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

Chapter 131 Father and Son Defeated (Listen to Advice!)

The result of more than 200 Itami troops facing more than 1,000 Takeda troops with elite cavalry in the wild was predictable. In the face of the huge gap in numbers and quality of soldiers, the Itami army's spear phalanx was defeated in about two quarters of an hour, and Itami Hirotada was killed by Yamagata Morinobu with a single spear.

The defeated Itsumi army fled in all directions, while Matsumiya Kiyonaga led the Makai troops to seize the ferry in Hedong and slaughtered the defeated soldiers who were crowded at the ferry and scrambled to get on board.

At five in the morning, the Itsumi army on the east side of the river had been basically cleared out, and Matsumiya Kiyonaga, following Yoshishige's orders, began to mobilize boats to cross the river.

At the same time, Kumagai Motonao and Hongo Mitsuyasu led more than 700 troops to the outskirts of Kasai Ferry and engaged in a battle with the last batch of Itsumi troops who fled back to Kasai. As they were still unsettled and had low morale, and mainly consisted of stragglers recruited by Naito Katsutaka, they were quickly defeated by the Wakasa tribe led by Kumagai Motonao, and Kasai Ferry was occupied by the Takeda army.

At this point, in the Battle of the Saburi River Ferry, the Takeda army successively killed and defeated 370 people of the Itami army. The Itami Masatsune father and son and Naito Katsutaka led the remaining 1,000 people to retreat towards Fukudazaka.

At about 7:00 on the morning of the 26th, Yoshishige led the remaining Takeda army across the Saburi River and assembled in Hexi. After a short rest, he immediately headed north to Fukudazaka, preparing to annihilate the Itsumi army in one fell swoop while it was still unstable.

At this time, the situation of the other two Takeda armies did not change much.

First, Kumagai Takanao and Shirai Kiyotane, who attacked Yoshisaka Pass, basically cleared the outer fortifications of Yoshisaka Fort after a whole day of round-the-clock attacks on the 25th. Although they lost nearly one hundred people, the Itami army in the main castle also suffered heavy casualties. In addition, there was no food in front and no reinforcements in the back. An atmosphere of failure and depression gradually spread in the city, and the risk of mutiny faced by Itami Masatora gradually increased.

Secondly, Onitsu Masaaki and Shirai Mitsutune, who defended Kajo Castle, had repelled the attack of the famous army of Tajima Mountain for the third time. The two armies maintained fierce confrontations around the outer positions of Kajo Castle. Even if Tanesuke and Yoshiwa Kakiya Mitsunari attacked harder, they could not break through the Takeda army's defense line in Minamikururu.

However, the stalemate on the battlefield took a dramatic turn on the 26th.

At 10 a.m., Yoshishige led 3,600 Takeda troops to the southern end of Fukuyazaka. The Itami army had just experienced a defeat at the ferry, and the morale of the army was low. Many soldiers fled along the way. The army that Itami Masaki and his son could really gather and deploy was no more than 900 people, and 30% of them were a motley crowd recruited by Naito Katsutaka.

Due to time constraints, even though Naito Katsutaka arrived at Fukuyazaka ahead of time, he did not complete the construction of fortifications. Therefore, Itomi Masatsugu once wanted to retreat to Suidoyama Castle and encircle the city.

But Yoshishige did not give him this opportunity. The remnants of the Itami army arrived at Fukudazaka just before Yoshishige led the Takeda army to arrive. In desperation, Itami Masaki had to set up his troops at the Sakaguchi and fight a decisive battle with the Takeda army.

As the conch horn sounded, three waves of arrows rained down on the Itami army in turn, and then the Takeda army, with Kumagai Motonao as the vanguard, took the lead in attacking the Itami army. Naito Katsutaka, as the vanguard of the Itami army, led more than 200 stragglers he recruited to attack the Takeda army.

Soon, Naito Katsutaka began to lose strength, and Itomi Masaaki was ordered to lead his army to support him, but due to the disparity in manpower and morale, Itomi's army was unable to reverse the decline. By noon, the Itomi army's defense line had many loopholes and the formation began to waver.

Seeing this, Yoshishige immediately ordered Yamagata Morinobu to send troops. Under the impact of the Red Cavalry, the defense line of the Itami army began to collapse. During the retreat, Naito Katsutaka was killed by Sakamoto Gongoro, a samurai under Hisamura Mitsuyasu. Itami Masaki was also wounded in many places and retreated to the main camp under the protection of the side guards.

As the Itami army had set up anti-horse fences at Sakaguchi, Yoshishige ordered Yamagata Morinobu to suspend the attack and instead, Muto Mitsuyu led the archers to move forward to cooperate with Matsumiya Kiyonaga to clear the anti-horse fences. During this period, Naito Katsumitsu, the son of Naito Katsutaka, was shot dead.

At 2 p.m., with the efforts of Matsumiya Kiyonaga, the anti-horse fence in the east of Sakaguchi was cleared, and the Takeda army entered in succession and attacked the main camp of the Itami army. Afterwards, Yamagata Morinobu led the cavalry to charge again, successively defeating several Itami army generals, forcing Itami Masaki to use the last of the horse guards to stop them. At this time, the brothers Muto Mitsukenori and Muto Mitsuyu led a part of the Takeda army to attack the side and rear of the Itami army and engaged in a fierce battle with Itami Masaki. About half an hour later, Itami Masaki was the first to lose his strength and was stopped by Muto Mitsuyu on the way of retreat. The two sides fought a cavalry battle. After more than 30 rounds, Itami Masaki was defeated and his troops were completely defeated.

Upon hearing this bad news, the morale of the Itami army was greatly disturbed, and a large number of deserters began to appear. Itami Masaki realized that he could not escape, so he led a group of henchmen and rushed into the battle with a spear, launching the final decisive battle with the Takeda army.

At 3 pm, Itomi Masaki and more than a dozen horse guards were surrounded by Matsumiya Kiyonaga's troops. After repeated attempts to persuade them to surrender failed, Matsumiya Kiyonaga ordered a general attack. Facing the Takeda army that was dozens of times larger than his own, Itomi Masaki had no ability to resist and soon died in the chaos. His head was taken by a foot soldier, which was really sad.

As Yijian and his son were defeated one after another, the remaining Yijian troops laid down their arms and surrendered.

By 3:00 p.m., the Battle of Fukuya-zaka, the largest battle in Wakasa history, ended with a great victory for the Takeda rebel army led by Yoshishige. Afterwards, Yoshishige, surrounded by his generals, captured the Suidoyama Castle without a single drop of blood.

The news of the defeat of the Itami clan spread quickly in Wakasa and Tango. Most of the castles in the Itami clan's territory "were taken without attack and were conquered by the dispatch of edicts." Local forces that supported Itami Masatsune, either openly or secretly, also sent people to Sudoyama Castle to swear allegiance to Yoshishige. For a time, Wakasa and the eastern part of Tango were almost pacified.

In the evening, the news of Itsumi Masatoshi's death in battle reached Yoshizaka Pass. Kumagai Takanao and Shirai Kiyotane were overjoyed and immediately sent envoys to Yoshizaka Fort to persuade Itsumi Masato to surrender.

The death of his father and brother in battle was the last straw that broke the camel's back for Itsumi Masatora. Seeing that the people in the city were unstable and resistance was meaningless, he finally agreed to the Takeda army's request to open the city and surrender. At this point, the Itsumi clan's rebellion was completely quelled.

Late that night, two battle reports were simultaneously transmitted to Yamana Yufeng's main camp outside Jiayue Valley.

One letter came from Tajima, saying that the Inaba Yamane army had suddenly invaded and captured several important cities including Onsen Castle and Tsurumine Castle, and was now besieging Yagi Castle under the leadership of Takeda Kuninobu.

The other letter came from Wakasa, where Yamana Tasukuyo's most important ally, Itomi Surugamori Masamune and his son Itomi Masakiyo, were completely wiped out at Fukuyazaka, and the entire Wakasa had been recaptured by Yoshishige.

It is said that "good fortune never comes alone, and misfortune never comes singly", and this sentence is vividly reflected in Yamana Yufeng.

With his allies defeated, his backyard stolen, and his attack hopeless, Yamana Yufeng was terrified and desperate. He felt dizzy and fainted. Seeing this, Kakiya Tsunari hurriedly summoned Tanjie Shoyoshi to come down the mountain to discuss.

Shirai Mitsutane and Oniwa Masaaki in Kayetsu Castle also knew the situation of the battle in Wakasa at this time. They believed that they must not let the Tajima Mountain army retreat smoothly, and at least delay the battle until Yoshishige led the army to arrive. In order to anger Kakiya Mitsunari outside the city, the two launched another surprise attack at night.

I received a lot of replies from friends today, and Xiongzi probably knows why fewer people are watching it recently.

Let’s put it this way, let’s end this civil strife as soon as possible and start the next chapter.

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(End of this chapter)