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

Chapter 179: Defeating Misaku
On February 15th, with the mediation of Unomura Yoshitaka, the head of the Shinmen clan and lord of Takeyama Castle, Shinmen Munemasa, the so-rei of the Suga clan and lord of Obetsu Castle, Arimoto Sanori, and more than a dozen major leaders of the Suga clan gathered in Mikawa Castle on the border of Mimasaka and Harima, and decided to accept Kumagai Takanao's request and formally submit to the Wakasa Takeda clan.

At first, when they learned that the Takeda clan was preparing to destroy the Kusakari clan in one fell swoop, both the Suga family and the Shinmen clan found it a little unbelievable, and even thought that the Takeda clan was a little whimsical. After all, the Kusakari clan was a powerful people who had occupied the border between Insaku and Japan for more than two hundred years, and even the Amago clan had failed to subdue them. How could the newly arrived Takeda clan uproot them?

However, when they learned from Kumagai Takanao that Yoshishige had joined forces with Yamana Takunaga and led a total of more than 7,000 people to clear the outer positions of Yodoyama Castle and completely surround Kusakari Hiratsugu inside Yodoyama Castle, vowing to annihilate him completely, local leaders such as Shinmen Munemasa and Arimoto Sanozawa were shocked. They saw Yoshishige's strength and determination.

Therefore, when Kumagai Takanao asked them to gather their forces and follow him to take Takayama Castle in one fell swoop to completely cut off the retreat of the Kusakari clan, these people also responded. For them, this battle was not only a battle to declare their loyalty to the Takeda clan, but also a battle to vent the anger accumulated over the years of oppression by the Kusakari clan.

While these people were mobilizing their territory, Kumagai Takanao ordered Shirai Mitsutane to lead 200 men to garrison in Shiroyama Castle, Matsumiya Kiyonaga to lead 300 men to garrison in Ekino Castle, and the remaining 1,500 men followed him westward across Mount Komagao and entered Bimasaka Eida County. After a brief stop and replenishment at Takeyama Castle, they arrived at Obetsu Castle on February 18th.

Two days later, troops from the Suga clan, the Shinmen clan, and the Uno clan arrived at Obetsu Castle. The number of these Kokumin was about 2,800. Therefore, the total number of troops in the entire Bimasaka territory to suppress the Kusakari army reached 4,300.

The next morning, under the leadership of Kumagai Takanao, the punitive army set out from Obetsu Castle, crossed Takiyama, and crossed the Okutsugawa River under the guidance of Hiroto clan, who was also a member of the Suga family faction, and officially entered the territory of the Kusakari clan.

In the following three days, the expeditionary army advanced to break through Kasamatsu Castle and Sarayama Castle, captured Sohoshiyama Fort and Muroo Castle around Takayama Castle, and on February 25th, captured the Kusakari clan's inner residence at the foot of Yahazoyama, completing the cleanup of the outer positions of Takayama Castle on Yahazoyama.

After investigation by the envoys and flying troop, they found that there were only less than 300 old, weak and disabled soldiers in the huge Takayama Castle, which was roughly the same as the previous estimate by Kumagai Takanao and others.

In order to quickly clear out the Kusakari clan's stronghold in Mimasaka and join forces with the main force of the Takeda army at Yodoyama Castle, after discussing with Unomura Yoshiro and others, Kumagai Takanao decided to seize the time to attack the castle.

At this time, the defender of Takayama Castle was Kusakari Kagetsugu, the second son of Kusakari Hiratsugu. Facing the punitive army attacking from three sides, although he knew it was impossible, he still refused the punitive army's persuasion to surrender and determined to lead only more than 200 people to defend the city to the death.

However, due to the huge disparity in numbers and the swift offensive of the punitive army, the Kusakari clan's castle on the mountainside was captured one after another. Although the attack on the main castle on the mountaintop was repelled by Kusakari Kagetsugu at a desperate battle that day, he knew in his heart that even if he and the old, weak and sick under his command fought to the death, the Kusakari clan's castle would change hands before sunset the next day at the latest.

In order to save the lives of the elderly, the weak, women and children of the Kusakari clan in the city, Kusakari Kagetsugu held a military meeting that night. At the meeting, he ignored the opposition of his retainers and decided to send an envoy to the main camp of Kumagai Takanao at the foot of the mountain, hoping that the latter would allow them to open the city without bloodshed. In exchange, he was willing to commit seppuku to apologize.

Kumagai Takanao, who was always generous to others, did not agree to the surrender conditions proposed by Kusakari Kagetsugu, because he knew that Yoshishige's goal was to completely destroy the Kusakari clan to demonstrate the power of the Takeda clan. If the lives of the Kusakari family members in the city were spared, this would undoubtedly be contrary to Yoshishige's goal. "If you accept the surrender of the main family before the war, you may be able to spare the lives of the women and children in the city. But now, the Kusakari clan must be responsible for the mistakes they have made." Kumagai Takanao replied to the envoy sent by Kusakari Kagetsugu.

Kusakari Kagetsugu seemed to have expected Kumagai Takanao's reply. At this moment, he understood that from the moment Kusakari Kagetsugu shamelessly rejected Yoshishige's request for surrender, the Kusakari clan had been sentenced to death by the Takeda clan. In addition, he did not open the city to surrender directly, but resisted for a day, so there was no room for maneuver.

In desperation, Kusakari Kagetsugu arranged for his trusted retainers to lead the descendants of the Kusakari clan in the city to break out of the mountain under the cover of night, intending to send them to Yodoyama Castle to preserve some of the bloodline, while he himself prepared to die with the city the next day.

However, facing the siege of enemy forces more than ten times their size, these descendants of the Kusakari clan were unable to escape successfully. Even more unfortunately, they fell into the hands of the Suga clan, which had always been bullied by the Kusakari clan. More than a dozen people, including Kusakari Tsunetsugu's two sons, three grandsons, and a group of retainers, all became victims of the sword.

The next morning, as the sun rose, knowing that they could not escape, facing the punitive army rushing up the mountain from all directions, the women of the Kusakari clan committed suicide to save the city. Kusakari Kagetsugu set fire to the Honmaru and led the few remaining defenders into the battle, launching a final decisive battle with the punitive army.

About an hour later, Kusakari Kagetsugu was captured by a samurai from the Suga clan. Seeing this, most of the remaining Kusakari soldiers committed suicide.

With the fall of Takayama Castle, the Kusakari clan's castle, the defenders of Horizaka, Iouyama and other castles that originally belonged to the Kusakari clan in Mimasaka either abandoned the castles and scattered, or opened the castles and surrendered. The punitive army quickly completed the cleansing of the Kusakari clan's forces in the five counties of North Mimasaka, namely, Northwest Jo, Southwest Jo, Tohoku Jo, Southeast Jo, Yoshino, and Eida, and officially crossed the Monomi-Toge Pass on March 1 and entered the territory of Inaba Chizu County.

At the same time, the Takeda and Yamana coalition forces led by Yoshishige also made significant progress. The seemingly impregnable fortresses that were previously densely packed on the mountainside were instantly blasted into ruins by the deafening roar of the Portuguese cannons. The defenders also suffered heavy casualties under the attack of this powerful firearm that they had never heard of or seen before. They wailed everywhere and fled in panic.

"What a divine weapon!" Kusakari Hirotsugu stood on the well tower of Honmaru and watched helplessly as the defensive fortifications he had worked so hard to build were blasted to pieces by the two firearms. There was nothing he could do except open the gate of Honmaru and take the injured soldiers into Honmaru to temporarily avoid the attack.

Only then did he understand why Yoshishige was so strong in asking him to surrender. It was all based on strength.

Sorry everyone, I had something urgent to do yesterday and didn’t have time to update. Please forgive me!


(End of this chapter)