Chapter 577 39. Yixin Decides to Fight in the Field
After entering Suwa, the scene was probably called "carrying water and water to welcome the king's army."
It was not that the people of Suwa truly loved the Yamanouchi Army, but that Takeda Nobutoyo embraced Suwa Takeomaru and defended the castle of Uehara Castle, completely abandoning all the outer positions. Even the natural defenses of Suwa Shrine and the south bank of Lake Suwa were completely given up, as if they were going to make an arbitrary resistance.
More than ten years ago, Suwa was still fighting a desperate resistance against the Takeda family. Suwa Yorimitsu resisted Takeda Shintora, and Suwa Yorishige resisted Takeda Shingen. Two generations of grandparents and grandchildren continued to resist for decades.
The two sides fought back and forth, and countless people died.
The little loyalty of Suwa was maintained by the powerful military coercion of Takeda Shingen and Suwa Katsuyori, the son of him and Suwa Gosho. If Suwa Katsuyori had not had Suwa blood flowing in his veins, the people of Suwa would have rebelled at least three more times, judging from the precedents of the neighboring Nishina and Oi clans.
The current situation is that the Takeda family's originally powerful military power has collapsed, and in order to stabilize the succession, they have to put Suwa Katsuyori under house arrest. Suwa Takeomaru is a two-year-old child, who will take him seriously?
It may not be seen in one or two days that Takeda Yoshinobu dares to ignore Uehara. After half a month or a month, it is guaranteed that everyone in Suwa will be tempted. It doesn't matter who you work for, why not work for the winner?
All the way here, the Yamauchi army, which had never fought a battle, set up a large camp around Uehara Castle. They occupied Suwa Taisha Shrine and Suwa Lake, respectively, and the main camp was in Ariga Castle, which was abandoned in advance by Takeda Nobutoyo.
The Suwaguchi Road was open to Takeda Yoshinobu and Takeda Nobutoyo, who was defending Uehara Castle. It would be best if you, Takeda Nobutoyo, ran away, and took over the entire Suwa County without fighting. It would be fine if you, Takeda Yoshinobu, came, and had a decisive battle at Uehara Castle.
I wonder how much power the Kai army still has after being cut in half?
The main camp of the shogunate was relaxed. It has been so many years, and this is the first time that such an easy battle has happened. 25,000 people surrounded the Uehara Castle, which was guarded by 6,000 people. This is probably comparable to the rich battle when Uesugi Kenshin led 112,000 people from Kanto to surround Odawara Castle. The difference is almost five times, which is rare.
Moreover, the total mobilization of Kai territory would not exceed 10,000 people. Takanari Masayoshi's 8,000 people were squatting at Sakuguchi, waiting to enter Kai and fight.
"Where has the Kanrei-sama advanced to?" Koheita asked Murakami Yoshimitsu, holding a green bamboo stick.
"Kasugayama Kanrei has arrived at Bushu Kisai Castle!"
It is one of the most important branch castles of Oshi Castle, guarded by Oda Asahi and Oda Ietoki, father and son. The number of troops that Kenshin Uesugi brought into Kanto this time suddenly increased to 10,000 due to the annexation of the Ueda clan of the dead Nagao Masakage. Together with the 20,000 cavalry of the Ueno clan, the number of troops easily exceeded 30,000.
He looked like he was going to break through all the branch castles outside Oshi Castle and then besiege Oshi Castle. With Narita Nagatsuda as the banner, he called on the people of northern Musashi to turn to the Uesugi side.
Matsuyama Castle was guarded by Fujita Ujikuni, a general of the Hojo clan, and was actively mobilizing troops. Kido Tadatomo (lord of Sarao Castle), Nakajo Dewa-no-mori, Hirota Naoshige (lord of Hanyu Castle), Yamada Naosada, Mizuno Nagakatsu, Iwata Yoshiyuki, Fujita Shigenori, and the popular Udo Bodoro (all real people, all defected to the Hojo clan at this time!) all led their troops to rescue.
Then Hojo Ujinao also went to the battlefield in person. Although the influence of his uncles in the national government was still very strong, the 14-year-old Hojo Ujinao also began to gradually gain power. It has to be said that Hojo Ujiyasu had a good family education, and these brothers were very united. Even though Hojo Ujimasa died, he still assisted Hojo Ujinao with all his strength.
Gathering the people of Sagami and Northern Musashi, the Hojo army of 22,000 cavalry also set up a battle formation in Matsuyama Castle. It was just forced by the momentum of Uesugi Kenshin. At the same time, Oshi Castle was the most fortified castle in Musashi, and it was impossible to fall so quickly. It seemed that they were prepared to use static to dynamic.
Satake Yoshishige also sent (Sazak) Minami Yoshiken as the general, gathered the Makabe clan and the Kasama clan, and rushed to the Hojo Castle of the Oda clan with an army of about 6,000, and cut off the road between Oda Castle and Hojo Castle.
The troops of the Hojo clan in Hitachi and Shimosa rose up one after another, including the Yuki clan, the Mizutani clan, and the Kodaka clan, all followed Hojo Ujinobu to help the Oda clan. This group of people was relatively small, only about 5,000 people, and most of them were local people.
Satomi Yoshihiro and Satomi Yoshihiro of Awa Kamisama also seized the opportunity and gathered troops to attack Masaki Tokitada who had turned to the Hojo clan. The Hojo clan did not make much effort to rescue them along the way. Only Daidoji Masaharu led 2,000 people to Kamisama to observe the situation.
After reading the battle report on the Kanto battlefield by Murakami Yoshimitsu, Kobayata passed the battle report to Hosokawa Nainae. In fact, it doesn't matter whether everyone reads it or not, anyway, everyone heard it clearly when they reported it just now.
"That is to say, apart from the troops left behind in various places, the Hojo clan can only come to help Takeda with no more than 7,000 people?" Yamauchi Taro counted on his fingers.
"Yes!"
"What's the news from Suruga!" Hosokawa Nainae asked.
"His Highness Totomi has sent a report that in addition to the 6,000 Suruga troops led by Anayama Baisetsai, the Hojo clan's Imagawa Sukegoro (Ujiki) leads 5,000 troops from Suruga, East and Izu. The two sides are confronting each other in the field."
"So even if the Hojo clan comes to help, it will only be 2,000 to 3,000 people?" Kobayata didn't expect that this completely immature Takeda encirclement could be so thorough.
"Hahahahaha, I'm afraid they won't come! If His Highness Kanrei breaks through Oshi Castle, the Hojo clan won't be able to protect themselves!" Hosokawa Saime looked like she was doing exactly that.
"Then everyone, there is nothing to say, let's prepare to attack Uehara." Xiao Pingtai looked at Yamauchi Taro, and after the child nodded, Xiao Pingtai gave orders.
Needless to say, the first general is naturally Hosokawa Caime. The left and right wings are served by Konishihara Saemon and Yamauchi Yoshiyasu. In the first round of siege, more than 3,000 people will be used. It is best to break Uehara directly. Even if it doesn't work, it can shake the will of Takeda Nobutoyo in the castle. This Takeda stableman is far inferior to his stableman father.
Moreover, this time Suwa is fully mobilized, and there is still Yamauchi's internal response Nishimaki Shiroemon in the castle. At the most appropriate time, this person will surely make a move.
He inspected the military camps in various places and found no loopholes or flaws. There is no need to worry about a dead soldier of the armored army running from somewhere and rushing into the camp of the Yamauchi army.
It's easy, but Xiao Pingtai will not relax where it's necessary. Xiao Pingtai has heard a lot of examples of careless losses in battles. If they lose in this situation where a flying dragon is riding on their face, then Xiao Pingtai's wisdom for half his life will be a joke.
"Report! Takeda Kai's commander, 10,000 cavalrymen of Kai, have passed Suwaguchi and are heading towards Uehara!"