Japan's Sengoku Period: The Sanada Clan's Ambition

Chapter 91 The Battle of Uehara Castle Against Tokugawa (Part 3)
Yesterday, a fierce battle took place, with both sides clashing intensely for nearly three hours. The Sanada clan suffered 19 dead foot soldiers and three seriously wounded.

Although no significant results were achieved, this battle thoroughly ignited the fighting spirit of the Sanada clan's foot soldiers.

Sanada Masayuki stood atop the walls of Uehara Castle, a position he had held since dawn. Almost an hour had passed.

"My lord, Sakubei and the others have already entered Kuwabara Castle."

"All the foot soldiers in the castle have been concentrated in Ninomaru, and the castle walls have been reinforced and the gaps have been plugged."

"In addition, the residents of the castle town have all moved into the castle, and people have been assigned to guard the several water sources on the mountain."

Fully armed, Takanashi Naiki arrived at Sanada Masayuki's residence and reported the detailed situation inside the castle.

“Naiki, I trust you to handle things properly.” Sanada Masayuki patted Takanashi Naiki on the shoulder, then pointed towards Lake Suwa, “Look, the smoke is rising.”

"They're only starting to cook now; it seems the enemy is determined to wait for reinforcements to arrive before launching an offensive."

Sanada Masayuki maintained a calm and composed expression, but Takanashi Naiki, standing beside him, looked slightly worried.

"The governor of Totomi has been out of the castle for a whole night and has not returned yet. I wonder where the Tokugawa army is now."

"Judging by the time, it should be here by now."

On the streets bordering Ina and Suwa districts, an army of several thousand men, with banners waving and in neat formation, marched toward Uehara Castle.

Hoshina Masamitsu stood on the top of Takato Castle, watching the large army slowly pass by outside the city with a tense expression. He only breathed a slight sigh of relief after confirming that the army was not coming for him.

"Tōtōmi no Kami, go and inform my father-in-law immediately that the Tokugawa army has entered Suwa District through Inaya."

Mochizuki Masayori nodded; that was exactly what he had come for.

Outside Takato Castle, in the Tokugawa army, Sakai Tadatsugu rode his horse back to Takato Castle in the distance. Only after confirming that no enemy troops had come out of the castle did he speed up his horse and continue forward.

"Lord Saemon-no-jo, beyond the valley ahead lies Lake Suwa."

"According to the news from the front, Sanada Awa-no-kami, who was stationed at Uehara Castle yesterday, launched an attack on Kiso and his men, but was repelled." Mizuno Katsunari rode alongside Sakai Tadatsugu.

Sakai Tadatsugu tightened his grip on the reins and said dismissively, "The Sanada clan is nothing but a mere trifle. They actually need my Tokugawa clan to personally lead the troops. These local lords of Shinano are truly useless."

"The enemy must have learned that our main army is about to arrive, so they want to defeat Kiso and his men before our army arrives."

"The more anxious the Sanada family is, the more it proves that the other side is afraid. Once Uehara Castle is captured, the Kai army will arrive, and Shinano will be our family's for the taking."

Mizuno Katsunari continued, "I will lead the charge and personally take the head of Sanada Awakami!"

"Rokuzaemon fought well in the Battle of Kai, why didn't he stay in Kai?" Sakai Tadatsugu turned to look at Mizuno Katsunari.

Mizuno Katsunari had previously followed Torii Mototada in defeating the Hojo clan at the Battle of Kurogane in Kai Province, where he performed exceptionally well and thus earned Tokugawa Ieyasu's approval.

Although Sakai Tadatsugu was in Mikawa, he had heard of Mizuno Katsunari's reputation as a warrior.

"Lord Torii looks down on me too much, and didn't even inform me before going into battle."

"Working under him is too unpleasant, so I request that my lord transfer me back to Mikawa," Mizuno Katsunari said indignantly.

Sakai Tadatsugu smiled with relief upon hearing this, "Tori's personality is indeed eccentric, but he is extremely loyal to our lord. Even if this matter reaches our lord, he won't say anything."

"That's why I returned to Mikawa," Mizuno Katsunari said with a helpless expression.

"I hope Rokuzaemon can continue the bravery of Kai in this battle, so that our lord can see the heroic spirit of the Mizuno clan's samurai," Sakai Tadatsugu encouraged.

Sakai Tadatsugu was merely scouting ahead when the troops were dispatched to Shinano.

Shinano is mountainous and the roads are difficult to traverse, making it unsuitable for large-scale military operations. In particular, Uehara Castle cut off the main road from Kai into Shinano, so Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered Sakai Tadatsugu to launch an attack from Mikawa, advancing along Ina District into Suwa.

First, they captured Uehara Castle, and then the Tokugawa army marched into Shinano from Kai.

Sakai Tadatsugu was a hereditary retainer of the Tokugawa family and ranked first among the "Four Heavenly Kings of Tokugawa." As the head of Higashi-Mikawa, he jointly governed Mikawa Province, the Tokugawa family's stronghold, with Ishikawa Kazumasa, the head of Nishi-Mikawa.

This time, Sakai Tadatsugu commanded a large army of 6000 men.

Originally, the number of soldiers was 5,000, but because Mizuno Katsunari had a conflict with Torii Mototada in Kai and returned to Mikawa, Sakai Tadatsugu applied to Tokugawa Ieyasu to allow Mizuno Katsunari to join him as a comrade-in-arms in the campaign against Shinano.

"It seems the left wing has reinforcements from the Sanada clan?"

Halfway there, Sakai Tadatsugu paused for a moment after hearing the detective's report, and unconsciously slowed down.

"It should be the Ogasawara army from Fukashi Castle. They have been stationed in places like Shiojiri for many days, but there has been no movement."

"Number of people." A fallen daimyo of Shinano didn't interest Sakai Tadatsugu; he only cared about the specific number of people.

Mizuno, the branch manager, quickly replied, "There should be over a thousand people."

Mizuno Bunchō is Mizuno Katsunari's cousin, and the Mizuno family is large and prosperous.

Tadatsugu Sakai kicked the horse's belly and said, "Tell Rokuzaemon to ignore it."

"Ha!" Inside Uehara Castle.

Mochizuki Masayuki hurriedly found Sanada Masayuki.

"The Tokugawa army has entered Suwa District, with a total force of 6000 men, plus more than 1,000 soldiers and a small pack animal team of 300 men."

"The Mizuno Katsunari team of 1000 people has arrived in the Harumiya area of ​​Shimosha, Suwa."

Sanada Masayuki's eyes narrowed. "They've finally arrived."

"Send out more scouts to closely monitor enemy movements."

"what!"

"Has the beacon tower on Mount Omi been repaired?" Sanada Masayuki suddenly remembered something.

Takanashi Naiki quickly replied, "It's already been repaired. As per the lord's instructions, beacon towers have been set up on the three mountain peaks."

After hearing this, Masayuki Sanada finally felt relieved.

The distance between Uehara Castle and Suwa Shimosha is more than ten miles. If a battle breaks out at the front, Sanada Masayuki may not be able to receive information in time.

Therefore, people were arranged in advance to build three beacon towers on Mount Omi, east of Lake Suwa, to transmit information at any time.

"The enemy's general offensive should be launched tomorrow morning. Leave a team to monitor the enemy's movements down the mountain, and the rest of the troops should rest immediately after having a full meal."

"understand!"

Meanwhile, Sanada Nobuyuki, stationed at Monomiiwa, also divided his foot soldiers into two teams.

Yamaue Michi and his 500-strong main force moved to the left foot of Mount Omi, while Sanada Nobuyuki remained at Monomiiwa. From here, the terrain was higher and the view was wider, with every movement of the wind and grass over Lake Suwa below clearly visible.

"Lord Genzaburo, dinner is ready."

A young samurai knelt beside Sanada Nobuyuki, offering him a rice ball with both hands.

Nobuyuki Sanada took the rice ball, which was already very cold.

Because cooking on the mountain would be detected by the enemy below, Sanada Nobuyuki had no choice but to order the entire army to eat the rice balls they had brought with them.

"Why aren't you eating?" Nobuyuki Sanada asked, looking at Kotaro Suzuki beside him.

Kotaro was the son of Suzuki Shigenori, the castle lord of Kurumi Castle in the Sanada family. After the Battle of Ueno Numata Castle, he became a page of Sanada Nobuyuki.

"I'm not hungry," Kotaro Suzuki said with a grin.

Sanada Nobuyuki turned around and noticed that the rice ball in the foot soldier's hand was obviously very small.

"Have you finished all the food you brought?"

Seeing that Nobuyuki Sanada had already noticed, Kotaro Suzuki could only nod and say, "Because we need to save enough for tomorrow's breakfast, we can only share one rice ball between the two of us."

"Here you go!" Nobuyuki Sanada casually tossed half of his rice ball to Kotaro Suzuki.

Before Suzuki Kotaro could speak, Sanada Nobuyuki swallowed the other half of the rice ball in his hand and then got up to go on his inspection.

Looking at Nobuyuki Sanada's retreating figure, and then down at the half-eaten rice ball in his hand, Kotaro Suzuki's eyes welled up with tears.

"Lord!"

Hirabayashi Masahide, who was wiping his spear, quickly stood up when he saw Sanada Nobuyuki come up behind him.

"Yohachiro, your gun is pretty good." Sanada Nobuyuki walked over and sat down next to Hirabayashi Masatsune, then gestured for him to sit down as well.

Looking at the spear in his hand, Hirabayashi Masatane said with a proud expression, "This spear is an heirloom of the Hirabayashi family. According to family records, more than thirty warriors have died by this spear."

“That truly deserves to be called a family treasure.” Nobuyuki Sanada nodded.

Then, Sanada Nobuyuki continued, "How did the Ogasawara army negotiate?"

"Lord Ogasawara will personally lead his cavalry into battle."

“Okay!” Nobuyuki Sanada replied calmly.

But he felt uneasy. If Ogasawara Sadakichi was late or didn't come at all tomorrow, Sanada Nobuyuki's situation would be in danger.

According to Sasuke's reconnaissance, the Tokugawa army at the foot of the mountain numbered as many as five or six thousand.

　The Mizuno clan: Local lords of Kariya Castle in Mikawa Province, controlling the Chita Peninsula, and were a very powerful local lord in Owari and Mikawa. They also had close ties with the Oda and Tokugawa families.

　　Tokugawa Ieyasu's mother was from the Mizuno family.

　　The "Oda-Tokugawa Alliance" between the Oda and Tokugawa families was also facilitated by the Mizuno clan.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)