Knights of the Cardboard Castle

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In 1545, the Hojo clan is led by Hojo Ujiyatsu. Like many other clans in the Sengoku Jidai period, the Hojo is actually a young clan that assumed the name of a more ancient but long dead clan to gain prestige. Ujiyatsu’s father Ujitsuna grew up in Izu province where the original Hojo had once ruled. Ujitsuna not only took on this ancient and respected name, he posthumously gave a Hojo name to his own father. When Ujiyatsu inherited control of the clan at the age of 26, the Hojo owned two rich provinces, Izu, which contains valuable gold mines, and Sagami, which is famous for its blacksmiths. Both provinces are located on the southern coast of the Honshu mainland.

This means that when our campaign begins Ujiyatsu is a mere 30 years old and yet owns one of the strongest power bases in all of Japan. Astonishingly, by modern standards at least, he already has three sons. Ujimasa, the oldest, is only 7 years old so it will be some time before his children will be able to help their father realize his ambition of becoming Shogun, but it is certain that one day they will prove to be powerful assets. Ominously for the current Shogun, the original Hojo were destroyed more than 200 years old when their then vassals betrayed them. The traitors then went on to found the Ashikaga Shogunate. That such a powerful new clan has revived this ancient name must certainly strike fear into the hearts of the Ashikaga.

Of course, it comes as no surprise that to attain its present position the Hojo has already made enemies. Two minor branches of the Uesugi clan, the Ogigayatsu and the Yamanouchi, have joined forces to drive us out of Sagami province. Repelling them is our first order of business and to this end, our Daimyo joins with the army led by our loyal retainer Kasahara Ujitane. As the enemy is outmatched, the battle is a decisive victory in our favor. Our patient maneuvering tempts the enemy to advance their ashigaru archers away from their main force, whereupon our generals and their bodyguards easily tear them to shreds. Unfortunately Ujitane’s unit is caught in a charge by the enemy’s light cavalry and suffers some unnecessary losses. But between a unit of yari ashigaru and our two generals, the light cavalry unit is easily decimated and with that the remaining enemy troops are easily put to rout.

To punish the Ogigayatsu for their impudence, we must take the province of Musashi from them. But to prevent unreasonably high losses, we wait until we have built up our forces. At the same time, we do not neglect the administration of our provinces. Valuable koku is disbursed to expand the gold mines in Iga as well as to improve the rice farms in both Iga and Sagami. Challenging the Ashikaga will require wealth and our Daimyo orders that Iga, possibly the single richest province in all of Japan, be developed to its fullest economic potential. Consequently, the Way of Chi is studied so that we may build a market in Iga.

When all is ready, we launch our assault. There is no subtlety to it as we make use of our superior numbers to overwhelm the defenders, scaling their walls and battering down their gates. We lose some troops but before the year is out, the Hojo has taken control of Musashi. Our conquest of Japan has well and truly begun!