Chapter 354: Chapter 354

In a desolate stretch of coastline in central Ise Province, a massive construction site has now taken shape.

The eastern coastline of Ise Province is basically all of the subsidence type—that is, it’s a unique geological phenomenon formed when the original land sinks into the sea for various reasons. As a result, the sea conditions here are poor: many former mountain peaks are now isolated islands or reefs, and the valleys and gorges sunk beneath the sea have formed countless hidden currents and whirlpools, making nautical accidents extremely likely.

This is mainly the fault of the Ise Mountain Range, which is shaped like the character "人" (human). One stroke of it runs straight through the entire Ise Peninsula, and along it there are plenty of active volcanoes. Geological activity is so frequent that, over tens of thousands of years squeezing and squeezing, it’s shoved the coastal land straight into the sea.

Harano led the Wanjin Army across the sea from the Chita Peninsula, and the first problem he faced was the terrain.

This area lacks good harbors where large ships can dock. Even though back in the fourteenth century and earlier, fisheries and shipping once flourished, and back in the Nara Era it was even called "one of the three great ports of the land," as the natural environment changed and Japanese shipbuilding technology advanced, the area became unsuitable for large ships. The business was snatched up by places like Shimazu, and these ports declined one after another in less than a hundred years.

It will probably take another three or four hundred years before all those bays near the root of the Ise Peninsula disappear naturally—eventually that area will become land, and only then will maritime activities in central Ise Peninsula become lively again.

That’s far too long to wait; Wanjin obviously can’t sit around for that. They can only build their own landing points. Now, the first wave of the Wanjin Navy has already shipped over a large number of construction workers to cooperate with the Wanjin engineers, hurriedly constructing piers and desperately unloading men and goods.

Afterward, they need to build a fortress here to coordinate with New Wanjin Port across the bay, making this place both the administrative center of the Wanjin regime on the Ise Peninsula and a logistics hub for supplies.

Yeah, in the past year, lots of Wanjin’s small boats have come over to trade (smuggle), and even though the sea conditions here are complex, by now they pretty much know the lay of the sea. This barren beach is already the best of a bad lot, chosen after weighing all possible factors—even if it’s still pretty terrible.

Ah Man watched as a large "horse ship" cautiously backed up toward the shore and bumped up against the wooden pier stretching far into the sea, cranking open the ship’s ramp to reveal the cargo in the open hold. Suddenly, Wanjin workers, soldiers, and sailors surged in, leading out the horses and—shouting slogans—dragging the heavy "cart-forts" with brute force along the wide pier toward land.

It’s a bit slow, and there’s just no way to hurry it up. Even in modern times, landing operations are a massive challenge—let alone in the sixteenth century. If you’re not just planning to send over a small raiding force, but want to commit a real army for a long-term campaign, then this is as fast as it gets.

It’s actually even slower than when Harano’s force stormed the Chita Peninsula back in the day—because the sea in the middle of Chita is a lot better than here, and back then, the Wanjin Army didn’t have nearly as many people or heavy equipment to haul.

Back then, the Wanjin Army barely had many horses at all. But now, just for pack horses alone, they’re bringing nearly two thousand over. Honestly, that’s kind of insane.

Ah Man could understand all that, but she’d forced the sailors to row the small warship day and night and rushed back—not to watch people work, but to join the fight.

After all, this is Wanjin’s all-out gamble—not only did they put in everything they had, they’re even borrowing from the future to fund this offensive. Even if she’s no longer the "head of the Nozawa family elders," she still feels uneasy, scared that Harano will lose everything in one stroke, so however things turned out, she had to come back for a look. And once she returned—this is what she saw?

They’ve been here three days already, still damn well building piers and fortifications. Isn’t the key to warfare supposed to be speed and surprise?

If not a direct dash for Daheicheng to seize that fortress and settle things in one fell swoop, then at least they should be actively launching attacks, seeking open battle with the enemy and trying to wipe out their main forces, right?

She’d just gotten back a little while ago, counted the number of Wanjin troops that had landed, and felt it was enough for a fight. She asked Harano, who was looking over the construction plans atop a mound on the shore, "Just sitting around doesn’t feel right. Want me to take some men out to harass them a bit? Or grab some provisions, maybe kidnap some people to get the work done?"

Harano, looking at the construction progress, was actually quite satisfied—proud, even. In these times, only the Wanjin Army could pull off an operation , or even dare to try. Without top-notch organization and a huge labor force, you couldn’t manage anything on this scale.

He shook his head directly and refused: "No need. We stay right here and follow the plan as scheduled. Ensuring that our supply line is secure is our top priority, so as long as the Hokitate Family doesn’t attack us, we stay put."

"That’s just too boring. How long do we have to wait around here?" Ah Man was exasperated.

"Until Ise really falls into chaos," Harano said, unmoved. "Right now, time is on our side. There’s no point risking anything rash. If we can just hold steady ourselves, then really, we’ve already won this fight." The source of thɪs content is novel⁂fire.net

Ah Man had been off living like a savage on Yakushima Island and had taken no part in the planning or preparations, and honestly didn’t even know the real situation, so she couldn’t offer any rebuttal. She pondered: "So... we wait for the famine to get worse? Gotta say, we’ve been pretty damn lucky here—how’d Ise suddenly get hit with a bug infestation?"

The plague of insects had come at just the right time. Harano was just getting ready to strike at Ise, and then Ise went and ruined itself. For a moment, Ah Man felt like the heavens themselves had blessed their cause, that fate was on their side.