Chapter 131
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 131
Chapter Title: Okehazama (2)
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Even if Washizu and Marune had fallen, the Imagawa forces couldn't immediately march on Narumi.
Setting aside the need to cross the river first, the Oda Clan had no intention of handing over Narumi Castle to them without a fight.
Thus, it was a foregone conclusion that the two armies would clash fiercely in the nearby plains.
"Uwaaaagh!"
"Guhk!"
Armor clanged in layers as swords swung wildly. Cloth bindings tore alongside flesh, blood spraying through the air to splatter across enemy faces.
"Don't fall back!"
"Kill them all!"
Without giving an inch, they thrust spears and fierce blades at one another. Blood trickled along the blood grooves etched into katana blades. They slaughtered the life before them, no longer able to tell friend from foe behind, driven only by the will to survive.
"Keurk!"
It didn't matter if they were samurai, hatamoto, ashigaru, or mere foot soldiers on this battlefield.
...
On this field of battle, there was only one rule.
Kill the enemy.
Fail to do so, and you die.
Thus, whether thrusting spears from horseback or crawling through the mud churned with blood and filth to stay alive, everyone shared the same desperate thought.
I don't want to die!
I want to live!
And that fervent wish was enough to turn even a simple country youth who had been tilling fields with farming tools just yesterday into a bloodthirsty monster.
"If you want to live, then die!"
"H-Hiiik!"
The battle that began at dawn stretched on until sunset. The plain, where grasses had swayed in the breeze just that morning, was now soaked in the blood of men and warhorses.
—Hiiing!
Another warhorse thrashed its head wildly as it collapsed. Yet the samurai of each clan bellowed fiercely, slaying enemies like madmen.
"Don't retreat no matter what!"
"If we break here, Narumi is right in front of them!"
But there was one fact the Imagawa commanders didn't know: starting just as the sun began to set, reinforcements arrived on each battlefield.
Roughly 1,000 men at Washizu.
Another roughly 1,000 at Marune.
With 2,000 troops joining the fray, the battlefields—where the Imagawa had been gaining the upper hand—shifted back to a deadlock. As night fell, the commanders of both sides could only click their tongues and issue the order to withdraw.
"Everyone, fall back&mdash!"
"Pull the troops back!"
Unlike the tangled melee before, the retreat was swift.
Only after full night had come did they finally manage to withdraw their forces. Sakuma Nobumori, dragging his exhausted body and wounded flesh back to the command tent, could only widen his eyes at the messenger's report and ask again.
"What? Where did the Daimyo go?"
"Well..."
The messenger bowed his head low as he trailed off.
Normally, this hesitation would earn him a scolding for failing to deliver the news properly. But the shock of his words left not only Sakuma Nobumori but all the samurai who had stood with him on the battlefield doubting their own ears.
And who could blame them—
"T-To Okehazama."
"Where?"
One common misconception among modern people is underestimating nighttime mountain treks.
For people today, night holds no terror.
Ever since LED lights... no, since human civilization gained the means to defy nature, nighttime hikes shifted from taboo to mere cautionary actions.
But Il-yeong was feeling it acutely right now.
"...If I were alone, I'd have passed out."
"Hm?"
"Nothing."
Il-yeong flashed a wry grin at Nobunaga's questioning voice beside him and turned his gaze forward again. He blinked without realizing it.
A single torch provided just enough light to make out the path ahead.
Everything else relied on the soldiers' footsteps and the night-accustomed eyes of the scouts at the front.
'...Yeah, soldiers.'
Il-yeong lightly touched the mengu mask he hadn't yet donned on his face, murmuring inwardly.
—Step.
—Thud.
Thousands of troops moved under cover of night. All had hastily covered their faces with cloth or masks, stifling even their breaths and footsteps as they marched silently onward.
These weren't ragtag conscripts.
—Huff.
—Hah.
Their eyes burned with life. Some sweated coldly from tension, but none feared the coming battle.
It was only natural.
The hatamoto, samurai, ashigaru, and even the hastily gathered rabble here were elites handpicked from those who had survived the recent civil war and countless battles.
Not one among them hadn't cut down an enemy—another human being.
Most had ended lives with the spears and swords in their hands, hardened warriors who could stand again on the battlefield unbowed by the weight of that blood debt.
'3,000 handpicked troops in total.'
He couldn't bring the entire army. Too many would increase the risk of detection by scouts, and bringing incompetents could doom Owari's fate with a single mistake.
"..."
Il-yeong glanced to the sides.
More precisely, excluding himself and the scouts posted ahead, he scanned the faces leading the army at the vanguard.
Oda Nobunaga.
Oda Nobuyuki.
Mori Yoshinari.
Shibata Katsuie.
Maeda Toshiie.
Niwa Nagahide.
Akechi Mitsuhide.
And even Itsuki.
They could have opted out...
Ah, not Itsuki.
Anyway, these women—who could have bowed out—had staked their lives on his proposal, which was little more than a gamble.
Of course, not everyone had agreed right away when Il-yeong gathered them after his talk with Oda Nobunaga and laid out the strategy.
—This is a gamble. It only works if Imagawa Yoshimoto lets his guard down, gets dead drunk, and slacks on scouts!
Oda Nobuyuki had shaken her head as she said it.
—No matter how I think about it, the risks are too high. Better to hold out as long as possible and...
Niwa Nagahide had proposed an alternative, seeking a safer path.
'Part of me wanted to heed Nobuyuki and say, yeah, that's how it'll go—.'
Il-yeong smirked as he followed the scouts' torches lighting the path in the not-so-distant darkness.
Yeah, he wanted to.
But he couldn't.
'Why?'
In the original history, this was a gamble too.
Some, especially Japanese historians, claim Oda Nobunaga scattered scouts, gathered intel, deemed it feasible, and then launched the night raid. But that's outdated now.
'A gamble, a mad one.'
Even with intel gathering, in an era where the only communication was pigeons or messengers, was the one who made that call truly sane?
'Yeah, with this method, we won't just drive out Imagawa Yoshimoto—we can sweep the board!'
Il-yeong could answer with absolute certainty: no. And when Oda Nobunaga heard the strategy he proposed, she filled in the gaps he hadn't and approved it.
With his thoughts reaching that point, Il-yeong called out to his wife and lord, who walked slightly ahead.
"My lord."
"What is it, Il... no, Hikage."
"Don't you think this is insane?"
"What?"
Her soft voice brushed his ear.
At the same time, he sensed everyone walking beside them tuning into the conversation, but the two paid it no mind.
"This night raid is a gamble. Finger-cutting won't cut it—seppuku at minimum. Aren't you scared?"
In the gambling dens, the number of fingers was a measure of one's credibility.
But this raid was the ultimate bet: wagering every finger, and one's life on failure.
"Hah."
At that moment, Nobunaga halted.
As she stopped, the entire army came to a synchronized standstill. She turned to Il-yeong and strode forward.
—Grab!
"Eut?"
Her hand seized his collar in an instant.
The cloth beneath his armor bunched up as she yanked. Her golden eyes locked with his brown ones, flashing sharply.
"Scared? Are you scared?"
It looked like an angry lord grilling a subordinate, but in that fleeting moment, Il-yeong met her questioning gaze and simply smiled.
"Of course not."
"Hah."
That was the only answer he could give.
"Good answer."
Nobunaga smirked at his response, pulled his collar closer until her whisper reached him clearly.
"Me neither."
And right after.
A shadow plummeted from above their gripped collars.
"Ngh?"
"Wh-What!"
Before the samurai could draw their swords, the kneeling kunoichi—Takigawa Kazumasu—spoke.
"Found them. They're at Okehazama."
At that instant, everyone's eyes naturally turned to Il-yeong.