Japan's Sengoku Period: The Sanada Clan's Ambition

Chapter 128 Sanada's westward advance, the Battle of Iwamura Castle!

Hideyoshi Hashiba originally planned to lead his army directly to Owari and Mino.

However, the battle between the Mori and Hashiba clans in the west has never stopped since the Honnoji Incident.

In fact, there was a tacit understanding between Hideyoshi Hashiba and the Mori clan: to keep fighting but not to start a full-scale war.

I don't know what the Mori family was thinking, but the period after Honnoji, when the Oda clan was in chaos, was the best time to "reclaim lost territory".

However, the Mori clan has been unable to reach a consensus for a long time, which is of course related to the Mori clan's internal system.

The territorial agreement previously signed between the Mori clan and Hideyoshi Hashiba has remained unresolved for a long time.

After the flooding of Takamatsu Castle, the ceasefire agreement signed by the two sides was for the Mori clan to cede the three provinces of Bitchu, Mimasaka, and Hōki. However, the Honnoji Incident broke out and Hideyoshi withdrew his troops, so the matter was dropped.

After the Battle of Shizugatake, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was poised to make a comeback. Terumoto Mori was actually prepared to back down, but Takakage Kobayakawa and Motoharu Yoshikawa firmly opposed it.

In any case, the situation in the western region was that although there were constant small-scale conflicts between the Mori clan and Hideyoshi Hashiba, there was no large-scale battle.

Hideyoshi Hashiba was naturally very wary of the Mori clan, so before sending troops to Mino, he specifically instructed the Ukita clan, who controlled Bizen and Mimasaka, and Miyabe Tsugujun, who was stationed in Inaba, to continue confronting the Mori clan.

This distraction prevented Hideyoshi Hashiba from arriving at the main battlefield immediately.

It took nearly ten days for Hideyoshi Hashiba to gather 30,000 men and set off from Osaka Castle for Mino.

Meanwhile, in Fukushima Castle in Shinano.

Nobuyuki Sanada led his troops to the border between Mino and Shinano.

"Brother-in-law, time is of the essence. Father is on guard against Kai and Ueno and cannot provide me with support. I can only rely on you."

Oyamada Shigemasa is now Kiso Yoshinobu's tutor, and together with Yamamura Yoshihiro, he is in charge of the Kiso family's daily affairs.

The Kiso clan's territory borders Mino, and Sanada Nobuyuki's campaign in Mino requires the full support of the Kiso clan. In particular, he relies on the Kiso clan to provide laborers and horses to ensure logistical support.

In the early stages of the war, the Sanada family had to solve the problem of military supplies on their own. It wasn't until they reached Owari and Mino that Sanada Nobuyuki was able to ask Hashiba Hideyoshi for supplies.

"Don't worry, Genzaburo. The 200 horses and 800 soldiers are ready. Once your grain is delivered to Fukushima Castle, leave the rest of the transport to us." Oyamada Shigeki said, glancing at Yamamura Yoshihiro beside him.

Yamamura Yoshihiro quickly nodded in agreement. The Kiso family was now essentially in the shape of the Sanada family, so they had no choice but to give their full support.

"The head of our clan is Shimazu Awaji-no-kami, who will arrive soon. You can then discuss things directly with him."

“Iwamura Castle in Mino is under attack. I need to help the Mori family deal with the rebels in Iwamura Castle before I can continue to the battlefield.”

The area surrounding Iwamura Castle is now under the control of the rebels. If Iwamura Castle falls, the road from Shinano to Mino will be blocked.

Therefore, Sanada Nobuyuki's immediate priority is to help Mori Nagayoshi stabilize the rear as soon as possible. Even if he cannot annihilate these rebels, he must ensure a safe road.

"I really want to go into battle with you, Genzaburo."

"The last time we fought side by side was on Kawanakajima and at Uehara Castle. It's been so long since then," said Oyamada Shigeaki with some regret.

Oyamada Shigemasa naturally wanted to go into battle as well, because only by fighting could he quickly establish merit and improve his status in the region and his family.

Although he is the son-in-law of Sanada Masayuki, he is currently only a lower-ranking samurai with a salary of 1200 koku, far from being considered a "senior retainer".

Hoshina Masamitsu, who is also the son-in-law of Sanada Masayuki, is the legitimate lord of Takato Castle and the most powerful local lord in Ina District.

"By the way, last time I was sent to Musashi by my father-in-law, I brought back a lot of samurai who had escaped from Kai."

"Many members of the Oyamada family have returned to Shinano with me. I happen to have one by my side. Why don't I let him go into battle with Genzaburo?" Oyamada Shigemasa needed to stay at Fukushima Castle, so he couldn't leave.

Although the Kiso family had submitted to Sanada, their foundation was unstable, and Yamamura Yoshihiro and others did not dare to completely trust them, so they needed someone of their own to keep an eye on things.

"Excellent!" Since Oyamada Shigemasa had personally spoken, Sanada Nobuyuki naturally wouldn't refuse; he had to give his brother-in-law that much face. It was nothing more than taking some men to earn some military merits.

Seeing that Nobuyuki Sanada had agreed, Shigeaki Oyamada quickly shouted towards the door, "Come in quickly!"

No sooner had the words been spoken than a young samurai strode in, wearing a dōmaru (a type of samurai uniform), with a flag bearing the crest of the Yamada family attached to his back.

The Oyamada family crest is the water lily (Alisma plantago-aquatica), a type of flower that is poisonous but has medicinal value. The Fukushima family crest is also the water lily.

"I am Oyamada Hikonojo Tokishige, greetings to Lord Sanada Hyogo."

Sanada Nobuyuki looked closely and saw that the newcomer was a young samurai of about fifteen or sixteen years old. He was not tall, but had a handsome face and bright, piercing eyes.

Judging by its appearance alone, it's not bad.

Oyamada Shigeaki quickly explained, "Hikonojo is the posthumous son of the head of the main family, Momohime, and is a legitimate direct descendant of the Oyamada clan."

Momohime was Oyamada Yasaburo Nobuyuki, whose father was Oyamada Dewa no Kami Nobuyuki, a senior retainer of the Takeda clan (father and son shared the same name). Oyamada Yasaburo died young at the age of 26. Since Hikonojo had not yet been born, his half-brother Oyamada Nobushige succeeded him as head of the clan.

"I see." Nobuyuki Sanada quickly gave Tokishige Oyamada an admiring look.

If the Sanada clan were to further occupy Kai Province in the future, these surviving retainers of the Takeda clan would play a significant role.

"In addition, this is Kiso Kanrokuro, the horse transport commissioner. He is in charge of allocating the horses provided to Genzaburo this time," Oyamada Shigemasa said, pointing to another samurai in the room.

"Kiso Kanroku greets Lord Sanada." Kiso Kanroku was unremarkable in appearance, around thirty years old, and a commoner in the Kiso family. His daily work was to look after the horses in Kiso Valley.

Nobuyuki Sanada nodded to the other person.

"There's no time to lose. Genjiro is still waiting outside the city, so I'll take my leave now." Sanada Nobuyuki said, having finished explaining things, that he was ready to depart.

Oyamada Shigeaki solemnly said, "Gensaburo, take care on your journey!"

"rest assured!"

Nobuyuki Sanada turned and left Fukushima Castle, with Tokishige Oyamada following closely behind.

Upon exiting the city gate, Sanada Nobushige, Obata Mitsumori, and the others had been waiting for some time. After briefly introducing Oyamada Tokishige to the two, Obata Mitsumori had Oyamada Tokishige stay by his side for protection.

Soon, a group of more than 200 riders headed south, heading straight for Meinong.

Meino, Iwamura Castle.

This is a magnificent mountain castle built on a mountaintop, with the highest point reaching an altitude of over 700 meters. As early as the Kamakura period, this was the territory of the Toyama family.

The Toyama clan was a powerful lord in the eastern Mino region, with numerous branches and control of more than a dozen cities of varying sizes in the region.

During Oda Nobunaga's reign, in order to win over the Toyama clan, Oda Nobunaga married his aunt, Oda En, to Toyama Kagetoshi of Iwamura Castle.

This shows that the Toyama clan had a great influence in the local area.

Tomotada Toyama stood at the foot of the mountain, gazing at Iwamura Castle atop the peak, his eyes filled with longing. Tomotada Toyama was the head of the Toyama family of Naegi. After Naegi Castle was captured by Mori Nagayoshi, Tomotada Toyama and his son fled to the Tokugawa family.

The Toyama family has ruled this place for hundreds of years, and this territory absolutely cannot be lost in his hands. He has already lost it once before, and today he will take it back.

"attack!"

With Tomotada Toyama's order, Tomomasa Toyama, Toshikage Toyama, and others began to direct the army to advance towards the mountaintop.

There was only one winding mountain path leading to Iwamura Castle, which was extremely difficult to traverse. More than two thousand foot soldiers from the remote mountain village were crammed together on the narrow mountain path.

Behind a reverse slope halfway up the mountain, Kagami Motomasa's eyes were fixed on the enemy troops who were slowly advancing towards the summit.

"Lord Kagami, the enemy has begun their attack on the city. Should we launch an attack?" A samurai from the Mori family crouched down and approached Kagami Motomasa.

Kagami Gensei squinted and did not answer, silently calculating the distance to the enemy.

After waiting for quite some time, and seeing that the foot soldiers of the Toyama clan had entered the range of the arquebuses, Kagami Motonari stood up and shouted loudly to the more than one hundred foot soldiers and samurai behind him, "The enemy is down the mountain, everyone follow me and kill them!"

"Oh!" Kagami Motoya is quite prestigious at home, otherwise Morinaga would not have appointed Iwamura Castle Representative.

With him taking the lead, the foot soldiers behind him also rushed out one after another.

Toyama Tomomasa, Toyama Toshikage, and others did not expect that Kagami Motonari, who was inside the castle, would dare to come out of the castle to meet the enemy. Their troops were all crowded together and could not deploy at all.

The Mori clan's foot soldiers, positioned on higher ground, wielded three-pronged spears and fiercely struck the enemy troops below.

The arquebusiers and archers on both sides of the mountain path also began to fire arrows, and due to the lack of cover, they fell down in an instant.

Toyama Tomomasa was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. He wanted to lead his team to push forward, but the path was blocked by the foot soldiers in front, so he could only watch helplessly from behind.

In the blink of an eye, the foot soldiers of the Toyama family who were at the forefront began to collapse.

The foot soldiers at the front were unable to raise their heads because they were being attacked from a high position by the foot soldiers under Kagami Motonari, while the foot soldiers behind them could not reach them with their spears. Most importantly, there was a steep slope on the left and a cliff on the right, making it impossible for them to deploy their forces.

Thousands of people were crammed together on this mountain path, forming a long snake, yet they were unable to move.

"The enemy is prepared, so we should retreat first." Seeing this situation, Toshikage Toyama had no choice but to suggest a retreat to avoid greater casualties.

Although Toyama Tomomasa was unwilling, he could only nod.

With the order to retreat given, the foot soldiers of the Toyama clan began to run down the mountain in droves, making the road down the mountain even more crowded.

Meanwhile, Genmasaru did not dare to descend the mountain easily. He had already achieved his goal of demoralizing the enemy and delaying their advance, so there was no need to continue the pursuit, as he had too few men under his command.

Just as Kagami Gen was about to turn back to Iwamura Castle, a samurai suddenly pointed down the mountain and asked, "Lord Kagami, what do you see over there?"

Following the direction the samurai pointed, Kagami Gensuke looked down the mountain and saw a red column rapidly approaching from behind the Toyama family army formation.

Unable to see clearly from a distance, Kagami Gensei quickly ordered the entire army to stand still while he assessed the situation.

Soon, a commotion arose from the foot of the mountain. The sounds of fighting and screams filled the air.

Looking again at the Yuanshan family's army formation, it was now in complete chaos.

The foot soldiers behind fled forward, while the foot soldiers of the Toyama family on the mountain also retreated downwards, and both sides fell into chaos.

"It's reinforcements!"

Kagami Gensuke instantly realized that there was only one possibility for reinforcements coming from that direction.

A tall figure immediately came to mind: "It's the Sanada family! The Sanada family's reinforcements have arrived!"

"Quickly, down the mountain, down the mountain!"

Having already repelled the enemy, the morale of Kagami Gensei's men was high, and upon hearing that reinforcements had arrived, they were all as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

Meanwhile, at the foot of Iwamura Castle.

Sanada Nobushige took the lead, charging ahead with a deer antler helmet and a cross-shaped spear in hand.

Not to be outdone, Kobata Mitsumori followed closely behind, holding his spear upside down.

"I am Toyama Hanzaemon."

A samurai from the Toyama clan rode up to greet them, but before he could finish speaking, Sanada Nobushige struck him down with a single spear thrust.

The Cross Spear differs from traditional spears in that it has two small branches on either side of the tip, resembling the character "十" (ten), hence its name.

The most famous school of the Jūmonjitō (cross-shaped spear) style during Japan's Sengoku period was the Yamato school of Hōzōin Inei. Although Sanada Nobushige did not learn the Hōzōin style, Kana Saizō was a highly accomplished student of it.

In the past few months, Ke'er has been pestering Sanada Nobushige to teach her military strategy, and Sanada Nobushige has learned it just by reading it.

"Shimono no Mamoru, you take a team and circle around to the left flank to cooperate with the eldest brother."

Obata Mitsumori turned his head and saw that Sanada Nobuyuki and his hundred cavalrymen on the left had dismounted and begun their charge.

"Alright!" Obata Mitsumori immediately raised his spear and swung it to the left, instantly splitting the formation behind him in two.

Obata Mitsumori led his thirty-odd Kai samurai to support Sanada Nobuyuki, while Sanada Nobushige's Shinano samurai continued to charge towards the Toyama clan's army ahead.

At the front of the battlefield, Toyama Tomotada's main camp was already huddled together with Toyama Tomomasa and others who had fled down from the mountain.

"Father, what's going on?" Toyama Tomomasa was completely bewildered.

Why do you run away when I run away?

Tomoyuki Toyama, who is in his fifties, was exhausted and out of breath after running such a long distance.

"It's the Sanada family!" Toyama Tomotada gasped for breath.

"The Sanada clan's cavalry has arrived."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a cavalry unit of dozens of men dressed in red kimonos, wearing red hoods and carrying red flags on their backs, charged toward them at breakneck speed in the sight of all the foot soldiers of the Toyama family.

red!

A memory that had been dead for many years suddenly flooded the mind of the Toyama samurai.

Back then, when Takeda general Akiyama Nobutomo launched a fierce attack on Iwamura Castle, if it weren't for the castle lord's wife, Oda En, marrying him, the castle would probably have been completely wiped out.

They didn't know anything about Sanada or anything like that; all they knew was that cavalrymen wearing samurai armor were tough guys. Since the Kamakura period, only samurai who were brave in battle were generally allowed to wear red armor; this was a tradition that had developed over many years.

When you see a warrior wearing red trousers, you subconsciously feel that he is a fierce warrior.

"It's Takeda! It's Takeda cavalry!" Some foot soldiers of the Toyama clan panicked and thought they had been attacked by Takeda cavalry.

"Run!"

Before the samurai of the Toyama clan could give any orders, the foot soldiers at the lower ranks couldn't hold back any longer.

Toyama Tomotada opened his lips, but under the expectant gaze of Toyama Tomomasa, he only gave one order.

"Split up and run!"

With the commander-in-chief gone, the other samurai of the Toyama clan naturally scattered and fled as well.

Sanada Nobushige chased after the fleeing soldiers for more than a mile, only turning back leisurely when his warhorse could no longer run.

Kagami Motomasa also came down the mountain to join the pursuit, and soon encountered Sanada Nobuyuki on the other side of the battlefield.

"Lord Sanada!" Kagami Motomasa stepped forward excitedly.

　Oda En: Oda Nobuhide's younger sister and Nobunaga's aunt. She was very beautiful.

　　She had previously married Hibino Kiyozane, a senior retainer of the Saito family in Mino Province. However, in 1561, during Oda Nobunaga's invasion of Mino's Moribe region, Hibino Kiyozane's castle was captured by Oda Nobunaga, and he was killed in battle. Oda En became a widow.

　　Later, in order to win over the Toyama clan of Higashimino, Oda Nobunaga married Oda Enma to Toyama Kageto, the lord of Iwamura Castle.

　　Later, when Oda Nobunaga was at odds with Azai Nagamasa, Akiyama Nobutomo, a general under Takeda Shingen, attacked Iwamura Castle.

　　Toyama Kagetoshi had died of illness earlier, and Oda En became the female lord of Iwamura Castle.

　　Oda En held out alone at Iwamura Castle for many days, but Oda Nobunaga's reinforcements were nowhere to be seen.

　　The city had run out of food. In order to save the lives of thousands of people in the city, Oda En agreed to Akiyama Nobuyuki's marriage proposal and married Akiyama Nobuyuki to save the lives of everyone in Iwamura Castle.

　　After Oda Nobunaga dealt with Azai Nagamasa, he immediately attacked Iwamura Castle and then executed his aunt, Oda En.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)