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

Chapter 65: Danhou
On February 14, after the peace talks were concluded, the oath was sent to Kanezaki Castle and Ichijodani Castle respectively, and was handed over to Nobushige and Asakura Kagetaka for confirmation and signature.

On February 16, after the oath was signed and exchanged, the Asakura army was the first to withdraw from the battlefield. Nobushige left 300 troops to guard the Kirige fortress group, and the remaining troops also withdrew to Kanezaki and Wakasa. The battle between the Asakura clan and the Takeda clan ended with a great victory of the Takeda army after 48 days.

On February 19th, a grand imperial decree ceremony was held at the Takeda clan's residence in Wakasa, under the auspices of Sanjo Kuniyori. Nobushige was officially appointed as the Kami of Izu, which was a hereditary position passed down from generation to generation by the Wakasa Takeda clan. By inheriting this position, Nobushige's position as the head of the Takeda clan was legitimate.

After the ceremony was completed, Sanjo Konyori wanted to take the opportunity to talk with Nobushige and Takeda Motomitsu to see if the two still had the idea of ​​marrying into the Rokkaku clan, but the war report from Tango disrupted his plan.

The content of the battle report was relatively brief, but the sense of crisis and urgency between the lines made Nobushige dare not delay for a moment and decided to lead the troops to fight again. In order to win the favor of Nobushige, Sanjo Konori also decided to go with the army and followed the army's pace to the west accompanied by Takeda Motomitsu.

The battle report said that in recent days, the Isshiki army took advantage of the Takeda clan's difficulty in sending reinforcements to support Higashikasa County and launched repeated attacks on Kurabashi Castle and surrounding castles. In order to preserve strength and reduce morale, Shirai Mitsutane ordered the Takeda army to hold several larger castles, abandon some smaller castles, and rely on existing fortifications to resist or delay the Isshiki army's attacks.

Before the battle report was sent, the Takeda clan only controlled a few castles in the eastern part of Tango Kasa County, such as Kurahashi, Dooku, and Tonomura. Most of the eastern Kasa County, including the Oura Peninsula, was occupied by the Isshiki army, and the situation was very serious.

On February 21, Nobushige led 1,200 people, including the elite Ma Kai, from the Takeda clan's mansion and headed west to Takahama Castle in Oi County.

At this time in Tango, Isshiki Yoshiyuki had already moved his main camp to Kameiwa Castle, not far to the west of Kurahashi Castle, while the guardian daimyo no Nagaharunobu was stationed in Mizojiri Castle and commanded his troops to attack Dooku Castle.

It was originally thought that while the Takeda clan concentrated its forces to resist the Asakura clan, they could seize Higashikasa County in one fell swoop, but the resolute resistance of Shirai Mitsutane and Itsumi Masatsune still caused the Isshiki coalition to suffer a lot.

Although they had captured most of the cities in eastern Kasa County, the Takeda clan's ruling center in Tango, Kurahashi Castle, was still like a nail firmly planted in the heart of Kasa County, making Isshiki Yoshiyuki restless. Especially after learning that Nobushige had defeated the powerful Asakura clan and captured Tsuruga County, the people in Tango began to retreat and asked Isshiki Yoshiyuki to withdraw his troops before the Takeda clan's reinforcements arrived to avoid a crazy counterattack by the Takeda clan.

However, Isshiki Yoshiyuki, who had already spent a lot of manpower, financial resources, and material resources, and the military commissioner of this battle, Nobuyoshi Nobuyoshi, obviously did not want to stop. Moreover, they believed that even if they stopped at this time, the Takeda clan would not let them go. Instead of passively being beaten, it would be better to take advantage of the battlefield and launch another round of fierce attacks. As long as they could capture Kurabashi Castle, they would have the capital to bargain with the Takeda clan.

On the same day that Nobushige led his army to Takahama Castle, Isshiki Yoshiyuki and Nobunaga Harunobu mobilized the entire Isshiki coalition army of about 3,000 people to launch a strong attack on Kurabashi Castle, which had only 700 people stationed. The battle lasted from early morning to dusk, and although they broke into Ninomaru several times, they were ultimately unable to gain a foothold in the city due to the resolute resistance of Shirai Mitsutane.

That night, Shirai Mitsutane received the news that Nobushige had led his army to support, and the army's morale was boosted. Everyone then understood why the Isshiki coalition army had gone against their usual practice and launched a fierce attack regardless of casualties.

Itomi Masatsugu, who also received the news, led a surprise attack team from Doo Castle and launched a night attack on Isshiki Yoshiyuki's main camp under the cover of darkness, causing some damage and chaos, and also intensified the Tango people's idea of ​​retreating to defend their own camp.

Isshiki Yoshiyuki and Nobunaga Harunobu held a military meeting overnight, hoping to launch another general attack on Kurabashi Castle tomorrow. If they still failed to capture the city, they would be willing to withdraw their troops to the west. After getting the promise from the two, Ishikawa Naoki and other people also recovered some morale. After all, if they could capture Kurabashi Castle, they might be able to get some compensation for military supplies; if they withdrew their troops now, they would have nothing.

On February 22, the Isshiki coalition launched the most massive attack on Kurahashi Castle since the beginning of the war. Itomi Masaki, who realized that Shirai Mitsutane was in danger, also led 300 people from Dooku Castle to attack the flank of the Isshiki coalition as reinforcement.

In this battle, Shirai Mitsutsu's second son Shirai Naotsugu was killed, Itsumi Masatsugu was also injured by stray arrows, and the walls of Kurabashi Castle's Ninomaru were breached in many places. In order to delay time, Shirai Mitsutsugu ordered the defenders to retreat to Honmaru for defense, which also enabled the Isshiki coalition to successfully occupy Ninomaru when the troops were called off in the evening.

Isshiki Yoshiyuki was really excited about the imminent capture of Kurahashi Castle. You know, this castle has been in the hands of the Takeda clan for more than 20 years, and the previous leaders of the Isshiki clan had failed to recapture it, but now he had almost taken it into his pocket. He fantasized that he could use this military achievement to regain the glory and authority of the Isshiki clan, and more importantly, to bring all of Kasa County under his direct rule, so that he could compete with Nobunaga Harunobu.

However, time is running out for him and the Isshiki coalition.

That same night, Nobushige led the Takeda army across Yoshizaka Pass and officially entered Tango Kasa County.

The small towns that were previously conquered or taken over by the Isshiki coalition forces, because the garrisons were all transferred to besiege Kurahashi Castle, the garrisons either opened their gates or abandoned their cities and fled in the face of Nobushige's army. When the people of Kahara, Kokura and other towns heard about Nobushige's arrival, they also defected from the Isshiki clan again and expressed their submission to Nobushige.

As soon as the sky brightened, the army arrived at Tangao City. At this point, Yi Jianchangjing finally felt relieved.

Due to the rapid march all night, many soldiers were tired, so Xinzhong ordered them to take a short rest, while he discussed with Yi Jianchang how to fight this battle well.

"My lord, I think that as long as the army appears near Cangqiao City, the mob in Tango will retreat without a fight. In this way, our army can avoid casualties." Yijian Changjing suggested.

Xinzhong first agreed with his analysis. Indeed, as long as reinforcements appeared, the Isshiki coalition would surely scatter like birds and beasts. However, he did not want just such a result: "Retreat without fighting. What will happen next? Will we continue to maintain the current situation?"

"What do you mean, lord?"

Nobushige pointed to the river that ran through the north and south of Kasa County on the map and said, "I want to cross the Isatsu River and go straight to Takebeyama Castle!"

(End of this chapter)