Chapter 215 19. Ming Hai and the Leader of Yoyoshi

The general's imperial edict had been issued, and Takeda Harunobu's goal of controlling Suruga had been achieved. After a slight hesitation, he expressed his acceptance.

However, Yamanouchi Yoshiharu was still angry. The entire Totomi country had been conquered. Whether or not the general endorsed it, it was already an established fact. As for the Shinano guardian, it was naturally good. After all, Yamanouchi was in Shinano, and having a guardian position had more prestige in ruling. But Suruga was the fundamental and critical point of this dispute.

In order to show fairness and to ensure that Takeda Harunobu could accept the mediation of his general, Ashikaga Yoshiteru not only recognized the inheritance rights of Imagawa Hikogoro and Imagawa Yoshichika at the same time. He also gave the Suruga guardian position of the tenth generation guardian of the Imagawa family to Imagawa Hikogoro, but at this time Suruga was divided into three, and the winner had not yet been decided.

But the Yamanouchi family raised the banner of supporting the shogunate and repelling thieves. How could they not listen to the orders of the shogunate? If they didn't listen, they would be slapping themselves in the face. Yamanouchi Yoshiharu couldn't afford to lose this person. He was also Ashikaga Yoshiteru's cousin, so he would take even a pile of shit thrown by his eldest nephew with tears.

At the moment, the two sides had only one point of conflict. Since the general had recognized that both sons had one country each, should the Suruga Shita County occupied by the Yamanouchi family be returned to Takeda Harunobu?

The Yamanouchi family certainly did not give in. They had already suffered a loss, so how could they spit out the meat in their mouths? It was impossible to think about it. However, the Takeda side kept talking about the general's imperial edict. The Suruga State Shogunate of Imagawa Yoshimoto was granted to Imagawa Hikogoro and had nothing to do with the Yamanouchi family.

Just for such a territory of five or six thousand kan, the two sides went back and forth, arguing back and forth for three days. In the end, the wheat in Kai was ripe, and Takeda Harunobu was reluctant to give up the small 100,000 koku of wheat, fearing that it would be affected by the late harvest and the drying and storage. Only then did they reluctantly agree to shelve the dispute, maintain the status quo, and discuss it later.

So, under the witness of the envoy of the shogunate, Fujitaka Mibuchi, and the envoy of the imperial court, Nobuhiro Nakamikado, Yoshichika Imagawa and Hikogoro Imagawa officially inherited the Suruga Imagawa family and the Totomi Imagawa family respectively. At the same time, the Yamanouchi family and the Takeda family behind the two men once again signed a two-year non-war agreement, although both sides felt that it was unreliable.

Then the two armies led their troops back, and Takeda Harunobu left his son Takeda Yoshinobu and the family elder Iitomi Toramasa to lead Suruga, and hurriedly withdrew. Although the Hojo clan lost the opportunity to compete for the throne of Imagawa, they took this opportunity to restore the Izu Province and the Kawato region in one fell swoop, and occupied the Fuji Gold Mine, which produced thousands of taels of gold annually. The new territory of more than 30,000 kan allowed the Hojo family to take their power to a higher level, completely emerging from the shadow of being defeated by Uesugi, and becoming a daimyo with more than 100,000 kan again.

Takeda occupied the Abe Gold Mine, which produced 6,000 taels of gold annually at its peak, as well as the four most fertile counties of Abe, Anhara, Arito, and Masutsu in Suruga. Completely got out of the weakness of the past defeat in the Battle of Uedawara and joined the ranks of the 100,000-kan daimyo.

The Yamanouchi family's mobilization of all the people's strength this time also gained some rewards. The entire country of Totomi was seized, and the national strength expanded to 150,000 kan, enough to look down on the heroes of the Kaido.

On the way back to the army, Kobayata hurriedly sent a message to Konishihara Saemon, who was defending the border of Totomi and Mikawa, asking him to open the road. Allow the scattered Imagawa soldiers to escape back.

According to Kobayata's estimation, although most of the Suruga samurai group died in the battle, there would still be some who escaped. Sending these people back to Suruga and their respective territories, even if they can't start a rebellion, they will disgust Takeda Harunobu to death.

Yamanouchi Yoshiharu agreed with him. Although his son also inherited the Imagawa family, those samurai whose territories were in Suruga would definitely not be kept, because their wives and children were all in Suruga.

However, the warriors of Totomi could recruit all of them to stay and enrich the Totomi vanguard of the Yamanouchi family, so that Totomi could quickly raise a cannon fodder team for fighting.

At this time, in Owari Narumi Castle, Okabe Motonobu gathered the soldiers who had not been defeated, not only broke through Kariya Castle, but also killed Mizuno Nobuchika. For a while, Okabe Motonobu's strength was the strongest in the southern part of Owari and the western part of Mikawa, and he occupied castles and territories with more than 20,000 to 30,000 kan. Together with the troops of his brother Okabe Masatsuna, the total number of the two was no less than 4,000.

But he used such a large territory to formally negotiate with Oda Nobunaga, and then rode alone into Kiyosu Castle, not only taking back the head of Imagawa Yoshimoto, but also exchanging other captured flags and drums for ceremonial objects.

It stands to reason that with such a large number of troops and territories, anyone would have some different ideas, but Okabe Motonobu did not. After Oda Nobunaga held a grand ceremony for Yoshimoto and built Yoshimoto's tomb in Aichi County, he happily handed over all the castles. He returned to Suruga with his troops and Yoshimoto's head.

So much so that Nobunaga couldn't help but praise him as a "true samurai". The story of Narumi exchanging Yoshimoto spread throughout Owari and Mikawa in an instant, and spread to other places. This loyal and unparalleled samurai received unanimous praise from both the enemy and us on the battlefield. If it weren't for the killing of Yoshimoto, Nobunaga would have wanted to recruit him.

After bidding farewell to Nobunaga, he also allowed the Mikawa and Totomi soldiers under Okabe Motonobu to leave the team and return home. After entering Totomi, he also found that the Imagawa family had changed in just one month.

The Yamanouchi family was naturally very familiar with this true samurai. He was also a negotiating envoy during the Tenryu River Battle. Now the glorious deeds of Narumi exchanging Yoshimoto have been heard. Even if Yamanouchi Yoshiharu was tempted, he thought that since Yoshimoto was dead, it would be better for him to take such a samurai back to Suruga than to benefit the old villain Takeda.

Okabe Motonobu did not comment, but insisted that Yoshimoto be returned to his hometown and buried next to his father and brother in Suruga.

Kobayata also admired this man, but everyone has their own ambitions, so he finally suggested that Yamanouchi Yoshiharu should not force him. Moreover, such a samurai loyal to Imagawa would definitely conflict with the Takeda family who wanted to annex the Imagawa clan, which might work wonders.

So Yamanouchi Yoshiharu generously gave Okabe Motonobu a batch of food and weapons and asked him to return to Suruga.

After Okabe Motonobu left, another highlight, Asahina Taicho, also relied on his familiarity with the geography of Totomi, went through hardships, drilled through ravines, waded through rivers, and arrived at Ejiri at the same time as Okabe Motonobu.

His reaction was much more intense than Okabe Motonobu. When he heard that his two cousins ​​had surrendered to Imagawa Yoshichika, his son Taromaru had become Yamanouchi Yoshiharu's son-in-law, and his lord had become Imagawa Yoshichika. I don't know whether to cry or laugh, and he was silent for a long time.

When Asahina Carpenter told him that Ashikaga Yoshiteru's imperial edict acknowledged that Imagawa Yoshichika was the successor of Imagawa Yoshimoto, and that his family did not surrender, but only supported a cheap son of Imagawa Yoshimoto, he knew that it was just a fig leaf, and sighed dejectedly. He paid a great tribute to Imagawa Yoshichika and confirmed the master-servant status. Now Totomi was completely under the control of the Yamanouchi clan.

After everything was done, Yamanouchi Yoshiharu said, "Wait a minute."