Discharge the Honourable: Chosokabe (Legendary, Domination)

[Maltz]

So we failed the Metsuke Bribery mission; we failed the Ninja Assassination mission... there is finally a mission we can accomplish. We should train one more Cavalry unit for the "buy one, get one free" promotion! Sure. Let's queue one in Awa. The free one probably won't get the charge bonus, though.



It will be still sometime until we enter the "massive recruitment" stage, but we can afford the extra 300 koku upkeep.

[Maltz]

Hojo's capital is finally lost, but we can restore trade with them from their alternative ports. Strangely, Hojo is unwilling to pay us anything.



Since Hojo has been losing provinces to rebellions, but not losing their army as quickly, maybe their reduced financial income render them unable to afford any signing bonus. It is OK. We will sign it for free for our ex-largest trade partner.

But this won't slow down our agents.

[Maltz]

Another new year has arrived! Nothing much has changed exept for Hojo's dwindling power from Ikko-Ikki, Anekagoji (they declared war a few years back), and of course, the ever-respawning rebels incited by us. We lost the trade with them again since they have no trading port left.



Now there is a chance to pick a suitable wife for my brother Motochika. While we would love to choose him a wife who provides some positive traits. A (re)productive wife is certainly an interesting choice. Who wouldn't want to have lots of offsprings fighting for our throne when we are about to pass? Yeah. At least there are free generals and diplomatic chips a couple dozens of years later.

[Maltz]

Hojo is attacked by almost everyone. Even its northeast castle has been stolen by the once dying Hatakeyama. Hojo's two remaining provinces are both under attack by two different clans. Even without our help, this might as well be their last season!



By the way, Hatakeyama will soon lose their blacksmith provinces to rebels. Their new home has only a Harbor, so we will have to wait for them to upgrade it to Trading Port for us to continue to trade with them. Inciting rebellion is not really a profitable business.

[Maltz]

Well that's it! Hojo, once the most powerful clan in Japan, almost peacefully succumbed to its neighbors and troubles form within - at least it appears that way.



And we did not even have a battle with them... during all these times we were upgrading our farms.

Er, can you notice that there are holes appearing in the middle of Oda's territory?

By the way, the Anekagoji clan has performed quite a mircale come-back from certain destruction. We saved them with our Ninja. And look at them now! They have pushed back the Ikko-ikki by so much.

It seems that Anakagoji and Ikko-ikki, and possibly many other clans, are ultra-aggressive types. They frequently send out their stacks to attack, but leave their home completely defenseless. So they can expand really quickly if they do not have an enemy after their tails. These are really dangerous clans and we should contain them, too.

Judging from the turtle speed of the development of towns, there are still a lot of work for our agents before we return to the battlefield.

That concludes chapter 17 of our story.

[Maltz]

Chapter 18. Stepping stone to Kyoto

Welcome back, graet daimyos. I am Chosokabe Nana.



Finally, we have the 5th general. It has been quite absurd that we have been governing 21 provinces with just four generals - all of them away for training. This lucky man is instantly promoted to our supply comissioner, and then is sent to Tosa to train with my brother Motochika.

As the Hojo clan has been silently destroyed by a combination of efforts, we can direct our agents to other meaningful activites, such as turning the other ultra-aggressive clans' provinces into rebel, so they will not grow out of control.

We are also considering to move forward the countdown to Realm Divide, since we no longer need so much army when we do not have so many powerful opponents. Right now, there are only three clans, Oda, Ikko-Ikki, and Anekagoji, who regularly field invasion armies larger than one full stack. So we will time our massive recruitment together with the downfall of one of the above.

Thoughts #26. Accounting for Realm Divide

We aim for one full stack of army for every general, for a total of 5 stacks. One army consists of elite army units, such as samurai, and will be actively looking for field battles to crush the enemies.

For the elite army, we will have the following units ready specializing against different enemies:

- 10 units of Bow Warrior Monks or Bow/Daikyu Samurai (+ accuracy)
- 6 units of Naginata Samurai (+ armor)
- 6 units of Yari Samurai (+ armor)
- 6 units of Katana Samurai (+ armor)
- 4 units of Yari cavalry (+ charge)
- 4 units of Matchlock Ashigaru
- 2 units of Kisho Ninja (+ armor)

So essentially we have two samurai stacks, not just one. So we will always fight with the optimal configuration.

The rest of the 4 generals will lead all-ashigaru armies for general purposes.

- General
- 10 units of Bow Ashigaru (+ accuracy)
- 7 units of Yari Ashigaru (+ armor)
- 2 units of Light Cavalry (+ charge)

Right now we have two fleets, or more accurately, one fleet plus one massive Black Ship. We need one fleet to fend off the Wako Pirates in the west, and two fleets to push forward along with our land army, one for northwestern coast and one for the southeastern coast. This way no enemy can drop anything behind our lines. We need to get another full fleet ready.

That's why we have been waiting for our tax income to catch up. A rough estimate tells us that we need an income of 24000 koku per season to feed all of the above. Considering that all but one or two trade partners will declare war on us after the Realm Divide, we need a tax income of at least 20000 koku.

Realistically, we can probably get away with less, since we will soon revive a few fallen clans as vassals to become our new trade partners. And we will have a saving of at least 200,000 koku to cushion against initial deficit. Besides, our towns will continue to grow as we expand. As long as we turn a profit before our savings runs dry, we are fine.

We plan to start the massive recruitment at a raw tax income of 16,000 koku with the cheapest to upkeep (Bow and Yari Ashigaru), and move to the more expensive (Bow Warrior Monk, Cavalry) later. If everything goes well, the last shipment will simultaneously arrive in the front line, and we declare war with no season wasted.

[Maltz]

Someone was not very careful while cooking dinner. Smoke came up from the Buzen castle-town!



But luckily none of our essential buildings are damaged.

[Maltz]

This is the day! The ultimate farm ugprade, Land Consolidation, is complete in all of our 21 provinces. There are plenty of food for everyone. We are running a food surplus of 53 units.



But there is something that we had not anticipated. We thought our towns will grow more by 21 more units per season with Land Consolidation, but actually the town-growth penalty brought by tax is also proportionally increased by the tax rate (30%) as well. This means that our towns are only getting extra 15 units of growth out of 21 more units of food.

Still, more than 40 units of town growth per season is still very amazing. It looks like that we can start the mass recruitment next year.

[Maltz]

Currently, our tax income is 17,192 koku per season, under the "Time of Plenty" 25% bonus on farming revenue. It is still a little far away from our goal of 18,000. But we will get there very soon.

Our trade income has been taken a large hit, as the Ikko-Ikki had successfully blocked Oda's trade port with us. While Oda could have easily lift that blockade with its experienced full-stack fleet, Oda chooses to blockade Hatano's trade port with us.

Now if Hatano's fleet blocks Ikko-Ikki's port it would be really funny. But luckily it has not happened.



We noticed that there are some marginally content provinces in the middle of Chugoku. So we will demolish markets there and build Sake Dens instead. Just in case the Realm Divide or whatever fire, typhoon, earthquake, or tsunami happens there.

[Maltz]

Here we take an important strategic step. In order to trigger both Realm Divide triggers as closely as possible, we decide to make Kyoto the 23rd province of ours.



We have been saving our 22nd province for this date - immediately after we turn Oda's Settsu province to rebel, our Ramen general leads his army to lay siege on the castle. Settsu is right next to Kyoto, and also has a port for us to dock fleets. This is a perfect strategic location to arrange our future invasion.

[Maltz]

That battle was over very quickly (auto-resolved).



We immediately work on to improve Sattsu's infrastructure match the rest of our provinces. This province also has a school, which will be upgraded to accelerate our art research.

[Maltz]

But before our army is ready, we can still trade with the Ashikaga Shogun. Immediately after the trade agreement is signed, we noticed that there was no new monk hired in Kyoto for the season. But the hiring resumed in the next season (and immediately got arrested and executed by our Metsuke).

So it is likely that even the Ashikaga Shogun is also running on a tight budget. Previously, we heard some daimyos were able to get tens of thousands of koku from the Shogun in a peace treaty. Maybe the world has been patched so the Shogun is just an ordinary clan with realistic budget.



The Ashikaga Shogun is still allied with Oda. So we must have enough power to take on Kyoto's all-bow-samurai army and Oda's giant stacks as well. We have been weakening Oda's economic power, but their terrifying military strength remains.

[Maltz]

Spring of 1960 - the new decade arrives! Our family also welcomed the first member of our third generation. My eldest brother Motochika has a baby daughter thanks to his (re)productive wife!



Strangely, Motochika has been with his bodyguards in Tosa training with rebels all year long, and his wife was staying in our capital all the time. So who was the father of this girl...

Let's not get too far into investigation. Congratulations!

Note: There was a rumor that a general needs to stay in a castle town in order to have a baby born. We now prove that this rumor is rubbish.

[Maltz]

While we have started recruiting elite soldiers, our agents are not idle. Our Metsuke's frequent arrestment of married monks in the towns of Kyoto have attracted the Shogun's notice (although we were actually arresting the Shogun's agents).



The Shogun offered us an opportunity to pay in order to increase our Metsuke's success chance. We don't need that. What a waste of koku.

[Maltz]

Here they are. The Chosokabe Bow Warrior Monk!



If accuracy goes over 100%, do they always hit the target?

[Maltz]

Well, our agents were really mightier than soldiers. They have eliminated clans after clans. Now Oda and Hatano are backed into the corner - and they are still fighting each other.

[Maltz]

Oda actually asked us for an alliance. But there is really no point to annoy Hatano. They are both friendly to us even if we stay neutral.

[Maltz]

Finally, Hatakeyama managed to upgrade its harbor to trading port. One more trade income.



But we expect that Hatakeyama will explode into power as every clan (including us) grows exponentially if it is given the nutrition - the weak rebel provinces. So maybe it is a bad idea to leave Katakeyama alive back then. But since they have an unmarried daughter, we should be able to stay friendly for free.

[Maltz]

Now this is absurd - the Shogun asks us to give him 2000 koku for nothing in return!



But it seems that refusing the Shogun here brings no negative effect to our diplomatic relationship with the Ashikaga Shogun.

[Maltz]

After arresting dozens of monks in Kyoto, our Metsuke has become an expert at spotting baldness in the crowd. This is our first 6-star Metsuke!



But all of our 5 Ninjas and 4 Monks have reached 6-stars a few years ago. Our enemies should fear! (But we have no enemies. )

[Maltz]

That's probably it for Oda! After so many battles with the Ikko-Ikki and dozens of rebellions, the once invincible Oda's 4-full stacks of doom have been reduced to 1 half stack of Samurai - very high experienced though.



Their last army is also a little too far away from their last castle. Sabotaged. Rebel incited. We saved their face by not selling them our infinite military access.

[Maltz]

Maybe we overdid it - there is nobody in front of us but the Ahikaga Shogun! Our elite troops have been gathered - we are ready to declare war!



Let the final showdown begin next spring!

This concludes chapter 18 of our story.

[Maltz]

Chapter 19. The Battle of Kyoto

Now we are ready to declare war on the Shogun and welcome the Realm Divide. Due to our agents' hyper activity, there are only two clans that could join the Shogun's call against us, the Hatakeyama clan and the Honma clan. If we ally with them before we declare war on the Shogun, we might be able to keep them on our side for longer.



The Hatakeyama clan is also very happy to married their daimyo's daughter to us.

[Maltz]

Since my oldest brother Motochika already have a very reproductive wife, my second brother is the lucky recipient of this beautiful wife from Hatakeyama.



His beautiful wife improves his command when he commands a defensive battle. Not sure how this works. Maybe he will fight hard to stay alive so he can return to his wife.

[Maltz]

An alliance with Honma was reached when we offered my youngest brother as a hostage.



Since Honma never invades anybody, they have no reason to declare war on us. My brother should be very safe there.

[Maltz]

Since we were trading with the Shogun at the time, we purposely staged a fire accident to burn down the trading port in Settsu last winter. This way our trade with the Shogun is cancelled without any bad feeling. Not sure whether cancelling a trade makes us look bad to others - just in case.



The diplomatic preparation are done!

[Maltz]

The Shogun failed to extract any cash from us, but now comes the emperor's extortion. This one actually has some benefit bundled - 10% extra income from tax and +2 happiness! Since we are earning about 18000 koku per season, we will get the 2000 koku investment back in no time.



Emperor or shogun... only math matters.

[Maltz]

Our financial situation right before the showdown. Since we moved forward the schedule, we did not recruit as much as we wanted to. But we still have 1 elite stack (plus spare parts) and 4 full Ashigaru stacks, for an upkeep of 14000 koku.

We also have 3 fleets for an upkeep of about 7000 koku. Our tax income before the emperor's bonus was 18000 koku, while our trade income has reduced to about 10000 koku.



We are almost ready to declare war. But there is one final preparation...

[Maltz]

Here we assassinated all but one general of the Ashikaga family. (Can't assassinate them all, as there will always be one free general spawned in the castle when all of them die.) We want to leave the last general on the field, because we prefer to fight a field battle.

[Maltz]

War declared!



We did not ask any of our new allies to join us - they are too far away to help anyway. Besides, if we ask them to join us, they may refuse and hurt our relationship.