Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 224 Guaranteed to make the Hojo clan scream in terror.
Edo Bay is bordered by the Miura Peninsula and the Boso Peninsula to the east and west, respectively, and is thus surrounded by the future Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures. It stretches nearly 200 miles from north to south, with the bay entrances to the north and south only a dozen miles apart, making it one of Japan's top-class natural harbors.

In this era, Edo Bay was not the large septic tank it would become in later years. The seawater was clear, and the scenery was quite beautiful; the scenery depicted in "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" is from this place. The fishery resources were also quite abundant. For example, the "Edo Town Residents' Diary" records: "The fish catch in Edo Bay is plentiful and can serve as the granary of the shogunate."

After 1603, this place will gather a million people, and nearly a thousand merchant ships and fishing boats will come and go every day, making it the most prosperous place in Japan.

But the Tokugawa family hasn't arrived yet. This area is still under the control of the Satomi family, or rather, the Kisei family controls this sea area with Hyakushu Castle as its core.

Now, the "overlord" of this sea area, Mu Zhengshizhong, has returned with his ship hanging on the bow. Whether it is the remaining pirates of Baishou or the remnants who have just escaped, seeing this arrogant scene, they have completely lost the desire to go out of the port to fight, and are cowering in the water fortress of Baishou City, trembling with fear.

Yes, Hyakushou Castle is a combination of a mountain castle and a water castle. The castle was built against the mountain and had oars, stone walls and port facilities that could accommodate dozens of warships. It was quite large. Even in modern times, you can still find its ruins. It is a historical site in Chiba Prefecture and you have to pay an entrance fee.

This is quite remarkable, considering that modern Japan has carried out a lot of land reclamation projects, which have changed many of the terrains. It is quite lucky that the ruins of Hyakushou Castle have survived.

Haruno stood on the "Chita" and looked around at the city that combined mountains and sea. He found it quite interesting and felt that the future Edo Castle should be based on the design of Hyakushu Castle, and would be a larger imitation.

Aman, thinking he was just curious, casually told him about the history: "I heard that this place used to be called Zaohai Castle, built by the Takeda clan of the Mari Valley. However, the Satomi clan later attacked this place. The Takeda clan of the Mari Valley couldn't defeat them, so they wagered on whether to sing a hundred waka poems. If the Satomi clan won, they would surrender the castle. When the Satomi clan won, they thought it was a refined thing, so they changed the name of the castle to Hyakushu Castle."

"I see, the Takeda family of the Valley of Truth lost on purpose, didn't they?" Haruno replied casually.

"Of course, they were smart enough to save face and at least their whole family wasn't killed."

Yuan Ye nodded slightly, but he didn't care much about these messy historical details. He continued to carefully observe Bai Shou City, and after a moment he sighed, "It really is a good place!"

This place has been developed quite well now. Even if it can't compare to the future Edo, it's not like the rumors say, that Kanto is a barren wasteland. Moreover, Hyakushou Castle is in a very good location. It can threaten the Miura Peninsula from the front, and it can also block the nearby rivers and bays, making it more than capable of self-defense. The water fortress and port are also very large, with nearly a hundred ships of all sizes able to be moored, making it easy to accumulate strength.

If Haruno remembers correctly, during the Edo period, Hyakushu Castle was converted into the "Customs Office" of the Tokugawa Shogunate, patrolling the seas and cracking down on smuggling. It was indeed a uniquely advantageous location to be chosen as the location of the customs office.

Aman looked up at him and sensed a glint in his eyes, similar to the way he had looked at the Ise Peninsula a while ago. She immediately asked, "Should we change our plans and attack this place instead?"

Yuan Ye was indeed tempted by this top-notch harbor; everyone likes a good place. But after a moment's thought, he shook his head: "It's too far from Wanjin. Even if we take it temporarily, it will be difficult to hold it for a long time. Let's forget about it!"

He didn't bring many troops with him this time, so a forced landing operation would be difficult, and the casualties would be heavy. Even if they managed to take it by force, this place is an important stronghold for the Satomi family on the Boso Peninsula. If he comes and interferes, there's no doubt that the Satomi family will not attack the Hojo family, but will mobilize tens of thousands of people to fight him to the death.

If he really takes over Hyakushu Castle, it would be like he's shielding the Hojo clan from disaster, and the Hojo clan would probably be overjoyed. So let's just forget about it and let the Hojo and Satomi clans continue fighting. We'll talk about it after they've finished fighting.

It's such a shame that this piece of land is so bad. It would be great if we could move this kind of terrain to the Chita Peninsula, but unfortunately, we can't!
Yuan Ye quickly suppressed his greed and directly ordered, "Begin! Set this place on fire!"

At his command, the Wanjin Navy quickly sprang into action. The Xiaozhao ship began to move forward to guard against the desperate Baishou pirates rushing out, while the Guan ship equipped with breech-loading cannons also began to move forward to prepare for cannon fire. The rocket team on the "Chita" quickly determined the wind direction, wind speed, and distance.

A few minutes later, spearheaded by twelve "Wanjin rockets," the Wanjin navy unleashed a barrage of gunfire and began a long-range attack on Baishou City.

The main objective is not defensive facilities, nor is it to kill personnel. The goal is to sink as many ships as possible hiding in the water fortress, and to destroy shipyards, timber storage facilities, warehouses and other production facilities, so that the Mu Zheng family and the Hundred-Headed Water Bandits will not be able to recover their strength and will not cause trouble on this route again.

This should be the first large-scale artillery bombardment in Japan's medieval era. Aman looked at the flashes of fire on the ships of all sizes and watched the rockets soar into the sky. Instead of feeling glorious, he felt very distressed: "This is too expensive. Each rocket costs more than a hundred kan. If we keep firing for a while, it will probably cost ten or twenty thousand kan."

"There's nothing we can do about it. Out with the old, in with the new. Let's just burn them!" Yuan Ye was also a little heartbroken. These days, the purity of raw materials and processing technology are so terrible that he has managed to make rockets at the price of missiles. And even if he is willing to spend money, the production volume can never be increased. Every one of these things is one less to be destroyed. It's hard not to feel heartbroken.

He and Aman were heartbroken about the money on the boat, and Baishoucheng was also heartbroken, heartbroken about the money and heartbroken about life.

Even after repeated external inspections, the quality of the rockets produced in the wilderness was still somewhat worrying. A small portion of them flew around aimlessly after taking off. Even though their targets were mainly water fortresses and facilities near the coast, the rockets were unruly and exploded everywhere. In order to hit wooden boats, they were equipped with "incendiary warheads," which soon caused several places in Baishou City and Baishou Water Fortress to catch fire. The fires were getting bigger and bigger, and thick black smoke rose straight into the sky.

The breech-loading cannons on the ship were similar; these cannons had very poor crossfire capability, and the artillery skills of the Wanjin navy were even more mediocre. They would just fire randomly into the fortified area at the edge of their firing range, hoping to hit something by sheer luck, which resulted in serious damage to "innocent" targets. After seven or eight rounds of this, the gunfire gradually subsided, and the rockets stopped firing as all the weapons needed to cool down.

At this point, Hyakushou Castle could no longer sit still. They were prepared to defend against the landing of the Wanjin Army and were confident that they could hold out until the Satomi family came to their aid. However, they never expected that the Wanjin Army would not launch a landing operation at all, but instead blocked the port and launched rockets to set it on fire, seemingly intending to destroy Hyakushou Castle directly.

Of course, the firepower of the Wanjin Navy could not destroy Baishou City, but this was the first time that Baishou City had encountered such a situation. They had no idea how much ammunition the Wanjin Navy had. They felt that this round of attacks by the enemy was more like a demonstration, to force them to submit, or to prepare for a large-scale landing. So as soon as the Wanjin Navy stopped firing, they immediately sent envoys to talk about conditions and ask Yuanye not to kill them all.

After boarding the "Chita," the envoy wanted to first pay his respects to Kijima Tokitada, the captured head of the clan, but was refused. He was then taken directly to Haruno, who didn't waste any words with him and directly stated four demands:
First, Wanjin merchants should have the right to free passage in this sea area, and the Kisei family should promise to guarantee their personal and property safety and also require the pirates around the Boso Peninsula to fulfill the same promise.
Second, open Edo Bay—in the name of Hyakushu Castle, that is, open the ports controlled by the Satomi family in the Musashi Bay area for free use by Wanzu merchants.
Third, hand over the pirate who insulted the envoy of Wanjin during their first meeting;
Fourth, pay a sum of money to compensate for the losses caused to the Wanjin navy by the Muzheng family.

These four points are simple and clear, representing Wanjin's basic demands. After all, Haruno can no longer pose a greater threat to the Kisei and Satomi families—any further threats would require a siege from the shore. Haruno doesn't want to siege a city thousands of miles away, as it's too expensive and the returns are very limited.

The Kisaka family had just suffered a crushing defeat, with the head of the family captured and hanged alive. The enemy was now at the gates of the city, and had set the city ablaze in a miraculous manner. The envoy actually thought that Harano's four conditions were acceptable, at least he did not demand that the Kisaka family submit and pledge allegiance to the Wanjin banner—which was practically the same as surrendering now, but at least this was better to explain to the Satomi family.

If the Mu family were to side with Wanjin, given the geographical location of Baishou City, they would have no choice but to fight to the death.

The envoy thought the conditions were acceptable, but he couldn't make the decision himself. He said he would have to go back and ask the elders of his family to decide. At the same time, he cautiously suggested that he wanted to "redeem" Kijima Tokitada, but Haruno naturally refused.

Even disregarding the numerous and disgusting crimes committed by Kijima Tokitada, the fact that he is the head of the Kijima family, and even if he will soon be the former head, is still a considerable political asset. Holding him hostage would make it easy for him to cause trouble in this area in the future. Unless Haruno is out of his mind, there is no way he would let him go.

Moreover, in his anger, Aman went too far and didn't give Mu Zhengshizhong any face. He probably hates Wanjin to the bone, and Yuanye has no way of letting him go back alive.

The envoy wanted to argue his case and at least get some decent treatment for Kijima Tokitada, since Kijima Tokitada was a respectable samurai. But Harano wouldn't listen to reason. He told Harano to go and bite him if he dared, and directly ordered the envoy to be driven away.

He was too lazy to say more. Even if the Kisei family refused to agree to these conditions, it didn't matter. At most, he would bring more ships back every six months or so. In any case, he was determined to remove the Satomi Navy as a thorn in his side.

War is too expensive, and maintaining an army is also very costly. He can't expand his territory now, so he can only make money through maritime trade. Now, anyone who dares to stop him from making money will be killed by him.

After driving the envoy away, he ignored all discussions within Baishou City and showed no intention of ceasing hostilities. He carefully observed the damage to Baishou City's water fortress and the surrounding riverbanks, and immediately ordered a second round of firepower to continue undermining Baishou City's war potential, ensuring that Baishou City would not pose a threat to him for several years.

This serves as a warning; next time any pirates attempt to attack Wanjin, they should carefully consider whether they can withstand the retaliation from Wanjin's navy.

In an instant, gunfire erupted again on the sea, and rockets began flying erratically over Baishou City, even targeting the surrounding paddy fields, with some straying off course and creating craters.

The elders and retainers of the Muzheng family were fiercely debating between the pro-peace and pro-war factions when they were stunned by another round of firepower. They were all furious, but after their initial rage... they calmed down.

Even if the Wanjin navy dares not storm the harbor or go ashore, just setting fires every month or two is unbearable for Baishou City. Moreover, the Wanjin navy is indiscriminately bombing the harbor from outside. The casualties among the Baishou pirates are not great, but the anchored ships are hard to hide from. Of the dozens of small boats that managed to escape, more than twenty were sunk in just two rounds. If this continues, Mu Zhengjia can change his job and will no longer be qualified to be a pirate leader.

When the second round of fire subsided and the Wanjin navy began sailing along the coast to find a new attack location, the envoy of the Kisei family caught up in a small boat. Without saying a word, he agreed to all of Harano's conditions, even giving up the headship of the family. He said that Harano was going to the Nohara family as a hostage and that he should fend for himself from then on.

With things having come to this point, Haruno was no longer willing to indiscriminately bombard the area with rockets. Instead, he began negotiations with the Kisei family, and the two sides officially reached an agreement to live in harmony, engage in trade, and share prosperity.

The wilderness gained a new ally, but this new ally was in a bad mood; the samurai who came to sign the document all had sour faces.

However, Yuan Ye was very magnanimous and didn't mind. He even kindly gave them a batch of weapon samples.

If they're willing to buy, I guarantee I can beat the Hojo clan so badly they'll scream in terror.

(End of this chapter)