Chapter 39: The Gains and Losses at Kawanakajima

Ōigawa Castle – Isshiki Masataka

1561. Fall.

“Kojūrō, don’t let anyone in until further instructions.”

“Understood.”

I could hear Kojūrō’s reply from the other side of the door. Alright, that should take care of any eavesdroppers from the front. With members of the Sakae hiding in the attic and under the floor boards, this place should be free from infiltrating shinobi from other regions either.

“Rakudo, come.”

“Yes.”

Rakudo appeared from above, wearing an attire like that of a merchant’s. The Sakae in general didn’t wear black clothes as much due to their specialties on information management. Instead, they’d wear various disguises—from merchants, farmers, to even warriors.

“Disguising yourself as a merchant this time? How did it go?”

“They bought rice in bulk. It seems Kai had a poor harvest this year.”

“I see. The Battle of Kawanakajima, I heard it ended in a stalemate?”

“According to the gossip that goes around among the citizens of Kai, the Takeda clan lost their lord’s younger brother, Nobushige¹He was Shingen’s younger brother, as well as the man he trusted the most. His position in the clan was quite literally second only to Shingen, as the deputy clan head of Takeda. Losing him alone cost Takeda a lot, as not only did they lost their deputy clan head, they also lost one of their most prominent generals, one of their most just retainers, one of Shingen’s greatest supporters, and a great man overall. In fact, even Uesugi Kenshin lamented his death, that was how great of a man he was., their strategist, Yamamoto Kansuke²He was one of the Takeda’s twenty four generals, the one who led the vanguard during the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima. Before serving Shingen, he used to be a mercenary under Imagawa, but Yoshimoto fired him due to them having a falling out at one point. Shingen hired him, and he became someone that Shingen trusted enough to become a vanguard. Though to Takeda, his loss wasn’t as great as Nobushige, it was still a great loss., and the retainer who had served them for three generations, Morozumi Toramitsu³He was Takeda’s senior retainer, probably the most senior among them all at the time (he was 81 when he died in the battlefield), as well as Shingen’s great uncle. He had been serving the Takeda for three generations, and he was someone who was respected in the clan.. On the other hand, the Uesugi clan lost no major retainers. To summarize, Shingen completely conquered northern Shinano, albeit at a great cost.”

“Calling it ‘great’ is an understatement. Doesn’t Shingen trust his younger brother quite greatly?”

“Apparently so. Since his death, Shingen hasn’t been looking well. To the point that the citizens of Kai are worried about him.”

In other words, things were going just like in history. If Uesugi could keep Takeda in check and make them focus on guarding Shinano, our side could breathe a little easier, but that wouldn’t happen.

Masatora just had too many enemies. Now that he was appointed as Kantō-Kanrei, on top of Shingen, he also had to keep Sagami’s Hōjō⁴At this point, Hojo and Uesugi had been at war for a while now, with them regularly clashing against each other. At one point, Uesugi even attacked Odawara Castle, Hojo’s headquarters., Etchū’s Jinbō Nagamoto⁵He was the deputy governor of Etchu Province back then, and he was most well known for his rivalry with Etchu’s Shiina clan. Kenshin actually tried to mediate things between the two clans, but at one point, he picked Shiina’s side, so at this point of time, Uesugi and Jinbo clans were at odds too. and Ikko-Ikki⁶These guys aren’t clans, but armed leagues of BATTLE MONKS. Since their numbers only grew with the growing dissatisfaction of people toward the government at this time, they only grew stronger. These guys were all over Japan back in the day, and they opposed the government, so naturally, as a deputy shogun, Kenshin had to keep an eye of them. in check. Then, there were his clan’s internal problems. His father, Nagao Tamekage, rose to power by overthrowing his master, and because of this, his retainers weren’t exactly the most loyal bunch⁷Basically, he was under the Uesugi clan for a bit, but he kept rebelling against them, even killing their retainers until eventually he just usurped their positions. Naturally, the retainers who were loyal to the old lords held grudges against him, and by extension, Kenshin, since he was his heir.. Both Nagao and Uesugi had been suppressing the rebellions caused by their own retainers a couple of times already.

So, expecting them to keep sending men to northern Shinano just wasn’t realistic.

“What are they planning, I wonder? The fact that they bought rice from you in bulk, Rakudo, is a little concerning to me…”

“Shall I send some men to Tsutsujigasaki⁸The Takeda clan’s headquarters.?”

“No, we should avoid doing anything that would provoke them. If they bare their fangs at us and attack us, we won’t stand a chance against them. Widen the information net’s range. Make sure to report everything to me, no matter how trivial.”

“Understood.”

“Mikawa and Owari is a matter of course, widen it to Kai, Shinano, and Mino.”

“All the surrounding provinces. What about Sagami?”

“Right, include them and Izu as well. Who knows if information from them could be useful in the future.”

“Understood.”

Rakudo probably thought that I’d dismiss him after that, as he stood up and was about to go back to the darkness. But there was one more place that bothered me.

“Actually, send some to Kyōto as well. Be more thorough there. Investigate the relationship between the shōgun and the Miyoshi clan.”

“…Understood.”

He probably tried to figure out my intention behind that order, hence the hesitation. Well, the order probably sounded so sudden for him. In less than five years, the Eiroku Incident would occur, and the 13th shōgun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru, would be forced to do a seppuku at the Nijō Castle. My order came from that information I knew from my previous life.

After his return to Kyōto, Yoshiteru was desperate to reclaim his rightful power from the Miyoshi clan. This worsened his relationship with Miyoshi, to the point that Kyōto was filled with unrest. It was so much so that I even heard this from Kureishiya.

In the end, Rakudo probably thought that my order was related to that.

After that, I was left alone in the room.

“Kojūrō, I’m going out. Accompany me.”

“Understood.”

Kojūrō opened the door and bowed his head, waiting for further command.

Alright, time to visit Mother and Ohisa-sama.