The scouts were growing more frequent the closer they came to home. They were able to cover the distance in under a day, if they truly pushed their horses. The reports were not favourable. Not favourable at all. They did nothing to set Gengyo at ease and only served to increase his fear.
A fortress had fallen. They had shattered its walls and breached it and killed every single man inside. The scouts said that the Imagawa and Hojo army covered the horizon for as far as the eye could see, they were like the ocean.
It was a wonder that Matsudaira was holding on at all. He had three fortresses still standing against an army of fifty thousand men. His own numbers were far fewer – barely five thousand by now, though these men were the elite.
It was as much Takeshi that they had to thank as Matsudaira for them surviving that long, at least that was what he was told. The defences of those fortresses were nearly unimaginable. The tops of the walls were littered with cannons and the gates had been reinforced with solid steel.
When Gengyo asked about the circ.u.mstances of the first fortress’ falling, he had been given Matsudaira’s reply. "We did not have time to properly prepare it – we gave it to them and they gave us a few thousand men in turn."
If Matsudaira’s words were to be believed, then it might be that he had actually earned himself the upper hand in the conflict. But a siege was rough on any man. Their supplies would gradually dwindle. Each day the Hojo men made use of their strategies to weaken the walls, employing the use of gunpowder whenever they could make it close enough to use it.
Eight thousand men Gengyo had left with and eight thousand men Gengyo had returned with, though the Uesugi men were far weaker than he would have liked. There was too little time to train them. They simply marched as fast as they were able with the intent of relieving Matsudaira.
They made it past the tree line and caught sight of their first fortress just after midday. From a distance, its grey stone walls appeared to be blackened by a liquid of sorts. As they grew closer, they realized that the black mass were men, attacking the walls from every angle.
"By the gods... He’s managed to survive against that?" Jikouji muttered, looking upon it in awe.
"So it seems. With three fortresses as well. We’re lucky he’s on our side," Gengyo replied back.
There was a ground-shaking booming and they were introduced to Takeshi’s cannon. A great cloud of shrapnel flew high into the air as the heavy cannonball sent a cl.u.s.ter of men flying. It was a ruthless weapon, leaving men legless, clutching their bloody stumps as they screamed manically.
They were looking upon a mere fraction of the Imagawa-Hojo army and there already seemed to be more men than they knew what to do with. A distance away from the fortress, there were several flags speared deep into the earth, bearing the white and blue pyramid of the Hojo clan and the golden bird of the Imagawa.
A command centre was seated behind that flag line and generals sat under the shelter of their tents giving orders with their fans, keeping a few thousand men in reserve in case a weakness presented itself.
As much as Gengyo simply wanted to charge their rear and slaughter them all, he cautioned himself against such reckless action. His foot soldiers were far too slow to make good use of a surprise attack. By the time they found themselves in firing range, the Imagawa men would have already rearranged themselves.
There also remained the problem of reinforcements. If they attacked and exposed themselves, then men might dispatch from the other fortresses a few miles away and hit them in the back before they had time to deal with the enemy in front of them.
Gengyo decided against any action at all. He stayed stationary within the trees and used his scouts to communicate with Matsudaira.
"We’ve arrived at the eastern border fortress," was the first message he sent with the scout. He watched the man gallop across the field with it clutched into his hand. He realized that it seemed likely that the Hojo army knew exactly where he was – that only cautioned him further against action, for a trap was highly likely.
"I’ve stationed myself in the central fortress. The Hojo siege engineers completed their tunnel this morning. They’ve blown through a hole in the wall. The men are defending it admirably, we should be able to hold until repairs at sundown," came Matsudaira’s reply an hour later.
Gengyo stroked his chin as he read the reply, trying to decide on how he would best be placed. "Make use of me," he said simply in the next message. Matsudaira knew better than anyone else the situation, so Gengyo left the decision with him.
"Liberate the fortress they took. They have not repaired it – the gates are wide open. You’ll find a resistance of a thousand men. If you hold it, we can begin to suffocate them," Matsudaira’s message read.
Gengyo had to smile as he read it. It was indeed a clever strategy. The three occupied fortresses were all aligned protecting the Mikawa border, whilst the fourth fortress that they had lost sat several miles in front. In capturing it, they would trap the advanced Hojo-Imagawa army between the two fronts.
The sun was going lower in the sky by the time Gengyo received that final message. He motioned with his hand to summon a second scout and he gave him a simple last message. "Consider it done."
And then he spoke to his men. "Move out."
They kept to the tree line for as long as they could, flitting past the Hojo command centre, drawing closer to the undermanned fortress. By the time darkness fell, they caught sight of it.
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