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

Chapter 129 A last-ditch battle?
Hongo Mitsuyasu looked at the kneeling Wada brothers, his eyes filled with contempt and resentment: "When I was in Luozhong, almost all the family affairs were handed over to you brothers to handle, but you abandoned your loyalty and betrayed my Hongo family at the critical moment. I have nothing to say, just end it yourselves!"

"Lord!" The Wada brothers subconsciously wanted to plead with Hongo Mitsuyasu, but they swallowed the words back when they reached their lips: they betrayed their master first, so how could they have the face to beg for his forgiveness?
"Thank you for your grace, lord!" The Wada brothers finally decided to accept this punishment. After all, allowing them to commit seppuku to apologize meant that the Wada clan could be preserved and would not end up in a situation where the entire clan was sentenced to death or exiled.

Seeing the Wada brothers being taken away, Hongo Mitsuyasu felt hatred and regret, but more of an anger at them for not fighting back: "If you had followed me to defend Dacheng, how would you have ended up like this today?"

After dealing with the traitors within the family, the next step is to discuss how to deal with the traitors to the country.

"Your Highness, I have been ordered by Wuweidian to come here to rescue the Hongo clan from danger. Now that the mission has been completed, there is no need for me to stay any longer." Kumagai Motonao said this deliberately. It depends on whether Hongo Mitsuyasu knows how to deal with the current situation.

As a public servant, Hongo Mitsuyasu had served the shogunate in Kyoto for so long, so he was naturally smart. How could he not know the implication of Kumagai Motonao? "Your Highness, Wuweidian saved our family from danger, and I am grateful to you. If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know. Our Hongo family will never refuse!"

"In that case, please lead your troops with me to the south to defeat the traitor Itsumi clan!" Seeing that Hongo Mitsuyasu had expressed his opinion, Kumagai Motonao directly explained the next plan: "The lord has led his troops to the foot of Ishiyama Castle, Itsumi Suruga no Kami and Naito Uchisuke have also deployed their troops on the east side of the river. Our purpose of going south this time is to occupy the ferry on the other side of Ishiyama Castle and cut off the rebels' retreat."

"In that case, we must hurry up. If we arrive at the ferry after the war starts, I'm afraid some of the rebels will have already retreated back to Suidoyama Castle along Fukuya Zaka." said Mitsutsu Hongo.

"Your Highness is right," Kumagai Motonao nodded. "If we want to wipe out the main force of the rebels, we must take over the ferry. Once we let them escape back to Suidao Mountain City, things will become complicated."

After simply cleaning up the battlefield, Mitsutsu Hongo personally led more than 120 people, together with Motonao Kumagai, and headed south along the Saburi River overnight, intending to reach the ferry before dawn.

However, when the army reached the vicinity of Manganji Temple, they encountered the cavalry of Itsuki's army. Although they quickly dealt with this small team of more than ten people, two of them still fled south under the cover of darkness.

"It seems that we won't be able to take the ferry before daybreak." Kumagai Motonao said with some disappointment, "Those two guys will definitely arrive at Kubo Village before us. By then, Suruga-no-kami will most likely send a large number of troops to guard the ferry. In this case, there will be no chance of a surprise attack."

However, Hongo Mitsuyasu's view was different from Kumagai Motonao's: "The rebels at Ishiyama Castle only have 1,500 men in total. If we want to hold the ferry, we need to have enough troops to fight a field battle with our army. In this case, at least half of the troops must be sent to garrison at the ferry. Do you think it is possible?"

"What you mean is that Suruga-no-kami is likely to abandon the ferry and fight a desperate battle, concentrating his forces to fight a decisive battle with our main force under Ishiyama Castle?" Kumagai Motonao speculated.

"This is just a possibility," Hongo Mitsuyasu continued. "You know, the rebels who have lost their retreat may be greatly encouraged by the battle, or they may lose their morale because they are at a loss as to where to go. Rather than taking this risk, I think that Suruga no Kami will most likely withdraw his troops from Kubo Village at night and retreat to Fukuya-zaka, relying on the terrain to resist the attack of the army."

"If that's the case, we have to speed up our pace." Kumagai Motonao agreed with Hongo Mitsuyasu's analysis, "If we can launch a surprise attack when the rebels are retreating, we will definitely achieve good results."

"To be on the safe side, let's send someone to Xiaochetian Village first, and let Wuweidian make plans early." Hongo Mitsuyasu suggested.

Kumagai Motonao nodded, and then ordered Kuchiki Hidemitsu to personally report the battle situation and the next plan to Yoshishige. As for the others, under the leadership of Kumagai Motonao and Hongo Mitsuyasu, they moved towards the ferry as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, in Kubo Village west of Ishiyama Castle, Itomi Masaki was discussing the tactics for tomorrow's battle with Naito Katsutaka and Itomi Masakiyo. The three had different views on the battle situation. "The Takeda army has twice as many troops as us, and they also have elite horsemen and red cavalry. It will be difficult to break through from the front," Naito Katsutaka analyzed with a frown.

"The plain under Ishiyama Castle is not large to begin with and is not suitable for large-scale military deployment. This is a great advantage for our army." Itami Masaki believed that the Takeda army would not be able to fully utilize its military advantage in this battle, while the Itami army could rely on the relatively high terrain to take a certain initiative.

At this time, Yi Jianchang was sitting upright. He did not comment on the two people's analysis. After a long while, he asked, "If we lose the battle, have you thought about how to end it?"

Obviously, in Yijian Changjing's heart, he did not have much hope of winning this battle. Whether he could preserve his strength as much as possible was his biggest concern now.

"If we lose, our army can retreat to Suidoyama Castle and rely on the strong city to defend it." Itomi Masaaki replied. After all, the Itomi clan's previous rebellions were ultimately due to the Takeda army's failure to capture their castle, so they reached a compromise, allowing the Itomi clan to continue to this day.

Naito Katsutaka also agreed to retreat and hold the position, but unlike Itomi Masaki, he believed that they should retreat to Fukuya-zaka and rely on the complex mountainous terrain to confront the Takeda army.

Yi Jianchangjing looked at the map, then looked around at the generals in the formation, and began to hesitate about whether to fight this battle.

"Do you think that if we are defeated, we will have enough time to retreat to Suidao Mountain Castle or Fukudazaka?" When Yi Jianchangjing said this, all the generals in the formation looked at each other in silence.

Yi Jianchangjing sighed helplessly when he saw this. He was about to say something when he was interrupted by a burst of hurried footsteps.

"My lord, when I was patrolling near Manganji Temple, I was attacked by the Takeda army and suffered heavy casualties. I have come here to report my crime to you!" A samurai walked into the formation and knelt down on the ground without saying a word.

"Manganji?!" Yi Jianchangjing's head suddenly buzzed, and he shuddered: "Isn't Manganji in Hexi? How come there are Takeda troops there?"

"Father, isn't it obvious? They must have captured Tatsuya Castle and Hongo-kan, and moved south along the river bank, so they might have encountered the patrol team of the main family at Manganji." Yijian Changqing responded.

"Do you know how many people there are?" asked Katsutaka Naito.

The warrior shook his head: "It was too dark, and the incident happened suddenly, so I didn't see clearly... But based on the number of torches, there should be more than three to five hundred people."

"Three to five hundred people? What can these three to five hundred people do in Hexi?" Naito Katsutaka, who has always been smart, was also puzzled by the appearance of this Takeda army.

"Uchizoku, can't you see through it? They are probably here to cut off our army's retreat." Yijian Changqing analyzed.

(End of this chapter)