Warring States Survival Guide
Chapter 101 - 63: It Seems Like It’s Going to Gurgle

Chapter 101: Chapter 63: It Seems Like It’s Going to Gurgle

Early the next morning, before dawn had even broken, Nagano Castle erupted into a frenzy of activity.

Oda Nobunaga’s lower-level household retainers were shouting, urging the Lang Faction to check their armor, long spears, short knives, bows, arrows, and other military preparations. Meanwhile, the ashigaru—the foot soldiers—set up pots to cook rice, fed the horses and donkeys, and filled bamboo tubes with water. As a novice himself, Harano imitated what everyone else was doing: donning his gear and at the same time directing his subordinates to cook rice, making sure they loaded the stretchers, medicine, and bandages prepared the night before onto the carts—after all, this was probably the only meal they’d get today. The rice would be packed into rice balls, and the Lang Faction and ashigaru would carry them for the whole day’s rations.

Of course, that’s how it usually goes, but since this was fighting on their own turf, there was a chance that if they won handily, they could be back that evening celebrating with a victory feast. Who knew?

By the time they’d finished this one hot meal, the sky had gradually brightened. A blast from the Dharma Conch rang out, and a large group of lower-level samurai and seasoned Lang Faction members—flags fluttering from their backs—tossed aside their rice bowls and gathered before the raised platform in the camp. The rest—those Lang Faction and ashigaru without distinguishing objects—grabbed their weapons and quickly lined up behind them. In no time at all, they had formed up in battle order, and then came wave after wave of shouts: "Hey! Hey! Oh!"

Harano gathered his own motley ashigaru as well, though he didn’t yell out like the others—he never could pull it off. But last night, he’d asked Ah Man for some crash-course knowledge on Japan’s Middle Ages battle formations, so he had a rough idea of what was going on—these were the "responsive shouts." The "Hey! Hey!" came from the junior leaders, meaning "Are you ready?" and "Oh!" was shouted in response by the Lang Faction and ashigaru, meaning "Ready!"

Once the ranks were properly formed, the Dharma Conch sounded again, and the hanging drums were struck with a heavy beat. Maeda Toshie and two other young household retainers hoisted a gigantic "pointing object" up the platform—a five-meter pole topped with a huge, gold-lacquered paper-mâché copper coin, upon which four large characters were written: "Yongle Tongbao."

The lower-level samurai, Lang Faction, and ashigaru all gazed up at this massive copper coin, exclaiming in unison. Harano also craned his neck for a look, at a loss for words for a moment—this thing was a mounted standard, also called a "mare-mark," used to signal where the commander was on the field; in the chaos of battle, it served as the army’s rallying point. Sure, hoisting it up now made sense, but he hadn’t expected Oda Nobunaga to pull such a wild move!

It really was a bold move—seems Oda Nobunaga not only kept changing his given name, but also switched up his family crest, array banners, mounted standards, and all the things that signified his identity. Unveiling them now showed he was taking this battle seriously—apart from that one time during his coming-of-age ceremony when he played at commanding troops for show, this was probably his first real battle in charge.

Sure enough, the array banners that followed weren’t the "Five Melon Flags," and certainly not the "Butterfly Banner" that Dan Zhengzhong’s house usually flew. Instead, it was a white banner marked with black lines—bearing the Yongle Copper Coin. Looks like Oda Nobunaga has decided that from now on, he’s going to charge onto the battlefield under the copper coin—hard to say what’s going on in that head of his.

Maybe, he just wants everyone to know he’s loaded?

Finally, it was time for Oda Nobunaga himself to appear. He too wore top-of-the-line armor, though much of it was lacquered red. His helmet sported a peacock plume on either side, sticking out like twin ponytails—utterly flamboyant, leaving people speechless. Even so, his expression was all excitement, eyes glinting red as he gazed down at his troops, mouth working as if he had a thousand things to say but just couldn’t get the words out.

Leading the army to smash the enemy—this, no doubt, had been his dream since he was a child. Now that it was within his grasp, his emotions were roiling. At last, under everyone’s gaze and the ever-quickening beat of the hanging drum, he drew his long saber, pointed it skyward, and asked in a hoarse voice: "Gentlemen, are you ready to die?!"

The middle-aged samurai below the stage were momentarily stunned, but the young lower-level samurai and Lang Faction responded in a flash, raising their long spears and shouting aloud, every face alight with excitement. From the looks of it, Oda Nobunaga held serious prestige among the younger men—they truly seemed ready to die for him.

Getting such a loyal reply from his troops, Oda Nobunaga looked even more fired up. With a mighty slash of his blade, he announced the order to attack: "Advance—on to East Tsubono!"

"Oh!" The Lang Faction and ashigaru echoed in unison, then began marching off in order under the command of their samurai leaders. The more than a hundred armored elite vanguard troops set out first as scouts, followed by the drum corps: Lang Faction in pairs—one carrying the drum on his back, the other striking it in rhythm to keep the marching pace.

Behind them came the big war drum, carried by four men—probably for use in battle, but not being played just yet. The Lang Faction assigned to blow the Dharma Conch were mixed in with the drum corps, setting out together.

After that was the huge mass of Lang Faction, forming the ashigaru spear companies. For now, they weren’t armored up—just hefting their spears, more than two ken long, onto their shoulders. The spears stood dense as a forest, swaying with every step, exuding a murderous aura.

Trailing the spear ashigaru were squads of ashigaru archers; behind them, the mass of pack-laden ashigaru who carried everyone’s armor and gear.

As for the grand general, Oda Nobunaga...

Oda Nobunaga was saying his farewells to the circle of retainers: the family elder, Lin Xiuzhen, stood by expressionless with hands folded, while Hirata Masahide wore a worried face, grabbing Oda Nobunaga and fussing over him. Nobunaga, however, looked impatient and snapped back in a low voice from time to time.

Harano gave them a glance but didn’t think much of it. Looking back around, he spotted a mid-ranking samurai on horseback waving that he could move out. So he quickly ordered his own "ox cart squad" to follow the ashigaru at the rear of the column, and they too set off for the battlefield at East Tsubono.