One of the Horde
| STW War Story VI
One of the Horde |
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Welcome back everyone. This is Miyoshi Tadayoshi, your narrator of the story.
I am fully aware of that there are many noble lords who wish to audit our meetings from now on, and our generous Lord Hojo Ujisuna has decided to let everybody contribute their opinions! Please check out the vote link here.
Summer 1534
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After the decisive battle of Shinano, suddenly the entire
eastern Japan cools down. Uesugi, Takeda, and Imagawa fell one by one. The
remnants of their power can no longer post a great threat to us.
But the ambition of Lord Hojo Ujisuna only grew bigger. Hojo Ujiyasu, the heir of Hojo initiated an attack to Totomi right in the next season. Totomi is famous for its supreme samurai archers. It also has a great seaport that allows massive troop transportation! The defense in Totomi was weak. The 120 archers retreated into the
castle of Hamamatsu.
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Autumn 1534
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Although Lord Hojo Ujisuna had personally come to Shinano,
the local peasants still revolted! This time they gathered an even larger
number than they did to Imagawa last year!
Also, the peasants' loyalty in Totomi was also very low - there might
be a revolt there anytime as well. Now Hojo only has 200 men in both Shinano and Totomi... |
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Lord Hojo decided to completely give up Totomi while keep
Shinano at all cost. Shinano is easy to defend, while Totomi is not. The
clan only has the power to deal with one revolt.
Lord Hojo again gathered all available forces nearby, including the entire army of Hojo Ujiyasu in Totomi. He left the army command to his son - the best general of Hojo! The army count reached 666 - that's the best Hojo can do! |
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The revolt reached a size of 720 - almost matching the Imagawa army Hojo Ujiyasu faced here half a year ago. However, the majority of them are poorly trained peasants. This might make Hojo Ujiyasu defense much easier. Looking down from the mountain, Hojo Ujiyasu counted the enemy army composition. Totally there were 2 groups of SA and 4 groups of YA, each group consists of 120 soldiers. |
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Hojo Ujiyasu ordered the archers to march to the edge of
the peak - while the 3 yari samurai teams form the second line, supported
by two yari ashigaru at the back.
The archers are free to release their arrows once the enemy is in range! Shoot at will! |
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The enemy attempted a shootout, but obviously they lost the
contest. The revolt then tried to charge uphill using their numerous
peasants...
Again, Hojo Ujiyasu tells the samurai to hold. The arrows of the Hojo archers were almost depleted. The time has come! Hojo Ujiyasu gave the command of a total charge of the three groups of yari samurai, followed by the yari ashigaru behind! |
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The three groups of yari samurai were targeted to different
enemy groups: left, center, and right. The two groups of yari ashigaru
were responsible for flanking in case the revolts try to hold their ground
on the slope.
Obviously they didn't. The entire enemy collapsed in a few minutes and were fleeing for their life! But the left flank of Hojo has advanced far enough to block most of
their fleeing passage! |
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The great massacre took place. Only a small portion of the
enemy escaped because their fellow were blocking the way of Hojo's men.
The enemy taisho was also killed in the chaos! |
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88% of the 720 revolts were killed, yet Hojo lost less than
100 men only (14% casualty). This was another excellent battle by Hojo Ujiyasu!
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Hojo Ujiyasu was not only formidable on the battlefield. He
made his retreat from Totomi a top secret - so enemy soldiers defending
the Totomi castle failed to reclaim the undefended province from Hojo! 
Out of the 120 men in the castle, 13 were starved to die for nothing... |
Winter 1534
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The harvest of 1534 was another success under the
beneficent rule of Hojo. The flat-rate lowest taxes must have stimulated
the peasants willingness to work harder for their own good. 
With the extra budget, I received the order of building a silver mine in Echigo. I am some experienced of iron mining in Hitachi, so this shouldn't be too hard for me. I estimate the construction will be done in 8 seasons. The armoury in Hitachi was completed! The first group of Hojo soldiers
with improved armor has shown up - they are the glorious ashigaru of
Hitachi, my hometown! Also, Hojo Ujiyasu returned to Totomi to continue the castle siege. The defending troops in the castle were finally aware of their stupidity, but it was too late. |
The winter has past, and lord Hojo ordered the assault on both castles in Shinano and Totomi, to solidify Hojo's reign in these two provinces!
Spring 1535
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The Hamamatsu castle actually had an abundant food supply, so averagely only 13 men died per season. Hojo Ujiyasu was assigned a tough job to eliminate the fine archers of Totomi head-on. Yet he picked a rainy day - again it is according to the local peasants
of Totomi. I have a bad feeling about this...
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We were cheated again! 
The rain stops right before the Hojo
army marched into the range of the enemy archers.
However, Hojo Ujiyasu still ordered everybody to hurry up - not to afraid of the enemy! The yari samurai of Hojo broke into the castle gate. Two groups of them handled both groups of enemy archers. Their supreme battle skills enabled them to prevail against the enemy - and soon they were supported by the yari ashigaru. |
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The enemy was eliminated with reasonable loss.
Totomi is now under control of Hojo. Soon we will be able to train some fine archers from here - so probably Shimosa will be used for something else... perhaps for a Sword Dojo? Although my good friend, Hinento Yoshitaka the legendary swordsman of
Hojo is no longer here, during these years of battles we have had several
other fierce warriors that might also quality. However, in my mind nobody
is as good as Yoshitaka. |
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The assault of Fukashi castle of Shinano was led by lord Hojo himself. Seeing the hill just adjacent to the castle, Lord Hojo has cleverly set up a group of archers there. Our archers' arrows had a fairly good accuracy there since they could probably see what's going on in the castle. As soon as the intense archer shootout began, Lord Hojo marched his yari troops ahead. |
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By the time the yari soldiers broke into the castle, Hojo's
archers had already used up their arrows. Good timing!
With roughly 1/3 of the enemy dead already, Hojo's yari samurai and ashigaru had no problem to break into the castle! |
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Another easy victory.
Shinano is now completely conquered, and the peasants are gaining their faith on Hojo under its lowest tax rate promise. Shinano is well-known of their cavalry - so probably lord Hojo will start some cavalry training here. Hitachi (yari samurai and ashigaru), Shinano (cavalry), Totomi (samurai
archers) and Shimosa (no-dachi samurai) - Looks like Hojo is going to have
a formidable army in the not too-distant future...! |
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| Time for the meeting again. However, the decision is left to
everyone - I will not say too much for now.
Please feel free to contribute your
opinion! |
Revolt 720
Hojo 666
