STW War Story II - Imagawa's Struggle
Chapter 3 The Flash of Turning
The time was Winter, 1532. Clan Hojo has been pushed back to Shimosuke, Shimosa, and Kozusa. Uesugi stabbed her back in Hitachi, while the Imagawa reinforcement kept arriving in Kozuke and Musashi. Tha fall of Hojo was a matter of time - yet both Uesugi and Imagawa would like to devour her lands completely.
Lord Hojo Ujisuna finally realized that he cannot survive in Sengoku by just defending. Doing his best, the Hojo gathered 394, led by Ujisuna himself, rushed into the besieged province of Kozuke.
The defender was the legendary swordman general, Nagai Ujisada. Although we were outnumbered by a factor of 1 : 1.5 (250 vs 394), general Nagai decided to stay. The province of Kozuke was hilly, giving us more chance to succeed.
Therefore, a battle led by two rank-3 commanders took place.
Winter 1532
Kozuke: The Blinded Bravery
Outnumbered, general Nagai Ujisada located all archers on top of the hill near the center of the battlefield. With two flanks protected by Yari samurais told to hold their formation. When the enemy approaches, the three samurai archer units shall release their arrows mercilessly.
The enemy was a well-blanced mixture of 4 SA, 2 YS, and 2 YA (some of a smaller size), plus the heavy calvary of lord Hojo. They marched steadily uphill, while one group of YA sit on the far right. Seems the enemy has planned a flank attack.
To our surprise, the first unit that charged uphill was lord Hojo himself - followed by a group of yari samurai. We recalled the bravery of Oda Nobuhide and Takeda Nobutora. If our right flank YS is really neutralized by their daimyo, then the left flank could not handle the rest approaching army. Even worse, the distant enemy ashigaru on the right had approached and start to climb up - if we were flanked, then there would be in real trouble.
The YS on the right were soon ordered to switch towards engage at well - try their best to kill lord Hojo.
Wow! The enemy ashigaru unit suddenly routed! At the same time, Lord Hojo and his follow samurai also turned around!
We cannot give up this chance - half of our arrow stocks were gone already. Our taisho Nagai Ujisada ordered a full pursue. Lord Hojo rallied his small unit 3 times, but each time did not last for more than 20 seconds.
The battle was won in a sudden. If it were not the blind bravery of Hojo Ujisuna, our army might not be able to hold out to the end. The first mistake the enemy made was to directly challenge a hilltop-camping defense army with its substantial archers laying out. The second mistake was to charge its own commander unit at the front, running 11 heavy calvary into the enemy's yari!. Making these almost two worst mistakes on the battlefield, no wonder the Hojo lost.
Because of the fleeing, Lord Hojo could not retreat back to Shimozuke. He was then entered the castle of Kozuke, which had been under siege for 2 seasons. The food supply could only last two more - now seems the clan of Hojo cannot make it to the summer of 1533!
Spring 1533
Lord Imagawa Yoshimoto was not the type of teenager that was willing to sit down and wait for the fall of enemy. He soon marched the army from Musashi into Shimosa. Hojo's provinces still generate troops every season - we must take this river province as soon as possible.
To ensure the victory of Shimosa, another potentially difficult task, we dispatched our now honor-4 man of shadow. With ease he terminated the life of the rank 0 taisho of Shimosa.
However, as Lord Imagawa finished all his orders, Hojo reinforced Shimosa from Shimozuke...
Shimosa: Turning Thunder of Spring
Heavy rain, lightning and thunders. Does it mark the victory of Imagawa, the army of thunder?
Well, counting the enemy's numerous flags, we hestitaed. There was only one possibility -- Hojo Ujiyasu, the greatest daimyo of sengoku Hojo, just matured this season and assume the commander of the Shimosa defense force! (Hojo Ujiyasu started rank 4). Now the Hojo clan will not be eliminated even if the Kozuke castle falls.
We only had two choices - directly retreat, or try our best in the heavy rain.
The young Yoshimoto decided to try. 254 (Imagawa) vs 276 (Hojo), this will be a tough battle.
In the coverage of heavy rain, soon we started to march our YS onto the bridge!
Soon the enemy charged towards us. Marching our full force to the other end to the bridge along with our daimyo, our archers tried to pour arrows to the enemy. The rain had made both sides' archers not effective at all - but we still gotta try. Our brave yari samurais were winning, but soon became evenly matched, and finally, losing. Right at this moment, the enemy taisho, the heir of Hojo Ujisuna, Hojo Ujiyasu charged his SA towards us.
Fighting till the last person, our Yari samurai struggled to hold the ground, protecting our young daimyo. Our yari samurai is going to perish - and our archers arrows depleted. Now our only hope is the archers! Quickly, over the bridge!
The archers were slow on the bridge. All of our YS had been destroyed. Now the high honored Hojo samurais had surrounded Imagawa Yoshimoto. The rains were slowing down, the sound of sky vanished- will this be the end of our campaign?!
Imagawa Yoshimoto, H7, was as tough as Oda Nobuhide and Takeda Nobutora. He did not waver, nor did he gave up. He lasted till the archers arrived!
The archers were mostly stuffed on the bridge; their numbers reduced quickly. Our men gradually lost their hope... but Yoshimoto was still there...
Suddenly, a huge flash appeared - followed by the loud thunders from the sky. Heavy rain started to pour down once more - both sides, deeply exhausted, were making their life struggle on the bridge. Either the Imagawa clan or the Hojo clan ends here!
The next second, Ujiyasu turned around and fled! A miracle just happened! The army of thunder prevailed!
(The true reason might be the routed Hojo men, showing in the snapshot below, too.)
p.s. The above image has been processed to simulate the lightning effect. I failed to catch the exact moment of this miraculous flashing, so..
The chase was slow for both sides. Lord Imagawa, being "totally exhausted", could not make any more move for several times. Yet the enemy fled even more slowly, and finally Lord Imagawa caught the slow runner Hojo Ujiyasu near the end of the battlefield. Yoshimoto took the head of Ujiyasu! Benzai!
Killing 19 himself, Imagawa Yoshimoto brought the most expensive victory so far to the clan of Imagawa. We lost 73%, the enemy 66%. However, the Hojo clan has lost its heir. Along with the fall of lord Hojo Ujisuna in Kozuke castle, the Hojo clan met its end -- three and half years after Lord Imagawa started his campaign.
Summer 1533
Our army in Shimosa was depleted, and it would take quite a lot of time for Imagawa to regain its strength to expand further. Meanwhile, Uesugi conqurerd Shimozuke with ease.
Our men of shadow reported that Uesugi has got a good general, Suda Nagayuki - Rank 2 in Hitachi. Good! The rank 4 ninja of us easily brought him down.
The harvest of 1533 was good, while we had annouced to return the tax rate to low for the first time. The peasants were still happy, and now we have 4000 koku to spend...!
Winter 1533
Shimosa: the Last Man of Hojo
The last man of Hojo fell down in the castle of Shimosa, marking the start of the full-scale conflict between Imagawa and Uesugi. The ultimate battle deciding the rule of northern Japan is close!