Oda Nobunaga(POV): Arrogant, ferocious, meticulous and brilliant. The Daimyo of the Oda after his father’s death, he will quickly find that the responsibilities he faces as Daimyo of the Oda are numerous and the foes arrayed against him are even more so. Nobunaga is arrogant and his actions are more dictated by his emotions than by well-thought out plans, which can lead to precarious decisions and dire consequences.
Story of Oda Nobunaga to Present - Contains Spoilers | After taking charge of the Oda and their domains, his reign become tumultuous as the Saito from Mino Province invade and he is forced to mount a defense, but is wounded by an assassin while preparing for their army, and it is his uncle who meets them upon the field, and rallies the Oda soldiers to victory against the Saito. However, the situation becomes dire quickly when the Imagawa invade Owari in a night attack and his men are slaughtered and Nobunaga is forced to flee, suffering from a wound to his stomach his health is swiftly failing.
Thrown from his homeland, responsible for the death of his people and the fall of his clan, Nobunaga is despondent and wrought with grief, and swears utter vengeance upon the Imagawa, though with no allies, less than four hundred soldiers and a brother whom is more of a liability to him than an asset, he is beset with obstacles.
When his party flees to Mino province, he is smuggled inside of the city of Mino so that a healer may do what he can for him, the man makes certain that Nobunaga will not die, but it is all he can do to keep Nobunaga alive, and after it is done he recommends that he stays put for more than a month. However, Nobunaga is anxious to flee the lands of his enemies, and the party continue on until they reach the city of Kai, going through Kiso lands.
When he reaches the province of the Tiger of Kai, he is brought before Takeda Shingen by his brother Nobushige, an honourable man who takes the word of his clan as utter law and upholds every oath he makes. Nobunaga’s anger gets the better of him, and he boasts death and destruction to the Imagawa with having no means to achieve his words. Takeda Shingen shows mercy on him and adopts Nobunaga and Nobuyuki as his sons, so that they are protected from the Imagawa should they learn of their survival.
Nobunaga watches from afar as the Takeda army falls upon the Uesugi army, and he watches as the brutality of the Takeda match their skill in battle, he sees the consequence of war and what it does to people. He has no wish to turn into a blood-lusting fool, not realising that is already what he has become.
After the battle, he is given command of the Takeda left flank in the Battle of Hida. During the battle of Hida the Anegakoji clan use their cavalry to smash into Nobushige’s lines from behind, and Nobunaga decides to endanger himself and his retainers, ordering Ieyasu to lead the Takeda soldiers in the plan. His men fight valiantly and desperately against the Anegakoji, and they manage to drive them off and save Nobushige.
After their counterattack failed, the Anegakoji are decimated in their castle and Nobushige is immensely grateful to Nobunaga, despite having disobeyed him. He pledges to Nobunaga that he will grant him the soldiers that he needs, and will forever be in his debt.
With the promise of soldiers to retake his home, Nobunaga is overjoyed. But as he speaks to Ieyasu and Himichiro he is met with a disagreement between he and Himichiro, who suggests that Nobunaga kneels to the Imagawa. He claims that they do not have the men to win, that victory against them would be impossible. This fallout lasts weeks without Himichiro or Nobunaga united in their efforts. Both desire the same goal, but one is willing to make it a reality.
When they return to Kai, Nobunaga strikes a deal with the Takeda, granting them the Kiso lands once they have been conquered, and in return the Takeda supply him with four thousand soldiers to retake his homeland, as well as the province of Mino, which has also been conquered by the Imagawa.
Nobunaga moves against the Kiso, their armies are evenly matched, and so a parley between the two is called, and their Daimyo, Yoshiyasu, betrays Nobunaga and tries to kill him. His soldiers are surrounded and being butchered. It is only with the intervention of Ieyasu and Himichiro that Nobunaga and Nobuyuki are saved from being slaughtered.
Nobunaga beheads Yoshiyasu for his dishonourable acts, and mercilessly wreaks vengeance upon the Kiso army, killing them to a man, making certain not one of them escapes. He employs a tactic of using the soldiers armed with yari and his archers to herd the Kiso soldiers to the center lines, before ordering his cavalry to annihilate them from behind.
His plan worked, and the Kiso army was destroyed, obliterated after their own treacherous move failed. After this, Nobunaga moved onto the city of Komoro, the capital of the Kiso lands, with the intent of subjecting them to fire and word – and thus betray the oath he made to the Takeda. But, deterred by the sight of simple people, innocent people who had not fought against him, and whom he had stolen thousands of their loved ones from them, he was merciful, and kept his oath.
With hopes of grandeur and home, the Takeda army set out once more, this time for Mino, Nobunaga opted for speed in this manoeuvre, and so marched far ahead and swiftly with the cavalry body of his army, his intent was to attack the castle and take the Imagawa garrison unawares.
His plan worked, and his men butchered the Imagawa soldiers while they slept in the barracks. He executed the Imagawa ruler of Mino, Torihisa, who is the late brother of Teshima, Imagawa Yoshimoto’s Captain-of-Guard.
With Mino in his grasp, he opted to allow them to have their freedom, to be ruled by whoever they choose. His benevolence earned him support, and around four hundred Saito soldiers joined the ranks of the Takeda army, his first men who he had earned and won himself.
He has banners of the Oda made, and the Takeda force marches beneath his banner, much to their discontent. But his force rushes to Owari and his home province, to be met at the crumbling walls of Owari with a force of resistance lead by his uncle, Nobuyasu.
Nobunaga offers a duel to his uncle, to allow the Heavens to dictate who has the right to lead Owari. The two duel, but Nobunaga is a lesser warrior than his uncle, and he loses his sword arm in the duel, as his uncle is about to kill him, he is struck through the throat with an arrow shot by Hideyoshi, who made his decision on which Daimyo he would serve.
Once more in command of Owari and the Oda, Nobunaga submits himself to the will of the people, in an attempt to sway their opinion of him by humbling himself before them. The people are not easily swayed, and he is attacked by Akechi Mitsuhide, who blames him for the death of his daughter and wife. Nobunaga gives the man his blade, offering him his life in vengeance, in his sincerity to make amends to the Oda people. However, Nobunaga concludes that he is a deserter of his father’s army, that Mitsuhide abandoned his father to die against the Imagawa, and in his range he attacks the man. But he stops the fighting, and realises that Akechi Mitsuhide hesitated to kill him because of his guilt over his daughter and sees it as his punishment for abandoning the army, saving his life at the cost of hers.
With the crowd disgruntled by the violence, cautious, hesitant, and afraid. It is Hideyoshi who rallies them in support of Nobunaga, and so they accept him as their only hope of survival, as their Daimyo and as their leader. After this, Nobunaga invites Hideyoshi to the Tenshu, and has Akechi Mitsuhide brought along also. He grants Hideyoshi the title of Commander of the Ashigaru, but later changes his title to Commander of the Yumi, as he is given command of all units with bows, and is taught tactics concerning them. Nobunaga places Mitsuhide at the command of Hideyoshi, to prove his worth, and he is granted the lowest rank within the army, stripped of his Samurai rank and title.
Nobunaga begins to make his war plans against the Imagawa, and immediately begins to have his soldiers trained and his battle plans prepared. He prepares to attack and annihilate the Imagawa army located at Ieyasu’s home city of Mikawa, five thousand soldiers. The Imagawa soldiers are more numerous, better equipped and far better trained than his army of Oda soldiers, because of this, Nobunaga fears open confrontation with the Imagawa general and his soldiers, he instead opts to ambush them and slaughter them all.
He fears losing the battle, so in an attempt to both protect Nobuyuki and to gain aid, he sends him on a diplomatic mission to the Shogun. Nobunaga believes that whether or not he wins or loses, Nobuyuki will be safe in the Palace of the Shogun, as no one would dare attempt to deny the power of the Ashikaga shoguns.
Nobunaga ambushes the marching Imagawa soldiers, and their commander, Shiraishi, is killed by Ieyasu. The battle goes well for the Oda as Ieyasu ordered his reserves to stem the tide of Imagawa soldiers as Nobunaga’s main force kills the vanguard of the Imagawa, Nobunaga then orders his soldiers into the fray, and pulls his retainers and some hundred soldiers back so that they can hunt down fleeing soldiers so that they cannot regroup at Mikawa and resist the Oda.
The battle was over and won, the Oda had won their first major victory against the Imagawa and had become strengthened in their bonds with each other. The soldiers were elated, and confidence in Nobunaga’s leadership soared.
The Oda army, accompanied by Tokugawa Ieyasu, marched on to Mikawa. They were greeted with death, the Tokugawa inhabitants had slain the Imagawa garrison and had them hanged from the walls of Mikawa. Ieyasu was marched forward, in front of the victorious Oda army, returning home. |
|