In 1561, with no other option left to us if we are to fulfill our ambition to become Shogun, we end our alliance with the Oda and declare war against them. For years the war goes well as the Oda seem unable to organize any serious resistance. We take province after province that are defended only by local garrisons. It appears that our declaration of war took them by surprise and the bulk of their forces were engaged in the far west. Naturally, with the Oda as our enemies, we have no trading partners left and have to rely entirely on our domestic economy for income. We do encounter the Hattori as we conquer more of the Oda’s provinces, but they are allies of the Oda and make war against us as well.
By 1563, we grow so strong, controlling 17 provinces, that the ruling Ashikaga Shogunate rallies all the clans to oppose our expansion. By this time, only a handful of clans are left: Oda, Hattori, Honma, Shoni and Ouchi. Of these, we have met only the Oda and the Hattori and we are not trading with them anyway, so this announcement hardly fazes us. We continue to expand westwards into the lands owned by the Oda and still we see no sign of any serious concentration of troops. However, this expansion leaves our budget severely strained as we must maintain garrison forces in many of the provinces we control to prevent revolt and we do not produce sufficient koku to properly develop the infrastructure in all these new provinces.
But our insouciance over the new enemies we have made turns out to be a costly mistake. The Honma is a minor clan who controls only a single province. However, it is a rich one containing a gold mine and is located on a small island. This affords them both protection and the luxury to build up their army in peace. As we have been negligent in shipbuilding, they also have a better navy than we do. Not thinking of them as a threat and being annoyed by the inconvenience and cost of mounting a naval expedition against them, we pass them by. Unfortunately, this allows the Honma to mount a naval invasion right into the middle of our territory while all of our military are far away at the front!
Not only do we quickly lose a province, but the Honma follows up the first naval invasion by returning to their home island and coming right back with a second army! Fortunately for us, after conquering the first province they landed on, rather than march northeast into our hinterland, the Honma choose instead to march southwest, which is where our front with the Oda is located. This makes it much easier for us to intercept them with armies of our own. With our excellent ninjas on hand to harass the enemy armies and selectively assassinate the leaders, we are able to destroy both armies without losing any more provinces and quickly retake the one we lost as well. However, all this costs us precious time as our war against the Oda is stalled while we engage with the Honma.
It is clear that unless we deal with the Honma once and for all, they will continually attempt naval invasions in this manner. We greatly intensify our shipbuilding efforts and finally gather resources to invade the Honma home island. But once again, the Honma surprise us. Instead of waiting for us to besiege them, their remaining forces immediately fall upon our invading army the moment they debark from their ships. While we win, it ends up being one of the costliest battles we have ever fought as we are forced to fight with our backs to the sea. Soon after that, the Honma falls for good and we are able to resume the war against the Oda with all of our strength.
It is not until 1566 that we finally encounter serious Oda resistance. When the hammer falls however, it turns out to be heavy blow. The Oda and the Hattori mount a joint assault on a newly conquered province, fielding a combined total of more than 3,000 men. Our ninja scouts however are able to provide advance information of the approaching forces and we are able to maneuver two of our own armies in time to meet the assault, totaling slightly more than 4,000 men. This is by far the largest battle of the campaign with heavy losses on both sides as our second army arrives somewhat later onto the field than the enemy’s reinforcing army. But it was truly a glorious battle to remember for all time!
As the number of provinces owned by the Oda continues to dwindle, we fight more large battles against the Oda but our forces are superior in every respect and victory is never in doubt. Our ninjas provide invaluable support and become so skilled that not even the Hattori are a match. In 1568, Nakamoro, though now 53 years old, becomes the most skilled ninja in all of Japan. He is so deadly that wave after wave of enemy metsuke fall to his blade while attempting to apprehend him. Our monks also provide assistance by demoralizing enemy armies and inspiring our own armies to march farther, but they are more likely to fall prey to enemy monks and ninjas.
Finally in 1571 we conquer all of the provinces surrounding Kyoto, thus completely isolating it. We maneuver the army led by our Daimyo, now an elderly man but still a hale fighter, into position. While we could take Kyoto at our leisure, it seems appropriate that the final assault be conducted with the appropriate flourish and respect and be personally commanded by our Daimyo. We spend some time ensuring that our Daimyo’s army is staffed by the best and most elite units available to us before we march upon the city’s gates, so as to show off the glory of our clan. At last, the Shogunate is within arm’s reach!
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