One of the Horde
| STW War Story VI
One of the Horde |
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Dear Noble Lords of Hojo: This is Miyoshi Tadayoshi, your humble narrator of
the war story. In the last chapter, our complete victory in Shigoku (Iyo and
Awa) against Shimazu has led to the ultimate elimination of the Shimazu clan.
Our goal now is obvious - to unite the nation as soon as possible! 
Spring 1547
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With no threats in Shigoku, lord Hojo confidently marched
onto the land of Kyushu, but the first big obstacle is the former Shimazu
army defending Bungo, the gate of Kyushu. In the meantime, I was ordered
to reinforce Hojo Ujiyasu's campaign of Chugoku. By taking the port
transfer between Tosa and Hoki, I shall be able to arrive at the front
exactly 1 season earlier. 
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The land of Bungo was guarded by a quite famous general named Ukita Naomoto. His large army consists of the elite of former Shimazu, which posts quite a threat to our daimyo. Seeing the entire enemy body camped on the slope of the left mountain, Lord Hojo ordered all yari cavalry to march as high as they could before they charged down and flank the entire enemy from the left. In the meantime, the Hojo archers of Totomi shall distract the enemy! |
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The charge began!
300 Hojo cavalry poured down the mountain, while the enemy used yari ashigaru to defend... yari troop is the natural enemy of cavalry, but Hojo was superior in number and quality. The charge was stopped! |
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Lord Hojo's movement has left our right flank rather
defenseless. The enemy yari ashigaru and cavalry immediately
broke in our archers' lines.
Our archers were of the best in the nation, and their hand-to-hand fighting skill was superior. The enemy could not get an advantage although we are outnumbered - thanks to our height advantage! |
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Just a few seconds later, the enemy ashigaru collapsed on the
hill as they were flanked by Hojo's yari samurai. The enemy
was on the run, while Hojo's yari cavalry chased after.
Soon the enemy taisho was killed! |
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A bloody battle. The superior honor of our men defeated the
enemy.
Now the door of Kyushu has been opened! |
Summer 1547
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While I sailed to Hoki via the port of Tosa, Lord Hojo
marched into Hyuga, leaving the Bungo castle siege to some
new recruits.
The enemy in Hyuga retreated into their castle. |
Autumn 1547
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While Hojo Ujiyasu needs to defend Izumo using his limited
army, I was ordered to attack Mori via the southern route of
Chugoku - via Bitchu - Bingo - and Aki.
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The Mori army in Bitchu gave up the river province after a little
hesitation! |
Winter 1547
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As soon as loads of Shinobi arrived in Kyushu through the ports, Lord Hojo was confident about the peasants' loyalty and decided to advance deeper. His target was Osumi - obviously lord Hojo's plan is to unite the entire Southern Hojo surrounding the coast line. | ||||||
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Bitchu was taken, so now my men attacked Bingo in winter. Mori also gathered
another large number of army here - looks like their reinforcement from the
west has arrived as they also know Shimazu no longer posts any threats to
them! |
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| In the light fog, our men finally saw the entire 1300 Mori's men were hidden in the forest on the mountain. My plan was to get on the mountain first to gain some equal height advantage... see what can we do next! |
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| The enemy emerged from the forest! Soon I assigned all yari
samurai ready to surround the enemy's frontal units (yari ashigaru on the
top flanking their right, yari samurai at the bottom flanking their left).
The yari cavalry stayed at the back for rapid reinforcement outside the
forest!
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| The battle was intense. Seeing the majority of enemy hidden
in the forest, I ordered all archers stop using their arrows but rush into
the forest and help their comrades.
At the same time, the enemy archers emerged from the forest on the
right. Here comes the chance for our yari cavalry! |
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| The enemy archers was soon routed facing the mighty downhill charge of our cavalry. Many of them fled into the forest - and the brave cavalry chased in! |
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Seeing their comrade running pass them, the enemy's front
line was collapsed in seconds. The victory is assured, and now lets
collect more heads from the enemy! 
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| Killing 13 myself (a record breaking ashigaru! woohoo! ),
my leadership brought down the famous Saito general of Mori. Again Mori's
defense is utterly crushed. Now we should advance over the entire Chugoku
with little resistance!
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Spring 1548
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The next spring, both Hojo Ujiyasu and myself was asked to
attack Mori from both sides of the mountain.
Mori had no choice but to retreat! |
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Also, Lord Hojo marched into the heart of former Shimazu, Satsuma. Destroying all troop training facilities there, Lord Hojo ensured the safety of Kyushu! |
Summer 1548
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The time has come for the last battle between Hojo and Mori.
Mori Yoshinari, the brother of Mori Motonari who was killed
due to his betrayal in Kawachi, was left with only 300 men in
Suo.
I was honored to be called for the termination of Mori! Also, Hojo Ujiyasu was asked to sail to Bungo, preparing
for an assault to Chikuzen of northern Kyushu. This means
that my job will include taking Nagato and maybe Buzen! |
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Knowing their final destiny, Mori's men gave up the highest ground of the
battlefield, while their daimyo led an suicidal charge to our yari samurai
in the woods... |
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As he wished, the Mori daimyo was killed.
That's probably considered honorable, but not very smart. |
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With minimal loss, we took over Suo, the last province of Mori. The Mori clan is now destroyed! There is no other clan that even has a name to compete against the glorious Hojo! |
Autumn 1548
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So as planned, Hojo Ujiyasu attacked the defenseless Chikuzen
with less than 200 men. Lord Hojo marched into Higo, the last
province of ronins in southern Kyushu.
The last province of Honshu, Nagato, contains a large number of former Shimazu soldiers. Of course, it was my responsibility to destroy them, bringing the entire Honshu continent under the rule of Hojo. Charge! |
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Lord Hojo's attack of Higo succeeded with very minor resistance. The 360 enemy led by yet ANOTHER Miyoshi general gave up the province without a good fight!
So how about the battle of Nagato, the last stronghold of the enemy? |
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| 1300 vs. 1400. The enemy was roughly 60% archers, 20% yari samurai and 20% ashigaru. First, I let our fast cavalry to attract some of the enemy peasants, while our own peasants ready for a total back attack! |
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| The large number of enemy archers posts a threat to us, but
our improved armor has now paid off. Our yari troops proceeded in the rain
of arrows with little resistance, while on the right flank the enemy has
totally collapsed. Now our yari cavalry are ready to flank the pathetic
enemy archers from their left!
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| The enemy archers probably sensed their danger and started to march away - the opposite direction to their retreating route. This was indeed a stupid move. Our yari ashigaru has caught up their tail and started the killing, while the yari samurai and archers approached from their flank now. |
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| Roughly half of the enemy was caught by our men, the other half kept marching away. Of course, these miserably abandoned soldiers routed in seconds, while their routing path were completely blocked... no survivors. |
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| The other half of the enemy did not survive for a long time.
They were routed using the same method, while this time chased down by our
elite cavalry of Shinano - still no survivors! So that's 1259 out of 1440
enemy killed. My own unit got 163 heads from the enemy!
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Winter 1548
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Only two provinces left on the land of Japan: Buzen and
Hizen.
The major victory of Nagao resulted in NO additional resistance in Buzen. And I shall conquer this province with ease. The wise and brave heir of Hojo, Hojo Ujiyasu, was named the commander of the invasion of Hizen, the last stand of the rebel force. Looks like we will unite the nation in this very season! |
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We outnumbered the enemy by a factor of three. The enemy hopelessly hide in the woods, but they were subject to the attack from three sides of us. They were threatened to finally give up the small forest. So where are they going? |
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They were going to retreat! 
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Another very fast victory - the retreating enemy suffered 2/3
of their men because of our fast cavalry of Shinano.
This shall be my last battle! A good ending period. |
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The battle of Hizen was harder - under the all week heavy fog, Hojo Ujiyasu was forced to commence the attack by trial-and-error search. Unfortuantely he got the wrong guess in the first place, so buy the time the large Hojo army arrived at the correct forest, 2/3 of the day has past. But this very battle is also the first time of Hojo's MONKS performance! Lets see how Budda's compassion works! |
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We simply grind over the enemy.
However, one group of enemy kept marching away --- oh no!
They were trying to make it to the time limit! Hojo Ujiyasu
ordered all men to chase the enemy with all cost! |
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What the!
The time has expired after we have routed and destroyed
the last group of enemy. Did those bastids make their way to
the battlefield exit? |
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Miracle Happened! We won the battle by killing 472 out of
480 in Hizen. Perhaps the enemy has all routed when the battle time
expired... 
Anyways, lets prepare for the celebration of the end of our campaign!
Woohoo! |
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Clan Hojo General Hall of Fame
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Harvest: Very Good (0), Good (7) Normal (6), Poor (2), Very Poor (4). Average Factor = 0.96
Our harvest was slightly worse than the average over the
past 19 years. However, the mighty horde of Dojo successfully break
through the strong daimyos of Japan with their supreme tactics, strategy,
commanders  ,
and troop quality. The well-armored yari ashigaru and samurai from
Hitachi, the elite fast cavalry of Shinano, the expert archers from Totomi
played the central rule of the unification of Japan.
I am honored to be the commander who had fought the most battles among
the generals, taking the most heads from the enemy, and also killed the
highest number of enemies under my command. Now I returned to my hometown of Hitachi, where the castle was now under my rule, as a gift from our daimyo! I shall give the peasants of Hitachi a good life from now on! Long live the horde! And most important of all, thank you for your support of my war story!
Hope to see you again someday! Best regards, Miyoshi Tadayoshi, Spring, 1549 |
Hojo 1121
Ronin 1168
Both the enemy and our cavalry suffered quite a large loss.
Lord Hojo soon instructed all of the yari samurai to flank
the enemy yari ashigaru on the slope!
Mori 370
