A tour of Japan's Warring States Period

In mid-March, Musashi Country, Ikuyama (Ikunoyama).

Uesugi Teruhora supported Uesugi Kenmasa, Ashikaga Yoshiji, and the people of Echigo and Ueno, as well as the generals Yoshida Harusuke, Utsunomiya Hirotsuna, Hoga Koada, Nagano Yamasa, Narita Choyasu, and Ota Shisumasa. , a total of thirty-five thousand riders.

Hosokawa Minome joined forces with 10,000 knights (temporarily increased) including Kiso Yoshimasa, Ogasawara Sadakei, Konishihara Zaemon, Hosokawa Harumiya, Murakami Takeomaru (Kyohide Kiyono) and others (temporarily increased).

At this moment, the commander Uesugikata was assigned to 1,800 riders including Kawada Nagachichi, Yasuda Kehiro, and Ueda Kensada in Matsuyama Castle, the last directly affiliated city of Kitamushi.

What Matsuyama Castle faced was the 55,000 cavalry of the Takeda and Hojo coalition forces. Under the attack of such a majestic military force, Matsuyama Castle was already like a boat in the angry sea and was precarious.

Once Matsuyama Castle is lost, the Uesugi clan will no longer have a strong stronghold in the entire Musashi Kingdom except for the Narita clan in Ninja Castle, which they obey, and all Uesugi Teruhu's efforts in Kanto will be completely in vain.

A small hill like Ikuyama has become the key to the battle between Uesugi Teru, who must break the siege and rescue Matsuyama, and Oishi Uteru, who must stop the reinforcements and attack Matsuyama on the spot.

After Uesugi Teruhu's victory, 45,000 troops entered Matsuyama, backed by a fortified city, with many soldiers and generals, and established themselves in an invincible position.

If the Oishi clan wins, they will block the enemy from outside the country, seize the entire Musashi Kingdom, restore their father and brother's family business, and expand the power of Hojo.

The two sides have been facing off at Shengshan for ten days. Each side has called for reinforcements, with a total strength of nearly 100,000. For several miles, there are flying flags in front, back, left and right.

In particular, Takeda Harunobu, who had 20,000 troops, and Hosokawa Saime, who had 10,000 troops, arrived at the battle one after another. The samurai from all over the Eastern Kingdom exclaimed at the majestic momentum of the two armies, and their fighting spirit became increasingly high.

The Matsuyama Castle that the two sides fought for was even more powerful. As the most critical branch city to control Northern Musashi, it even became the base camp for the Ogitani Uesugi clan to counterattack Kawagoe and Edo.

Utilizing the Ichino River surrounding the foot of the mountain, Hirayama Castle was built in a ladder-style spiral on the stacked hills. Its complex fortifications are combined with natural dangers.

What is even more exaggerated is that it is located on a huge granite. Although the surface is covered with floating soil, the base is actually indestructible. It is impossible for the Gold Diggers to launch any kind of earth dragon attack or conduct a tunnel siege.

Documents such as "Cabinet Collection Documents", "Obata Family Documents", "Soshu Documents", "Izumo Sakurai Documents", and "Kenshin Kōgo Chronicle" all record that Matsuyama Castle was difficult to attack.

Even though Terutora Uesugi was personally in charge, the eight thousand Echigo members also took turns fighting. It was also difficult to break through to the south, and Takeda Harunobu commanded the soldiers to storm Matsuyama Castle. Although the Uesugi clan's bamboo and sparrows were still flying on the top of Matsuyama Castle, reinforcements were never able to come to the city, and Matsuyama Castle would eventually fall.

This scene actually looks similar to Jin (shielded) state. Although the elder Kawada in the city is unyielding, he vows to defend the city to the death. But Terutora Uesugi outside is just like Hong. Most of his troops have different intentions and are not of the same mind.

They were working step by step but did not have enough food to continue the stalemate. Although like Hong, he could directly see Kinshu from Matsuyama, Uesugi Teruhora could also see Matsuyama Castle working hard to defend the city from Mt. Ikuno.

But he just couldn't break through the defense organized by Oishi Shiteru. His Kanto generals were exactly the same as Hong's eight generals. The first goal was to preserve their strength, and the second goal was to attack the enemy.

Even Hosokawa Saime is not exempt from this. The ten thousand troops of the Yamauchi family are the foundation of the country. He does not have the courage and determination to throw them away lightly.

The momentum of the two armies waxed and waned, and there was an indescribable change.

On this day, the offensive of the Hojo Army became more fierce, and the various teams of Musashino fought bravely to take the lead.

Sakurai Sakon, Ono Tohachiro, Ryochi Yasaburo, Ohta Bungo Mamoru, Obata Yasukiyo and others led troops to attack the Uesugi army regardless of life and death. They even broke through the Uesugi army's vanguard at one point and fought against the Nagano and Yamauchi armies on the left and right flanks.

All the troops of the Hojo Army were dispatched, and Fujita Clan and Imagawa Clan attacked each other.

The Fujita clan entangled Nagano Yamasa, the Imagawa clan entangled Hosokawa Saime, and Hojo Ujinobu led the guerrillas. On the one hand, they drove away the relatively weak Ota people in the Sugi army, and on the other hand, they loudly shouted that the Uesugi army was defeated and Uesugi Teruhu was alone. Desperate fake news.

The Uesugi Allied Forces were originally entangled only because of Uesugi Teruhora's status as the Kanto commander, and their organizational discipline was even not as high as that of Hong, who held the sword of Shangfang and commanded Ji Liao.

Wang Pu, the Datong general under Hong's command, was defeated first that night, followed by Ma Ke, Tang Tong, Bai Guang'en, Li Fuming, Wu Sangui and others who were defeated and fled.

Similarly, the Uesugi Central Army's Yamane Chaoxing collapsed first, and then attacked Narita Clan Naga and Narita Taiji. The sudden collapse of the 4,000 to 5,000 men on the left flank directly affected the various teams of Ganzha Keiki deployed by Uesugi Teruhu to supervise on the left flank.

Akai Terukage didn't want to come in the first place, and he had long wanted to join the Hojo clan. Since it was his first time to enter and exit the Kanto Campaign, Akai Teruyasu's Tatebayashi Castle was restructured and most of the Akai clan cut it off. Of course, he would not let go of such a good opportunity and immediately broke into chaos.

In this kind of war situation, it is like adding insult to injury and adding insult to injury. Its negative impact is far greater than expected.

The Nagao clan such as the Headquarters, Shirai, and Ashikaga were depleted of troops. Wherever they dared to face the Hojo army directly, they were routed in a rout.

Okay, now, what's the use of Uesugi Teruhu being the God of War? There were 25,000 people in the middle, and more than 10,000 people were already in chaos or dispersed, and the situation was simply difficult to deal with.

Without saying a word, the Echigo people followed Uesugi Teruhora and retreated to Ueno Corridor Bridge Castle. Anyway, the eight thousand Echigo people were fine, so their capital was still there. As for the other soldiers and horses, they abandoned them like worn-out shoes.

However, Uesugi's central army collapsed too quickly, and Hosokawa Harimei and Nagano Yamasa, each with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses guarding the left and right wings, had no time to react. I saw Teru Uesugi's main force withdrawing from the battlefield, and the 17,000-strong Kanto army was completely defeated.

The two of them had no choice but to retreat to Koshihata and the other to Sugiyama. The Hojo Army swept all the way to the Tone River and killed more than 1,800 Uesugi Army members.

Aoyama, Takaya, Takami, Kokura, Motarada and other Matsuyama Castle branch cities all surrendered to the Hojo clan.

Except for the three castles of Matsuyama, Sugiyama, and Koshihata, all the castles south of the Tone River were lost. The troops of Hojo and Takeda reached Hirai. Now, let alone Musashi, even the southern part of Ueno was shaken.

The shadow of the Kamirukawa War once again struck the hearts of the people of Minami-Ueno, and the entire situation suddenly went bad and collapsed one after another.

The Yamauchi family's 10,000 Shinano soldiers were trapped in Koshibata, with only twenty days' worth of army rations!

(The Battle of Ikuyama is known as one of the only two disastrous defeats suffered by Kenshin Uesugi in his life, but the specific process of the battle is unknown.)