Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 218 Let them know who's in charge in this sea area!
Before Japan annexed Hokkaido, its territory resembled a small seahorse.

Honshu resembles its body, Kyushu resembles its excrement, Shikoku resembles its eggs, the Ise Peninsula resembles its anal fin, the Boso Peninsula resembles its pectoral fin, and the Izu Peninsula, sandwiched between the Ise and Boso Peninsulas, resembles its... well, you know... (an organ that didn't pass censorship).
If seahorses have that thing, or if we anthropomorphize them, the location of the Izu Peninsula does indeed easily evoke that image.

In short, the Izu Peninsula is not very large, only about five to six times the size of the Chita Peninsula, but its shape is quite unique. Suruga Bay is to the west, the Pacific Ocean is to the south, and Sagami Bay is to the east. It juts out straight into the ocean, giving it a very hard and masculine feel.

This area was initially ruled by the Horikoshi Kubo (a branch of the Ashikaga clan), a branch of the Muromachi Shogunate. In 1491, after the death of Horikoshi Kubo Ashikaga Masatomo, his son Ashikaga Chachamaru succeeded him, but his tyranny caused internal strife. At this time, Hojo Soun (Ise Moritoki), from the Ise clan, seized the opportunity to rise to power.

In 1493, Hojo Soun, with a dozen or so retainers and more than a hundred servants, launched a surprise attack on Horikoshi Kubo's palace. He captured it in just one day, drove out Ashikaga Chachamaru, and became the de facto ruler of Izu, thus beginning the Later Hojo clan's hegemony in the Kanto region.

After Hojo Ujitsuna, son of Hojo Soun, succeeded to the throne, he moved his residence to Odawara Castle in Sagami Province (present-day Kanagawa Prefecture) and expanded outwards from there. The Izu Peninsula, as the birthplace of the Hojo clan and possessing the advantage of being surrounded by the sea on three sides, became their stable rear base. During the reign of Hojo Ujiyasu, the Izu Peninsula, along with Sagami and Musashi, constituted the core territory of the Hojo clan.

As for the Hojo family's navy... about eight years ago, when the Hojo family was fighting with the Satomi family for control of the Boso Peninsula, the Satomi navy burned it down.

From then on, the Hojo navy never recovered. Even though the Hojo clan made several attempts to rebuild it, they achieved almost nothing against the overwhelming advantage of the Satomi navy and completely lost control of the surrounding waters.

For example, Shimoda Port, a natural deep-water port on the Izu Peninsula, is said to have completely declined, and few merchant ships dare to come to trade. Now, the Hojo clan's trade basically depends on the land supply from the Imagawa and Takeda clans—which is one of the reasons why the Hojo clan actively joined the "Three Kingdoms Alliance".

Now, Haruno, leading the Wanjin fleet, ran into the Satomi family's navy, or rather, their pirates, as soon as they left Suruga Bay.

This small boat, with a capacity of only a few dozen shi (a unit of dry measure), relied on its speed and ease of turning to cruise back and forth not far from the Wanjin fleet. Yuanye immediately sent an envoy to negotiate with the other side.

The messenger sent this time was the same one as last time, but the pirates were clearly not as respectful as the samurai. The envoy's authority over the Satomi family was not very strong. The messenger angered the captain of the small boat by speaking with his neck stiff, and was immediately beaten up and thrown into the sea. He was only spared being killed because he was needed to deliver a message.

The messenger, named Yasui Hei (because the "Equality Decree" had only recently been named), returned to the "Chita" with a bruised and swollen face and dripping wet, but he didn't seem to care. He directly relayed the other party's reply: "Your Highness, those clams demand that we immediately retreat to the Suruga area. They say that the Hojo family is the enemy of the Satomi family, and any act of supporting the Hojo family will be considered a provocation against the Satomi family—they think we came to support the Hojo family and are very hostile towards us. I have explained this, but they refuse to listen."

Yuan Ye nodded gently and comforted her, "You've worked hard. Don't worry, I won't let you suffer in vain."

"It's not hard work, Your Highness. It's my honor to serve you." Yasui Ping didn't show any toughness towards Haruno at all. He smiled like a big dog. After all, if Haruno hadn't been actively involved in disaster relief on the Chita Peninsula, at least half of his family would have starved to death.

However, he was merely a messenger, and he was very discreet, knowing he shouldn't interfere in such important matters as war or peace. After saying this, he took his leave. Yuan Ye then turned to Yu Da and ordered, "Drive them away! If they dare to engage in battle, kill them!"

Yu Da nodded in agreement and turned to relay the order to the fleet using the flag. Soon, a ship led the way, and several small boats rushed forward. The small boats of the Satomi family were not stupid and did not intend to fight against many opponents. They immediately turned around and fled eastward, probably to return to their base to call for reinforcements.

At sea, when the speeds of the ships are similar, it is very difficult to catch up with the other party. It could take several days or even more than ten days. Haruno did not require them to chase for too long. Seeing that the other party had escaped, he ordered the fleet to continue towards Shimoda Port.

As Aman watched the Satomi family's Kobayashi boat sail away, he asked Haruno, "Are we going to fight the Satomi family?"

“We still need to go east, all the way to the easternmost tip of Honshu Island. Sooner or later we’ll have to fight them.” Haruno didn’t care. Maritime trade wasn’t so easy to run. The Imagawa family was easy to talk to because he had fought them before, with thousands of lives lost as proof, but the Satomi family had never dealt with him.

"Fighting at sea..." Aman is a veteran, having participated in many battles with Yuanye over the years, but this is his first time in a real naval battle, and he is a little nervous.

The wilderness doesn't matter. In chaotic times, if you don't even have the courage to fight for it, you'd better find a corner to watch the show and don't even think about seeking any benefits or expanding your territory.

He was prepared for this and directly instructed, "When we get to Shimoda Port, take the time to gather more intelligence on the Satomi Navy, just in case we miss anything."

There's a saying, "Never fight a battle you can't win." Haruno always valued intelligence work, and he did his best to satisfy Aman's requests for money every year. So before this "trade expedition," the "survival crew" had already set off, even sending out several lead ships to roughly ascertain the strength of the forces along the way. As the dominant force on the Kanto coast, the Satomi family naturally had a good understanding of the situation and felt that a direct confrontation between the two sides shouldn't be a problem—the pirates in the Kanto region were not as strong as those in the Seto Inland Sea. According to intelligence, they had about a hundred warships, mostly small boats. He had the "Chita" and new weapons, so he definitely had the strength to fight.

Of course, the "Survival Corps" still has a limited range of activities. Their intelligence gathering capabilities within the Hojo clan's territory are not strong, let alone in the Satomi clan further east. The information they can obtain is not new and cannot be guaranteed to be completely accurate. It is possible that the Satomi navy is stronger than expected.

But it doesn't matter if you suffer a loss. In those days, the Japanese navy mainly used fire attacks in naval battles. The Chita was coated with copper at a huge cost, so it was not easy to burn and sink. And as long as it didn't die, its recovery ability was definitely stronger than that of the Satomi Navy.

The Satomi clan has to deal with the land pressure from the Takeda and Hojo clans, so the resources they can allocate to their navy are relatively limited. However, he has no pressure on land, so he can completely ignore it and allocate resources to it. In less than half a year, he can gather a stronger fleet and wear down the Satomi navy.

If the Satomi Navy were willing to talk things out and allow the Wanzu merchants to trade normally between the Izu and Boso peninsulas, Haruno would be willing to pay some "protection money," such as 5% or even 10%, considering that they have occupied this sea area for nearly ten years. But now they refuse to give up the market and refuse to allow Wanzu to do business here normally, so Haruno doesn't mind sinking several, a dozen, or even dozens of ships and killing them all.

These days, you have to work hard to get what you want; there's just no way around it!
…………

Satomi's naval forces issued a warning, but Haruno ignored it and rushed to Shimoda Port that same noon.

Perhaps due to its decline, Shimoda Port's response was far less than that of Puquan Port; it didn't even light the warning fires, as if it hadn't seen the Wanjin fleet at all.

They've probably been thoroughly outmatched by Satomi's navy and know that lighting the signal fire won't summon any other navy to help them. At most, they can just do some shore defenses to prevent a large-scale pirate landing.

When Haruno sent Yasui Hei, who was bruised and battered, to act as an envoy again and make a request, the Hojo samurai stationed in the area were even more agreeable than the Imagawa family. Without uttering a single unnecessary word, they immediately agreed to reach an agreement with Wanjin, exempting all taxes and fees, including the fare for the closed ships.

Well, now merchant ships have to pay a toll to the Satomi Navy before they can even get to this area. They can't afford to be skinned alive by the Hojo family after entering the port. Moreover, the lower-ranking officers in the Satomi Navy will randomly rob merchant ships that dare to trade with the Hojo family, depending on their mood. Shimoda Port is already declining day by day, and it can't collect any port fees at all. Exempting it is as good as not exempting it.

Moreover, the Hojo clan samurai clearly intended to divert trouble eastward and incite a fight between the Kijin and Satomi navies. They didn't bother to hide it and were even afraid that if Kijin left, no one would fight the Satomi navies, so their attitude was naturally exceptionally proactive.

Finally, the goods brought by Wanjin were indeed excellent. They included a wide variety of goods such as weapons, farm tools, refined salt, high-end fabrics, and wine, all of which were needed by the Hojo clan. Moreover, they were cheaper than what the Imagawa and Takeda clans sold to them, and the supply was guaranteed to be plentiful. As long as a deposit was paid, the Wanjin merchants would agree to supply the goods and even asked Harano to guarantee that the contract would be fulfilled.

The owners of Wanjinbo also liked Shimoda Port very much because the Hojo family had shown great sincerity in order to keep their goods. The Hojo family was willing to barter with horses and even provide good horses and warhorses. Chita and even Owari were short of horses, especially warhorses, and the price of horses was very high. By trading back and forth like this, they could make even more money.

This was much more cost-effective than transporting rotten oranges, broken tea leaves, and coarse silk back from Totomi and Sunpu. As a result, the lords of Wanjin immediately emphasized the importance of the Hojo family, feeling that even if it meant traveling a longer distance, it would still be more worthwhile to come to the Izu Peninsula.

Some workshop owners even had the idea that it was better to focus on maritime trade than to engage in production. After all, there were a lot of state-owned and private workshops in Wanjin, and they were competing with each other so much that it was not a big deal for them to produce a little more. So why not get a few boats, buy goods in Wanjin, and resell them to other places? Maybe that would be more profitable.

The proposal quickly garnered widespread praise, with dozens of businesses immediately expressing interest in investing. However, due to the large number of participants, internal strife broke out, eventually splitting into more than a dozen smaller groups. These groups then went to the field to apply for business licenses, preparing to establish a large number of import and export companies.

Yuan Ye also thought the idea was good and immediately approved it. He also decided to set up a "state-owned import and export trading company" so that the government could make some money.

The transaction with the Hojo family went smoothly, and the Satomi Navy did not stand idly by. Within two days, a large number of Satomi Navy warships began to gather in the Izu Sea.

They wanted to teach this outsider, Yuanye, a lesson and show him who was in charge of the waters around Kanto!

The Mu Zheng family, the Zongzhou water bandits, the Fangzhou water bandits, the Shangzhou water bandits, and the Baishou water bandits are not to be trifled with!

(End of this chapter)