Warring States Survival Guide-Chapter 366 - 252: Hope So!

Nozawa, regardless of what the Hokitate Family thought, continued to advance step by step.

After clearing the remaining samurai clans between Nongzhen City and Anong City, he finally arrived at the area around Anong City, which is within the curves of the Nongchuan River.

Nongchuan is the largest river in Ise Province. It originates in the Ise Mountains, is quite short, carries a substantial amount of water, and flows rapidly, slightly north from the west into Ise Bay.

Simply put, Nongchuan is a bit peculiar, appearing almost like a horizontal straight line on the map, a type of river unique to peninsula terrains.

Upon reaching Lower Curve County in Ise Province, Nongchuan is obstructed by the mountain terrain, forming a small loop and creating a small plain in the river bend, with Anong City standing on a hill within the bend, surrounded by water on two sides, making it easy to defend and hard to attack.

This area is also the essence of Lower Curve County, with convenient water access, fertile land, and numerous fields. Since the Heian Era, many estates have been established here.

Nozawa led his people up a small hill, gazed into the distance at Anong City, and couldn’t help but whisper with a sigh, "No wonder local autonomy has been prevalent in Japan since ancient times, with places often splitting off independently and not following the Court’s orders..."

Japan, as an island nation, has truly peculiar terrain, with more than 80% of its total area being mountainous, forming various terrains like that of Anong City—truly a hole every three steps, a river every five, full of places easy to defend and hard to attack. As soon as the Court weakens slightly, local magistrates immediately turn into local emperors, leaving people with few means to handle them.

Perhaps it is this kind of terrain that fosters Japan’s later reverence for local autonomy, but this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for Nozawa. Although it took many lives to conquer, defending it afterwards saved much money.

"What did you say?" Ah Man, following behind him, didn’t catch his words.

She was tasked with finding tobacco seeds. After urgently transporting the unlucky Wandering Samurai back to Wanjin for "grueling interrogation," she figured out how tobacco was introduced to Kansai—a Southern Barbarians missionary, wandering along with a local Kyushu merchant ship, brought it.

That fool actually preached around the stronghold of the True Pure Land Sect, the Ishiyama Honganji Temple, and was almost beaten to death by the monks. It was only by the local Kyushu merchants paying money that his life was spared, and now he has been sent back to Kyushu.

However, some good things he brought have spread locally on a small scale, among them tobacco, becoming a kind of "medicine," said to dispel dampness and cure disease.

Ah Man had already sent people to Kansai to acquire it, buy it if possible, steal if not, anticipated to get back by the end of the year. Having nothing to do, she came over to find Nozawa and A Qing, just in time to hear him mumbling after climbing up the hill with Nozawa.

"Nothing, just saying this city is good." Nozawa casually brushed it off.

"It really is a good city!"

Ah Man stood on tiptoe to look at Anong City, then at the flat and fertile land within the river loop, feeling some fondness but also a bit of regret—Nozawa refused to let his subordinates become samurai, let alone grant land. Otherwise, with the favor of having saved his life, being the City Lord of Anong would be easy.

Then, she could have the surname "Anong," and be called Anong Man in the future.

Hmm, she still hadn’t figured out what her surname should be, currently using a surname Nozawa gave her for registration, called Nozawa Man.

Feeling that Anong Man sounded better than Nozawa Man, she pondered for a while how she could trick Anong City from Nozawa’s hands, but quickly remembered the city hadn’t been conquered yet, and asked hastily, "This place doesn’t look easy to deal with, seems like the Hokitate Family doesn’t want to retreat anymore, are you confident?"

"Don’t worry, this place is not a problem." Nozawa had plotted to take Ise for quite some time, well aware that Daheicheng and Anong City were the Hokitate Family’s ruling core; he never intended to fight head-on from the beginning—though he could undoubtedly win a direct battle, the situation on the Ise Peninsula was intricate and complicated. Defeating the Hokitate Family wouldn’t be a permanent solution, so to be cautious, he aimed to conserve strength to handle the unexpected.

For instance, if the tussle with the Hokitate Family was deadlocked or just after toppling their family, the Miyoshi family suddenly launched a sneak attack; he might still face the possibility of being overturned.

The Wanjin Army was surely strong, but it couldn’t crush the armies of the Japan Middle Ages entirely, field battles were feasible, but casualties in street battles were unavoidable, and he wasn’t capable of blasting every house he saw into ruins—something unachievable even in the 21st century, where street battles still consumed lives, not to mention his productivity was only a fraction of that era.

Therefore, saving resources is a must, accumulating capital isn’t easy, and it shouldn’t be squandered. Previously, it was the Hokitate Family unwilling to head-on his defenses, and now he too wasn’t keen on a head-on clash with Anong City.

The essence of strategy, after all, is not doing what the enemy wants you to do but making the enemy do what you want them to do, to fully mobilize the enemy.

So probably, Nozawa wasn’t a born general anyway; he just learned as he fought.

Ah Man hadn’t been with the Wanjin Army lately, unclear about the detailed strategies and tactics. Usually babbling nonsense in this aspect, Nozawa didn’t bother to elaborate and simply responded while closely observing the terrain around, while Ah Man’s attention shifted to the several columns of thick smoke rising from the southern banks of the Nongchuan River.

These were the Wanjin Army attacking the Earth Warriors in Ise unwilling to leave their homes. She couldn’t help but point at the smoke columns, expressing her opinions.

At this moment, an Inner Guard from Wanjin climbed the hill and whispered something to A Qing.

A Qing soon came to relay the message, "Your Highness, another envoy has arrived, from Turtle Mountain Castle and Chigusa Castle. Also, the Hokitate Family’s envoy has come again."

Ah Man turned her head and playfully said to Nozawa, "Has the Hokitate Family sent someone again? What conditions will they offer this time? Last time they wanted to send a princess over, this time they might offer two.

Otherwise, why don’t you meet her? The Princess can accept it first. I think Princess Dog doesn’t have a big rear, probably can’t give birth to sons. You can take a princess from the Hokitate Family and have two sons first. The status of the Hokitate Family is still respectable and also considered a noble lineage."

She was spewing nonsense. Harano glared at her, then turned to Ah Qing and said, "Forget about meeting someone from the Hokitate Family. Just find anyone else to deal with!"

Even though he was currently at war, messengers hadn’t stopped coming during this period. Whether it was from the Ise nobility or distant Daimyos and small Daimyos, every type of person, human or not, seemed to want to send someone over to chat with him. Some small Ise nobility had even started to pledge allegiance, willing to switch alliances to become vassals of the Wanjin if Harano agreed. They were ready to join the battle and besiege the Hokitate Family together.

Most of them were ambitious types, seeking an opportunity, eager to jump on his bandwagon without even figuring out the situation of Wanjin.

The Hokitate Family, on the other hand, came to negotiate for peace. Even if Kitahata Giyou was unwilling to step back, seemingly determined to fight with the Wanjin Army around Anong City, they still secretly sent messengers daily, expressing a willingness to ally through marriage, saying a life-or-death struggle would only benefit others.

There’s no need to rush into battle; talks could be held first if Wanjin truly wanted some advantages, negotiations could be made.

Harano ignored these people entirely. Ise Province would eventually become part of the Wanjin, and the Ise Peninsula would too—in control of the Ise Peninsula, he would extend into the Seto Inland Sea, a prime area of Japan.

Thus, the samurais on the Ise Peninsula must all scram; the original ruling class were his enemies. Even a temporary cozen would eventually lead to conflict, and deception held little usefulness.

In matters involving fundamental interest conflicts, diplomacy played nearly no role.

One couldn’t win the struggle over essential production resources merely with words.

Harano directly ordered Ah Qing to dismiss the messengers, delaying those from afar and driving away those nearby, then inquired whether the troops were in position. After confirmation, he ordered, "Everyone move, put some pressure on the Hokitate Family!"

The Wanjin front line had swelled to over seven thousand. Among them, the field troops numbered over three thousand, with more than a thousand Wanjin logistical staff and over two thousand laborers hired from Ise—not including labor used around Lujin Port or the transit teams on the road. Including those, their numbers approached ten thousand, granting an advantage over the Hokitate Family.

Of course, it was merely a numerical advantage; those people couldn’t be put on the battlefield. Harano had no intention to send them to die meaninglessly, though they could bolster the morale.

With his order, the Wanjin Army split into three divisions and began advancing toward Helequ, contending for crossings over the Nongchuan River, attempting to raft across forcefully, and even trying to bridge the river.

The Hokitate Family, naturally, couldn’t just watch; they began to counterattack, relying on the Nongchuan River.

The next day, skirmishes around Anong City had already turned chaotic. Small-scale clashes were continuous, and some Wanjin units had even crossed the river, attempting to remove the Hokitate Family’s riverine strongholds.

"The pace of advancement isn’t fast. Are the people at the front slacking and fooling around?"

Ah Man observed for more than a day, noticing something strange with the Wanjin Army, as if they weren’t exerting their full force, overly cautious about casualties, and even some laborers were building defensive works, making her eager to supervise the front line—though she was not keen on leading a charge, having worked hard to live well and become a superior being. She was no longer a mere "Life-saving Group" to risk her life needlessly but had no issues pushing others to charge.

Harano was even less likely to lead from the front, not having the ’law’ of leading by example, sitting atop a mound overseeing the entire operation, he remarked, "You don’t understand, don’t talk nonsense, just need to apply pressure, progress doesn’t matter!"

"What do you mean?" Ah Man felt baffled; after all, a swift resolution would be better.

"Haven’t you noticed the front-line personnel seem lacking?"

"There is a company missing; they returned to Lujin Port for rest, didn’t they?" When Ah Man had come earlier, she saw them at Lujin Port. She asked at the time, and it was said that after completing a cleanup task, they’d temporarily rest and recover, ensuring the rear was stable.

But instinctively, she realized abruptly, exclaiming in surprise, "Did they go to Daheicheng? Did they sail to ambush Daheicheng?"

Harano lightly nodded, "The Hokitate Family wants us to clash head-on at Anong City. They also can’t have it easy if we don’t; we surely can’t comply. Even though we’ve rehearsed sieges eleven times, there’s no need for hard assault; we should play to our advantage.

We have a large navy, while the Hokitate Family only a few broken Customs Ships, they couldn’t block us from deploying troops by sea, so we naturally couldn’t have our navy do nothing but stare on the sea; they have to do something, just right to kick their buttocks.

At this point, 800 of the first team, post-rest, along with 600 armed sailors from the fleet, totaling 1,400, should have already landed in Lower Bell County.

If we can take Daheicheng, that would be great. If not, it’s okay, so long as there’s a ruckus, making Daheicheng declare an emergency.

By then, the Hokitate Family won’t be able to stay holed up in Anong City; they’d have to retreat and aid.

The Helequ terrain is not easy for us to progress into, but if they wish to retreat lightly to Lower Bell County, they’d have to see if we agree; at that time, they can test how effective our field defense works are."

War, of course, should center around oneself, still wanting the Hokitate Family to crash into them and being reluctant to sacrifice too many people for alley fights; now just depends if secondary forces can achieve merit!

Hopefully, they can!