Volume 1: Stormy Weather in Kawajima Chapter 30: Hielin Temple

  Know yourself and know your enemy, a hundred battles will not be perilous. This is the true essence of Sun Tzu's Art of War. In order to recruit Shinoda Chōkō, Li Xiao still did some research on him.

  After the fall of the Takeda clan, Sanada Masayuki lost the protection of his main house and in order to preserve the Sanada family, he surrendered to the Hōjō, Tokugawa, Uesugi, and Toyotomi within half a year. Standing among many daimyos, he was able to adapt to circumstances and take advantage of opportunities. This required the ability to gauge the situation and have excellent diplomatic skills. This is also why Hideyoshi called him "the greatest strategist under heaven".

  It can be seen that Masayuki Sanada's political vision is very accurate, and he can predict the development and direction of the situation, which is why he can survive in such a dangerous situation.

  Moreover, Sanada Masayuki did not show weakness in the face of Tokugawa Ieyasu's unreasonable demand that the Sanada family hand over Numata Castle in Joshu to the Hojo clan, and was flatly refused by Sanada Masayuki.

  Tokugawa Ieyasu was enraged and sent his generals, Okubo Tadachika, Torii Mototada, and Hirayama Chikayoshi with 8,000 men to attack Ueda Castle. The Sanada clan had less than 2,000 soldiers.

  It was with less than 2,000 men that Sanada Yukimura led the charge, employing tactics such as feigning weakness, ambushes, fire attacks, flooding, and pincer movements to greatly defeat the Tokugawa army. The process was reminiscent of the Battle of New Wilds in Luo Guanzhong's novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", where Zhuge Liang set fire to the enemy camp.

  However, Sanada Masayuki was not just writing, he actually did it. Facing four times his own military strength, he won a complete victory. In this battle, the Tokugawa army lost 1,300 people, while the Sanada army lost only 40 people. From then on, Tokugawa Ieyasu never treated the Sanada family as just local wealthy families, but as daimyos who could compete with them in strength.

  Sanada Masayuki and the Sanada family's crest of six coins also became famous throughout the land, with no one unaware of it.

  Sanada Masayuki's performance is enough to be called a hero, Li Xiao does not deny that he is an ambitious person who has devoted his life to the development and growth of his family. From Sanada Masayuki's service to five generations of masters, it can be seen that he did not lose virtue in his first and last masters, the Takeda and Toyotomi families, and well fulfilled his duty as a vassal.

  Loyalty to the Takeda family is well understood, on the eve of the fall of the Takeda clan's main castle, he wrote a letter to Takeda Katsuyori, willing to put his life as collateral for 70 mouths, allowing Takeda Katsuyori and Takeda Shingen to take refuge in his Ueda Castle.

  At the same time, the Takeda family was facing a critical moment of survival between the two major daimyos, Tokugawa and Hojo. Toyotomi Hideyoshi accepted the Takeda family. Although this can be seen as Toyotomi Hideyoshi's usual tactic of winning people over, what he valued more was the Takeda clan's military prowess, which could be used to deal with his future enemy, Tokugawa Ieyasu.

  However, later Toyotomi Hideyoshi sided with the Sanada clan in the Siege of Odawara (some conspiracy theorists say that the siege was actually a ploy by Sanada Masayuki to destroy the Hōjō clan), and issued a general mobilization order to daimyos across the country, gathering an army of 220,000 soldiers to besiege Odawara Castle, ultimately leading to the downfall of the Hōjō clan.

  Although the Honno-ji Incident was just an excuse, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had long been dissatisfied with the Hojo clan. However, Sanada Masayuki remained loyal to the Toyotomi family and delayed the Tokugawa army of 38,000 soldiers in the Second Battle of Ueda, preventing them from arriving at the Battle of Sekigahara on time. After the defeat at Sekigahara, Sanada Masayuki was exiled to Mount Koya, where he spent his days lamenting that he could no longer repay Toyotomi Hideyoshi's great kindness.

  He has ambition, he has the ability to make decisions (he can distinguish right from wrong), he has charisma (he dares to turn against Tokugawa Ieyasu), he has a long-term vision, and he also has his own moral principles and standards for dealing with things. He is not that kind of person who would easily bite back at his master, this is Li Xiao's personal view of Sanada Yukimura.

  In addition, Li Xiao also knew that Sanada Masayuki had a deep respect for only two people in his life. One was Takeda Shingen and the other was Takeda Nobushige. The respect for Takeda Nobushige can be seen from the fact that Sanada Masayuki named his second son Nobushige (later known as Sanada Yukimura), with the hope that he would grow up to be like Takeda Nobushige.

  Li Xiao felt that it seemed possible to pull over Sanada Masayuki through this line of Takeda Nobusada.

  Since that's the case, let me use all my strength to abduct Sanada Yukimura and bring him over here. That's what Li Xiaoyu thought.

  Over the next three days, various events such as tea ceremonies, killing games, hunting and archery competitions were held within Kōyasan Castle. Takeda Nobukatsu, Mochizuki Chikaiwa, and Sanada Masayuki participated in these events as guests, along with Li Xiao, Takeda Katsuyori, and the Hoshina brothers, all of whom thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

  Sanada Masayuki also broke his reserve, no longer maintaining the dignified and mature demeanor he had always shown before, but instead became more familiar with everyone and gradually began to chat and laugh.

  On the fourth day, it was finally time to say goodbye. Li Xiao suddenly suggested visiting Takehisa Takeda's father, Nobushige Takeda. Takehisa agreed without hesitation, and there was no reason to refuse, since Li Xiao had a good relationship with the father-son duo in the past. Mitsuki Shin'ei naturally went along as well.

  Then Li Xiao observed that Sanada Masayuki indeed had a longing to go together, it seems the historical records were right, he had admired Takeda Nobusada for a long time. So Li Xiao extended an invitation to Sanada Masayuki, who gladly accepted. Since Li Xiao spoke up, Takeda Nobutaka also did not show any signs of refusal.

  As for the Hōjō brothers, they had been out playing for a long time and were about to return to their home territory. As the lord of Kōshū Castle, Takeda Katsuyori could not leave the castle at will, nor could he accompany them on their journey. So, on the day of their departure, he escorted everyone as far as the outskirts of Kōshū town, thus fulfilling his obligations as a host.

  After the Battle of Kawanakajima, Takeda Nobushige retired to the temple of Eirin-ji in Kai Province and formally went into seclusion.

  When it comes to Huilin Temple, one cannot help but mention the abbot of the temple, Kuai Chuan Shao Xi. This person used to be the abbot of Mei Nong Chong Fu Temple and later abandoned his position as abbot to travel around. He then got to know Takeda Shingen. The two had a good relationship, and Kuai Chuan Shao Xi was immediately appointed by Takeda Shingen as the abbot of Huilin Temple.

  Because he had stayed in Mei for many years, he served as a diplomatic monk between the Takeda and Saito families. Later, when Takeda Shingen decided to become a Buddhist priest, it was Kawakawa Shoeki who gave him the Buddhist name "Hosshoin Kaisan Shingen". He is also said to have been one of the designers of Takeda Shingen's flag, "The Flag of the Four Truths of the Sunzi".

  It can be seen that Kawakawa Shoki's relationship with the Takeda family is extraordinary, and he also has a considerable influence on Takeda Shingen.

  The year the Takeda family was destroyed, Oda Nobunaga ordered Takigawa Kazumasu to summon Kōkoku Shōki to Azuchi Castle to lecture on Buddhism. However, Kōkoku Shōki refused to go, citing that "Nobunaga burned down Mount Hiei and killed over a thousand monks, women, and children, and does not follow the teachings of Buddha". He shut himself in his temple and would not come out. Nobunaga was enraged and ordered Oda Nobutada to lead over a thousand men to surround the temple, pile up firewood, and prepare to burn it down to force the monks out.

  Kai Kawa Shōki refused to yield, leaving behind the famous last words "Anzen is not necessarily mountains and rivers, extinguishing the fire in one's mind cools it down", and was burned together with Eirin-ji Temple.

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