CHAPTER 258: CHAPTER 189: ONE OF ALL BEINGS

On a May evening in Owari, the wind was brisk and cool, carrying with it a faint briny taste.

Matsudaira Motoyasu sat astride his warhorse, feeling the refreshing wind that blew from the sea onto the land. Gazing at the scattered lights twinkling atop Dagao Castle in the distance, he remained unruffled, patiently and silently awaiting news from the front.

A few days prior, the Matsudaira family had merged its force of over three thousand men into Imagawa Yoshimoto’s great army for the Shangluo campaign. Imagawa Yoshimoto, generous in command, selected a thousand of these men for Motoyasu to lead directly and assigned him a particular mission—reinforcing Dagao Castle.

The Oda Family had besieged Dagao Castle for almost two months now, but had refrained from direct assault, instead methodically destroying the outlying Rock Fortress and raiding the castle’s surrounding villages and farmlands. This had resulted in a dire shortage of provisions within Dagao Castle, making it increasingly difficult to hold out. Thus, Motoyasu’s foremost task was to break through the Oda encirclement and deliver a load of rations inside.

Now Matsudaira Motoyasu had arrived near Dagao Castle, and had already sent his most trusted Household Retainers to scout ahead and see if it might be possible to slip in under the cover of darkness.

Soon after, several bursts of fire suddenly flared up in the darkness ahead; shouts of battle and the whistle of arrows splitting the air followed. The tumult swelled, and from afar, a great blaze of illumination was cast from Marune Stronghold, under whose pale glow the garrison rained fire down onto the enemy on the distant roadway.

Ten-some minutes later, the Matsudaira vanguard withdrew. The area around Marune Stronghold fell back into quiet, and once again the Oda men melted into the night, sinking into a state of wariness and suspicion.

The Matsudaira clan’s hereditary senior retainers, Yakai Chosuke and Ishikawa Shuzo, soon trailed after and located Matsudaira Motoyasu. Yakai Chosuke reported, "My lord, the Oda Family has posted strict defenses. Trenches are dug across the main road, hidden watchers are placed everywhere—it is impossible to pass through so simply."

Matsudaira Motoyasu gazed toward Dagao Castle and fell momentarily silent.

Yakai Chosuke and Ishikawa Shuzo exchanged a glance, unsurprised by his quiet.

This young lord, only seventeen, had endured a hard life—his clan had been wracked by upheaval when he was a child, and he himself was sent as a hostage to Shimizu Castle, only to be abducted and diverted to the household of Oda Danjo Chonosuke midway, where he’d lived nearly as a prisoner for more than a year. Afterwards, he’d been traded to the Imagawa family as a bargaining chip and had lived for years under the watchful gaze of Taiyuan Xuezhai, which had turned him into a man of few words—reserved and deeply patient. He truly did not speak much.

Yakai Chosuke and Ishikawa Shuzo kept him silent company for a time, until Ishikawa Shuzo at last broke the stillness and suggested, "My lord, let us withdraw and make camp. The main army under Lord Jibu Daifu (Imagawa Yoshimoto) is not far behind us. Once Jibu Daifu’s great force arrives, the siege of Dagao Castle will resolve itself."

Matsudaira Motoyasu finally withdrew his gaze and shook his head slightly. "No. We must accomplish the task Lord Jibu Daifu has entrusted to us."

Yakai Chosuke hesitated. He felt that such loyalty was unnecessary toward the Imagawa family—ostensibly "allies," but in truth, overlords. Reluctantly, he ventured, "But this is nearly impossible. The Oda Family has stationed men everywhere—those two Rock Fortresses blocking the road hold at least twelve hundred men, and untold numbers of Ashigaru peasants. Most of the castles to the north are under Oda control, and their Family Elder Sakuma Shigetaka is personally in command here..."

In short, the Oda Family could easily muster upwards of three thousand troops in this region. Even if many were Lang Faction and Ashigaru conscripted from the Owari lords and lacked the combat strength of Oda’s direct vassals, this was by no means a force to be underestimated; should all of them move at once, they’d quickly crush their opposition.

Not to mention, they still had over a hundred packhorses, laden with four hundred and fifty bushels of hulled rice. Escaping quickly was out of the question; forcing passage through the enemy’s blockades was a herculean task.

Matsudaira Motoyasu glanced at Yakai Chosuke, and without sighing, said levelly, "Lord Yakai, I am quite aware of all this. However... Lord Jibu Daifu’s success in Shangluo is now inevitable. The Matsudaira family must demonstrate its value, must present proof of our submission. We have no other choice."

Ishikawa Shuzo and Yakai Chosuke both fell silent, unwittingly recalling the deeds Imagawa Yoshimoto had committed in the past two years: in Jumogawa and Tōtōmi, he had conducted sweeping land surveys and dramatically raised tribute and military service quotas for the local lords, executing or exiling all who dared show dissent or resistance. Some lords, even those merely suspected of harboring disloyalty, met their deaths at his hand.

Now Imagawa Yoshimoto had marched on Sanhe, and he did so with overwhelming force; soon he might rule all the land. As "vassals," it was indeed time for them to change their posture, to demonstrate their worth and total submission. Otherwise, whether the Matsudaira family could continue to exist at all would be a very open question.

Yakai Chosuke and Ishikawa Shuzo deliberated for a time, growing grave. Their eyes wandered back to Dagao Castle, and, calculating the toll it would take in lives to break through the Oda defenses, found scant hope. Oda had simply stationed far too many men here.

Matsudaira Motoyasu abruptly pointed to the north and asked, "That over there—is it Temple City?"

"Indeed, that direction leads to Temple City." The war between the Matsudaira and Oda families had raged for three generations; as a hereditary retainer, Yakai Chosuke was intimately familiar with the Owari–Sanhe borderlands, and immediately replied, "It’s a modest citadel, forty ken east-to-west and twenty ken north-to-south. What does my lord want with this place?"

"That should be where the Oda Family stores their provisions, no?" Motoyasu pressed.

Yakai Chosuke and Ishikawa Shuzo considered the matter. The Oda Family had rushed to erect their strongholds; the Rock Fortresses were small, and could hardly store much food or supplies. Clearly, they must draw provisions from nearby castles. Both nodded, "Eighteen or nineteen chances out of twenty it is so."

"Then I must trouble you both once more. Take five hundred men and attack Temple City—better yet, set it alight." Motoyasu’s tone was as calm as ever, betraying no emotion. It seemed the long years of his ’study-abroad’ life had shaped this style of speech in him.

Yakai Chosuke and Ishikawa Shuzo were both seasoned samurai, quickly grasping the gist of his plan. They spoke as one: "My lord, you mean to draw the Oda men away and then personally lead the troops and grain through to Dagao Castle?"

"Precisely."

"But..." Ishikawa Shuzo hesitated for a moment. "This is exceedingly risky. Would it not be better for my lord to command from the rear, while Lord Yakai and I attempt it ourselves?"

Matsudaira Motoyasu shook his head lightly and said softly, "We must exhibit our obedience, Lord Ishikawa. Obedience is our only path forward."

Ishikawa Shuzo thought it over, and realized nothing could demonstrate the clan’s loyalty more than the lord himself risking his life to deliver rations. He endured his misgivings and refrained from further objection.

At the same time, his gaze toward this young lord altered ever so slightly, as if he glimpsed in Motoyasu the very shadow of his grandfather—the legendary "hero of the realm" who conquered all at the age of thirty. Motoyasu was less flamboyant, less outgoing than his forebear, yet just as clever and decisive in action.

Ishikawa paused in a daze for a moment, uncertain if he was mistaken, before withdrawing his stare. He and Yakai Chosuke began to confer about operational details. In the end, they decided: Yakai Chosuke would take five hundred men and make a circuitous approach to Temple City, carrying out a grand arson as cover for an assault. Once Sakuma Shigetaka dispatched forces to reinforce it, Ishikawa Shuzo would lead three hundred men to attack the Rock Fortress from another side, drawing off the remaining defenders’ attention. Finally, Motoyasu himself would take the pack train and part of the clan’s elite Lang Faction, making a single spirited charge into Dagao Castle.

It was a crude plan in the extreme; its success would hinge on whether Sakuma Shigetaka cooperated. But with barely a thousand men, they had few alternatives. If they could not break through at night, once dawn revealed their numbers and positions to the fortresses, even this slender chance would vanish.

With the plan fixed, they immediately split up to take their assigned duties.

Matsudaira Motoyasu pressed his lips together and waited, face grave and resolute. Half an hour later, a fearsome blaze ignited in the direction of Temple City, and a rain of fire arrows cut through the night sky toward its walls. From a distance, the commotion seemed overwhelming.

Soon, at the Oda’s chief camps—Jiuzhen and Marune—activity broke out as expected, and each dispatched a detachment to relieve Temple City. If Temple City was lost, their position here would be untenable.

Once the Oda reinforcements had cautiously departed, Ishikawa Shuzo began his own diversion: attacking Jiuzhen and Marune from a position far from Motoyasu, setting additional fires, and raising a significant ruckus of his own.

Matsudaira Motoyasu glanced once at the spreading flames, then gave a signal. Without a word, he set off at the head of the pack train.

......

At the same time as Matsudaira Motoyasu made his move, Harano entered Oda Nobunaga’s residence.

Imagawa Yoshimoto had advanced with overwhelming momentum, setting out from Jumogawa with twenty-five thousand men—boasting of a hundred-thousand-strong army—and marched straight for Kyoto, stationing several hundred or a thousand reliable troops at every key point along the way to secure his lines of communication from attack.

His forces had not diminished in number; in fact, he swept up every landed lord in his path, swelling the ranks to some twenty-seven or twenty-eight thousand braying and shouting men, their morale higher than ever.

Imagawa Yoshimoto made such a spectacle of movement that he nearly broadcast his intentions with a loudspeaker—"I’m going to Shangluo!"—and, unsurprisingly, the Owari lords were terrified. Some nearly wet themselves with panic, and now all had gathered within Qingzhou City to debate their options: with the Imagawa’s "hundred thousand" men descending, it was a matter of life and death!

Harano, too, had come for the council, eager to witness the spectacle.