Japan's Warring States Period: The Rise of the Wakasa Tiger

Chapter 118: Takahama Falls
Takahama Castle, located on a peninsula surrounded by the sea on three sides, was the residence of Takahama's magistrate, Hisamura Mitsuyasu. Rather than being a castle, it was more like a residence similar to the Takeda clan's mansion, with a flat terrain and weak defense capabilities.

The landward side of the castle is adjacent to Takahama Port and the castle town, and was very prosperous. Especially after Yoshishige promoted Rakuichi Rakuza, it gradually became an important hub for merchant ships from the west and north to dock and trade.

Yi Jianchangjing took the lead in attacking here. His intention was very clear, which was to obtain a large amount of funds with minimal casualties while protecting the safety of the northern line of Suidao Mountain City.

On the morning of the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, Naito Katsutaka led the remnants of the "Miyagawa Rebellion" and hired ronin, a total of 500 people, and marched towards Takahama Castle.

When they arrived at the castle town, they encountered a small-scale attack by patrolling soldiers, but due to their large numbers, the patrolling soldiers were quickly defeated. However, the defeated soldiers still brought the news of the enemy attack to Hisamura Mitsuyasu who had just woken up from his sleep.

Hisamura Mitsuyasu is the young master of the Hisamura clan of Toshiki County. He has limited military power but is good at domestic affairs. After Kanezaki's evaluation, he was appointed as the deputy governor of Takahama by Yoshishige. Since taking office, he has strictly implemented the Raku City Rakuza according to Yoshishige's orders, and the economy of Takahama Port has become increasingly active.

However, since Takahama is located in the interior of Wakasa and surrounded by the sea on three sides, it is rarely affected by war, so not many standing troops are stationed there. The total number of soldiers under Hisamura Mitsuyasu is only about 80, including the 40 who were defeated by Naito Katsutaka in the castle town.

Upon hearing that the enemy was approaching, Hisamura Mitsuyasu immediately gathered the remaining forty-odd men to prepare for battle. However, Cejin and Riki both believed that Takahama was easy to attack but difficult to defend, and that the enemy was numerous and we were few, so it was not advisable to defend it to the death. Therefore, they advised them to evacuate by boat to temporarily avoid the attack.

At first, Hisamura Mitsuyasu felt that it would be a betrayal to evacuate at this point, and he refused to do so. However, when he later learned that there were 500 rebels attacking the city, he felt that it was hopeless to defend the city. In the end, he chose to return to Obama by boat with the defenders in the city and the merchants who were willing to evacuate.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, accompanied by a group of stragglers, Naito Katsutaka swaggered into Takahama Castle and ordered his men to take down the flag with "Marunouchi Hanabishi" printed on it and raise the flags with "Marunouchi Hanabishi" (Naito clan), "Ishimochi Gobonebone Fan" (Awaya clan) and "Shiwarihime".

The news of Naito Katsutaka's victory soon reached Suidoyama Castle. Itsumi Masatsune was very satisfied and immediately ordered him to continue eastward to surrender the Hongo clan and complete the occupation of the northern part of Oi County.

The reason why Itomi Masatsune did this was because Hongo Mitsuyasu, the head of the Hongo clan who was the public servant of the shogunate, resolutely refused the envoy's persuasion to surrender, and led his family and soldiers to leave Hongo-kan and go to the easily defended and difficult to attack Tatsu Castle to besiege the city.

In desperation, Itsumi Masatsune could only let Naito Katsutaka lead his troops to attack Hongo's territory, intending to force Hongo Mitsuyasu to leave the city and surrender through intimidation of force.

As for Yijian Changqing, the progress was not smooth either.

Muto Mitsuhiro of Ishiyama Castle was the elder brother of Muto Mitsuyuki, a close official of Yoshishige. As mentioned before, the Muto clan and the Itomi clan had a bad relationship, so Muto Mitsuhiro had always been wary of Itomi Masatsune.

In addition, Yoshishige had asked him to mobilize the people within the territory a few days ago, and the few words revealed in Muto Mitsuyuki's letter made him guess that Yoshishige might take action against Itomi Masatsune.

It was expected that Yi Jianchang would be the first to raise the flag of rebellion; it was unexpected that he would act so quickly. He had just gathered 300 soldiers when his 1,000-man army rushed towards Shishan City.

Ishiyama Castle, the main castle was built on a mountain top as high as 180 meters. The main moat groups were arranged on the ridge extending from the mountain top to the north. There were criss-crossing earthen moats all around. It was an impregnable castle that the Muto family had managed for many years.

At first, Yi Jianchangqing sent people to persuade the city to surrender, but the messenger was shot dead by a flying arrow before he could get close to the city gate. Yi Jianchangqing was furious and immediately organized his soldiers to attack the city from the relatively weak northwest corner.

However, the battle was not as smooth as Itami Masaki imagined. Although there were fewer fortifications in the northwest corner, the slope was steeper. Under the harassment and stubborn resistance of Muto's army, the battle lasted until 3 pm. Although Itami's army once rushed to the middle of the mountain, it could not gain a foothold and was forced to retreat to the foot of the mountain.

Later, until the drums were beaten to call off the troops in the evening, Yijian's army still could not get close to the Qulun group. As a last resort, Yijian Changqing could only send people to Suidao Mountain City to ask Yijian Changjing to come and command the siege.

In the direction of Tatsujo, Naito Katsutaka, who took advantage of the victory, occupied Hongo-kan without bloodshed and immediately launched an attack on Tatsujo not far away.

As a public servant, Hongo Mitsutsu lived in Kyoto all year round, and his control over his retainers was not strong. Therefore, facing the sudden rebellion of Itomi Masatsune and the pursuit of Naito Katsutaka, although he was determined to resist, there were strange voices among his retainers. Among them, the brothers Wada Shojo and Wada Noritada, who were the elders of the family, had always been on good terms with Naito Katsutaka, and they became malicious after learning that the latter had made a comeback.

Especially after receiving a secret letter from Naito Katsutaka from the ninja, and learning that Itomi Masaki, Isshiki Yoshiyuki and even Yamana Takunaga of Tajima had all risen up against Yoshishige, his will to resist was further eroded. He decided to launch a coup that night and force Hongo Mitsuo to open the city and surrender.

After receiving the reply from the Wada brothers, Naito Katsutaka was overjoyed and immediately ordered his soldiers to intensify the offensive, intending to create conditions for the Wada brothers' coup through intimidation by force.

At night, peace returned to the city, and Hongo Mitsuyasu, accompanied by several samurai, inspected the city defenses. Looking at the wounded soldiers lying in all directions in the city, Hongo Mitsuyasu felt pity, and while asking about their well-being, he also tried his best to help them.

When they reached the vicinity of Otemon Gate, Hongo Mitsutsu suddenly discovered that Wada Norisada, who was supposed to be guarding the Kantemon Gate, appeared with his brother Wada Shojo. Not only that, the samurai of the Wada family also gathered near the Otemon Gate.

Although Hongo Mitsuyasu sensed something was amiss, as the head of the family, he decided to step forward and find out what was going on.

"Gorobei, shouldn't you be guarding the Gangshou Gate? Why are you here?" Hongo Mitsuyasu asked straight to the point.

"My lord, I am here to discuss something with my brother." Hetian Xiansada replied respectfully.

Hongo Mitsuyasu was not satisfied with his answer: "Now that the enemy is approaching, what could be more important than defending the city? Besides, if there is something important, shouldn't you report it to me?"

"My lord, please calm down. Gorobei and I do have important matters to discuss." Wada Shaosada on the side interrupted.

"What's so important that you need to tell it behind my back?" Hongo Mitsuyasu frowned, feeling unhappy.

"My lord, do you know how many soldiers are left in the city?" asked Wada Shaoding.

"Didn't Yukiemon already count the number of people during the military meeting just now? There are still 160 people," Hongo Mitsuyasu replied.

"Among them, who are not seriously injured and can still fight?" Wada Shaosada continued to ask.

"About one hundred and twenty people... Awaji no Kami, what exactly do you want to ask?" Hongo Mitsuyasu said impatiently.

"I have received news that now, Naito Uchisuke, Itomi Suruga-no-kami, Isshiki Yoshiyuki of Tango, and Yamana Kingo of Tajima have united to oppose Buei-den, with a total force of nearly 5,000 people!" Wada Shojo said, stretching out a palm and opening it in front of Hongo Mitsuyasu.

"You...where did you get this information from? What's your intention in saying this?!" Mitsutsu Hongo suddenly felt something was wrong. He looked around subconsciously and found that the samurai of the Wada family had surrounded him and the samurai beside him.

Please continue to read, subscribe, vote and reward, Xiong Zai will be very grateful!

Another thing, I killed Fujibayashi Masahiro who was recommended by Ultraman God, because I think ninjas can exist, but it is not necessary for the protagonist to have two top ninjas, which is too buggy. This caused some readers to be unhappy, and Xiongzai said sorry. You can still continue to submit character posts, and I will use them as much as possible, but the time will be a little slow.

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(End of this chapter)