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

Chapter 56 Become famous in one battle

"Well done!" Masanobu Yamagata and others clenched their fists and roared.

The thunderous cheers of the Takeda army resounded throughout the battlefield, while on the Asakura army's side, apart from sighs, there was deathly silence.

"A mere young general was able to kill Tajima-no-Kami with his own hands. How many talented people does the Takeda family have?" A samurai in the formation couldn't help but sigh.

The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. Asakura Kageren, who was standing by, frowned and recalled what had just happened. Yes, the Takeda clan, which he once looked down upon, is no longer the same as it used to be. The fact that they were able to defeat Asakura Kageki and Asakura Kagetaka was enough to show that the Takeda clan had undergone obvious changes under the leadership of the new head of the family, Nobushige.

Looking at the body of Sakurai Keisuke lying on the ground, Asakura Keireun's anxiety about the battle situation gradually turned into hesitation and fear. He still warned everyone not to panic or disrupt the formation, but his heart was already in a state of confusion.

"Woo! Woo! Woo!" The conch horns of the Takeda army sounded;

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The Takeda army's Taiko drums began to beat.

"Since you refuse to surrender alive, then leave your body behind!" Kumagai Takanao led the cavalry as the vanguard, charging at lightning speed towards the Asakura Army's position. Following closely behind were the elite foot soldiers led by Kuriya Katsuhisa, while Yamamoto Shigeyuki accompanied Yamagata Morinobu to the main camp, commanding and dispatching the troops on the battlefield at any time.

The war horses galloped in the snow, and a thin mist rose from the places where the horses' hooves stepped. From a distance, the mist was like a barrier, protecting the Takeda cavalry from their rapid advance.

"Everyone, the honor of the Asakura family is in this battle!" Asakura Kageren held the military uniform in his hand and swung his arm forward. The surrounding Asakura troops rushed forward to attack according to the pre-arranged formation.

Since this Asakura army originally came to recapture Kanayama Castle, it was mostly composed of foot soldiers and did not carry many cavalry. Therefore, it was unable to send cavalry to launch a counterattack against the Takeda army. It could only rely on the fish scale formation formed by the foot soldiers to prevent the Takeda cavalry from advancing too quickly.

It can be said that Asakura Kageren's tactical arrangements were appropriate. He played to his strengths and avoided his weaknesses, and attacked with precision. As long as he could withstand the first wave of offensive by the Takeda army, he would be able to rely on his troop advantage to offset the Takeda army's advantage in morale, so that the balance of the war would not tilt towards the Takeda army.

However, he overlooked one point, that is, the low morale and lack of physical strength of the Asakura army made it impossible for the fish-scale small square formations formed by mostly foot soldiers to withstand the attack of the Takeda cavalry. Those small square formations, which were mainly composed of peasant soldiers, were instantly penetrated by the rapid advance of the cavalry, followed by the collapse of the formation and the disintegration of the soldiers.

Seeing this, Asakura Kageren immediately ordered the elite phalanxes composed of the Ma Kai people on the left and right wings to advance to support and replace the scattered peasant soldiers to barely hold up a line of defense.

Although the cavalry's offensive was delayed by the Makai, the arrival of elite foot soldiers led by Katsuhisa Kuriya still inflicted heavy casualties on the Asakura army.

"Bastards!" Looking at the gradually weakening Asakura army, Asakura Kageren simply sent out his personal guard Ma Kai, leaving only two standby foot soldiers by his side.

Thanks to the participation of these Makai people, the offensive of the Takeda army was indeed significantly curbed, and the two armies fought each other near the battle line. Several small phalanxes that had been unstable and on the verge of collapse also regrouped under the organization of the Ashigaru general and the Ashigaru group leader and participated in the attack on the Takeda army's flank.

"Sir, let's act!" Yamamoto Shigeyuki closely observed the development of events on the battlefield. When the situation turned a little bad for the Takeda army, he asked Yamagata Morinobu to take the next step.

Yamagata Morinobu nodded, stood up, raised his military banner and waved it back and forth. Seeing this gesture, the foot soldiers not far behind him immediately lit the beacon.

The signal smoke gradually rose. Kuriya Katsuie, who was far away in Nozaka area north of Kurino, saw the signal and immediately shouted, "My men, it's time to make achievements!" "Ha!"

After a thunderous response, the 200-man surprise attack team ambushed in Nosaka, led by Katsuie Kuriya, immediately set out and quickly moved diagonally towards the main camp of the Asakura army!

The sudden appearance of the surprise attack team caught the Asakura army at the end of the formation off guard.

As mentioned before, the weakness of the fish scale formation is at the tail. Yamamoto Shigeyuki saw through the Asakura army's formation, so he ordered Kuriya Katsuie to lead his army to go behind the Asakura army after the battle started, and while the main force was tied down at the front, he launched an attack from the side and rear, cutting off the Asakura army's support.

The development of the war was just as Yamamoto Shigeyuki had expected. The already weak Asakura army at the rear quickly collapsed under the attack of the surprise attack team. A hole was instantly torn in the northeast direction of the formation, and the Takeda army took advantage of the situation to charge into Asakura Kageren's main camp.

"Sir, the Takeda army is coming from behind!" At this moment, a bloody Asakura army horseman knelt in front of Asakura Kageren, and blood flowed down his armor onto the snow.

"What?!" After all, Asakura Kageren was a veteran who had been on the battlefield for many years. He did not panic because of this sudden situation. Instead, he stood up suddenly, drew out his sword, walked out of the formation, and quickly summoned the foot soldiers on both wings to move closer to him, intending to quickly build a line of defense behind his own formation.

But what he didn't expect was that one of the foot soldiers was so frightened by the Takeda army's surprise attack that he collapsed before even encountering the enemy. Only the remaining twenty or so samurai followed his order and moved closer to him.

"Lord Genbansuke, we meet again!" The surprise attack team led by Kuriya Katsuie quickly rushed to Asakura Kageren, and the two armies immediately engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

However, the Asakura army's foot soldiers were mainly composed of peasant soldiers, and they were no match for the Takeda army. More than half of them were killed in a short time, and the rest began to flee in the chaos.

Seeing that the defense line had collapsed, Asakura Kageren led the remaining troops toward the front line, hoping to rely on the Makai troops on the front line to turn the defeat around.

By noon, Asakura Kageren, who had been retreating again and again, was still a step too late. Before he could join up with the Makai troops at the front, his retreat was cut off by Takeda's surprise attack team.

Surrounded by the enemy and seeing the soldiers around him dying one after another, Asakura Kageren realized that he had no hope of escape, so he asked Kuriya Katsuie for permission to commit suicide by disembowelment. After getting the latter's permission, he left a farewell poem that read "My body has gone through the ups and downs of the troubled times, but my name remains in Jinshan", and then committed suicide with a knife.

After learning of Asakura Kageren's death, the Asakura army, which was still fighting fiercely on the front line, naturally had no intention of fighting any longer. Except for a few samurai who died with their swords, most of them chose to lay down their arms and surrender.

At this point, the Battle of Kurino, the last large-scale battle since the Asakura army invaded Wakasa, ended with the victory of the Takeda army.

In this battle, the Takeda army defeated the Asakura clan's famous generals by surprise, taking numerous prisoners and weapons, and becoming famous in Kinki and Hokuriku. Yamamoto Shigeyuki also entered the vision of daimyo in various places for his outstanding command in this battle, and was nicknamed "Ghost Yamamoto".

Please read on and give me a monthly ticket. Thank you very much! If you have a ticket, can you please leave one for Xiongzai?



(End of this chapter)