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

Chapter 35: Battle of the Two Mountains
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Asakura Kageren, who had gathered 3,800 troops, set out from Sada Town and crossed the river again to the foot of Mt. Iwaide, still planning to attack the city from the northern slope.

In order to reduce the pressure of the siege, Asakura Munetaka ordered the lord of Echizen Yasui Castle and the Imon clan Asakura Kagetaka to lead 2,000 troops to feint an attack on Kuniyoshi Castle, while he himself built a secondary castle on a hill near Yoshiharu-ji Temple to serve as the main camp for commanding the Asakura army's invasion of Wakasa. This castle is also called Nakayama Secondary Castle or Nakayama Castle.

The Takeda army, which had just experienced a victory, was in high spirits. Facing the Asakura army's attack again, they all asked Kuriya Katsuhisa for a fight.

However, Katsuhisa Kuriya, who had only 600 men left under his command, did not hastily send troops to stop the Asakura army. Instead, he continued to require all troops to rely on Kitakururu for defense and not to relax at all.

With the lessons learned from the previous experience, Asakura Kageren was more cautious in his advance and repelled the ambushes of the Takeda army several times, which slightly boosted the depressed morale of the Asakura army.

Outside Beiqulun, Asakura Kageren was heartbroken as he saw the corpses of the Asakura soldiers scattered all over the ground. At the same time, he also became more alert. He said to the general beside him:

"It seems that the generals defending the city are no ordinary people. I will command the archers to suppress the counterattack in the city. You lead your troops to fill the earthen trench as soon as possible and try to take down Qulun in this round to make a good start for the subsequent rounds of fighting."

Since the Asakura army knew the reason for the failure of the previous offensive in advance, they were well prepared with bows and arrows and roasted flaming arrows. In addition, their number of troops was twice that of the defenders, so the work of filling the earthwork was able to progress slowly.

"My lord, if this continues, the situation will be bad for our army." Inside the Honmaru, a samurai of the Kuriya clan said to Kuriya Katsuhisa worriedly.

"It's okay, let's take a look first." Katsuhisa Kuriya was watching Beiqulun and Shanlu's every move from the well tower, and said calmly:

"The Art of War says: If you have ten of them, surround them; if you have five of them, attack them; if you have twice as many of them, divide them; if you are the enemy, you can fight them; if you have fewer of them, you can flee; if you are inferior to them, you can avoid them.

The enemy troops attacking the city now are only twice as strong as ours. Even if we fill the moat, we won't be able to take Qulun in a short time. What puzzles me is that there are clearly more than 2,000 troops at the foot of the mountain, so why are they not making any moves?"

"They must have suffered a loss in the morning and know that the forest paths are narrow, long and rugged, and having too many people is not a good thing. In my opinion, they are probably waiting as a reserve team," analyzed Kuriya Katsuie.

As expected, after attacking for about an hour, Asakura Kageren not only failed to touch the edge of Beiqulun, but even the earthen moat was only half filled up.

"Sir, the defenders are too stubborn. Our casualties are at least three hundred. We cannot go on like this." The samurai general who was in charge of filling the hole found Asakura Kageren and reported with a worried look on his face.

"It wasn't so difficult to attack Mount Lukura earlier. It's strange." Asakura Jingren frowned and thought for a moment. He had to give an order: "Tell His Highness the County Magistrate to get ready. We need to go down the mountain to rest for a while."

After receiving the order, Asakura Kageki snorted coldly, and then said to Yamazaki Yoshiie with some sarcasm: "I thought Genbansuke was very capable, but he is just like this. This time it is my turn. I don't ask for anything else. I will be lucky if I can fill the hole."

Yamazaki Yoshiie sighed, looked at the setting sun, and said helplessly: "If this continues, we won't be able to capture Beiqulun today."

"Yes, when it gets dark and our troops withdraw, the enemy will take advantage of the cover of night to dig new earthen trenches, and everything will be back to normal tomorrow morning. This cycle will repeat over and over again, and I don't know when we can take this mountain fortress." Although Asakura Kageki and Asakura Keiren were not in harmony with each other, facing Asakura Munetoki's military order, he also hoped to end the war here as soon as possible.

At the same time, Nobushige also received a report that the Asakura army had launched a direct attack on Kuniyoshi Castle. Asakura Kagetaka, who led the army to attack the castle, was unknown, but he was a person that Asakura Muneshige trusted. According to seniority, he was the nephew of Asakura Takakage. He had accompanied the army in the earlier expedition against the Kaga Ikko clan and was able to execute Asakura Muneshige's orders very well. Although he could not be called a famous general, he was also a good general.

There are more than 1,200 soldiers stationed in Kuniyoshi Castle at this moment. It can be said that except for the 300 soldiers from Iwadeyama, Tennozan Main Camp, and Sakimachi left for Yamamoto Shigeyuki, the rest of the soldiers recruited by Wakasa this time are concentrated in this small mountain castle.

The mountain where Kuniyoshi Castle is located is high and easy to defend but difficult to attack than Iwade Mountain. In particular, the two large groups of quwawa in the northwest and northeast are like two chains that lock Tsubakitoge tightly, causing Asakura Soteki a lot of headaches. This is why he decided to send Asakura Kageki to launch a flank attack from Iwade Mountain.

Unexpectedly, the 5,000-strong army ran into a snag at the foot of the small Iwaide Mountain. As a last resort, Asakura Soteki had to settle for the second best. On the one hand, he sent Asakura Kageren to provide support, and on the other hand, he sent Asakura Kagetaka to launch a feint attack, and postponed the time for the general attack on Kuniyoshi Castle to the next day.

"My lord, the Asakura army has launched a strong attack on Kuniyoshi Castle." From the main camp at Tennozan, Matsumiya Kiyonaga brought the battle report from Kuniyoshi Castle.

"How many people?" Xinzhong asked.

"About two thousand people," Matsumiya Kiyonaga replied.

"Two thousand? No problem," Nobushige was quite calm after hearing this number. "It should be just a feint, probably to relieve the pressure from Iwade Mountain. Genbei assured me that without eight to ten thousand soldiers, they would never be able to get close to the main castle of Kuniyoshi Castle."

Matsumiya Kiyonaga nodded and said, "Yes, Shinjiurang said the same thing. He told the lord not to worry. The two thousand troops will stop in front of the Qulun Group even if they attack from the northern slope where the terrain is gentler."

"As long as we can hold out like this for another three or four days, the morale of the Asakura army will surely be low. At this time, Shigeyuki can lead his troops to launch a surprise attack on Kaneyama Castle, attacking from both sides. Perhaps we can really defeat this 'Nine-Headed Dragon' of Muneshige," Nobushige said with anticipation.

As Nobushige had expected, after attacking for more than an hour, Asakura Kagetaka could only barely gain a foothold on the eastern slope of the mountain. A little further up, he was fiercely counterattacked by the defenders. He had no choice but to retreat to the foot of the mountain and ask Asakura Soteki for help.

On the other hand, at Yanchushan Fort, the situation actually turned around slightly near dusk.

Asakura Kageki and Yamazaki Yoshiie obviously didn't want Asakura Kageyama to steal the credit, so when it was getting dark, they took advantage of Asakura Kageyama's opportunity to rest at the foot of the mountain and decided to take a gamble. After basically filling up the earthen moat, they launched strong attacks from the front and flanks of Kitakururu. After losing nearly five hundred people, they finally broke through the wooden wall on the side and tore a gap!
"Everyone, follow me!" Several samurai of the Asakura army shouted and rushed into the camp waving their swords.

The morale of the soldiers on both sides, who were already exhausted, suddenly rose and fell. The Asakura army knew that this was the last chance before dark, so they braved up and rushed into Qulun with shouts; while the Takeda army, which had been defending for a whole day, could no longer support its already exhausted bodies, and began to break up in small groups.

"Hold on!" At the critical moment, Kuriya Katsuie arrived, waving the family heirloom Jumonji spear, and led his personal guards to block the gap.

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(End of this chapter)