Making a God of War (Uesugi: Legednary, Domination)

[Maltz]

023.


"Wow. Can't we work together! That was a perfect trap! We lost just one ashigaru. And he was not killed by the enemy, but accidentally tripped and got flattened by our own guys who stepped on him. Poor dude.

Just like any general, Nagao Masakage would take a 200 : 1 exchange on any day.

Kagetora: "Good work, thank you all."
Nomi: "You don't look too happy, Kagetora. Why? Because the poor guy died from friendly fire, friendly feet? Don't worry - things like this can happen. His family won't know the true cause of death. He will be honored."
Kagetora: "Please don't worry about me. I should focus on battle, and contemplate memories after."
Nomi: "Good for you. A good general makes judgment on a split of a second. Full attention is demanded at any time."
Masakage: "So what do we do next? Can we draw out the second unit of Yari Ashigaru?"
Nomi: "I am afraid it wouldn't be this easy. That second Yari Ashigaru unit is on the same side of the hill as Harukage's Yari Cavalry. We don't have a bait that can outrun Yari Cavalry from such a short distance."
Masakage: "Isn't there a large hill overlooking Harukage's unit? Let's go up the hill and see if Harukage has some weakness to exploit."
Kagetora: "Yeah. The soldiers could use a little shade from the noon sun."

Kagetora leads his men on top of the larger hill, where they share a good view on Harukage's hideout. Harukage's Yari Cavalry is exposed, but Harukage does not seem to know about that.

Nomi: "Kagetora, let's order our Bow Ashigaru to secretly march foward under the cover of the trees, and fire at Harukage. Maybe we can draw him out."
Kagetora: "Sure. Bow Ashigaru, lunch break is over in 5 minutes!"

Slowly and quietly, Kagetora's Bow Ashigaru inch down the hill. Harukage's Yari Cavalry seems to be in their range. As Kagetora raises his katana, the ashigaru draw arrows, ready to fire. Suddenly, they hear noises coming form the other hill. Harukage's Bow Ashigaru is marching toward them.

Nomi: "This is no good. Call them back, Kagetora!"
Kagetora: "Huh?"
Nomi: "Call all of them back. Run! Everybody! You, too!"
Kagetora: "OK. All Bow Ashigaru, cancel the plan! Fall back with me!"

Under Kagetora's command, the Bow Ashigaru and everyone on the hill fisrt run up then run down, to the other side of the hill. Finally, Harukage's Bow Ashigaru gave up their slow pursue, and returned to their hideout.

Masakage: "Why don't we attack just now? We have Harukage in range."
Nomi: "Because we will be in Harukage's Bow Ashigaru's range."
Masakage: "We have forests as cover. We can kill them faster even if we have a shooting duel."
Nomi: "And what will happen after Harukage loses his Bow Ashigaru?"
Masakage: "Hm... without ranged units in the army? I think he will launch a full assault. Then we will be forced to engage."
Nomi: "Against foes like Harukage? We are not thinking about just victory. We are thinking about a landside victory. We can do better than that."
Kagetora: "It looks like Harukage's passive-aggressive Bow Ashigaru has come to this side of the hill. Maybe now we can work on his units from the opposite side? Like we did before?"
Masakage: "Sure. I will handle the infantry like before."
Nomi: "I agree. If the enemy does not move, we move."
Kagetora: "I suppose the next sentence goes: If the enemy moves, we do not move?"
Nomi: "What? So you wait on the same spot to be defeated? If the enemy moves, we move faster!"