BATTLE OF HASUNOMICHI
The Battle of Hasunomichi took place in 2001 AT between the Kuribayashi Shogunate and the Clans Mido and Dasani. Taking place south-east of Seiiki City near the village of Hasunomichi, the battle resulted in a Shogunate victory and the consolidation of the territories of Ingen under the banner of the Shogunate.
PRELUDE
The Kuribayashi Shogunate had been aggressively expanding in central Ingen for several decades. The Clans Mido and Dasani, controlling the fertile midlands, formed an alliance of marriage in the summer of 2000 AT and resolved to attack the Shogunate, hoping to foil its growth and partition its territory between their two clans.
The two clans marshaled their forces and marched westwards. With over 40,000 soldiers between them, including matchlock trained ashigaru and elite samurai infantry and cavalry, they outnumbered the Shogunate forces by nearly two to one. The Shogunate possessed less advanced weaponry than the allied clans, who were at this point already trading with eastern powers for firearms, but the Shogunate did boast a large contingent of yumi equipped longbowmen. Rather than meet the enemy in open battle, Shogun Kaisigi Kuribayashi elected to fortify the hills around the town of Hasunomichi, which lay on the main road west towards Seiiki City. BATTLE
Leaving a small force of longbow ashigaru and heavy infantry to defend the town of Hasunomichi, the Shogunate cavalry repeatedly charged and withdrew in the face of the advancing coalition forces, drawing them on towards the ridge.
The Mido and Dasani infantry formed up to assault the Shogunate fortifications at Hasunomichi, but as they launched their first attack the Shogunate reserves revealed themselves on the northern and southern flanks of the ridge, loosing volleys of arrows downhill into the exposed wings of the coalition advance. The first coalition assault was driven back with heavy casualties, at which point Clan Dasani artillery was moved up to bombard the town and ridge. |
After this failed to drive the Shogunate from their positions, a second infantry assault was launched against the Shogunate's left wing on the ridge south of the town, with matchlock ashigaru in the vanguard. Although their firearms proved effective against the Shogunate infantry armour, their rate of fire was not sufficient to overwhelm the entrenched Shogunate archers and the allied infantry broke a second time, fleeing downhill pursued by Shogunate infantry.
The Shogunate counter-charge penetrated into the heart of the coalition lines, where they became bogged down in heavy hand-to-hand fighting. An allied cavalry charge inflicted heavy losses on the Shogunate infantry until a Shogunate cavalry charge arrived to even the balance. Lord Mido was killed in the fighting and the Mido forces began to retreat, followed shortly by the Dasani forces as the retreat turned into a rout. The Shogunate cavalry, exhausted, did not pursue the retreating forces and so the bulk of the allied army escaped unharmed, although Lord Dasani was surrounded on the battlefield and captured.
The Shogunate counter-charge penetrated into the heart of the coalition lines, where they became bogged down in heavy hand-to-hand fighting. An allied cavalry charge inflicted heavy losses on the Shogunate infantry until a Shogunate cavalry charge arrived to even the balance. Lord Mido was killed in the fighting and the Mido forces began to retreat, followed shortly by the Dasani forces as the retreat turned into a rout. The Shogunate cavalry, exhausted, did not pursue the retreating forces and so the bulk of the allied army escaped unharmed, although Lord Dasani was surrounded on the battlefield and captured.
AFTERMATH
More than eight thousand Ingenious soldiers had died on the battlefield, with many more wounded, but both armies were still relatively intact by the end of fighting. The death of Lord Mido and capture of Lord Dasani effectively ended the war and broke the determination of the two clans to resist. In a public ceremony, Lord Dasani was formally allowed to commit seppuku to erase his embarrassment at his military defeat. This magnanimous gesture helped to improve relations between the remaining members of the Dasani clan and the Shogunate. By autumn, both clans had sent formal emissaries to the Shogunate offering to swear loyalty to the Shogun as a feudal overlord.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
With the two most powerful clans in the country aligning themselves with the Shogunate. Shogun Kaisigi Kuribayashi was now unrivalled in terms of military, political and economic power. Within the next ten years, almost all of the territories of the former Jade Empire had fallen under the sway of the Shogunate, paving the way for the restoration of the Jade Empire of Ingen and the creation of the Second Jade Dynasty more than four centuries later.