Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

Shichibei looked at Koichiro, who had already been "sold" to his shop, and asked him with a smile. In Shichibei's own opinion, the chances of Shibata Katsuie's plan succeeding were too small.

Four hundred soldiers, leading more than three thousand peasants, had to build a city in enemy territory. This was too difficult; even if Shichibei were in charge, he felt it was almost impossible.

Unless each of these four hundred Shibata soldiers is a Gundam, capable of fighting ten against one and holding off Saito's army's attack for more than ten days. And it has to be the kind of holding off without affecting the construction of the castle, because the farmers will definitely run away once they see the enemy attacking.

Having lived through Japan's Warring States period, everyone knows the habits of farmers. Without a bit of the shrewdness of Warring States farmers, they wouldn't have grown this big.

"Hmm..." Kinoshita Koichiro didn't dare to answer immediately.

After all, like Shichibei, he hadn't seen much combat. Although he served his elder brother as a foot soldier, he was essentially just carrying the banner for his older brother, Kinoshita Tokichiro. In any case, he hadn't encountered a battle that required him to fight to the death.

His brother did fight a desperate battle during the surprise attack at Okehazama. Imagawa Yoshimoto's troops were no weaklings; dozens of Nobunaga's pagemen were lost in that battle.

"Forget it, we can only watch." Shichibei curled his lip. It was really unconvincing for two noobs to evaluate Shibata Katsuie, such a pig samurai.

"Lord Shibata is brave, but I'm afraid he can't be good at everything." Kinoshita Koichiro nodded slightly, but his answer clearly didn't favor Shibata's ability.

"From now on, when you're not on duty, you can come and help out at my shop?" Shichibei didn't think there was anything to guess.

"hold head high."

At most ten days. If it works, Shibata will succeed; if not, he'll come back. It's only ten days; Shichibei has that much time. Let's wait and see.

After the autumn harvest, business at the shop slowed down. The first two seasons' worth of alfalfa were transported to Komakiyama for sale, and the third season was for their own use. Although the horse trade from Kai was still ongoing, demand had greatly decreased due to the lack of war.

In war, the probability of a horse stumbling increases, which can actually lead to good business. After all, a battlefield is not a training ground. A training ground is flat and even. Battlefields are often near rivers and cities, and are full of ditches, so horses are worn out quite quickly.

It is said that one of the reasons why the English king was worn down during the Anglo-French War was that the French king had a sufficient supply of warhorses and riding horses, while the English king did not.

It's set up...

However, it was obvious that there was no time to set it up. Only three and a half days later, Shichibei's family came back with several grooms and six horses.

Sigh, it's definitely not a case of him running away on his own. There's no need to guess; it's 100% because Shibata Katsuie failed in building the castle.

The family that came to see the six men and six horses, all intact, kept looking up at Shichibei and showing off. They were all old friends who had grown up playing in the mud with Shichibei, the kind who used to collect horse manure together when they were kids, very close.

Alright, alright, the Oda clan suffered a defeat, what are you so happy about?

He told a few people to lead the horse down, and then they drank tea and ate. Shichibei didn't even bother to ask what had happened.

Following closely behind them were Shibata Katsuie and his retainers, clinging to their horse's neck. The Shibata family would likely have lost dozens of soldiers in this battle, having faced Saito Tatsuoki's massive army.

After those who had horses, the unhorsed peasants and foot soldiers also came running back in droves. Some even ran towards the city walls, while others went even further, returning directly to their villages.

They've already lost, why aren't they going back to the village? Are they waiting for Nobunaga to give them a bonus?

Since the castle construction failed, it was Shibata Katsuie's responsibility to hold him accountable. Nobunaga couldn't very well ask the farmers to be slaughtered for the sake of three thousand fu (a unit of land measurement), could he?

By nightfall, countless rumors were already flying around the city walls. Even the grooms returning from Shichibei's shop were talking about it.

Clearly, Shibata Katsuie was no pushover. Upon arriving in Sunomata, he divided the farmers into two groups: one immediately began building a castle, while the other constructed a temporary camp. After all, it was late autumn and early winter, and spending the night in the open wilderness could easily lead to death.

The more than four hundred Shibata soldiers crossed the river and advanced, while a number of scouts were sent out to investigate the Saito family's movements.

Nothing happened on the first day, but on the second day, Saito's scouts appeared on the outskirts of Sunomata, yet no actual conflict broke out between the two sides.

On the third day, Saito Tatsuoki's 4,000 troops marched straight in and, in less than half an hour, routed Shibata's army of only 400 men. They took over forty heads in the battle. Shibata Katsuie suffered a crushing defeat; forty men had died in battle, a blow that was nearly crippling for his family.

The farmers of Puqing, who had built a city in the center of the Sunamata River Island, immediately displayed their "Warring States period spirit" and fled in panic.

There was no chance for Saito's army to cover their retreat and launch a full-scale encirclement. As soon as Shibata Katsuie showed signs of defeat, some of his men grabbed their tools and fled as fast as they could.

Once Shibata's army was defeated, the more than three thousand peasants collapsed at lightning speed, their escape was incredibly swift. It's safe to say that even if Shibata Katsuie had a horse, someone would have gotten home before him.

The construction site, which had just begun, was naturally burned down by Saito's army. The trenches that had already been dug were also filled in by the Saito family.

The Mino Trio also joined the battle.

There is a very high probability that Takenaka Hanbei was among them.

Once Sunomata builds his castle, Nobunaga can directly threaten Ōgaki Castle, severing the connection between Ōgaki Castle and Inabayama Castle. They have no choice but to fight hard.

And then what? It snowed, of course. Nobunaga didn't get angry; anger was pointless. Building a castle after a snowfall would become infinitely more difficult. The frozen soil would make it very hard to dig trenches.

Without moats, the defenses of these small castles in Japan would be severely compromised.

Therefore, Nobunaga convened another meeting of his senior retainers. Since the "pig samurai" Shibata Katsuie had been defeated, he decided to select someone who could build castles, endure hardship, and fight continuously.

Of course not now, at least not after spring. Once the ground thaws, it will be easier to erect fences and dig trenches before sending personnel.

Who's going?

Sakuma Nobumori invited Shichibei to his home and earnestly inquired about Shichibei's views on castle construction, as well as the extent of transport capacity that Kawamura-ya could mobilize after spring to gather in the Sunomata region in a short period of time.

Huh? No, does it mean your older brother is going to Sunomata?

Seeing Shichibei's doubt, Sakuma Nobumori made no pretense. Nobunaga was still considering candidates; in reality, he was simply choosing from among several senior retainers and senior generals.

Because Nobunaga didn't want to launch a widespread military campaign, which would require a lot of money, he could only mobilize powerful lords on a small scale, with someone like Shibata, who could lead more than four hundred men, being the most suitable.

The scope narrows down immediately, to just Hirate Hirohide, Niwa Nagahide, Mori Yoshinari, and Sakuma Nobumori.

44. Celebrating the New Year's coming-of-age ceremony for my younger brother

Oh, that makes sense. Nobunaga is reluctant to mobilize a large army, so he can only fleece his retainers. Right now, in all of Owari, only a few of you can independently raise a force of a few hundred men.

At most, we could bring along Hayashi Hideyoshi, or Mizuno Nobumoto. However, Mizuno Nobumoto was a fickle local power, not entirely trustworthy, and far inferior to the hereditary retainers of the Oda clan.

Furthermore, the Sakuma Nobumori of today is not the Sakuma Nobumori who will be stripped of his territory and exiled to a distant place in the future. He is quite famous in the Owari, Mino, and Mikawa areas, and is known as the renowned "Retreating Sakuma" or "Rearguard Sakuma".

Those who can serve as the rearguard are all bold and resourceful individuals. After all, being the rearguard means facing an enemy army several times larger than one's own. To be able to cover the rear multiple times and escape unscathed, you have to say how impressive that is.

Furthermore, with the current most valiant Shibata Katsuie already defeated, personal martial prowess doesn't seem to offer much of an advantage in this kind of castle-building military task.

No wonder Sakuma Nobumori came to ask Shichibei...

"So, why do you need me to mobilize so many horses? Is there some special arrangement?" Shichibei asked, a rather normal expression of doubt. Horses are the lifeblood of the Kawamura family; if too many are lost, the stables will go out of business.

Why horses? It's actually quite simple. Sakuma Nobumori's idea was to prepare several thousand arm-thick logs in Owari. After all, it wasn't going to snow heavily anytime soon, so they had two or three months to prepare.

Upon departure, each of the peasants under the guise of labor carried one load, while the packhorses pulled as much as they could. Once they reached the Nagara River, they did nothing but frantically erect numerous fences, providing Oda's army and the peasants with a safe haven.

Considering Shibata Katsuie's situation, digging a trench on-site might not be feasible in time; using horse-proof fencing made of bundled straw ropes would be the most convenient option. The front row would be horse-proof fencing, and the back row would be a tree-like fence.

Relying on the rapidly constructed fortifications, they engaged in repeated battles with Saito's army.

If they can delay for more than seven days, at least the fortifications on the Mino side of the castle can be completed. Then they can summon Nobunaga's foot soldiers to reinforce the castle, providing a strong defensive position. Even if Mino sends 10,000 troops, they will have to fight tooth and nail to take down the castle guarded by two or three thousand foot soldiers.

Moreover, this posed no danger to Kawamura-ya's horses. Sakuma Nobumori simply wanted to use their horses to transport more timber to Sunomata, making it easier for him to quickly build a fence and establish a defensive position.

Once the timber arrives in Sunomata, Shichibei can collect the transport fee and return to Komakiyama Castle. The subsequent battles and castle construction have absolutely nothing to do with Shichibei.

Shichibei understood.

There's a game called *Taiko Risshiden 5*, and one of the storylines involves the Battle of Nagashino. The battlefield has two layers of wooden palisades to stop the Takeda army's advance.

Sakuma Nobumori's current idea is to set up as many horse guardrails and regular wooden fences as possible, creating four, five, six, seven, or eight layers of obstacles, the more the better.

Then Saito's army came to remove the palisades, and he shot arrows and spears from behind. The layers upon layers of palisades greatly delayed Saito's army's attack.

If it drags on for six or seven days, the wide moat surrounding the 3,000-square-meter castle will definitely be dug. With the complete moat, a small Japanese-style castle is halfway to success.

As for your question about why Saito's army had to act like idiots and relentlessly attack the fenced area instead of going around to attack directly?

Because Sunamata is a small, shallow island in the middle of a river, you can't stop the construction of a castle unless you attack it. As for cutting off supply lines and waterways? Those are minor issues. We can bring our own rations for ten to fifteen days. Water? It's right in the river. What are you talking about cutting off water for?

Once the city is built, any subsequent actions can be deployed with ease.

Even if Saito Tatsuoki were to lead tens of thousands in a large-scale battle, Nobunaga would simply empty his treasury and exhaust the people's resources to send tens of thousands of men to fight him. A large-scale battle was fine; Nobunaga wasn't afraid of one. He simply didn't want to engage in tedious and difficult siege warfare, especially since Inabayama Castle was a renowned and impregnable fortress.

Even if he lost this battle, Nobunaga could quickly raise money and recruit another group of people thanks to the relatively prosperous commerce within his territory.

Nobunaga could lose once, twice, or three times; he had the confidence to do so.

Understood. Shichibei certainly wouldn't refuse such a business deal. There weren't many people coming and going at the beginning of spring anyway. Going to Sunomata with Sakuma Nobumori would only take two or three days at most, so it wouldn't have any impact at all.

Of course, this was just Sakuma Nobumori's own idea. Nobunaga hadn't yet decided which senior retainer to appoint to carry out the plan to build Sunomata Castle. Who knows, maybe Niwa Nagahide will end up taking the field?

In fact, Sakuma Nobumori's plan was exactly the opposite of Kinoshita Tokichiro's plan.

Sakuma Nobumori attempted to dig a moat four meters wide, enclosing an area of ​​over three thousand square meters, within six to seven days, within the limit. Kinoshita Tokichiro temporarily abandoned the moat project, attempting to complete the construction of a castle on flat ground in one day and one night, or two days and one night, using all the carpenters.

In some ways, the two people actually thought about things quite similarly.

Doing some addition and subtraction, hey, it really is under extreme circumstances that Sunomata Castle could be built in ten days. Shibata Katsuie estimated it would take ten to fifteen days to complete.

It's hard to say for sure whose method of splitting things up is more sophisticated. Sakuma Nobumori is clearly not someone to be underestimated; he has some planning skills. At least he's more strategic and willing to use his brain than Shibata Katsuie.

Row.

We await your call.

To show his closeness, Sakuma Nobumori even ordered his son, Jinkuro, to escort Shichibei to the door. Even a blind man could see that Sakuma Nobumori was trying to win him over; Shichibei had indeed demonstrated some value.

Thinking about it this way, Niwa Nagahide didn't actually try to win over Shichibei in any significant way; it was Sakuma Nobumori who made the first move. As for the Kinoshita brothers, they were practically in-laws, so there's not much to say. Besides, given their status and position, there's no question of trying to win them over.

There's no need to stay at Komakiyama Castle during the New Year, because Shichibei isn't one of Oda Nobunaga's "direct retainers." This term has other meanings elsewhere, but here it specifically refers to high-ranking retainers who can directly meet with Oda Nobunaga.

As a businessman, Shichibei did not have the right to wish Nobunaga a Happy New Year on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Even the Ito family's head, Ito, couldn't do it. Only senior retainers, senior officials, and powerful local lords within the Oda clan were qualified to do this.

As a fellow countryman, Mizuno Nobumoto, mentioned earlier, was entitled to present a tachi to Nobunaga on the first day of the new year, performing the so-called "Tachi no Ritual".

Everyone else could simply stay home and celebrate the New Year; there was no need for them to even pay their respects to Komakiyama Castle from afar. Shichibei was happy to have nothing to do and went home to play with his five younger sisters.

Making rice cakes, mirror cakes, shaving bamboo shoots, worshipping ancestors, and praying for blessings in the New Year...

Things get busy, especially with so much to do during the New Year. In particular, Ai finally opened up to Shichibei, saying that she'd be eighteen this year, and Takeru would be seventeen, and their seven-year contract with Itōya would be expiring. Originally, they were definitely going to continue working at Itōya, but now, well, you know...

Awooooo...

I understand, I understand. No sooner said than his younger sister pointed it out than Shichibei hurriedly opened his money box and pulled out the receipt for the Tsushima Ushito Tenno Shrine. One hundred kan of dowry, is that it? No matter what, I won't skimp on that one hundred kan for you five sisters.

"Master, where does all that tea-soaked rice you eat every day go?" Wow, Ai asked Shichibei in a very formal tone.

"Huh?" Shichibei had already noticed that Ai and Xiaozhu were having an affair. I'm not stopping you from pursuing true love, so why are you making a big deal out of it with me?

"Xiaozhu can come work at Kawamura-ya!" Aizhen felt that her brother was a slow-witted and brainless person, how could he not understand such a direct hint?

"Huh? Is it okay?" Shichibei was still wondering if it was okay.

"Of course!" Ai even said through gritted teeth like a little girl, the kind that's cute and you'll forget about it soon after.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay."