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

Chapter 5: Bloodless Opening of the City

Miyagawa Castle, located on the west bank of the Miyagawa River, is a small flat castle, but it is still a little bit bigger than Kasumi Castle. Although there is no castle tower in the castle, there are watchtowers and well towers on all four sides, and there are ferries on the Otemon Gate and the Tsuchimon Gate, and there are narrow rooms of various shapes. From a distance, it really looks like a "fortified castle".

However, Nobushige and others knew that Miyagawa Castle was now an empty city, and the so-called city defense was just a facade. With their large army, they should be able to take it down with one charge.

However, in order to minimize casualties, he asked Yunfeng Longxing to act as a diplomatic monk to coordinate the opening of the city with Nanba Katsutaka, who was guarding Miyagawa Castle.

Although Katsutaka Nanba was the family elder of Takeda Nobutaka, he was also a powerful man in Tonofuki County. He naturally put the interests of his family first. In addition, he had always believed in the Rinzai sect. Faced with the approaching army of Nobushige, he had only more than 80 men under his command, so he decided to agree to the conditions proposed by Nobushige, that is, to open the city without bloodshed, and he would lead the troops in the city to retreat. Nobushige also promised not to hold him responsible afterwards.

On the evening of the 19th day of the twelfth lunar month, Nobushige's army entered Miyagawa Castle in a line. Without losing a single soldier, they took away all the weapons and food stored by Takeda Nobutaka. The large quantity meant that Nobushige no longer had to worry about the food problem in the short term.

The original plan was to have a short rest for the army, and then set out again after finding out the battle situation in Ouseyama Castle.

But at this moment, a guy who looked like a servant, wearing a brown futon (a simplified armor) and a "four-cut diamond-shaped flag" on his back, came to the vicinity of Miyagawa Castle on horseback. He was seriously injured and fell off his horse. Fortunately, he was found in time by a patrolling foot soldier and was quickly sent to the city for treatment.

As the sky gradually darkened, bonfires lit up in Miyagawa Castle. Inside a samurai residence, the envoy, with a pale face and multiple wounds on his body, lay quietly on the couch. With the careful treatment of the doctor, his injuries were finally stabilized, and he slowly regained consciousness under the watchful eyes of Nobushige and others.

As soon as he opened his eyes, the envoy saw the "Four-cut Diamond" family crest on Nobushige's body, and was immediately excited. He stretched out his hand and tightly grasped Nobushige's collar, struggling and saying with difficulty: "Your Highness, I'm afraid that Gozeyama Castle can't hold on, go and save the lord!"

"How is it possible? Miyagawa-dono just went into battle yesterday, and Goseyema Castle can't be defended today?!" Everyone was shocked when they heard this. You know, this castle was built by the previous lord Takeda Motomitsu with a lot of effort. It is no exaggeration to say that it is the most solid castle in Wakasa's history.

Sixteen years ago, considering that the Takeda clan's residence was located on a plain and was easy to attack but difficult to defend, Takeda Motomitsu built a mountain castle as his new residence on the south side of Mt. Goze, a famous mountain mentioned in the Manyoshu.

The main castle of this city is located on the top of a mountain with an altitude of 170 meters. Each ridge is equipped with a curved wheel as a defensive position. The ridge with a gentler slope on the northwest side is also covered with acre-shaped vertical moats (a type of moat, similar to ridges in the fields), which makes it absolutely easy to defend and difficult to attack.

If a war really breaks out, the only place that can serve as a breakthrough point is the Takeda clan mansion northeast of the mountain, but it will also require breaking through multiple warp gates to reach the Honmaru. Under normal circumstances, it will never be lost in one day.

"Maybe this guy is making a fuss just to get me to lead troops to support Takeda Nobutoyo as soon as possible." At this moment, Nobushige couldn't help but doubt whether the information conveyed by the envoy in front of him was reliable.

The envoy Banmi Nobushige did not take any action, and he became even more agitated: "Your Highness, everything I said is true. Ukyo Ryo has won over Uchizokusuke and seized the Takeda clan's mansion. In addition, the reinforcements from Itsumi Suruga-no-kami have not arrived yet, and several of the warp wheels on the mountainside have been breached!"

The Uchi Kuransuke mentioned by the envoy is Naito Katsutaka, who is also one of the "Four Heavenly Kings of Takeda"; and Itomi Suruga no Mori is another "Heavenly King" Itomi Masatsune.

Two of the "Four Heavenly Kings" conspired with the strongest branch family, Miyagawa Takeda, to rebel, another sat on the sidelines and watched the fight, and the remaining one, Kumagai Katsunao, stood on his side.

Nobushige, who saw the situation clearly, felt a chill down his spine: "No wonder in history, the rebellion was only suppressed with the help of Takeda Nobushige. In the current situation, Takeda Nobutoyo is completely at a disadvantage."

"I understand." Things did not develop as he had expected, and Xinzhong was now in deep hesitation.

"According to your observation, how many rebels are there and how many defenders are left in the city?!" Xinzhong asked.

"Including the troops under Uchizoku, the rebels should have had 1,500 men. However, they suffered heavy casualties in the fierce battles with our army when attacking Uchiwa and Takeda's mansion, so the current number should be around 1,200. The current garrison in the city...is less than 400..." "400? Isn't this the standing number of people in Gozeyama Castle?" Nobushige was stunned. "That means, my lord, you didn't ask for much reinforcements at all?"

The envoy blushed after hearing this: "Only a small number of people from Yuanfu County came to support us, and there were more than 40 monks from the Faxin Temple..."

"Hoshinji?" Nobushige suddenly thought of Takeda Motomitsu, who had become a monk. "How is the prince of Hoshinji?"

"The war has not affected the Faxin Temple. Your Highness is safe for the time being."

"Didn't you come out to mediate?"

The envoy shook his head and said rather disappointedly: "The old prince said that he has become a monk and no longer interferes with worldly affairs..."

"He is really a hands-off boss." Nobushige couldn't help but feel contempt for the old head of the family. "If he hadn't disregarded his own power and repeatedly waded into the muddy waters of Kyoto, and suffered two disastrous defeats in the Battle of Katsura River and the Great Mononoke, the Wakasa Takeda clan wouldn't have fallen into this situation. Now he has to watch the Takeda clan fight among themselves and hide away like a turtle. It's really hateful."

"Since the position of family head was given to Izu Kami (Takeda Nobutoyo's official position), shouldn't you stand up and support him? Is it a good idea to stay out of it?" Matsumiya Kiyonaga was a talkative person who blurted out whatever he was thinking. Kagawa Morihisa, who was standing next to him, quickly slapped him hard on the back of his head, making him realize that he had spoken out of turn. He then bowed and apologized to Nobushige.

At this moment, Nobushige had no intention of blaming him. Instead, he comforted the envoy and asked him to recuperate and heal his wounds. He would discuss with the generals and take action as soon as possible to rescue Takeda Nobutoyo.

After leaving the residence, Nobushige immediately sent out flying troop to investigate the current battle situation of Gozeyama Castle. He also sent out another envoy to Kumagai Takanao's army, urging him to speed up the march and capture Kumagai Castle as soon as possible.

At this time at Mount Goze, both sides called off their troops because it was getting dark, but looking at the entire mountain, it was already filled with smoke, corpses were everywhere, and among the broken walls, wounded soldiers were struggling and wailing in pain, while the generals gathered together to discuss what to do after daybreak.

"My lord, all the Qulun in the northeast have been breached. Tomorrow morning, the rebels will probably launch a general attack on Honmaru." In the large hall of the Honmaru Palace, a samurai general pointed to the map in front of him and said seriously.

"My lord, please allow me to lead a hundred elite soldiers to launch a night attack later in the day, which may disrupt the rebels' formation." Muto Mitsuyu, a general under Takeda Nobutoyo, volunteered.

"Your Highness, I am willing to lead my monks to participate." The leader of the monks of Faxin Temple also stood up. Although he was a monk, the murderous intent in his eyes was no less than that of the warriors present.

Takeda Nobutoyo was silent for a long time, and finally rejected their proposal: "There are less than 400 people left in the city. If the night attack fails, I am afraid that the main castle will be lost before dawn... For now, we should wait for reinforcements."

"Reinforcements? My lord, please forgive me for being frank. The war has been going on for two days. Envoys have been rushing out in batches, but where are the troops of Suruga-no-kami and Mikata-dono? However, Miyagawa-dono and Uchi Kuransuke have successively raised troops to support Ukyo Ryo. If this continues, the Honmaru will be destroyed in at most one day... Alas!" Muto Mitsuyu was very sad. He had always been loyal, but at this moment he also doubted whether Takeda Nobutoyo was too cowardly.

"Not just the two of them, but also...Hikogoro and the others...I think he's on his way, don't panic..." Takeda Nobutoyo tried his best to comfort everyone, but he actually had the answer in his mind. With the limited forces Nobushige had, even if they came to support, it wouldn't change anything. He said this just to boost morale.

Little did he know that it was his younger brother who would become the key factor that changed the balance of the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)