Chapter 5: Confrontation at Kawahara Island

  The next day, Li Xiao directly commanded a small team of more than 20 foot soldiers, with four low-ranking warriors assigned as his subordinates to assist him in managing the more than 20 peasant soldiers.

  The soldiers of Kai Province were originally mountain people, known for their hard work and endurance. It can be said that the harsh mountains and rivers produce brave warriors. In addition, during the Warring States period in Japan, martial arts were extremely popular among civilians, so even before the Sword Hunt Edict was issued, rural villages also had swords and guns for self-defense. Therefore, even fights between villagers were not as simple as a farmer's three punches being slightly painful.

  Li Xiao reviewed his soldiers, at this time the Japanese farmer-soldiers, except for being slightly shorter and slightly malnourished, overall had good endurance and discipline, from a modern perspective, this met the conditions for training an elite unit with strict military discipline.

  Due to the inconvenience of language communication, Li Xiao did not plan to train this team in any way, as the peasant soldiers would have to return to farming after the battle. However, he also knew the saying "heavy rewards must have brave men", so he took out 20 taels from his salary, one tael for each of them, and asked them to make an effort for him. He also declared that if they beheaded enemies on the battlefield, he would promote them to warriors.

  These peasant soldiers saw so many rewards and a promising future, they were immediately moved to tears, deeply feeling that this martial gentleman from the Ming country was indeed a worthy person to follow.

  Three days ago, Takeda Shingen had already dispatched troops from Honjo Tsukigasaki and merged with the forces of various vassal families. Then he entered the territory of Shinano (Shinshu) from Kai Province. Later, the powerful clans and castle lords who were affiliated with the Takeda family in Shinano also led their armies to join forces, making the military strength even stronger.

  "What a magnificent army of the Takeda clan!" said Takeda Nobuyuki, who was standing beside Li Xiao, as he couldn't help but exclaim while watching the troops march by.

  Li Xiao looked at Takeda Nobuyuki's immature face, as the eldest son of Nobushige, Takeda Nobuyuki was only twenty years old this year, but he had already come of age and participated in several battles of the Takeda family.

  Li Xiao listened to the other's sighs, nodded slightly, and looked at the large army advancing alongside him. The Takeda family's ashigaru troops, cavalry, and iron cannon troops were moving forward with their heads down, the sound of armor, horseshoes, was like a surging river.

  The bearer of the 'hundred feet centipede' flag, driving a fine horse back and forth in front of and behind the army, conveying orders.

  Not far behind was the Hatamoto corps of Takeda Shingen, and as a symbol of the overall commander of the main camp, Takeda Shingen's flag 'Sunzi Four Like True Word Flag' stood upright above.

  The banner reads 'As swift as the wind, as gentle as a forest, invasion like fire, and immobile like a mountain', these sixteen characters were selected by Takeda Shingen from Sun Tzu's Art of War.

  Later generations often use the four characters "wind, forest, fire, and mountain" as the essence of Kai's military strategy. In front of Li Xiaowei Taigong Wushi, this card was also a reverse heavenly skill in combat skills, which had the effect of increasing attack power, defense power, and movement speed after use.

  Li Xiao's horse riding skills were quite good at this time, and he used his newly learned Japanese to communicate with Takeda Nobutada and his two sons. Although Li Xiao's learning ability amazed several people, some grammatical errors still made Takeda Nobutada and others burst out laughing from time to time.

  Takeda Nobuyuki's face lit up with excitement as he spoke to Nobushige, "Father, this time our army has 18,000 troops, the greatest military power the Takeda family has ever had. Thinking about the upcoming decisive battle against the Echigo army, my warrior blood is boiling."

  "Not 18,000 but a full 20,000 strong army, and there are also 2,000 of Shingen's men inside Haito Castle." Takeda Katsuyori immediately retorted against his cousin Nobuyuki. At this time, Takeda Katsuyori had a strong desire to win, wanting to show off in front of others.

  Takeda Nobuyuki was speechless at Takeda Katsuyori's scolding, not because he didn't want to retort, but because he took into consideration his position as the son of Lord Shingen.

  Xin Fan smiled as he watched his nephew and son arguing, then said: "The Yue army has also come out in full force. According to the scouts' reports, there are 13,000 troops at the Wife and Daughter Mountain camp, and another 3,000 at the Shanlan Temple. Their military strength is evenly matched with ours."

  Mentioning the good fight of the Vietnamese army, and the undefeated warlords Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Nobushige, their faces became slightly heavier. The fourth battle of Kawanakajima was a large-scale battle in the mid-Japanese Warring States period, with a total of around 40,000 troops on both sides. At that time, all eligible men who could serve in the military in Japan did not exceed 500,000 people.

  Later on, the forces of both Kai and Shinano were fully mobilized. If they could win in a decisive battle, they could march to Kyoto with peace of mind without worrying about their rear.

  But as a traverser, Li Xiao naturally knew the outcome of this battle. As for who won or lost between Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin, two heroes of the same era, there were different opinions among fans on the forum, with controversy existing. However, from a long-term perspective, the confrontation between the two houses did not have a final winner.

  The Battle of Kawanakajima, the Takeda clan was severely damaged and temporarily unable to advance on Kyoto, missing the best opportunity to unify the country. On the other hand, Oda Nobunaga, a daimyo from Owari Province, relied on his momentum from defeating Imagawa Yoshimoto in the Battle of Okehazama last year, and swept across the entire country like a raging storm over the next twenty-one years.

  Although in the following days, both the Takeda and Uesugi families caused some trouble for the Oda family, by then Oda Nobunaga's position had been established, and his advantages were already difficult to shake.

  Li Xiao, who was well aware of all this, secretly calculated in his heart whether he could bring a different Kawajiri Island to the Takeda family through his own efforts.

  After days of marching, the Takeda army had gradually approached the battlefield of Kawanakajima along the direct road that Shinano had built in the past.

  The south side of Kawajima is the Chikumagawa River, which originates in Kai and merges with the Sarugakawa River originating from Mt. Saruga in Kawajima, forming a delta between the two rivers.

  Chikumagawa, a river with a name that matches its slow flow and winding course, faces the Shinano region of Shingen to the south. The Kijikawa River flows as swiftly as a rhinoceros, and to the north lies Echigo, the domain of Kenshin.

  In the third year of Eiroku, Takeda Shingen adopted Yamamoto Kansuke's suggestion and built Kaizu Castle on the east bank of the Kiso River in just 80 days. The castle was garrisoned by two thousand soldiers led by Takada Chikakata, a renowned general of the Takeda clan.

  The Kaizu Castle was only a day's journey from Uesugi Kenshin's residence, Kasugayama Castle, and Uesugi Kenshin could not tolerate this.

  Eiroku 4, or 1561 AD, was a year that could not be described as busy for the military god.

  First, the internal disturbance was easily settled, but then Takeda Shingen secretly stirred up a rebellion in the Uesugi clan. Later, Uesugi Kenshin gathered an army of 100,000 from the Kanto region under the pretext of governing the region and attacked the Hojo clan, which was allied with the Takeda.

  Facing such an unprecedentedly powerful military force, the Hōjō clan raised the flag of turtle-shell defense on one hand and sought help from the Takeda clan on the other. Under the solid walls of Odawara Castle, known as "Japan's No. 1 Stronghold", they were besieged for a month.

  Although Odawara Castle was not captured, the Hōjō clan suffered a significant blow. Uesugi Kenshin returned home and formally succeeded to the position of Kantō Kanrei at Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine in Kamakura.

  Uesugi Kenshin returned to Echigo in June, and on August 14th, he led an army of 16,000 from Haruhiyama Castle. On the 16th, the Echigo army bypassed Hattsu Castle and set up their main camp at Tsubone-yama in the southern part of Kawajiri Island.

  On August 24, the Takeda army of 18,000 arrived at Kawakami Island and set up their main camp on Chausuyama. The distance from the Uesugi's main camp on Otateyama was only eight ri. Moreover, the position where the Takeda army was located not only blocked the road for the Echigo army to retreat to Echigo but also cut off the supply line from Zenkoji Temple to Otateyama.

  But Uesugi Kenshin seemed to ignore this crisis and remained still in his main camp. According to the scouts of the Takeda clan, every day they could hear the sound of Noh flute and drumming coming from Otoko-yama.

  The two armies temporarily confronted each other in the area of Chongqing Island.