Chapter 17: Siege of Hikuma Castle

Outside Hikuma Castle – Isshiki Masataka

1561. Summer.

“I always think of this, but this castle really lives up to its name as one of the two Tōtōmi’s Defensive Line.”

“Indeed. Though it’s now in the hands of the traitorous Inoo, it’s been protecting Tōtōmi for many years.”

Surrounded from all sides, Inoo Tsuratatsu had chosen to hole up in his castle. Hence, we were all just standing by, waiting for him to give in.

This summer heat was really unbearable, though. Since this was still a battle, even if we could only do so much, we couldn’t just remove our armor. That rule extended to me, of course, since I had to be an example to the soldiers under my command, so I had to endure the sweltering day in silence even if I didn’t want to.

“Still, he really picked a bad time.”

“Agreed. Just who in their right mind thinks that it’s okay to declare war in the middle of the summer like this? Last year’s poor harvest left a little grain in reserve. With neighboring regions in the same state, rice merchants are selling their rice at high prices. Add the heat to that, and it must be hell being inside Hikuma Castle right now.”

Only two weeks had passed since the siege began, but even our army’s morale was starting to wane. I had a feeling that if we didn’t end this quickly, people would start to desert us.

But the situation inside Hikuma Castle should be just as bad as ours—no, theirs should be worse since they didn’t have food or water. It wouldn’t be long before they ceased to resist. This reminded me of the famous Siege of Tottori Castle, where Hashiba Hideyoshi¹Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s old name.’s starvation tactics forced Kikkawa Tsuneie—a retainer of the Mōri clan—to surrender. It was said that they had to eat grass and wood to starve off their hunger, but that ended up being pointless. I could only imagine how hellish it must have been to be in that situation²What happened during the siege was explained there. Basically Hideyoshi cut off all of the castle’s supply routes, drove the villagers inside the castle to empty their reserves quicker, built watchtowers to make sure no one sneaked food in, and even bought all the rice available in the province just to make sure they can’t get more rice. In the end, they had to eat their own horses, grass, wood, anything they can eat. If they were to leave the castle, Hideyoshi just shot them. The siege only ended after Kikkawa Tsuneie surrendered and vowed for a seppuku..

Honestly, I didn’t want that to happen to Hikuma. Morality aside, we still wanted to use the castle after this; it would cause us a lot of trouble if its residents died from starvation. Also, in this kind of heat, rotting corpses could spark an epidemic.

And so, I decided to make my move. But first, I had to write to the commander in charge, Okabe Motonobu-dono.

“Rakudo, are you there?”

“Here, my lord.”

“Can you infiltrate the castle?”

“It won’t be difficult. What do you need me to do?”

“Find those inside the castle who are fed up with Tsuratatsu and convince them to join us.”

“Shall I have them serve you directly, my lord?”

“…I’ll leave that for later. Traitors aren’t exactly the most trustworthy kind.”

“Understood.”

After that, Rakudo vanished.

Now, I’d write to Motonobu-dono. Something like, “Prepare for an attack” should do. Either way, neither I nor he would lead the charge, Udono Nagamochi-dono would. From what it seemed, he was intent on rushing to his daughter’s side first and foremost. Apparently, the reason why he ultimately decided to pick our side was because Motonobu-dono granted his wish to do exactly that.

Honestly, it wasn’t like he had any real choice. No matter how you looked at it, Tsuratatsu had no chance of winning this battle. If Nagamochi-dono truly wanted to save his daughter, joining us was his only option. After all, Matsudaira wouldn’t come to Hikuma’s aid.

“Sasuke.”

“Yes.”

“What do you think Motoyasu will do next?”

“I believe it depends on you, my lord. If you involve yourself deeply with him, he will move more aggressively to conquer Mikawa.”

“Why is that?”

“To make it seem like you’re aiding him. The more success he gained at his campaign, the more suspicious Imagawa will grow of you. Ōigawa Port is the gateway to Imagawa’s sea trade, after all. Distancing Isshiki from Imagawa would worsen the latter’s finances.”

Right, he’d totally do that. There was no way Motoyasu would overlook the port’s existence.

Anyway, this meant I had to carefully manage my distance with him. Too great of a distance would undermine the risk I took to ally myself with him, and weaken Ohisa-sama’s position, but too close of a distance would lead to what Sasuke had said.

To bring Mikawa back under Imagawa’s control, Matsudaira was the most valuable asset there was.

“What’s your plan to deal with Motoyasu-dono, my lord?”

“I want a good relationship with him. Ideally, it’d be nice if he were satisfied with half of Mikawa. As an ally to Oda, and a relative to our Isshiki, I want him there as a buffer for conflicts between us and Oda.”

“That’s quite the lofty goal, my lord.”

“I know. Even if Iinoya sides with Matsudaira, they’ll still be isolated from each other. It will be even more so when Hikuma falls.”

“Won’t we march to Iinoya next?”

Well, that was the thing. It’d be best for us to attack Iinoya after this and bring it back under our control, but there were two big problems preventing that.

First, unlike Tsuratatsu, Iinoya hadn’t declared their defection yet. Their claim about how they couldn’t attend Ujizane-sama’s summons due to suspicious movements near the border was valid. With Matsudaira and Takeda becoming more active, Ujizane-sama couldn’t force his hand on them, nor could he declare them as traitors.

Second was Iinoya’s location itself. With mountains to its north, it was built on a high plateau; it offered a clear view of enemy movements. The terrain was rough on the attackers, so we’d have to suffer heavy casualties when attacking them. Since Iinoya hadn’t made their defection public, attacking them would bring us heavy losses. It’d actually be better for us to just let them be for the time being.

“No. At least for now, there’s no benefit for them to completely side with Matsudaira. Tsuratatsu was too hasty and foolish. Naomori’s decision to stay neutral is far smarter.”

“Indeed, but that brings us back to how quickly we can take this castle. Hopefully, the Sakae can do their job well.”

“Yeah.”

I wonder what was happening inside Hikuma right now? This waiting game was frustrating. I could do nothing but wait for my only eyes inside—Sakae—to give me the information I needed.