In summer, 1570, as the Mori conquers Awa, the last province of the Chosokabe in Shikkoku and as Mori samurai toast their victories in numerous drunken celebrations in the fields, towns and castles all over Shikkoku, the Shogun decides that it is time to act. Like a great dragon drawing in the four winds, the Ashikaga shogun summons the Hatakeyama, the Yamana, the Hojo and numerous lesser clans, binds them in an alliance under the banner of the Shogun, and casts them like a thunder bolt upon the Mori!
When Daimyo Sanemune receives news of the rise of the Anti-Mori Shogunate Alliance (AMSA), he wastes little time in cursing his uncle, Mori Motoharu, for bringing this upon them through his reckless actions in Shikkoku. He gathers his strategists, diplomats, generals and priests together in council - the youngest daimyo in the history of the Mori prepares to meet the greatest threat that the clan has ever faced.
At the moment, apart from Daimyo Sanemune's army in Bungo, pointed against the Yamana in neighbouring Buzen, the Mori army is scattered all over Shikkoku. Daimyo Sanemune orders his Shikkoku forces to reform and return to Honshu immediately. Mori Motoharu, now fully appreciating the extent of the trouble heading their way, obeys without question.
Naval battles - Western Seto Inland Sea
As the AMSA slowly mobilise their forces all over Honshu, their naval forces attempt to strike the first blow. Two fleets, Yamana and Hatakeyama, consisting mainly of bow kobayas, row confidently into Mori waters of the Western Seto Inland Sea attempting to blockade the port of Aki. Perhaps the Yamana and Hatakeyama have never faced a first rate naval power, but against the Mori fleets, which include such advanced vessels as O Ataka, heavy, sengoku and cannon bunes, bow kobayas will never do. The Mori navy destroys the AMSA fleets effortlessly.
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| Mori Line of Battle |
The Mori have always invested heavily in their navy and by now they have two major fleets and a medium reserve fleet for protecting the trade nodes. The navy's mission is to establish total dominance of regional waters and defeat any seaborne invasion by AMSA.
Reconquest of Buzen
Mori Sanemune maintained a powerful army in Bungo for the sole purpose of one day retaking Buzen. That day came in winter 1970, after the Yamana decided (or was forced to?) throw in their lot with the AMSA.
Mori Sanemune is prepared and marches immediately on Kokura Castle. The daimyo of the Yamana is there with many of his kinsmen and a sizable army. It appears that the AMSA caught the Yamana by surprise as much as it did the Mori or their diamyo would not have remained in Buzen surrounded by the Mori.
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| Mori at the battle of Buzen fields |
The Yamana sally out and are defeated on the frozen fields of Buzen in a fiercely fought contest. The Yamana daimyo and his kinsmen are killed and beheaded.
Although this is a long dreamed of victory, Sanemune wastes no time in celebrations, instead he immediately orders his army to prepare to cross over to Honshu and rejoin the rest of the Mori hosts concentrating there... but it will be many seasons before his army reaches the front lines, and much will have transpired before then.
Thwarted diplomacy
One diplomat suggested the idea of splitting the AMSA by paying off one of the clans to break the alliance. It would have to be one of the clans that least disliked the Mori, which would be the Hojo. Sanemune liked this idea and so secret overtures were made to the Hojo.
Sanemune was overjoyed when his diplomat reported back that the Hojo were prepared to break the alliance and even enter into a trade agreement for a price, but when he read the proposed terms he almost fell off his cushion - 60,000 koku. The Mori treasury by then had nearly a 100,000 koku, but income was severely diminished due to the loss of trading partners. Sanemune thought about this and decided that it was worth the price as the Hojo was one of the most powerful clans in Japan.
Thus the Hojo took the money and broke their alliance with the AMSA...for one season. In the next season, they were back in the folds of the Shogun.
"That was a waste of perfectly good koku," Mori Sanemune thought philosophically.
The Mori were clearly no match for the Shogun at diplomacy.
Mori war plans
By spring 1571, no AMSA armies have yet appeared on the borders of the Mori, although increased enemy agent activity have been detected... and neutralized.
With their mobilization largely complete (reinforcements are still coming in from Kyushu and Shikkoku by land and sea to the front), by spring 1571 the Mori have two armies ready to attack on the east and west coasts of Honshu. One army under the command of Kobayakawa Mototsura is positioned to attack the Yamana provinces along the east coast on the Bingo-Bitchu-Bizen axis.
Another army under the command of Mori Motohira, the daimyo's brother, is positioned to attack the Yamana provinces along the west coast on the Hoki-Inaba axis.
The Yamana provinces on the invasion paths appear to be minimally defended and are expected to be easy pickings. However, the Mori are not under any illusions that this war will be over quickly. Somewhere within that fog of war is a grand army of the AMSA host and an epic battle, or several, will be fought before the future of the Mori, and perhaps all of Japan will be decided.
What will the Kikkawa do?
As all the clans of Japan, former friends and trading partners, turn against the Mori, only the Kikkawa have remained faithful to their old allies, but for how long? It is perhaps only a question of when and not whether the Kikkawa will eventually bow to pressure and throw in their lot with AMSA.
Having a potential enemy in the rear as they push farther north is clearly not a good strategic situation to be in, but keeping an army behind to keep the Kikkawa in check will weaken their front. These questions worried the brain of Mori Sanemune.
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