Asian Glory: Rise of the New Ashikaga

Chapter Eight: Opportunism rules the day

Ok where was oh yeh I just grabbed Jotu and strangely the clan leader gives the other two provinces to vassals of mine. Strange. Then I tell I need more land as unhappy vassals of mine are plotting to take control of the Uesugi. He laughs in my face again and comments I have no Uesugi vassals so they can't take control of the Uesugi.



Did someone say Opportunism? I think someone did well his is likely going to be my best chance for independence. What's happened you say? Oh only 10+ clans attacking the Uesugi. I rather nicely could hold the balance of power between the two sides. This is my best shot at getting free I've ever had.



Oh it seems even when facing a number of powerful enemies the Uesugi clan leader still doesn't want to back down from me leaving. Lets see my eastern territories including those in Izu Region are likely to fall but I'm strong enough further west to capture enough lands to make up for that.



Well he's decided to attack me but still for the first time since the Onin war that horrific orange colour is on the map. Better raise the entire army.



Also There has been more delays in building a new Castle in one of my Provinces. Oh well right now I need money more than I need it to be finished quickly.



Then Doh I suffer a nasty defeat and lose 4000 men against a vastly superior Uesugi force. Exactly why I don't think I'll hold out in the east they have too many men in this area for me to beat unless I can move my western armies eastwards once I finish up in the west. I do take Shimakami and Otokini in the Centre around Kyoto but I needed assistance from allies to do it as I lack the manpower to assault. The fact I manage to kill nearly 2000 men in that battle is just luck.



The Uesugi beat me further west in the mountains but this time It's a Pyrrhic victory. Lossing 3000 to kill 13000 is a ratio I'll take every day even if I lose the battle. I may have won if reinforcements for the Uesugi hadn't turned up half way through. But still this means that they've as good as lost in this area and Oskai forces are moving in from the north Helping secure my foothold in the region.



Hopefully I'll be able to grab some land from this war before I'm able to get a peace deal off the Uesugi.

Loki100: Yes I may be winning but winning is not what I want to do. I need to consolidate my grasp rather than recklessly extend it. To attack too much will exhaust resources needed to attack later. To completely defeat the Uesugi will just result in a new coalition to oppose who ever benefits most from their collapse. With this doctrine withdrawing from the war makes most sense. Unfortunately for me timing works against me.

Chapter Nine: Consolidate what is held not conquer new lands.

Ahh the Joys of Independence. Yes that includes having your name on the map your colour on the map. Being able to raise the levies of your provinces. And having your vassals ask you for all kinds of titles. Unfortunately I don't have another Daimyo title to give away. Consolidating somewhat on the map will help with that.



I take a pile more provinces from the Uesugi, Sago, Kigahiza, Taka, Nose, Upara, Kizu, Shitara and Kuse. Unfortunatly at the same time I lose all my provinces in the Far east on the Peninsula beyond Izu Province to the larger Uesugi armies which dominate that region. Ultimately having decided their is no reason for me to keep fighting I make a white peace with the Uesugi.



Also I Hear messages from the far west of Japan about new finding. It appears that some people from a distant land called Europe have showed up with new weapons called Guns. It seems some of this information is begining to spread around the western half of Japan. It would be wise to gather this information. While It may be difficult or even highly expensive to build them ourselves it may be possible to buy some off the Europeans for some gold if we're Christian. (There's a province event which can fire if your Christian enough and the province has a Christian Church in it which allow you to buy guns for some gold. If doesn't fire that often unfortunately but it can let you get by without building a Gunsmith)



And as just to punish me for peacing out with the Uesugi several of his vassals break away and attack him as well. Now the Uesugi are well and truly doomed. Perhaps they saw him making peace as a sign of weakness and attacked.



Also to continue the Momentum of Expansion I attack the weak one province Saji Clan to prevent Ogasawani from gaining it's province. It is captured after a siege.



Also the Uesugi have entered a civil war. This may well save them as the rebelling side may win preventing the Uesugi being permanently annexed.



Also the Ashina one of the Break away clans from the Uesugi have also started a civil war. That may help the Uesugi but right now their Dead meat. Strangely the Civil war Uesugi renamed themselves Uesugi so look exactly the same of the Original Uesugi.



Oh And My clan Leader is dead and now I have a new leader. I'll have to give away some of his provinces first though.

Chapter Ten: Plots are a Clan Leader's Worst Enemy

Ok So Time Is passing nicely with the new Leader nothing going wrong and then Bang I get a Very nice event which allows me to pass Western Influences onto all my Vassals so they can build gunsmiths and Churches. For Me Christian is best as very easy gives me plenty of Honour and Levy reinforcement but Extra Money is always very good. And Anyway there are less Christian Clan Leaders so I'm more likely to be able to become the Top clan in Christianity giving me extra money.



Then I decide to attack the Imagawa. Why you may ask? Well simple there under attack from a clan to the North of me the Ogasawara and losing so I don't want to much of there lands to go to future enemies and there weak right now so I attack and take all of there Provinces except two which were taken by the Ogasawara. Oh well Good enough result even if it does mean one of my vassal now has more Provinces then the Limit he's allowed to own without penalties.



And Just as Everything was starting to look up the AI decides to give me a rather nasty Surprise in the form a Plot by Jinbo and Oskai against me. They may outnumber me but I've a major advantage while Oskai will send it's entire force against two Provinces of limited importance to Start with I'll have the Time to smash Jinbo's army and take their lands allowing me to then focus on Oskai who'll then be outnumbered hoepfully by my forces. Well If this goes badly I may find this AAR ending Earlier than Expected.

Kalliades: Well That's Great.

Well Sorry for the long delay. I've been distracted as usual. Also Thank Bornego His vote for me in the ACAs gave me all the motivation I needed to play and write a new update.

Chapter Eleven: The Jinbo Affair

Well we have been given even more bad news. Not only are rebel armies rising in our lands due to some vassals having taken on more lands than they can handle but the Knowledge of Guns has spread so much through out Japan that it is now considered common knowledge. Oh wow is us. If everyone knows no one has an advantage any more. But hopefully many Clan leaders will scorn this new technology and believe in the might of the old ways. Not us I'm telling you. We have already begun building Gunsmiths and training Men to use them in my Personal retinue.



Also My army arrives in Araki after taking Komi and wins the first in a series of Great battles to determine the fate of this Province as Jinbo armies constantly counter attack against my armies which try to storm the fort. I've also been wounded in a clash with roaming Bandits in the Passes of the Mountains in Central Japan. These fierce warriors melt away at the arrival of an army but a group tried there luck against a scouting party I was leading and managed to injure me before fleeing as my army arrived. They seemed exceptional good. Perhaps they were a Group of Ronin in the mountains rather than the normal bandits.



A second Great battle is fought and despite holding the field and killing many of the enemies we are now doomed if more return. Our men are too few and too tired to fight much longer. The choice is now simple flee or Die where we stand. I Choose to return to my lands to gather new recruits to strengthen the Army and Then I'll return. Annoyingly I'm pestered continuously by my vassals asking for daimyo titles I simple don't have. At this point I'm asked by a member of the court to help him with his Calligraphy and despite my skills he doesn't want me as a teacher but he's hopeless. Almost everything is wrong but still it could be worse. At least he's trying.



While I'm resting In Ako I'm informed of the Arrival of a Portuguese trade ship. My first Instinct is to ask if it has any guns on board. But sadly it does not. Just more mundane goods like Tobacco and Some Chinese goods picked up the way to Japan. Other goods must have been sold in China before they got here. Damm you Geography why Did you place China Closer to Europe than Japan. Regardless they asked for permission to set up a Trade post. They suggest that later ships may have guns and it could allow them to expand there operations in the area bringing in more wealth and easing regional trade. The amount of Gold I could gain from new taxes seemed Minimal but the Benefit to the local economy was huge. This easily makes Ako the richest Province in the area bringing in masses of wealth. I also sponser two sets of Rare cargo suggested to me. One set by the Dutch and another by the Portuguese. While the Dutch Cargo is seemingly unsellable when it arrives in it's port the Portuguese cargo on the other hand sells well but for somewhat less than expected. Still I know I can trust the Portuguese far more than I can trust the Dutch.



I return to the Lands of Jinbo and fight another Great battle against them. But I fail to hold the field. My men are forced to flee south but for the Jinbo it is far too late. There forces have been shattered and the Armies of my vassals are beginning to over run there lands. I take Araki once and they are able to force me out but I take it A second Time and then there days are numbered. My forces Personally Take Tonam , Imiza, Fukeshi and Suzu while vassal forces take the rest wiping the Jinbo off the Map. Now the Oskai who've taken my two northern Provinces must be dealt with. In the Interest of Expanding my Power I consider taking on the Might of the Ikko Ikki in the Northern Coast Line of Japan giving me a supply lane to Oskai Provinces. But that's a Big job. The Ikko Ikki are very Numerous but Crushing them would aid in Regional Stability. Still It must be considered.



A Note on this War

This War was annoying. To get to Jinbo lands required moving through a number of Low supply limit Provinces. There low supply limited as I have no bonus' boosting there supply limit. This meant only my retinue army would be able to deploy to face them. As when stationary in a province even with 5% attrition they would still slowly reinforce. My plan was to take a Province and Use it as a base to Secure the rest of the area. This worked but I took it far too slowly to be very useful to me. Notably after taking my northern Provinces the Oskai did nothing else to aid the Jinbo. Probably seeking to avoid attrition as well. I thinking of Using a Hyped up retinue army reinforced by Rohin in most of my wars now. The ability to reinforce in the field is far more useful than sheer weight of numbers. It'll also help delay hostile sieges in my provinces keeping the Levies there. In the End Period I did being to recruit gun units but I've too few right now to make a real difference. I may just remove my personal Retinue Infantry and cavalry and instead just use Rohin to provide them and keep more Slots open for Gun units.

SeanB: Not Inactive Just paused. And I'm very bad at getting round to doing things a lot of the time.

Chapter Twelve: The Ikko Ikki and a whiff of Gunpowder.

A new era is dawning for the Ashikaga Clan. We have begun launching attacks against the Powerful Ikko Ikki. However our attacks did not meet with much success and we were forced back initially. Then the court made a great decision. We would abandon the fairly traditional warfare we were currently engaging and instead replace all our old Samurai cavalry and Ashigaru infantry and instead replace them all with troops wielding most modern weapon in Japan the Tanegashima a new type of weapon based on weapons imported by the Portuguese. However these new weapons are hard to make so I ordered the building of more workshops to manufacture them. Old style infantry and cavalry was provided by Ronin units that have been recruited. This new army while taking some time to build up to strength upon completion goes into action against the Ikko Ikki's troops and in a hard fought battle is able to disorganize them to point that they scatter and flee. However our army took significant losses during the battle.



We then besiege the first fortress of the Ikko Ikki and after a time the fortress eventually falls into our hands. And having gathered many reinforcements replace the equally many losses we sustained against the first group we launched an attack again the forces defending their next fort and fought a second great battle. This was longer and harder than the first but in the end our many firearms spread much devastation among their ranks. Despite themselves having numerous firearms to fight against us they could not take the pounding from them. They scattered and fled as well but our forces were bloodied and our ranks few in number.



However now we had passed the lands of the Ikko Ikki and began attacking the Oskai lands. We faced a smallish detachment of their army and in a short weakly contested battle shattered the forces we were facing scattering all before us. But the hard work had only just begun. They had many more lands and much larger armies than any of our enemies to date. This war if it was to be won would be long and hard fought by both sides.



However all this strain has taken it's toll on me. I see a light in front of me and a lightness in my heart...... The old clan leader is dead. I am now the new leader of the All might Ashikaga clan and now I must continue this war which was started by the treachery of two enemies one of which has already been defeated but we must crush both. This war will create our dominance over all Japan. This will be a great turning point. Victory is near and soon we will be able to taste it's sweet fruits.



Warm news has reached our doors. While we were continuing the war in the north a number of large strange ships approached our shores. They claim to be from Portugal and bring us good tidings and have even offered to sell us more firearms to equip even more of our troops with them. While we have long finished equipping our existing forces with firearms we need to build up a reserve in case of disaster results in us losing all out firearms. But now we buy all the firearms they have and wish them well in futher trade.



Against the Oskai another great battle was fought. We struck hard and they slowly crumbled under the might of our forces. Volley after volley of fire from our many firearms tore huge holes in their ranks and soon they were in a state of utter disorder. However they were able with some difficulty escape from our forces with the cover of night and fled from us hoping to link up with a great many troops moving down from the North to engage us. I fear our forces will not be able to survive this mighty attack for long.