A New Deal - March anno domini 1587

Lord Tokugawa had made a great deal with his allies, the Oda clan, so that it could not be push to the side. He told Lord Oda, son of the Great Nobunaga, may he rest in peace, that he would supply Lord Oda and all his retainers with spices and fur from Tokugawa lands for twenty months in exchange for 2 companys of workers for various uses. The Oda agreed quickly, but forgot that Ieyasu, as his name is now called although I am told he changed once already, as man now less crafty than Odysseus of old. When the workers had been delivered to Hamamatsu, our Lord's capital, he told me, since I am respected by all men on this isle, pagan or Christian, to be the envoy to bring Lord Oda his requested good at his seat at Omi. We arrived with some pomp and brought the crate of good into the presence of Lord Oda and his court. One of his retainers broke the boards of the crate to get his fair share fare share of booty, only to find not ginger and ermine but only a small rice paper not which said:

My Lord and brother of many years, I am very sorry for not being able to grant your trade goods because the gods have seen fit not to give me a surplus of spices or fur now or in the coming years. I only have enough for my people who have done so much for me in this time of war and confusion. Sorry and may Buddha and your fathers always bless you and keep you.

Ieyasu, Lord Tokugawa

While I pondered why Lord Tokugawa would be false to an ally, not a good one, but an ally from his youth in the time of the father of the Great Nobunaga. Lord Oda turned red in the face and I, the innocent envoy, got a ruff exit at swordpoint, which was easy for his guards to do not being Christian, of which there are many at Lord Oda's count including himself. Then I remembered that two years ago, Lord Oda had made peace with the usurper regent, the ape Hideyoshi, Lord Toyotomi, and declared war on the Ukita, allies also of Ieyasu, and joined the forces with Lord Mori, another enemy of Lord Tokugawa, to try to destroy them until recently when Oda allied himself with Ieyasu again which is what brought about this trade deal. Yet, in the cauldron that has been and is the politics of this great land, this incedent is but the play of babes. Such things in Europe can start war but here it is small scrape in the great wars of lands and titles, with the greatest of these being Shogun.

The state of the dominions of Ieyasu, Lord Tokugawa

It has been five years since the trecherous death of the Great Nobunaga, Lord Oda at the hands of his general in Kyoto. Since then the frined and enemies of the Great Nobunaga have set upon each other like wolves over a killed animal to see who, by whatever mean shall have dominion over the whole empire of Nippon as Shogun, the man who defends the lands against barbarians as the dictators did for the Senate in Rome. Lord Tokugawa has many great and ancient cities in his lands. They are as such Okazaki, Hamamatsu, his captial and where he was held captive as a child by the Tokugawa lord of old, Kamakura, which was of olden times the capital of all Japan and where Ieyasu has built a large idol of the Buddha for the heathen of all the isles thought I advised him against it, Kofu, which is one of the strongest defended cities in all Japan and beautiful in nature, and the newly conquered port of Hitachi, which is a great port at it distance for communication which the furthermost parts of the isles and their inhabitants. With all his might, Ieyasu had fought Hideyoshi since the closing of the year '82. Never so wide or great a war have I ever seen nor heard of in Europe and great falseness on the part of the nobles fighting which is for the most part excepted. Lord Toyotomi holds Kyoto and the rich southern lands and controls half the isle Honshu with his true ally, Terumoto, Lord Mori who rules all the great cities at that end of the isle Honshu. Lord Tokugawa as of late had been watching the action of Ujumasu, Lord Hojo, who has expanded his lands via setting up new cities in the northern wilderness and not by warre or sedition yet. Ieyasu see this as his weakness and is gathering a companies at Kofu to be able to march quickly on the great and ancient citi Odawara, birthplace and capital of the Hojo.

To his most Catholic Majesty, Philip, King of Castile, Aragon, Granada, England, Lord of the Low Counties, and ruler of all western lands


I send to you this letter to make known my disposition in the foriegn country of Japan. I enclose two account wrote of what has happended here in the last few years if your Majesty has time to read it. I am well and the mission of God and your Majesty goes well. Many have come to Christ in these isles and one of the king in the isle Kyushhu is a man of the true faith except he keeps his wives and will not by any means have one only. The Lord Tokugawa, who trades with your Majesty's governor in Macao and the Philipenes and praises the Christians of the land will not convert but says only that it is a wise and good faith and that he like Herod Agrripa has been almost converted by my arguments against his false priest. Yet he build a great golden idol of the demon Buddha for his subject in Kamakura. He is a cunning and false man, as most princes are, yet I serve him. He is the true successor and guardian of the Oda and he is always friendly to all men from Iberia, Spanish and Portugese. I pray daily for your victory over the heretics of the Low Countries and England and Lord Tokugawa over the usurper Hideyoshi.

Don Pedro de la Cruz, apostle to Japan

Cool! Keep writing!

The warres and campaings of Lord Tokugawa as of late

After having conquered the Satake in a small war from '85 - 86,
Ieyasu turned to the old enemy, the Toyotomi. In all the war only two cities has fallen to Ieyasu and these had been distant from Kyoto and Toyotomi clan territories and yet not too distant because every year he tries to retake them. Yet the major Toyotomi cities will not fall. They are all strongly defended with samurai and arqubusiers who repel the best attackers as the repulse at Nara attest. Lord Tokugawa had gathered 10,000 men or so and they marched through the Oda lands towards Nara. The great part of the army was samurai, the best of them being those expert archers on horseback who where masterful in any sitution except the one to come. The army lay siege and built a fort before the citie and attacked with all vigor. The samurai met only death when they charged the wall. Company after company went until only 2,000 wounded souls were left. The pikemen and wounded valient samurai made a quick and succesful retreat while being harried two times. The previous expeditions had not been as lucky. I have suggested to Ieyasu for this reason to make truce with Hideyoshi for now, but he will not because his allies and retainers will be very roth if he does before they are pleased to end the war.

June anno domini 1587

Out of a small battle on the Oda border with a company of stupid and young Toyotomi samurai, a new general has emerged from the ranks. His name is Sakikabara of Okazaki. He is a young man and expert in the art of war because he, like many young men in Europe and Japan toady, grew up in nothing but war. He is also a philosopher but strongly adheres to the old religion of demon worship saying that it has brought him victory many times when victory seemed immpossible. Other than his heathen ways, Sakikabara is a great man, and so thinks Lord Tokugawa who has set him as general over a new army of horse archer samurai.
Already there are reports of his first victory as commander of it at the battle of Nagoya over a smaller army of Mori samurai. They fought with vigor but were crushed by Sakikabara.

The Fall of Koromo and other things - September anno domini 1587

Late in the month of June after Nagoya, the citie of Koromo fell to the forces of the Toyotomi. After the debacle at Nara, Hideyoshi ordered his men to destroy the roads, in Oda territory, that lead to Nara then in late June invested Koromo. The town was of only a few thousands people and was defended by 2,000 arqubusiers, like unto the kind that repulsed us at Nara. After the Mori defeat at Nagoya, Hideyoshi gave the order to assult the citie. After nightfall and five assults, the citie fell. The Toyotomi did not destroy the citie but there was great rape and pillage for two days afterward. The samurai, being gentlemen, would not direct loot or rape, but the ashigiru or peasant pikemen would rob and rape and bring the best of what they had gotten to their lords and commanders. Such crulties have I not heard since I was in the Low Counties fighting in the armies of his most Catholic majesty, King Philip.

Of much lesser import is the advent of public banks in the Tokugawa dominions. Before, lending was in the hand of only the rich samurai which forced many merchants into debt and ruin. Now merchants, both native and foriegn, who have longed for this convinence for so long have it. As to where the first bank will be built I can only guess it will be at the capital.

The affairs of allies and enemies has been very vexing in the last two months. the Mogami now ally with the usurper Hideyoshi against us and the Date, who we had previous seen as an ally in the far northern lands of isle Honshu, also allied with the Toyotomi. Ieyasu's only remedy so far has been to make an alliance with Lord Uesugi, a mighty lord in the north country indeed, against the Mogami in exchange for some of the gunpowder makers of Kofu so that Uesugi artisans may also learn the chemical secrets of making gunpowder.

The Warre and other things - May anno domini 1588

It has been a very busy year, so busy that I could write an account of things till now. In October of last year, Lord Hojo began to build a great observatory but no one could say for sure why in such turbulent times as these he would waste time and money on such an effort. The Christians in the land came to Okazaki for Christmas at the newly build church, although I think it was going to be a pagan temple before Ieyasu changed the plans. It also doubles as a monestary. Running these facilities has taken alot of work and time but the Lord's work must be done by someone.

Then, on Three Kings Day, Koromo fell to Shakikabara and his army after only two assults and a few wounded. The Toyotomi, though, had a sqaudron of galleys in the Biwa sea landed a company of samurai near Gifu castle. The next day the battle commenced with the destruction of the elite Gifu samurai as they were slowly hacked to the stump by the Toyotomi, half of whom were dead by now. Yet they proceded to gobble up another company of samurai. Finally, a great cloud of dust appear on the road signaling the arrival of reinforcements in the form of 1,500 samurai from the town of Iida. It was they who finally wiped out the Toyotomi samurai who had been toughest yet fought in the entire war. Among the mud covered banners, the broken swords, and the rotting horse lay 3,100 mutalied corpses, as it is the pactice of the people to take the heads of their enemies in battle as the Gauls of ancient days. One ashigaru "wisely" noted that "they must be getting better at this, I guess". The Iida samurai were now and ever afterward heroes.

Lord Chosokabe, master of the isle Shikoku, anounced via his emmissary that he too now had started construction of a grand observatory. We found out why also. A astronomer by the name of Tsuchi Mikado, of a noble birth, was in awe of the "discoveries" of our astonomers such as Copernicius and Brahe and was very sad that no man of his country was doing such. So he had it told among all the people that he was the greatest astologer in the history of Nippon and that if only one of the great Lords would build a modern observatory for him, Mikado would then able to tale their fortune and protect them from evil. Usually the Japanese, especially the noble warrior class is wise and even cynical espcially after some many years of war going back to the same time as the union of Isabella and Ferdinand of blessed memory and the wars of secession among the English. But now, all the Lords, hopeful for anyway to get titles and lands throw themselves with full force into this work, while Mikado is laughing while peering though the new teloscope he made on a european modes brought over by a Spanish captain.

more of the warre and other things - May anno domini 1588

Hideyoshi soon recovered from his shock and ordered a counterattack. About 6,000 samurai and peasant archers called otomo no makuta advanced to the borders of the citie. The Iida samurai also arrived at the citie's limits just before dark. They decided not to go any futher and camped in the old fort out side the citie. Suddenly, at about midnight, as it is the time when most evil things happen, the Toyotomi rabble assulted the fort without warning. For hours then fought on and on until not one of the Iida samurai was left alive! The Toyotomi had payed well with the loss of half the force that had dared to assult the place. They followed it up that moning with two gory assults on Koromo proper which were thrown back easily without loss to the garison.
At the beginning of March, a swift series of counterattacks were done by an independent company of samurai under Ikeda Terumasa. His actions broke the seige and destroyed the forces of the Toyotomi by the first week of April which got him the title general and the castles of Tatebayashi and Himeji.


In the mean time, Nobuo, Lord Oda made peace with both the Mori and Hideyoshi. I can't say that I blame him. He would have lost his life and everything his fathers fought for. Koromo had been more then engouh to bring him to the table. He is still also suspect that Lord Tokugawa wants to take his land and our "recapturing" of Koromo proves it in his mind. Ieyasu doesn't plan to do this unless it is has to be done. So his fear is not unfound as such. In Feburary, we got our first printing press. The Ukita had brought two from the Dutch heretics, who have now spread like the plauge to the other side of the world, and we got it from them after I agreed to sail to Bizen with some of the wealthest merchants of Hamamatsu to explain the banking system we are building and to hopefully start one there. There have been reports of skrimishing around Koromo but a company of arquebusiers just arrived there a few days ago, so I am not troubled about it.

By a river in Owari - the 10th of August anno domini 1588

There in a semi wooded vale we met him. An old wooden bridge spanned the rushing torrent that traversed the vale and upon the other bank stood a huge pavilion of vermilion, green, gold, and royal blue of a sort. Lord Tokugawa, me, and four retainers, among them Gen. Ikeda, rode across to this fanciful wonder. We dismounted and were hurriedly ushered inside to see the regent and "Shogun" Toyotomi Hideyoshi who sat a simple campaign chair, which had now been plated with gold, which sat atop a huge tiger skin. The courtiers and musicians parted for us to be seen by all.

Hideyoshi: "Welcome friends, it has been many moons since I have seen any of you. Come closer and go ahead and say what you must."
Ieyasu: "Greeting to you, my friend and comrade in arm of old. We have come to discuss peace so that both our lands may proper. I am even willing to accept your rule as Shogun for the good of the country and the Emperor!!!"
Hideyoshi: "I am exceedingly glad to see that you are a wise man still. This war has no victor because we are too great and wise to let the other win. Therefore, because I have done damage to your and your retainers' land and their armies, I will give you 27,000 koku out of my own estate for these damages."
Ieyasu: "You are too kind, my lord. I have done damage to your lands and armies also, there for I will for the next 2 years have the best gems found in my domain shipped to you every month. I also give you fully allow you to move through my lands as if they were your own. What say you Lord Toyotomi?"
Hideyoshi: "I am so happy that we are thus reconciled after years of wasteful warfare. The only good it did was that it kept our wits about us."
Ieyasu: "True."
Hideyoshi: "Come now old friend, let us celebrate the new and bury the old in it grave."

Neither man seemed to be lying or scheming. We shall see if it is a shallow one. Meawhile, in Hamamatsu, a another wing has been added to the palace and there is talk of trying to pick a citie for another palace of an even grander scale to symbolise the importance of the Tokugawa in the new Toyotomi Regency which is just another name for virtual shogun. Also, none of our neighbors and allies, including the Toyotomi, wish to join us in a conquest of the Hojo. Because he has never gone to war, except against some northern rogue, he is looked upon as good and honorable man by all in these isles. Lord Tokugawa, however, seems to be comsumed with breaking his clan's power forever.

Very nice! :goodjob:

Was this based off my PTW scenario or the historical events?

*steps out of character*

I am playing your senario, but some details have been taken from the historical events and people of the period. For example, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu did actually met for a peace conference in Owari (1585?) and the Dutch and English were trading in japan by the 1590's to the dissmay of men like Don Pedro. I have wanted to include some screenshot but I don't know how to take them and retrive them.:(

The Mori peace and Ikeda's new job - anno domini October 1588

I negotiated the peace with the Mori envoy because Lord Tokugawa decided not to honor the envoy with his presence. The Mori were tried of war on all fronts. They had made peace the Ukita and the Oda after having gained nothing in almost 5 years of warfare and before that a decade fighting the Great Nobunaga, may he rest in peace, until his tragic death. Three months before, the Mori envoy had demanded 20,000 koku in damages. Now he only begged for peace. The Toyotomi had betrayed them by making peace first, and so now there was nothing else left to do. I excepted and after a little more conversation after a tea ceremony, I also made a trade deal concerning us supplying horses for 1400 koku for two years.

Gen. Ikeda awaited order in Kofu, while we at court were arguing over what he should do next. Some had bought into Mikado's lying scheme and wished Ikeda, who was a good architect as his beautiful three-storyed castle in Kai shows, to build a grand observatory. I openly laughed at the fools and their folly. The samurai of the court, me, and finally Ieyasu decided we needed Ikeda in the the coming war with the Hojo and not building an observatory for no purpose other than the lies of a heathen astronomer.

Yea, I was going to add scripting, but the current editor does not allow it. And I was going to add the Dutch and the English, I jut know it would be impossible to pull off.

The Hojo war and the repulse at Izumi - anno domini August 1589

The combined armies of Ikeda and Sakikabara numbered 25,000 as they entered Sagami province. They split, Ikeda going Yokohama and Sakikabara to lay siege to Odawara. Both cities are now fully invested. The capital, Odawara, is defended by about 2,400 men, most of them arquebusiers. The city has been abandoned by most of the people, including the Hojo who have fled by ship to the safety of Edo. By simple force of numbers we shall trimuph over the unruly Hojo who brought this on themselves. At the beginning of the year, Lord Toyotomi, regent of all this isles, asked the Hojo to pay tribute as a good citizen should, but they would not nor would he remove his people who continued to trespass in our lands. So Hideyoshi gave my Lord Tokugawa the permission to invade and destroy the Hojo while not openly allying with us. The war begen with the sink of a Hojo galley 20 miles from Hitachi.

Last year, my Lord Tokugawa sent a small expediton of 3,000 men from Hitachi to raid the lands of the Date. Only now have we found out that the commander foolishly disobeyed his orders and tried to take the town of Izumi. All his subordinates told him that they had to small a force, but he wanted to attack anyway, threatening to kill anyone who refused to go. So at dawn, the samurai attacked the town which was surrounded by a muddy ditch and bamboo stakes. The arrows flew too high and the horses fell on the stakes. All the men were slain. The general sent forth another attack and it succeded but the men had to retreat because of their wounds. The general led the final attack and was the first killed with an arrow in the eye. The 1,000 men left ran for the boats and departed for Hitachi.

The Satomi, the war with the Hojo, and other things - anno domini October 1589

As I sat in the repection room, my mind wandered to what I had been told before I left for the lands of the Satomi. Capt. Afonso de Merica told me the report of what had happened the Armada, the glorious "Enterprise of England" now in ruin. The captain's brother had died in a shipwreck off Ireland on the way home. I not help but to shed tears for the dead and the lost chance for the faith and my countrymen in the wreck of the expediton. Yet, now I was jotted back to my present mission when a beautiful young woman came foward to greet me. She made me sorry I had taken the cloth and become a priest. She said her name was Tomoe, after the legendary woman warrior, and she would parley instead of her father who was out on a hunting trip. At first, I thought it lunacy, and was considering leaving. Yet as she spoke, Tomoe showed her knowledge of all the affairs of her clans domain and all the rest of Japan. She even heard of the wreck of the Armada because she had merchant friends in Nagasaki who had told her. After a long conversation and much sake, we got to the matter. In September, both Odawara and Yokohama had been taken by storm withput the loss of one man. Lord Satomi wanted an alliance then but we only gave him the right to pass through our lands at will. Now I and Tomoe made the treaty by which we would ally against the unworthy Hojo. I stayed for another week while Lord Satomi returned from his upcountry trip.
I and Tomoe spent time talking, eating well, and reading the great new book called The Tiger Samurai which tells the tale of the samurai of Iida and the brave Ikeda Terumasa and his victories as a youth. This heroic epic is the work of young former priest turned mercenary by the name of Sorin Terumasa, whose patron is General Ikeda.

The war, the Toyotomi and the Oda, and the horse crisis - anno domini January 1590

Lord Tokugawa has rejected the Oda envoys plea for renewal of the right to pass through our lands. Them man went away quite distraught, angry and woefully sad. It was in November of last year that Sesso, I think that is the word for regent, Toyotomi Hideyoshi declared war on Oda Nobuo. Lord Oda had been belicose as of late, hoping that we would join him in a new push to take Kyoto and the reins of power. We had and have the Hojo and were and are friend now of the regency. Yet, Hideyoshi used this fact to try to get us to ally with him against those who we have been portecting since the death of Nobunaga. Thus Lord Tokugawa has taken a position of non-intervention in the conflict unless agrives by one or both the combatants.

November was, for the most part, a dark month for the realm. At Saitama, a debacle comparable to that at Izumi happened. All the army was lost. Edo fell with the loss of 2,000 worthy and honorable samurai. The Hojo diamyo fled further on to Kawasaki. Then there was the most surprising news, other than the declaration of war on the Oda. 1,600 warrior monks sailed up and took the Satomi fortress of Mihara-yama by storm without the loss of one man.

There was also another ill that befell us last year. In a time of war there is great need for horses, in battle and transport. Yet in such a time of great need, the whole dominion was empty of extra horses. I was ordered to investigate and I soon found that horse traders who had been assigned to manage that trade with Mori and the Toyotomi had taken much more than their fair share of horses and other pack animals and sold them abroad. Lord Tokugawa decided with swift action to execute the traders, establish total monopoly over all trade and finance, and declare that he would no long trade horses with anyone unless it was of great necessity or there was a great surplus of horses. On the bright side, Hideyoshi in trade for the bankers of Kofu teaching the merchants of Kyoto about the principles of Economics, we got great musicians and composers from his court and two philosophers who were in the process of studying how nature and the physical forces around us work, along with 90 koku for 20 months and 5000 koku. With all assurity, Hideyoshi can afford such lavish spending. Mother Mary be praised that we have made to a new year and that it may be a prosperous one.

Here is the save game from October of 1590.

The fall of Yokohama and other things - October the 9th of anno domini 1590

This morning Yokohama again fell to Lord Tokugawa and suffered for its trechery. The whole of the citie went up in flames as ashigaru looted the shops and warehouses for anything of value, not including books since they could not read. This retrobution was brought because of the rebellion of the mayor of the citie and his vow of alliance to Lord Hojo. After the fall of Kawasaki to us and Chiba to the Satomi (February and March) Lord Hojo sued for peace. In April, after a minor reverse before Saitama, we made peace with him 20,000 koku and 3100 koku per turn. In May, Lord Uesugi destroyed the Mori clan, beheading the captured Lord Mori and burning his wooden castle to the ground and in June, the castle town of Azuchi, belonging to the Oda, was burned and destroyed by Hideyoshi. It was after this that the mayor of Yokohama rose in rebellion and the trecherous Lord Hojo except the citie back as part of his realm. Thus we retook and destroyed Yokohama and returned to the war against the Hojo for revengence.

The Battle to come and ten years past - March 1600

Ten years have past since I took up the pen. I only take it up now as the greatest battle in the history of this great isle is to be fought. What have I been doing, one may ask? I have become a permanent part of Lord Ieyasu's court. He is a wise man because he knows his limitation. i have ridden to battle with him and traveled many time with him to Kyoto with him to the courts of the Emperor and the late Chancellor, may he rest in peace. We put down the insulent Hojo in '91 and turned our attention to the north. We got the Date to sware loyality to Lord Tokugawa and then I was appointed to watch over the Date land when he went with the Chancellor on the Koyrean campaign. That was quite the undertaking and I dare say its like have not been seen since the days of Troy but it was all for nought. Koyreans and the Chinese fought hard against the brave samurai, nearly driving them into the sea. And upon the sea they attack the fleet and drove it off. By the Lord's grace and my advice, Lord Tokugawa and his allies did not go nor did the Chancellor draft him. Neither of these men have turn to the true faith, but they have been good and wise rulers of men in their time. Chancellor Toyotomi died two years ago, as he was about to led more men to Koyrea. Thus the regents for his infant son, of whom Ieyasu was one, soon there after began to plot who may be Shogun. By this time as I write, the island is split in two, the Eastern barons supporting Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Western barons saying that they support Ishida Mitsunari. With the protection of the Holy Mother, our army now marches for Kyoto, searcching for these western barons if they be so bold as to come out from the castle and fight like true and honorable men in the open. After the victory of my Lord Tokugawa, I shall make my return to my homeland, Espana, only to go forth again for my true Lord.

Don Pedro, Jesuit in the service of Ieyasu, soon Shogun of the island Japan