Chapter 8   Kiushu

Taken the northern 5 provinces of Kiushu already, we are now left with Higo, Hyuga, Osumi, and Satsuma. As soon as Hizen castle falls, Lord Oda marched all his troops to south.

Before attacking Higo, we got a good screen shot of an enemy ninja attempting to assasinate our heir. Looking at his eyes, you must know what happened later.

Spring 1542

Valley Duel

Lord Oda has re-organized his army. He decided to take 6 groups of archers, 3 monks, 4 yari samurais, and 2 yari ashigarus. This combination is ideal for almost all kinds of situation. The battle in Higo involved 814 (Oda) vs. 808 (Ronin).

Soon we saw the enemy sitting on the center of the mountain at the back. However, as we approached they moved to the left, where the ground is higher. This way we had no choice but to occupy the high ground at the other end, starting a duel of archers, seeking a flatter path to charge uphill.

That might be the end of the story for 1532, but 10 years gave us the difference of monks! As the archers shotting at each other, our monks quickly ran around the valley and prepare for a major down hill assault from enemies' back. The following picture was the work by one of our monks again.

Too bad, the enemy general rout even before we reached their back. None of the yari troops ever moved!

So our last chance is to intercept them using our monks, who were already half way to their back. Indeed, we caught the second half of the enemy - completely samdwocjed by our troops, mercilessly slain.

Indeed we killed a little more than half of their men. Monks themselves made up half of the kills - losing none! After this battle, Lord Oda reached his status as a rank 6 general - one of the greatest in Japan history.

Summer 1542

Deep in the Mountain

We didn't have the time to wait for the fall of Higo castle. Letting the backup troops carry on the siege, Lord Oda heads for the next target, Hyuga, right in the next season. The head count was 795 (Oda) vs. 746 (Ronin).

It must be a humid rainy summer afternoon. The enemy marched into the largest forest at the corner of the map. There was a large hill on the right that sorts of oversees the forest (on the right of the picture). That's where we will be.

As we came closer, the ronins moved backwards to the deeper and higher forests. Some of their archers shooting at our monks far behind, making us very angry. Lord Oda immediately ordered a total charge of all fighting units into the woods.

The enemy general was shocked by the swift actions of the Oda army, as well as the furious monks emerging right above them. As they might have planned, the entire army were already close to the "exit". Now they simply rushed out the battlefield. There was one archer group who got lost, and we spent quite a while letting a monk group teach them where the real exit is - none of them made it though.

Here the Oda army prevailed again. A fast victory yet most of the ronins escaped to the adjacent province. More fights ahead!

Winter 1542

Satsuma Skirmishers

The ronins in Hyuga all fled to Satusma, makes much sense since these ronins were Shimazu loyalists. Receiving no resistance in Osumi, the Oda army soon marched into Satsuma, the last Kiushu province that does not belong to us. The army sizes were 753 (Oda) vs. 598 (Ronin).

However, out of our expectation the enemy was scattered everywhere on the map (please refer to the enlarged radar picture below). Some in the woods, some far away in the mountain. To the worse quite a few of them were cavalry archers, and we had a hard time chasing them from this end of the map to the other. It was strange that they are very less likely to rout, though their general got killed very early in the battle.

We finally settled down the issue by assigning each unit or two to counter its natural prey - monk to ashigaru, yari to cavalry, ashigaru to archers, archers to yari samurais, and so on. Three-fourth of the enemies are dead, yet we also suffered higher losses than expected. Great Satsuma warriors, we conclude.

Well they are not only great, but also annoying. The siege was slow and we decided to assault the castle the season after (summer). Their 21 archers were so effective, yet we killed them all. Kiushu is ours.

The next target would be the Shikoku (4 countries) island to the northeast.

The harvest of 1542 was good - 9000 koku to spend. We started the contruction of famous buddist temple in Kii, Legendary archery dojo in Yamashiro, and Fortress in Mino and Owari. Seems everything is smooth now, but we must be fast as the Hojo horde has beaten Uesugi to Mutsu! The great battle between the Oda clan and the Horde is coming!