Japan's Warring States Period: The Rise of the Wakasa Tiger

Chapter 123 Heavy losses
At around 2 a.m. on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, under the instruction of Masaaki Onitsu, a "bridge approach" (a movable temporary bridge with wheels) was quietly lowered on the earth moat at the southwest end of Kaede Castle. More than a hundred Takeda troops crossed the earth moat and quietly circled behind the Yamana army's base, ready to launch an attack at the command of the commander-in-chief.

At this moment, most of the Yamana army, except for a few soldiers patrolling the camp, were in a deep sleep. Even Otagaki Asanobu and Ta Yui Sho Yoshiyoshi were snoring in the temporary main camp formed by the formation curtains, completely unaware of the approaching danger - after all, the tossing and turning during the day really made them physically and mentally exhausted, and a good sleep was more important than anything else at this moment.

The night attack began with killing the patrolling soldiers on the south side of the camp. Under the command of Onitani Masaaki, two teams of elite warriors quietly moved to both sides of the path that the patrolling Yamana army had to pass through, and when the time was right, they rushed forward and resolved the battle in a flash.

Then, the Takeda army advanced to the gate of the camp. At this time, the elite samurai, who had changed into the uniforms of the Yamana army, pretended to be patrolling soldiers. They walked up to the guards guarding the gate and pretended to chat with them. When they let down their guard, they quickly eliminated them.

A Yamana soldier who had managed to escape death ran towards the battle bell, yelling, "Enemy attack! The Takeda army is raiding our camp!"

But before he could shout two words, he was stabbed in the throat by a samurai from the Takeda army who had caught up with him. Fortunately, it was late at night and the Yamana army was sleeping soundly, so they were not awakened by the brief noise.

As the gate was slowly opened, Onitsuka Masaaki led a group of Takeda soldiers into the camp quickly, and then divided into three groups according to the plan. The left and right groups were responsible for pouring kerosene, setting fire to the camp, and attacking and killing the Yamana soldiers who escaped from the tents; the middle group was led by Onitsuka Masaaki himself and went straight to the main camp of the Yamana army. As the saying goes, to capture a thief, you must first capture the leader. His goal was to kill Otagaki Asanobu and Tadashi Yoshiyoshi in one fell swoop, causing the total defeat of the Yamana army.

"Fire! Enemy attack!"

As the flames slowly rose around the camp, the Yamana Army patrolling the north side of the camp was the first to notice something was wrong and quickly rang the bell, shouting to warn the enemy of the attack. But at this moment, there were many fires in the huge camp, and they were spreading to each other. The patrolling soldiers could not effectively put out the fire.

Although the Yamana army was awakened from their deep sleep by the alarm, as soon as they ran out of the tent in panic, they were killed one by one by the Takeda army waiting outside.

Otagaki Asanobu and Tadashi Shoyoshi also woke up from their sleep. Fortunately, the two of them could not take off their armor when sleeping, so they were able to quickly enter combat status and wake up other generals to go out to meet the enemy together.

But after taking only two steps, the surrounding battle curtains were cut open by the swords. Then, the ferocious Takeda army rushed into the battle through the gaps and started fighting with the Yamana army without saying a word.

At this time, Onitsuka Masaaki was wearing a black sash on his head, an indigo hamarikū, and holding a long sword in his hand that emitted bursts of cold light under the moonlight.

He and a dozen of his close warriors stood in front of Otagaki Asanobu and Tian Yusou Yoshiyoshi. Their meaning was very clear: if they wanted to escape, they had to get past him.

Eager to go out and give orders, Otagaki Asanobu didn't say anything more. He picked up his sword and rushed towards Onitsuka Masaaki.

The latter, as expected, had learned swordsmanship from Da Hu Xiu Gang (Kamiizumi Nobunaga), and he repeatedly broke through Otagaki Asanobu's attacks. The two fought for forty rounds before Onitaba Masaaki finally found a flaw, drew his sword and struck, bypassing the "axillary guide" (protective equipment in the gap of the armpit armor) and piercing his armpit!
"Ugh, damn it!" Otagaki Chaoyan wailed in pain, blood gushing out from the wound, and then he fell to his knees, supporting himself with one hand to prevent himself from falling completely.

Seeing him vomiting mouthfuls of blood, Gui Ting Ya Zhao said nothing and slashed at him from behind. The collar and the head were separated, one rolled outside the formation curtain, and the other rolled to the feet of Tian Jie Zhuang Shiyi.

"Asshole!" Tian Jie Zhuang Shiyi looked at the head of Ota Gaki Chaoyan at his feet with an unbelievable face, and roared angrily: "Who are you?!"

"I am the castle lord of Kaede Castle of the Takeda family, Keijiro Onitsuka!" Onitsuka Masaaki answered while getting into a fighting stance, "Who are you? Do you dare to fight me?!"

"I am the patriarch of the Yamana family and the lord of Tsuruga Castle, Tanjie Shokoyoshi! If you want to die, come and kill me!" Tanjie Shokoyoshi clenched his sword and shouted at Onitsu Masaaki viciously, "You little castle lord, you don't know how to live or die!" "We'll know who is the one who doesn't know how to live or die in this fight!" As he spoke, Onitsu Masaaki rushed towards Tanjie Shokoyoshi with a knife in his hand. The two warriors of the Yamana family beside the latter wanted to step forward to resist, but were stopped by him.

"I will avenge Noto no Kami!" Tian Jie Zhuang rushed towards Onitsuka Masaaki with a knife in hand.

Although Tian Jie Zhuang is full of righteousness and his sword strikes are very fast and fierce, he is not on the same level as Onitsuka Masaaki in terms of swordsmanship skills.

When the fight lasted for more than thirty rounds, Tanjie Shojiyoshi, who had exerted too much strength in the early stage, began to feel powerless, and Onitsuka Masaaki also felt that his strength began to weaken, so he changed his previous step-by-step strategy and began a sharp attack.

Under the relentless pressure of Onitsuka Masaaki, Tian Jie Zhuang Shiyi retreated repeatedly and struggled to hold on. Suddenly, he stumbled and fell to the ground!
Just as Onitsu Masaaki was about to complete the "double kill", a samurai from the Yamana clan rushed forward and blocked the most dangerous sword for Tanjie Shoyoshi.

"Sir, don't fight any longer! Everyone is waiting for your command!" The warrior said almost beggingly while struggling to resist.

Tian Jie Zhuang Shiyi then realized that he had been blinded by anger. Yes, now is not the time to get entangled with him here. He must organize troops as soon as possible to repel the night attack by the Takeda army!

"I understand." Having said that, Tian Jie Zhuang Shiyi stood up and ran out of the formation under the escort of three or five warriors.

"Hmph, as cowardly as a mouse." Onitsu Masaaki drew his sword and stabbed again, directly ending the life of the samurai in front of him. But just when he wanted to chase after Tanjie Shoyoshi, more and more Yamana soldiers rushed into the formation and blocked his way.

Seeing that the enemy outnumbered us, Masaaki Onitsuka did not attack blindly. Thinking that the purpose of the night attack had been basically achieved, he withdrew from the main camp under the protection of the samurai nearby. The various Takeda troops also began to retreat after receiving his orders.

"Tian Jie Zhuang is righteous, right? We have a long way to go!" While retreating, Onitiao Masaaki did not forget to look back at the Yamana military camp which was almost turned into a sea of ​​fire, with a sneer on his face.

On the other hand, the Yamana army, under the organization of Tanjie Shojiro, put out the fire and saved as much food and weapons as possible, working all night long.

Early in the morning, just after daybreak, Tian Jie Zhuang Shiyi received a report on the losses suffered by the Yamana army in the night attack.

"After this battle, 110 soldiers from our family were killed, 220 were burned or chopped, and almost all the food and grass were burned. Fortunately, most of the weapons were preserved intact."

"More than 300 people were killed or wounded!" Tian Jie Zhuang Shiyi stood in the camp that was almost burned to the ground, listening to the report of Jun Mu Fu, his grief was beyond words, "Send someone to inform the lord to immediately transport food and supplies to the mountain, I will fight to the death with that Onitsuka Masaaki!"

"Sir, regarding the matter of Noto no Mori..." Junmufu asked in a low voice.

"You report everything to my lord and tell him that I will definitely avenge Noto no Mori!" Tian Jie Zhuang said indignantly.

(End of this chapter)