Warring States Survival Guide
Chapter 200 - 138: How many lives will it take to exchange for this?

Chapter 200: Chapter 138: How many lives will it take to exchange for this?

Harano waited another two days before receiving new information from Ah Man, finally understanding how Oda Nobunaga managed to capture Qingzhou City so easily—Oda Nobunaga’s own third uncle, the Lord of Shoushan City, Oda Nobuaki, is an unparalleled ruthless man.

It was obvious that Oda Nobunaga would not let go of Qingzhou City. Oda Nobuyoshi and his household elders under him were very clear about this, but after losing twice to Oda Nobunaga, taking massive losses at Zhenyuan Temple in Anshi Village—over thirty samurai killed—and with Zhenyuan Temple, which covered their flank, burned to the ground, even defending the city had become difficult. So the Oda Family of Qingzhou had completely lost hope of defeating Oda Nobunaga.

So they came up with a crooked plan: to directly win over one of Oda Nobunaga’s most important members—his third uncle, the Lord of Shoushan City, Oda Nobuaki.

The price they offered was generous: as long as Oda Nobuaki was willing to cooperate in killing Oda Nobunaga, the Qingzhou Oda Family would support him in becoming the new family head of the Oda Danjo Chonosuke house, and would honor him as the "Little Guardian of Owari"—which is to say, the Lower Four Provinces of Owari would be split again, with two provinces given to him, along with the Qingzhou South Tower, formerly inhabited by the Hoshina family.

This could be called a blood price, allowing Oda Nobuaki to ascend in one step, and Oda Nobuaki seemed unable to resist the temptation: after thinking for a while, he directly agreed.

The Qingzhou Oda Family was still uneasy. After all, they had too much at stake and too much risk, so they demanded Oda Nobuaki swear a "Pledge Before the Gods": if he broke the pledge, he and all his bloodline descendants would forever be cursed and die wretched deaths.

Oda Nobuaki was a straightforward man as well, not refusing at all. He swore before the gods right in front of the Qingzhou Oda Family, and then the two houses united to prepare a scheme-within-a-scheme, planning to lure and kill Oda Nobunaga—Oda Nobuaki would go to inform Oda Nobunaga that the Qingzhou Oda Family was trying to turn him, and offered to pretend to be swayed, thus providing an opportunity to enter Qingzhou City and open the city gates; Oda Nobunaga would only need to bring an elite, small force to rush over at top speed, seize the chance to launch a surprise attack, and take this prime stronghold of the Lower Four Provinces of Owari with ease.

In truth, once Oda Nobunaga led his elite inside, the two houses would immediately surround him and kill him in the city.

This was to use Qingzhou City as bait to get rid of Oda Nobunaga once and for all. Once the disaster of the Lower Four Provinces of Owari was eliminated, everyone could finally breathe easy.

Oda Nobuaki fully cooperated, carrying out the plan—and then... that was it. The fake undercover turned true, actually opened the gates of Qingzhou City, truly let Oda Nobunaga in—let him in ahead of time no less. Then the two houses together surrounded and slaughtered the Qingzhou Oda Family. In the end, most of their household retainers died in battle, some escaped back to their own lands to resist stubbornly, some fled and defected to the Imagawa family to plot future vengeance. Family head Oda Nobuyoshi was trapped in his residence and, in despair, committed seppuku.

Reading the detailed intelligence, Harano didn’t know what to say for a moment. The Qingzhou Oda Family was powerless against the ever-stronger Oda Nobunaga; after losing twice and having their Castle Town burned twice, a third time would be the end. So, trying to lure and kill Oda Nobunaga—this he could understand, but as for the scheme they used...

It’s not that it couldn’t work—Oda Nobunaga trusted his third uncle deeply. If Oda Nobuaki truly wanted to betray him, the plan had some real chance of success. It’s just that Oda Nobuaki could be so ruthless to himself, even treating the Pledge Before the Gods like farting—in this age, that makes him the real deal. The Pledge Before the Gods, if compared to China, is akin to "swearing by the Luo River"—a vow sworn to one’s ancestral guardian deity. Breaking it meant becoming "shunned by the gods", the family losing all protection, with their reputation reeking to high heaven.

Even many modern people, though highly educated and aware of "feudal superstition", wouldn’t lightly swear before gods or Buddhas. For an ancient person to dare do so, and even drag their descendants into an everlasting curse, yet still dare to break the vow outright—the psychological pressure must have been immense.

All one can say is that the Qingzhou Oda Family died both wronged and not. They didn’t want to die a slow death and gambled on a risk, but they ran into a real hard case—so they kicked the bucket, and Oda Nobunaga picked up a great bargain, taking Qingzhou City at practically no cost.

After finishing the report, Harano sighed for a moment, then felt a pang of disappointment before asking Ah Man, who had just arrived by boat, "Has Oda Nobunaga noticed our irregular movements?"

Ah Man looked exhausted. She’d been ordered to sit tight at Wanjin, cut off all contact, observe Oda Nobunaga’s movements to decide whether to trigger the emergency plan, as well as supervise the transit of personnel and supplies. She hardly dared sleep, dead tired—even a nap on the boat hadn’t helped, and now she was dazed and groggy: "Not for now. He’s busy moving his residence to Qingzhou City, ordering a purge of Oda Nobuyoshi’s remaining followers around Qingzhou, and straightening out local affairs. He’s got no time to bother with us at the moment."

"What about Nagano Castle—what does he plan to do with it?"

"I heard he handed it to Oda Nobuaki," Ah Man said, eyebrows drooping as she forced herself to stay awake. "Oda Nobunaga also publicly promised to co-rule the Lower Four Provinces of Owari with Oda Nobuaki as reward for his extraordinary feat, but Oda Nobuaki didn’t accept it. He kept refusing to even take over Nagano Castle, but after repeatedly declining, he finally had no choice and agreed to move his residence from Shoushan City to Nagano Castle."

Harano nodded lightly. Making Oda Nobuaki the City Lord of Nagano Castle—this was certainly a weighty reward and a sign of absolute trust. Oda Nobuaki did wager his whole family on that oath, so it wasn’t without payoff. And this ought to be good news: Oda Nobunaga’s busy moving out, Oda Nobuaki’s busy moving in, which means neither will notice any abnormality at Wanjin for a while, allowing plenty of time to empty Wanjin without major issues.

This is as good as it gets!

He then asked for specifics on Wanjin, confirming that nearly all personnel had been transferred, with most of the military police brought over as well—leaving only a shell behind, just a small squad of military police to guard the docks and warehouses and keep the supply line open. Now feeling at ease, he sent Ah Man, who had completed her vital task, off to sleep—once rested, she’d resume as foreman, boosting construction speed.

Ah Man didn’t say a word, just lay down on the spot. The whole place was a massive construction site now, with everyone back in shanties. Harano’s own place was the only one that looked halfway decent, so Ah Man couldn’t be bothered looking for another spot—she just slept here.

Harano didn’t mind. He casually draped a coat over her stomach. He felt the plan might not have achieved the ideal result—after all, it took the enemy seven or eight days to discover them, and with Oda Nobunaga and the Qingzhou Oda Family locked in mortal combat, digging into Oda’s old lair just wasn’t possible—but though not perfect, nothing in this world ever is. This was good enough!

Next, it was all about hard power.

If he could hold out, he’d have freedom, autonomy, and lay a solid foundation for his ultimate plans; if not, the past year would be for nothing, and he just might end up switching careers to water thief on the islands.

......

Asahina Taisuke (Hirakawa Kusuke) was the Grand General stationed at the Owari front for the Imagawa family. Frankly, he didn’t care much about Chita County—the local great clan warriors were a joke, a bunch of fence-sitters who’d switch sides at the whiff of power, wholly untrustworthy. Once Imagawa took Owari, the Chita Peninsula would have to be purged and replaced with samurai from Jumogawa Province—men far more reliable. For now, though, they still needed their annual tribute to provide for the Bai Chuan Pass defensive line, so he left them alone.

Previously, clan chiefs like the Takeda family came to beg for aid, complaining that Oda Nobunaga kept sending men to abduct their people, but for that petty matter, he’d not only ignored them—he’d scolded them, telling them to sort out their own problems and stop bothering him. This time, it was different: the Oda Family had actually sent people to the Chita Peninsula to build a fortress.

He had no idea what kind of lunatic move this was—made zero sense—but if the Oda Family actually pulled this off, it would plant a nail in their back, giving rise to the real possibility of being pinched from both sides. At the very least, it’d stir up endless trouble on their flank, making it hard to focus on breaking the Oda lines.

So this time, Asahina Taisuke took the threat seriously. He’d even heard the Oda Family’s crack "Oda Iron Cannon Team" had shown up, so this was no joke. He began massing elite troops, sent orders for the local great families to mobilize, and planned to wipe out the enemy in one stroke—in his mind, driving them off would be easy, but to achieve real merit, he had to utterly annihilate the enemy on the Chita Peninsula. If he could even capture a few hundred iron cannons—worth tens of thousands of kan in silver—he’d make a killing, and might be made Lord of a City on the spot.

Resolved to fight a war of annihilation, he led 1,500 men southward, picking up local warriors, gathering food, horses, and wagons along the way. It took less than ten days to reach Oya Castle. He didn’t even bother with the obligatory welcome banquets, instead going personally to scout the enemy—and after a single glance from afar, he was dumbfounded. Turning to the Oya family’s patriarch, he asked, incredulous, "How long have they been here?"

Looking at this, he’d believe it if they said the enemy had been here for a whole year!

The Oya family’s patriarch had just returned with the army as well, hadn’t even spoken to his own retainers yet. Staring at the scene before them, he too was dazed, mumbling in disbelief, "Not... not fifteen days... It shouldn’t even be fifteen days yet, this..."

But even as he spoke, he could hardly believe it himself. Where once there was nothing but wild fields, now suddenly stood a gleaming, brand-new Stone City. Only the castle wall tops were oddly covered with a layer of wet hemp cloth—other than that, it was a splendid fortress, built entirely of stone, the kind of extravagance hard to imagine.

And on a nearby hill not far from this "Stone City", had risen a rock fortress of the same fine stonework and beauty. At the moment, a crowd milled around the rock fortress, frantically digging away—making life even harder for any would-be attackers.

On the riverbank beyond the other side of the city, things were even stranger—two small rock fortresses, mutually supporting each other, had appeared in slightly rear positions, both within range of covering fire from the odd "Stone City."

This...

Less than fifteen days ago, there was nothing here!

He was at a loss—just couldn’t wrap his head around what had happened. The city and fortresses seemed to have dropped from the sky. Asahina Taisuke’s face darkened too—a field battle and a siege are two very different things. Now that the other side suddenly had city walls and fortresses, how many lives was it going to take to breach them?