STW War Story IV : Revolution - Ronins Take Over

Chapter 3    Charge

The 3000+ army of the rebel were sperated in east and west. With the collapse of Imagawa Yoshimoto (Spring 1531), Mori Motonari (Autumn 1531), and Takeda Nobutora (Winter 1531), only the rich lands of northern - eastern Japan were still controlled by corrupted landlords of Hojo and Uesugi.

Sensing the danger of their benefits, Hojo and Uesugi had reached an alliance. With rivers in Echigo and Musahi, the ally now hope to gradually overgrow the rebel as their rich lands gives them more advantages in the long run.

The harvest of 1531 was normal - the rebels ended up with 3435 koku in the store house. New troop production was concentrated in Kaga and Yoshimoto for monks, while the archers, yari samurai, yari ashigaru are largely a combined force of previous Shimazu, Imagawa, Takeda, and Mori.  Unexpected recruits were also received as the previous daimyo started the training plan.

Sagami now becomes an the landing port of rebel's western army. With very sufficient supply in reinforcement, the rebel decided to challenge Hojo in Musashi with almost its complete eastern army!

Spring 1532

Musashi: Rebel (R3, 1460) vs.  Hojo (R0, 540)

    The rebel force reached a historical new height - 1460 - led by the R3 general Ichijo Uchiimasa. Under Ichijo's command, Imagawa Yoshimoto was defeated in Totomi, and Takeda Nobutora failed to stand against the rebel force.

    General Ichijo picked a rainy day with lightning flashing in the sky. With a group of H3 yari ashigaru charging over the bridge as the human flesh shield, soon the bulk of warrior monks of Kaga, numbered over 400 in total, completely rushed over the bridge!

    The poor ashigaru was soon destroyed, but the monks also crossed the bridge and engaged with the enemy. The heavy rain sucessfully reduced the effectivenes of enemy arrows - and the rebel monks were generally winning at front...

Soon the enemy samurai who dared to come forward broke into chaos. Their hasty retreat also brought away their comrades behind - the monk rush penetrated the entire Hojo army - and the newbie enemy general ran like a whipped dog!

With only 76 men died (most of them ashigaru), Musashi was taken by the rebels. What will be the hordes' next target?

Summer 1532

    The gain of Musashi enabled to rebels to clearly scout most of Hojo's lands. Lord Hojo is currently in Kozuke -- if the rebels take Shimozuke, then Lord Hojo will be trapped in Kozuke and destroyed easily! Of course, the huge army of rebel marched to Shimozuke!

But the corrupted, cheap lord Hojo was mean. He jumped to Shimozuke at the same time, and by the retreat he ended up into Hitachi! Lord Hojo escaped his death by running through two provinces in one season by utilizing a feature... @#$%

The rebel will terminate Hojo first!

Autumn 1532

So the next attemp will be to take Shimosa! Even if lord Hojo plays the old trick, he will still end up in Kazusa - where he will be handled easily.

But this time lord Hojo does not retreat - he came to Shimosa indeed, and he challeged the horde of rebels in Shimosa!

Shimosa: Rebel (R3, 1384) vs.  Hojo (R3, 673)

The same rainy weather - the bridge crossing was started by the ashigaru of rebels again. The monks, still numbered more than 400, follows tightly under the covrage of rain.

The Hojo army was clever under the command of Hojo Ujitsuna. He ordered his men not to come to the front, but shooting at a distance. The 200 ashigaru of rebels failed to proceed - largely massacred by the Hojo men - but the rebel monks didn't. The 400 monks now charge into the 673 men of Hojo!

The rush was like the anger of thunder. With very little resistance, Hojo Ujitsuna lost all his courage and ordered a his men to flee!

With minimal lost of warrior monks, the second river province of Hojo was conqurered! Lord Hojo Ujitsuna ended up in the castle of Shimosa, waiting for his death.

The siege of Shimosa as soon taken over by the reinforcement from the west. General Ichijo Uchimasa left just enough men to defend in Shimosa. Now the 4000 rebels all pointed their weapons to Uesugi!