Siege of Shimotsuke (Shigenobu/Kitana/PM to join)

[Chimosa Hake]

Shimotsuke village, Shimotsuke Province
Year 1560

It had been a perfect morning when Hake woke up. He had felt rested and relaxed and even strong enough to go for a morning walk to the well alone. That was something that rarely happened these days. When he had arrived there, he had been invited by the village council to join them for breakfast and he had agreed. As they discussed important matters for the village side by side with discussing rumors and telling jokes, the elders and Hake had spent a splendid morning. Until the news came from the north.

Two unknown forces had been spotted along the main trade route north, as well as on the trade route from Shimotsuke, putting the little town in danger the moment everyone heard it. The elders moved out of the council house to try and calm down the villagers. Hake, suddenly feeling tired again, already let his mind work on the problem. The people were calmed down long enough for Hake and the elders to direct them properly. "We don't know where the attack is coming from. The enemy is not carrying banners or markings. They have no distinguishing features that could tell us anything. We don't know if they are coming for us or simply passing through. This is but a small chance but it does exist. Please, people, remain calm while we come up with a solution. One of the elders calmed the people down before everything turned into chaos.

"We will send out riders to ask for reinforcements. You can never be too sure. Those of you who can't help defend should start packing their belongings. Help your neighbors and friends were possible as well. We still have several days before the enemy arrives here, if not longer. Those of you capable of defending your homes and families, please remain here while we organize everything." Hake spoke with his soft voice to the people. It seemed that his presence had a soothing effect as well, as people started to calm down somewhat. They had seen him in action before and, even though it had been against bandits, they had survived under his leadership.

"Send out riders to all nearby cities, towns and villages, even outside of our province. We want as many people as possible to gather here with us. Those of you who can ride and those of you who have friends in neighboring villages, head out now and gather as many of them as you can." Hake waved out with his hand, sending those people away. "The rest of you, start preparing. We'll need wood for barricades and walls. Stockpile all the weapons you can find here in the council house, send out people to fetch the woodsmen and the cattle herders in the hills and forests. We want everyone here by tonight."

Once finished, Hake followed the village council into their building, where they would sit down and discuss their options. The beautiful morning was gone now, no longer did the birds sing their songs or did the insects chirp and tweet at each other. The room was serious as the council leaned over the table with the map on it. Between the army and the village was nothing but rolling hills. No forests to scout from or ambush from, not natural defenses they could use to stall the enemy. It was only a matter of time before they would get here. And then there would be blood and death everywhere. Hake hoped that enough of the nearby villages would understand that losing Shimotsuke village to the enemy would mean losing their own small villages and communities as well. Once Shimotsuke fell, there would be nothing left between the whole south-eastern border of Shimotsuke province and the enemy. The sounds of horses riding off in gallop sounded through the open windows of the council house.

(OOC: For those of you who want to know where we are, more or less, it's in the south-east in the blue area on the map below. Shimotsuke village.)

SPOILER: Click to show

[Fujishima Shigenobu]

Another tiny hamlet, another disappointment for Shigenobu. Apparently his name had not reached even this far yet. Or these silly people didn't care about his name. But that couldn't be the case, as he was clearly a very big deal. No, they just had not heard of him yet. There would be time to rectify their mistake soon. But at least it was quiet, far more like his former home than some of the others had been.

Until the obnoxious noise of galloping was heard tearing through the center of the village. Clop clop clop clop clop clop, so many clops! No respect for the Fujishima who was clearly sitting cross-legged in the sunlight there trying to salvage what he could from this day! And then the clopping turned into a quicker clipping, and then stopped altogether. Shigenobu smiled, eyes having remained closed the entire time. That was better. Until, of course, the rapid fire irritation of spoken language interjected itself into the scene. One eye peeked open. About twenty feet from him, the rider had apparently dismounted from his horse and was shouting to a growing number of villagers about how there was some sort of evil army approaching some sort of village. Wait, Shimotsuke village? Shige actually knew that one. Not enough defenders, he said? All the help they could get? 

A half smile creased Shige's bearded face. That all sounded like a recipe for fame if it went well. And if it didn't, well, he figured there wouldn't be enough people left alive to really tarnish his name that much anyways. Worth a shot. Quietly standing and brushing himself off, Shige walked over to where the very animated man was still being very animated. He waved a hand at the assemblage (which despite being nearly the entire village was still only about forty people). You'll have better luck convincing trees to fight for your village than these men. Although you might have some luck with the women....They were rather burly.....

Without waiting for a reply, Shigenobu jumped atop the horse and patted its mane. He turned back to the villagers momentarily. If you are coming, come. If not, pack and take to the hills until the danger has passed. With that, Shige put his heels to the horse, who reared slightly before starting to gallop off. Thankfully Shige maintained his seat atop the animal; that wouldn't have instilled any confidence whatsoever. 

Wait, but.... Hey, WAIT!

I'm more useful than you! Just bring any stragglers! Shige shouted over his shoulder as the horse barreled out of the town.

~~~

Shimotsuke village was a flurry of activity when Shigenobu arrived. Women and children were trickling out of the village in several directions, packs of supplies on their backs or attached to pack animals if they could be spared. Some hastily constructed defenses could be seen in several places, and it seemed as if one particular woman was directing most of the defense efforts. Well, time to meet the new neighbors, Shige shrugged to himself. Dismounting and tossing the reins to what he assumed was some sort of stableboy... or girl, he honestly just tossed them at someone who was looking his direction, Shigenobu made his way over to the woman and inclined his head in as much of a bow as he felt like making. Alright, madame, the great Fujishima Shigenobu has arrived. Where do you need me?

[Mikhael]

Mikhael would have already been on the road to Shimotsuke with a group of about twenty men before the messenger approached, and as soon as he saw the frantic look on the man's face, he knew there was some sort of trouble. He needed very little direction once he was told "Shimotsuke village," and hoofed it all the way there, rather quickly. The trip would have takenless than a night, and when they arrived, he saw the village was in complete disarray... as was to be expected.

"My name is Mikhael, I hail from Echigo. I am here to offer my support, and I bring a small unit with me," he spoke to a woman who seemed to be in charge. However, he did not wait to be given orders, as he didn't work well taking orders in the slightest. He would sit at the edge of the village with his men, waiting for the enemy army to approach. They would be stationed along the road in hiding places, to jump out in a surprise attack, Mikhael himself standing at the front of the village and acting as its protector.

He did this a lot back home.

[Chimosa Hake]

After the riders left, the council managed to finish some sort of plan for the defenses. Hake and the elders moved outside again and gathered the people who would stay. Roughly thirty volunteers, most of them survivors of the previous attacks on the town. There were burly lumberjacks, who worked on the edge of the forest, lean hunters, who brought in meat for the village from the same forest. The rest of them were local people, some farmers, the blacksmith, the carpenter and builder and several others. Even some young men who had recently joined the village. Most of them knew how Hake worked and they knew to trust in his commands as it had brought them to this point in time, alive.

"Start setting up barricades here, around the main square. We'll have our HQ here. The enemy is coming from the north, so focus most of the defenses in that direction. Send out two scouts to try and determine the enemy troop numbers and report back. Don't get too close." While the entire village did not have a wall around it, the houses, built at will, without any regard for location, created a maze of alleys on the left and right of the main trade road through town which came in from the North-north-east and left in the south-south-west.

The scouts immediately left on horseback as the rest of them set to work. At first, there was just the locals working but, as the first days passed, men from nearby villages trickled in, in twos or threes, joining the village defenses. One even rode in horseback proclaiming he was 'the great something'. "Help to set up the barricades on the main road and around the village center. We need all the help we can get for now. The enemy is still a few days away but time is of the essence."

[Fujishima Shigenobu]

Egads! That's a man! Shigenobu was not about to apologize for the mistake, and the man did not seem particularly hard-pressed for one, so the matter was pushed aside as instructions were laid out. Barricades, eh? Simple, perhaps marginally effective, but as Shigenobu looked around at layout of the village and the number and skill of the defenders, well, they left much to be desired. Even the addition of the freakishly-named monster of a man and his cohort didn't seem like they would match up against anything more well-coordinated that horse rustlers. Sure, this guy seemed to have a mind for military matters, but from Shige's perspective, it didn't make sense not to at least provide an opposing viewpoint. After all, getting killed wouldn't help his reputation much at all.

Why battle openly? Use the city layout to offset the numbers. Traps.

[Chimosa Hake]

Hake turned to the man as he spoke. Great, an outsider who seemed to want to question his orders. Somehow, Hake felt offended by the man, simply for asking the question. Hake accounted his sharpness to the fact that his town was about to be attacked by an actual army. Not a bunch of bandits thinking them weak or a neighboring town bent on stealing their cattle and rice. No, an army bent on killing everyone here, most likely. "And your name was?" Hake's voice, while still carrying that melodious tone to it, also carried a sharp undertone with it. Hake nodded as the man gave him his name.

But, at the same time, the man had been the only one to question Hake's orders. Everybody else had just started working at his commands while this one hadn't. Perhaps he could be of use to Hake. "Follow me." Hake turned around and walked away, not checking to see if the man was following him. While it would have been more impressive if he had been able to walk with the speed of a normal, fit young man of his own age, Hake did manage the 'I don't care if you follow me' attitude quite well. He walked straight into the council house, where a map of the town and its surroundings lay outstretched on a table.

Hake turned and waited for the man to walk in as well. If he did, Hake would bend over the table with the map on it and put his finger down on the council house. "This is where we are." His finger moved in a circle around the open space outside of the council house. "This is the main square. We're barricading it now, a makeshift castle, if you will." Hake's finger moved across the map, following a long line that crossed the map and the square in the middle. "This is the main road through town, which the enemy will take to get to us." Hake's finger pointed to two separate spaces outside of town, on both sides of the main road, here little weeds had been drawn on the map. "These are rice paddies, stretching out left and right of the main road, forming a natural defense against enemies. Would you prefer to wade through rice fields or quickly march along a road while approaching an enemy town?" Without waiting for an answer, Hake's fingers moved back to the main road where it started to cut into town.

"The enemy will walk in here, thinking themselves superior to us. They are superior to us. But they underestimate us because we are but farmers and peasants in their minds." Hake moved his finger along the main road on the map until he reached the square. "Here, we will stop the enemy with the barricades. This will be the most dangerous fighting as the soldiers here will see us and be ready for us." His finger poked several houses along the main road as he moved away from the square. "Here, here, here and here and here we will position archers on the roofs, in hiding, to strike when the enemy has halted."

Once again he pointed along the road, this time to the alleys leading up to the main road. "There, there and there we will hide away forces to pincer the enemy from both sides, cutting him into several pieces. And confusing him. And kill him." With his hand, Hake chopped the imagined forces into pieces. "From there we push up to the town edge, each pincer attack waiting to push forward for the others to catch up with them." Hake's finger pointed to the main square and slide along the main road to the first pincer group, where he poked the map and then slid further along the road to the second one, where he poked once more and moved further up to the third one. "Questions or comments?" Hake spoke without any pride in his voice. However successful his strategy, people would still die because of it.

[Chimosa Hake]

As Hake finished his battle plan, he looked around the room. Several of the elders were also bent over the map as they looked at Hake's strategies. It seemed do-able. While some of them had questions, most of them kept them to themselves. There was a sense of haste to it all and nobody wanted to waste time with unimportant questions. They knew Hake by now and they knew that he was capable and successful in what he did. Nobody made a question or a comment and Hake stepped back from the map. Together with the elders, he walked out of the council house and into the main square of the village, where people were frantically running back and forth. The first carts and refugees were heading out the south side of the village, fleeing to nearby villages where they would remain safe for a while.

From the south, the sound of hooves could be heard and one of the two scouts Hake had sent forward arrived in a gallop, almost falling off his horse as he tried to stop the beast on the square. It was panting and sweating and its eyes looked wild and frightened. Whatever the scout had to report was important. Hake, supported by Gentarou-San, approached the scout who immediately burst out with his report. "There's a column of riders coming from the north. They wear the same armor as the army behind them, about thirty of them. They'll be here in half an hour or so." The news took the elders back, who started to murmur amongst each other while passing glances towards the north.

"Were they part of the initial numbers counted? Could you tell how they were equipped?" The scout seemed confused for a moment, he wasn't professionally a scout, just a good rider. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure. I think they are part of the group, yes." Once Hake had his answers, he turned to the elders and gave them their commands. "Same plan. We will let them storm down main street and towards the square, once they are halted at the barricade we will determine their intent. Should it prove to be that they are here to kill and conquer, we will go with the same battle plan. Try your best to keep the horses alive. We might need them later."

Hake had someone shout for the lead carpenter and for the lead hunter, two men who would be important to their trap. He quickly explained the situation and gave them their orders. The carpenters would create a grate of sharpened wooden stakes that they could pull up in front of the horses, causing them to impale on the spikes, creating chaos at the front and halting the rest of the charging cavalry. The huntsman he informed to recruit the best archers in town, out of everyone, not just the ones willing to stay and defend. Whether they were men, women or children didn't matter. They would need everyone here.

The time before the cavalry arrived moved past quickly and the preparations went under hurry. Wooden spikes were cut and tied together in a grid. They were placed in front of the barricades, were Hake would await the enemy, and at the entrance of the town, were the carpenter and his men would be positioned. pointing inward, covered with sand. Both grids of spikes were mostly hidden from sight, just some wood sticking out of the sand, together with ropes lying around. Things you'd expect from a badly run village where nobody really cared.

Once the preparations were done, even in a hurry the spikes looked dangerous, Hake divided the volunteers and the draftees into teams. All of the women and children were positioned on the roofs with bows and slings and large objects they could throw. The hunters were split into two group, overlooking the main street near the middle. From there they could fire on the head and the tail of any force in the street. There were three large groups of volunteers spread out along the main road and a fourth group with Hake, behind the barricades, from where they could raise the spikes when needed. The last pincer group would close up behind the enemy and keep them from retreating with the spikes as well. The other two groups would charge in from the sides, as planned, with long handled weapons, keeping the riders at bay while the rooftop teams took care of everything. With everything in place, Hake paced back and forth in his position, waiting for the last few minutes to pass by. A shout from the edge of town informed him it was time.