Chapter 193 36. Conflict in Owari Suruga

At this point, how could Kobayata not understand? Because Japan has long had a good habit of lords and local farmers sitting down to talk. After all, if they really started fighting, both sides would definitely suffer losses, or even perish together.

No matter which daimyo or which army, the main force under his command was always foot soldiers armed by self-cultivating farmers. How many samurai were there? Who doesn't understand the principle that ants can kill elephants if they are in large numbers?

Moreover, in 1441, the "Kakitsu Rebellion" occurred, and nearly 100,000 village farmers around Kyoto organized a large-scale uprising in the country, and even defeated the government army and invaded Ryokan, forcing the general to issue a benevolent decree to exempt all overdue debts. [Note 1]

Gradually, with the further development of feudal relations, the guardians and deputies sent by the shogunate in Ryokan gradually disappeared. Instead, they were replaced by local Warring States daimyo who were rooted in their hometowns and had closer ties with their subjects. The two sides formed a feudal dependency relationship of mutual use and influence. Since then, the oppression of the daimyo lords on the people has become limited and restrained, which is very different from the old-style shogunate bureaucrats who would take the land and leave.

So in the Warring States period when feudal oppression and economic exploitation were becoming increasingly serious, although the farmers' lives were indeed not very good, some places in the west even implemented the tyranny of eight lords and two people. But the people who felt that the annual tribute was heavy, in order to survive, fully exerted their survival wisdom. When it came to paying taxes, they would come to play a big drama of extreme poverty with you. Seeing this, the lords would reduce taxes in famine years and would be embarrassed to increase taxes in good years.

After understanding this truth, Kobayata simply made up his mind not to watch their "performance" and let his comrades collect taxes according to the books.

Amid the tears of hundreds of people, Kobayata acted as a disabled person who was "blind" and "deaf". He walked back to Ejiri's residence quickly and ordered the maids to close all the doors and windows. Kobayata could only turn a blind eye and deaf ear to it, and let them go.

So the farce of crying poor and begging for mercy lasted for three or four days before it was completely over, and finally the money was returned to the treasury and the rice was returned to the warehouse. It seemed that the poor and penniless subjects still paid the annual tribute according to the previous books, and did not pay more because of the bumper rice harvest this year. And the tax money was also pieced together to make it almost the same. Kobayata finally completed the task of collecting the annual tribute from Ejiri after going through many twists and turns, and everyone was happy.

Of course, this scene was not only in Ejiri, but also in Kiyosu in Owari, Fuchu in Suruga, Kasugayama in Echigo, and every province in Japan, big and small. It was really a daily situation that could not be more daily, so it was skipped.

Because Kobayata had no intention of caring about this small matter, he received a more shocking news. Oda Nobukatsu of Owari finally died of a sudden illness as expected, which was naturally expected.

After all, Oda Nobukatsu once raised an army and almost seized Owari Province, and he had many fans in Owari. His sudden death brought about political aftermath that could not be easily dissipated.

Upon hearing the news, the Imagawa clan in Mikawa frequently made moves, and even the Zen master Taihara Xuesai, who was far away in Suruga, did not care about his old body and quickly took a boat to Nishi-Mikawa Yoshida Castle.

As for why it was Nishi-Mikawa Yoshida Castle, instead of Higashi-Mikawa Okazaki Castle, which was closer to the Owari front line, perhaps some people still remember that many years ago in the Battle of Eight Faces Mountain, the Nishi-Mikawa flag bearer general Udono Nagamochi and his son Udono Nagateru turned against their side in the battle, causing the originally undefeated Kira coalition to suffer a shameful defeat. Because of Udono Iekiri's shameful behavior, the Mikawa Mukō public samurai group was devastatingly cut in half, and more than a dozen Mikawa Mukō public families were wiped out. The Udono clan had completely cut themselves off from the people of East Mikawa and had to cling to the thighs of the Imagawa clan, so Yoshida Castle was the safest place in the entire Mikawa.

The Imagawa clan was making frequent moves in Mikawa, and Owari was naturally unstable.

It is said that within one day, more than 20 powerful warriors from the country went to Kiyosu Castle to pay their respects to Oda Nobunaga himself. Those who were received by Oda Nobunaga breathed a sigh of relief, while those who were refused by Nobunaga were in a state of panic.

Unless you are a fool, everyone in Owari could see that there must be something fishy behind the sudden death of Oda Nobukatsu, who was originally alive and well in Suemori Castle. And the only one who could get Oda Nobukatsu out of the hands of the previous mistress, Lady Tsuchida, and then kill him without anyone noticing, and wait until he was dead before everyone knew about it, was Oda Nobunaga.

Everyone knows that it is time to settle accounts with Oda Nobukatsu's followers. The main culprit Nobukatsu is now dead, and the remaining small fish have lost their backbone, so naturally they will be a little panic, especially the Owari people who followed behind.

Watching the fire from the other side of the river, the Zen Master Taiyuan Xuesai, who saw through it, immediately took action. After a period of provocation, the lord of Narumi Castle, Yamaguchi Samakae Kyotsugu, and the father and son Yamaguchi Kurojiro, who were important towns between Owari and Mikawa, finally raised the banner of rebellion. It would have been fine if he surrendered to the enemy alone, but as a result, the castles of Otaka, Washizu, and Marugane all rebelled and surrendered to the Imagawa clan.

Zen Master Taiyuan did not expect the effect to be so good, and immediately began to mobilize the Mikawa samurai group and the 1,500 Suruga people of the Imagawa clan in Mikawa. Then the Suruga samurai such as Katsurayama Nagakase, Asai Koshiro, Iio Toyozen-no-mori, and Miura Yoshitsugu led their troops into Owari to harass.

Oda Nobunaga was no weakling. When he heard in the morning that Yamaguchi Kyotsugu had surrendered the city to the enemy, he brought 800 foot soldiers and hatamoto soldiers to Furuto Castle, where his father once lived, in the afternoon and ordered the Owari soldiers to gather with him.

He led his troops to capture all the branch castles outside Narumi Castle in one day. On the fourth day of Yamaguchi Kyotsugu's rebellion, he fell into a state of panic and fear, and could only hope that Taiyuan Xuezhai Zen Master would quickly bring troops to rescue him.

Nobunaga immediately set up many castles and camps around Narumi, such as Tange, Zenshoji, Minami-nakajima, and Komura, and continuously dispatched soldiers and samurai from various places to garrison in them.

All these actions seemed to indicate that Oda Nobunaga wanted to completely surround Yamaguchi Kyotsugu and his son in Narumi Castle, and then completely wipe out this force that dared to rebel against him.

Narumi Castle was in a state of desolation and death.

[Note 1]: "Kojien" Doiki (Doiki) is a peasant uprising that frequently broke out in the surrounding areas of Kinai during the Muromachi period. The foundation of the foundation is the foundation, the alliance between the villages is strong, and the military force is rising. The shogunate protects the lord of the garden, and the lord of the shogunate is in charge of the reduction of tribute. In 1428 (Masachō 1), Shosho no Soichi is famous.どいっき.