Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 230 His face was ashen.
Matsudaira Motoyasu was still the same as before, appearing honest, unassuming and taciturn. He first paid a private visit to Oda Nobunaga, and then respectfully visited Harano, seemingly acknowledging that he was the third in the alliance, regardless of the fact that the Matsudaira clan was seven or eight times stronger than the Wanjin clan on paper.

He didn't even mention that the cross-sea trade with the Imagawa family had provided them with a large amount of military supplies. It seemed as if he hadn't realized what was happening, or that he was used to being submissive and didn't have the guts to anger his ally.

Knowing what Matsudaira Motoyasu would do in the future, his behavior was somewhat frightening. At least Haruno felt a chill run down his spine seeing how low-key and patient he was.

He's the kind of person who keeps a low profile and works in secret.
Not only was Matsudaira Motoyasu patient, but he was also very good at dealing with people. He was a great conversationalist, and although he didn't talk much, he always got to the point. Moreover, as expected of someone who grew up in Sunpu, he could effortlessly quote classical texts and speak eloquently. His knowledge of Chinese classics was quite good, and his words were not only meaningful but also made those around him feel comfortable. No wonder that even as a hostage, he was highly regarded by Imagawa Yoshimoto and Taigen Sessai, who treated him with great kindness.

Even though Haruno had spent most of the day in private with him, and even though he was very stingy and this visit was more of a courtesy with little substantive content, at most just the Matsudaira family increasing their trade demands to purchase more military equipment from Wanjin to continue attacking the Imagawa family, Haruno still couldn't help but feel a sense of goodwill towards him.

After Matsudaira Motoyasu left, Haruno watched their retreating figures, pondering for a long time. He felt that he had ultimately missed his chance—this was a great threat, a tortoise and a snake in one body, which was worrying, but now he could no longer take action against the Matsudaira family.

If it were right after the Battle of Okehazama, when Matsudaira Motoyasu's foothold in Okazaki Castle was not yet secure, Wanjin would have had the opportunity to break out of the Chita Peninsula and defeat Matsudaira Motoyasu in one fell swoop.

However, things are different now. Matsudaira Motoyasu has unified Mikawa, and his true strength is not much less than that of Oda Nobunaga. At most, he lacks the foundation and is not as wealthy as Oda Nobunaga after three generations of accumulation, sharing the Seto Inland Sea route, robbing monks, and developing industry and commerce in Rakuza and Rakudo.

Well, while Oda Nobunaga was busy dealing with the traitorous Inuyama Castle and the Saito family of Mino, and while Oda Nobunaga was busy with disaster relief and clearing the Chita Peninsula, Matsudaira Motoyasu had already led the Mikawa samurai to take down the last "stronghold" left by the Imagawa family in Mikawa—Kami no Go Castle. The Imagawa family's relatives, the Udono family, were destroyed, and Udono Nagateru, who had escaped during the Battle of Okehazama, was killed on the spot. His two sons, Ujinaga and Ujinatsugu, as well as their families, were all captured.

Unbeknownst to many, the Matsudaira clan had also acquired a province, becoming a legitimate daimyo in the land, while Oda Nobunaga only possessed Owari Province, one-eighth of which had been seized by Harano.

In terms of territory, Matsudaira Motoyasu actually has more, but he's still willing to remain the third-in-command and act like a submissive subordinate.

I should have just ignored everything and stormed into Mikawa to drive him out of Okazaki Castle...

However, on the other hand, if they had ignored the famine and directly sent troops to Mikawa, Wanjin would have been severely weakened. At the very least, it would not have been as united and harmonious as it is now. Moreover, Oda Nobunaga would not have been able to stand by and watch north of Ōtaka River. If things had gone wrong, Wanjin would have been attacked from both sides by Oda and Matsudaira.

Haruno sighed inwardly, feeling that he had been busy for almost ten years and had accomplished nothing. He searched day and night in the Ise Mountains, but still could not find a way back to the modern world. History had not changed much either. Tokugawa Ieyasu had still grown up. The Monkey King was dead, and a "Monkey King No. 2" named Yakuro had emerged. Apart from changing his name, he was still the same as before.

Time travel is really too difficult; there's always a feeling of an overwhelming, unstoppable force...

But in life, we should strive forward. Doing something is always better than doing nothing, even if it's a mistake!

Yuanye stood in the wilderness for quite some time. If it were before, Aman would have started to nag impatiently long ago, but Aman wasn't around now. Aqing usually didn't like to talk, so he was willing to stand there in the cold wind, and Aqing had no objections and just stood behind him waiting.

After a period of regret, Yuan Ye managed to mentally prepare himself and turned to A Qing to ask, "Any news? What did he say to Oda Nobunaga when he met him?"

"We have news." Aqing is now in charge of the "Survival Corps," and the Oda family is a key target of the "Survival Corps'" surveillance. He has bribed many spies and found out the general situation of the meeting between the two parties in half a day. "It was a very ordinary meeting. Most of the time was spent talking about Mikawa and Totomi. The only special thing was that they planned to form a marriage alliance."

"Will the Oda and Matsudaira families form a marriage alliance? Who?"

"Takechiyo and Ittoku-hime will probably get engaged soon."

"Takechiyo" is the common name passed down through generations of Matsudaira family heirs, just like "Saburo" in Oda Nobunaga's line. Therefore, this was a marriage between Matsudaira Motoyasu's eldest son and Oda Nobunaga's second daughter by a concubine. Gotoku was nominally the second daughter by a concubine, but in reality, Oda Nobunaga treated her as his eldest daughter, and her status was even higher than Oichi's.

Haruno vaguely remembered this incident. It seemed that Gotoku had married into the Tokugawa family (Matsudaira family), but he didn't expect the marriage to be arranged so early. Moreover, he hadn't thought anything was wrong before, but now that he had arrived in this era, he realized that there was a problem. Oda Nobuhide, the "Tiger of Owari," had been living a life of debauchery and had a lot of children. Oda Nobunaga had been using them quite well over the years, taking one out to maintain relationships and marrying them off indiscriminately. How could he have taken his eldest daughter, born to his "true love," to marry into an alliance?
According to Oda Nobunaga's usual practice, shouldn't he have chosen a half-sister? Even if she was still young, she would be more suitable than Gotoku-hime.

Moreover, the Oda clan was a large family with no shortage of daughters. Oda Nobunaga was also very good at robbing his own clansmen. For example, Oichi was his cousin, whom he adopted. He also robbed his eldest half-brother's daughter and adopted her as his own, and also got a good son-in-law, Niwa Nagahide.

In any case, it was easy for Oda Nobunaga to find a marriage partner. He was willing to marry Gotoku-hime into the Matsudaira family, which probably means he really liked Matsudaira Motoyasu, or at least he had a good impression of Matsudaira Motoyasu.

Perhaps Oda Nobunaga thought Matsudaira Motoyasu was a rare honest man?
Yuan Ye stood there pondering for a while, then recalled Oda Nobunaga's joking remark about "double the marriage" and "you have no chance," and suddenly realized—Oda Nobunaga was also human, and probably truly loved Princess Gotoku. One aspect of the marriage alliance was to sow discord within the allies' families, but he probably also hoped that his daughter could have a better life, a higher status in the future, and that his children would have inheritance rights. That's why he had to find a reliable ally, one with a strong family tradition and good character, rather than just any local gentry.

He was the first choice, but he had no son, so he chose the Matsudaira family. In fact, the Matsudaira family was the most suitable family besides him.

With "true love" by his side, Oda Nobunaga is becoming more and more like a human being, completely different from the "Sixth Heaven Demon King" in history books.

Haruno pondered this and shook his head slightly. He felt that this marriage alliance was more like a normal feudal marriage, with little element of scheming involved. However, he quickly remembered something and turned to A-Qing to ask, "Weren't Matsudaira Motoyasu's son, daughter, and wife held hostage by the Imagawa family? Have they been rescued now?"

Aqing paused for a moment, then took out a small notebook from her pocket, quickly flipped through it for a while, and gently shook her head, indicating that she hadn't received any news from the Matsudaira family recently and needed to investigate further.

"Then go check it out, and hurry up." Yuan Ye casually instructed, sensing it must be something recent; otherwise, Aman would have mentioned it to him in passing long ago, and...

Oda Nobunaga had been keeping an eye on the Matsudaira family. As soon as Matsudaira Motoyasu brought his wife and children back, Oda Nobunaga found out immediately. It seems that he valued the Matsudaira family even more than he did.

In this era, everyone is indeed keeping a close eye on each other, even allies.

…………

The "Survival Corps" cost Haruno so much money, and Aman used to come asking for money every few days, so it was definitely worth it. The information about Matsudaira Motoyasu's family had actually been sent back, but it wasn't an urgent matter. Aqing had just taken over a lot of Aman's work and was a bit flustered, so he hadn't been able to summarize it all at once.

With intelligence, things became much easier, and Yuanye learned the whole story that very night.

When Matsudaira Motoyasu was a hostage in Sunpu, he was highly regarded by Imagawa Yoshimoto and Taigen Sessai, and married the daughter of the Sekiguchi family, a relative of the Imagawa family.

This can be considered as the lineage of a prestigious family. The direct ancestor of the Sekiguchi family, Imagawa Ryoshun, served as the Kyushu gandai (governor) in the early Muromachi period, quelling the Kyushu rebellion. His descendants served as the "Tōtōmi no Kami" (governor of Tōtōmi) for generations, nominally the governor of Tōtōmi Province, and also had the right of succession to Suruga Province, and even the right of succession to the "Sei-i Taishogun" (shogun). After the Ashikaga Imagawa families and dozens of branches with thousands of male members died, it would be about time for the Sekiguchi family to take over, but theoretically they still had a chance.

To be honest, for Matsudaira Motoyasu to marry a daughter of the Sekiguchi family was, in terms of family status, a step up.

However, after the Battle of Okehazama, Matsudaira Motoyasu, seeing the empty Okazaki Castle, could not resist the temptation of reviving his family. He abandoned his wife, children, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and other relatives, occupied Okazaki Castle, and refused to return to Sunpu. This can be considered a rebellion without raising the banner of rebellion.

The Imagawa clan had long exploited Mikawa, treating its samurai as expendable resources. They would only attempt sieges and other unfortunate tasks after the Mikawa samurai had made their first charge. As a result, the local lords and samurai of western Mikawa had long been alienated from the Imagawa clan. As soon as Matsudaira Motoyasu returned, they immediately began to side with him.

The new head of the Imagawa clan, Ujizane, was also a brainless fool. In a fit of rage, he ordered the mass execution of the hostages of the powerful families of Nishi-Mikawa. Matsudaira Motoyasu's parents-in-law, Sekiguchi Chikanaga, were also severely punished. This was partly due to the succession dispute within the Imagawa family. Sekiguchi Chikanaga had supported the wrong person, but nominally, he committed seppuku because of Matsudaira Motoyasu's rebellion.

Subsequently, Lady Sekiguchi also committed suicide along with her husband, as a protest against the Imagawa clan's ruthless extermination.

Sekiguchi Chikaei had a very good reputation within the Imagawa family, which was one of the most important pillars of the Imagawa family. In fact, the fact that Imagawa Yoshimoto's lineage was able to hold the governorship of Suruga Province was due to the Sekiguchi family relinquishing it, and not just once. Imagawa Ujizane's actions caused a huge uproar at the time, and he became a typical example of ingratitude. Many relatives, powerful clans, and retainers began to speak out or complain incessantly in private.

Thanks to the wave of public opinion, Takechiyo and her two children, who should have been killed anyway, barely survived and continued to be held hostage. Not long ago, Matsudaira Motoyasu, through an intermediary in Tōtōmi, privately reiterated his loyalty to Imagawa Ujizane, expressing his willingness to return to Sunpu and requesting that his eldest son, Takechiyo, be released to govern the family business in Okazaki, along with his mother and sister, Kamehime.

In return, Matsudaira Motoyasu was willing to release Udono Nagateru's two sons, whom he had captured in Kaminogo Castle, to prevent the Udono family line from dying out.

Imagawa Ujizane was overjoyed. Since becoming the head of the Imagawa family, he had made too many messy moves, and the aftereffects of Imagawa Yoshimoto's land survey were backing up. His position was a bit unstable, and there were too many resentful people. If he could take back Mikawa and rescue the heir of the Udono family, it would undoubtedly be a great achievement and would greatly reduce his pressure. So he agreed without hesitation.

Subsequently, the two sides exchanged hostages at the border of Mikawa and Totomi provinces. However, it is unclear how Matsudaira Motoyasu managed to manipulate the situation. The order issued by Imagawa Ujizane was altered, with the order of a word being reversed. The person brought back to Sunpu was not Matsudaira Motoyasu, but Matsudaira Yasumoto—Matsudaira Motoyasu's half-brother, the son born to his mother after her remarriage. Matsudaira Motoyasu took him into his retinue, changed his name, and successfully brought back his entire family.

Given the strength of the "Survivor Group" in Mikawa and Suruga, they were unable to ascertain how Matsudaira Motoyasu altered the judgment order issued by Imagawa Ujizane, nor were they clear about the specific circumstances of the hostage handover. But as if in a joke, Matsudaira Motoyasu actually succeeded, and four days ago, his family of four had already reunited at Okazaki Castle.

After reading the intelligence, Haruno was speechless. The Imagawa family must be completely rotten. There must be anti-Imagawa forces working together inside, and maybe even friends and relatives of the Sekiguchi family were helping them. Otherwise, how could they have rescued people so easily?

However, this also shows that Imagawa Ujizane's control over the Imagawa family was quite poor, and they all seemed like a makeshift operation.

A few years ago, the Imagawa clan was the most powerful daimyo in the world, with the strength to suppress the entire country. Now, they seem to be on the verge of national demise.

Matsudaira Motoyasu was now completely unconcerned. Given the Imagawa clan's foolish behavior, it was only a matter of time before the Matsudaira family annexed Tōtōmi Province.

As expected, the momentum is overwhelming and unstoppable. These guys haven't been idle at all; they're desperately expanding their influence. Having too many powerful allies isn't a good thing either.

Seeing Oda Nobunaga plotting against Mino and Matsudaira Motoyasu plotting against Totomi, Haruno felt a sense of urgency. He felt that if he didn't move forward, he would fall behind, and sooner or later he would die without even knowing how.

He also needs to accelerate his plans to conquer the Ise Peninsula. However, he only has one district, and it would be very difficult for him to go to the Ise Peninsula to fight against several daimyo. Moreover, with the sea separating them, it would be difficult to send reinforcements. After launching a full-scale attack, he is also worried that his two allies might raid his base.

Haruno was suddenly troubled. His economic situation had just improved, and the expansion of his army and preparations for war had a significant impact. The enemy was also a bit difficult to deal with. Before he could come up with a solution that would satisfy both sides, his new ally, Azai Nagamasa, arrived. However, Azai Nagamasa himself did not come. They had already traveled halfway and entered Owari territory when he changed his mind and sent a retainer to make new demands. He would only come to the alliance meeting if Oda Nobunaga agreed.

For a moment, Oda Nobunaga looked as if he had been slapped in the face, his face turning ashen.

(End of this chapter)