This goes a little deeper into after Motonari's last cutscene.
Motonari Mori sighed and turned his head to the many strategic maps placed before him. A battle would draw soon, his forces would clash with those trying to avenge Nobunaga death.
Often he wondered, at times such as this, if he did the land a favor in killing Nobunaga. Perhaps it was folly. Perhaps he was wrong and that under Nobunaga, Japan would prosper. Perhaps a land under his rule would not last. History was a finicky thing, you could spend a life, as he had done, studying it, yet not see all the cycles. Not interpret the present, correctly. Motonari called himself a historian, but perhaps he did not understand it after all. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…..
If history had taught him anything it was that the past could not change. Men had spent lifetimes remembering the past, wistfully staring out to what was no longer, to what would no longer be. Then time continued and they withered away at the heavy weight of the present.
Nobunaga Oda was dead. He could no longer create the land in his image. Now was time for Motonari, with history as a guide, to fight for the land.
He stared back at the maps. If maps had eyes, he would have sworn they stared back expectedly. He never considered himself a brilliant strategist, just a tired daimyo. He had let the world think he was dead, until his son ,Terumoto, had called for his aide. Maybe he should have stayed dead, he did not really know if he could win against all of japan before his real death. Dying with half of Japan under his control would cause more chaos.
Did he really know what he was doing?
No, he had to stop that. His morbid train of thoughts certainly would not help anything. He sighed again. It did not look like he would get any work done now. He leaned back onto the mat he was siting on.
It was very hot in here, the tent flap was closed for privacy. He still did not like people thinking of him as their leader. Why could they not think of his son as a leader? Why were they not happy with him? Motonari found himself highly alarmed at the their relief of his retainers at his 'revival'.
Was his son inept? History had often showed him that the greatest failing of legacies was the children. Often the next generation could not hold onto the empire and it crumbled, in their hands. That was why he wanted to create a land based on ideas. Not loyalty based on the power, or charisma based on one man.
It sounds very nice does it not?
He was leader, he knew that and did not deny it. Denial was often a foolish course of action. Was Terumoto a leader? Motonari had little evidence to be able to say yes.
Perhaps, Terumoto would not ever need to be. He certainly would have strong retainers. The Tachibanas were loyal to Motonari's ideas. They believed in the Japan Motonari saw. But they did not only see it as Motonari's land. It was a changing vision, were several people could shape for the better. When Motonari died hopefully they would help his son.
He sat back up. Was there a way to turn off his thinking? It was starting to highly bother him. Not matter what happened he saw what could go wrong.
Maybe if he found something real to do instead of looking at maps that told him nothing, that stared with lonely expectancy. There was something about doing nothing that brought on these thoughts.
He slowly stood up. If he wanted to stop thinking like this he might as get busy. Sitting there was getting him nowhere. He rolled up the maps and placed them on pile of his books. They could sit there for now.
He left the tent, pushing the heavy canvas flap out of his way.
"Motonari!" Someone called. He turned towards the voice. Muneshige stood, a little down the path. Motonari started to walk towards him. "Yes?" He questioned as he reached Muneshige.
"I wanted to know if our forces are going to move soon." Muneshige asked, quite reasonably, "As you said it won't be long before Nobunaga's allies come."
"No, it won't be." Motonari murmured quietly, "Still we must not be hasty and make any unwise decisions." Many of Nobunaga's retainers were intelligent. There was no reason to suppose an advantage would go past them, nor that they would act foolishly.
"That may be true," Said Muneshige quietly. Motonari recognized his voice turning into when he was about to give his opinion in the form of a lecture "But we must not let caution stop us from doing anything. It is equally unwise to do nothing and negate all choices."
Motonari smiled slightly, Muneshige often gave miniature speeches when he wanted to say something. Probably in order to say it tactfully, something his wife did not do.
"Motonari! "
Speaking of Ginchiyo, he would never get used to the way she yelled down people, he was unfamiliar with having his name being slung like a battering ram. Ginchiyo marched down to where he was. "I demand to know when we leave. This pointless waiting is wasting time."
So the Tachibanas were of the same mind. When do we leave? They phrased it differently but it was the same question. Motonari wondered to. When would he decide on an action?
Historians should never become conquerers. By understanding the flow and knowing cycles that were inevitable they made choices hard. Historians knew the consequences, knew the events that would follow their choices and actions. How could they act then? The only reason that Motonari did was as to let the present turn into different cycle of history than the one it was headed.
He knew what not to do. He could not let fear unite Japan nor charisma. He could not die now. No matter how much he would like to retire again and study history. What was it that Nobunaga had said to him, 'why read history when you can make it,' something like that?
Apparently he was taking to long to speak, for Ginchiyo growled "Well? When do we leave?"
Really, he would have to make a decision soon. Unfortunately soon was a misleading term. It could always be transferred into the present. You could always say soon and never do anything.
If only they could get reliable information of armies he could make himself make a decision. But they did not so Motonari could only guess based on where Nobunga's main force had been.
Muneshige opened his mouth to say something, "Motonari, I believe that you have doubts about this" He said carefully, and somewhat guardedly. Motonari smiled again, it was handy sometimes to know people who knew what you were thinking. "And…" Muneshige continued "I want you to know they are unfounded, history may have shown as the folly of many but it has also showed as that we can win. We have more advantages than you would think and the Oda forces are in disarray, without Nobunaga to tie them together they will turn on each other."
He spoke truly but still Motonari wondered, sometimes.
Ginchiyo spoke firmly, as she said her thoughts, "If you continue to have misapprehensions then anything you create will be weak. We have tilled the fields, and we will continue to plow forth. There is no turning back and surrendering"
Once again the Tachibanas tried to rid of his doubts. That was what the third time this week? They believed that they could win. His son Terumoto had told him he believed in his father. That meant the only one dragging behind was Motonari himself.
He guessed that it was time now. "Very well, we must move to route any of the remaining main Oda army, it has been several weeks since Nobunaga's death, they may have had time to gather themselves Right now they the biggest threat we have."
It was time to move forward. There was not really any other way to go.
Motonari turned his head to look up. The sun was sky high. Perhaps they would win. Perhaps they had a chance. Perhaps...
It would be nice if you reviewed, I would really like to hear any comments about this. Hopefully no one was out of character.
I may continue this if anyone wants me to, writing as Motonari is rather fun. Also to any other history buffs I know historically Terumoto was Motonari's grandson but the game refers him as Motonari's son, so I used as it was easier to work with.
Thanks for reading.