December 12th 1567
Ise Plains, Owari Province
'You tell Captain Tadasue that he must hold at all costs-and he must prevent the Ashigaru from bolting-they will fight to the last man-all our lives depend on it! GO!' The General straightened up on his destrier as the courier hastened back to the carnage at the bridge. If Takeda Nobukado was nervous it did not show though there was a bead or two of moisture running down his face and this on one of the coldest days yet this winter.
The carnage was that of his own making for he had set his defence well. As well he must when he had learnt that the treacherous Oda had first declared war and then launched their most fearsome general, their Daimyo himself, and his famed veteran army towards Takeda lands. When news had reached them of the attack his own Captains had blanched with fear. Daimyo Oda Gozen was a legendary warlord and one credited with single-handedly wresting his clan from extinction at the hands of half a dozen enemies. His army had never been bested in the field, was composed almost entirely of samurai and until now had not been considered foe to the Takeda...until now. It was said that his son, Oda Hiri, also rode with the army of some two thousand spearmen, cavalry and archers. He was called the 'head-hunter' after his grisly habit of hanging the shrunken heads of his dead enemies around his neck when he entered the fray.
'My Lord' his Captain of Ashigaru had whispered, his face wan with fear, 'we cannot hope to stand against Gozen with the army we have-we must retreat...'
Many of the 'wise counsel' around the room: the best of his Captains, were nodding furiously in agreement.
In spite of the craven attitude of some, Nobukado did note proudly that some were diametrically opposed to any retreat, mainly his Chief of Staff, the cavalry captains and his Katana and Naginata Samurai leaders. The arguments raged back and forth and the hubbub grew to a crescendo when the General at last spoke. His words were so quiet that, at first, they were completely drowned out amongst the shouting. But then Tadasue shouted for silence,
'Hear the Taisho! Hear your General!' Eventually the din subsided,
'There will be no retreat.' The General repeated as all eyes turned to stare. Unperturbed the warrior approached the map and pointed with his ceremonial fan to a point on the map that depicted the Ise plains off to their northwest and the direction of the approaching threat. Separating their lands from that of the Oda was a single bridge. This was where his fan came to rest.
'This is where we will stop them. I do not doubt that the battle will be hard-many of us will not see the new year in but stop them we can and stop them we will if we do it here.'
The rest was persuasion and the unfurling of his plan. By the end he had them all convinced. If they timed things right and luck clung to their side then they might just have a chance. As things stood, if they tried to take on Gozen's forces on the open field they would be annihilated.
'You wonder if we can really do it my friend' the General had said to his factotum as they rode, in the driving snow, at the head of the column to the bridge. Advanced scouts had confirmed the approach of their enemy only a few hours previously. Tadasue had remained silent. It was not the Samurai way to display fear in the face of impending battle.
'There is much that rides on this battle I grant you but if the timing and divine Bishamonten smile on us then we can win today.'
'And the Cavalry and our reinforcements and the hope that their scouts do not know what we know about the ford my Lord. We risk much...'
'Such is war my friend such is war.' The General had shouted into the howling wind, wrapping his silk shawl ever tighter around his neck-such cold! Would his army be up to the job? He had reinforced it with several hundred Samurai in recent months and had a formidable heavy cavalry force of some three hundred Yari and Katana riders. They were to be the hammer to strike the Oda who would come up against the anvil of the rest of his infantry, a force of Ashigaru, Naginata Samurai and Katana Samurai. They would contest the bridge whilst his reserve cavalry, some two hundred Yari light horsemen would stand off to the left. Force-marching from their Daimyo in Mikawa were another two hundred cavalry and the same again in Yari Ashigaru: their arrival would also be crucial as Nobukado suspected that, if they still held, at the point that they arrived they would be hard pressed indeed. Their total numbers on the battlefield were just shy of two thousand so in numbers Oda had the advantage. He, however, had the advantage of the terrain, the river, the bridge and the plan...
Takeda Nobukade addresses his troops before the battle.
Battle had been joined one hour previously with a furious cavalry charge of the Daimyo's brother and his son themselves-utter folly! Even maddened warhorses must quail at the serried spears of his own veteran Ashigaru: both generals were dead before the battle was even ten minutes old. Following them came the massed ranks of Samurai retainers, spearmen and swordsmen. Takeda Nobukado countered with both squads of his Katana Samurai. The battle raged on but the enemy could not fight their way beyond the bridgehead. His Captain of bodyguards was going crazy because the General insisted on getting as close to the fighting as he could in order to see what was actually happening at the bridge. This of course brought him in range of the formidable bows of the enemy samurai archers who were raining down fire arrows on the Takeda second echelons, mainly the Naginata Samurai and his own archers.
'Move the Naginata forward and engage one and two squads to right and left!' His orders, unhurried, crisp and clear.
'Hai my lord!' And the signal was given using the battle fans. The one and half hour mark was approaching and the general's mind was now not on the battle before them but the Cavalry that he had sent to close by the ford, some kilometre and a half to their east. He had given them orders not to move too early whilst there were still Yari Samurai on the Oda side of the bridge or they would be easily countered and possibly destroyed. They must wait until all the Yari were committed and only bowmen remained-that would be the signal to launch and charge.
But for that to happen he would have to make sure that the Oda felt the critical place was the bridge. He also had to hope that their intelligence had not discovered the ford itself and that no stray squads of scouts were deployed to the Oda left. So far so good…
'Send in the remaining Naginata.....and when they falter the Light cavalry in wedge formation' he would commit everything he had at the enemy troops. At the bridge all he could see as he once again rode forward, was rank after rank of Yari Samurai fighting towards the bridgehead. At the moment his valiant troops were holding the enemy but the bulge pressing back from the imbroglio towards them looked as though it would burst at any moment.
As he was dragged away once again by his bodyguard, with a storm of fire arrows following, he gave the signal, for he could now see the dust of to his far right: the dust that is kicked up when three hundred heavy horse are on the charge.
'Send in the Yari Cavalry-both troops! Hit them with everything...and order in the archers when their arrows are spent!'
'Yes my lord!'
Nobukado stood in his stirrups and tried to see what was happening on the far side of the bridge to the right-that was now the critical point and there were only archers there to protect the Oda from his riders.
To the fore the situation was now balancing on a knife-edge. It was at this point that the breathless courier arrived, blood spattered, through the snow from Tadasue and when he was given the short response-hold at all costs or they would be finished. He could just about see the melee at the bridge and the bulge pressing ever more towards them and away from the bridgehead-if it burst the game was up. How long had they been fighting? Two hours? More?
And then several things happened all at once: a despairing cry went up from his own troops:
'The Daimyo is come! Daimyo Gozen is come!'
And he could see the enemy Daimyo and his bodyguard plunging into the morass in one final attempt to break the deadlock. He was on the point of signalling to his own bodyguard that the time was come to charge-they were almost out of time when suddenly to his left thundered two troops of Katana Cavalry fresh from their rear. The reinforcements had arrived! The General swivelled in his saddle to look behind. He could see some distance away almost five hundred more spearmen hastening up the Okazaki-OtsuRoad towards them-never in his life had he been so glad to see the much maligned Yari Ashigaru. 'Peasants' others may call them but under his tutelage he had welded them into a formidable fighting force.
And then at last he could see his Cavalry reach the bridge-in small pockets at first and then in increasing numbers as the riders won through the fiercely resisting Samurai Archers. At this point and even though there were probably less than fifty remaining Takeda horsemen the Oda knew that the game was up. The cry that attended the un-horsing of the enemy Daimyo and his subsequent butchering only hastened the rout and at this point Nobukado did give his pursuing bodyguard their head-his last orders on this bloody battle of the Ise Plains....
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