Chapter 248 War Drama Soundtrack
After the war, Uesugi Kenshin went to Kyoto alone to meet the general Ashikaga Yoshiteru and obtained an edict from Emperor Go-Nara allowing him to conquer Takeda.
At the same time, Takeda Shingen was also stepping up military preparations for war - the Takeda family wrote on their own military flag the words "It is as fast as the wind, it is as slow as the forest, it is as slow as the forest, it invades like fire, and it is as motionless as the mountain" in "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu.
What was built under the guidance of this tactical thought was the strongest cavalry team in Japan at the time - before the emergence of the Takeda Cavalry, Japan's use of cavalry had always been inappropriate:
As an island nation, Japan does not have many open plains for galloping, and Japanese horses, like the Japanese, are relatively short.
Moreover, the cost of training a mature cavalry team is much higher than that of infantry. However, Japan is in a state of divided feudal lords and daimyo, and the limited financial resources of each daimyo are difficult to support a cavalry unit.
Takeda Shingen relied on Kai's Kanazan to form a cavalry force known for its rapid assaults. Since then, the Takeda Cavalry has become famous in Japan as the Fenglin Volcano.
In the 23rd year of Astronomy, Takeda Shingen met with Imagawa Yoshimoto of Suruga and Hojo Ujiyasu of Sagami at Zentoku Temple and concluded a tripartite alliance, which freed up Takeda Shingen to deal with Uesugi Kenshin.
In the 24th year of Tianbun (this was the year of the Koji era, so it was also the first year of the Koji era) Kurita Tsurugu of Zenkoji turned to Shingen, and Uesugi Kenshin immediately sent troops to the north of Zenkoji and crossed the Saikawa River to attack the Takeda army.
After the confrontation in Saikawa for more than 200 days, both sides had problems with supplying troops and food. Therefore, under the mediation of Suruga's Yoshimoto Imagawa, the Kawanaka Island area was divided into two, with each side occupying half. As a result, both sides withdrew their troops and fought for the second time in Kawanaka. The island battle is over.
After this confrontation, both sides deepened their understanding of each other.
After the war, Shingen pacified Kiso County and completely controlled Minami Shinano.
A turmoil occurred in the Uesugi family: in the second year of Hongji's reign, Uesugi Kenshin suddenly proposed to become a monk in Mount Koya. This news shocked the Echigo retainers.
Uesugi Kenshin's preference for Buddhism was not a whim, but had been around for a long time. However, this caused a political storm in Echigo. As a strategist, Takeda Shingen naturally seized this god-given opportunity:
That year, Takeda Shingen took advantage of the internal turmoil in Echigo to incite local forces in Northern Shinano to defect to Takeda and ordered Yukitaka Sanada to capture Nigen Castle east of Zenkoji Temple.
However, this was just a small fight. Shingen's real trump card was to instigate Echigo's ministers to rebel. The "finance minister" Ohuma Asahide, who was responsible for the Uesugi family's financial and tax expenditures, rebelled under the instigation of Takeda Shingen.
Uesugi Kenshin put down the rebellion, and Okuma Asahide fled to Kai.
This incident caused Uesugi Kenshin to become furious. Before he could take further action, Takeda Shingen took advantage of the heavy snowfall in winter to seize the opportunity to capture Katsurayama Castle, the Uesugi family's stronghold on Kawanaka Island.
After the snow melted next year, Uesugi Kenshin immediately sent troops to Kawanakajima. At this time, Uesugi Kenshin was based on temporarily regaining the territory occupied by Takeda, rather than engaging in a full-scale decisive battle with Takeda's main force, let alone counterattacking Kai under the Takeda family.
However, within two months Uesugi Kenshin captured Takeda Castle in Northern Shinano, and in August the two sides faced off at Uenohara.
Seeing that his strategic goal of regaining the lost territory had been achieved and it was difficult to achieve greater results, Uesugi Kenshin led his troops to retreat. Takeda Shingen also retreated to Kai after leaving behind to contain the troops. The two sides returned to the situation after the second confrontation. In the third The Battle of Kawanakajima ended.
As Kenshin and Shingen faced off at Kawanakajima, major changes occurred in Kyoto: Miyoshi Nagakei, Matsunagahide and the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru clashed.
Hoping to strengthen his own power, Yoshiki decided to mediate the conflict between Takeda and Uesugi in exchange for Uesugi Kenshin's support.
The chivalrous and righteous Uesugi Kenshin expressed his willingness to respect the orders of the shogunate in exchange for peace in the world. Takeda Shingen made peace with Uesugi Kenshin in exchange for the shogunate's recognition of him as the guardian of Shinano.
Afterwards, Uesugi Kenshin rushed to Kyoto to meet Ashikaga Yoshiteru and obtained the latter's support for his appointment as the governor of Kanto.
Takeda Shingen sent troops to Northern Shinano before the ink of the peace agreement presided over by the shogunate was dry. When the Echigo Uesugi family and the shogunate asked him why he violated the agreement, he retorted confidently:
"As the guardian of Shinano, I have the authority to expel intruders in the territory!"
In the fourth year of Eiroku, Uesugi Kenshin attacked Hojo Ujiyasu south. Takeda Shingen had previously concluded a tripartite alliance with Imagawa Yoshimoto and Hojo Ujiyasu, so Hojo Ujiyasu asked Takeda Shingen for help.
Takeda Shingen decided to adopt the strategy of encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao: instead of directly rescuing Hojo, he once again sent troops to Kawanaka Island in Northern Shinano and built Kaijin Castle here as a stronghold.
On August 15 of that year, Uesugi Kenshin was forced to transfer his troops from the front line confronting Hojo to Kawanakajima. The fourth (and the most intense and exciting in the data) duel between the two sides was about to begin.
It is said that during this battle, Yamamoto Kansuke, the military advisor of the Takeda family, proposed the "woodpecker tactics":
When the woodpecker is catching insects, it taps on one side of the tree. The insects frightened by the sound will escape from the other side, only to be caught by the woodpecker that has been waiting here.
Kansuke Yamamoto’s plan is to imitate the behavior of the woodpecker:
The Takeda army divided into two groups - one formed a large-scale mobile force and went around the back of the Uesugi army;
When the Uesugi Army avoided the attack from the front, the Takeda Army's main formation, which was ambushing in the front, cooperated with the pincer attack.
Late at night on September 9th, Takasaka Masanobu and Baba Nobuharu led 12,000 members of the Takeda family's mobile troops to Mount Tsumeyama where the Uesugi Army was stationed.
Shingen led his troops to form the Crane Wing formation at Hachimangahara.
Uesugi Kenshin has been observing the movements of the Takeda Army. Such a large-scale mobilization of troops naturally cannot be hidden from his eyes, and he is keenly aware of the true intentions of the Takeda Army.
So Uesugi Kenshin ordered the entire army to cease their flags and drums, and with their horses and horses bound in hooves, they descended from Tsumabuki Mountain and crossed the Chikuma River under cover of night.
Except for leaving 1,000 men to guard the ferry to guard against Takeda's mobile troops, the main force of the Uesugi army arrived at Hachimanhara.
When the morning fog gradually dissipated the next day, Takeda Shingen, who was sitting in the main formation, suddenly discovered:
The Uesugi army was not driven into the pockets they had prepared by their own mobile troops, but appeared face to face in front of their own main formation.
At this time, the Takeda army, from the generals to the soldiers, were stunned - they knew that the "woodpecker tactic" had failed.
At this time, the Uesugi family's fierce general Kakizaki Keie was the vanguard and formed a "car suspension" formation - each unit was arranged in a wheel shape to attack in turn.
Faced with such an unexpected situation, the battle-hardened Takeda Shingen decisively ordered his troops to deploy in a crane-wing formation, encircling them from both wings to fight.
At this time, Uesugi's main force had a numerical advantage and took advantage of the surprise attack. During the fierce battle, Shingen's younger brother Takeda Nobushige, the fierce general Morokaku Kosada and others were killed.
On the other hand, when the mobile unit led by Kosaka Masanobu and others arrived at Tsumeyama, they found that they were empty. Of course they knew that the Uesugi army must have escaped from them and went to fight Takeda Honjin, so they desperately broke through the Uesugi army and stayed at the ferry. The 1,000 reserve troops arrived at Hachimanhara at noon to cooperate with the main formation in fighting the Uesugi Army.
Yamamoto Kansuke, who believed that he was responsible for the failure of the "Woodpecker Tactics", took the lead and rushed into the enemy's position, eventually dying on the battlefield.
When the battle was at its fiercest, Uesugi Kenshin single-handedly rushed into Takeda's formation and slashed at Takeda Shingen with his sword. Shingen blocked Kenshin's sword with the military fan in his hand, but was still slashed by Kenshin.
At dusk that day, both sides withdrew their troops. Although this battle was indeed fiercer than the previous battles, they still retreated in the end. Neither side could annihilate the other. The fourth battle of Kawanakajima ended.
After the war, both sides declared themselves victors. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who later unified Japan, even commented on the battle and claimed:
"Uesugi wins in the first half; Takeda wins in the second half."
Taken together:
Although the battle ended with both sides retreating, considering the objective reality that a large number of senior generals of the Takeda Army were killed, it can only be said that Uesugi had a slight upper hand.
The reason why the Takeda Army was at a disadvantage in this battle was mainly due to the failure of the "woodpecker tactic"-in fact, the enemy could never act according to its pre-set plan, but the Takeda Army did not respond to possible battlefield emergencies. Prepare a second set of plans.
Takeda and Uesugi had their last showdown on Kawanakajima in the seventh year of Eiroku:
As the Ashina Mori clan invaded Echigo, Uesugi Kenshin sent troops to resist, while Takeda Shingen took the opportunity to sneak attack Nojiri Castle in Northern Shinano.
In the same year, Hida guardian Miki Yoritsuna and national Ema Tokimori fought for the supremacy of Hida.
Shingen supported Ema Tokimori in order to control Hida, while Miki Yoritsuna asked for help from Echigo.
Uesugi Kenshin sent troops to Kawanakajima again to prevent Takeda Shingen from sending troops to Hida.
Considering the tragic consequences of the last time, Shingen chose to avoid a decisive battle and stick to Shiozaki Castle. The confrontation between the two sides ended after two months, and the fifth Kawanakajima photo session ended.
In this way, the 12-year Kawanakajima War came to an end.
After checking various information, Xie Yu had a strange feeling. Although it was only paper information, Xie Yu actually felt like he was actually there.
It was as if Xie Yu had experienced and commanded ancient military wars. Not only could he empathize with it, but he could also understand the thoughts of the military commanders on both sides.
Xie Yu shook his head, trying to get rid of this idea, but at the same time he wanted to find some sense of melody with this idea. It was really a strange state.
7017k
