Sengoku 23

[Reserved for Illuminati-Manga; and so begins the first real battle arc]

pg 67
?: 1570 (First year of the Genki era) April 20th. Oda Danjou-no-suke Nobunaga sets out with his army from Kyoto to Echizen in order to strike down Asakura Yoshikage

?: The advance is aiming at the home territory of the Asakura clan, Ichijou Valley

pg 68-9
Txt: A retreat unheard of in earlier eras!
Txt: "The Retreat from Kanegasaki" Arc
Txt: Vol. 23 The Advance to Echizen

pg 70
HY: I quote Nobunaga-sama
HY: First, think about what battle is!!
Txt: Kinoshita Toukichirou Hideyoshi

Txt: Kinoshita Koichirou Hidenaga
Koichi: How did this all start?

HY: The campaign against the Asakura began when Nobunaga-sama sent out an order in the name of the Shogun to the Asakura clan, ordering them to come to the capital, and the Asakura ignored it.
HY: For a long time, the Asakura clan and Oda clan have been in conflict... Clearly they are spoiling for a fight with Nobunaga-sama

HY: Essentially there is no reason to subjugate the Asakura, but Nobunaga-sama has justice on his side.
HY: And that is because the Asakura refuse to listen to the Shogun's orders, and so they are the ones in the wrong.

Koichi: This is why Nobunaga-sama has spent so much time and effort protecting the Shogun.

pg 71
HY: That's right
HY: But then why did he pick a fight for no reason with the Asakura?
HY: The Asakura domains are not such a rich country to be worth killing for

HY: I don't get it
HY: Why all this effort
HY: To get rid of the Asakura?

Box: Oda Nobunaga was aiming at transforming the country by water trade routes, with Lake Biwa at the center. The Asakura clan's Tsuruga Harbor functioned as the leading trade port on the Sea of Japan. Nobunaga needed it to make his vision a reality.

Map: 越前=Echizen　敦賀=Tsuruga　貿易船=Trading ships　江戸期には北廻船になる=During the Edo period these became ships traveling to the north　朝倉氏=Asakura clan　小浜=Obama　若狭=Wakasa
北国街道　浅井氏=Asai clan　小谷=Odani　菅浦=Sugaura　長浜=Nagahama　豊臣秀吉=Toyotomi Hideyoshi　津田信澄=Tsuda Nobusumi　信長の甥=Nobunaga's nephew　大溝=Oomizo　安土=Azuchi　織田信長=Oda Nobunaga　水上輸送経路=Water cargo routes　明智光秀=Akechi Mitsuhide　坂本=Sakamoto　京=Kyoto
Box-caption: Nobunaga's vision at the beginning of the Tenshou era

Box: The recognition that economic activity comes from circulation of trade, rather than from tribute or exploitation dates from the Edo period (and moreover, the latter part of it)--- People of the Sengoku era would not have been able to understand Nobunaga's vision.

pg 72
HY: ....We've made camp, so take a break, Sengoku...
SG: Yes

Txt: Say nothing more
Win honors in battle

HY: This idiot's taking it literally

Box: At this time, Sengoku Gonbei, eighteen years old
Box: keeps his fighting spirit within himself

pg 73
Box: April 20th, Wani
21st, Takashima
22nd, Wakasa
The Oda army achieves successive victories
Box: Then on the 25th, they make camp near Kanegasaki Castle and Tezutsuyama Castle in Suruga, Echizen province

?: If we can take Kanegasaki and Tezutsuyama castle,
?: Then afterwards we have only the Asakura main territory left...

?: First we shall start with Tezutsuyama, however...

pg 74
? : This mountain castle is sternly defended on both the eastern and western approaches

Txt: Oda Danjou-no-chuu Nobunaga

Niwa: Trying to make it fall in one blow will result in many casualties.
Txt: Niwa Gorozaemon Nagahide

Nobu: We will attack the relatively unguarded karamete*
*back gate

Niwa: My lord, please look here
Niwa: The gate in the back is by a swamp
Map: 金ヶ崎城=Kanegasaki Castle　天筒山城=Tezutsuyama Castle　沼田=swamp

Nobu: What of it?
Nobu: We'll attack from the swamp

pg 75
Niwa: Uh....Well....
Niwa: If we advance from the swamp then...

Niwa: Armor is heavy, so we'll get stuck in the mud, and it'll take a lot of time
Niwa: Trees don't grow in swampland, so we'll be totally exposed to the enemy
Map: See previous map 大手門=main gate

Nobu: Isn't there a unit which can lead the attack from the mud?

?: Though you say that...
Niwa: A unit suited to the mud.....

pg 76
HY: Wha?
HY: Our Kinoshita Brigade is leading the attack from the mud?

HY: Is this an order from our lord?
HY: Don't talk! Be quiet and win honors in battle!

pg 77
HY: Anyway, both the mud and the way we'll be exposed to the enemy are problems!
HY: Engineers, get these ready
HY: Grass, mud, and fishermen's nets

HY: Ahahaha, it suits you well

HY: And here's some mud makeup

pg 78
HY: We'll show them commoners' wisdom

HY: Move forward like you're fishing for mudskippers
HY: To the enemy on top of the mountain it'll be like you're only grass

HY: When you get below the castle, climb the mountain in the enemies' blind spot
HY: When you kill the watchmen, then we'll come over

?: Got it

pg 79
(no text)

pg 80-1
?: Eh? What's this?

?: Guh!
?: Ahhh! Gyaaah!

Pg 82
Txt: It's okay if at first things aren't to showy
Txt: I'll accept the orders of our general, Nobunaga-sama, then follow the orders of my commander, Toukichirou-sama. I'll be silent, eat mud, then win honors!

HY: Shove everything into the mud!
HY: Quick, contact Nobunaga-sama and the others at the main camp!

HY: Then, let's go, mud rat Kinoshita Brigade!

Pg 83
?: My lord!

?: The Kinoshita Brigade has succeeded in their advance from the swamp
?: They've also already built a way through

Nobu: Heh heh heh heh

Nobu: Good!
Nobu: We shall bust through the back gate in one push

Pg 84
Box: Meanwhile—Around 40 km away from the battle in Suruga, in the Asai clan's Odani Castle in Omi Province.

?: What
?: What
?: What is this?!?

NM: My brother Nobunaga is attack.. .is attac...is attacking the Asakura clan?!
NM: Our Asai clan and the Asakura clan are allies!
Txt: Asai Bizen-no-kami Nagamasa
Diagram: 浅井家=Asai clan　朝倉家=Asakura clan　盟友=Allies　侵攻=Invading　義兄弟=in-laws　織田家=Oda clan

Hisamasa: That Nobunaga....He broke his promise to tell us when he attacked the Asakura clan
Txt: Asai Hisamasa (Nagamasa's father)

Txt: But! That's the sort of man Oda Danjou-no-chuu is!

pg 85
Hisamasa: Geniuses are those who have the power to see the light of successes invisible to ordinary people.
HM: However, they may be also those who are unable to understand the circumstances, or consider the feelings of those in the shade.

HM: As Nobunaga always says, he loves this land, and wants to take it...
HM: To Nobunaga, it is as if he is willing to throw this world away, if before the woman he loves...

HM: Nagamasa.... do you think your brother-in-law was considering your situation?

Pg 86
Box: Meanwhile—An abandoned house on the outskirts of Odani Castle
?: Tatsuoki-sama

TO: What?

TO: Is that so? Asai Nagamasa is troubled by his dilemma? He he he he He's becoming interesting.
Txt: Asai Clan lady-in-waiting Otake
Otake: Hohoho--- It will be soon... So you had been plotting that from the beginning when you approached me, a lady-in-waiting of the Asai clan?

Note: Asai clan Lady-in-waiting: Tatsuoki received a concubine from the Asai clan

Txt: It's now.... If Nagamasa betrays Nobunaga now, then he'll be facing a pincer attack!

Pg 87
Box: 1570 (First year of Genki) The attack on Kanegasaki and Tezutsuyama Castles
Due to the efforts of the desperate unit under the Oda Clan's Kinoshita Toukichirou, including Sengoku, the Oda army succeeds in invading the castle through the back gate

Diagram: 搦手=back gate　大手門=main gate　沼地=swampland　天筒山城=Tezutsuyama Castle　金ヶ崎城=Kanegasaki Castle

Box: Kinoshita Toukichirou's brigade

HY: We're going in
Txt: Kinoshita Toukichirou Hideyoshi
SG: Yes!

Pg 88
HY: First make a shiyori
HY: Set up the shields and the fencing, and prepare the positions to invade the castle!

Note: Shiyori: An embankment made by soldiers for approaching a castle. Using shields and sandbags, they would defend against the arrows of the troops inside the castle.

SG: Sh
SG: Shiyori is complete!

HY: Then destroy the enemy's fortifications!
HY: Throw horoku at the watchtower!

SG: Got it!!!!
Note: Houroku: Hand-grenade-like metal balls filled with gunpowder. They were launched as if throwing a hammer.