STW War Story Part V
Furinkazan - The Ambition of Takeda
Mountain (2)
Chapter 11 Absolute Pressure
Autumn 1542
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Takeda made three attacks in the
same season - pushing the Mori to the edge of Chugoku and challenging
Shimazu head-on.
It was a quite risky move, but Nobutora always enjoyed it. Exactly how many Mori's reinforcement will arrive in Iwami and Aki, and is Takeda Shingen going to face Shimazu Takahisa, the daimyo of Shimazu? |
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Bungo : Yes it was Shimazu Takahisa himself! 240 fresh recruits of cavalry joined the battle from Shinano and Kai (arriving through the ports of Sagami and Totomi). Takeda Shingen set up a bold plan. The entire cavalry will climb to the top of the mountain and assault the back of the enemy. |
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To further distract Shimazu
Takahisa's attention, Takeda Shingen ordered the entire yari samurai to
march ahead, attacking Shimazu's archers. Takahisa fell into the
trap - he ordered his yari troops to go forward!
When the Shimazu archers were making a live shooting contest with Takeda, the horde of cavalry emerged on the mountain. They charged down! The invincible Takeda cavalry arrived as a unstoppable mud flow. Shimazu Takahisa quickly yelled to his yari troops - but it was too late for them to back off. Shimazu had nothing to stop the cavalry charges! |
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Shimazu's men turned around and
run for their lives. However, only few of them could overrun the horses
using their comrades' body as obstacles...
Shimazu Takahisa retreated in a hurry, with the majority of his men dead on the field... Yet that was not the end of the day. Takeda Shingen counted the number of corpses, and concluded that there must be a large number of enemy still nearby - they just didn't have the chance to make an ambush... |
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The answer was the forest on the
other side of the valley! These poor peasants were probably too afraid to
come out.
Takeda Shingen set up another trap. With his cavalry as a bait, the peasants were lured out of the forests, where Takeda's yari samurai and archers have been long waiting outside. Seeing the enemy falls into the trap, Takeda and his cavalry charged back - almost the entire group of Shimazu soldiers were surrounded within! |
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The second massacre carried out.
Although Takeda did not gain too many advantage over the enemy's yari, by
surrounding the enemy from three directions, the soldiers of Shimazu still
yelled mommy in a few minutes.
The cavalry chased over, of course! |
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Killing 725 (84%) of Shimazu's
men, the killer general of Takeda Shingen destroyed the elite of
Shimazu in one shot.
Shimazu Takahisa hopelessly ended up in the castle of Bungo. |
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Iwami : Mori gathered almost every available men to defend Iwami. They were led by the son of Mori Motonari, Mori Takamoto! Yet Takeda Nobutora still decided to try. Facing the large numbers of Mori archers on the hill at the center, Nobutora let the cavalry prepare for a flank from the right... |
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Mori's archers soon started to
rain arrows on Takeda Nobutora's men downhill. However, The cavalry had
successfully dodged the Mori ashigaru and charged up! The long line of
Mori's archers were taken very heavy losses - but the presence of enemy
taisho made them waver slowly...
Just to make sure the cavalry can do their job without worries, Nobutora also made a group of yari samurai to handle the ashigaru that attempted to back attack the yari cavalry! On the other hand, Nobutora and his bold yari samurai had made their way up and collided with the archers of Mori! |
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The figure of losses were still
even - a bad sign for Takeda who were inferior in numbers. However, the
yari samurai sent to neutralize Mori's ashigaru had succeeded.
Also, Takeda Nobutora ordered the archers to discard their bows on the ground, and quickly run over to flank Mori's soldiers who were still occupying the uphill position. The Takeda yari samurai on the left was about to waver! |
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With yari samurai and cavalry
working together, Mori Takamoto finally turned around - although Mori
really still had more man than Takeda at this moment!
The rescue action of Takeda's archers was very successful. Now a large number of Mori's men were trapped between Takeda Nobutora and the his cavalry! |
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Again it turned out to be the stage of Takeda's yari cavalry. Totally 83% of Mori's men were killed - including the only heir of Mori...! |
Harvest of 1542: normal. Tax rate = 100%. Budge = 12,550 koku.
Spring 1543
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Takeda Nobutora rested only for
the winter, and the attack actions soon restarted next spring, leaving 5
castles still on siege.
This time the targets were the last two provinces of Chugoku. Seems this would bring the end to Mori... |
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Suo : Shocked by the effectiveness of Takeda Nobutora, Mori decided to try their last resistance in Suo, where they only had to face Amari Torayasu. Yet Amari Torayasu might be just as deadly as his daimyo... The 240 archers of Mori camped in the forests, probably thinking the forest can stop the cavalry of Takeda... Not if they were flanked from three directions! Amari Torayasu made the yari cavalry two both left and right flanks. While the yari samurai matching the Mori soldiers at front. |
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Everything was ready. Soldiers
were waiting for the order of Amari Torayasu...
Now charge! The three units arrived on the spot at the same time. A nasty slaughter took place in the forest! |
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237 out of 240 of Mori's men
(99%!!) ended up dead !!!
Now everyone should realize the power of Takeda cavalry. They also fought well in the forest, if commanded correctly. |
Summer 1543
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Suo : Those 3 who escaped from the battle could not escape their ultimate destiny of death. In the next season, Amari Torayasu assaulted the castle and easily retrieved their heads. |
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Tosa : The siege of Tosa castle was also about to end. Takeda Nobutora gave the new general Sanada Yuritaka a chance to demonstrate his ability. Sanada Yuritaka did it extremely well - killing 33 in the castle, he lost only 5. |
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The absolute pressure from Takeda
had succumbed Shimazu in Kyushu as well as the entire Chugoku (central
countries).
Only eight provinces were left for Takeda to conquer - yet the number of opponents in Kyushu might be still slightly larger than Takeda. Takeda Nobutora and Shingen will reunite their troops on the land of Kyushu. The final battles of the Takeda campaign are close! |
