Fodoneria’s unification
So, let’s continue crushing the remaining feudal lords.
I gave the ultimatum to the remaining little feudal lords.
The gist of it is as follows.
＜This time I have destroyed a feudal lord because this one has waged war against a Count. I do not have the slightest intention of accepting the surrender of a feudal lord, who cowering in fear wishes to become an ally. That’s why I have confiscated his territory. Of course, those who quickly declare the intention to serve the Count will be granted with a decent compensation.
If you all want to fight, I will not stop you, but those who wish to do so, should be prepared to lose their ancestral land. First of all, war is where you put your life on the line, so, why should you be concerned by something like a territory when you could lose your life the next second? ＞
Immediately four feudal lords brought hostages and swore allegiance.
Now there are only three places left. I will continue crushing them this way.
However, it never became a true war.
Even if the feudal lords wanted to resist, the retainers didn’t follow them.
「I have arrived here in order to serve the Count!」「I have abandoned my lord and came to serve you!」
Saying similar words, one after another, retainers began to appear in front of me.
It was something I already understood, but the retainers of small feudal lords are no more than retainers for small feudal lords. To protect themselves, they chose to leave their lord.
I also promised to treat those kind of people cordially
If the information about what you can get by following me expands, it will be easier to suppress other lords.
Finally, something happened.
The chief retainer who serves the Nobun House came to demonstrate his intention to come under my vassalage.
「My family was originally a branch of the Nobun House, and we have been filling that position for more than one hundred years」
「Ooh, to throw away such a position you must be very determined. I’m truly happy」
There is no falsehood in these words. If such chief retainer abandoned his lord, surely it will cause turmoil among the other retainers. There is no doubt that such a case will increase the number of people who will surrender.
「You understand that if this becomes a cause for them to act then I won’t be able to give you a reasonable reward, right? Since the retainer who was the Lord’s right hand surrendered without a fight」
「Yes, I understand! But to show that my feelings of wanting to serve the Count are not false, I brought a gift」
That man was in a very good mood. Surely he prepared something very good. The chances of him having a famous treasure are slim given that he serves a small feudal lord, however, it is true that his follower who is next to him brings a box with something in it with him.
「Please look at this」
The follower opened the box.
There was a head inside. Not one, but two.
「As an oath of my vassalage, I present the heads of the Viscount and his eldest son! The Nobun House as it is the same as if it were destroyed in its current state! This itself is the item that I brought as a sign of my feelings of wanting to come under your command!」
Hey, are you there, Oda Nobunaga?
――You, who do you think you are to call the Monarch on your own? But well, I’ll forgive you. After all, this Monarch is someone kind.
I want to beat this guy to death, is my thinking wrong?
――To tell the truth, this Monarch did something similar. Moments before the great daimyo Takeda is destroyed, Oyamada Nobushige came to report that he had betrayed the Takeda House. I needed those people to die.
As expected.
「I need to ask you something」
「Yes, what could it be? Is it about the territory
of the Nobun House?」
「You think that a guy who murdered his master without being asked to would be employed as retainer?」
That man’s face turned pale.
「No, my lord was so stupid to the point that he forced me to do such a thing… I can assure you that it was not due to me being not loyal…」
「I’m not interested in your loyalty. I’m just saying that I can’t trust you. ――――Do it」
The captain, Leon, from the White Eagle Unit who was next to me, immediately killed the man. The follower shared his fate.
「The fact itself that you think that by doing such a thing you would win my favor is an insult to me. You thought that I would believe the enemy of my enemy so easily?」
Later, I gathered my soldiers, and destroyed the ruined Nobun House who had lost its substance with the death of their lords, together with the two remaining houses.
As my soldiers approached, most of the troops stationed in the fortresses and castles tried to escape, but what they were really doing was self-destructing. Such an action was caused because rumors about having completely massacred everyone inside the fortress expanded.
In that case, they should have tried to fight defensively from the start. On the surface, the general of the castle says he is opposing the feudal lord, but at the end of the day, surely he’s scared to death. The feudal lord thinks they will fight splendidly because of the plan he devised, but their plan will collapse splendidly.
Since the day we captured a fortress forcibly without fear of making sacrifices, the number of wars has fallen considerably, and with it the number of sacrifices.
If in the future I take my time to attack carefully, the number of victims will increase.
By carefully fighting, the opponent officially will try to defend the castle, causing small skirmishes and thus increasing the number of people injured or victims.
Looking at it in another way, the need to prepare provisions due to long distance will also increase.
Finally I was able to approach the castle of the last feudal lord who opposed me until the end that is located in the northernmost of the Fodoneria’s prefecture.
This is indeed the castle of a feudal lord. The castle is sturdy, making it difficult to attack it only with strength. So I decided to observe the situation for a few days as the enemy continued holed up inside the castle.
Part of the reason why I was observing was because I also wanted to check if the neighboring prefecture, Naguri, was going to send reinforcements or not.
Holing up within a castle during a siege is a basic tactic that works only on the condition that reinforcements come. Because it’s absolutely impossible to win just by defending yourself.
According to the report of my spies, there are no soldiers leaving Naguri prefecture at this time. Surely they think that at this point it’s impossible to prevent me from unifying the prefecture.
Gradually I was closing the encirclement, and finally the enemy came to report that depending on the conditions they would surrender.
「If the household of the enemy Lord surrenders, the lives of the soldiers will be forgiven」
It seems that after receiving my message, the other side accepted. Soon after, the enemy Lord’s household came out of the castle, and appeared in front of me.
With this I have completed the unification of the Fodoneria prefecture.
Now it’s the turn to attack the northern prefecture called Naguri.