The land of beauty -A Hiraizumi Fujiwara campaign in ROTS .

[waveman]

I like the previous update, I thought the drunk lord would simply declare war but was pleasantly surprised. And the resolute fatalism of the messengers was well done as well.

Looking forward to seeing how things turn out now that Yoritomo's been forced to march, hopefully Kunihira's cruelty pays off

[Owlparrot3]

I like the previous update, I thought the drunk lord would simply declare war but was pleasantly surprised. And the resolute fatalism of the messengers was well done as well.

Looking forward to seeing how things turn out now that Yoritomo's been forced to march, hopefully Kunihira's cruelty pays off

Yes, the next chapter is......................unique and I was battling on which style to use.

[Alwyn]

Kunihira appears to be a ruthless person, although he himself seems to struggle with this pragmatic cruelty - I like that, it contrast between how someone acts and appears, and what this someone actually thinks about his actions, the reasoning so to say. And now Yoritomo lost his patience - will this force him to an unwise offensive? Can't wait to see!

I agree with theSilentKiller, the contrast between Kunihira's action and his internal struggle is interesting. I wonder what the consequences of these attacks, including what happened at the farm, will be.

[♔atthias♔]

I could not have said it better than alwyn did thanks for that alwyn

the contrast is amazing and provides a good dynamic to the story +rep

an unique chapter hmm I WANT MOAAAR

[Owlparrot3]

Chapter 15.

"My lord, the Ashikaga lord has run off" the voice rang loud like a bell toll in Yoritomo's ears.

It had been a very peaceful dawn of quick marching to meet Kunihira's forces at Midori-Do-Nojo. The wind was blowing towards that cursed farm and the birds were chirping cheerfully as if an indication oh his impending success.



The little drink that he took did not make him delirious, but merely made the whole world seem to be more beautiful. Since Kunihira had taken an advantage by choosing a ground of his preparation for battle, Yoritomo had decided that it was only too fair that he too had an advantage, so he decided to fight dishonourably. He had therefore asked the Ashikaga lord of Shimotsuke to attack from the rear and burn or take Kunihira's womenfolk(In reality he had none) hostage while he himself would lead the frontal charge with an aim to take out Kunihira himself. With a general of his stature, almost everyone concerned had believed him, even the spy named Nobita that Kunihira had sent to infiltrate Yoritomo's camp at midnight.

"Hmm, such an action would have negated our slight numerical advantage" Kunihira had said to Nobita.

"Would my lord?" asked Nobita questioningly.

Kunihira reacted by giving him a bag of coins and then answered "Your excellent information has saved us, hence the 'would', now we have nothing to fear".

"Yes, yes my lord, you are the best"cheered Nobita.

"So are you, you have done your job very well my good man, now enjoy a few hours of rest, tomorrow you will join the doctors to help treat the wounded" said Kunihira.

"Oh, one more thing my lord, I almost forgot, I stole this peculiar looking diamond from a strange box I found in his camp, it looked to be kept hidden in plain sight in a peculiar way" said Nobita giving it to Kunihira.

Kunihira examined it and then started laughing hysterically like a fox "For now i must ask you to take your leave my good man, but you have earned yourself your own estate in Uzen after the war" he said.

Then dismissing Nobita, he sat thinking alone in the darkness of his tent.

A few hours later, in the most desolate part of the night, the Lord Kawamura Ashikaga also sat thinking in his tent. Except that like Kunihira, he was not smiling but holding his head. Like Nobita, he had his own spies in the camp of Kunihira. But what a stroke of luck, the spy that he had sent was good at martial skills too. So when he saw two men clandestinely riding in the dead of the night, he had encountered them, he had not hesitated to attack and overpower them, then he found that diamond.

"My lord, i found in their possession this diamond, along with a letter from Lord Yoritomo and Kunihira's seal" siad the spy.

It read thus:

Lord Kunihira,

I cannot help but admire your devilish cunning, you are a wild fox. Yes i would have loved to see your heart burn under my horse's hooves, but all that is past now. Since you have captured my love of life, my secret concubine Yamatoma, the woman who gave me so much more infinite pleasure than my scawny ugly wife, i have decided to accept your offer of peace.

In return for her safe passage to Shimotsuke and acceptance of my direct lordship over Simotsuke, I henceforth offer you peace and the life of Lord Kawamura Ashikaga, he is camping to a position east of yours with half the amount of men that you have. Do what you must do. But he was my friend, allow him to commit sucide when the inveitable happens.

Encrusted with this letter is my secret seal, the honorary red Diamond of the Kamakura Minamoto family. The rarest and most trustworthy seal.

Lord Yoritomo.

"So Yoritomo has decided to betray me for some prostitute, that is how low he ranks my honor" exclaimed Kawamura to his trustworthy adviser.

"My lord, exercise caution, it might be Kunihira's trick" advised the adviser.

"No my friend, Yoritomo has encrusted the rarest seal of his cursed family along with the letter, the red diamond" shouted Kawamura.

The adviser was shocked, he was silent for a minute, then he said firmly
"I think that we must run my lord, we have no chance" said the adviser.



And that's how Yoritomo came to ponder his situation. With half of his army gone, he didn't stand a chance.
Suddenly one of his head guards came running in. After saluting him, the guard asked to be heard and Yoritomo nodded.

"My lord, we were patrolling the roads going into Shimotsuke and we found this caravan of suspicious looking men travelling towards Shimotsuke, first they said that they were farmers traveling with produce, but that raised my suspicion further, why would farmers travel there in the dead of the night, upon inspection, we found three boxes full of gold coins and a letter with them, I am very sorry, but i happened to read that letter and its contents shocked me, the letter was meant to be delivered along with the gold coins to Shimotsuke to..............................

''ENOUGH" shouted Yoritomo.

"First of all deliver twenty whip lashes each to all those men, confiscate the gold coins, and then, guards, also give 5 lashes to your boss, he has erred by reading the contents of an official enemy letter" said Yoritomo.

After everything was done, Yoritomo started reading the letter.

Lord Kawamura,

Thanks for showing right intellect by supporting us, because first, it shows that you trust us and second, it will only lead you to further path of glories. As our deal, your payment for abandoning that rat Yoritomo would have arrived in gold to Shimotsuke along with this letter, i don't have much to say at the moment, but now Yoritomo has been trapped. We will crush him together later.

Lord Kunihira of the Hiraizumi Fujiwara.

Having read the letter, Yoritomo's anger knew no bounds, then as if to rub salt, or better yet, as if to spill oil into the intense fire burning within his soul, a messenger rushed in

"My lord, the red seal has been stolen!" he said.

For a moment Yoritomo opened his mouth as if to shout, but then he felt a tremor within his heart and everything went dark.

[Turkafinwë]

A lovely piece of intrigue employed by Kunihira. It seems that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword. A well written update to your story! +rep

[The Wandering Storyteller]

The best thing I like is how you use the pictures and you use simple English than going into a fancy sophisticated style. I was reading it and I thought wow. This is engrossing.

I suggest you keep simple. You have a talent in writing - you need to polish it. How do you polish it? Keep writing. Practice makes perfect as the old saying goes.

Read Chapter 1 - will be onto chapter 2.

[♔atthias♔]

A lovely piece of intrigue employed by Kunihira. It seems that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword. A well written update to your story! +rep

I could not have put it any better that turkafinwe did well done mad orc

[Owlparrot3]

Thanks everyone for the comments. Especially to San Felipe for the instructions which i would surely employ .
Thanks Turkafinwe and Atthias, yes, the pen is mightier than the sword.

[Owlparrot3]

Chapter 16.

"My lord, they have regrouped in Shimotsuke" the voice rang loud like a bell in Kunihira's ears.

He had been enjoying a cold glass of spicy milk when the informant had came.

The man looked pitiful. The hot rays of the sun had drained away all of his sweat and his clothes looked dusty and unkempt. All of this indicated an urgency.

"How did it happen?" asked Kunihira realizing immediately who had regrouped.

"Yoritomo first sent a dozen or so assurances over the walls of Shimotsuke but he received no reply" said the informant.

"Then?" asked Kunihira.

"Then being the man that he is, he offered to come into Shimotsuke with only 4 bodyguards to prove his friendship" said the informant.

"And Kawamura accepted?" asked Kunihira.

"Accepted? Lord, not just accept, Kawamura appeared to be so emotionally touched after their meeting that he thought of commiting Bushido immediately" said the informant.

"And did he?" asked Kunihira.

"No, Yoritomo told him that it was not his fault, but despite all that, Kawamura still cut of his right thumb" said the informant.

"Ah, some consolation atleast, Kawamura was one of the best archers in Japan, his men's morale would go down due to this act of his" said Kunihira smiling.



But at the same time in Uzen, Hidehira hadn't got the news yet and he was still extremely happy with his son's cunning.

[The Wandering Storyteller]

Great stuff!

[♔atthias♔]

indeed great work I even like the fact you kept it short it leaves you with a cliff hanger and therefore hungry for more

so keep doing cliffhangers just not too often

[Alwyn]

I agree with atthias that cliffhangers are good, as long as there aren't too many. I wonder what will happen to Yoritomo.

[Owlparrot3]

I agree with atthias that cliffhangers are good, as long as there aren't too many. I wonder what will happen to Yoritomo.

Thanks so much for commenting.

For me the joy is double, when my readers start to like the antagonist as much as the 'Heroes' , thats when i think that i am doing ok !!!

[Turkafinwë]

Like the others said, a good chapter. Good to see Kunihira suffers a minor setback in his campaign. Nobody likes the heroes just trouncing over their enemies like it's nothing. One thing though, I think you mean seppuku instead of Bushido in regards to Kawamura. I take it you went for the ritual suicide that the samurai conducted after a serious humiliation and for some other reasons as well. Perhaps a mistake due to the rushed nature of your update.

Indeed if people start showing interest in the antagonist then you are definitely doing something right!

[theSilentKiller]

An archer cutting off hsi thumb is a strong 'gesture', if you could call it that, and Kunihira is probably right with assuming that the moral will going down with this, I wonder how this will play out!