Chapter 248: Heaven’s Reversal
The Samurai of the Kitabatake Family were seasoned veterans, still quite decisive.
After a brief military council, they decided to launch an attack first, even if they were at a disadvantage in strength, they had to probe.
Of course, this was also because the Wanjin Army had been holed up in the area of the Nameless Beach since landing. Since the Wanjin Army was unwilling to attack, they had no choice but to go to them.
After all, they didn’t even know the number of Wanjin soldiers yet. The Wanjin Army’s outer defenses were very strict, and the Wanjin people’s clothing and accents were vastly different from those of Ise. The scouts they sent out still didn’t know what was happening on the beach.
We must figure out the situation no matter what!
Over two thousand Kitabatake Family soldiers broke camp and left Notsuki Castle, reluctantly launching a probing attack.
The Wanjin Army had already occupied a hill several kilometers outside the Nameless Beach and, using it as a center, relied on numerous “wagon forts,” dug trenches, built rock fortresses, erected arrow towers, and even began pouring foundations for concrete city walls, having already prepared their defenses.
The defensive line was still relatively rudimentary, as the Wanjin Army had only been here for three or four days and had landed in batches. However, the Wanjin Army’s civil engineering capabilities were exceptional for this era. Despite being rudimentary, there was no lack of defensive strength, and the Kitabatake Family charged headfirst into this simple yet sturdy defensive line.
A series of small-scale battles erupted around the hill, and by the end of the day, the Kitabatake Family had not only gained no advantage but had suffered heavy losses.
However, the tentative attack did yield some results. By mobilizing the Wanjin Army, they were able to build observation carts, ascend to high ground, and roughly ascertain the Wanjin Army’s strength.
The Wanjin Army here had approximately over three thousand armored soldiers, plus a large number of unarmored workers for miscellaneous tasks, totaling over four thousand men.
After understanding the number of Wanjin soldiers, the Samurai of the Kitabatake Family were all stunned, unable to comprehend how Yuan Ye could support so many soldiers with just one county’s territory.
This was completely unreasonable for this era. The Kitabatake Family had five counties, and they were five counties with considerable ruling power. They had only over four thousand armored followers and ashigaru. Even if they summoned all their vassal local lords, they would only muster a little over ten thousand. Yet, Yuan Ye, with just the territory of Chita District, had raised half the Kitabatake Family’s troop strength?
And this didn’t seem to be the full extent of Wanjin’s strength. Fleets were still transporting personnel and supplies from across the sea. Who knew how many more people were waiting to come.
Well, actually, there weren’t many personnel left. Even if Yuan Ye wanted to forcibly take Ise, he couldn’t abandon his home base. The Wanjin Army currently had about five thousand six hundred men, and he still needed to maintain the Odaka River defense line to prevent Oda Nobunaga and Matsudaira Ieyasu from suddenly harboring ill intentions—the possibility was slim, but such things couldn’t be gambled on.
So, he could at most transport four thousand Wanjin Army soldiers here, plus the construction workers who had been continuously recruited from the rear, and transport another two thousand or so. Then he would have no one left to transport.
This was the maximum mobilization capacity of Wanjin. It was only because Wanjin’s industry and commerce were developed that they could support so many full-time soldiers and hire so many workers who were willing to take subsidies and risk their lives.
As for the fleets, the Wanjin Navy was mainly composed of warships, and they didn’t have such large transport capacity to quickly deploy so many personnel and supplies. This operation also hired a large number of Wanjin merchant ships, and the sailors who were not participating in combat numbered one to two thousand.
With all this chaos and direct action, Yuan Ye was actually struggling. To maintain the army’s size, he was close to selling Inu-hime’s dowry. Maeshima Shichiro was already losing hair at a young age, and Endo Chiyo was also experiencing hair loss—to improve and maintain combat effectiveness, the Wanjin internal affairs system, including Yuan Ye, had been quite painful during this period.
However, effort always paid off. Faced with the Wanjin Army’s strength, which had been painstakingly assembled at the cost of their entire fortune, the Samurai of the Kitabatake Family were completely overwhelmed.
The mobilization system of the Japanese Medieval Period was actually similar to the Fubing system, where approximately 15 households were needed to support one armored soldier. The Samurai of the Kitabatake Family, based on their old impressions, estimated Yuan Ye’s strength to be around eight hundred, and even with reinforcements from Oda Nobunaga, it would be at most a thousand.
As a result, Yuan Ye’s current troop strength was three to four times that, and more people were still being transported. The equipment of the armored soldiers was also excellent, and their strength could be described as “unfathomable.”
No wonder he dared to attack one province with the strength of one county. This was a formidable enemy! The Kitabatake Family must mobilize its entire force to defeat him!
Moreover, Yuan Ye was shameless. Despite having an overwhelming advantage in this area, he refused to attack proactively and did not want to fight a fair battle. Instead, he built a turtle shell relying on the sea transport fleet, as if he could stay here like a turtle for ten thousand years if the Kitabatake Family didn’t attack him.
The enemy had a numerical advantage but refused to attack proactively, did not occupy cities, disperse their forces, or lengthen their supply lines. Instead, they desperately built fortifications, waiting to be attacked when they were well-rested. What was he trying to do?
The Samurai of the Kitabatake Family soon discovered his sinister intentions, judging that he was waiting for the “Ikkō-ikki” in Ise Province to become more severe, waiting for the Kitabatake Family’s deep reserves to be gradually depleted, intending to achieve the greatest gains with the least losses. But…
They knew, but how should they respond?
Should they charge at the enemy with inferior numbers, losing many men in front of the enemy’s fortifications, to gain a slim chance of driving the enemy into the sea, or should they quickly report back and request the full mobilization of the Kitabatake Family to fight him to the death?
But if they were to fight to the death, they would still have to break through his peculiar defensive line. Moreover, all the counties in Ise were currently experiencing “Ikkō-ikki,” making full mobilization impossible. Could they only focus on expelling the foreign enemy and let their home base be ravaged by rebels?
This unit of the Kitabatake Family was completely at a loss. After attempting an attack for a day, they quickly requested reinforcements from the rear and, while retreating a distance, began digging trenches on the spot, preparing to contain the enemy first.
At least if the Wanjin people came out, they could hold them off.
Yuan Ye didn’t care about this. He had no intention of going out until this place was fortified to be impregnable.
According to some experiences summarized in ancient times, if 3.5% of the population in a country is driven to desperation, it is enough to trigger social change; if 7.5-12.5% of the population is driven to desperation, it is enough to trigger civil war.
This number is much smaller than most people imagine, but these are all summaries of historical experience. In any case, as long as one out of every ten people cannot eat, social order is in danger of destruction, and at least a major upheaval is inevitable.
Otherwise, ruling classes in foreign countries would not pay so much attention to unemployment rates, nor would they suddenly become benevolent and provide welfare to the lower classes—social welfare is for survival, for the survival of the rulers, and to ensure that social wealth is not wiped out overnight.
Now, Ise is starting to suffer from “empty ear disease,” and the Kitabatake Family is unwilling to exempt the annual tribute—it’s too late to exempt taxes now—many people cannot eat, and the situation can only get worse.
Specifically, one can refer to the famines of the late Ming Dynasty. Even if Wanjin didn’t come, it would be enough for the Kitabatake Family to handle. Now that Wanjin has arrived and is entangled with the Kitabatake Family, preventing them from fully suppressing the “Ikkō-ikki,” this famine will be enough to cause the collapse of the Kitabatake Family’s rule.
In any case, Yuan Ye is not in a hurry. He will calmly build city walls, dig trenches, and construct fortresses, waiting for the Kitabatake Family to perish on its own.
Fighting this way is ugly, but it can reduce casualties, so let it be ugly. He never intended to be a famous general.
…
Yuan Ye responded to all changes with constancy, engaging in extensive civil engineering work on this Nameless Beach. His scheme also succeeded. Even with long-term preparations, the Kitabatake Family was now facing fires on all sides and was a bit overwhelmed, unable to mobilize its entire force to surround him with tens of thousands of men.
Of course, the Kitabatake Family did not sit idly by. While suppressing the tax and labor resisters of the “Ikkō-ikki” with even more brutal methods, they also sent reinforcements to this area one after another, at least to match the Wanjin forces, to prevent the Wanjin Army from suddenly launching an attack and penetrating the Kitabatake Family’s hinterland, further exacerbating the situation.
The harassment never stopped.
The Kitabatake Family would eventually drive out the Wanjin people. Seeing them desperately building fortifications, they became anxious. Once their troop strength reached a certain level, they began to launch harassing attacks, but with little effect. The Wanjin firepower was too strong, and the soldiers were relying on fortifications. Even if matchlock guns and bows and arrows were evenly matched, the Kitabatake Family ultimately suffered losses.
The Kitabatake Family also considered luring the Wanjin Army out. They deliberately exposed a weakness, feigning an emergency in the rear, with a large number of followers and ashigaru pretending to be urgently reinforcing. They hoped the Wanjin Army would leave their fortifications for a direct confrontation—whether they could win or not was another matter, but the situation in the rear was indeed worsening. They couldn’t endure this stalemate with the Wanjin people any longer.
But Yuan Ye acted as if he didn’t see it, completely unconcerned about whether the Kitabatake Family would leave. Even if the Kitabatake Family slaughtered all the “Ikkō-ikki,” he wouldn’t care. He would then be well-rested and deal with the exhausted Kitabatake Family.
The Kitabatake Family also tried to provoke the enemy with “taunts.” They sent an envoy to denounce Yuan Ye and even sent him a set of very gorgeous women’s clothing, but Yuan Ye gave the women’s clothing to A Qing and still refused to come out.
The situation became increasingly strange, slowly turning into a situation where the Kitabatake Family was eager to engage in battle but could not achieve it. They were completely bewildered, and for a time, they couldn’t even tell who was the “invader”—Yuan Ye had come to stir up trouble first, coveting the land and population of Ise and wanting to seize them by force. He should be attacking cities and conquering territory, but instead, he hid in his fortifications, watching the Kitabatake Family bash their heads against rocks.
This was simply a complete reversal of order!
The Kitabatake Family tried every means to force a decisive battle with Yuan Ye, at least a fair field battle, but Yuan Ye was extremely thick-skinned and resolutely adhered to his strategic plan, refusing to come out no matter what.
After dragging on for more than half a month, his fortifications were almost complete, just waiting to be officially named, and the two sides still hadn’t fought.
