One of the Horde
| STW War Story VI
One of the Horde |
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Good morning, noble lords of Hojo. Due to some strange postman
strike happening somewhere, we have got some extra time to continue the war
story for you. 
Spring 1545
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Owning the entire east side of Japan, the Hojo clan is ready
to face Mori and Shimazu. Our army size has grown to 3000 due to the large
scaled (but low quality) recruit in Kinki. Our daimyo marched his great
army to Awaji, his heir Hojo Ujiyasu into Mori's Harima, while I was
ordered to arrive the front as soon as possible. 
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The battle of Harima was expected to be an easy one due to its flat land. Also, the yari cavalry of Shinano was finally ready to join our battle! The horses will post a great threat to the enemy on this flat field. The enemy
retreated in a hurry! They did not even try to stand against
us!
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Summer 1545
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Also, on the Awaji island, our daimyo obtained the victory with the enemy
retreated into castle.
The retreated army of Mori is now in Inaba. Seems they won't come back to Harima this season, as they have merely one group of reinforcement from Mimasaka. So Hojo Ujiyasu decided a daring move. He attacked Tajima, controlled by an independence force with almost the entire army from Harima, Tamba, and Wakasa!
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| The enemy was camped just behind the hill on the left, while
some of them obviously hidden inside the forest on the hill. Hojo Ujiyasu
made all Shinano yari cavalry to the right flank, preparing for a surprise
assault. At the same time, 2 groups of YS and 2 groups of YA has started
to climb up the hill, preparing to surround the enemy in the forest.
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| In the meantime, the enemy has decided to march forward with their archers! Since we don't have so many archers to win a shootout, Hojo Ujiyasu ordered all yari troops on the center and right to attack the enemy archers alone at the front. One group of Shinano yari cavalry charged in first, completely destroyed the enemy archers! |
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| The enemy soon ordered their ashigaru to come forward, trying to stop of our cavalry charge. But the second group of cavalry now run in flanking their ashigaru on the right, along with the first group on the left! The mass horde of Hojo yari samurai and ashigaru follows! |
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On the hill, the enemy samurai archers came out of the
forest and start to shoot at us! All yari ashigaru and yari samurai
charged down the hill, flanking the enemy archers from two sides. The
enemy archers pulled back and finally routed with their peasant comrades! 
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| The enemy general decided to flee as soon as he sees his ambush failed! The enemy tried to run - but our cavalry chased them to the grave! |
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| What a chase! Woohoo!
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A fast victory with a small loss. Our yari cavalry did a
great job killing the enemy. Now the ronin province is conquered, and it
is time for Hojo and Mori to fight some decent big battles! 
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Autumn 1545
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Finally I arrived in Harima, ready to join our campaign in
Chugoku. Leaving the castle of Tajima under siege, Hojo Ujiyasu marched
into Inaba with the elite troop of Hojo, clashing in the center of Mori's
east defense! Also, lord Hojo has invaded
Mori's only province on Shigoku island from Awaji. Of course Mori
retreated from Shigoku!
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The Amako general of Mori has commanded a large number. They
even have the Naginata samurai, who are superior in defense. Hojo Ujiyasu
should find a way to get around these guys. 
However, as Hojo's army attempted to occupy the central forest as the
high ground, suddenly our men stopped VAST number of enemy hidden in the
forest! Hojo Ujiyasu immediately ordered all troops to charge into the
forest, but the enemy has mobilized. Their aim is.. our yari cavalry on
the right! It is too late to run! |
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| While our yari cavalry fighting with all their efforts, they
cannot stand the long sharp yari of enemy ashigaru for too long. Our
reinforcement soon arrived on the left, and they promptly saved our
cavalry!
On the left, the enemy has aggressively marched forward to attack our
weakened left, because most troops were dispatched to the right already...
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The enemy outnumbered our two units of yari samurai trying
to defend the ground, while Hojo Ujiyasu's archers did not stop any moment
to release their arrows. As soon as the east side is settled, all of our
yari troops ran back to save their taisho! 
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| Hojo Ujiyasu's archers were almost destroyed, but they held
the ground with no fear at all! At this moment, the enemy ashigaru has
been chased out of the battlefield and the 80 survived yari cavalry of
Hojo has made to the BACK of the enemy! Now charged!
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| With both sides attacked, the enemy soon broke into a complete panic and turned around! Hojo Ujiyasu issued a full assault of all units, and within minutes the enemy taisho's head was taken on the blood-stained field! | ||||||
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| The massacre of Inaba ended up 1600 corpses on the field.
77% of Mori's army is destroyed, marking the complete collapse of their
eastern defense. We shall now break in to Chugoku with little resistance!
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Winter 1545
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The trade boat of southern-barbarians (that's how westerners were called
by Japanese in Sengoku Jidai  )
has arrived in Bizen.
Of course Mori does not have to time to build a trading post! But Shimazu might have made the deal 3 years ago... we must be faster! |
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So immediately Lord Hojo attacked Awa, taking it with zero resistance.
Also, I was ordered to invade the heart of Mori, province of Mimasaka. The
enemy retreated into the castle; we destroyed a lot of enemy's training
facilities!
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Our harvest of this year was extremely poor  ,
cutting down our budge to half. However, the vast number of recruit in
Kinki has assured our clan the ability to break into Mori's Chugoku, and
challenge Shimazu in Shigoku at the same time. I wonder what is going to
be the next big fight?
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Hojo 922
Mori 671
Ronin 944