The death of Hojo Ujisuna left scattered minor powers in Hitachi, Shimozuke, Kozuke, and Kazusa. One might say that the northern three provinces form a good barrier between Takeda and Uesugi – but these provinces are also among the richest in Japan.

Takeda Nobutora was not the type of person who waits until the peasants are used to their new lord.  He immediately invaded Hitachi with all the army of Shimosa, while the siege of Shimosa castle was taken care by the original western Takeda forces. 

The rebel army in Hitachi retreated.

At the same time, the loyalist of Takeda revolted against Mori in Bingo…!

The harvest of 1530 was good. However, Takeda could only promise the peasants the lowest tax rate as the garrison force was very weak. Hopefully the rapid expansion can soon bring more koku to the store house - even if the tax rate will be kept low for a while.

The revolt in Bingo was definitely an army larger than the Mori defense force. What will be Takeda Nobutora’s plan? If the revolt is strong enough, maybe Takeda can afford not to lose the western provinces…

Leaving the defenseless Kazusa alone, the reinforcement flew into Hitachi – needless to say, Lord Takeda is planning a major assault to Uesugi in Mutsu.

A surprise attack to Mutsu - the home base of Uesugi. Could this bold plan work?

Bingo :  (R0) Takeda 360 vs.  (R0) Mori 180

However, the revolt of Bingo were purely fresh peasants – they had no chance to fight against the fine samurai of Mori, even if the peasants were twice in size.  The peasants received the distant order from Takeda Nobutora that they should quickly retreat to Aki and join the army on the east.

Feeling reluctant to withdraw, the ashigaru waited till the time expired.  Since Bitchu was taken by Mori at the same time, all they could do was to withdraw to Aki – which was good.

p.s. Hopefully in a future patch we will be able to see the army composition as soon as a revolt occurs.

As the peasants arrived in the port of Sagami from Aki, the attack of Mutsu was launched.

¡@

Looks like Uesugi was totally unprepared - the garrison in Mutsu was minimal.

Also, the only western provinces left – Aki – was taken by Mori this season. Mori Motonari must be happy with the gift that Takeda Nobutora offered. 

Mutsu :  (R3)Takeda 335 vs.  (R3)Uesugi 331

The home base of Uesugi is now defended by Uesugi Tomooki the daimyo himself. The army size seemed to be a good match. The Uesugi archers had no chance to prevail on the plain, yet if they hide in the woods…

Soon the Takeda soldiers spotted Uesugi archers hiding in the woods – of course they need to be handled first to prevent later "backstabbing".

Since cavalry are poor fighters in the woods, Nobutora ordered two units of yari samurai charging up the forest, attempting to expel the archers. At the same time, the samurai archers and cavalry archers also poured arrows onto the enemy in the woods.

With quite heavy losses, the first group of Uesugi archers were routed. The yari cavalry group were totally eliminated probably due to a misunderstood order (too bad).

Without any hesitation, Takeda Nobutora ordered all units to pursue.

The fleeing Uesugi archers certainly had a devastating morale effect on their comrades coming forward. The entire Uesugi army routed!

Unfortunately, Uesugi Tomooki managed to escape by sacrificing the lives of his bodyguards. It was too late when Takeda Nobutora rushed over – the Uesugi daimyo had made into the “red zone”. 

All Takeda soldiers could do was to watch Uesugi Tomooki slowly walk out of the battlefield…

The battle of Mutsu was another decisive victory of Takeda. With Uesugi Tomooki confined in the Mutsu castle, the rest of Uesugi army must rescue him as soon as possible.

Takeda Nobutora will not give them the chance.

After this battle, Nobutora had accumulated 4 more victory since 1530. He became a famous (Rank 4) general, and all the soldiers under his command are more effective now.

Bitchu : (R0)Takeda 600 vs. (R0)Mori 120

Because all of the western provinces had lost to Mori, Takeda Nobutora could not obtaining more information from Chugoku (central countries). However, the revolt of loyal peasants did not stop…

The second wave of revolt happened in Bitchu in the last season! The peasants were of a even larger number than last time in Bingo, and they were no longer purely peasants (although still 60% peasants).

They certainly outnumbered the Mori archers in Bitchu. But how should they make their ways through the bridge, given the revolts were inexperienced fighters?

The peasants volunteered to deplete the Mori archers’ arrows! Marching themselves on the bridge, the Mori archers mercilessly poured deadly arrows on their light-armored bodies.

One after one they fell down – and seems Mori’s arrows will never be depleted!

Finally, with 102 lives of the peasants – the Mori archers had no more arrows...

No more threats from above - The yari samurai of Takeda loyalists charged over the bridge, followed by the ashigaru and finally archers.

The Mori archers started to retreat, because they know they had no chance to prevail against an army 4 times of its number.

Perhaps one of the oddest victory in Takeda’s war record. With no kill and 102 net loss, the province of Bitchu was reclaimed by the loyalists.

However, these 498 men had little chance to stand in Bitchu forever, if they had no reinforcement. Takeda Nobutora soon gave them a bold order – retreat to Aki and sail to Samagi! Can the loyalists made their way to Aki successfully?

As Uesugi Tomooki was defeated in Mutsu, Imagawa Yoshimoto attacked Shinano with all his forces in Tokaido (east-sea-way). Looks like Takeda will soon face a strong opponent from the west.

In Chugoku , knowing that Bingo was probably still defended by 180 samurai, the peasants decided to take the more distant path – they will go north. Hopefully they will not encounter the famous general of Saito Toshimasa! (should be R3, please refer to the war story 3)

With Uesugi temporarily neutralized, and Takeda Nobutora ordered an attack from Kai to the defenseless province of Imagawa’s Suruga. The general responsible was R2 Hiraga Genshin, who joined the Takeda army since 1530.

Imagawa Yoshimoto suffered quite a large loss in Shinano, so he decided to abandon Suruga.

Also, Takeda Nobutora ordered the Shimosa siege troops to assault the Shimosa castle. 

Shimosa :  (R0) Takeda 120 vs.  (R0) Ronin 9

The siege of Shimosa castle lasted one year – and finally only 9 starved men were left inside. These ashigaru had no chance to stand against the yari samurai of Takeda.

The harvest was poor in 1531, while Lord Takeda still could not raise the tax due to the insufficient garrison in all new territories. The budge for year 1532 was too little for sufficient recruiting – yet if the loyalists on the west could safely escape to the east…

On the west, the 498 Takeda loyalists had made their way to Hoki – and now they step back to Bingo – hoping that the defense of Bingo is weakened if they will be ordered to attack Bitchu. If not, there will be a nasty fight.

It turned out that Mori Motonari also abandoned Bingo – so now the loyalists only lack their last step to Aki!

As Suruga is taken, Takeda Nobutora further ordered the attacks to Shinano and Totomi. Obviously Takeda won’t be able to prevail in Shinano facing the famous daimyo of Imagawa. However, as Imagawa’s home base Totomi is now defenseless, Imagawa Yoshimoto needs to draw quite a large army to Totomi if he does not want to lose it. This way, either Shinano or Totomi will be weak in defense – and Takeda would take it. 

At the same time, Uesugi Tomooki finally died in the Mutsu castle. None of the Uesugi soldiers came to rescue him. Now the remnants of Uesugi also ended up in fractions. Finally Nobutora could march his troops to Dewa – the rich province with abundant gold mine.

Takeda has basically controlled half of the northern Japan in the first two years of their campaign. However, they were stretched very thin – each front province only had 200 to 300 men mostly. The key will be the loyalist from the west – if they can arrive in time – perhaps this time in Totomi, then Takeda could have a chance to defeat Imagawa with their numbers…!