STW War Story Part V
Furinkazan - The Ambition of Takeda
Forest (2)
Chapter 5 The Black Forest
Harvest of 1533: Good (25% Up), Tax rate = 75%. Budget = 3740 koku
Winter 1533
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The harvest of 1533 was good!
This brought 3750 koku into the store house of Takeda. Looks like the
rooting policy has been working well. In the meantime, Takeda will make peace with neighbors
- such as Oda. An emissary has been sent, yet Lord Oda was a little hard
to find.
Takeda's plan was to first firmly establish their regime in northern Japan, then invade the rest with its strong economical support. As soon as the reinforcement of the 3rd wave of Takeda loyalist landed the port in Totomi, Takeda Nobutora combined the Mutsu and Dewa army to invade Echigo. This will be the decisive battle against the previous Uesugi forces. |
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Echigo : Faced with quite a large number of archers, Takeda will suffer heavy losses if doing direct attack. It was the same trick - Takeda Nobutora charged himself over the bridge first and lured away the yari samurai of the enemy... He must be very careful not to give too many command, or his men will soon lose their confidence to their daimyo (a.k.a. the rout bug). |
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With the aid of fast horses, Nobutora made from to the enemy's back, and even rushed to the other side. The enemy finally noticed that the Takeda yari samurai have already crossed the bridge - and now they rushed back to defend! |
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The enemy is showing weakness on their back - Nobutora grabbed this chance and charged his men into the enmey's yari, combining the attack of the yari samurai and cavalry archers! |
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The enemy was not expecting such a bold move. However, it was too late for the enemy to even change their formation for the engage. The Takeda samurai broke into the lines of ronins, and the enemy could do nothing but to turn around! |
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Once again Takeda Nobutora succeeded with his bold tactics. However, quite a lot of cavalry archers were sacrificed under the yari of the enemy. |
Spring 1534
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With the defense of Mikawa and Shinano further strengthened, Takeda Nobutora did not make any rest and attacked Etchu. The former Uesugi forces retreated into Hida. |
Summer 1534
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Nobutora again left part of the
soldiers in Etchu and advanced in Noto. There was no ronin soldiers
in Noto - should be a free territory.
Soon the entire northern Japan will be under Takeda's rule. However, the Buddhists in Kaga and Echizen might be just as tough as another great clan... |
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It was a sad news - the emissary
sent to Oda was beheaded in his sleep, before his mission was
accomplished. Who would have done this?
Either Oda or Mori, Takeda will ask them to pay back! |
Autumn 1534
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As planned, Takeda Nobutora
attacked Sado.
At the same time, Oda Nobuhide himself arrived in Mino - so now it became obvious that Oda had prepared to confront Takeda. Even if attacked, Shinano and Mikawa should be able to hold for its geographical advantage. However, Takeda is still restricted in their funds thus number of soldiers because the tax rate had to be low to make the northern peasants happy enough. |
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Sado : The last resistance of the northern ronins was minimal in Sado. Only one group of yari ashigaru was there. When the Takeda army approached, the peasants promptly "quick marched" away. They actually ran across the map! Takeda Nobutora recalled that someone else had used this tactics when he did not have enough soldiers... yet they all routed half way. Obviously these ashigaru are much tougher. |
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The Takeda men were finally able
to catch these nasty peasants, but themselves quite tired already.
Sado is conquered now. The day to face the monks and Oda will be close - but Takeda was not really prepared in terms of its numbers... |
Harvest of 1534: Normal, Tax rate = 75%. Budget = 3850 koku
Spring 1535
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With just enough rice for the
coming year's needs, Nobutora decided to let Shinano and Mikawa to hold for
just a few more seasons.
He now marched the army to Kaga! |
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Kaga : There are two common places for the enemy to be hide - the large forest at the far right end, or the smaller forest on the middle left. With cavalry archers as easy scouts, Nobutora soon made sure that all enemy were hiding in the latter. With enough rest one hill ahead, the Takeda archers soon ran to their position. Before the archers were ready, the monks emerged and charged down as usual - oh! it was their taisho! However, soon they needed to face the rain of arrows and charges from three directions! |
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With Nobutora himself at the
front, the monk taisho was totally defeated. The rest of the enemy were
shaken!
But the enemy didn't stop charging down! Well this way they died sooner. In the valley they had slow movements upwards - making them more vulnerable to the Takeda archer arrows. |
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Certainly the enemy had
initiated a total charge -- wait, they were running away!
The Takeda soldiers were blocking their way of return, so running home is equal to running to hell. |
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Out of 420 fierce warriors of Kaga, only 19 made their way out... Perhaps one of the most glorious victory for Takeda! |
Summer 1535
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With Kaga totally conquered,
Takeda Nobutora confidently invaded Hida in summer. This implies that soon
Takeda will have to take Mino - because with limited soldiers Takeda will
not afford to defend both Hida and Shinano from Mino.
The ronins of Hida retreated to Echizen. Both good and bad. It was good because Hida was taken free; it was bad because the monks in Echizen were now supported by more soldiers. It would be the best if Oda decided to attack Echizen first - which is very unlikely. |
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With almost the entire Northern
Japan consolidated using two years, Takeda Nobutora attacked Mino as planned.
The black forest now grows south - the elite army of Takeda will confront the best of Oda on the hills of Mino.
This will for sure be the largest battle so far! (... to be continued) |
