Anjin-san
05-13-2001, 15:03
Of course guys, this is sheer, total conjecture...
Ok, Uesugi. Do you plan on going this alone? Your life depends on getting rid of Hojo. Why? All things being equal, you and Hojo are the big boys on the block. Sooner or later your going to come to blows. I see no way of co-existing with each other. Two things will happen. You and Hojo may get in a stand still, a "sitskrieg" if you will, with one afraid to commit, or worse, you bleed to death fighting each other. To crush Hojo, you would need to strike at Hitachi and head to Shimosa, Hojo's capitol province. If you do this early on, Hojo's meat. For Hojo, a quick and devastating blitz into Mutsu could take you out. Now, consider. With a standstill or a blood bath mentioned above, who's more vulnerable to an attack from an outside party, you, Uesugi, or Hojo, and by whom? Don't worry about Shimazu or Mori -too far and they have their own problems-; Oda, again, he's busy elsewhere. Imagawa, naw. Takeda! Now a lot of things factor in. If your busy with Hojo, and for some reason he's afraid to strike at Musashi (he'd be an idiot-and a reason he should ally with you anyway) Shinano's gone and don't even think about keeping Hida, which is no great loss anyway. All you Uesugi fans think you can hold on to these if your slugging it out with Hojo? Also, I can just imagine that as soon as the other Clans smell blood, you'd be luckier to survive in a rottwieler pit with a pork chop around your neck.
You must ally with Takeda to insure a quick death for Hojo, with Takeda striking at Musashi. The reasons are obvious. Your not going to ally with Hojo. What other alliances are beneficial to you? None. No one can offer you anything right away except for Takeda. Offer to split up the Hojo lands with them. You,Uesugi, get Hitatchi, Shimotsuke, and Kozuke. Takeda can have Musashi, Shimosa, and Kazusa. They will get about 200 less koku than you, but that's not a bad deal. You need a buffer between Takeda and you home province of Mutsu, so keeping those three above mentioned provinces are essential. Even offer to give up Shinano to sweeten the deal. But, you should be able to set down the ground rules with Takeda. They need the help.
During this time it will be important, obviously, to keep an eye on what's going on, especially with Takeda's three provinces bordering Mori's lands. If all things are going well, or not, this is what you do. Break you alliance with an immediate strike against Takeda! Listen, what happens after Hojo's gone? If you continue the alliance, either Takeda will concentrate his expansions in the distant south, against Mori, or against Imagawa's three main provinces. Well, neither of these are very appealing to me if I were Takeda. Where else can he do? Or if he doesn't expand, what is he waiting for? Planning to attack you, that's what. If you don't deal with him, you'll be in the same situation as you'd be with Hojo; in a protracted bloodbath or a sitskrieg. And god knows, by this time, Shimazu or someone with a port has cleaned up their own neighborhood and are ready to land an assault force via a port attack against you.
Well, what do yo think?
Ok, Uesugi. Do you plan on going this alone? Your life depends on getting rid of Hojo. Why? All things being equal, you and Hojo are the big boys on the block. Sooner or later your going to come to blows. I see no way of co-existing with each other. Two things will happen. You and Hojo may get in a stand still, a "sitskrieg" if you will, with one afraid to commit, or worse, you bleed to death fighting each other. To crush Hojo, you would need to strike at Hitachi and head to Shimosa, Hojo's capitol province. If you do this early on, Hojo's meat. For Hojo, a quick and devastating blitz into Mutsu could take you out. Now, consider. With a standstill or a blood bath mentioned above, who's more vulnerable to an attack from an outside party, you, Uesugi, or Hojo, and by whom? Don't worry about Shimazu or Mori -too far and they have their own problems-; Oda, again, he's busy elsewhere. Imagawa, naw. Takeda! Now a lot of things factor in. If your busy with Hojo, and for some reason he's afraid to strike at Musashi (he'd be an idiot-and a reason he should ally with you anyway) Shinano's gone and don't even think about keeping Hida, which is no great loss anyway. All you Uesugi fans think you can hold on to these if your slugging it out with Hojo? Also, I can just imagine that as soon as the other Clans smell blood, you'd be luckier to survive in a rottwieler pit with a pork chop around your neck.
You must ally with Takeda to insure a quick death for Hojo, with Takeda striking at Musashi. The reasons are obvious. Your not going to ally with Hojo. What other alliances are beneficial to you? None. No one can offer you anything right away except for Takeda. Offer to split up the Hojo lands with them. You,Uesugi, get Hitatchi, Shimotsuke, and Kozuke. Takeda can have Musashi, Shimosa, and Kazusa. They will get about 200 less koku than you, but that's not a bad deal. You need a buffer between Takeda and you home province of Mutsu, so keeping those three above mentioned provinces are essential. Even offer to give up Shinano to sweeten the deal. But, you should be able to set down the ground rules with Takeda. They need the help.
During this time it will be important, obviously, to keep an eye on what's going on, especially with Takeda's three provinces bordering Mori's lands. If all things are going well, or not, this is what you do. Break you alliance with an immediate strike against Takeda! Listen, what happens after Hojo's gone? If you continue the alliance, either Takeda will concentrate his expansions in the distant south, against Mori, or against Imagawa's three main provinces. Well, neither of these are very appealing to me if I were Takeda. Where else can he do? Or if he doesn't expand, what is he waiting for? Planning to attack you, that's what. If you don't deal with him, you'll be in the same situation as you'd be with Hojo; in a protracted bloodbath or a sitskrieg. And god knows, by this time, Shimazu or someone with a port has cleaned up their own neighborhood and are ready to land an assault force via a port attack against you.
Well, what do yo think?