Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 216 The Door Opens
The Imagawa family possessed three excellent ports: Sunpu Port, Shimizu Port, and Kamasen Port.

The first two are located in Suruga Province, and the latter is located in Totomi Province, but Shimizu Port and Izumi Port are both located in Shimizu Bay, similar to Shimazu Port and Atsuta Port, each guarding one end of the bay.

After Yuanye led his fleet away from Shizutsu in Mikawa Province, he naturally arrived first at Puquan, located in the northwest corner of Totomi Province.

The Imagawa clan also attached great importance to ports. Like Oda Nobunaga, they controlled good ports and levied high "ship taxes" to maintain their army. Naturally, they were very vigilant in large ports like Puquan, building numerous beacon towers and rock fortifications and stationing naval troops there.

Now that Yuanye has brought over a hundred ships, thick smoke immediately billowed from the beacon towers near Puquan to warn friendly forces. At the same time, various naval vessels began to leave the port and head out to sea to prepare for battle.

The Wanjin fleet quickly split into two parts. More than twenty warships of various sizes, led by the "Chido," began to move forward, while the remaining eighty-odd armed merchant ships began to lag behind. At the same time, small rowing boats were dispatched to carry the envoys toward Puquan Port.

Naval battle was highly likely, but Yuan Ye was not familiar with naval command and wisely gave up his command position, politely asking Yu Da, "Are you confident?"

Yu Da was an old pirate whom Yuan Ye had invited to help explore the saltpeter route. Originally, he planned to risk his life once and then live a quiet life with his wife and young child. However, Yuan Ye offered him too much treatment and too much respect. In addition, he had a son, so he became ambitious again and never left the Wanjin Navy. In fact, he became more and more enthusiastic about it.

Faced with the question from his "benefactor" Haruno, and with the "Chita-go"—a "large Atake copper-hulled ship"—he answered without hesitation: "Yes, Your Highness!"

"Then leave it to you!"

"As you command, Your Highness!"

Yu Da took the lead without hesitation, but his words remained concise. After receiving authorization, he immediately began issuing orders, directing each ship to further prepare for battle. A large number of gunners were dispersed to various positions on the ship, and the sailors began to put on their armor to prepare to hold off boarding attempts. Yuan Ye didn't wait to watch the excitement; he took A Qing down to the deck to join his internal guards and prepare his ultimate weapon as the last line of defense for the battle.

Of course, we don't necessarily have to fight, but we should always be prepared to fight.

The Wanjin navy was busy, and the messengers they sent out were not delayed. Under the banner of Yuanye, they passed through the Puquan navy and entered Puquan Port without any obstruction. In a very short time, they met the lord of the city, Ishiyama Heisuke, and delivered a personal letter from Yuanye.

Ishiyama Heisuke read the letter quickly, then gazed at the golden "Chita" ship on the distant sea and remained silent for a moment.

The samurai and noble officials beside him couldn't wait any longer and asked, "Sir, what is the Nohara family planning to do?"

"They made some demands, wanting to... establish an alliance with us."

Ishiyama Heisuke casually handed the letter to his subordinates to read, then turned to the messenger and asked, "If we refuse, will Lord Nohara attack Puquan Port?"

"No, Lord Ishiyama, we are just here to do business." The envoy's tone was very sincere. "Lord Nohara and the Imagawa family have always been on good terms, so we would not be so rude. But precisely because of this good relationship, we hope to get the Imagawa family's help to exempt the Wanjin merchant ships from the port fees and to protect the Wanjin merchant ships and the personal and property safety of Wanjin merchants in the future."

Ishiyama Heisuke looked at the envoy, his chubby face twitching twice. The Imagawa family and Harano were hardly on good terms. They had only sworn an oath of non-harm to each other because they couldn't kill him. In reality, both sides had each other's blood on their hands and were no different from enemies.

But after all, they never really broke off relations, and Harano did keep his promise, not participating in the Battle of Okehazama and never attacking the Imagawa clan.

He hesitated for a moment, then turned to the warriors on either side and asked, "What do you think we should do?"

"This is absolutely impossible! My lord, we cannot agree to this!" A young samurai in his twenties immediately spoke up angrily. He had just read Haruno's letter. Providing free protection for merchants and their ships was fine, but exempting them from customs fees was absolutely unacceptable. The Imagawa family levied heavy taxes on merchant ships. For example, they charged 30% tax on tea, whether it entered or left the market. For strategic materials such as ironware, they charged 40%, and not in cash, but in kind.

In other words, if someone brings ten iron farm tools, the Imagawa family will take four of them without paying a single penny.

This seems bizarre, but even in modern times, 100% tariffs are not uncommon. However, those are mostly due to trade wars or to protect domestic industries from being destroyed. The Imagawa family, on the other hand, was simply trying to make money. The Imagawa family collects nearly 200,000 kan of taxes from the three major ports every year. Otherwise, Imagawa Yoshimoto would not have been able to live such a luxurious life, nor would he have had the capital to go to Kyoto.

At the same time, the Imagawa family doesn't need to worry about not having merchant ships coming. In this era, traveling by land would result in greater losses. There are checkpoints everywhere. Daimyo want to collect tolls, powerful clans want to collect tolls, and even temples, shrines, river pirates, and mountain bandits want to collect tolls. If a fool were to transport ten farm tools by land and still manage to get one to Tōtōmi, that fool would be incredibly clever!
Or rather, being able to reach that point and still be alive is already amazing!

On land, it's incredibly easy for local bullies to ambush a caravan; they can make the caravan disappear without a trace, creating all sorts of unsolved mysteries.

Now, Haruno has also come by sea, but he is unwilling to let the Imagawa family take 30-40% of the goods from Wanjin for free. The samurai of Puquan Port are also unwilling to lose such a large sum of money for nothing. The conflict between the two sides is difficult to resolve. The samurai of the Imagawa family suddenly attacked the messenger sent by Haruno. Some of them even drew their swords, saying that Haruno was insulting them by coming to their door, and that they should kill the messenger first.

The envoy was not afraid. He had fought alongside Haruno in the defense of Shinwanjin and had personally killed Imagawa samurai. He had a psychological advantage, and he was also convinced that Imagawa samurai would not dare to touch a hair on his head. Shinwanjin was worried about not having a legitimate reason to attack the Imagawa family. If he was killed by Imagawa samurai today, Haruno would dare to rush into Puquan Port and empty the port tomorrow.

Even if he dies, it will be worth it. He'll definitely be buried in the Wanjin Cemetery, and his family will receive top-notch treatment. The envoy wasn't afraid at all; a coward wouldn't have chosen him as the envoy. He just kept an eye on Ishiyama Heisuke, waiting for him to make his decision.

Seeing that he hadn't intimidated him, Ishiyama Heisuke waved for everyone else to shut up and stared at the envoy, asking, "What will Lord Nohara do if we disagree?"

The envoy's attitude and tone remained sincere. He bowed his head and said, "My lord, we suffered a famine in Wanjin two years ago. These goods must be sold. If you do not allow us to trade in Puquan Port, then we will have to find a place to sell the goods nearby. I hope you will not mind."

The room fell silent for a moment, but soon all the warriors were enraged.

This time, they were truly enraged, and someone immediately said, "All the land here is under the control of the Imagawa clan. Is the Nohara clan trying to start a war?"

“We will choose a deserted wasteland, sell our goods, and leave!” The envoy remained fearless and said calmly, “We will not use this as a reason to occupy land in Yuanjiang. We can swear this before the gods.”

"No one will make a deal with you!"

“Then we’ll wait until someone comes!” The envoy raised his head, staring at the warrior, not giving an inch. “Or, we could block the bay entrance and send all the foreign merchants over to trade.”

The man was speechless for a moment, but then another roared, "More than a hundred ships can't scare us! We can sink you anytime we want!"

The envoy was also enraged, shouting even louder, "Any provocation against Wanjin will be considered an attack! My lord, if you dare repeat yourself, I will turn around and leave, and the war between our two families will be started by you!"

The room fell silent again. Even the samurai who had been rebuked only opened his mouth but didn't dare to repeat what he had said.

The envoy looked around, took a deep breath, and shivered three times with exhilaration. He felt this was the highlight of his life, and he didn't care if he was chopped into mincemeat later. Ishiyama Heisuke waved his hand again, signaling his subordinates to stop talking nonsense, and said to the envoy in a gentle voice, "Your Excellency, it is impossible to not charge the port toll at all. How about 20%? For the sake of Lord Nohara, we are willing to charge only 20% of the port toll for Nohara family merchants, no matter what kind of goods they are."

The envoy immediately shook his head: "No, sir! The customs fee of 30% for ordinary goods and 40% for special goods is unreasonable, and even if it is reduced to 20%, it is still unreasonable. The merchants of Wanjin are protected by Lord Nohara, and they cannot accept unreasonable treatment, so... we demand that the customs fee be completely waived."

Ishiyama Heisuke frowned, somewhat angered by the commoner's attitude, but he didn't lose his temper. He simply reminded him, "You should consult Lord Nohara!"

"No need. I am Lord Nohara's plenipotentiary envoy. I have been authorized, and my words are those of Lord Nohara." The envoy took out a document from his pocket, unfolded it for public display, and after a moment said to Ishiyama Heisuke, "Lord Ishiyama, please make your decision. Do you agree to Lord Nohara's request?"

Ishiyama Heisuke took a deep breath, wanting to order the envoy's head to be chopped off and sent back to that scoundrel Haruno, but he only thought about it and didn't dare to do it. After a moment, he conceded and sighed, "How about Ichisei?"

The messenger shook his head again: "My lord, I have made myself very clear. The people of Wanjin are not those ship merchants who can be bullied by samurai. They are protected by Lord Nohara, and with Lord Nohara's power, he is entitled to demand special treatment from the Imagawa family. Therefore... the people of Wanjin will not pay a single coin for the port. This is Lord Nohara's request, and I would be better off accepting it!"

Ishiyama Heisuke remained silent for a while, then shook his head and said, "I can't make that decision. Please wait a few days, Lord Nohara. Whether it will work or not depends on the judgment of Sunpu."

He was clearly trying to stall for time, but the envoy wasn't buying it. He stood up and said, "If you insist, that's fine, but before that, we will launch a landing operation and build some defensive rock fortifications. Please don't interfere. As per Lord Nohara's request, I hereby solemnly declare that any action that approaches within fifteen li of the Wanjin Army, whether on land or sea, will be considered an attack, and you will bear all the consequences!"

After saying this, the envoy turned to leave, seemingly unwilling to linger for even a moment longer. Ishiyama Heisuke hesitated for a moment, then finally extended his hand and sighed, "Alright, Your Excellency, if you don't want to hand it over, then don't. Let's discuss the time for the alliance meeting."

He had no other choice. Although it was somewhat humiliating, the Imagawa family and the Harano family had dealt with each other before. They had fought a terrible battle on the Chita Peninsula, resulting in many deaths, and he didn't want to go through that again.

Moreover, Matsudaira Motoyasu had already completely conquered Higashi-Mikawa and was sharpening his swords at Totomi. It was not a good time to provoke the Nohara clan again. If there was any humiliation, he could only endure it for now.

What else could they do? With the Matsudaira clan to the west and the Nohara clan at sea, could they possibly bring over a hundred ships this time? Next time, he could bring thousands of his own retainers, allowing them to attack from both sides alongside the Matsudaira clan…

It's not worth taking such a risk for a little money to close the boat, so this is the only option!

But if the Imagawa clan had been powerful in the past, things wouldn't be like this now...

Ishiyama Heisuke suddenly looked ten years older.

(End of this chapter)