On a May evening in Owari, the wind was brisk and cool, carrying with it a faint briny taste.
Matsudaira Motoyasu sat astride his warhorse, feeling the refreshing wind that blew from the sea onto the land. Gazing at the scattered lights twinkling atop Dagao Castle in the distance, he remained unruffled, patiently and silently awaiting news from the front.
A few days prior, the Matsudaira family had merged its force of over three thousand men into Imagawa Yoshimoto's great army for the Shangluo campaign. Imagawa Yoshimoto, generous in command, selected a thousand of these men for Motoyasu to lead directly and assigned him a particular mission—reinforcing Dagao Castle.
