Chapter 199 3. Yoshimoto Kaido's Recruitment of Soldiers

In the winter months, after careful consideration, Imagawa Yoshimoto confronted his mother Shoukenni and his trusted retainers Sekiguchi Ujihiro, Okabe Chikanaga, and Kamara Ujinori. He made his intention to mobilize the entire army and go to Kyoto clear and gained enough support.

So Imagawa Yoshimoto finally made up his mind to go to Kyoto and sent messengers to Kai and Yamanouchi. Through the heavy snow, he conveyed the request to send reinforcements to Kyoto.

With Imagawa Yoshimoto's territory and financial resources, he actually didn't need any reinforcements. Besides, the Takeda clan and the Yamanouchi clan wouldn't send many people to Kyoto. Imagawa Yoshimoto wanted a momentum. You see, the Yamanouchi family of the Ashikaga clan of the Kawachi Genji and the Kai Takeda clan of the Silla Saburo Yoshimitsu clan all followed me to Kyoto.

Let the noble families and lords along the way to Kyoto weigh their own weight and compare their strength with the Yamanouchi and Takeda families to see if they can surpass them. Then decide whether to stop Imagawa Yoshimoto's royal army or to join the event.

It's like getting two heavyweight cheerleaders to cheer for you from behind, and at the same time use these two big flags to deceive more cheerleaders, so that the noobs will come and cheer on their own initiative, and don't do anything stupid to resist the royal army.

This is the same as Ouchi Yoshioki's insistence on bringing along the famous lords such as the Takeda family in Aki, the Yoshikawa family, and the Yamanouchi Shuto family to go on the road together. You don't really need to be a thug, as long as you come.

After creating a perfect external environment, Imagawa Yoshimoto did not hesitate to spend money and opened the Suruga Treasury. The gold accumulated from decades of mining in Abe Gold Mine, Fuji Gold Mine, and Suruga East Gold Mine was taken out, and the ronin and refugees from Kanto and Tokaido flocked to Suruga Fuchu Castle.

In a short period of time, more than 16,000 ronin troops gathered under Suruga Fuchu Castle. The ronin and refugees from various countries in Kanto, speaking various dialects and slang, were full of them. Although everyone did not speak the same language, they were all passionate.

Imagawa Yoshimoto was worthy of being a famous general. He organized them according to their hometowns and villages and trained them intensively. Since most of these ronin had experienced wars and knew all kinds of flags, drums, and trumpets, the difficulty of training was greatly reduced. Relying on abundant funds and food, the combat effectiveness of this unit will be greatly improved after a winter month of training. They will become a living (cannon fodder) force that Imagawa Yoshimoto can completely rely on on his way to Kyoto.

Another unexpected effect is that due to Imagawa Yoshimoto's status as a top daimyo with 220,000 kanmon, he issued a declaration to go to Kyoto, and all the ambitious people and ronin who plotted to restore the monarchy in the East gathered under his command. Everyone is optimistic that such a famous samurai can succeed in going to Kyoto, take control of the power of the shogunate, and then help these ronin restore their family names.

It is equivalent to Guizhou Lao Gan Ma hot sauce suddenly going public, and everyone is so optimistic that Lao Gan Ma hot sauce will rise sharply after it goes public, and it will rise wildly. So not only those traders, but also retail investors and tourists all entered the market to follow suit.

Because Lao Gan Ma, like Imagawa Yoshimoto, has the best performance, has been profitable for years, and has never lost capital. Even a fool knows that this thing is absolutely fine, so social instability elements from all directions have gone to Imagawa Yoshimoto. The social environment in Kaido and Kanto was greatly improved, and the daimyo lords in various places were very happy.

The Yamanouchi family received the news that Imagawa Yoshimoto requested reinforcements to Kyoto. In order to ensure the alliance between the two sides, the sixteen-year-old Yamanouchi Saburogoro was asked to go to Sunpu immediately to marry Imagawa Yoshimoto's daughter Meilingin. At the same time, Imagawa Yoshimoto became his ebohashi, and Kirara Yoshiyasu of Mikawa Kirara clan became his barber. Finally, he came of age and was named Yamanouchi Yoshichika. [Note 1]

Afterwards, Yamanouchi Yoshichika and his new wife returned to Yamanouchi without stopping. Yamanouchi Yoshiharu seemed to have some other considerations, and the public opinion in the family seemed to think that Imagawa Yoshichika's Kyoto trip would be successful. It is very likely that Imagawa Yoshimoto would be the one to issue orders for the entire world in the next ten years. Yamanouchi Yoshichika followed his father-in-law and might earn a good future.

After a fierce debate, Yamanouchi Yoshichika was allowed by his family to mobilize 2,200 Yamanouchi and Ejiri people to follow his father-in-law to Kyoto. This child, who was only considered as a substitute for Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu since childhood, got huge power and attention for the first time. He was full of energy and came to Ejiri in winter to discuss the specific mobilization of Ejiri with Koyata.

Koyata also got the news that Takeda Yoshinobu, the eldest son of Takeda Harunobu of Kai, also married Surugahime, the daughter of Imagawa Yoshimoto, three years ago. Since his father-in-law had spoken, he couldn't refuse this face, so he promised Takeda Yoshinobu to lead 2,500 Kai people to support his father-in-law's war in Kyoto.

Koyata counted on his fingers, Yamanouchi Yoshichika had 2,200 people, Takeda Yoshinobu had 2,500 people, more than 16,000 ronin, and Imagawa Zen led his team of more than 18,000 people. The entire army going to Kyoto would reach a terrifying 40,000 people.

The key point is that these 40,000 people are definitely not a mob. The Suruga people and the Totomi people are strong soldiers who have fought for years. The Kai people and the Yamanouchi people are even more amazing. Apart from the mediocre combat effectiveness of the 16,000 ronin, there are almost no weaknesses to be found.

How many troops did Oda Nobunaga have in Owari? According to Kobayata's estimate, there were about 7,000 to 8,000 troops. [Note 2] Saito Yoshitatsu in Mino had about 16,000 to 17,000 troops, and Rokkaku Yoshitaka in Minami-Omi was much stronger. Relying on the lucrative trade route of Lake Biwa, they could mobilize about 25,000 to 30,000 troops, but they would have to add up all of them to have a chance to compete with Imagawa Yoshimoto, not to mention that they all had their own ambitions and would never unite.

This, this, this!

Will Imagawa Yoshimoto rest in Denagawa?

If he doesn't rest, then the world will be unified in advance!

Even in the cold winter night, Kobayata was sweating profusely after seeing off the excited Yamauchi Yoshichika. Let's not talk about Imagawa Yoshimoto. If Yamauchi Yoshichika, who once saluted respectfully, was killed, Yamauchi Yoshiharu would at least feel distressed for a few years.

But Kobayata couldn't tell the ending of Imagawa Yoshimoto. After all, who could have known that Imagawa Yoshimoto would still lose in such a stable situation? But the big fool of Owari was not a big fool at all. He was obviously a hero unparalleled in the world.

Kobayata was in a dilemma.

[Note 1]: This "kin" used the lower character of Imagawa Yoshimoto's father, Imagawa Ujichika. If Imagawa Yoshimoto gave the character "yi", he would have to call him Yamanouchi Yoshiyoshi. This was a joke. If he used the character "yuan", it would seem disrespectful to this good son-in-law, which meant that he would compromise and use his father's lower character as the lower character for him.

[Note 2]: At this time, Oda Nobunaga only had half of Owari. Part of the four northern counties was in the hands of Saito Yoshitatsu, and part of it followed Oda Nobuyasu in Iwakura Castle. So Nobunaga could not unify the strength of the entire Owari to fight.