The Self-Cultivation of Warring States Warriors

Page 115

Two days later, we gradually learned the specifics of the situation.

At that time, the main forces of Tanba and Tango were fighting in the Kyoda area. After a fierce battle, Isshiki Yoshimichi was defeated and fled westward, and Naito Munekatsu pursued him.

But just as both sides' lines broke apart, hundreds of well-equipped and highly motivated remnants of Hosokawa Harumoto's forces suddenly appeared out of nowhere and launched an attack on the Tanba army, instantly changing the course of the battlefield.

Naito Munekatsu was completely unprepared for this surprise attack and found himself on the defensive, forced to retreat. Isshiki Yoshimichi, however, gained a respite, launched a final counterattack, and achieved an unbelievable reversal.

Both sides suffered significant troop losses in this battle and are temporarily unable to continue fighting, but overall, the Tango army gained a slight advantage.

Then Shinsaburo couldn't help but ask—

Hosokawa Harumoto has already been placed under house arrest, his eldest son has been taken hostage by the Miyoshi family, and his core general Miyoshi Masayasu has defected to the light. How could there still be any remnants of his faction?

Then I heard that the banner they were carrying read "Hosokawa Harumoto-dono no Goji-on" (Second Son of Hosokawa Harumoto-dono).

This refers to Hosokawa Harumoto's youngest son, who stayed with the Rokkaku family in Omi. He's eleven years old now, and it's unclear whether he's had his coming-of-age ceremony (gakufu) yet. However, even if he did, no one would know his daimyo, so it's better for him to simply call himself "Goji-onna" (御次男).

It seems that the Rokkaku family probably has a stake in this matter.

You know what, Hosokawa Harumoto held the reins of power for more than ten years. Although his power base was not solid, he had established deep "favors" with many people, and his reputation still had a lot of appeal.

Especially in Settsu, Tanba, and Yamashiro, the three traditional territories of the Hosokawa Kyōchō family. Many local lords nominally belonged to Naito Munekatsu's command, but secretly they may still harbor lingering feelings of loyalty.

The leader of this group of "remnants" was Motonari Konishi, a former deputy to Masayasu Miyoshi. His military abilities were considerable, and he was already accustomed to fighting against overwhelming odds, possessing extensive experience in escape, infiltration, and surprise attacks. His method of entering the battlefield this time remains unknown; Shinzaburo personally speculates that he may have disguised himself as a member of Isshiki Yoshimichi's Koho unit, or perhaps a merchant accompanying the army.

Generally speaking, such a talented person should definitely be appointed as a high-ranking general; it would be a waste to let him operate behind enemy lines. However, now that Xiangxi Motonari's forces have lost all their land, they naturally cannot organize a large army and can only gather a group of ronin who have lost their land.

Even at this point, their loyalty remains unwavering; they are practically paragons of righteousness, like Shikasuke in the mountains. But even righteous heroes cannot acquire supplies and equipment out of thin air; they must have the support of foreign powers behind them.

Shinzaburo wrote to Naito Munekatsu again to inquire about the details, and was surprised to find that it was also related to him.

According to eyewitnesses, this group of so-called "Hosokawa Harumoto remnants" were mainly remnants of the Hatano family in Tanba-taki District, but also included many Wakasa samurai who had lost their territory.

This suggests that Echizen Asakura may have been involved.

Shinzaburo secretly strengthened security, led his troops back to Wakasa, sent a letter towards Kyoto, and awaited the central government's response.

Unexpectedly, bad news arrived.

Miyoshi Masayasu replaced the estranged Miyoshi Yoshikata in Kawachi Province, finally ending the awkward situation of lacking a commander. However, many local forces, such as the Negoro clan of Kii Province and the Uda Sansho of Yamato Province, raised the banner of opposition against the Miyoshi clan and participated in the war, causing tension to rise on all fronts in the Kinai region.

Miyoshi Nagayoshi had gradually handed over political affairs to his son and entered a semi-retired state. Now, he had no choice but to put on his armor again after a long time, mount his warhorse, and lead his hatamoto army to provide support and boost morale.

Under these circumstances, the issues concerning Tanba, Tango, and Wakasa would no longer be on the agenda. It would be even less likely that they would turn against Omi Rokkaku or Echizen Asakura and go to war.

Shinzaburo had a vague feeling that there was one or more hidden figures plotting behind the scenes, but he didn't know who they were.

In my past life, as an ordinary enthusiast researching historical materials, I thought it was likely that the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru orchestrated the siege of the Miyoshi clan. But in this life, it doesn't seem that way at all.

Who would that be?

He must be a shrewd enemy!

……

The overall development of the situation is similar to Shinzaburo's memories from his previous life.

After the Miyoshi clan made peace with Ashikaga Yoshiteru, they avoided their weakness in terms of legitimacy and actively advanced on all fronts, triggering an encirclement. Religious forces and local samurai from Kawachi, Kii, and Yamato provinces united under the banner of the prestigious Hatakeyama family and launched a powerful offensive. The Rokkaku of Omi, which was in decline, also responded to the call, and even the Asakura of Echizen, the Mori of Aki, the Kono of Iyo, the Saito of Mino, and the Kitabatake of Ise were indirectly involved.

Currently, the main differences from the "official storyline" lie in the Hokuriku and San'in regions.

Historically, despite receiving support from the Settsu army, Matsunaga Nagayori was defeated in a direct confrontation by the Echizen Asakura clan. He was then preoccupied with affairs in the Kinai region and was never able to make a comeback. In the end, all the effort he had put into Wakasa and Tango provinces was in vain.

Now that Shinzaburo is here, the situation is completely different.

The Miyoshi family's situation is better now, but their conflict with Echizen Asakura has deepened, and they have more potential enemies.

Although they have a certain advantage in knowing what's going on, they cannot be completely at ease.

Shinzaburo's biggest concern right now is that Wakasa will also be disturbed by "foreign forces," which will lead to the loss of the newly acquired territories in northwestern Tango, and in turn trigger a chain of adverse reactions.

Now, Isshiki Yoshimichi, the de facto ruler of Tango, whether by luck or by genuine ability, has defeated Naito Munekatsu, the "Governor of Tango," and will likely seize the opportunity to reclaim lost territory.

Unexpectedly, after a period of tension, I heard some good news.

Isshiki Yoshimichi was indeed ambitious. When he heard that the Kubo army had captured Takefusa Castle head-on and then persuaded the defenders of Yuchi Castle to retreat without bloodshed, he was furious and ordered his men to kill the old monk Kiyosada, who acted as an intermediary, and Nomura Kenmono, who had ceded the castle.

As a result, the old monk Seishi was dragged out of the temple and beheaded, but Nomura Kenmon escaped alive under the desperate cover of the Lang faction. He then ran to Itsumi Masatsune, who was left behind, and begged for the protection of Kubo Yoshiaki.

Logically speaking, military officers who unilaterally made peace should indeed be punished.

The problem is that Tango's authority over the Isshiki family has long been weak, and the current legitimate heir is a five-year-old child named Chimatsumaru. Isshiki Yoshimichi is merely a temporary head of the family as a member of the clan, and his violent and aggressive nature, coupled with his poor interpersonal skills, means he doesn't have a high level of support.

Moreover, even if execution is necessary, it should be done according to the rules, allowing the individual to commit suicide and then letting their descendants or relatives inherit the family business. This aligns with the mainstream values ​​of our time.

Murdering the monk who acted as an intermediary is an even greater transgression.

Riding on the momentum of his lucky defeat of Naito Munekatsu, the "Governor of Dan Province," Isshiki Yoshimichi might have been able to suppress the matter if he had actually killed Nomura Kenmono. But since he failed to kill him, it sowed the seeds of considerable future trouble.

Shinzaburo was overjoyed upon learning of this and immediately issued orders to protect Nomura Kensuke and to extend his condolences to the erotic monk Seisho at Junya-ji Temple.

In the future, when fighting in the Kumano and Takeno districts of Tango Province, it's hard to say who will be on home ground and who will be away!

Isshiki Yoshimichi may indeed possess extraordinary martial prowess, but from a political perspective, he is utterly a foolish enemy.

217 It's all the fault of foreign forces.

Since the remnants of Hosokawa Harumoto's faction appeared, Shinzaburo, fearing unrest within his territory, has deliberately increased patrols on the main roads. After all, he had stripped seven or eight Wakasa samurai families of their titles and sent them to Echizen; if those people were to easily sneak back, who knew how much trouble they might cause?

Of particular concern is the potential for trade routes to be disrupted.

Due to historical reasons, the Kubo family did not hold many directly controlled territories and relied heavily on the transport of money from their official merchants. According to the most basic principle of equal rights and responsibilities, if you receive money, you naturally have an obligation to ensure the smooth flow of trade; otherwise, the ruling system will be shaken.

Meanwhile, Shinzaburo sent people to Kyoto to investigate the higher-ups' stance on the "Hosokawa Harumoto remnants" matter, and confirmed once again that neither the shogunate nor the Miyoshi family wanted to shift the conflict onto Omi Rokkaku and Echizen Asakura.

In other words, for the time being, we can only passively defend against the enemy.

Shinzaburo didn't feel anxious at all.

You've already used the Miyoshi family's influence to drive a bunch of native "Wakasa clan" people out of their home, so aren't you going to let them put up a fight?

Let's each rely on our own abilities.

However, the way things turned out was somewhat unexpected.

It seems that the so-called "remnants of Hosokawa Harumoto's faction" mainly focused their efforts on Tanba, while Wakasa did not encounter any major troubles, but instead faced some minor conspiracies.

The victorious return from Tango occurred in the sixth month of the lunar calendar, and it was almost autumn of the second year of Eiroku (1559). Immediately after the autumn harvest was the most important annual tribute payment, which most samurai families relied on for their livelihood.

That's when things changed.

……

The root of the problem lies in the method of collecting annual tribute.

The Kubo family's direct retainers all used the same system as their lord, which involved first estimating the total output and then collecting money and grain at a fixed rate.

Meanwhile, the local samurai in Wakasa mostly followed the old ways, assigning a fixed amount to each village according to custom, but the actual collection rate was unclear and fluctuated greatly.

Shinzaburo only set rough military service standards for the newly conquered areas, limiting them to the total number of people and the number of "Yuzu-shu" (a type of military unit), without making any other requirements.

Furthermore, due to the ongoing war over the past two years, the population of Wakasa has decreased, and some poorly priced lands have been abandoned. Consequently, the lords need to find ways to bring in new immigrants.

If the new immigrants are from overseas, then of course everyone is happy.

However, if it were a local resident of Wakasa who secretly moved from one lord's territory to another, that would be a bad situation.

Unfortunately, this unfortunate thing happened.

Yasukawa Village in Mikata District has always belonged to Katsuhisa Awaya, and last year it received a "certificate of trust" from Shinzaburo. For some unknown historical reason, the tax burden in this area seems to be somewhat high, and many farmers have to pay extra interest due to outstanding debts.

The neighboring Kamiya Village was a "new favor" received by Oyamada Nobumura a year ago. At that time, the old practices of the previous lord were abolished, and the annual tribute standards were re-established with greater preferential treatment. Moreover, the village was somewhat short of labor, with twenty or thirty barren dry fields lying idle.

Some time ago, six villagers from Anchuan Village secretly built thatched huts in Kamiya Village and moved their meager belongings there, seemingly planning to move after harvesting this year's rice. Unfortunately, they were reported to the authorities.

Katsuhisa Awaya and Nobumura Oyamada argued for a while and could not reach an agreement on the matter. However, they maintained a certain degree of restraint and decided to file a lawsuit and let Yoshiaki Shirokubo, the governor of Wakasa, make the decision.

The corresponding reports were quickly submitted, turning it into a troublesome matter.

Both sides feel that the other is at fault, making the situation difficult to resolve.

Katsuhisa Awaya was a typical conservative samurai who believed that continuing the traditional annual tribute was a matter of course and was not very considerate of the feelings of his subjects. On the contrary, Nobumura Oyamada, having once lost his territory and become a leader of displaced people, was more benevolent to the lower classes and always opposed excessive exploitation.

According to Japanese custom, farmers who relocate without permission are generally repatriated. However, there are three specific approaches to this process.

The first and most direct approach is to respect the lords' right to set their own tax standards and to crack down hard on those "troublemakers" who refuse to be obedient servants.

The second scenario involves accusing the low-tax lord of being a treacherous opportunist and imposing heavy fines. To pay these fines, the low-tax lord is then forced to raise taxes, thus discouraging the people from migrating.

The third method involves accusing the high-tax leader of being tyrannical and greedy, ordering a reduction in annual tribute and the forgiveness of old debts, and then using this as a condition to persuade the people who have already moved to return to their homeland.

No matter which option you choose, there always seems to be something wrong with it.

The first option would provoke resentment among the farmers, the second option would cause Oyamada Nobumura to lose face, and the third option would affect Awaya Katsuhisa's loyalty.

Oyamada Nobumura's influence in the samurai circle wasn't that great, but he was arguably the most supportive local of the Kubo family, and should be the one to be bought with a fortune. How could he be punished so easily?

Katsuhisa Awaya has always adhered to traditional principles and is highly respected in the eastern half of Wakasa Province. He also worked very hard in the previous campaign against Tango, so it is not advisable to reprimand him rashly.

……

Upon receiving the report, Shinzaburo, though troubled, did not panic. Instead, he carefully investigated the details and made a decisive judgment: "This must be the fault of foreign forces!"

Only two retainers were present at the time.

One is Katsura Yoshinobu, who claims to be an illegitimate son of the Ashikaga family, and the other is Manmatsu Yoshikiyo, who claims to be an illegitimate son of the Isshiki family. Both of them are cultured people recruited by Nagono Takatoki, and they seem to be relatively reliable so far.

Previously, their tasks were mainly diplomatic, such as contacting courtiers and monks in Kyoto, helping the Kubo family gain momentum, and gathering information. But in those days, samurai who could handle diplomacy could also handle domestic affairs, it just depended on whether they were willing to do so.

In the past, Shinzaburo relied on two main talents for domestic affairs: Gokurakuji Josuke, Kobayashi Nagamitsu, and Hata Masanobu. These two were from Tanba and were essentially subordinate to both Naito and Kubo, which ultimately made them somewhat inconvenient to use in certain situations.

Therefore, in addition to personally overseeing this investigation, Shinzaburo also involved Katsura Yoshinobu and Manmatsu Yoshikiyo.

The statement "This must be the fault of foreign forces" was said intentionally.

Both cultured retainers fell into deep thought upon hearing this, but did not rashly request to speak.

Shinzaburo then looked around and asked, "Do you two think my judgment is correct?"

"In my humble opinion, the possibility of foreign forces being involved is indeed quite high." Gui Yixin was rather impatient, but also very sharp-minded, and spoke in a well-organized manner: "While the taxes in Kamiya Village are certainly much lower than those in Yasukawa Village, there are only twenty or thirty plots of unused land, which is barely enough to support six households. If it were truly a spontaneous migration, they should have tried to cultivate the land first, rather than building thatched huts and moving their belongings. There's something fishy about this."

“Well said.” Shinzaburo stroked his beard and smiled, nodding. “Please continue.”

"Thank you, Lord Sado." Katsura Yoshinobu bowed modestly, then continued his eloquent speech: "Perhaps some 'virtuous person' in the area has done some work behind the scenes. The communication between ordinary people doesn't leave written records, and those six poor farmers who migrated may not be able to provide any valuable testimony, so the truth may not be easy to find out. But I believe that if there really is a foreign force, they certainly won't be satisfied with this little bit of activity and will continue to cause trouble. Therefore, we can adopt a 'go with the flow' strategy, actively escalate the conflict, and lure the mastermind behind it all out."

“That’s good. Then please have Kyosaemon (Katsura Yoshinobu’s courtesy name) devise a specific plan.”

Shinzaburo affirmed Katsura Yoshinobu's line of thought, then turned to look at Manmatsu Yoshikiyo, who seemed slightly hesitant, and smiled, "You clearly have some ideas, why don't you speak them up?"

“Uh…” Mansatsu Yoshikiyo hesitated for a moment, then lowered his eyes and said in a low voice, “I seem to have misunderstood Lord Sado’s intentions.”

"How will you know if you're wrong if you don't speak out?" Shinzaburo encouraged gently. "Besides, even if it doesn't align with my intentions, it might be better than the original plan."

“Well then, I’ll be so bold as to speak frankly.” Wan Songyi coughed twice, then carefully considered his words before saying in a serious tone, “If this matter cannot be attributed to foreign forces, then no matter how it is handled, it will not be conducive to the Kubo family’s situation. Therefore, compared to finding out the truth, it is more important to make Wakasa believe it.”

"You mean, the truth may not be believable, and what is believable may not be the truth." Gui Yixin instantly realized, then crossed his arms and fell into thought, nodding and muttering to himself, "That makes sense."

“But the truth is also very important. Even if we don’t let the people know, we can’t keep it all to ourselves.” Shinzaburo blinked and gave the order: “Both of you try according to your own ideas. Hopefully, at least one of you will succeed.”

218 Cruel Official Politics and Anti-Fraud Propaganda

"Such a heartbreaking thing has happened, and I'm afraid all three parties are responsible! It wouldn't be an exaggeration to punish the Awaya side, the Oyamada side, and the common people side."

After autumn arrives, the climate in Kohama Bay is very comfortable. The gentle sea breeze is neither too hot nor too cold, neither too dry nor too frosty, making it very pleasant.

Katsura Yoshiyuki stood before the crowd, swaying his head slowly and deliberately, delivering elegant lines in a gentle tone befitting the environment. Yet, the meaning behind his words was as cold as ice and as harsh as the scorching sun.

Katsuhisa Awaya remained silent, his expression cold and indifferent, sitting like a clay statue, expressing his resistance through silence.

Nobumura Oyamada, with his brows furrowed and fists clenched, biting his lip, his face practically screaming "wronged."

The six farmers involved were all terrified, some standing frozen in fear, others weeping bitterly, and still others drenched in sweat.

Not far away, the Aoi Rindou banner, symbolizing the Kubo family, was fluttering slowly in the wind, unaffected by human emotions.

To date, only the outline of Kohama Castle has been built, and most of the planning has not yet been completed.

However, the later stages of construction are either decorative or defensive, and will not affect the basic functions of living and working. At least it can handle domestic lawsuits from Wakasa without any problems.

Today's judge is Katsura Yoshinobu, a cultured man from Kyoto. Previously, he primarily worked in diplomacy and intelligence, and thus held little authority within the Kubo family. But now, with power in his hands, he wields his authority with impunity, displaying the arrogance of a petty, self-satisfied clerk.

"The taxes levied on the Awaya area over the years have been excessive and heavy, which is the root of the troubles. As the lord of Yasukawa Village, he probably hasn't personally gone to the countryside to inspect the situation many times. Is he perhaps thinking that out of sight, out of mind? He cannot escape the blame for his dereliction of duty."

"Oyamada's side has only been in charge of the territory for a year, yet they deliberately set lower taxes than other places and secretly recruited people from other families. Surely they don't want to weaken their colleagues' strength? Their intentions are really hard to understand."

“If the common people are truly living in poverty and unable to pay their annual tribute, they should come to Obama Castle to report to the Kubo family, or have a nearby temple or shrine convey their message. Relocating without authorization is understandable in principle, but a crime is unforgivable.”

At this point, Katsuhisa Awaya and Nobumura Oyamada exchanged a knowing glance, and a cold smile appeared on their lips at the same time.