The Rise Of The Samurai Hound

[tonsofun]

I have to admit I've gotten too carried away with the story stuff.I must admit i was concentrating more on the story than the history. Maybe in the future I can write "Manpukumaru: The Bad Comedy Years", but not today.
I don't see your feedback as personal. I know it isn't meant like that. Feedback is always appreciated. Otherwise I won't know when I do something stupid.
Anyway, I've deterred away from that and went back to the history side of things. So hopefully this will make for better reading.
I should also point out that entry #48 is no longer in existance since it has no bearing to the history.


#48

Excerpt from the diary of Azai Manpukumaru:

My wife has been confirmed. I will be marrying Ginchiyo, lady of the Tachibana and daughter of Dosetsu. Not my first choice, but I must do my duty to my father and stop a western rebellion before it happens. I shall make the most of whatever situation God throws before me. My mother is incredibly happy, I saw her only yesterday and she was smiling. I don’t remember seeing her smile before. Even my sisters have warmed to me. For the first time in my life, I feel like I have a family.

However, not all is well, we received word that Dom Bartolemu has launched an invasion of Shikoku. This could not have occurred at a worse time since we were planning an attack against Tokugawa. I must pray that he does not seize the moment and launch an attack when we are at our most vulnerable.

The army of Kyushu is supposedly very western and their tactics are very unorthodox. I have also heard rumours of the atrocities they commit. It is said they destroy all non-Christian buildings and I have even heard stories of how they will dishonour a woman infront of her family if they refuse to convert. If that is true then we are fighting an army of Satan himself. The bible says that we must always be on the lookout for those false prophets who masquerade under the guise of Jesus; I guess these are such people. If that is so, then we must all fight to prevent the end days from occurring.


#49 Battle Of Ozu

In his second attempt to conquer Japan, Dom Bartolemu was very well prepared. He had recently been given the gift of many Christians from Honshu who were fleeing the heretical beliefs of Azai Manpukumaru. Among those Christians, were many talented men. The most famous being Kuroda Kanbei who after landing on Kyushu switched to his baptismal name of Don Simeon. It was his suggestion to march straight to the capital and take the head of both Mitsuhide and Nagamasa. With both dead, there would be little opposition. To do so, he suggested that he march his troops through Shikoku. Due to their superior navy, the AA would have trouble landing a massive army anywhere near.

The plan proved to be very good as most of the newly built navy was decimated and the Bartolemu forces were given a clear landing at the mouth of the Hijikawa river. Just like their last landing, the Portuguese navy was there to assist and after their forces had landed, most of the ships would sail around the entire island to spot any reinforcements.

The first land confrontation took place just outside Ozu. Records in the Vatican say that the Bartolemu forces numbered over 100000 and that Chosokabe forces were at 50000, but that is debateable. The Chosokabe army was outdated whencompared to the enemy, but their spirit was high.

The battle started when cannons obliterated the front units of the Chosokabe. Unable to match their firepower, Chosokabe Motochika decided to march his entire army forward and fully utilise his cavalry. The forces at the front adopted a wheel formation, very similar to the one used Uesugi Kenshin at the fourth battle of Kawanakajima. The Bartolemu retaliated by utilising their pikes at the front since their rifles were useless at such proximity and men were being killed while they reloaded.

As the battle wore on, the mobile tactics of the Chosokabe took their toll and the men became fatigued. Seeing this, Kuroda ordered a faux retreat. Motochika sent his men to follow believing he had won, only to find his fatigued troops being ambushed by fresh riflemen. Defeat was imminent and Motochika was forced to retreat.


#50 Battle Of Tokushima

After his defeat at Ozu, Chosokabe Motochika withdrew what was left of his army and prepared for another confrontation. Due to Portuguese ships patrolling Shikoku, very few ships could bring reinforcements.

Sanada Masayuki spotted a weakness and discovered that Awaji island was not always looked upon. He suggested sneaking as many men onto Shikoku via Jinojima and Awaji Island. Due to high security, a big army could not be sneaked across. Masayuki joined the first men who made the journey.

The first part of the plan was to convince Chosokabe Motochika to avoid confrontation at all costs. This was not an easy task, but it was done. Motochika withdrew his soldiers and regrouped on the other side of Shikoku. They reorganised at the small defence hamlet of Tokushima.

It was not known what the plan was. Motochika and all of his retainers did not understand why they would regroup at the mouth of the Yoshino river. Especially in a position where they would be cornered and most vulnerable to gunpowder weapons.

Dom Bartolemu gave pursuit and followed them. As they got nearer to the defence hamlet, they camped for the night by one of the many tributaries of the Yoshino River. During the night, the river was flooded on the orders of Masayuki, ruining the majority of their gunpowder.

In the morning, Masayuki seeing that the river had flooded and gave the order to attack. The Chosokabe/AAi army consisted of Ashigaru spearmen, cavalry and elite archers. Despite being outnumbered, they gave attack.

The first wave was repelled as the Otomo used what remained of their gunpowder. The second wave was more intense. As the cavalry charged, countless riflemen were cut down. As pikemen moved in to repel the cavalry the spearmen moved in, backed up by the archers. While the spearmen attacked, the archers penetrated the back lines. Seeing that most of their army was defeated, Bartolemu and Kuroda fled with what was left of their army.

[Chargone]

huh. clever.
though a quite what Masayuki and his force did is a little hard to follow. (hard to get a good idea of their movements and the geography from this overview.)

[tonsofun]

I admit geography isn't my strongpoint. Locations were based on google earth. But I shall have a go at some maps to show more. Fingers crossed.

[Chargone]

maps are awesome almost by definition.

[tonsofun]

Here they are.
I spent ages trying to find suitable maps around google. But unsuccessful searches led me to Google Earth which has a nice copy feature.

The red represents the moves of the Bartolemu army.
The pink represents the Chosokabe retreat.
The yellow represents the movements of Sanada Masayuki


This is the map of Tokushima showing the relevant locations. Sadly a big city is there now.

[Chargone]

yes. curse those modern cities, always getting in the way of perfectly good battlefields... hehehe.

but yeah, that does clarify things somewhat. thankye

[tonsofun]

It is annoying that cities get in the way but most Japanese cities started off as castles and defence hamlets so I shouldn't be surprised.
Glad the maps clarified things.



#51

The first war between Bartolemu and the AA proved to be very costly for Shikoku. It is estimated that over 150000 soldiers died during that war and the civilian toll is estimated to be much higher, but no records exist to prove that one way or another. Rumours of the atrocities committed by the Bartolemu, created much hatred for Christianity throughout Shikoku and Honshu. Whether they are true or not, is debateable due to conflicting sources. However, the facts were irrelevant as nearly all those who heard them chose to believe.

Back in Kyushu, Dom Bartolemu was facing a crisis of leadership. His retainers were unhappy due to losing again and their Spanish/Portuguese backers were beginning to lose patience. They had invested a whole lot and had received little in return. Trade on Kyushu had nearly dried up due to oppression of non-christians and the constant need for military manpower. Slaves were sold off, but it was not enough to keep the economy going and it was not enough to make the investments worthwhile. As time grew on, less and less people lived on Kyushu. Some fled to Honshu, some were sold into slavery and others simply starved to death.

It was at this time, that one of the Otomo’s retainers decided to take action. His name was Shimazu Yoshihiro and he had made his name known for being a brave fighter during the war with the Otomo and for his gallantry during the invasion of Honshu. He had converted to Christianity, but many believed this was simply a way to ensure the survival of his clan.

During the invasion of Shikoku, Shimazu was again at the front line. Seeing how gunpowder dominated the battlefield amazed him, but he was even more amazed to see how useless his army was without gunpowder.

***

On Honshu, Sanada Masayuki had become one of the most trusted generals. Due to the nature of his victory on Shikoku, Akechi Mitsuhide decided it was best to make his own army less gunpowder reliant. Since the death of Oda Nobunaga and the anti-Catholic laws recommended by Azai Manpukumaru, foreign merchants were no longer allowed to trade with them. Instead, all merchants were encouraged to trade in Kyushu or in the northern port of Sendai.

The new rush of merchants heading north, had helped Date Masamune of the north modernize his army and bring in much needed wealth to this domain. He too had ambition to conquer the land.

Despite the lack of income, the power of the AA grew considerably as Tokugawa gave offer of an alliance after hearing of the victory of Shikoku. At this point it was obvious that he was unable to achieve his ambition and would have to bide his time just that little bit longer. Now all that remained were the Date on Honshu.

[Chargone]

ack. less reliant on gunpowder?
worth while if there's a shortage and/or you can pull it off... but...

probably a terrible idea that will end badly <_<

assuming no field guns, only longbows can really compete with muskets, (especially if said musket troops have bayonets/swords and training in their use) ... and, of course, have their own issues with training time and the like.

cavalry's all right, but if the muskets form up in time it just gets shot to bits. (on the other hand, if it catches the infantry off guard, well... let's just say even in ww2, infantry caught unprepared in the open by cavalry died. (usually closely followed by armoured cars or tanks catching said cavalry and killing it in turn, but still.)) by Napoleon's time the main point in cavalry on the battlefield was forcing infantry into square so the cannons could shoot them (closely followed by keeping enemy cavalry away, and of course, off the battlefield, they were used as scouts and such.)

yeah, i just don't see a reduction in gunpowder use against armies which have it and realise it's potential ending well when it comes to battle.

[tonsofun]

The last victory has convinced many traditonalists that gunpowder just isn't that grand and that you can't beat good ol' fashioned tactics. Naturally, this will screw things up in the future and eventually cause a rift between the traditionalists and the reformers which will bubble over time.

[tonsofun]

#52

In 1587 Sanada Masayuki helped train the new army of the AA. Since Tokugawa had joined them, their power grew even greater. Where Oda Nobunaga created an army based almost entirely on gunpowder, Masayuki believed that the traditional methods were best. Due to the lack of foreign merchants, gunpowder stocks were limited and domestic gunpowder just wasn’t up to the same standards that foreign gunpowder was. It was due to this, that gunpowder took an equal standing in the new Azai army. The other retainers did not like this, but they too had to face the facts. They knew that they could not become reliant on gunpowder, yet at the same time, they knew that gunpowder was changing warfare and that they would be one of the last generations to use non-gunpowder weapons.

It was during this same year that the retainers of Azai Nagamasa urged an attack on Date Masamune in the east. It was urged that now was the time to attack and anymore delay would result in their army being severely outdated and outmatched.

***

Upon hearing of this attack, Masamune became very happy as he saw this as an opportunity to prove himself. He rallied his men and set out to meet the AA army.

***

The campaign against the Date, lasted two months. Despite their determination, the Date were unable to find victory. That isn’t to say it was easy. At the tender age of 19, Masamune proved himself to be a more than a worthy opponent. A fierce warrior and a component tactician.

However, he was no match for the might of the AA army and the intellect of Sanada Masayuki. Seeing no end of victory insight, Masamune surrendered and offered his services. Like other defeated opponents, Masamune was allowed to keep his prestige and became an integral part of the army.

[Chargone]

that....

Really needed more detail if it's at all significant <_<

It'd sorta be the make-or-break of the whole gunpowder issue, at minimum...

[tonsofun]

I shall rewrite that last passage, but I will explain now.
The Jesuits along with all western merchants are barred from Japan. This means that no gunpowder is getting in and the army is having to rely on what stock they have left. As far as I know the Japanese had no idea how to make actual gunpowder so they cannot make the weaker Asian equivalent either. From what research I did, it all came from China and Korea.
At the moment China and Korea will not trade with Japan due to their inaction with the wokou pirates.
This does create a major problem, but as I said, it will cause tension between the traditionalists and the reformers (which will bubble at a later date)

[tonsofun]

Here is the new version


#52

In 1587, Sanada Masayuki helped train the new army of the AA. Since Tokugawa had joined them, their power grew even greater. Where Oda Nobunaga created an army based almost entirely on gunpowder, Masayuki believed that the traditional methods were best.

Since the expulsion of the Jesuits and the foreign merchants, Japan was no longer importing gunpowder. This made gunpowder stocks. It was due to this, that gunpowder took a back stand in the new AA army. This in turn caused tension as many retainers felt that gunpowder was a necessary part of any army. Whether they liked it or not, gunpowder would soon rule. Nobunaga knew that, why couldn’t Mitsuhide and Nagamasa see that.

Many historians blame the anti-Catholic feelings of Manpukumaru for this new crisis. The fact is however, that Mitsuhide was never trusting of the Nanban and Nagamasa agreed with this because of his son.

For now, none of this mattered as now was the time to make use of high morale and attack the Date in the East.

***

Upon hearing of this attack, Masamune became very happy as he saw this as an opportunity to prove himself. He rallied his men and set out to meet the AA army.

The campaign against the Date, lasted approximately two months. Despite their determination, the Date were unable to find victory. That isn’t to say it was easy. At the tender age of 19, Masamune proved himself to be a more than a worthy opponent. A fierce warrior and a component tactician.

However, he was no match for the might of the AA army and the intellect of Sanada Masayuki. Seeing no end of victory insight, Masamune surrendered and offered his services. Masamune was allowed to keep his prestige and became an integral part of the army. Like others, he did not agree with the isolation that his new lords were taking part in, but seeing as he had just been defeated, he kept quiet like others.

[Chargone]

i was referring specifically to this paragraph, actually:

"The campaign against the Date, lasted approximately two months. Despite their determination, the Date were unable to find victory. That isn’t to say it was easy. At the tender age of 19, Masamune proved himself to be a more than a worthy opponent. A fierce warrior and a component tactician."

that, right there, is an entire post (series of posts?) in it's own right, really.
which i should have mentioned in the first place, i suppose.

[tonsofun]

I understand what you're saying. The Date campaign will be getting it's own chapters which I'm working on now. There will also be maps.

[Chargone]

Originally Posted by tonsofun

I understand what you're saying. The Date campaign will be getting it's own chapters which I'm working on now. There will also be maps.

you, Sir, are made of win and awesome *nods*

[tonsofun]

#53 Battle Of Inawashiro

Excerpt from the diary of Azai Manpukumaru:

Today is a sad day as I find myself surrounded by death on all sides. It wasn’t like this in the beginning. Back then we had hope of a quick and easy campaign to subdue the last opponent on Honshu. Date Masamune may only 20 years old, but he has battle mind of a much more experienced man.

It started off when Sanada Masayuki split the army into 3 divisons. Akechi Mitsuhide is leading one army north, Tokugawa Ieyasu has been given lead of the centre army going inbetween Mt. Sumon and Mt. Asahi. Lastly, father and me are leading the western army and we are supposed to heading east towards Sendai.

That was the plan anyway. The march was quiet. We passed by a few villages and on my recommendation we took no supplies and left the people alone. This seemed to upset some of the older samurai marching with us, but overall it allowed us to make some new friends.

After two weeks of marching we set up camp at Lake Inawashiro. It was a perfect location for us. The lake would provide us with extra food which meant we didn’t have to harass the people for food, it gave us plenty of drinking water and it allowed us all to wash ourselves clean. It did wanders for morale. Even the scenery here is beautiful, I am surprised there aren’t more people living around.

Forests and low hills mostly surround the lake itself. It adds to the beauty of the area. It also makes us an easy target for any army, which wants to ambush us. That is where the trouble started.

It was a pitch-black night and we relied on the moon to provide us with light. Having fires was just too much of a risk. However, that didn’t stop the Date army from knowing exactly where we were.

The cannon fire took us by surprise. What surprised us even more was the accuracy and hit our supplies head on. Even our horses took a direct hit. After that it was complete anarchy as the cannon fire continued and the men panicked. They ran in different directions. Each one fleeing for his life into the darkness.

I was amazed at how calm father was. He managed to rally together enough men to carry away what was left of the supplies and the remaining three horses were taken to safety. It was at that point the cavalry came and started to cut down the men. If it wasn’t for Kafeel I would be dead as he cut down everyman that dared to come near him. He even managed to kill the horses that came our way. As those of us left alive retreated south we had no idea what awaited us.

Over half of our army was now dead. Their remains scatted around the shore of the lake. At the time though, my only thought was getting out alive. Somehow, we managed it and we are now on our way to safety. Amazingly, we haven’t been followed. My guess is that either they think they dealt us enough damage or they were afraid of an ambush. What I do know for certain is that we have been defeated, we have no supplies and there will be many women lamenting over the loss of their loss husband, son or both.

Please god, deliver us to victory so the killing can stop.



Red is the planned route of the Akechi.
Blue is the Tokugawa planned journey.
Yellow represents the route the Azai were supposed to be taking.




Yellow represents the camp of the Azai and the burgundy shows the hastily taken retreat.

[tonsofun]

#54 Siege Of Ohtawara

The retreating army of Azai Nagamasa retreated to Ohtawara castle. Not so long ago, this was the mighty castle of the Hojo clan. Oda Nobunaga spent a huge amount of resources besieging this castle and had it repaired after as he was highly impressed by it. Now it is the scene of another battle as Date Masamune besiges it as he seeks to finish of the Azai army.

Being a large castle, Ohtawara was an important part of the AA coalition. After the demise of the Hojo family, Narita Ujinaga became the keeper of the castle and kept the former men of the Hojo loyal to their new masters. This arrangement was continued after the death of Oda Nobunaga.

By now things were quiet so it was quite a shock when he noticed Azai Nagamasa leading a sorry excuse for an army towards his land looking for sanctuary. As the lord he gave his master and his army everything they needed to get back to good health. However, by now the Date army had continued the pursuit and they were hot on the trail.

Being low on men, it was decided not to confront the Date army. Instead, Nagamasa and Ujinaga found themselves under siege. Supplies were more than plentiful and the spirits were kept high.

Many scouts were sent out to catch up with the other armies to ask for help and to explain the situation. It was decided that Tokugawa would go and help the Azai while the Akechi would continue on their march and take the Date lands.

It was approximately one month into the siege that reinforcements eventually came from Tokugawa Ieyasu. With cooperation of the local residents, he managed to catch the Date army by surprise forcing them into a retreat. Tokugawa was unaware that Date had spies everywhere and knew the ambush was coming. The ambush soon turned into a retreat as Tokugawa found he was losing more men than he was taking. Although a disaster for Tokugawa, it bought enough time for the besieged Azai army to stage a counter attack, which forced the Date army to take a turn, back and regroup for the big battle.

[tonsofun]

#55 Battle Of Yomogida

Date Masamune ordered his men to make a strategic retreat towards Iwaki. He had dealt a heavy blow to the Azai army and he had hit Tokugawa harder than he was hit himself. He was heavily tempted to stay and finish off both armies. However, his retainers advised him not to do so. Victory is out of the question in this war. I however, will not yield without showing them what I am capable of. These words spoken by Date Masamune inspired his men and put the retreat back to Iwaki in perspective.

Azai and Tokuguawa were both humiliated by Date Masamune. Both wanted blood and to restore pride. Both were determined to head out together and get their revenge. However, for that to happen, both needed to rest and recover from their losses. Pride comes before a fall, the son of Nagamasa warned. In the quest for blood, the mind is not rational and sometimes it requires a calm man to light the reality, which has been blinded by rage. Despite the news of this, Sanada Masayuki advised Akechi Mitsuhide to continue his march and they ravaged the lands of the Date before reaching the main base of Sendai.

Realizing the spot he was in, Date decided that he would have one last stand against the armies of Akechi and Sanada. He had proved himself against both Azai and Tokugawa. Now the biggest prize of all lay ahead. However, before he could march out, he heard that Azai and Tokugawa had combined their forces to attack him. Not only that but his base of Sendai was already surrounded. He decided to confront his aggressors outside of Iwaki at Yomogida forest.

As the combined Azai and Tokugawa army moved to attack, the Date held their ground and adopted a wheel formation to the men at the front with high energy. Date cannons bombarded the back lines and pikemen kept the cavalry at bay. The battle was going well for the Date. That was until the Akechi main unit attacked Date from behind catching him in a pincer. The Date fought bravely but in the end, Masamune had to accept defeat and he was absorbed into the AA forces.




The black spot is where the battle took place.
Yellow is the Date movements.
Burgundy is the route of the Azai and Tokugawa.
Blueish/purple shows the Akechi movement and how Date got caught in a pincer.

[tonsofun]

#56

After the subjugation of the Date, the Jesuits were made to leave Honshu. Upon hearing of this and the promotion of Azai Manpukumaru’s new ideas, the Jesuits and Dominicans sought help from the Spanish crown to do more missionary work in East Asia. King Philip II of Spain was sympathetic to their calls but he failed to see how it affected him. He had no desire to spend excessive amounts of money on missionary work that may or may not be successful.

His priority was Europe; Spain was busy fighting in the eighty years war otherwise known as the Dutch war of Independence. The idea of the war was to crush the new religious movements within the Spanish Netherlands. There was the Lutheran movement of Martin Luther, the Anabaptist movement of Menno Simons, the reformed teachings of John Calvin and in the Far East; there were the controversial teachings of Azai Manpukumaru. Being busy in Europe, Spain was unable to send soldiers to fight a war off in Japan. It was their only hope that the new movement led by Azai Manpukumaru would be quashed on its own.

In reality, the teachings of Manpukumaru only had a few followers. Most Japanese Christians had left for Kyushu or the Philippines. Out of all those who stayed only a handful truly understood what Manpukumaru was trying to do and the rest just went along with it.

***

Pope Sixtus V became the new pope on 24th April 1585. He was elected due to his physical well-being. It was believed that he would live for a very long time and bring stability back to the church.

His first priority was to fix finances, which he did by sales of offices, establishment of the new monti and by levying new taxes. It was a success and quite a hoard was built up incase of emergencies.

He had many ambitions as Pope, including annihilation of the Turks, transporting the Holy Sepulchre to Italy, but most of all he wished to rid the world of the heretic movements. He was forced into an alliance with Philip II of Spain who had similar ambitions. This was the first time he heard the name Azai Manpukumaru.

He knew little about Japan at the time. His only knowledge came from a Japanese Catholic from Kyushu who resided in the Vatican. Francisco Otomo sent him to Pope Gregory XIII. Pope Gregory XIII granted Francisco permission to conquer all of Japan and evangelise it. In his mind, another man from an inferior race had embraced God. Permission was granted to conquer all of Japan, but no one expected it to happen as this was a minor Lord compared to the Lord known as Nobunaga whom they knew very well from the letters of Luis Frois. It came as quite a surprise when Sixtus V heard about the death of Nobunaga. It was an even bigger surprise that the prodigy of Luis Frois had turned heretic and formed his own Christian movement.

However, the biggest surprise of all was how much Spain considered this new Christian movement to be a threat. Few letters had made their way back to the Vatican detailing the ins and outs of this new movement. All they knew was that this new movement rejected the Pope as God’s representative and promoted translation of the Bible. In the following years, more would be learnt. However, today little was known and Sixtus V saw no reason to do anything.

Philip II of Spain was the master of this relationship in all but name and he insisted more be done to counter this movement. He saw no threat in Manpukumaru but the Jesuits and Dominicans were very insistent on the problem. He had no desire to upset them so he decided to use Papal funds instead of his own. Sixtus V had saved a lot of money for emergencies such as an invasion by Turks or Protestants. Nonetheless, there was little he could do and gave what money he could to help fund the end of this new movement in Japan.