Battle of Mifune Mountain

1. Go to war

Mt. Mifune, which is close to Sakan Castle, the base of the Satomi clan, is said to have been named because it looks like three boats lying upside down on the ground, but in the eyes of Satomi Yoshiyao and Satomi Yoshihiro, father and son Satomi in Sakan Castle, Mt. Mifune is like a needle that keeps stinging their eyes, because the guns built by the Hojo clan on Mt. Mifune are constantly threatening Sakan Castle.

The Satomi clan suffered a great loss in the second Battle of Kofutai in the 7th year of Eiroku (1564), and even Satomi Yoshihiro's son, Satomi Hiroji, was killed in the battle; However, something worse happened later—the lord of Katsuura Castle, Masaki Tokitada, who had always been regarded as a son of Yoshiyo's father and son, betrayed the Satomi clan, and Masaki Tokitada's betrayal brought about a series of chain reactions, and for a time the wealthy clans of Soshu turned away from the Satomi clan; The power of the Satomi clan declined greatly, and even the base of Kururi Castle had to give up and concentrate forces to hold on to the more dangerous Sakan Castle. (Because of the various sources, it is uncertain that the Satomi clan abandoned Kururi Castle for a time.) However, in the third year of Eiroku, the Hojo clan directly attacked Kururi Castle, so if the Satomi clan was still based on Kururi Castle at this moment, the main target of the Hojo clan should be Kururi Castle instead of Sakan Castle. For this reason, I adopted the statement that the Satomi clan had given up Kurusato Castle for a time. ）

The victory in the Second Battle of Kokufutai was the first outstanding achievement of the Hojo clan after his succession to the throne, and the clan also affirmed his strategy of conquest of the Eastern Kanto region, and once this strategy was completed, the Hojo clan would become the most powerful in the world; The Hojo clan's goals were no longer limited to the eastern country, and the clan government with a strengthened position no longer had to listen to his father's nagging. Although he failed to win several attacks on Sakan Castle after that, the clan did not give up because of this. Later, the clan ordered Fujisawa Harima Mamoru and Misaku Tanaka to build a fort on Mt. Mifune, which was adjacent to Sakan Castle, to monitor every move in Sakan Castle, so as to find an opportunity to completely destroy their old enemy, the Satomi clan, to carry out their strategy; However, for three years, this opportunity never came.

Although they suffered a huge blow, Satomi Yoshiyao and his son did not collapse because of this. After three years of recovery, Yiyao and his son were already trying to restore their position as the overlord of the house, and the three-year confrontation between Mifune Mountain and Sakan City finally came to an end.

In August of the 10th year of Eiroku (1567), the Satomi clan began to assemble a large number of troops at Sakan Castle, and this action certainly could not be concealed from the nearby commander of Mifuneyama. Soon, the report of Fujisawa Harima Mamoru requesting reinforcements was sent to the Hojo clan. In the eyes of the clan, the long-awaited opportunity to completely eliminate the Satomi clan has finally arrived; Since the skinned rabbit was delivered to the door by itself, it was a natural choice to eat it, and the Hojo clan quickly mobilized a large army to attack Sakan Castle.

In the face of the murderous 30,000 troops of the Hojo clan, the Satomi clan's strength after the general mobilization was still less than half of the Hojo army. If a frontal battle were to be adopted, the chances of victory for the Satomi army, which was at an absolute disadvantage, were slim to none, so in the pre-war military discussions, Masaki Toshigeru proposed a strategy similar to the tactics used by the Takeda army in the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima. The Takeda Army was victorious in the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima, but Takeda Shingen only divided his forces to flank the Uesugi army when his own forces were superior, and it was a great adventure to use such tactics with the current number of Satomi troops; If something goes wrong, waiting for the Satomi clan is likely to perish. Despite everyone's concerns, no one could come up with a better solution, so Satomi Yoshihiro finally decided to go with Masaki's plan.

On the 23rd day of the eighth month of the 10th year of Eiroku (October 5, 1567), the main team of the Satomi army, led by Yoshihiro Satomi himself, set up a formation at Mt. Void Kura, and the Hojo clan set up the main formation at Mt. Mifune. Looking at the few small troops on the Void Ridge Mountain, the Hojo clan had a sense of victory in his chest, and the generals of the Hojo army also recognized their own victory as well as the Hojo clan. However, what the Hojo clan and others did not know was that Masaki Tokimo took advantage of the laxity of the Hojo Army to lead the special forces back to Hachimanyama north of Mt. Mifune the night before, and at this moment the Hojo Army had fallen into a situation of being flanked by the Satomi Army, but the Hojo Clan did not know anything about this, and the Hojo Army did not deploy a strong defense force in the rear (north).

The Satomi Army's main team of more than 8,000 people, under the command of Masaki Kentoki, the adopted son of Masaki Tokishige, first launched an attack on the Hojo Army in Mifuneyama. Of course, the battle-hardened Hojo Army did not care about such an ordinary attack, and with superior forces, the Hojo Army soon took the initiative, and the Satomi Army began to retreat southward.

As soon as he saw that the Satomi army was beginning to retreat, the generals of the Hojo Army who had not yet participated in the battle on Mifune Mountain could not help it. In order to make a meritorious contribution in a battle that must be won, it is necessary to obtain the head of the enemy army, and now seems to be the best opportunity, and the combat effectiveness of the defeated Satomi army should be very low, so the price to pay for obtaining the head of the enemy army must not be high...... The Hojo Army began a frenzied pursuit of the Satomi Army, not even caring that they were already in a paddy field that was difficult to move.

Seeing that the Hojo Army had fallen into the paddy fields of the Shoji Valley, Satomi Yoshihiro, who was immediately in the void of Zoyama, put down his tight heart a little, the first step of the strategy had been completed perfectly, and the wolf smoke for notification had also risen, and the rest was up to Masaki Shigeru's special forces; However, when he thought of Masaki Shigeru, Satomi Yoshihiro had an inexplicable worry...

2. Captain Odd - Fight because of betrayal

As soon as he saw the wolf smoke rising, Masaki Shigeru led the military horses to quickly rush to Mifune Mountain; And Masaki Shigeru himself took the lead and rushed to the front. It has been thirty-four years since the lord of Hyakusho Castle, Masaki Daizenryo Shige, has been the chief minister and chief general of the Boso Satomi clan for thirty-four years, and in terms of blood, Masaki Toshigeru is still Satomi Yoshiyao's uncle, and with Shigeru's position as one of the best in the Boso region, there is no need to risk arrows and stones to rush to the front line, but after Shige's younger brother Masaki Tokitada rebelled against the Hojo clan in the seventh year of Eiroku (1564), Shige's position in the Satomi clan became very embarrassing.

Dividing a family into two parts and joining different forces to ensure the survival of the family was a common tactic used by small forces during the Warring States period, so after Masaki Tokitaka rebelled against the Hojo clan, rumors that Masaki Tokishige and Masaki Tokitaka had a consensus at all never stopped. What's more, some people predicted that Masaki Tokitada's defection was just to pave the way for the complete betrayal of the Masaki clan first, and when the time was ripe, Masaki Tokishigeru would take the head of the lord to the Hojo clan...... Although no one dared to say this in front of the gun Daizen Masaki Shigeru, who was known for his bravery, Shi Shige did know that rumors had been lingering in the ears of Yoshihiro Lord.

Yoshihiro heard a lot of rumors about Masaki Toshigeru, but Yoshihiro has always ignored it. After the disastrous defeat in the Second Battle of Kokubutai, the Satomi clan, which had lost even the base of Kururi Castle, could not withstand a civil strife. The decline of the Niko clan is not far off, and Satomi Yoshihiro is not so ignorant as to deliberately reduce himself to the same level as Niko Haruma and Niko Yoshihisa father and son. Of course, Satomi Yoshihiro didn't treat Masaki Shigeru any better, because once there was a trace, it would be bad for Masaki Shigeru to have any suspicions...... After a few years, Masaki Toshigeru has more or less realized the good intentions of the lord Yoshihiro, so Toshimo desperately wants to find an opportunity to wash away the stigma on his body, and there is no better opportunity than rushing to Mifune Mountain to personally take down the head of the Hojo clan.

Hojo Clanmasa, who was self-absorbed with his strategy of conquest of the Eastern Kanto, apparently did not notice that the combat effectiveness of the Satomi Army seemed to have dropped too much compared to the Second Battle of Kokubutai, but when the news of "soldiers and horses were killed from behind" came to pass, Hojo Clan Masae immediately noticed this. Finally woke up to the fact that he had been scheming, the Hojo clan quickly analyzed the situation, the main force of the Hojo Army is currently crowded into a group in the paddy fields of the Shoji Valley, and it is impossible to return for a while, although the enemy killed in the north is not many, but the number of escort troops around him is not much, for the sake of prudence, it is better to move the main formation south down the mountain and join the main force before trying to counterattack......

The Hojo Army, which was crowded in the paddy fields of the Shoji Valley, soon learned the news of the enemy attack in the rear, and like the Hojo clan, they also knew that they were planning their own plan; Unlike the Hojo clan, the Hojo army in the paddy fields was blocked by Mt. Mifune, and it was not possible to see how many enemies were killed from the direction of Mt. Hachiman. After a while, everyone saw that the clan government's main formation began to shift; As a result, rumors of a surprise attack by a large enemy army in the north began to spread rapidly among the various units, and the Hojo Army fell into a panic.

Satomi Yoshihiro observed the chaos of the Hojo Army in Void Zoyama, so the Satomi Army, which had lured the enemy, also began to turn to a counteroffensive. When the main camp of the clan masa joined up with his side at the foot of Mount Mifune, the troops led by Masaki Toshigeru had also pounced from behind the Hojo army (north), and the speed of this force was much faster than Hojo Masa had imagined, and the Hojo army was actually flanked from the front and rear. As a result, the morale of the Hojo Army quickly deteriorated, and the chain of command soon became ineffective...... The battlefield was one-sided.

Such a situation was not expected by the Hojo clan, and seeing that he was no longer able to return to the sky, the Hojo clan ordered a retreat. However, at this moment, the Hojo army could not even retreat, and under the onslaught of the Satomi army, the Hojo army quickly collapsed, and the soldiers began to scatter and flee, and even the Hojo clan himself was in danger of being killed by the enemy - Masaki Tokimo killed the clan Masa's main camp

3. The palace army - a death battle for betrayal

Of course, the Hojo clan couldn't just die at the foot of Mifune Mountain, but there were few people who remained faithfully by the side of the clan at the moment. Clan Masato looked around and designated the lord of Iwatsuki Castle, Ota Clan, to be in charge of serving as the palace army to cover his retreat.

Ever since the world-famous Ota Bichu Shou became a senior officer in the province, the Ota clan has long had a pivotal position in Musashi Province. However, for the unjust death of Ota Michikan, a rift that could not be bridged was created between the Ota clan and the lord Ogiya Uesugi clan. So after the rise of the Later Hojo clan in Sagami and the beginning of the attack on Musashi, the Ota clan betrayed the main r/>?? The Ogiya Uesugi clan switched to the Hojo clan, and played the first role in the Hojo clan's battle to conquer Edo Castle and Koe Castle. For this reason, Yasushi Ota, the great-grandson of Ota Michikan, became the leader of the Edo people under the Hojo clan, and the division of Ota Mino Morimashi also became the leader of the other people. (According to the "Hojo Clan's Service Account", Ota Yasushi was ranked sixth in the Hojo clan, while Ota Shimasa was the fifteenth.)

The reason why the generals of the Ota clan took refuge in the Hojo clan was not because they admired the Hojo clan, but mainly because they disliked the Uesugi clan of Ogiya, the lord who did not know what to do. Therefore, after joining the Hojo clan, the Ota clan, who came from the famous Kiyoshi and Genji, always had a contemptuous attitude towards the unknown Hojo clan, and also tried to maintain a quasi-equal status with the Hojo clan politically. In the absence of strength, the Hojo clan adopted a policy of softness towards the Ota clan, and both Yasushi Ota and Ota Shitaka (son of Ota Shimasa) became the sons-in-law of the Hojo clan; Later, he was given the word "clan" and renamed the clan, which became a very high-level public.

However, the Hojo clan did not like the arrogant Ota generals either, so after the night battle of Kawagoe in the 15th year of Astronomy (1546), the Hojo clan, who had gained the dominance of the Kanto region, began to try to weaken the Ota clan. Later, even the territory of Toyama Tanba Moritsunekei, the Edo military commander under Ota Yasushi, surpassed that of Ota Yasukoshi, and the relationship between the Hojo clan and the Ota clan deteriorated further.

After the Uesugi (Nagao) army entered the Kanto region for the first time, the lord of Iwatsuki Castle, Ota Shigemasa, first took refuge in Uesugi Masata and participated in the siege of Odawara Castle; Soon after, Yasushi Ota also betrayed the Hojo clan. After that, Yasushi Ota and Shimasa Ota united the Satomi clan to fight against the Hojo clan. After the Hojo clan won the Second Battle of Kofutai, Ota Yasushi's escape was accompanied by the Satomi clan of the head of the house from the Seiwa Genji; Iwatsuki Castle, the residence of Ota Shimasa, was besieged by the Hojo Army. There is no hope for being isolated and stubborn, and both Ota and Ota father and son know that no one will come to save them; In desperation, the Ota clan came forward to negotiate with the besieging Hojo Army, and finally the two sides reached a condition of banishing Ota Shimasa in exchange for the Ota clan's Antai. As a result, the Ota clan succeeded him as the governor of the family and exiled his father, Ota Shimasa, and his younger brother, Kajiwara Masakai. On the side of the Hojo clan, although the status of the lord of Iwatsuki Castle of the Ota clan and the security of the old lord of the Ota clan were recognized, the Ota clan himself was later "invited" to Odawara Castle by the Hojo clan, and Iwatsuki Castle was left behind by the clan to be designated by the clan as a pro-Hojo clan castle generation.

For three years, the Ota clan was tortured in Odawara Castle; For the sake of Shizi's wife, no one hurts Shizi physically, but those unbearable sarcasm stabs Shizi's heart all the time. Although betraying one's father is a last resort, betrayal is, after all, the most criticized behavior; First followed his father to betray the lord Hojo clan, and then even his father would betray him, who else can't betray him? Could it be a wife, father-in-law, and brother-in-law? Listening to the cold sarcasm of others, the Ota clan can really be described as a god of shame and guilt. If it was because of the betrayal that he got the prosperity of the Ota clan and the development of the clan's wealth, it would be fine, but what he got was house arrest in Odawara Castle...... The Ota clan, who has lost both fame and fortune, wants to change his current situation almost at all costs.

"If you succeed in covering the retreat of the Hojo clan, then you may use your exploits to return to Iwatsuki Castle; If he fails, he can at least die like a real samurai (maybe he should have done this three years ago), and at the same time prove that he did not betray his wife, father-in-law, or brother-in-law...... "The Ota clan resolutely obeyed the order of the Hojo clan and led the remaining few people (there were only fifty-four people in the Ota clan's capital department) to bravely meet the wolf-like pursuers of Masaki Toshigeru and the last moment of his own life - this is also the most dazzling moment in the life of the clan.

According to the Satomi Gunki, the Hojo clan eventually fled back to Odawara Castle with four or five men, but was so embarrassed that even his mounts were abandoned. And the paddy fields of the shoji valley had hindered the attack of the Hojo army before, and now hindered the pursuit of the Satomi army, and most of the Hojo army fled...