STW War Story Part III - Western Uprise

Chapter 3    Mino Defense

1534 Spring

The year was 1534, Mori Saigo Iezane now turned 33. Last winter, he was assigned the garrison officer of Iga, the home of elite ninja - which is for now too expensive for Mori to afford. Iezane's work was greatly assisted by one of the famous shinobis from Tajima.

After the new year, he receive a new order - the "daimyo's tail" is moving to Omi. Lord Mori Motonari is leading a assault on Moni, where Oda's 1500 army was. The total force of Mori at this time was only 1700. The financial difficulty does not allow the clan to train too many soldiers.

Wakasa: Oda (60) vs. Mori (42)

At the same time, Oda dispatched a small group of soldiers to assault Wakasa, which was guarded by our R2 general Miyoshi Hideyasu - 1 unit only. Our army numbered 42, while Oda 60.

Occupying the high ground in the forest, Miyoshi bravely charged down when Oda's army arrived. The height and Honor + 1 advantage enabled Mori's fighters to perform more efficiently. As soon as the numbers of the two armies were equal, the advantage shifted to our side.

The enemy taisho routed, and killed half way home. Killing 49 out of 60, Miyoshi Hideyoshi also lost half of his men. After this battle, Miyoshi was promoted to rank 3. The raise of Miyoshi, who was also a new general in 1530, is much faster than Iezane. Is there going to be more chances for "daimyo's tail" to show up on the battlefield?

Mino: Mori (765) vs. Oda (889)

    As we expected, Oda Nobuhide has dispatched several hundreds of his force to defend Owari, so the situation in Mino was not too pessimistic. The Oda army did not camp on either of the high mountains, probably our surprise attack slowed down their gathering.

    Seeing the enemy marching up the mountain on the left, we must be faster to get the hilltop. Whoever gets the high ground first might prevail!

Mori got the peak! It was too late when the enemy daimyo, Oda Nobuhide, admitted this fact. Our yari troops immediately charged to him -- looks like Oda is in big trouble!

Yet things were out of our expectation. Oda Nobuhide himself was able to hold several hundred of us beside the cliff, while his soldiers rained arrow on our troops. Farer from the cliff, we were actually outnumbered. The soldiers were quite tired already, too. Now it seems we cannot match Oda's ashigaru! Our soldiers now strated to become nervous!

Here is a closer look of Oda Nobuhide - he himself fighting hundreds of our yari samurai, yet he was standing intact! While at this time, most of our men had started to waver, facing such a legendary daimyo!

Just at the blink that our army totally collapse, Oda Nobuhide used up the last bit of his strength - after killing 21 of our yari samurais all by himself, he fell down his horse and died honorably.

Suddenly the battle was altered, the once-winning Oda soldiers turned around and ran!

The chase was satisfactory, since many Oda soldiers were trapped deep inside of the passage. We ended up killing 380 of them, yet we also suffered very heavy loses. More than half of our yari samurais sacrificed their lives, but the holding of Mino gives as a very defensible front.

Summer 1534

Mino: Oda (1142) vs. Mori (502)

Lord Oda Nobuhide was dead, yet his brother, Oda Nobuhiro soon assumed the leadership of Oda. With rages, the entire 1142 Oda army now march back to Mino revenging for their daimyo. Although severely outnumbered, Lord Mori decided to give a try!

The new daimyo of the enemy, Oda Nobuhiro, was very eager revenging for his brother. He led all his soldiers march uphill in a hurry, while soon he was surrounded by our samurai charging down. A nasty fight began, the rain of arrows left no mercy to soldiers waging their lives.

Oda Nobuhiro's loyal bodyguards fell down one by one, and finally himself. The daimyo of Oda was again killed, and its 1000 men totally lost their morale.

With most of our yari samurais dead, we killed another 331. The Oda clan is now destroyed, but their ally, the young Imagawa Yoshimoto, has taken over Owari, the only Oda's province left.

Autumn 1534

Mino: Imagawa (652) vs. Mori (386)

The intense warfare of 1534 has drastically reduced the size of Mori's army.  Our emissary soon arrived Shinano to propose a treaty between Imagawa and Mori, but Imagawa had their own plan - another attack to Mino from Shinano. The yari samurai and ashigaru in Mino has now totally depleted, all we can do is to let the archers to fight hand in hand!

Soon after their arrows used up, Lord Mori let the archers to engage at will, without worrying to hold positions. Another downhill charge, aiming to the taisho of enemy!

The new ashigaru taisho was soon killed in Imagawa soldiers' chaos. Lord Mori soon asked a total charge-down of all units, and the massacre began.

Killing another 375, the braves of Mimasaka expelled the enemy the third time in Mino. Learning this lesson, Imagawa Yoshimoto finally agreed a cease fire and a treaty between the two clans. But certainly we cannot rely on the reduced number of garrisons...

After the treaty was made, Imagawa Yoshimoto ordered his soldiers in Owari to attack Ise - what a stupid act. The monks certainly showed them the sword of Budda.

With Mino secured, the Kinki area is basically under the control of Mori. With only 1300 soldiers in total, we have no chance to advance further. The harvest in 1534 was poor, but we had brought back the tax rate to normal. With 1800 koku to spend, we could only started a tranquil garden in Kii, preparing for our specialty - monk warriors in the still-distant future...!