Japan's Sengoku Period: The Sanada Clan's Ambition

Chapter 93 The Battle of Uehara Castle Against Tokugawa (Part 5)
Sasuke quickly relayed Sanada Nobuyuki's orders to Yamagami Michiki.

Impatient, Yamagami Michiki leaped to his feet, drew his katana, and pointed it down the mountain, shouting, "Fire!"

boom! boom! boom!
A burst of intense gunfire rang out, and seven or eight foot soldiers from Mizuno Katsunari's unit at the foot of the mountain fell instantly.

Mizuno Katsunari was startled on horseback and almost fell off.

Looking up the mountain following the sound, Mizuno Katsunari shouted, trying to remain calm, "Don't worry, get through here at full speed!"

In his view, this was at most a small number of enemy troops harassing them.

The place he was in was too narrow and long, and his foot soldiers could not deploy at all. They could only keep their heads down and continue forward. After passing through this narrow passage, there would be a plain.

Taking advantage of the lull in the arquebusiers on the mountain road, Mizuno Katsunari quickened his horse's pace and urged the foot soldiers behind him to catch up.

Shan Shangdao smiled slightly, "Trying to run?"

"Prepare for rockfall!"

Behind him, seven or eight foot soldiers pushed a huge rock to the edge of the mountain.

"put!"

At the command, the boulder remained motionless.

The mountain road is very steep; if the road cannot be blocked, the enemy can still slowly pass through this area.

"Get out of the way!" Yamashita Daoji threw the heavy headband on his head aside.

"Push harder, everyone!"

Yamashita Michiki personally took charge, and the foot soldiers naturally exerted all their strength as well, and soon the boulder rolled down the hillside.

The loud noise made the Mizuno family foot soldiers, who were charging forward with their heads down, look up. That one glance completely terrified them.

There was no time to react; the huge boulder flew down from the mountaintop, instantly killing two or three foot soldiers.

Most importantly, after the rocks rolled down, they landed directly in the middle of the path, leaving only a small section by the lake passable.

Meanwhile, the cannons on the mountain continued to fire, throwing out large amounts of gravel, which, along with the projectiles fired from the cannons, poured down the mountainside.

"what!"

"my eyes!"

"My leg is broken, please help me up."

"Raise your shield, raise your shield!"

"Don't break formation! Are those fire sticks you're holding? Fire back! Open fire!"

The screams and wails sounded extremely chaotic, mingling with the commands of the Mizuno family samurai.

Mizuno Katsumoto had already ridden his horse quite a distance, but upon seeing the situation behind him, he had no choice but to quickly turn back and organize a defense.

The location of the mountain road is very well chosen. It is situated on the left foot of Mount Omi, offering a panoramic view from the summit.

However, if one looks up from the foot of the mountain, the view is blocked by the raised slope, and even if some of the Mizuno clan's foot soldiers retaliate with arquebuses, it is difficult for them to inflict damage on the mountain and their foot soldiers.

In a short while, at least a hundred members of Mizuno Katsunari's team had fallen to the ground.

If these people had died directly, it might have been fine, but the fact that they were seriously injured and fell to the ground, their cries of pain and pleas for help directly affected the morale of the foot soldiers present.

Seeing their friends and relatives from the same village lying on the side covered in blood, how can they possibly stay calm?
Soon, scenes of disobeying orders appeared on the battlefield.

A foot soldier dropped his arquebus and began to help the wounded man who had fallen to the ground. The samurai behind him shouted at him, but this had no effect. Instead, it made more people start to dodge the falling rocks and projectiles.

The formation was completely disrupted.

Mizuno Katsunari shoved aside the samurai protecting him, pointed at the mountain peak, and shouted to Mizuno, the sergeant at the back of the group, "Sanzaemon, take the men up the mountain!"

"Go up the mountain!"

The scene was too chaotic, and Mizuno, who was at the back of the group, couldn't hear what Mizuno Katsunari was saying at all.

Seeing no reaction, Mizuno Katsunari simply snatched a wooden shield from a foot soldier, carried it with difficulty, squeezed through the crowd, and arrived near Mizuno, the branch commander.

"Sanzaemon, the enemy is on the mountain. You lead the rear guard up the mountain via the small path from the back!"

"what!"

Mizuno Katsunari's movements were clearly seen by Yamagami Michiki on the hillside. Seeing that the enemy's rear guard began to retreat, Yamagami Michiki immediately said to Kasuga Mototada beside him, "Lord Kasuga, you are in charge here."

"Good!" Kasuga nods as he shoots an arrow.

Yamagami Michi waved to those behind him, and more than a hundred foot soldiers who were on high alert quickly followed.

After accepting Sanada Nobuyuki's offer, Yamagami Michiki also summoned all the members of the Yamagami clan in Ueno to Shinano.

Yamagami Michikatsu was highly respected in the Ueno region. Hearing that Yamagami Michikatsu had served the Sanada family, some Yamagami samurai who had become ronin (masterless samurai) rushed to Shinano to serve Yamagami Michikatsu again.

Fortunately, Sanada Nobuyuki provided enough land for his campaign; otherwise, Yamagami Michiki wouldn't have been able to support so many people. This time, Yamagami Michiki also had over thirty samurai under his command participating in the battle.

In the military service of the Sanada clan, a samurai would usually be accompanied by ten to twenty foot soldiers in addition to his own foot soldiers as "doshin" (a system of adoptive parentage).

A large number of lower-ranking samurai (meaning samurai with low skill levels) were assigned to the front lines for command, which greatly enhanced the combat capabilities of the foot soldiers.

Yamashita Michiki led his men to the mountainside, while Mizuno Bungayo had already begun climbing the mountain via the small path behind them.

We meet on a narrow road.

"Kill!" Yamashiro was ruthless and didn't say much. He raised his katana and charged directly into the enemy ranks.

In such narrow spaces, long spears are not conducive to use, while katanas are more convenient to wield.

These one hundred men were carefully selected by Yamagami Michiki, and each of them was equipped with a katana.

On Mizuno's side, most of the foot soldiers were still holding long spears, and they couldn't stop Yamagami Michiki, who was like a tiger descending the mountain.

Yamaue Michiko swung his katana to the left, clearing the spear in front of him, and charged directly into the crowd.

More than a hundred samurai and foot soldiers followed closely behind.

With a single charge, he cut down more than ten Tokugawa foot soldiers, and continued forward at the same speed.

Mizuno's long column fought and retreated, but soon they had nowhere to go, with Lake Suwa behind them.

The foot soldiers behind them began to disperse along the mountain paths on both sides. From a distance, the mountain pathkeeper saw Mizuno Tadabatsu, who was wearing a magnificent suit of armor, and charged straight towards them.

"Don't run! We outnumber them! Hold off the enemy!" Mizuno, the branch commander, was still directing the foot soldiers' counterattack from behind when, before he knew it, Yamashiro Michiki had already rushed in front of him.

Two Mizuno samurai immediately brandished their swords and charged forward, leaving Yamagami no choice but to abandon Mizuno Tadashi and fight alongside him.

With a single slash, the blade struck the samurai squarely in the chest, and a Mizuno samurai fell to the ground, his eyes wide with shock.

What a fast knife.

These were the last thoughts that remained in the samurai's mind before he died.

"Die!" Yamagami Michiki slashed aside another Mizuno samurai and charged toward Mizuno Tadabatsu.

Mizuno, the branch chief, realized what was happening and immediately charged forward with his sword.

Bang!

As the two swords clashed, Mizuno, the branch commander, pressed his blade against the edge and shouted, "Enemy general, don't be so arrogant! Take this!"

“Dead people usually say this much!” Yamagami Michiki forcefully pushed Mizuno Bina aside, then immediately thrust his sword forward.

Mizuno saw it clearly and quickly dodged.

After dodging the attack, Mizuno quickly retreated, trying to regain his footing. Yamagami Michiki's attack was truly swift.

But he forgot one thing—Lake Suwa was behind him.

The shore had long been trampled into mud by the scattered foot soldiers. After retreating to the lakeside, Mizuno Wakana's feet immediately began to slip.

Upon seeing this, Yamagami Michiki quickly picked up a long spear from the ground and slammed it down, hitting Mizuno Asaka squarely on the shoulder.

Mizuno Wakena lost his balance and fell backward to the ground.

Before Mizuno could get up, several samurai from the Yamagami clan had already pounced on him.

Two samurai held down Mizuno's hands and feet, while one of them drew his wakizashi and slashed at Mizuno's neck.

On his deathbed, Mizuno Bunaga saw, out of the corner of his eye, the fleeing foot soldiers and the enemy troops who were indulging in a frenzy.

Is that the end?

"The enemy has been defeated!"

"Oh!"

Yamagami Michiki did not order a pursuit; his mission was to hold the hillside, preventing Mizuno Katsunari from passing through or escaping.

The cheers quickly reached Mizuno Katsunari's ears from the front.

Upon hearing the report from the routed soldiers, a hint of panic finally appeared on Mizuno Katsunari's face.

　The system of adoptive parents and adopted children: During the Sengoku period in Japan, in order to stabilize the relationship between lords and vassals, daimyo began to take measures to protect the rights and interests of powerful samurai who became "adopted parents".

　　They prohibited adopted children from arbitrarily changing foster parents and stipulated that adopted children must file lawsuits against daimyo through their foster parents, thus giving this relationship a certain degree of coercive power.

　　On the other hand, if the foster parent fails to provide the foster child with the due favors or treats them unfairly, the daimyo also has the right to request the foster child to change foster parents.

　　Through these measures, the daimyo aimed to ensure that these powerful samurai could become their reliable military force.

　　By assigning foot soldiers to lower-ranking samurai as allies, and then assigning lower-ranking samurai to important retainers, the combat capabilities of the troops can be maximized.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)