Ashikaga's marriage with you will be their undoing. You've consolidated your position well.
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Chapter 4: An Old Man's Dream (1480-1490)
Chapter 4: An Old Man's Dream (1480-1490)
The last decade was a breakout decade for Oda who accelerated her geographical growth after years of slow, patient buildup. The decade ended with Oda occupying Hosokawa's lands and besieging Shoni's capital. The first action of the new year was a separate peace with Hosokawa, taking all their provinces on the island of Honshu
Soon after that, the truce with Ouchi expired. Oda did not wait long before declaring war on them , citing Sengoku
Date wa allied to both Ouchi and Oda, but because they were already in the war against SHoni , they stayed neutral in this fight. The war was of course easy for Oda who had more and better quality troops than Ouchi. But after annihilating the Ouchi army, and taking Chikuzen fort, Hisanaga ordered the army to hold back, and not besiege the enemy capital
That was certainly an unusual move. But Hisanaga was aiming to drag the war longer, till he was ready to make his move for the Shogunate. You see, Hisanaga had been studying the rules of the Shogunate, and he learned that having several vassal Daimyo's at peace would earn the Shogun some nice benefits.
So instead of aiming to have most of Japan annexed directly to Oda, he decided to leave each existing Daimyo as a one province minor , preferably separated from the other Daimyos so that they would not be warring together all the time. The simplest way to do this was to annex all the land from each Daimyo, leaving them only one province. But if Oda did this for all the Daimyos, and then at the end declared war on Ashikaga, he would face a swarm of Daimyo armies that could be a problem ( and would leave him many cities to siege). After some thinking, Hisanaga decided that the only way he could have his cake and eat it too was to drag the war with all the Daimyos until he he was ready to declare on Ashikaga. And to drag those wars, he could not occupy the enemy capitals lest a call for peace would come out. So he left only one regiment besieging the Ouchi capital, while waiting for the truce with Yamana to end.
Unfortunately for Oda, he could not drag out the war with Shoni because his ally Date progressed the siege until their capital fell. So he concluded peace taking money from them .
After that Oda waited for the truce with Yamana to expire. In the meantime, claims were fabricated on as many provinces as possible to facilitated the creation of core provinces later on. Finally in March 1683, the truce with Yamana expired. Oda declared war, making a point of NOT calling in her ally Date
That was another easy war, and Oda quickly occupied all the enemy provinces but did not capture the capital.
While that went on, Oda's heir Nobuyoki died. And here Hisanaga had two choices: he could build a church in the memory of his dead son, or accept as heir the bastard child of a maid. This was a difficult decision, as the bastard was very promising (4/6/6). BUT, Hisanaga was already an old man of 63 and his Lady was even older. Should they both die before the new heir reached adulthood, a regency council would take over. So Hisanaga chose the temple.
At that point Hisanaga Oda considered declaring the war on Ashikaga.
But decided to wait a bit longer in order to put down a rebellion in the South. And also to break the alliance with Date so that they would be on the Ashikaga side in the upcoming war. He also had Oda accumulate some administrative power to help mitigate the stability hits that would come with war against the Shogun. And of course he needed to finish the sieges of Yamana and Ouchi's capitals.
Finally when the Yamana capital fell, he declared war on Ashikaga .
On the enemy side was the Shogun himself, and also all the other Daimyos except the 2 already at war with Oda. In addition, Oirat and her vassal Mongolia were on the Shogun's side, but those troops were not going to make their way to Japan.
The first action of the war was to destroy Shoni's army in the South.
During that battle two events happened. First a new heir was born ( Yoshinou 6/0/1). Second, Haixi declared war on Oirat, Ashikaga's ally . That would certainly help Oda by making it easier to eventually make peace with Oirat.
Now that war not a cakewalk by all means. Ashikaga and the other Daimyos had plenty of troops. But their armies were separated by the central forts of Mino and Echizu that Oda held. So ODa's strategy was to focus on destroying the enemy armies in the South, before moving on later to the north. But first Oda finished her wars with Ouchi and yamana, taking all their provinces except one.
And Oda also adopted Free Oarsmen as her naval doctrine, anticipating difficult naval engagements with other Japanese nations, and also with Korea and Ming in the future. And then Oda destroyed Hosokawa's army at the battle of Mino before wheeling south and occupying all of Hosokawa's lands including their capital.
And about the same time kyoto itself fell.
With the South of Japan in Oda's hand, the armies turned north. But here they found that Date and Ashikaga had consolidated their troops and taken a defensive position . Hisanaga did not want to risk a battle without clear superiority. So he called on the Merchant estate for 5 cheap loans and then recruited the Shikoku Yojimbo company to take the place of the Free Company ( the Free Company had become ineffective due to lack of manpower).
With these new reinforcements at hand, Hisanaga ordered the whole bunch towards Rikuzen. The enemy avoided battle and withdraw first to the mountains of Mutsui, and then later to the Island of Hokaido.
The Odan force followed the enemy to Hokaido, and then all the way to the last island accessible by land , where Ashikaga's army was destroyed
At that point Ashikaga had no more allied troop on the main Japanese islands. So Oda disbanded the new mercenary unit, and waited for Oirat to get tired of the war to exit it.
In the meantime, a new administrative technology was adopted and Oda had the choice of adopting a new group of ideas. Oda chose Influence ideas, anticipating that the Oda Shogunate would have a large number of future Daimyo vassals.
Finally in late 1488, Oirat agreed to a white peace ( they were being occupied by Haixi which helped their decision). And with Oirat out of the war, Ashikaga was forced to accept a complete peace:
In the peace , Oda took all the provinces held by Ashikaga and his Daimyos except for one province each . This way Oda became the new Shogun, and had 7 Daimyos , each one a single province. And no two Daimyos shared a border, so they did not have the Sengoku casus belli on each other. This way Oda hoped that the Daimyos would remain at peace, leading to more benefits for ODa.
At long last, Hisanaga had achieved his dream of ruling Japan . But he was now an old man of 69. ANd he had to think hard about the succession. Fearing that his death and that of his very old wife would lead to a regency council, he decided to disinherit Yoshinobu and hope that a more capable noble will accede to the Crown when the time came.
And as the decade ended , he surveyed his realm and was very pleased with what he had achieved in the 46 years since 1444 .
The last decade was a breakout decade for Oda who accelerated her geographical growth after years of slow, patient buildup. The decade ended with Oda occupying Hosokawa's lands and besieging Shoni's capital. The first action of the new year was a separate peace with Hosokawa, taking all their provinces on the island of Honshu
Soon after that, the truce with Ouchi expired. Oda did not wait long before declaring war on them , citing Sengoku
Date wa allied to both Ouchi and Oda, but because they were already in the war against SHoni , they stayed neutral in this fight. The war was of course easy for Oda who had more and better quality troops than Ouchi. But after annihilating the Ouchi army, and taking Chikuzen fort, Hisanaga ordered the army to hold back, and not besiege the enemy capital
That was certainly an unusual move. But Hisanaga was aiming to drag the war longer, till he was ready to make his move for the Shogunate. You see, Hisanaga had been studying the rules of the Shogunate, and he learned that having several vassal Daimyo's at peace would earn the Shogun some nice benefits.
So instead of aiming to have most of Japan annexed directly to Oda, he decided to leave each existing Daimyo as a one province minor , preferably separated from the other Daimyos so that they would not be warring together all the time. The simplest way to do this was to annex all the land from each Daimyo, leaving them only one province. But if Oda did this for all the Daimyos, and then at the end declared war on Ashikaga, he would face a swarm of Daimyo armies that could be a problem ( and would leave him many cities to siege). After some thinking, Hisanaga decided that the only way he could have his cake and eat it too was to drag the war with all the Daimyos until he he was ready to declare on Ashikaga. And to drag those wars, he could not occupy the enemy capitals lest a call for peace would come out. So he left only one regiment besieging the Ouchi capital, while waiting for the truce with Yamana to end.
Unfortunately for Oda, he could not drag out the war with Shoni because his ally Date progressed the siege until their capital fell. So he concluded peace taking money from them .
After that Oda waited for the truce with Yamana to expire. In the meantime, claims were fabricated on as many provinces as possible to facilitated the creation of core provinces later on. Finally in March 1683, the truce with Yamana expired. Oda declared war, making a point of NOT calling in her ally Date
That was another easy war, and Oda quickly occupied all the enemy provinces but did not capture the capital.
While that went on, Oda's heir Nobuyoki died. And here Hisanaga had two choices: he could build a church in the memory of his dead son, or accept as heir the bastard child of a maid. This was a difficult decision, as the bastard was very promising (4/6/6). BUT, Hisanaga was already an old man of 63 and his Lady was even older. Should they both die before the new heir reached adulthood, a regency council would take over. So Hisanaga chose the temple.
At that point Hisanaga Oda considered declaring the war on Ashikaga.
But decided to wait a bit longer in order to put down a rebellion in the South. And also to break the alliance with Date so that they would be on the Ashikaga side in the upcoming war. He also had Oda accumulate some administrative power to help mitigate the stability hits that would come with war against the Shogun. And of course he needed to finish the sieges of Yamana and Ouchi's capitals.
Finally when the Yamana capital fell, he declared war on Ashikaga .
On the enemy side was the Shogun himself, and also all the other Daimyos except the 2 already at war with Oda. In addition, Oirat and her vassal Mongolia were on the Shogun's side, but those troops were not going to make their way to Japan.
The first action of the war was to destroy Shoni's army in the South.
During that battle two events happened. First a new heir was born ( Yoshinou 6/0/1). Second, Haixi declared war on Oirat, Ashikaga's ally . That would certainly help Oda by making it easier to eventually make peace with Oirat.
Now that war not a cakewalk by all means. Ashikaga and the other Daimyos had plenty of troops. But their armies were separated by the central forts of Mino and Echizu that Oda held. So ODa's strategy was to focus on destroying the enemy armies in the South, before moving on later to the north. But first Oda finished her wars with Ouchi and yamana, taking all their provinces except one.
And Oda also adopted Free Oarsmen as her naval doctrine, anticipating difficult naval engagements with other Japanese nations, and also with Korea and Ming in the future. And then Oda destroyed Hosokawa's army at the battle of Mino before wheeling south and occupying all of Hosokawa's lands including their capital.
And about the same time kyoto itself fell.
With the South of Japan in Oda's hand, the armies turned north. But here they found that Date and Ashikaga had consolidated their troops and taken a defensive position . Hisanaga did not want to risk a battle without clear superiority. So he called on the Merchant estate for 5 cheap loans and then recruited the Shikoku Yojimbo company to take the place of the Free Company ( the Free Company had become ineffective due to lack of manpower).
With these new reinforcements at hand, Hisanaga ordered the whole bunch towards Rikuzen. The enemy avoided battle and withdraw first to the mountains of Mutsui, and then later to the Island of Hokaido.
The Odan force followed the enemy to Hokaido, and then all the way to the last island accessible by land , where Ashikaga's army was destroyed
At that point Ashikaga had no more allied troop on the main Japanese islands. So Oda disbanded the new mercenary unit, and waited for Oirat to get tired of the war to exit it.
In the meantime, a new administrative technology was adopted and Oda had the choice of adopting a new group of ideas. Oda chose Influence ideas, anticipating that the Oda Shogunate would have a large number of future Daimyo vassals.
Finally in late 1488, Oirat agreed to a white peace ( they were being occupied by Haixi which helped their decision). And with Oirat out of the war, Ashikaga was forced to accept a complete peace:
In the peace , Oda took all the provinces held by Ashikaga and his Daimyos except for one province each . This way Oda became the new Shogun, and had 7 Daimyos , each one a single province. And no two Daimyos shared a border, so they did not have the Sengoku casus belli on each other. This way Oda hoped that the Daimyos would remain at peace, leading to more benefits for ODa.
At long last, Hisanaga had achieved his dream of ruling Japan . But he was now an old man of 69. ANd he had to think hard about the succession. Fearing that his death and that of his very old wife would lead to a regency council, he decided to disinherit Yoshinobu and hope that a more capable noble will accede to the Crown when the time came.
And as the decade ended , he surveyed his realm and was very pleased with what he had achieved in the 46 years since 1444 .
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A couple of comments on 2 questionable decisions in the last chapter.
1. When I lost my heir, I did not pick the 4/6/6 heir because I was afraid of a Regency Council taking over. My decision was influenced by my experience in True Tsar AAR (Chapter 14: A Tale of Two Affairs) when I had a similar situation - pick Temple or heir from maid- and took the heir . Then ended up with Regency Council problem around the time of the League War. So in this AAR I took the Temple. But I am not sure that was the right decision . A lot depends on what RNG serves up when Hisanaga dies . (Also, a big Hurrah to my initial ruler who has reigned now from 1444 to 1490 - a nice long stretch).
2. decision to leave Daimyos alive as OPMs. Almost all Japan guides have the player annex everyone so you have the benefit of more control of Japan node and more provinces. I chose to keep Daimyos for their bonuses and also to have vassal navy swarm if/when I take on Korea and Ming. We shall see if that turns out to be the right decision.
1. When I lost my heir, I did not pick the 4/6/6 heir because I was afraid of a Regency Council taking over. My decision was influenced by my experience in True Tsar AAR (Chapter 14: A Tale of Two Affairs) when I had a similar situation - pick Temple or heir from maid- and took the heir . Then ended up with Regency Council problem around the time of the League War. So in this AAR I took the Temple. But I am not sure that was the right decision . A lot depends on what RNG serves up when Hisanaga dies . (Also, a big Hurrah to my initial ruler who has reigned now from 1444 to 1490 - a nice long stretch).
2. decision to leave Daimyos alive as OPMs. Almost all Japan guides have the player annex everyone so you have the benefit of more control of Japan node and more provinces. I chose to keep Daimyos for their bonuses and also to have vassal navy swarm if/when I take on Korea and Ming. We shall see if that turns out to be the right decision.
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The screenshot you have in this chapter misses a bit that will end up more important in the future: The bonuses cap at 10 Daimyo's.
My opinion: keep the Japanese Daimyo's for now for their navy and once you get some more in China or Indonesia diplo annex the OPM's in your trade node, avoid creating more vassals in Korea but rule it directly.
Also the "at peace" part is going to limit this a lot. You're going to drag your Daimyo's into various wars and will have long periods without the bonus. You're already prolonging wars for various reasons, so time at peace is likely to be limited this campaign.
So maybe take a look at what benefits you the most? The control over Nippon node or the periodical bonuses from Daimyo's at peace?
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Very good points. Didn't really think of the at peace part. I assumed it is at peace with each other . But you're right I will be dragging them a lot in war. Maybe I will scutage the ones on Japan if I do not need their navy. ( I assume scutage is available for Daimyos - not near game to check )
PS: I just noticed my last screenshot is missing all the annotations of income, ideas etc. I must have uploaded it before hitting the save button in MSPaint. I will update when I get back home.
PS: I just noticed my last screenshot is missing all the annotations of income, ideas etc. I must have uploaded it before hitting the save button in MSPaint. I will update when I get back home.
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And Hisanaga wept, for there were no more lands left to conquer. Congrats on unifying Japan.
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I understand your reasoning for not selecting him but not taking a 4/6/6 heir hurts me as an avid eu4 player. Congrats on the unification of Japan
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Actually I think I made a mistake. I have played the next 10 years and the title of that chapter will be "consolidation" , so as you can guess I did not do that much war. So even if I had gotten a regency , the 4/6/6 would have been worth it.
I think I have played too many Republic runs to appreciate a good ruler stat when I see one.
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Chapter5 : Consolidation (14901-1500)
Chapter5 : Consolidation (14901-1500)
We ended the last Chapter with Hisanaga Oda ruling Japan, and leading 7 Daimyos. And one of the first questions posed to him as Shogun was whether he would return the province of Harima to the Akamatsu clan, turning them into the 8th Daimyo.
And to that he answered a resolute no. Oda was going to keep all the land she annexed . And this question would come up again a couple of times from other defunct clans, and his answer was the same: no additional Daimyos in land that Oda already turned into core provinces. And to improve the value of the lands Oda annexed he turned all provinces into States and lowered the autonomy on all of them ( autonomy was generally high everywhere because the previous Shogun Ashikaga was fond of the Sankin Kotai edict.
Needless the say , the lowering of autonomy did not sit well with the local populace and the resulting unrest accelerated rebellions by separatists.
The many, many rebellions throughout the decade meant that Oda could not underake any foreign adventures and had to keep the Army on the home islands to deal with the rebel scum.
But on the bonus side, the lowered autonomy meant a healthier economy, and Hisanaga began paying down the loans taken during the war on the former Shogun. But then he was presented with expensive plans to build Azuchi castle, with a nice reward of increased legitimacy. At first, he deemed it expensive and told his advisors "maybe later" . But on further inquiry [wiki check], he realized that the chance will never come again, and he opted to build the palace.
Then on January 29, 1492 Hisanaga gave his last breath. He had ruled for almost half a century and set Oda on the path to greatness.
He was succeeded by a young noble Nobuhiro 2/4/2 aged just 18. An average ruler but destined to have a long reign ( or so would one suppose).
And one of his first actions was to take advantage of the chance to fire his Trader and Master of Mint advisors for some nice administrative and diplomatic power.
Now as we mentioned above, the Shogun did not feel that an external adventure could be undertaken with all the unrest occurring in Japan. But that did not mean absolutely now foreign wars. It just meant no "land" wars. And so in 1494, Japan declared "Trade War" on her rival Korea
That was a war where the Japanese navy, recently augmented with many galleys, had to blockade the Korean coast. The Japanese army remained on the home island to deal with rebels.
There were only 2 naval engagements with teh Korean navy. The main one was a brief encounter in the Yamato basin, where the Korean navy withdrew quickly adfter losing just 2 ships. The second one was in the Kii channel where the Korean trade squadron was desotryed
After that , Japan instituted a near-complete blockade f Korea . I say near total, because the highly developed Korean provinces were difficult to blockade. And the Daimyos were completely useless in that endeavor as they had lost their tiny navies to the Korean trade squadron early in the fight.
Soon after that our very young ruler tripped down the stairs and died ( balancing out the long reign of his predecessor !) . He was succeeded by another young noble, Katsunaga 6/1/2 , aged just 20 and already with an heir and spouse.
The new Shogun continued the war of his predecessor on Korea, and began building a spy network on the Ming Emperor as well. And thanks to more ships being built, the blockade on Korea was made complete, boosting Japan's income while hurting that of her rival ( and at this point, although the country is still officially Oda, I may being to refer to it as Japan for convenience) .
And Katsunaga also used his high legitimacy to extract military power from the Daimyos by calling fo aSword Hunt
And then, as the decade drew to a close, Oda signed peace with Korea
Kora was forced to divert her trade to Japan, and pay war reparations as well as a lump sum. In other words, Korea was going to fund the buildup of the Japanese army that will conquer them in the next war. And as for Katasunaga, having tasted the sweet reward of a Trade ConflicT war, he was now salivating at another round, this time with a much richer target.
We ended the last Chapter with Hisanaga Oda ruling Japan, and leading 7 Daimyos. And one of the first questions posed to him as Shogun was whether he would return the province of Harima to the Akamatsu clan, turning them into the 8th Daimyo.
And to that he answered a resolute no. Oda was going to keep all the land she annexed . And this question would come up again a couple of times from other defunct clans, and his answer was the same: no additional Daimyos in land that Oda already turned into core provinces. And to improve the value of the lands Oda annexed he turned all provinces into States and lowered the autonomy on all of them ( autonomy was generally high everywhere because the previous Shogun Ashikaga was fond of the Sankin Kotai edict.
Needless the say , the lowering of autonomy did not sit well with the local populace and the resulting unrest accelerated rebellions by separatists.
The many, many rebellions throughout the decade meant that Oda could not underake any foreign adventures and had to keep the Army on the home islands to deal with the rebel scum.
But on the bonus side, the lowered autonomy meant a healthier economy, and Hisanaga began paying down the loans taken during the war on the former Shogun. But then he was presented with expensive plans to build Azuchi castle, with a nice reward of increased legitimacy. At first, he deemed it expensive and told his advisors "maybe later" . But on further inquiry [wiki check], he realized that the chance will never come again, and he opted to build the palace.
Then on January 29, 1492 Hisanaga gave his last breath. He had ruled for almost half a century and set Oda on the path to greatness.
He was succeeded by a young noble Nobuhiro 2/4/2 aged just 18. An average ruler but destined to have a long reign ( or so would one suppose).
And one of his first actions was to take advantage of the chance to fire his Trader and Master of Mint advisors for some nice administrative and diplomatic power.
Now as we mentioned above, the Shogun did not feel that an external adventure could be undertaken with all the unrest occurring in Japan. But that did not mean absolutely now foreign wars. It just meant no "land" wars. And so in 1494, Japan declared "Trade War" on her rival Korea
That was a war where the Japanese navy, recently augmented with many galleys, had to blockade the Korean coast. The Japanese army remained on the home island to deal with rebels.
There were only 2 naval engagements with teh Korean navy. The main one was a brief encounter in the Yamato basin, where the Korean navy withdrew quickly adfter losing just 2 ships. The second one was in the Kii channel where the Korean trade squadron was desotryed
After that , Japan instituted a near-complete blockade f Korea . I say near total, because the highly developed Korean provinces were difficult to blockade. And the Daimyos were completely useless in that endeavor as they had lost their tiny navies to the Korean trade squadron early in the fight.
Soon after that our very young ruler tripped down the stairs and died ( balancing out the long reign of his predecessor !) . He was succeeded by another young noble, Katsunaga 6/1/2 , aged just 20 and already with an heir and spouse.
The new Shogun continued the war of his predecessor on Korea, and began building a spy network on the Ming Emperor as well. And thanks to more ships being built, the blockade on Korea was made complete, boosting Japan's income while hurting that of her rival ( and at this point, although the country is still officially Oda, I may being to refer to it as Japan for convenience) .
And Katsunaga also used his high legitimacy to extract military power from the Daimyos by calling fo aSword Hunt
And then, as the decade drew to a close, Oda signed peace with Korea
Kora was forced to divert her trade to Japan, and pay war reparations as well as a lump sum. In other words, Korea was going to fund the buildup of the Japanese army that will conquer them in the next war. And as for Katasunaga, having tasted the sweet reward of a Trade ConflicT war, he was now salivating at another round, this time with a much richer target.
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Blockading Ming will also hurt their mandate too, right? If the collapse happens early, that will be good for you, though you won't get to fleece Ming for any cash.
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It should because it causes devastation , and devastation lowers mandate. Question of math on whether this matters. I will try to get a screenshot from that part of the decade.
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Chapter 6: Toehold then foothold (1500-1510)
Chapter 6: Toehold then foothold (1500-1510)
The first action of the new decade was recovering the stability of the nation after the passage of the comet
This was made slightly easier by the 7 Daimyos who lightened up the administrative cost. This had to be done during peace time to get that help (h/t @Steckie ). And only after doing that , did Oda declare war on Ming
The Japanese navy was larger than the Chinese navy . And the latter remained at port in Beijing, blockaded by the main Oda fleet.
Oda then sent small squadrons to blockade the other provinces of Ming
With the war on Ming going well, Katsunaga felt emboldened enough to declare war on Orochoni, who had annexed Ainu and the island of Hokaido
Japan cited conquest as the casus belli, and quickly moved to occupy the province in question. The Shogun was planning on a simple passive war with the Odan army sitting on the war goal He had no intention of diverting the fleet from China to attack the Orochoni . But what he did not count on , however, was the size of the Orochoni fleet which turned out to be 17 ships, with several galleys.
At that size, the Orochoni fleet presented a danger to the small Japanese squadrons blockading the Chinese coast. So Katsunaga ordered the fleet to reassemble and chase the Orochoni.
However, the slow galleys prevented the Odan navy from catching her enemy who retreated back to their home water. But on the way back, the fleet ran into the Ming fleet which had ventured out. That was the only naval battle in the war, and was a clear Japanese victory .
After that the Chinese fleet withdrew to Ningbo and never ventured again . And Oda proceeded to blockade all the Chinese coast except their southernmost provinces ( which were out of supply range of the Japanese navy) .
The blockade had a beneficial effect on Oda, who collected a nice monthly sum of around 8 to 11 ducats from this . And had a detrimental effect on the Ming Emperor's mandate through the effect of devastation of the coastal provinces ( h/t @jak7139 ). This effect was minor at this time, but would certainly rise as time went on and devastation increased.
As for the war on Orochoni, the Odans got a nice assist from Haixi who declared a tribal feud war on the Orochoni.
Oda hoped that with Orochoni mainland provinces occupied by Haixi the former would be more ready to negotiate away their holdings on Hokaido . But what actually happened is that Haixi annexed a chunk out of Orochoni.
And although omens in the sky ( a second comet in just 3 years!) were unfavorable, Katsunaga considered this a propitious event. Because the Orochoni were now at a size that can have them become vassals ( and therefore the 8th Daimyo) of Oda.
Meanwhile on the internal front, Oda completed her 4th national idea, the Influential Stronghold , permanently adding siege skills to all her future generals .
And then another development in the Orochoni situation happened : Jianzhou declared war on the beleaguered Orochoni.
That event gave significant urgency to Katsunaga's plans to vassalize Orochoni. That was because Jianzhou was a tributary of Ming, and so was relatively safe from an Oda attack. And if Jiangzhou annexed all the mainland provinces of Orochoni, then Oda would lose the chance to gain a foothold on the Asian continent. But if Oda could vassalize Orochoni before Jianzhou completed her war on them , then Oda would get to fight Jianzhou in a defensive war as Orochoni's overlord.
So the Shogun quickly wrapped up the war with Ming, taking only money
The premature end to that war meant that the devastation brought by the blockade, which was just starting to get felt in Beijing, would not drastically affect the Emperor's mandate of heaven . But on the positive side, Oda got a large sum of money, enough to pay off all her loans and then some . And with the fleet free from blockade duty in China, the army was quickly transported to the Orochoni mainland. And in a stroke of good luck, the Odan army managed to reach the enemy capital Oroch just before Jiangzhou made it there.
And after the fall of the enemy capital, peace was imposed on Oroch
Oroch became a Daimyo of Oda ( and a loyal one at that) and Oda annexed all of Hokaido and the Kuril islands. And Oda became war leader against Jiangzhou
The war against Jjangzhou was easy for Oda. But Katsunaga feared the effects of that war on Oda manpower, and so decided to spend some of the left over Ming money on hiring the Grand Company mercenary company .
Between the mercs, the help from Orochoni, and the regular troops, the enemy was quickly overwhelmed. And after their capital fell, were quickly turned into the 9th Daimyo.
Oda started the war on Orochoni with hopes of taking Hokkaido and establishing a toehold in Asia. But now thanks to vassals, she had a good foothold on the Continent. And she has grown enough to eclipse her former rival Korea
At that point Oda looked to see if she could expand her continental holdings more. Unfortunately Haixi was a tributary of Ming. And Oda did not feel strong enough yet to attack Ming. So instead, Katsunaga began the preparation for the invasion of Korea when that truce would run out in 1509. The armies that had just conquered Jianzhou were stationed in the land of the new Daimyo and prepared to invade Korea by land . And in support of that effort, Katsunaga declared the mission to "Win Political Supremacy" complete and obtained claims on Southern and Eastern Korea as a result ( plus a good bit of power thanks to prestige being quite high).
But before we get on with the narrative, we will mention the beginning of a second Shinto religious incident: the arrival of the Wokou pirates
Katsunaga followed in the footsteps of Hisanaga and took the isolationist view of the pirates.
After that his attention returned to foreign affairs. And in February 1508 he received the Ho-hum news of Haixi annexing one province minor Korchin. He did not pay much attention to that. but the next month there were dramatic changes in the map. Haixi renamed themselves to Manchu and broke off their tributary relation with Ming. And the latter suffered a collapse in their Mandate .
That presented new opportunities for Oda . With no mandate , the Chinese were ripe for an attack . But unfortunately, Japan was still bound by a truce with them . Manchu, on the other hand, had no such truce with Oda. And with no overlord, and no allies, Manchu was particularly vulnerable to an attack by Oda. So taking advantage of the the troops already positioned to attack Korea, Katsunaga immediately declared war on Manchu and began the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.
The Odan armies quickly marched on the enemy capital of Girin. And after a siege of 131 days it was taken. The two forts to its west followed suit
During that time the Manchu armies did not challenge Oda's force, and instead spent their energy on Oda's vassals Orochoni and Jianzhou. And when the Odan forces approached them , they promptly withdrew to the Siberian wilderness, leaving all Manchuria and their vassal Solon in Japanese hands.
And that brings us to the end of the decade.
Oda's finances are in the red currently due to the use of mercenaries . Her troops are not at force limit thanks to contributions from her vassals. ANd this will only get better as the Influence Ideas are completed. BUt a lack of manpower may force Oda to continue using mercenaries . And Katsunaga has a few big decisions to make soon.
First, should he attack Ming instead of Korea next?
Second, should he pause the advancements in technology and ideas to spawn Colonialism , or is getting the next idea group a higher priority?
Third , what should that idea group be ?
Fourth, should he declare a Golder Era now or save it for later?
The first action of the new decade was recovering the stability of the nation after the passage of the comet
This was made slightly easier by the 7 Daimyos who lightened up the administrative cost. This had to be done during peace time to get that help (h/t @Steckie ). And only after doing that , did Oda declare war on Ming
The Japanese navy was larger than the Chinese navy . And the latter remained at port in Beijing, blockaded by the main Oda fleet.
Oda then sent small squadrons to blockade the other provinces of Ming
With the war on Ming going well, Katsunaga felt emboldened enough to declare war on Orochoni, who had annexed Ainu and the island of Hokaido
Japan cited conquest as the casus belli, and quickly moved to occupy the province in question. The Shogun was planning on a simple passive war with the Odan army sitting on the war goal He had no intention of diverting the fleet from China to attack the Orochoni . But what he did not count on , however, was the size of the Orochoni fleet which turned out to be 17 ships, with several galleys.
At that size, the Orochoni fleet presented a danger to the small Japanese squadrons blockading the Chinese coast. So Katsunaga ordered the fleet to reassemble and chase the Orochoni.
However, the slow galleys prevented the Odan navy from catching her enemy who retreated back to their home water. But on the way back, the fleet ran into the Ming fleet which had ventured out. That was the only naval battle in the war, and was a clear Japanese victory .
After that the Chinese fleet withdrew to Ningbo and never ventured again . And Oda proceeded to blockade all the Chinese coast except their southernmost provinces ( which were out of supply range of the Japanese navy) .
The blockade had a beneficial effect on Oda, who collected a nice monthly sum of around 8 to 11 ducats from this . And had a detrimental effect on the Ming Emperor's mandate through the effect of devastation of the coastal provinces ( h/t @jak7139 ). This effect was minor at this time, but would certainly rise as time went on and devastation increased.
As for the war on Orochoni, the Odans got a nice assist from Haixi who declared a tribal feud war on the Orochoni.
Oda hoped that with Orochoni mainland provinces occupied by Haixi the former would be more ready to negotiate away their holdings on Hokaido . But what actually happened is that Haixi annexed a chunk out of Orochoni.
And although omens in the sky ( a second comet in just 3 years!) were unfavorable, Katsunaga considered this a propitious event. Because the Orochoni were now at a size that can have them become vassals ( and therefore the 8th Daimyo) of Oda.
Meanwhile on the internal front, Oda completed her 4th national idea, the Influential Stronghold , permanently adding siege skills to all her future generals .
And then another development in the Orochoni situation happened : Jianzhou declared war on the beleaguered Orochoni.
That event gave significant urgency to Katsunaga's plans to vassalize Orochoni. That was because Jianzhou was a tributary of Ming, and so was relatively safe from an Oda attack. And if Jiangzhou annexed all the mainland provinces of Orochoni, then Oda would lose the chance to gain a foothold on the Asian continent. But if Oda could vassalize Orochoni before Jianzhou completed her war on them , then Oda would get to fight Jianzhou in a defensive war as Orochoni's overlord.
So the Shogun quickly wrapped up the war with Ming, taking only money
The premature end to that war meant that the devastation brought by the blockade, which was just starting to get felt in Beijing, would not drastically affect the Emperor's mandate of heaven . But on the positive side, Oda got a large sum of money, enough to pay off all her loans and then some . And with the fleet free from blockade duty in China, the army was quickly transported to the Orochoni mainland. And in a stroke of good luck, the Odan army managed to reach the enemy capital Oroch just before Jiangzhou made it there.
And after the fall of the enemy capital, peace was imposed on Oroch
Oroch became a Daimyo of Oda ( and a loyal one at that) and Oda annexed all of Hokaido and the Kuril islands. And Oda became war leader against Jiangzhou
The war against Jjangzhou was easy for Oda. But Katsunaga feared the effects of that war on Oda manpower, and so decided to spend some of the left over Ming money on hiring the Grand Company mercenary company .
Between the mercs, the help from Orochoni, and the regular troops, the enemy was quickly overwhelmed. And after their capital fell, were quickly turned into the 9th Daimyo.
Oda started the war on Orochoni with hopes of taking Hokkaido and establishing a toehold in Asia. But now thanks to vassals, she had a good foothold on the Continent. And she has grown enough to eclipse her former rival Korea
At that point Oda looked to see if she could expand her continental holdings more. Unfortunately Haixi was a tributary of Ming. And Oda did not feel strong enough yet to attack Ming. So instead, Katsunaga began the preparation for the invasion of Korea when that truce would run out in 1509. The armies that had just conquered Jianzhou were stationed in the land of the new Daimyo and prepared to invade Korea by land . And in support of that effort, Katsunaga declared the mission to "Win Political Supremacy" complete and obtained claims on Southern and Eastern Korea as a result ( plus a good bit of power thanks to prestige being quite high).
But before we get on with the narrative, we will mention the beginning of a second Shinto religious incident: the arrival of the Wokou pirates
Katsunaga followed in the footsteps of Hisanaga and took the isolationist view of the pirates.
After that his attention returned to foreign affairs. And in February 1508 he received the Ho-hum news of Haixi annexing one province minor Korchin. He did not pay much attention to that. but the next month there were dramatic changes in the map. Haixi renamed themselves to Manchu and broke off their tributary relation with Ming. And the latter suffered a collapse in their Mandate .
That presented new opportunities for Oda . With no mandate , the Chinese were ripe for an attack . But unfortunately, Japan was still bound by a truce with them . Manchu, on the other hand, had no such truce with Oda. And with no overlord, and no allies, Manchu was particularly vulnerable to an attack by Oda. So taking advantage of the the troops already positioned to attack Korea, Katsunaga immediately declared war on Manchu and began the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.
The Odan armies quickly marched on the enemy capital of Girin. And after a siege of 131 days it was taken. The two forts to its west followed suit
During that time the Manchu armies did not challenge Oda's force, and instead spent their energy on Oda's vassals Orochoni and Jianzhou. And when the Odan forces approached them , they promptly withdrew to the Siberian wilderness, leaving all Manchuria and their vassal Solon in Japanese hands.
And that brings us to the end of the decade.
Oda's finances are in the red currently due to the use of mercenaries . Her troops are not at force limit thanks to contributions from her vassals. ANd this will only get better as the Influence Ideas are completed. BUt a lack of manpower may force Oda to continue using mercenaries . And Katsunaga has a few big decisions to make soon.
First, should he attack Ming instead of Korea next?
Second, should he pause the advancements in technology and ideas to spawn Colonialism , or is getting the next idea group a higher priority?
Third , what should that idea group be ?
Fourth, should he declare a Golder Era now or save it for later?
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Depends a bit on your plans with Manchu. Are they (or Mongolia) near 300dev to trigger the Unguarded Frontier event for Ming?
Because that and you blockading them could be a big blow to their mandate.
If not close to 300dev i think go for Korea and watch for an opportunity with Ming.
I think a golden era now is going to be more impactful than later in the game. By then you will probably rely more on a vassal swarm that doesn't get your golden era bonuses.
Because that and you blockading them could be a big blow to their mandate.
If not close to 300dev i think go for Korea and watch for an opportunity with Ming.
I think a golden era now is going to be more impactful than later in the game. By then you will probably rely more on a vassal swarm that doesn't get your golden era bonuses.
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Manchu is at 225. BUt I will be taking some of that for my own vassals. I will for sure take Solon and make them my own subject to add to the swarm
Mongolia is at 99 . currently subject to Oirat who is smaller than them .
Ming mandate currently near zero, but growing back. this is why I am thinking of hitting them in 2 years ( truce runs out in 1502)
Good logic. I will then go ahead and do it for the possible war with Ming ( 10% morale) and for 10% Dev discount to spawn colonialism and printing press. I will wait till last minute of Age of Discovery so that it stretches beyond 1550 for printing press.
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Didn't realise their mandate was already so low, in that case your plan for a 1502 war seems like a good idea.
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Cripple Ming further! It'll help with your aim of eliminating empires...
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Did you see a preview of the next Chapter?
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Chapter 7: Growing and Culling A Swarm (1510-1520)
Chapter 7: Growing and Culling A Swarm (1510-1520)
The first event of the new decade related to the Wokou pirate incident. It appeared that foreign nations were complaining about those pesky Japanese freelance pirates, and the Shogun promised to curtail them, and earned some nice relations boost with foreign nations.
The Shogun passed up the opportunity to get some gold or some diplomatic power in exchange of moving Japan's Shinto stance sharply towards isolationism.
Two months later, the Manchu were ready for peace
Manchu lost all the lands of their vassal Solon, who was then released back as a new nation under Oda [directly transferring vassal cost 200 DIP]. Oda also released Nivkh as an additional Daimyo, and fed Jianzhou the castle at Huncun . Oda kept for herself the Center of Trade at Furdan, and the province of Hulan near Oirat, in order to fabricate claims on the latter [I cannot use Daimyo claims or reconquest CB to declare war, unlike regular vassals. so I have to fabricate claims myself].
Katsunaga at that point thought about a war with Ming, whose Mandate of Heaven support was low . The truce was going to run out in under 2 years. BUt after much internal deliberation, he decided to go ahead with the Korean war first. He hoped that that war would be quick enough that Oda can turn around and declare on Ming before they recovered more Mandate.
The strategy for the war was very straightforward. Korea was protected on her land side by the mountain fort of Ganggye. So Oda sent her regular troops with 6 artillery regiments and a skilled siege general [+2 pips] to take the fort and set the Grand Company directly behind them in support.
The combined size of the Odan armies was enough to dissuade the Koreans from attacking . The fort fell after 272 days, opening the road to the Korean capital. There the Koreans did make a stand ( they could not see the supporting army) and were easily beaten by the superior Odan force.
Hanseong fell in August 1512 and that opened the road to the south of Korea. By then Oda's manpower had dwindled down to under 5,000 men ( out of a potential pool of 28,000) . And that was because of the Korean decision to call up the "Righteous Army". But luckily the last fort fell after a brief 72 days siege.
And that happy news was soon followed by the completion of Influence ideas and the adoption of the Integrated Administration policy, which increased the income from Oda's vassals and made it easier to annex them .
With the fall of their last fort, the Koreans agreed to comprehensive peace.
Oda annexed to herself all of the provinces in South and East Korea that she had claims on. But instead of taking the island of Jeju, she took the fort of Ganggye so she would not have to deal with it again in the next war [but that prevented me from completing the "Conquer Korea" mission]. THe annexation of Southern Korea catapulted Oda to the ranks of the Great Powers of the World
And after that the Shogun went back to dealing with the Wokou pirate issue, choosing yet again an Isolationist stance.
This forced Oda to remain at peace for a while to recover her stability, and also to integrate the Korean provinces as core provinces of the nation. So Katsunaga took advantage of that lull to annex some of the Daimyos on the islands of Japan, starting with Ouchi
Thanks to granting the "Bushi Integration Policy" privilege, Oda did not suffer a hit to her diplomatic reputation with the annexation, which took just a few months. But there was still a penalty to the relations with all the other Daimyos, which effectively limited how many Daimyos Oda could annex in this round . And in the end, Oda chose to start the annexation of both Date and Shoni , leaving the other Japanese Daimyos till later. Meanwhile MOngolia had gained independence from Oirat .
In their independence war Mongolia gained a province adjacent to Oda and on which Oda had a claim already . And so the new nation presented Oda with three diplomatic choices: Declare war, offer alliance, or make Mongolia a tributary. And Katsunaga did not hesitate ( well maybe a little) in making a choice for war, before Mongolia became a tributary of Ming like the other nations in the vicinity .
That war was straightforward and we will not detail it. But during the fighting , the Wokou pirate incident ended, and Oda moved her Shinto practices to fully closed , granting her a boost in rising prosperity and lower development cost [by my count my isolation level should be 3 not 4 , not sure how this happened but I am not complaining]
And also during the Mongolian war , our heir Yoshunobu followed in the footsteps of other heirs before him and decided to die. And again the maid offered her bastard son as an heir. But the SHogun said "meh, does not justify the low legitimacy" and decided instead to build a temple to the dead heir.
FInally by mid-decade, Mongolia was ready for a "dismemberment" peace.
Oda snaked a way through Mongolia to get a border with Uzbek in the west, and gave all the intervening lands to her new Daimyos Korchin and Chahar, created out of the Mongolian annexation. And thus , just as Oda was culling her Daimyos in Japan, she was adding more on the Continent to take their place.
Soon after, the Korean provinces became core provinces of Oda and were promoted into states. And since the cost of turning them into full core provinces was high, Katsunaga decided this was a good time to declare Oda's Golden Era (h/t @Steckie ) .
And to provide fireworks in celebration of this new Golden Era, Katsunaga declared war on the Ming Empire, who was low on Mandate and was two full military technological levels behind Oda.
And the first events of that war were the capture of the forts of Shenyang and Beijing without any opposition
After that Katsunaga ordered the armies south, deep into Chinese territory bypassing the mountain forts to the West. This is when the Chinese armies finally appeared in the rear of the Odan force.
Katsunaga ordered the lead army to continue the siege of Nanjing, and had the supporting army wheel back to face the Chinese. Despite splitting her force, Oda was able to easily handle the Chinese stacks in back to back battles at Jinan and Heijian
The elimination of the Chinese field armies led to the destruction of the Chinese fleet which was forced out of its hiding. And after the fall of Nanjing, Oda moved to siege the next city ( Huizhou) .
And these events bring us the end of the decade. Ming is on the run. And although a total victory is still a ways away, Katsunaga is already contemplating what such a victory would look like
He is hoping that annexing land in Southern China would open a new avenue for expansion into Indochina and from there into the Malacca node , then into India and to the lands of Empires further west
As for Oda's internal situation, she is in great shape.
Japan and now Korea form a core of well developed states that will be the basis of a strong economy and army. Adn the growing Daimyo swarm on the continent means rapid expansion will accelerate. The only hurdle for now is the institution of Colonialism . After that , Oda will be ready for the adoption of a very crucial idea group. [take a guess which one I decided on. hint: the group will certainly fill a need, but it is the policy I am after]
The first event of the new decade related to the Wokou pirate incident. It appeared that foreign nations were complaining about those pesky Japanese freelance pirates, and the Shogun promised to curtail them, and earned some nice relations boost with foreign nations.
The Shogun passed up the opportunity to get some gold or some diplomatic power in exchange of moving Japan's Shinto stance sharply towards isolationism.
Two months later, the Manchu were ready for peace
Manchu lost all the lands of their vassal Solon, who was then released back as a new nation under Oda [directly transferring vassal cost 200 DIP]. Oda also released Nivkh as an additional Daimyo, and fed Jianzhou the castle at Huncun . Oda kept for herself the Center of Trade at Furdan, and the province of Hulan near Oirat, in order to fabricate claims on the latter [I cannot use Daimyo claims or reconquest CB to declare war, unlike regular vassals. so I have to fabricate claims myself].
Katsunaga at that point thought about a war with Ming, whose Mandate of Heaven support was low . The truce was going to run out in under 2 years. BUt after much internal deliberation, he decided to go ahead with the Korean war first. He hoped that that war would be quick enough that Oda can turn around and declare on Ming before they recovered more Mandate.
The strategy for the war was very straightforward. Korea was protected on her land side by the mountain fort of Ganggye. So Oda sent her regular troops with 6 artillery regiments and a skilled siege general [+2 pips] to take the fort and set the Grand Company directly behind them in support.
The combined size of the Odan armies was enough to dissuade the Koreans from attacking . The fort fell after 272 days, opening the road to the Korean capital. There the Koreans did make a stand ( they could not see the supporting army) and were easily beaten by the superior Odan force.
Hanseong fell in August 1512 and that opened the road to the south of Korea. By then Oda's manpower had dwindled down to under 5,000 men ( out of a potential pool of 28,000) . And that was because of the Korean decision to call up the "Righteous Army". But luckily the last fort fell after a brief 72 days siege.
And that happy news was soon followed by the completion of Influence ideas and the adoption of the Integrated Administration policy, which increased the income from Oda's vassals and made it easier to annex them .
With the fall of their last fort, the Koreans agreed to comprehensive peace.
Oda annexed to herself all of the provinces in South and East Korea that she had claims on. But instead of taking the island of Jeju, she took the fort of Ganggye so she would not have to deal with it again in the next war [but that prevented me from completing the "Conquer Korea" mission]. THe annexation of Southern Korea catapulted Oda to the ranks of the Great Powers of the World
And after that the Shogun went back to dealing with the Wokou pirate issue, choosing yet again an Isolationist stance.
This forced Oda to remain at peace for a while to recover her stability, and also to integrate the Korean provinces as core provinces of the nation. So Katsunaga took advantage of that lull to annex some of the Daimyos on the islands of Japan, starting with Ouchi
Thanks to granting the "Bushi Integration Policy" privilege, Oda did not suffer a hit to her diplomatic reputation with the annexation, which took just a few months. But there was still a penalty to the relations with all the other Daimyos, which effectively limited how many Daimyos Oda could annex in this round . And in the end, Oda chose to start the annexation of both Date and Shoni , leaving the other Japanese Daimyos till later. Meanwhile MOngolia had gained independence from Oirat .
In their independence war Mongolia gained a province adjacent to Oda and on which Oda had a claim already . And so the new nation presented Oda with three diplomatic choices: Declare war, offer alliance, or make Mongolia a tributary. And Katsunaga did not hesitate ( well maybe a little) in making a choice for war, before Mongolia became a tributary of Ming like the other nations in the vicinity .
That war was straightforward and we will not detail it. But during the fighting , the Wokou pirate incident ended, and Oda moved her Shinto practices to fully closed , granting her a boost in rising prosperity and lower development cost [by my count my isolation level should be 3 not 4 , not sure how this happened but I am not complaining]
And also during the Mongolian war , our heir Yoshunobu followed in the footsteps of other heirs before him and decided to die. And again the maid offered her bastard son as an heir. But the SHogun said "meh, does not justify the low legitimacy" and decided instead to build a temple to the dead heir.
FInally by mid-decade, Mongolia was ready for a "dismemberment" peace.
Oda snaked a way through Mongolia to get a border with Uzbek in the west, and gave all the intervening lands to her new Daimyos Korchin and Chahar, created out of the Mongolian annexation. And thus , just as Oda was culling her Daimyos in Japan, she was adding more on the Continent to take their place.
Soon after, the Korean provinces became core provinces of Oda and were promoted into states. And since the cost of turning them into full core provinces was high, Katsunaga decided this was a good time to declare Oda's Golden Era (h/t @Steckie ) .
And to provide fireworks in celebration of this new Golden Era, Katsunaga declared war on the Ming Empire, who was low on Mandate and was two full military technological levels behind Oda.
And the first events of that war were the capture of the forts of Shenyang and Beijing without any opposition
After that Katsunaga ordered the armies south, deep into Chinese territory bypassing the mountain forts to the West. This is when the Chinese armies finally appeared in the rear of the Odan force.
Katsunaga ordered the lead army to continue the siege of Nanjing, and had the supporting army wheel back to face the Chinese. Despite splitting her force, Oda was able to easily handle the Chinese stacks in back to back battles at Jinan and Heijian
The elimination of the Chinese field armies led to the destruction of the Chinese fleet which was forced out of its hiding. And after the fall of Nanjing, Oda moved to siege the next city ( Huizhou) .
And these events bring us the end of the decade. Ming is on the run. And although a total victory is still a ways away, Katsunaga is already contemplating what such a victory would look like
He is hoping that annexing land in Southern China would open a new avenue for expansion into Indochina and from there into the Malacca node , then into India and to the lands of Empires further west
As for Oda's internal situation, she is in great shape.
Japan and now Korea form a core of well developed states that will be the basis of a strong economy and army. Adn the growing Daimyo swarm on the continent means rapid expansion will accelerate. The only hurdle for now is the institution of Colonialism . After that , Oda will be ready for the adoption of a very crucial idea group. [take a guess which one I decided on. hint: the group will certainly fill a need, but it is the policy I am after]
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And Ming should now fall apart completely now that their Mandate is tanked...
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Admin for diplo annexation cost when combined with Influence?
You're heading into China a lot quicker than I expected. Manpower is going to be a problem if you keep this rapid pace. But that's what mercs are for.
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