Chapter 145: The Plan and the Execution Were Both Flawless
At dawn, wisps of smoke rose before the “Stone City,” with bodies strewn everywhere, and severed limbs visible in every direction. The corpses of soldiers lay scattered, some on their backs, others on their stomachs, or piled together, their faces frozen in expressions of fear, unwillingness, and pain. Vast amounts of blood flowed freely, staining the originally gray-yellow wilderness into patches of dark, soiled hues.
The air was also filled with a pungent smell of blood, mixed with the scent of gunpowder smoke, making one feel nauseous. Black crows flew in flocks, circling in the sky, occasionally attempting to descend, emitting strange caws.
This was the scene after the enemy’s recent retreat.
Yuan Ye, fully armored, stood atop the “Stone City” walls, silently observing the post-battle “scenery.” Beside him, soldiers of the Wanjin Army were busy carrying away corpses and the wounded.
A messenger, a small flag attached to his back, quickly ascended the city wall and knelt on one knee, presenting a document: “Lord, Lord A Man has sent a report.”
“Thank you for your hard work,” Yuan Ye said politely, turning to accept the document. He unfolded it and read, finding it to be a casualty and status report from the North Mountain Rock Fortress. The defending side, while having advantages, also had disadvantages; it was usually passive, making it difficult to immediately determine the enemy’s main attack direction. Last night, his side had made a great show of force and fought fiercely, but the most intense combat had occurred at the North Mountain Rock Fortress.
At that time, A Man had led her men to concentrate on the south, using the “Type 1 Kuniguzure” large matchlock guns to support the main battlefield, bombarding the enemy’s flank from a distance on the hilltop. As a result, the northern city wall was attacked, nearly falling. If not for the tenacity of the defenders and timely reinforcements, there would likely have been another rock fortress battle. The defending side had the advantage of rapid internal support. Last night, after discovering the situation at North Mountain was amiss, he had urgently ordered a reserve unit to depart from the rear for support, but it had not arrived before the enemy’s surprise attack force had collapsed.
However, the casualties of the North Mountain Rock Fortress defenders were still considerable. His gaze quickly swept over the names of the fallen, calculating in his mind, his expression remaining impassive.
If it were when he had first fallen into this era, he might have sighed a few times about how cruel war truly was, lamenting how cheap human life had become. But after seeing so many dead over the past two years, he no longer felt anything when looking at the deceased. He merely calculated exchange ratios when looking at casualty reports, pondering how to replenish personnel for the next round of attrition.
Perhaps the environment truly changes people, or perhaps anyone who stays in this unfortunate era for too long, or experiences too much on the battlefield, will likely be unable to maintain a soft heart.
He did not want to integrate into this era, nor could he, but he was still inevitably tainted…
He did not want this either, but there was no other way. He wanted to live well, to live with dignity.
After reading for a moment, he folded the document and handed it to A Qing beside him, asking her to file it later. He then instructed the messenger, “I understand. Go back and tell A Man to thoroughly clean up the battlefield, collect as much enemy armor as possible, and let her handle the rest.”
The messenger acknowledged with a “Yes” and immediately turned back towards North Mountain. Yuan Ye also ordered the collection of enemy armor from the “Stone City” side, to be sent to the port camp for repair and distribution to auxiliary soldiers, which would be quite useful. In this era, most men and women could shoot arrows, and as long as they had armor, they wouldn’t be easily killed by stray arrows. Auxiliary soldiers hiding on the city walls could also cause significant trouble for the enemy by shooting arrows.
The combat was fierce, but the troubles after the battle were even greater. He currently had no staff department, as the military officers were still young and clumsy. The selection of mid-level officers was extremely difficult, let alone staff officers.
He had to personally handle everything. He turned his attention back to arranging some minor matters: treating the wounded, recording merits, distributing rewards, repairing city defenses, and replenishing new recruits. Finally, he sent an envoy to the enemy, reiterating the previous trade proposal: if the Imagawa Family allowed him to establish a foothold on the Chita Peninsula, acknowledged this territory as his own, and ceased their attacks, he guaranteed he would not sneak attack the Shirakawa Entrance defense line from behind, and would not attack the Imagawa Family’s vassal local lords as long as the Imagawa Family did not lose the Chita Peninsula.
Warfare in this era adhered to etiquette. Even if both sides were locked in a bitter struggle, communication would be conducted with basic courtesy. Therefore, the envoy safely departed and safely returned, bringing back Asahina Yasunaga’s reply: No, the Yuan Ye Family must leave this place. However, Asahina Yasunaga also made a concession, increasing the price for withdrawal to six hundred gold pieces, and hinting that he could turn a blind eye if they wished to plunder surrounding local lords on their way out.
This price was actually quite good. The Takeda Family bribing Uesugi Family local lords to defect at a critical moment and deliver a fatal blow to the Uesugi Family only cost five hundred gold pieces per family. If Yuan Ye truly came to extort them, taking the money and leaving wouldn’t be impossible, but he hadn’t come all this way for money; he absolutely needed to secure this land, and there was no room for negotiation.
Yuan Ye did not send another envoy to haggle. He directly summoned several military officers, ordered them to take out a few small flags, and immediately begin harassment operations. Taking advantage of the enemy’s recent defeat, their lack of vigilance, and their fatigue, he would lead them with matchlock guns to bombard them again, causing further chaos. His forces were professional soldiers who ate well and trained daily, possessing far greater resilience than the enemy’s followers who farmed and trained simultaneously. Moreover, compared to the Imagawa Family, his weapons were sufficiently advanced.
In short, since the enemy still refused to acknowledge him as the lord of this territory, they would continue to fight!
As long as he caused enough trouble for the enemy, as long as he made them suffer continuous casualties, the enemy would eventually yield!
…
Yuan Ye’s defenses had withstood their first test and had passed with a barely passing grade. He began to handle the post-battle affairs, while the Imagawa Family, Matsudaira Family, and Chita local lords had suffered a major defeat, and their camps were filled with gloom. Yuan Ye’s first organized large-scale defensive operation had not gone perfectly, but as long as he could hold his ground, he had won, at least earning a passing grade. However, the Imagawa and Matsudaira families, despite committing their full strength and even their reserves, had failed to dislodge Yuan Ye and had suffered so many casualties. From any perspective, this was undoubtedly a defeat.
Asahina Yasunaga and Sakai Tadamoto, maintaining a semblance of composure, saw off Yuan Ye’s envoy and sat facing each other in silence.
Last night had been their strongest assault. They had used the cover of darkness to mitigate the power of the enemy’s matchlock guns and to get closer to the city walls than during the day, allowing for a better charge. They had also meticulously planned and arranged a two-pronged attack, one overt and one covert. Yet, they still failed to capture the city. Therefore, even if they tried again, they currently could not muster a stronger or more elite force, and the outcome would likely remain unchanged.
The two sat there in silence for a long time, each contemplating how to explain the defeat to their respective families. For this defeat, the Imagawa Family （ and Matsudaira Family ） would undoubtedly bear greater responsibility!
The operational plan was not flawed, but the five hundred elite followers and a group of highly skilled samurai in heavy armor, who launched a surprise attack while the enemy’s attention was diverted, failed to even breach a single rock fortress. They barely managed to climb the walls only to be pushed back by the defenders, suffering over three hundred deaths. This was definitely an issue with the Matsudaira Family’s combat strength, according to Asahina Yasunaga’s assessment.
The operation itself was not flawed, but the Commander-in-Chief had major issues. He arrived early and watched helplessly as the enemy continuously reinforced their defenses. He could have charged earlier but chose not to, leaving the problem for his allies. Furthermore, the operational plan was also highly questionable. The enemy’s most elite force was clearly in that rock fortress, yet they chose it as the main attack point. Moreover, after being present for so long, they failed to discover that the enemy possessed a strange, giant matchlock gun capable of taking down seven or eight men with a single shot. With such a Commander-in-Chief, it was impossible not to lose, according to Sakai Tadamoto’s assessment.
They had to shift the blame, otherwise the risks were truly too great.
The Matsudaira Family’s core fighting force stationed in the Kasugai District consisted of these seven hundred followers. In a single night, half of them were lost, and over a hundred who fled back were mostly wounded, with perhaps another twenty or thirty expected to die. Sakai Tadamoto could not imagine how he would explain this to Okazaki Castle. If he couldn’t explain it, this loss, while not enough for him to commit seppuku, would certainly be enough to have his fief reduced.
Asahina Yasunaga was in a similar predicament. Last night, he had attempted to storm the “Stone City” walls twice and had continuously sent men to try and burn down the walls. Later, to tie down the “Stone City” defenders, he had been forced to engage in a direct firefight in front of the city, also losing over three hundred lives. If one were to add the followers of the Chita local lords, that would be another hundred or so.
With such heavy casualties and no gains whatsoever, if he didn’t find someone to take the blame, it would be difficult to explain to Sunpu Castle. His reputation could plummet, and he risked having his fief reduced as well.
Asahina Yasunaga and Sakai Tadamoto sat facing each other, desperately racking their brains, contemplating how to explain this defeat to their superiors and how to minimize their own responsibility, until the fierce sound of matchlock guns from outside the camp brought them back to their senses.
They quickly went out and looked up, astonished to see several groups of Yuan Ye Family “followers” bombarding the camp from a distance with matchlock guns. Although the range was considerable and their accuracy was poor, and the camp had defenses, they fired several volleys without achieving any results before fleeing. However, this caused chaos around the perimeter of the camp. Some, hearing the commotion and shouting “The Yuan Ye Family is attacking,” began to run backward, leading their own samurai to begin hacking and killing, repeatedly cutting down those fleeing to forcibly suppress the disorder.
“Yuan Ye Saburo…” Asahina Yasunaga’s face darkened. He gritted out half a sentence, thinking that if Yuan Ye weren’t two meters and ten centimeters tall, he would have sent an envoy to challenge him to a duel to the death to properly humiliate him.
Sakai Tadamoto, on the other hand, was unconcerned. His men had not been attacked, and since the Matsudaira Family’s head had been taken by the Imagawa Family, and the Matsudaira Family was acting as a vassal in the capacity of an ally, his tolerance was high. He had long since lost much of his sense of shame and felt nothing about the enemy’s opportunistic harassment.
He simply said to Asahina Yasunaga sternly, “Lord, request reinforcements again!”
With the strength they currently possessed, they feared they could not handle the enemy. Thus, requesting reinforcements was their only option. Furthermore, the Matsudaira Family had no significant forces nearby, so he was not worried about them being asked to send more men.
As for whether it would turn into a war of attrition, that was not his concern.
Asahina Yasunaga’s expression grew even more grim. He hadn’t expected a local lord who had inexplicably crossed the sea to be so difficult to handle, forcing him to request reinforcements twice. However, it was certain that the enemy had to be driven away. Otherwise, allowing such a person to establish a foothold on the Chita Peninsula, not to mention sneak attacking the Shirakawa Entrance defense line from the flank and rear, would be a significant problem even if he simply plundered the local lords on the Chita Peninsula, thereby reducing the food supply for the Shirakawa Entrance defense line by a large margin.
Moreover, it would be good to call someone else to share the responsibility.
After a moment of thought, he slowly nodded and said to Sakai Tadamoto, “This is the only way now. Lord Sakai, let us jointly request reinforcements!”
