Iga Ninjutsu is Good (Hattori: Legendary, Domination, V5445)

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Abe Noriaki: "My lord, there is report that Oda has had a terrible harvest this year. How about we aid them 2500 koku? They will be very thankful, and you will be further respected among clans."
Yasunaga: "I thought I am already very respected... in fact, I cannot be more respected for some reason." :on_sweat:
Abe Noriaki: "So we simply reject them? There could be negative consequences..."
Yasunaga: "Oh?..."

(Load auto-save from the beginning of the turn.)

Abe Noriaki: "My lord, there is report that... there is no report."
Yasunaga: "Huh?" :on_sweat:

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Abe Noriaki: "Oh yes, there is a report that the friendly Honma clan could be our potential ally after Realm Divide."
Yasunaga: "Indeed, they are far away from us. A military alliance plus my youngest son as hostage would make them extremely friendly. So they will remain our firm ally for 8 seasons at least." :on_bath:

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Chisato: "Report! We have successfully trapped Oda's army on the field! Rebels are all over Tokaido!" :on_panda:
Goemon: "Nice! Tell the HQ that we are ready for Realm Divide!"

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Hattori Yasunaga: "Soldiers! The time has come! This summer, we march to battle! Declare war on Ashikaga Shogunate!" :on_furious:
Generals and soldiers: "To summer's son Lord Yasunaga!"

End of Chapter 12

Chapter 13. Angel of the Night

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Hattori Yasunaga: "Let's bring war to the Ashikaga Shogunate! Attack!"
Metsuke: "My lord, the Ashikaga Shogunate have two full stacks of army defending Kyoto. Please be careful."
Yasunaga: "Hm, I am not worried about their numbers, after all we have three elite armies in Kinki. But I do not like the fact that they will be defending in the Kyoto castle."
Metsuke: "I heard there is a weakness in the castle. With patience, we will achieve a great victory!"
Yasunaga: "I know about that, too. But why don't we fight like a real Hattori man?"
Metsuke: "Challenge them under the summer sun?"
Yasunaga: "Nope, stab them in midsummer night! Night attack!" :on_furious:

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Yasunaga: "What is the battlefield terrain like?"
Metsuke: "There is a tall hill with lots of trees close to us!"
Yasunaga: "Wait a minute... I have seen this before! :on_lightning: It is almost identical to our Kawachi battle with Hatakeyama 11 years ago..." (see bottom)
Metsuke: "Kawachi is about twenty miles south from here. Maybe the continent has drifted due to tectonics motion? There are lots of Volcanos in Japan." :on_sweat:
Yasunaga: "What are you talking about..."
Metsuke: "So how did my lord win that battle?"
Yasunaga: "We sneaked up the hill before the battle began, and then the enemy pretty much took themselves out."
Metsuke :on_exhausted:
Yasunaga: "Well we had to issue a few commands, such as encircling their lines from both sides and a cavalry charge in the back. Let's do it again in Kyoto!" :on_panda:

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Terrain of the Kawachi Battle in 1546.

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Chisato: "Ha... finally we made it to the battlefield! If I can see where the soldiers are..."
Goemon: "It seems that Hattori soldiers have sneaked on the large hill in the middle. The trees and tall grass there provides a perfect cover!"
Chisato: "And the Ashikaga soldiers have no idea! They are quick-marching toward the hill!" :on_panda:

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Chisato: "The Ashikaga Cavalry close in fast... and bump right into Hattori's Naginata!"
Goemon: "Like a toddler walking into a brick wall!" :on_groucho:

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Chisato: "There is their Katana Samurai captain!... no more captain!" :on_sing:
Goemon: "They are not even charging... so far it plays out exactly like the battle of Kawachi..."

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Chisato: "The Ashikaga all-samurai infantry is coming... and it looks like they are prepared for battle!"
Goemon: "A huge clash is going to happen! Can the Hattori gold-armor Naginata resist the charge of the No-Dachi and Katana Samurai?"

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Goemon: "The lines meet! The Hattori black and the Ashikaga white! The forces are equally matched at first!"
Chisato: "The Ashikaga samurai focused their attack in the middle! The Hattori line must wrap them up quickly!"

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Goemon: "Most Ashikaga's samurai are surrounded by their own people. They can't fight! Shoot them up!" :on_furious:
Chisato: "Some of them are fleeing!"

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Chisato: "Look, the Hattori Yari Cavalry is circling to the back of the Ashikaga army!"
Goemon: "Go go go!" :on_football:

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Chisato: "The Yari Cavalry is charging into the back of Ashikaga Bow Samurai!"
Goemon: "Like a toddler ramming into newborn babies!" :on_scare:

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Chisato: "Ashikaga Bow Samurai explode like popcorns!"
Goemon: "Flying before the moon!" :on_angel:

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Chisato: "The Ashikaga samurais are shattered! They run for their lives!"
Goemon: "These samurai never had any battle experience... like they were fresh made from factory. They can't bear the cruelty of darkness, the descent of the angel of the night!" :on_panda:

Note: If war is declared upon the Ashikaga Shogunate, a full stack will be created by the game's script just outside Kyoto. This army is featured in the battle.

However, in my personal experience the second full stack does not always spawn. I am not certain why I could avoid it sometimes. Maybe I declared war upon the Shogunnate via an ally, who was at war with the Ashikaga. Or maybe there were other factors.

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Chisato: "Looking! There is Lord Yasunaga! He was brave enough to charge into hundreds of Ashikaga samurai!"
Goemon: "Yeah get them!" :on_devil:

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Chisato: "Lord Yasunaga has taken the head of an enemy No-dachi Samurai!"
Goemon: :on_vred: "What a massacre under moon light!"

Note: Strategically I should have ended the battle in the first opportunity to kill of all the reamining Ashikaga soldiers. However, I wanted to take some screenshots about the Daimyo charging into enemies at night. So the above screenshots are the result.

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Chisato: "Congratulations, my Lord! The Ashikaga reinforcement is annihilated, like an egg rolled out of the nest and cashed on the ground below!"
Hattori Yasunaga: ":on_panda: Even a full stack of samurai can't stand the dark terror! Let's attack Kyoto castle!"

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Chisato: "With so many elite soldiers as reinforcements, the siege must be a one-sided massacre..."
Goemon: "Yeah. Let's wait for the good news!" :on_bath:

Note: Auto-resolved to save time. The replenish rate in Kyoto is so high that most units will recover to full strength in the next season anyway.

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(Kyoto Imperial Palace)

Chisato: "Your masjesty! I bring you great news! The Hattori clan has ousted Ashikaga!"
Emperor: ":on_bibber: There is an assassin in the palace! Guards!"
Chisato: "It is me, your majesty! I am Chisato!"
Emperor: "Oh... I almost couldn't recognize you. It has been 12 long years. :on_tears: So what is Hattori's attitude toward me? Are they going to be nicer than the Ashikaga family?"
Chisato: "Indeed. Clan members of the Hattori all practice Iga Ninjutsu, which relies on the spirits of "truly good at endurance". You can do whatever you want and they will tolerate you."
Emperor: "Iga Ninjutsu? Yeah... I have seen Iga Ninjutsu signs around the palace sometimes. The practitioners all look pretty zealous though... Can't believe there are still superstitious people in the 16th century."
Chisato: ":on_sweat: So what's your next mission for me, your Majesty? Shall I retire from Hattori Ninja and return to serve in the palace?"
Emperor: "Er... you know, the palace is a government agency, so your position could be held mostly for a year even if we claimed your parents have both accidentally died. If you wish to return now, I remember there are vacancy ads in the gate maintenance department..."
Chisato: :on_blush: "But I only know how to break gates."
Emperor: "Huh?"
Chisato: ":on_sweat: Your majesty, how about I continue my service with the Hattori clan, and return to you after they have united Japan under one banner?"
Emperor: "Sure. Keep up the good work!" :on_wink:

Video of Kyoto night battle. Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/jkZ1gkO0n5c

End of Chapter 13

Chapter 14. Unlikely enemy and ally

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Fujiwara Norioki: "And the Third Army attacks Ise! Finally the expansion ban has been lifted!" :on_lol:
Chisato: "Now all of the sudden every Hattori general is at least a five-star. Their trainings will pay off!"
Goemon: "Each training session is 9 minutes real time. 5 generals per season means at least 45 minutes on training..."
Maltz: "Fortunately I had some books to read... :on_sweat:"

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Chisato: "Goemon, I heard that the Wako were again producing Medium Bune (the V5520 patch happened during Chapter 12). Are they any good?"
Goemon: "They are inferior to regular Medium Bune. So with a little skill to divide and conquer, we can easily beat them!"
Chisato: "What do we do to them once we capture them?"
Goemon: "Sell them to other Wakos as slaves? :on_sweat: Unfortunately we have to sink the ships. Those Medium Bune are just garbage ships."

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Chisato: "I heard that we declared war on the Ashikaga Shogunate earlier than we planned, so some of the units are still being shipped to their destination. What do the commanders do in the meantime?"
Goemon: "I heard that the "naked" commanders have anticipated this, and timed the exhaustion of rebel trainers with it. Three more province will fall this summer because the rebels have used up their last bit of energy after chasing the generals for 4 years on the field. :on_beg:
Chisato: "What are the provinces?"
Goemon: "The first one is Izumo province, victimized by Fourth Army commander Sawada Takamochi."

Takamochi: "I am waiting for you on the mountain~ ... I am waiting for you on the beach~
Izumo rebels: :on_scared:

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Goemon: "The second province is Hyuga province, surrendering to Fifth army commander Minamoto Tomokata."
Tomokata: "Come out, come out, whenever you are ~ oops, I am the one who is hiding." :on_sing:

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Goemon: "The third province to fall is Omi, exhausted by the previous Chief Accountant Abe Noriaki."
Noriaki: "Finally I can get a more exicting job than this... :on_tears:"

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Hattori Masanari: "I am a grown man! Please let me do something for the clan, father!"
Yasunaga: "But we don't have any army for you to lead..."
Abe Noriaki: "My lord! If Masanari does not mind, he can take my old position..."
Yasunaga: "But we already own Omi province."
Noriaki: "There are a large number of trivial rebel provinces in the west that does not require an army to bring down. The army can be used in more important places."
Yasunaga: "Good idea. Masanari, go to Awaji island and play with the rebels there! Be careful and don't let them catch up!"
Masanari: "Sure!" :on_grad:
Yasunaga: "Puf... kids."

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Abe Noriaki: "My Lord! There is a new diploment in developsy... :on_rasp: I mean a new development in diplomacy."
Yasunaga: "What is it?"
Noriaki: "Our most trusted ally Honma has announced that..."
Yasunaga: "that they will declare war on Hojo?"
Noriaki: "No! They broke the alliance with us without letting us know!"
Yasunaga: "WHAT?! We had 200+ relationship points with them... how can they do this?"
Noriaki: "Because they are jerks? What should we do?"
Yasunaga: "I don't know. It is likely that my youngest son won't come back!" :on_bash:

Note: Honma did not want to ally with Hattori in the first place, and only agreed so if Hattori sends a hostage. If an AI clan does not want to ally with human, maybe they will break the alliance anyway even if human successfully secured an alliance with them with other incentives.

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Chisato: "Now Hattori is actively expanding again, I wonder which are the general directions of the armies?"
Goemon: "Japan is thin and long, so you can view them as a three-lane wagon way. There are some intersections, and sometimes wider or narrower segments. But in general we only need three armies to take care of the three main ways."
Chisato: "Which three?"

Goemon: "The First Army is led by Daimyo Hatorri Yasunaga. This is absolutely the best army in the Hattori clan. It will be reponsible for the north route, expanding through Echizen, Kaga, etc."
Chisato: "Why do we use our best army there?"
Goemon: "That's because Honma has shown hostility to us. Lord Yasunaga anticipated that a revenge battle :on_bash: will inevitably happen, and it is best fought between him personally and the Honma daimyo."
Chisato: "Can't miss that! :on_aww: How about the Second Army?"

Goemon: "The Second Army is led by Master Momochi Sandayu. Due to his role as the Comissioner of Development, he will be able to quickly calm down the resistance in Tokaido, starting in Owari, Migawa, etc."
Chisato: "But Oda has those provinces now..."
Goemon: "Originally we planned for a later day to trigger Realm Divide, and by then our military access with Oda will have expired long time ago, so war declaration will be fine. Unfortunately, now we are still bound by the post-military access attack ban."
Chisato: "So... :on_sung: rebels will take care of them?"
Goemon: "Exactly."
Chisato: "Does that mean Master will get the chance to fight Hojo's super stacks in Musashi?"
Goemon: "Likely so."

Goemon: "The Third Army is led by Fujiwara Norioki. He will be attacking the central mountain route, through Mino, South Shinano, etc. The Fourth Army is led by Sawada Takamochi. He will be taking care of the northern provinces starting with the Takaoka Clan. And then finally the Fifth Army led by Minamoto Tomokata will be mopping up the rebel provinces in the west."
Chisato: "Yeah... I almost forgot, we still have Takaoka clan to finish off! :on_beatup: