Warring States Survival Guide
Chapter 192 - 132: Now There Are 3 Enemies!

Chapter 192: Chapter 132: Now There Are 3 Enemies!

"Bastard!" Takeda Hyoeimon slammed his fist hard on the table, another wave of dizziness hit him, his throat tasted metallic, and the second half of his sentence—"damn Nozawa family"—couldn’t even make it out of his mouth.

He’d thought the enemy kidnapping an entire village would be the end of it, so he just sent more men to bolster defenses at the enemy’s landing point. Turned out it was useless. In less than a month, the enemy was back again, only this time they came ashore at a much more distant spot, marched rapidly, surrounded yet another of his villages, and began openly moving people away, not even bothering to block the gates of Takeda Castle anymore.

And what was worse, even though the enemy wasn’t blocking the gates, he didn’t dare leave the castle to fight them in open field, didn’t dare try to rescue the commoners that had been kidnapped.

He stewed in humiliation for a while. He was weaker, nothing more to say, so he had no choice but to take out some valuables and send an envoy over, putting on his best begging face and pleading for mercy. But not long after, the envoy returned—enemy hadn’t touched any of the gifts, just politely sent back a message: "If you want peace talks, go talk to the Lord of Upper General (Oda Nobunaga)."

Hearing this, Takeda Hyoeimon was left completely helpless. He could only watch with open eyes as the enemy cleaned out a bigger village, dragging off almost five hundred more people and sailing away again.

Takeda Hyoeimon was so angry he coughed up blood again. The enemy came by boat, not afraid of muddy shores, appearing and disappearing like ghosts. There was no way to defend against it. After all, he couldn’t keep all his people locked up inside the castle—someone had to farm the land. So, he quickly contacted his in-laws, explained the situation, and asked for help. Family ties in this era still meant something—neighbors would generally help each other out. Seeing the Takeda Family getting thrashed by outsiders, they all sent troops to assist. Soon, more than five hundred Lang Faction soldiers gathered at Takeda Castle, lying in wait for Harano to try raiding again.

At the same time, Takeda Hyoeimon wrote a letter to his most important in-law, Lin Xiuzhen, hoping he could think of something to rein in the lawless Nozawa family.

......

Harano didn’t plan to move any more villagers for the time being. This time, a big village was cleaned out, and nearly five hundred people would take a while to assimilate—longer than last time. After all, the labor teams and workshops were all filled with newcomers, and he couldn’t shove any more into the barracks; not enough jobs, and money and food were tight. He needed to find a way to expand the workshops, boost output, and build more infrastructure.

He figured it’d be at least two or three months before he raided the Takeda Family for the next village or batch of migrants. By then, his territory should see a major expansion, only then would he hit the next labor shortage.

Sitting on deck in the sea breeze, watching the sun set over the waves, he mentally calculated how much Wanjin’s fighting strength would increase once these people were integrated. Would it be enough to grab a piece of the Chita Peninsula? Enough to take on the Imagawa family head-to-head? Lost in thought, he suddenly remembered something and turned to ask Ah Man, "By the way, why isn’t your grandfather here yet?"

Ah Man had already openly declared she was going to "rebel" and take over as the leader of the Life-saving Style herself. Logically, her grandfather should’ve rushed over from Minoh like lightning, booted this rebellious granddaughter to the moon. But it’d been almost four months now—even if he’d crawled the whole way, he should’ve arrived by now. So why was there still no sign of the old man?

Really got his hopes up for nothing!

Ah Man was happily munching on roasted shipworms, a delicacy unique to the age of wooden ships. Legend had it eating them brought good luck—you wouldn’t drown if you fell overboard. They were a premium tribute from Wanyu, the "temporary navy commander," to Harano. Harano wasn’t too fond of seafood though, so they wound up in Ah Man’s stomach.

She was eating with gusto, heard Harano’s question, and didn’t care in the slightest. She answered offhandedly, "Probably got caught up with something in Minoh, or took on some tricky task he can’t get away from right now. I heard things aren’t exactly peaceful there either. Whatever, just wait. Sooner or later, he’ll come find me; I’m his legitimate heir after all. He’ll have to rely on me for his retirement."

"Alright, whatever!" Harano shrugged helplessly. He was just disappointed he couldn’t get Ah Man’s grandfather to help train the new army. As Ah Man told it, the old man was still a force to be reckoned with—even if his stamina wasn’t what it used to be, he could still go toe-to-toe with Shinjiwan, and it was hard to say who’d win. Most likely a Sword Master Level guy, exactly the type Harano admired. He really wanted Ah Man’s grandpa to help train the new army’s spear and swordsmanship.

Even if he refused to help with training, just having such a figure around as a household guardian would be great. The fact that he still hadn’t shown up was a real letdown.

......

Losing one "Advanced Technical and Tactical Guidance" wouldn’t break the big picture, and Harano, regret aside, kept pushing his plans, working hard to improve his own strength. After returning, he shifted his energy to domestic affairs, expanded the dye houses on a massive scale, increasing both facilities and production. All so he could get more readily available money and food—the cloth dyed with modern techniques sold extremely well. Kaido Town, Kyoto, all the trendy spots went crazy for it; even remote regions of the North Land reportedly had it by now. The fabric’s colors were bright and vibrant, didn’t fade after washing, so it was hugely popular locally. Even large-scale production increases weren’t an issue—there was never a shortage of buyers.

At the same time, he kept moving up the industrial chain. With so many new women in Wanjin, he simply organized a small textile workshop, set standards, and encouraged teamwork, so they could weave and dye their own cloth. It saved on cloth purchases and squeezed out a bit more profit.

Most importantly, though, he was providing jobs—letting these women support themselves, which made his own burdens lighter.

The new army kept taking in fresh recruits. His initial goal was to fill frontline combat forces to five hundred men. That way, in defensive battles, unless the Imagawa family sent more than two thousand elite Lang Faction soldiers and heaps of Ashigaru to the Chita Peninsula, he was confident he could hold a small patch of territory—long enough to drain the enemy’s resources and force them to acknowledge his rule.

Another month went by and autumn began. He got word that the forces supporting Takeda Castle had scattered again—the Lang Faction soldiers and Ashigaru had to go home for the harvest, and there was no way to make them stay. So he took another opportunity to march out, only this time he didn’t kidnap many people. He just randomly cut down some of Takeda Family’s grain, set the fields ablaze, and left. No sense letting the Takeda Family sit on surplus grain and keep inviting reinforcements over for dinner—might mess up his next kidnapping mission.

At the same time, Ah Man’s long-standing efforts finally paid off. The "Wanjin East Depot" finally managed to plant a spy inside the Lin Family. Though it was only an ordinary Lang Faction member from a lesser samurai house, no chance of getting at the big secrets yet, but he could at least indirectly pry out some internal news about the Lin Family. Supposedly Lin Xiuzhen hated them even more now, but at present, he had lost power. In Oda Danjo Chonosuke’s house, he couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Even watching his in-laws getting beat senseless, he could only endure it for now—no actions, and definitely no humiliating himself by talking to his enemies.

Harano didn’t care what he did; just kept moving at his own pace. He also organized a full-time logistics unit, and continued expanding the navy, making sure he had enough transport capacity on the west side of the Chita Peninsula. At the same time, he started equipping the navy with Iron Cannons, just in case enemy ships tried to challenge them someday.

He was also busy forging copies of this era’s weapons. He began prototyping a bigger-caliber Iron Cannon—the "National Collapse Type One"—to replace artillery, strengthen his long-range and siege capabilities.

By the time all this was done, typhoon season was over. He set out against the Takeda Family once more, but this time, the Takeda Family got serious. Somehow, they convinced the neighboring Ebina and Oya Families to pitch in, scraped together nearly three hundred samurai Lang Faction soldiers and five or six hundred Ashigaru. When they discovered Harano’s new raid, they swiftly rallied and gave chase, pursuing him all the way to the shoreline, where a fierce battle broke out.

This was the first proper open-field battle since the formation of the new army. Three hundred new troops, plus a dozen military police and forty-plus armed sailors, faced off directly against over eight hundred enemy "Lang Faction + Ashigaru." In the end, Harano’s side broke the enemy’s main Lang Faction force at the cost of nine dead and more than forty wounded, killing nearly two hundred enemy soldiers on the spot. The rest utterly collapsed, with the Ashigaru panicking and fleeing for home.

Harano didn’t hesitate—chased right after the Oya Family, raided one of their villages too, and together with the Ashigaru he picked up along the way, gathered over eight hundred people before heading back to camp on the coast, hauling them home to Wanjin in batches.

From then on, his robbery targets grew from one to three families. And as his own territory filled with more people, his capacity to absorb them only increased. Soon he was visiting all three families whenever he felt like it—random landings, hauling off whoever he pleased. He only took nice big intact families; any strays or singles he let go with instructions to gather everyone together next time so he could grab the whole lot at once.

By the lunar year’s end, a whole stretch of Ise Bay’s coastline owned by these three families was basically "flattened" by him—he came and went as if it was his own home. The three Patriarchs took turns spitting blood in frustration, with each household losing, on average, about half their population. Wanjin’s own headcount finally broke 4,500, and the jumbled-up military under Harano’s control finally hit more than seven hundred, all five hundred field combat posts filled.

Harano finally understood why samurai loved fighting so much when bored—raiding was definitely more efficient than farming. But for now, he was satisfied. The remaining population of the three families had all holed up in their castles, making them tough nuts to crack, so for the time being, he settled down again—quietly biding his time, waiting for the moment he could seize his true domain.