Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

Feeling somewhat regretful, Akai Naomasa immediately declared that he would commit seppuku, and had his trusted confidant act as his second. Then, they hid and buried his head, and each fled for their lives.

This battle was clearly lost, but the Akai Tokiie and Akai Tadakatsu still lived in Kuroi Castle, ensuring the continuation of the Akai family name. Kuroi Castle would not be easily captured (assuming the Oda army only had one month's worth of rations).

Eighteen years from now, I'll be a hero again. What's there to be afraid of?

Having said this, Akai Naomasa drew his dagger and plunged it into his abdomen. His trusted aide swiftly severed his head, wrapped it in a cloth, and the four split into two groups. One group donned Akai Naomasa's armor and disguised themselves as him, fleeing towards Kuroi Castle. The other group, carrying Akai Naomasa's head, found a secluded valley and hid it for burial.

As expected, several samurai from the Akechi army were the first to spot the fleeing "Akai Naomasa" and gave chase as if they were on steroids.

The confidant holding Akai Naomasa's head knew that returning to Kuroi Castle would be walking into a trap, so he did the opposite and fled to Amada County and Hero County.

They passed by Mount Awaka again, but this time the mountain was filled with laughter and merriment. The Kawamura army was busy cutting off heads and calculating their merits.

The Watanabe family, including the father and son, who had originally been assigned to Mitsuhide, had returned to Kawamura's unit and were enjoying a meal of sake. As the saying goes, "The more sake you drink, the more urine you need." Todo Takatora ran out of the camp and went to the stream to urinate.

Chapter 342 Akai Grandfather and Grandson Surrender

What is Takatora Todo's biggest advantage?

1.92 meters tall.

He was tall and had a good view; he was just urinating by the stream when he noticed someone a little further away carrying a bundle and drinking water in large gulps. He felt a bit embarrassed, since he had been urinating upstream.

But then again, it's just running water, nothing special. I figured I should apologize to them, offer them a bowl of rice wine, and that would be the end of it.

Who would have thought that when he shouted, the man seemed startled, jumped up, and turned to run away. Toudou Takatora, who was still a little drunk, immediately sobered up. He was the most hardworking and ambitious among the Kawamura retainers, the king of all, the kind of person who would still charge into the fires of Nagashima to behead people even with a limp.

With a few quick leaps, he could easily catch someone who was only 1.5 meters tall, hadn't eaten for two days and one night, hadn't slept, and was even scared when drinking water.

After running less than a hundred meters, Toudou Takatora had already reached the man. The man had already drawn his sword, while Toudou Takatora was still unarmed. But he was skilled and daring, and he could tell that the man's steps were unsteady, obviously he was very hungry, and that his running back and forth was just for show.

With a loud shout, the man couldn't hold back any longer and swung his sword down.

With a swift movement, using his hand as a blade, Takatora Todo's hand chop struck the man's wrist, instantly knocking the knife away. He then pounced on him, unleashing a flurry of wild punches.

He subdued the man in no time. After all, a 1.5-meter man was fighting a 1.92-meter man who had been practicing martial arts for over ten years. The innate advantage was simply unbelievable.

Seeing that he had subdued the man, Tōdō Takatora didn't think much of it and immediately asked how much the bribe would be. If it was less than five kan, he would cut the man off and count his head. If it was more than five kan, he could let the man go.

Nobody turns down money. Since the Kawamura army won't gain any new territory in this battle, exchanging it for money is the most practical thing to do. Anyway, the Akai army has already collapsed, so letting two people go back isn't a big deal.

Takatora Todo also has several fellow villagers to support. Why not take the money that's easy to earn? Ten kan can buy so much rice. The whole family could eat it all in a year and still not finish it.

The question left the person speechless, and for some reason, the person started crying.

Thus, Tōdō Takatora untied the ration bag wrapped around his body, tied the man's hands, and began to rummage through the man's belongings.

The armor was worth a few kan, the katana a couple kan, and the dagger two hundred mon. It was a shame to lose the pocket. In the end, only the package remained. When Toudou Takatora touched the package, he realized it smelled strongly of blood.

It's no wonder he has a bad nose. First, he had just killed over a thousand people on the battlefield, so the smell of blood was already very strong. Second, he had just drunk some alcohol, which had made him a little numb.

Is it a head?

Whose is it?

The man just cried silently, and having no other choice, Tōdō Takatora took him back to the camp. At that moment, Shichibei was chatting and boasting with Mitsuhide and the others, drinking cup after cup. Outside the tents were heads and prisoners; the dead had mostly been beheaded, and the prisoners were waiting for their families to ransom them.

The abacus beads clattered incessantly. Before coming, Shichibei had promised Mitsuhide that all expenses for this battle would be covered by Kawamura. Naturally, the reward for the severed heads would also be paid by Shichibei.

Kill these ignorant fools! They dare to touch Shichibei's Ikuno Silver Mine!

"My lord, I've captured someone alive." Todo Takatora went out to urinate and actually brought someone back with him.

"You can register yourself." Shichibei didn't take it too seriously. After all, he was a hard-working guy named Todo Takatora. He would consider it a loss if he didn't kill someone when he went out.

"There's also a head." Todo Takatora wasn't too concerned, because there had already been reports that Akai Naomasa had been spotted fleeing to Kuroi Castle.

"Whose is it?" Akechi Mitsuhide saw that Todo Takatora was 1.92 meters tall and incredibly brave, and some thoughts began to form in his mind.

However, poaching depends on the person. Nobunaga might be biased towards someone who poached Inaba Ittetsu. But he probably wouldn't be so lenient with someone who poached Shichibei.

"I don't know." He truly didn't know. If Takatora Todo knew, he wouldn't be in the mood to sit down and drink.

He chugged down another bottle of wine, then poured a bowl for the prisoner. After drinking it, he said, "How much ransom can you pay? What's the use of crying? We're all in this together. It's either you cut me or I cut you. The war's over now. Let's pay up to save our lives."

The prisoner's hands were still bound, but he didn't refuse the sake that Todo Takatora offered him; he was indeed hungry. After finishing the bowl, he stopped crying and then said that the head was that of Akai Uemon.

"Ha!" Even Shichibei and Akechi Mitsuhide, who were bragging, were surprised and exclaimed in unison.

They immediately summoned captured Akai soldiers to identify him, and four or five in a row confirmed that it was indeed Akai Naomasa. It was immediately confirmed that Akai Naomasa was dead, not having fled back to Kuroi Castle.

Those around him exclaimed in surprise, "How strange! Why didn't this person run east to Kuroi Castle, but instead ran west to the Oda army's camp? He really ran into Todo Takatora; his luck is truly amazing!"

Suddenly, Takatora Todo seemed to realize something and couldn't help but laugh out loud. Come to think of it, the bounty for Akai Naomasa's head was 1,000 koku of rice. With 1,000 koku of rice, one would undoubtedly be a person of high status.

We'll talk about the thousand koku later. First, send Akai Naomasa's head to the gates of Kuroi Castle and hand it over to Oda Nobunaga for inspection.

Generally, after recording the merit of the first head, if there were family members, the head would be returned to them; if there were no family members, a temple would be found, a few dozen strings of cash would be donated, the head would be sold, and a stone pagoda would be erected to complete the transaction.

As for the sale of prisoners, that's only been happening for the last few days. The prisoners are all locals from the three counties of Odamba, and from receiving the news to arriving to ransom them, it usually takes within three days. Money is exchanged for release, of course, they're released naked. As for the weapons and armor, Shichibei will confiscate them, give them a fresh coat of paint, and sell them to Nobunaga as brand new.

They withdrew their troops and returned to Kuroi Castle, but the castle had not yet been captured.

Although only four days have passed, and Kuroi Castle only has a few hundred elderly, weak, and disabled inhabitants, they still haven't been able to take it. This can only mean that the methods of siege warfare in those days were really weak. Furthermore, Kuroi Castle is located on a mountain in 356, and without a powerful indirect fire weapon, it is indeed very difficult to take.

Upon seeing Akai Naomasa's head and carefully listening to the reports from Mitsuhide and Shichibei, Nobunaga merely nodded slightly. He indicated that he would fulfill his promise of a thousand koku of gold to Todo Takatora, and that sending Akai Naomasa's head into the castle to persuade him to surrender was the proper course of action.

The city was defended by Akai Naomasa's younger brother, Akai Yukiie, and Akai Tadachi, the nominal head of the Akai family. As for Naomasa's father, Akai Tokiie, who had been imprisoned, they were released and joined the defense with more than ten servants.

Since the city was full of the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled, every single fighter was important, and everyone had to take up arms and go into battle to defend against Oda Nobunaga's attacks.

"What are the conditions for opening the city?" Looking at the Mui-kun who had been sent into the city, the excited Tōdō Takatora craned his neck.

"Ice City, Kuroi Castle, Hyogo Province." Shichibei is also in sight.

Akai Naotada had originally built a fortune of over 100,000 koku and subdued the Ashida and Adachi clans. But now, with his army suffering a major defeat and losing over a thousand men, he certainly couldn't control Amada and Kero-no-kara districts. Nobunaga was essentially rigging the deal with Kuroi Castle, because Kuroi Castle was truly difficult to conquer.

"That's still 50,000 koku." Todo Takatora sighed, even though the man was down on his luck, it was still a generous salary that he could never have imagined in his entire life.

"He might not even go to jail." Shichibei also heard some other opinions.

It is said that Akai Tadai was going to marry Akechi Mitsuhide's daughter and become Akechi Mitsuhide's son-in-law, so that the father-in-law and son-in-law could pacify Tanba and establish their achievements together.

It's quite similar in a way; historically, Mitsuhide's close relative by marriage, Hosokawa Fujitaka, also deceived Isshiki Yoshimichi in the same way. By marrying his daughter to Isshiki Yoshisada, the Hosokawa family gained control of half of Tango Province, while the Isshiki family retained the other half.

The results of it?

They seized every opportunity to kill, luring Isshiki Yoshisada in and then slaughtering him. They also killed over a hundred of Isshiki's hereditary retainers and key samurai, leaving no trace of them.

Further back, when the Kuroda family entered into the fiefdom of Nakatsu in Buzen, they first made a marriage agreement with the Utsunomiya family of Chinzai, signifying a close and loving family relationship. Once the Utsunomiya family lowered their guard, they lured them there and murdered the entire family.

Even that poor girl who married Kuroda Nagamasa was killed. Not just beheading or strangulation, but she was tied to a cross and stabbed to death with spears from both sides. The little girl was innocent; we won't comment on her being killed along with her entire clan during the extermination of her family, but to be so cruelly murdered?

During Japan's Sengoku period, such expedient marriages were more like death warrants.

"Tsk tsk tsk..." Todo Takatora was also from a samurai family, and he knew some things perfectly well, but he just sighed.

A little further away, Akechi Mitsuhide was also whispering with Saito Toshizo and Akechi Hidemitsu. If Akai Tadakatsu of Hikami District became his son-in-law, things wouldn't be bad, but they wouldn't be great either. This expedient alliance was fraught with uncertainty. One could even say that his daughter was being held hostage by the Akai family.

We need to think carefully about how to deal with the Akai family.

However, at least this battle was a victory; killing Akai Naomasa meant eliminating a major local tyrant. The remaining Akai Tokiie was over eighty years old, too frail to walk. Akai Yukiie lacked his brother's ruthlessness and cunning, and was far inferior in bravery. Akai Tadahie was even worse—a young man, completely outmatched by Akai Naomasa, and practically devoid of experience.

He didn't have his first time until he was twenty-three, which is considered incredibly late in Japan.

Historically, his entire family fortune of 150,000 koku was seized. Believing himself to be an irreconcilable enemy of Mitsuhide, he went to serve Hideyoshi. However, because Hidenaga participated in the war against the Akai clan, he also harbored hatred towards Hidenaga.

He wanted to defect, but didn't know who to defect to. He waited until Hidenaga and Hideyoshi died one after another before finally choosing the right person: Tokugawa Ieyasu. He barely managed to salvage his dignity and obtain the status of a 2,000-koku lord in Yamato Province.

The members of the Mokui clan who had entered the castle quickly withdrew, indicating that the castle requested a day to consider their options before giving a reply. They also thanked Oda Nobunaga for returning Akai Naomasa's head, praising Nobunaga as a truly unparalleled general throughout history.

Upon hearing the reply from within the city, Shichibei was somewhat surprised. Did this attitude mean that the Akai family was prepared to have an internal conflict tonight?

With only a few hundred old, weak, sick, and disabled people left in the city, did they still have the strength to fight amongst themselves? Of Akai Naomasa's remaining troops, only a few dozen eventually escaped back into the city; most of them became heads or prisoners.

But since that's what the city has said, there's nothing to hesitate about. It's not like they're giving us a month to think it over; it's just one day. Who can't wait a day?

With this day finally free, Nobunaga personally summoned Todo Takatora. He first granted Shichibei a fief of 1,000 koku in Aichi District, Jiangnan, and then transferred it to Todo Takatora. The proper procedure still had to be followed; Todo Takatora was Shichibei's retainer, and logically, Shichibei should have been the one to divide the land and bestow it upon him. However, Nobunaga wasn't stingy, and besides, Kawamura's army had indeed contributed greatly.

Nobunaga had previously promised Yamauchi Ichitoyo a fief of 2,000 koku, and now he was fulfilling that promise by granting Hideyoshi an additional 2,000 koku, allowing Hideyoshi to reward Ichitoyo for his past achievements by granting him a fief of 2,000 koku.

So what does Kuroi Castle say?

The anticipated overnight infighting did not occur, or rather, it did occur but did not cause any major changes. Akai Yukiie, who advocated defending Kuroi Castle to the death, was bound by his father Akai Tokiie and his good nephew Akai Tadai and sent to Nobunaga's front lines.

Since he was so sensible, Nobunaga didn't kill him. Instead, he ordered Akai Yukiie to become a monk in Kyoto, both as a hostage and as a bargaining chip.

The Akai family formally surrendered to Nobunaga, accepting a settlement of 50,000 koku of rice from Kuroi Castle in Hikami District. They became loyal followers of Akechi Mitsuhide, assisting him in conquering Naito Joan and others.

As planned, the Amada and Hero counties were all handed over to Akechi Mitsuhide for "one-office management." Nobunaga would leave the rest to Mitsuhide.

Everyone obeyed the order, and Akai Tadakuni personally came outside the castle to pay homage to Oda Nobunaga.

The Tanba Red Demon Clan, which had been invincible in Tanba for twenty years, suffered a severe blow, though it did not decline. It lost its former glory and went into hiding.

Logically, they should have called it a day, but Shichibei refused. Instead, he decided to go to Takeda Castle and Ikuno Ginzan to stage an armed parade, to tell others that Ikuno Ginzan was protected and that they shouldn't mess with them.

I originally thought that with Oda Nobunaga's influence, no one would dare to mess with the untapped silver mine these days. But I never expected there would still be ungrateful people, and quite a few at that. So the best way is to openly settle things with force. A strong enough fist, and one that stands in the eye, will make others wary.

Upon hearing that Shichibei was going to visit Takeda Castle, Nobunaga became interested and said he would go to Tajima instead.

However, the situation in Ma is not yet completely under control. Although Ma was assigned to the Oda clan in the alliance with the Mori clan, the Oda clan's influence in the area is very weak.

It's a good opportunity to kill Akai Naomasa and take a trip to Tajima, so that the people of Tajima can see clearly that times have changed.

Chapter 343 Friction Arises Within Harima

Trapped in Takeda Castle, Yamana Hirotoyo, who had already mentally prepared himself for the end and even instructed his family to bury him in Tajima, discovered that Akai Naomasa had hastily withdrawn his troops.

Although Yamana Hirotoyo's military skills were abysmal, he wasn't exactly stupid. He had previously made the decisive move of offering up the Iwano Silver Mine in exchange for Oda Nobunaga's forgiveness. Now, he could probably guess that something had happened to Akai Naomasa's rear.

But he also worried that this was a ploy by Akai Naomasa to trick him into leaving the city. They were feigning a retreat, waiting for the Yamana army to leave the city before engaging in open battle.

So he waited patiently in Takeda Castle for three days to confirm that Akai Naomasa had indeed retreated before sending people out of the castle to contact other forces in Tajima Province and sending people into Tanba to investigate.

As a result, news arrived that Lord Nobunaga, the Regent, had personally led an army of 20,000 to reinforce the city, and had already killed Akai Naomasa in battle at Mount Awaka and subjugated Kuroi Castle.

Yamana Yutoyo jumped for joy! Despite being over sixty years old, he immediately dressed and rushed to Kuroi Castle to pay his respects to the Regent.

Then, on the way, they ran into Oda Nobunaga, who was also there with Shichibei to check on the situation in Tajima Province.

He bowed deeply and then personally led Oda Nobunaga's horse. Yamana Hirotoyo was truly willing to go all out; his family was once a prestigious "sixth-sixth-tier" noble family, though now in decline, they were still exceptional. His ability to adjust his mindset and face reality so actively and quickly was commendable.

At least after Nobunaga had him lead him a few steps to confirm the superior-subordinate relationship and to demonstrate his status as the ruler of the land, he very politely asked Yamana Hirotoyo to ride alongside him.

After Nobunaga subdued the Akai family, he originally planned to return to Azuchi Castle to continue building the castle. However, upon hearing that Shichibei was also planning to visit Takeda Castle and the Ikuno Ginzan, he surprisingly offered to go with him.

I wonder what Nobunaga was thinking...