Chapter 232: Let’s Worry About Being Human Later!
Forming an alliance with the Azai Family to weaken the Saito Family and Oda Nobukiyo, their allies, was not the only diplomatic move Oda Nobunaga made.
While colluding with Azai Nagamasa, Oda Nobunaga also actively sent people to infiltrate the mountains of Eastern Mino, hoping to persuade the Toyama Family to join his ranks—the Toyama Family were natives of Eastern Mino and held considerable influence locally. Their head had married Oda Nobuhide’s illegitimate sister during the “Tiger of Owari’s” era, making him Oda Nobunaga’s nominal uncle by marriage.
Furthermore, Oda Nobunaga was concerned about interference from Takeda Shingen when dealing with Oda Nobukiyo and Saito Tatsuoki. He also actively sent envoys to Kai, hoping to form a marital alliance with the Takeda Family. He had even prepared a candidate—he brought over the daughter born to his illegitimate sister, recognized her as his adopted daughter, and prepared to marry her off to the Takeda Family.
However, Takeda Shingen was busy battling Uesugi Kenshin at the moment and paid him little attention. Oda Nobunaga couldn’t find a suitable intermediary to broker the deal, so this marital alliance couldn’t be formed for the time being.
Of course, Uesugi Kenshin was also quite powerful, and Oda Nobunaga had not forgotten him. However, Uesugi Kenshin was a devout Buddhist, unmarried his entire life, and had no heirs, making it difficult to form a marital alliance with him. But this was not an issue; Oda Nobunaga stated he could offer a son to be adopted by him.
Uesugi Kenshin was quite interested. He already had several adopted sons prepared to inherit his family name, so another one from Oda Nobunaga would be welcome. However, considering the great distance between Owari and Echigo, he eventually replied with a polite refusal, gifting Oda Nobunaga a pair of hunting falcons in return, as thanks for his goodwill. This also served to indicate his stance—he would not interfere in the conflict in Mino and would only act after he had defeated Takeda Shingen.
Through a series of diplomatic efforts, Saito Tatsuoki and Oda Nobukiyo were essentially isolated. It was then that Oda Nobunaga, using Komaki Mountain Castle as his base, launched a full-scale offensive, advancing towards Inuyama Castle.
Yuan Ye and Matsudaira Motoyasu also fulfilled their obligations as allies, dispatching forces to assist in the battle.
Matsudaira Motoyasu had to deal with the counterattack from the Imagawa Family, so he sent only a token force of 500 men, who went along with Oda Nobunaga for the ride. Yuan Ye currently faced no external threats and, as agreed, deployed nearly seventy percent of his standing army. With over 2,000 men, he led over 2,000 rookie ashigaru provided by Oda Nobunaga, stationing them at Matsukura Castle, Shohei Castle, Kihara Mountain Castle, and nearby rock fortresses on the north bank of the Kiso River to contain the Saito Family.
Across the river were Ikuyama Castle and Unuma Castle in Mino. Previously, Oda Nobunaga had launched several small-scale attacks on the Inuyama Castle area, and the Saito Family had used these two castles as support for reinforcements. Now, Yuan Ye had blocked this route. If Ikuyama Castle Lord Igi Seihei and Unuma Castle Lord Osawa Masahide wanted to flank Oda Nobunaga as they had before, they would have to get past him first.
However, Yuan Ye wasn’t overly concerned. Even if Oda Nobunaga captured Inuyama Castle and annexed Mino, he wouldn’t be dividing territory with him. At most, he would allocate two or three manors to Inu-hime, just for show. Therefore, there was no need to exert himself too much in helping an ally fight a war; as long as the enemy’s main forces couldn’t pass, it would be fine.
He had no desire to attack and remained motionless in Matsukura Castle. If Igi Seihei and Osawa Masahide intended to cross the river to Inuyama Castle, he had no intention of engaging them in open battle outside the castle. He planned to follow behind them and attack them together with Oda Nobunaga.
Igi Seihei and Osawa Masahide also dared not venture deep into enemy territory with such a large enemy force. In their desperation, they could only resort to repeatedly attacking the castle walls, intending to drive him away first.
However, their mindset was similar to Yuan Ye’s. Helping an ally was a matter of showing good intentions; they were reluctant to expend their own resources to fight to the death. After attempting a few attacks and losing over two hundred lives, they gave up. They began to continuously send small detachments to bypass the route towards Inuyama Castle, either harassing Oda Nobunaga’s rear or providing some defensive strength to Oda Nobukiyo.
Yuan Ye ignored these minor actions, leaving Oda Nobunaga to deal with them himself. While in the castle, he was primarily focused on his own affairs.
Matsudaira Motoyasu had his sights set on Tōtōmi. With Imagawa Ujizane’s foolish actions, it wouldn’t be long before he lost Tōtōmi, and likely Suruga as well.
Oda Nobunaga, with three generations of accumulation, was already very wealthy. His professional soldiers now numbered over five thousand. If he unified the Inuyama Castle area and annexed Mino, and then summoned the local lords under his banner, he could easily lead tens of thousands of men.
As his allies’ territories expanded, in relative terms, Yuan Ye’s territory had actually shrunk.
This situation could not continue. He needed to act against the Kitabatake Family sooner rather than later and expand his influence to the Ise Peninsula, otherwise, he would be slowly cornered.
However, the situation on the Ise Peninsula was complex. The Kitabatake Family alone controlled fifteen counties, capable of easily deploying an army of over ten thousand. With only one county, Chita Peninsula, and then crossing the sea for amphibious landings, open battles, and siege warfare… To be honest, he had no guarantee of victory, and even if he won, the losses would be heavy. Old matchlock guns didn’t have a significant advantage against armor and bows and arrows. They were useful against weak local lords on the Chita Peninsula, but in a proper army confrontation, it was impossible to kill all the enemies with ranged firepower without suffering casualties.
War, in the end, was about people, and ultimately about fighting with one’s life.
Moreover, the enemy also possessed matchlock guns, just not as many as Wanjin.
Furthermore, if he suddenly landed on the Ise Peninsula to seize territory and defeated the Kitabatake Family, the Hatakeyama Family, Miyoshi Family, and Rokkaku Family couldn’t possibly stand by and do nothing. If they formed an alliance and deemed him a great threat, gathering tens of thousands of men to drive him back into the sea and annex the Kitabatake Family…
That would be working for others, which was not ideal.
Logically, he should wait longer, for Wanjin to develop further, for its foundation to deepen, for more reserve troops to be trained, and for the army to undergo several more conscription rounds. But looking at the current situation, he couldn’t wait.
If he waited another two or three years, there would be no place for him in the Japanese Warring States period, and no plans could be made.
Therefore, it would be best to throw the entire Ise Peninsula into chaos, so that when he arrived, the Kitabatake Family would already be weakened and powerless, and the Daimyo such as Hatakeyama and Rokkaku would have no intention of dealing with him.
There was a method, but he didn’t know if it would succeed, and even if it did, it would be somewhat against heavenly principles…
Yuan Ye paid no mind to the Wanjin army engaging in scattered skirmishes with the Mino forces. He was hatching schemes within the castle. After being a “lord of a territory” for so many years, he was no longer the ordinary college student he once was. His moral compass had been steadily declining. After pondering for two days, he felt he had to resort to malicious tactics. After all, if the people of Ise didn’t die, the people of Wanjin would. So, it was better for more people in Ise to die!
It’s a turbulent time; it’s either you devour me, or I devour you. There’s not much morality to speak of.
His mind was made up. After patiently pondering for a few more days, he began summoning Wanjin’s internal affairs officials and the backbone of the Life Preservation Style to Matsukura Castle for a meeting, preparing to strike.
Wanjin already produced salt, with a far more advanced process than ordinary salt producers, and operated on a collective labor system, resulting in lower costs than ordinary salt producers. Now that they had found a source of coarse salt and had an inexhaustible supply of raw materials, Wanjin could leverage its cost advantage, sell at a loss or even without profit, and directly collapse the salt prices along the coast of the Ise Peninsula.
This step was primarily to establish procurement channels, using low-priced salt to buy off coastal local warriors, local lords, and provincial gentry, encouraging them to voluntarily and spontaneously resell refined salt inland on the Ise Peninsula, and incidentally bring back what Wanjin needed.
What did Wanjin need?
Wanjin needed complete beehives, frog hind legs, owl long feathers, swallow beaks, butterfly wings…
This was to strike at the grain production in the Ise Peninsula region. Although rice could self-pollinate through wind, eliminating a large number of pollinators like bees and butterflies, and also eliminating a large number of beneficial birds and insects like frogs, owls, and swallows, would reduce rice yields on the Ise Peninsula by twenty to thirty percent, which should not be a major problem.
Meanwhile, buckwheat, the primary staple for commoners of this era, relied on cross-pollination. If the number of pollinating insects was artificially reduced, it would be a fatal blow to buckwheat harvests, with a fifty percent reduction being considered light.
In this era, food was already scarce. Commoners needed to supplement their meager rations with various wild vegetables and fruits just to survive. If the commoners’ staple food was directly halved, and their rice yields generally decreased, forcing them to use their rations to supplement their annual tribute, rebellion would be inevitable…
Of course, the Daimyo, local lords, and samurai on the Ise Peninsula could also grant large-scale tax exemptions, carry out large-scale disaster relief, and distribute grain to the commoners. However, based on Yuan Ye’s experience over the years, this was impossible. During times of famine, samurai would tighten their grip on tribute collection, fearing being eliminated by enemies when they were weak. They would not distribute rations to disaster victims like he would to help them survive the famine.
And people without food are the most terrifying. By then, the Ise Peninsula would likely be in chaos, with numerous small uprisings to evade or resist tribute collection occurring continuously. Then, when Wanjin landed on the Ise Peninsula, the resistance and casualties would be much lower.
Well, it was also possible to collect a batch of cheap grains from the Kanto and Northeast regions in advance. Then, he could bring the grain to win over the hearts of the people.
Yuan Ye’s “acquisition list” was very long. If it weren’t for the limitations of the era and the difficulty of collecting thrips, midges, and rice weevils, he would have likely included these insects as well, directly wiping out all pollinating insects. But even without these small insects, this “acquisition list” was too bizarre. Wanjin’s internal affairs officials and the backbone of the Life Preservation Style were collectively stunned, exchanging bewildered glances, not knowing what Yuan Ye intended to do.
Collecting these items seemed like performing some kind of witchcraft. Could Lord Yuan Ye be trying to concoct elixirs for immortality?
Yuan Ye had no intention of explaining. He knew he was doing something bad, and there was no need to publicize it. In any case, he issued a strict order, demanding that these people collect these strange insects and feathers with all their might, regardless of cost, and at high prices. Next year, their Wanjin performance evaluations would be based on the number of insects and feathers they obtained.
As the first generation leader of Wanjin, his prestige was sufficient. Even if he wanted every household in Wanjin to offer a young maiden, it wouldn’t be difficult, let alone when he was spending his own money. There would be no major trouble within Wanjin. The output from Wanjin’s state-owned salt fields and salt pans would no longer be sold; it would all be used for this purpose. They had to ensure that thirty percent of the people on the Ise Peninsula would go hungry after next year’s autumn harvest.
These Wanjin internal affairs officials and the backbone of the Life Preservation Style obeyed the order and returned to Wanjin to prepare. However, before they could even collude with the small water bandits （ fishing villages, part-time bandits, part-civilian ）, local lords, and samurai on the east side of the Ise Peninsula, Yuan Ye’s orders arrived. This time, they were given to the emerging group of traders in Wanjin, requiring them to purchase the specialty white ramie cloth from the Ise Peninsula at high prices this year.
Ramie originated in China and was later introduced to Japan, commonly known as “Nanjing grass.” This plant thrives in warm, humid conditions and is well-suited to Japan’s climate. During the Japanese Warring States period, its cultivation area was already extensive. The ramie cloth spun from it was a popular mainstream fabric, and the white ramie cloth from the Ise Peninsula was a high-quality product among this commoner fabric, particularly excellent when made into furoshiki.
However, this fabric had a drawback. It required carefully selecting ramie with fine, long, and tough fibers, and repeatedly beating them to spin natural white threads. This was time-consuming, and producing a bolt of such fine cloth also left a significant amount of inferior ramie, which was somewhat wasteful.
Yuan Ye now set his sights on this labor-intensive and time-consuming high-end fabric. He ordered the traders to purchase it at a higher price, even at a loss or with a small loss, in addition to their normal trade. At the same time, he instructed the Life Preservation Style to spread rumors on the Ise Peninsula, stating that this fabric was extremely popular in the Kanto and Northeast regions and was a valuable luxury item. Wanjin people would purchase more next year, encouraging the commoners of Ise to devote more energy to spinning ramie cloth and encouraging the samurai on the Ise Peninsula to levy more labor and expand the cultivation area of ramie.
This served as an additional safeguard for the commoners’ food shortage on the Ise Peninsula next year. At that time, samurai would have money to buy grain from afar, but commoners holding money might not be able to buy grain, and if they could, it would be at exorbitant prices.
At this point, Yuan Ye was not finished. Still uneasy, he continued to hatch schemes in Matsukura Castle, digging through all sorts of intelligence about the Ise Peninsula. Poisonous plans followed one after another, as he began working to weaken the Daimyo on the Ise Peninsula.
This could be considered him learning from Oda Nobunaga. To easily defeat Saito Tatsuoki and Oda Nobukiyo, Oda Nobunaga had thrown all pretense of dignity aside, marrying off his sister, marrying off his daughter, finding an uncle by marriage, sending his son, he was practically selling his backside.
Then he couldn’t fall too far behind. Whether he acted like a decent person or not was another matter!
