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

Chapter 10 Battle of Honjoji Temple

"My lord, something is wrong!"

A burst of shrill shouts interrupted the feast, and a guy who looked like a warrior staggered into the hall. He was dusty and his face was covered in blood. Before anyone in the hall could ask questions, he knelt down with a plop.

"What happened?" Looking at the guy's hat seal, Awaya Mototaka knew that this was a samurai under his command.

"Someone suddenly attacked the Faxin Temple. I risked my life to break out of the siege and came to ask for help from you, my lord!"

"Hoshinji? I have deployed a hundred foot soldiers there!" Awaya Mototaka stood up and asked in disbelief, "How many enemies are there? Can you see clearly which army they are from?"

"The enemy's cavalry alone has more than a hundred men. I saw the flags on their backs, which showed objects such as 'Takeda's Diamond', 'Marunai Kikyo', and 'Yusho Dove'. There are also some I haven't seen before. In short, there should be seven or eight kinds!"

"It seems that the man from Kasumi Castle has arrived." Awaya Mototaka looked at Takeda Nobutaka in the hall, who winked at the samurai on both sides, then smiled and said to Takeda Motomitsu and his son, "It seems that there are uninvited guests. Please go down and have a rest first. After I finish dealing with things here, we will continue to drink happily."

Before the two of them could fully understand the situation, they were "invited" back to the back hall by the warriors who came up.

"It seems that the Yamagata family and the Kumagata family are also involved." After seeing the two leave, Takeda Nobutaka discussed countermeasures with everyone.

"Now that things have come to this, we can only prepare to fight." After saying this, Awaya Mototaka hurriedly walked out of the hall and called on all his men to put on armor, gather troops, and prepare to go out of the city to meet the enemy.

"Wait!" Naito Katsutaka stopped him and persuaded him, "Since they can gather forces from Yamagata, Kumagaya and other parties, the number of people must be considerable. Our army has gone through two battles at Gozeyama Castle and Hoshinji Temple, and there are less than 900 soldiers left. It is difficult to determine the outcome of a hasty battle. It is better to avoid the sharp edge for the time being and retreat to the small village..."

"Since he has already taken over the family headship, there is no reason for him to retreat before the battle even begins. Moreover, Sanfangdian has to guard against the Asakura family. How many troops can he spare to support his son-in-law? In my opinion, we should fight head-on. With our current strength and morale, it should not be a problem to defeat this makeshift team."

After hearing this, Takeda Nobutaka hesitated and paced back and forth for a long time. Finally, he decided to face the enemy head-on: "You two adults are right, but as Ukyo Ryo said, I have just succeeded to the position of head of the family. It is really shameful to withdraw the army at this moment. It is better to fight with your back to the river. Maybe the enemy is not so invincible."

Seeing that he had made up his mind, Naito Katsutaka stopped trying to persuade him and led the army to prepare for battle. Takeda Nobutaka put on the armor he had just taken off and his iconic bright yellow military feather ornament, and walked out of the hall surrounded by other soldiers.

Honjoji Temple is a Hokke sect temple located on the northeastern foot of Mt. Goze. It is located between Hoshinji Temple and Takeda Clan House. Once this place is occupied, the Takeda Clan House will have no defenses.

Awaya Mototaka and others certainly knew the importance of this place. After learning that Nobushige led his army to break through Hoshin-ji Temple, they immediately sent cavalry to seize this place. Unexpectedly, it was still occupied by Yamagata Morinobu who was one step ahead.

Seeing this, the Awaya cavalry had to turn back, but on the way they encountered the main force of the rebels who were marching quickly. The two armies joined together and set up a sharp arrow formation along the Tango streets in the western suburbs of Honjoji.

The so-called Fengshi formation is that the whole army forms an arrow shape, with the general or the formation representative leading the cavalry at the front. It is suitable for situations where the main general has high combat effectiveness or continues to lead the troops to boost morale. Since the troops at the front are elite and very dense, it is a typical assault formation.

In this battle, Takeda Nobutaka used Awaya Mototaka as the commander, while he himself retreated behind the main army. The former deployed an attacking formation instead of a defensive formation, on the one hand to boost morale, and on the other hand to use the cavalry as the vanguard to catch Nobushige off guard. After all, without knowing how many troops the enemy had, active attack was more flexible than passive defense.

Near noon, the main force led by Nobushige also arrived at Honjoji Temple. He had Kumagaya Motonao and Yamagata Morinobu lead the cavalry on the left and right wings respectively, and he himself was in charge of the center army, forming the Crane Wing Formation. Nobushige, who was aware of the rebels' troop strength, decided to fight in this formation after discussing with Kumagaya Motonao and others. The purpose was to use the speed advantage of the cavalry to first defeat the enemy's relatively weak flanks, and then divide and surround the main vanguard led by Awaya Mototaka and the center army led by Takeda Nobutaka, and defeat them one by one.

Outside Honjo-ji Temple, in the white snow, the "Four-War Diamond" flags of the two armies fluttered in the wind, war drums beat, and shouts shook the sky. The largest civil war in the history of the Wakasa Takeda clan broke out.

Although Nobushige's side was obviously exhausted after the rapid march and the Hoshinji strategy, Takeda Nobutaka's side, which had experienced the siege of Gozeyama Castle, was in an even worse situation. On the surface, they still had 900 troops left, but excluding the wounded and deserters, there were no more than 800 people.

Twelve against eight hundred, although they had an absolute advantage in numbers, Xinzhong did not dare to take it lightly. He sent messengers to investigate the enemy situation several times. After confirming that it was safe, he ordered people to blow the conch horn and beat the drum. The army relied on the existing formation to launch the first attack.

Upon seeing this, Awaya Mototaka immediately sent troops to fight. Although he was a veteran, he dared to take the lead, which boosted the morale of the rebels.

However, as generals of the younger generation, Morinobu Yamagata and Motonao Kumagai were no less capable, and their cavalry was the first to engage the enemy. As expected, the rebel flanks, which were already at a disadvantage, soon collapsed and were penetrated by the successive attacks of the cavalry and foot soldiers.

At this time, Awaya Mototaka had already reached Nobushige's main camp, but was stubbornly blocked by the horsemen led by Matsumiya Kiyonaga. Facing this unknown young general, the two fought for many rounds but could not determine the winner.

Seeing that Nobushige's army was gradually surrounding him, around 4 p.m., seeing that there was no hope of breaking through the main camp and capturing Nobushige, Awaya Mototaka reluctantly turned his horse around and retreated to the rear.

Matsumiya Kiyonaga was unwilling to miss the opportunity to become famous in one battle, so with Nobushige's tacit approval, he led a small number of horsemen in hot pursuit, killed several mounted samurai one after another, and finally surrounded Awaya Mototaka.

Knowing that he could not escape death, Awaya Mototaka asked Matsumiya Kiyonaga for a "one-horse fight". The latter readily agreed despite the dissuasion of the horsemen. After the two fought for more than a hundred rounds, Awaya Mototaka was the first to fall off his horse due to exhaustion, and was then beheaded by Matsumiya Kiyonaga with a single sword. Thus fell the famous general of Wakasa.

"Awaya Ukyo Ryo has been captured by me, Matsumiya Kiyonaga!" Matsumiya Kiyonaga held up the head of Awaya Mototaka and shouted loudly.

"Roar! Roar!"

"Hey!"

The cheers of Nobushige's army resounded throughout the battlefield. The rebels who were still fighting desperately in the encirclement lost their fighting spirit after seeing this scene. Some began to fight desperately to break out, some lost their fighting spirit and became prey to the slaughter, and some committed seppuku on the spot to show their loyalty as samurai.

At about five o'clock, as the sun was setting, the rebels in the encirclement had been basically cleared out, while the rebel main force outside the encirclement was still resisting stubbornly.

After receiving the news that Awaya Mototaka had been captured, Takeda Nobutaka and Naito Katsutaka were both heartbroken. Knowing that the game was over, the two decided to fight and retreat, returning to the Takeda clan's mansion before making plans. Although the city defenses there were not as good as Gozeyama Castle, they were also strong and should have no problem holding out for a night.

But how could Xinzhong give them the chance to see the sun tomorrow?
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(End of this chapter)