Chapter 474 33. A Great Defeat at Ikunoyama

Mid-March, Musashi Province, Ikuyama (Ikunoyama).

Uesugi Terutora led Uesugi Kensho (shield) Masaru, Ashikaga Yoshiuji, and the people of Echigo Ueno, as well as Ryoda Harusuke, Utsunomiya Hirotsuga, Haga Takasada, Nagano Yoshimasa, Narita Nagayasu, and Ota Sukemasa, totaling 35,000 cavalry.

Hosokawa Saime joined Kiso Yoshimasa, Ogasawara Sadakeshi, Konishihara Saemon, Hosokawa Harumiya, Murakami Takeomaru (Kiyono Kiyohide) and other 10,000 cavalry (temporary increase) to join the battle.

At this time, the Kanrei Uesugi faction was assigned 1,800 cavalry including Kawada Nagachika, Yasuda Kagehiro, Ueda Kensada in Matsuyama Castle, the last direct branch castle in northern Musashi.

Matsuyama Castle was facing the 55,000 cavalry of the Takeda and Hojo coalition forces. Under such a powerful military attack, Matsuyama Castle was like a small boat in the raging sea, and its future was in danger.

Once Matsuyama Castle fell, the Uesugi clan would no longer have a strong stronghold in the entire Musashi Province except for the vassal Narita clan of Oshi Castle, and all of Uesugi Terutora's efforts in Kanto would be completely in vain.

A small hilltop like Ikuyama became the key that Uesugi Terutora, who was determined to break the siege and rescue Matsuyama, and Oishi Ujiteru, who was determined to stop the reinforcements from breaking through Matsuyama on the spot, had to fight for.

If Uesugi Terutora won, his 45,000-strong army would reach Matsuyama, with a strong city behind them, a large number of soldiers and generals, and an invincible position.

If Oishi Ujiteru won, he would stop the enemy outside the country, take over the entire Musashi Province, restore his father and brother's family business, and expand the power of the Hojo clan.

The two sides had been confronting each other in Ikuyama for ten days, each summoning reinforcements, with a total force of nearly 100,000. The camp was several miles long, with flying flags all around.

Especially when Takeda Harunobu with 20,000 soldiers and Hosokawa Naione with 10,000 soldiers arrived at the battlefield, the samurai from all over the East were amazed at the majestic momentum of the two armies and their fighting spirit became increasingly high.

The Matsuyama Castle, which the two sides fought for, was even more powerful. As the most critical branch castle controlling northern Musashi, it even became the base camp of the Uesugi clan of Ogigayatsu to counterattack Kawagoe and Edo.

Hirayama Castle, which was built in a terraced style on the layers of hills using the Ichino River surrounding the foot of the mountain, combines its complex city defenses with natural dangers.

What's more exaggerated is that because it is located on a huge piece of granite, although the surface is covered with loose soil, the base is actually indestructible. It is impossible for the Kindari to launch a earth dragon attack and conduct an underground siege.

Documents such as "Cabinet Documents", "Obata Family Documents", "Saishu Documents", "Izumo Sakurai Documents", and "Kenshin's Chronicle" all record the difficulty of Matsuyama Castle.

Even if Uesugi Terutora personally took charge, and the 8,000 Echigo troops took turns to fight. It was difficult to break through to the south, and Takeda Harunobu commanded his soldiers to attack Matsuyama Castle. Although the bamboo and sparrow of the Uesugi clan were still flying on the top of Matsuyama Castle, the reinforcements could never reach the city, and Matsuyama Castle would fall one day.

This scene looked very similar to Kinshi (shielded) Province. Kawada Nagachika in the city was indeed loyal and unyielding, and vowed to defend the city to the death. But Uesugi Terutora outside was just like Hong. Most of his soldiers had different intentions and were not of one mind.

They were advancing step by step and did not have enough food and fodder to hold on. Although he could directly see Kinshi (shielded) Province in Matsuyama, like Hong, Uesugi Terutora could also see Matsuyama Castle trying to defend the city on Ikuno Mountain.

But he just couldn't break through the defense organized by Oishi Ujiteru. His Kanto generals were exactly the same as Hong's eight generals. The primary goal was to preserve their strength, and the secondary goal was to strike the enemy.

Even Hosokawa Kaneko was not immune to this. The 10,000-man army of the Yamanouchi family was the foundation of the country, and he did not have the courage and determination to throw it away lightly.

The momentum of the two armies rose and fell, and an indescribable change occurred.

On this day, the offensive of the Hojo army became more fierce, and the troops of the Musashi clan fought bravely.

Sakurai Sakon, Ono Touhachiro, Yoshichi Yasaburo, Ota Bungo-no-mori, Obata Taikiyo and others led their troops to attack the Uesugi army regardless of life and death. They even broke through the Uesugi army's first move and fought against the Nagano and Yamanouchi armies on the left and right wings.

The troops of the Hojo army were dispatched together, and Fujita Ujikuni and Imagawa Ujiki attacked each other.

Fujita Ujikuni entangled Nagano Yoshimasa, Imagawa Ujiki entangled Hosokawa Kane, and Hojo Ujinobu led the guerrillas, on the one hand, driving away the relatively weak Ohta army in the Uesugi army, and on the other hand, loudly clamoring for the false news that the Uesugi army was defeated and Uesugi Terutora died alone.

The Uesugi coalition was originally entangled only because of Uesugi Terutora's identity as the Kanto governor, and its organizational discipline was not even as high as that of Hong, who held the imperial sword and supervised the Ji and Liao.

And Wang Pu, the general of Datong under Hong, was defeated first that night, followed by Ma Ke, Tang Tong, Bai Guangen, Li Fuming, Wu Sangui and others who fled in succession.

The same thing was that Yamane Asahi of the Uesugi Central Army was defeated first, and then rushed to Narita Ujinagaki and Narita Taiki. The sudden collapse of four or five thousand people on the left rib directly affected the troops of Kanzasa Kagemochi deployed by Uesugi Terutora on the left wing.

Akai Terukage didn't want to come in the first place, and he had long wanted to surrender to the Hojo clan. Because of the first battle in Kanto, Akai Terukasu's Tatebayashi Castle was relocated, and the Akai clan was reduced by half. Such a good opportunity, of course, he would not let it go, and immediately broke up the hall.

In this kind of war situation, it is like adding insult to injury and adding insult to injury. The adverse impact is far beyond estimation.

The troops of the Nagao clan, such as Sosha, Shirai, and Ashikaga, were not strong, so they dared not face the Hojo army directly, and they also fled in a big rout.

Now, what's the use of Uesugi Terutora being a military god? Among the 25,000 people in the middle, more than 10,000 people have been in chaos or collapsed, and the situation is simply difficult to deal with.

The Echigo tribe led Uesugi Terutora to retreat to Ueno Bridge Castle without saying a word. Anyway, the 8,000 Echigo tribes were safe, so the capital was still there. As for the other troops, they abandoned them like worn-out shoes.

But the Uesugi central army collapsed too quickly. Hosokawa Saime and Nagano Yoshimasa, who each led tens of thousands of troops to guard the left and right wings, had no time to react. They saw Uesugi Terutora's main force evacuating the battlefield, and the 17,000-man Kanto tribe collapsed.

The two had no choice, one fled to Koshihata and the other to Sugiyama. The Hojo army swept all the way to the Tone River and killed more than 1,800 Uesugi soldiers in battle.

The branch castles of Matsuyama Castle, such as Aoyama, Takaya, Takami, Kokura, and Moto Ryota, all opened their gates and surrendered to the Hojo clan.

Except for the three castles of Matsuyama, Sugiyama, and Koshihata, all the castles south of the Tone River were lost. The troops of Hojo and Takeda reached Hirai. Not only was Musashi doomed, but even the southern part of Ueno was shaken.

The shadow of the Battle of Kamirugawa once again loomed over the hearts of the people of southern Ueno. The entire situation suddenly deteriorated and collapsed.

Ten thousand Shinano soldiers of the Yamanouchi family were trapped in Koshibata with only 20 days of military rations!

(The Battle of Ikuyama is known as one of the only two disastrous defeats of Uesugi Kenshin in his life, but the specific process of the battle is unknown.)