CHAPTER 323: CHAPTER 231: LET’S TALK ABOUT WHETHER TO BE HUMAN!

Forming an alliance with the Asai Family to weaken the Saito family and Oda Nobuaki, who were allied together, was not the only diplomatic move Oda Nobunaga made.

While colluding with Asai Nagamasa, Oda Nobunaga was also actively sending people into the mountains of eastern Minoh to try to persuade the Tooyama Family to join him—the Tooyama Family were natives of eastern Minoh and held considerable influence locally; back in the Tiger of Owari era, the Family Head had married Oda Nobuhide’s half-sister, making him a sort of cheap uncle to Oda Nobunaga.

Besides that, Oda Nobunaga was worried that Takeda Shingen might interfere when he was dealing with Oda Nobuaki and Saito Ryuko, so he also actively dispatched envoys to Kai, hoping to become allies by marriage with the Takeda family. He even had someone ready for the marriage—he took a daughter from one of his half-sisters, adopted her as his own daughter, and planned to marry her into the Takeda family.

It’s just that Takeda Shingen was busy battling Uesugi Kenshin at the time and couldn’t be bothered with him. Oda Nobunaga couldn’t find a suitable go-between, so that marriage alliance had to be put on hold for now.

Of course, Uesugi Kenshin was also quite powerful, and Oda Nobunaga hadn’t forgotten about him. The thing was, Uesugi Kenshin was a devout Buddhist, had never married all his life, and had no children, so making him a marriage ally wasn’t going to work, but no matter—Oda Nobunaga figured he could just send him a son to adopt.

Uesugi Kenshin was actually interested—he already had a couple of adopted sons lined up as heirs, so if Nobunaga sent another one over, it would be fine, too. But since Owari and Echigo were just too far apart, he politely declined in his reply, sending Oda Nobunaga back a pair of falcons as a token of thanks. He also basically made his stance clear—go ahead, fight over Minoh if you want, he wouldn’t get involved. If Nobunaga needed him, he could wait until Kenshin was done crushing Takeda Shingen.

With all these diplomatic efforts, Saito Ryuko and Oda Nobuaki were basically becoming isolated. Only then did Oda Nobunaga, using Komakiyama Castle as his base, go heavy and start moving towards Inuyama Castle.

Harano and Matsudaira Mototaka also lived up to their alliance and sent forces to assist in the battle.

Matsudaira Mototaka had to deal with the Imagawa family’s counterattack, so his troops were just for show—only 500 men, basically just there tagging along.

Harano, on the other hand, didn’t face any external threats at the moment, so as agreed, he pulled almost 70% of his standing force, and with over 2,000 men plus the 2,000 miscellaneous Ashigaru Oda Nobunaga gave him, they garrisoned Matsukura Castle, Shohou Castle, Mihara Mountain Castle, and nearby Rock Fortresses north of the Kisogawa River to pin down the Saito family.

Across the river was Minoh’s Igi Mountain City and Tinuma Castle. Previously, whenever Oda Nobunaga launched small-scale attacks around Inuyama Castle, the Saito family would reinforce from these two castles. Now, Harano had blocked that route. If the Igi Mountain City Lord, Igi Seibei, and the Tinuma Castle Lord, Ozawa Masahide, wanted to flank Oda Nobunaga like before, they’d have to first get through Harano.

But Harano wasn’t going all-in, either. Even if they conquered Inuyama Castle or swallowed up Minoh, it’s not like Oda Nobunaga would actually give him any territory afterward—the most he could hope for was getting a couple of manors under Princess Dog’s name, just a token gesture. So when it comes to fighting wars for allies, there’s no need to go all out, just keep the enemy from moving large forces across—that’s enough.

With zero desire to attack, he just sat tight in Matsukura Castle, not budging. If Igi Seibei and Ozawa Masahide wanted to cross the river to Inuyama Castle, he wasn’t planning to sally out for a field battle to stop them. He’d just trail them and, when the time came, attack with Oda Nobunaga from behind.

And Igi Seibei and Ozawa Masahide weren’t keen to cut through such a large enemy force and plunge deep into hostile territory either. With no good options, all they could do was start headbutting the city walls, trying to chase Harano away first.

But their thinking was much like Harano’s—when it comes to helping allies, as long as you show up, that’s enough. Not worth risking everything for this. After trying a couple of attacks and losing more than 200 people, they gave up on that idea and instead started sending small detachments via side routes towards Inuyama Castle. Sometimes they’d harass Oda Nobunaga’s rear or bolster Oda Nobuaki’s defense forces a bit.

Harano didn’t bother with these little schemes, letting Oda Nobunaga handle them on his own. He mostly stayed in the castle, focused on his own plans.

Matsudaira Mototaka was eyeing up Totomi, and judging by Imagawa Shizuma’s idiotic performance, losing the whole province was just a matter of time. Suruga would probably be lost soon after.

Oda Nobunaga already had great wealth after three generations of accumulation. His professional soldiers were now over five thousand. Once he unified the Inuyama Castle area and swallowed up Minoh, and then called in the local lords under him, he could easily muster tens of thousands of men for a campaign.

The allies’ territories were all expanding, which—relatively speaking—meant Harano’s own territory was actually getting smaller.

This wouldn’t do. He had to move against the Hokitate Family early and develop his power on the Ise Peninsula. Otherwise, he’d end up being boxed in bit by bit.

But the situation on the Ise Peninsula was a tangled mess. The Hokitate Family alone controlled fifteen districts and could easily field an army of over ten thousand. With only the Chita Peninsula’s single district, and having to launch an amphibious landing across the sea for both field battles and sieges... honestly, there was no guarantee of victory. Even if he could win, the losses would be heavy—old-style matchlock guns didn’t offer much advantage against armor and bow and arrow. They were great for fighting the weaker local clans on the Chita Peninsula, but in a proper showdown with real armies, relying on long-range firepower to wipe out the enemy while suffering no losses himself—no way.

War always comes down to people in the end. When all is said and done, you’ve got to risk your life.

What’s more, the enemy had iron cannons too, maybe just not as many as Wanjin.

And if he suddenly landed on the Ise Peninsula and grabbed territory, even beating back the Hokitate Family, there’s no way the Hosokawa, Miyoshi, and Rokkaku families would just sit on their hands. If they joined forces, saw him as a big threat, and managed to scrape together tens of thousands of men to drive him straight back into the sea—maybe snatching up the Hokitate Family’s lands for themselves in the process...