic at Kiyosu Castle, which was now on fire.

It was a formidable castle that the Shiba family had built over three generations, spending countless Silver Coin. The walls were constructed with the finest stone, and its keep was five stories tall, making it a formidable stronghold.

Yet such a stronghold had fallen in less than two hours.

What pained Shiba Yoshiatsu even more was that the wealth of the Shiba family, accumulated over generations and stored in Kiyosu Castle, had now fallen into the hands of the Jin People.

"Are these Jin People all devils?"

"My lord! I have heard that the Prince Fenyang of the Jin, in Buddhism, is indeed called the Dairokuten Maou!"

The person speaking to Shiba Yoshiatsu was Owari’s proxy protector, Oda Nobuyoshi, who was also trembling: "This man’s campaign against Fusou left all the Buddhist temples silent as death, not daring to confront him."

Since the Shiba family was preoccupied with politics in Heiankyo for many years and could not attend to the affairs of their estates, they appointed proxies in various subdivisions, and Owari’s proxy protector Oda Nobuyoshi was one of them.

At that moment, the eyes of this proxy protector of Owari were filled with fear: "My lord, the Jin People’s cannons are sharp, their warriors valiant and skilled, able to defeat ten of ours with just one. Our army is no match at all. The Togishi of Naniwakyo, bearing a grudge against our family for seizing Shinano and Owari, are plotting sinisterly. Therefore, I think your highness should now retreat to Ichijodani Castle, where the terrain is treacherous and should be able to avoid the edge of the Jin People’s blades."

This suggestion was not made without reason, as Oda Nobuyoshi had previously led thirteen thousand warriors from Owari and Shinano in the battle of Naniwakyo.

In this battle, nearly sixty percent of the warriors from Owari and Shinano died, and Oda Nobuyoshi nearly perished while escaping.

Recently, on December 25, when the Jin People landed seven thousand troops in Tohnee, Oda Nobuyoshi was ordered to gather fourteen thousand people from Shinano, Owari, and Tohnee. They were, however, destroyed by a Jin Army flanking force of less than two thousand.

Lately, he had planned to defend at Shoka Castle in Owari, but in less than two hours, it too had been breached by the Jin Army’s heavy artillery.

In his eyes, the Jin Army indeed seemed invincible, like Evil Ghosts.

"Retreat to Ichijodani? But isn’t that also close to the sea?"

Shiba Yoshiatsu squinted, "Fusou is long and narrow, Jin People’s warships encircle the entire island. Where could we land that they could not? Where are they not under their blade? Where can there truly be peace?"

And even if we could find temporary peace, how would that last? The Jin People are setting fires everywhere, burning the wheat fields.

Owari primarily cultivates rice, but some areas also grow winter wheat. However, most of the wheat fields the Jin Army has passed through have been burnt down.

He then changed his tone, "Hikogorou, what do you think about the terms the Jin Envoy previously offered?"

"Severe punishment for sea pirates? Having His Majesty assuming the title of Mikado?" Oda Nobuyoshi paused, then his expression turned bitter: "The terms are extremely excessive, yet the Jin People are justified in their actions. Fusou, being a small country, should not provoke Middle Earth, and actually, the Court could negotiate further with the Jin People. The Shimatsu Reppan of Kyushu Island kept raiding Jin Lands, benefiting themselves but making us all suffer."

Not to mention the support from Takamagahara for the Kunpeng Emperor, he of course didn’t dare to criticize the deity of Takamagahara, but he harbored some resentment in his heart.

However, Shiba Yoshiatsu shook his head, "I’m not talking about Sima, the chief envoy of the Great Jin Dynasty, but rather about the private envoy from the Jin People a few days ago."

Previously, an envoy of Jin came to his residence, Kiyosu Castle, to convey the will of Prince Fenyang.

If the Shiba family agreed to become independent from the Bakufu and Fusou, help the Jin Army to eradicate all Amatsugami shrines within their lands, and allow Jin merchants to monopolize trade,

then the Jin People would confer the title of hereditary Duke of the Great Jin on the Shiba family, and in the future, they would govern over territories in Ushunokuni and Mutsunokuni, as well as possess twenty-four divisions in the East Sea Road and the lands under the protection of the Great Jin, ensuring their lineage would continue unchallenged.

At the time, Shiba Yoshiatsu had unhesitatingly expelled this private envoy.

But now that his residence had been captured by the Jin People, Shiba Yoshiatsu’s thoughts were different from a few days ago.

Without hesitation, Oda Nobuyoshi answered, "My lord, the Jin People have wolfish ambitions, clearly aiming to create chaos in Fusou and uproot our foundation!"

Yet his tone then lowered, and he bowed his head: "But I fear that the envoy of Jin People may not have contacted only my lord."

Just as the Ashikaga family has branches like Hosokawa, Imagawa, Shiba, and others, the Shiba family also has many branches, placed in various great subdivisions.