Chapter 214 - 149: The domineering fears the reckless, the reckless fears the desperate

Imagawa army, camp. Toya Hongtong, Asahina Taisuke, and Yakai Chiyomoto sat together in silence. They had just finished interrogating a captured Wanjin support soldier—it was the first time since the war began that they’d caught a man from the Wanjin army, but the interrogation had gone very badly. The enemy had actually cut off their own retreat, determined to destroy the bridges behind them, ready for a bloody last stand on this godforsaken patch of wasteland where not even chickens fly, dogs leap, or rabbits shit, showing not a trace of concern for the Nozawa family’s survival. This was definitely not something any ordinary powerful clan would do. Even more outrageous, the enemy had prepared in advance for massive losses at the front, building a second array of defensive structures at the rear. If they went on trying to pry through this line after line of defenses, nail by nail... Just taking that damn sheep wall by force had cost them dearly. This wasn’t like before, where most of the units sent into battle were patched together from Chita clansmen, and heavy casualties barely registered. Last night’s strongest assault, though, was led by Imagawa and Matsudaira troops directly; the casualty numbers hit them like a heart attack. Even with "casualty quotas," even for the "great cause of the clan," losses like these were impossible to accept a second time. Morale was an even bigger problem. The Chita clans had been forced to storm the fortress and were seething with anger; if anyone so much as tried to make a move, the camp could devolve into slaughter overnight. The Imagawa and Matsudaira retainers had started wavering too. No matter how much they were rewarded, nerves couldn’t be steadied; keep pressing, and even their own men would try to flee. Toya Hongtong had originally thought that a powerful blow would be enough to make Harano collapse—that if Harano didn’t die, he’d at least flee by sea. Instead, he’d rather be trapped and die in the castle than run. He was hell-bent on taking the fight to the Imagawa family to the bitter end... Toya Hongtong really wanted to smack him a couple of times and ask just what the hell was going through his head! The current situation was nothing like his expectations—after suffering such huge losses, victory wasn’t even close. Toya was left speechless, and Asahina Taisuke and Yakai Chiyomoto even more so; in all their years in the army, they’d never seen a siege this brutal, and had no wish to see another—not even when the Imagawa family attacked Anxiang City and captured the "Tiger of Owari," Oda Nobuhide’s eldest illegitimate son, did it get this brutal. It was beyond belief. And now the enemy had no way out. Like trapped beasts, their resistance would only become more desperate—the horror of a direct assault would reach a new level. Shivering inside, Asahina Taisuke, seeing that no one had spoken for a long time, slapped his thigh and cursed through his teeth: "Since he’s not afraid to die, we’ll just starve him out!" Nobody responded. After a moment, Toya Hongtong spoke in a low voice: "Send a messenger first. See if he’s willing to surrender. If he is, the Imagawa family is willing to honor him with the seat of City Lord; he may wed any daughter he chooses among the Imagawa clan’s senior retainers. The details of fiefdom can be negotiated. If he’s not willing... if he’s not willing, say we wish to parley with him face-to-face." He paused, then added, "Be polite, make sure all the formalities are done properly." "Seat of City Lord? He can even wed any noblewoman he wants?" The status of the Imagawa family was high, essentially the reserve force for the General of Expedition. The daughters of the main clan retaineders were worth a fortune politically. Asahina Taisuke was shocked, incredulous: "My lord, he just killed so many of our men..." Toya Hongtong raised his hand to cut him off, saying flatly, "I’ll write to Master Xuezhai, I trust he won’t object. If he hadn’t killed so many of our men, how would he be worthy of marrying an Imagawa noblewoman—how would he be worthy of a negotiation?" "But we’ve just beaten him once already..." "But he didn’t run, and he didn’t surrender. So what exactly do you plan to do next?" "We’ll starve him out!" "How long will it take?" "Three months..." Asahina said, then faltered and changed his tune, "Let’s besiege for half a year and see what happens." Toya Hongtong pressed him: "Can we even stay here for half a year?" The samurai retainers and clans besieging the Nozawa family were mostly drawn from the Bai Chuan Pass front, which was drastically undermanned already. If they stayed here for half a year, and Oda Danjo Chonosuke’s family got wind of it and crossed the river to attack the Yamaguchi family, they’d almost certainly have to return—half a year was a fantasy; even now Oda Danjo Chonosuke’s people could be itching to move, just needing more time to confirm the situation. Asahina Taisuke fell silent, but Yakai Chiyomoto hesitantly spoke up: "My lord, couldn’t we draw another thousand from Jumogawa?" Toya Hongtong shot him a frosty look: "And have that extra thousand die together with the Nozawa family?" Of course Yakai Chiyomoto endorsed sacrificing more Imagawa men—he was the one urging the attack most fiercely earlier. But he dared not voice this now, just dropped his head without a word. The three of them argued in the camp for a while, only to find themselves, after another round of bloodshed, back at the negotiating table—medieval Japan was always like this: fight and talk, with the bargaining chip going up or down according to resistance. As they summoned the envoy to give secret instructions, they suddenly heard a series of dull thuds in the distance. The thuds rolled together, culminating in a thunderous boom that seemed to make the very ground sway, followed by panicked shouting that threw the whole camp into chaos. The three men scrambled up the ramparts to take a look. In the distance, by the sheep wall, plumes of dust filled the sky; several towers on the wall had completely collapsed, even the wall beneath reduced to a short, ragged chunk, exposing several chaotic breaches. The dirt slopes built onto the sheep wall were half gone, much of the earth blasted away by violent, repeated detonations, causing more landslides—Harano had smashed the pitcher and burned his boat; if the Imagawa wanted his death, he’d do anything to drag them down with him. As squads of Imagawa archers entered the towers, Harano’s men lit fuses and blew the support walls from inside. The men manning those towers were as good as dead—if not killed by the blasts, then by collapse or falling debris. Meanwhile, on the far side of the sheep wall, violent iron cannon fire was breaking out; but with dust everywhere, there was no telling exactly what was happening there. Soon, samurai out front sent word: the Nozawa family had seized the chaos after the towers fell and before the enemy could settle, thrown open the rear gate and stormed out, attacking Imagawa units between "Stone City" and the port. Whoever got in their way got bitten. The whole area was in turmoil, units fighting on their own, desperately awaiting orders. Asahina Taisuke’s scalp tingled again; even starving out the enemy was going to be tricky. If they ate everything, they’d just go for a desperate breakout, with demolition charges to blast their own escape routes—so the sheep wall wouldn’t trap them. Even if the enemy could be annihilated, at minimum the Imagawa would have to pay for every enemy life with one of their own. The Grand General especially was not safe—they might be picked off one-for-one. And the enemy had laid in a staggering stockpile of supplies; the iron cannons kept firing every day and there was still plenty of gunpowder left. Had the enemy found a damned saltpeter mine? If they had that much gunpowder, then they surely weren’t short on rations. These days, saltpeter was as good as gold—an ounce of gold for an ounce of saltpeter, three kan for a pound at least, enough to buy three or four "koku" of mixed grain, which would feed a man for two years. If they had this much saltpeter, then they must have restocked on food long ago. "Pull our men out for now, and send the emissary immediately!" Toya Hongtong left those words and turned to leave, needing time to think through how to talk terms with Harano. They’d lost a hill of corpses to take the sheep wall, only to have it blown up by the enemy at once—couldn’t even use it for a day. The enemy’s resolve was painfully clear. There was nothing more to say—better start talking now! ...... Harano was done worrying about his life; he wasn’t interested in even trying to save half his force, in case he’d have to face a possible arrest and confiscation by Oda Nobunaga down the line. All his focus was on battering the Imagawa family, to make sure that even if they crushed him and ruined his plans, they’d know what it was to hurt to the bone—just like when he used to fight as a boy. He couldn’t win against gangs, but he’d always beat one of them to a pulp, make them go home crying for mommy. It always goes: the tough fear the crazy, the crazy fear the death-seeking. He was done caring about living, and now the Imagawa envoy had come, offering even better terms—surrender with dignity, even a marriage into the Imagawa clan. But if he was willing to become someone’s dependent, wouldn’t he have just turned retainer for Oda Nobunaga? Eventually he would’ve had the City Lord’s seat anyway—why let all these people die? An independent domain wasn’t just about his own freedom and dignity; it was about a larger, longer-term plan—on that, there was no way he’d compromise. He rejected those honorable terms without hesitation. As for Toya Hongtong’s suggestion of face-to-face talks, he didn’t object. If his basic demands could be met—if he could become a "small Daimyo" and not be restricted—he had no reason to fight the Imagawa family as enemies. The Imagawa in this era were not to be trifled with—Taiyuan Xuezhai was still alive, and they were a clan who could fight a three-front war: beating the Oda Family in the west, striking the Takeda family to the north, kicking the Houjou in the east. This is why, when Oda Nobunaga killed Imagawa Yoshimoto at Okehazama, the whole nation was shaken. No one dared call him "the big fool" anymore. At this time, Imagawa Yoshimoto was unchallenged as the strongest guardian Daimyo in all Japan, even daring to drive an army to Kyoto and treat it as his own pocket. If Harano had anywhere else to go, he wouldn’t have come to the Chita Peninsula to risk the Imagawa’s wrath; and reality had already shown just how dangerous incurring Imagawa wrath could be. The "Tiger of Owari," Oda Nobuhide, had besieged Inaba Castle for a month, but lost five or six hundred of his personal troops before he had to retreat—then Saito Dosan counterattacked, crushing his army for four thousand casualties. The Imagawa’s siege here was shorter but had already lost over a thousand, and that didn’t even include the Matsudaira or Chita clans; when it came to holding out, they were six or seven times the force of Oda Danjo Chonosuke’s family, with no exaggeration. So, if you could negotiate, you negotiated. And so the field calmed again, as emissaries shuffled back and forth, haggling over how everyone could talk face-to-face without getting killed. This time the other side was quite sincere, quickly accepting Harano’s key condition: they would withdraw from the sheep wall, and pull their lines back a certain distance. The wall had already been blown apart by Harano himself, and if talks broke down, his men could move right back in. Of course, Harano also promised that during negotiations he would not try to rebuild or reinforce any fortifications, nor repair the sheep wall; he accepted that a small Imagawa detachment could remain behind to keep watch, and that their safety would be guaranteed. But the details of attendant numbers, weapons, meeting spot, and the size of the receiving parties were all a headache—both sides needed to ensure that if the other side suddenly turned on them, their important figures wouldn’t get cut down on the spot. This was mainly an issue for Harano. His reputation for boldness was famous; Asahina Taisuke and Yakai Chiyomoto definitely didn’t have the guts to duel him. Worse, because of the Oda family, the news of Oda Nobuaki’s betrayal—violating a sacred truce to attack Qingzhou City—had spread along the East Sea Road. Most Oda men were now "blacklisted" as untrustworthy. Harano had fled the Oda family himself, and now had mud on his own name. The Imagawa feared that at the meeting, he might just draw his sword and butcher the lot, overturning the whole situation with one blow. After a whole day of haggling, the details of the meeting were finally nailed down. Only after both sides had left a carpet of corpses did they at last begin their first formal negotiation.