Assassin's Creed: Tumult of the Sengoku Period
Chapter 25 of my Assassin's Creed story, enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Assassin's Creed or the characters of this story except OCs.
Chapter 25: Siege of Odawara Castle
Following their successful siege at Oshi Castle the Toyotomi army surrounded Odawara, the last stronghold of the Hojo clan. The fifty-two year old Hojo Ujimasa and his twenty-nine year old son Ujinao were the direct successors to Ujiyasu, Ujimasa being his eldest son and Ujinao being Ujimasa's son. The other members of the Hojo family, Ujimasa's brothers and cousins, swore absolute fealty to them and vowed to hold out to the last to defend the castle. The defenses of the castle were rock solid and they had plenty of supplies, therefore they shut up the castle and garrisoned the walls with arquebuses and cannons. The Toyotomi army had the entire castle surrounded and escape was impossible. Hideyoshi knew his only hope was a swift battle otherwise the Hojo would refuse to leave their castle, therefore he immediately ordered his men to attack. The signal went out and all the armies charged. The Hojo immediately responded with a volley of shots from the guns and cannons, they also used old fashioned archery to sustain and powerful blow and to damage the attackers. Hideyoshi quickly noticed the damage being done and had all his men called back.
"So, we can't attack them head on," Hideyoshi mused to himself, Mitsunari nodded "It seems that way, what do you propose, Hideyoshi-sama?"
Hideyoshi thought for a moment and then made up his mind, "Starve them out, we'll stay here, out of range but still keeping them trapped inside. Send to all area under my control, let my men bring their wives, concubines and any form of entertainment they wish to be brought here. We might as well have some fun while we wait."
These orders were fulfilled and the long siege began.
So it was that the days passed and the Toyotomi army had fun with their wives and concubines, all the while watching entertainment being provided by Geisha, fire-eaters, musicians, acrobats and jugglers. A few Noh plays were performed and all were kept amused. However the Hojo still had ample food supplies and refused to let down their guard. Finally Ii Naomasa went to Ieyasu to present a plan.
"My Lord, we cannot keep this up forever, I have several good men with me, we are expert at fighting both on horse and on foots." He explained, "I request permission to lead these men tonight to try and tunnel under the walls, then we can open the gates from within and the entire army can then swallow Odawara whole."
Ieyasu pondered for a moment and then took the idea to Hideyoshi who approved of it. So that night Naomasa led his men to the castle walls and they began to tunnel under the castle. However they found their attempts to be futile as the only possible point they could dig up from was blocked with rocks which fell in and killed several of the diggers and wounded Naomasa. They were forced to retreat before they were attacked and still Odawara castle stood. Ieyasu went to visit his injured retainer.
"Ieyasu-sama, forgive me."
Ieyasu shook his head, "There is nothing to forgive Naomasa, rest and recover from your injuries, we'll have to come up with another way."
The failure was reported to Hideyoshi who took with good humour and allowed the siege to continue.
The Assassins were uncertain about what their enemies were doing so, the night following the failed attack, Toranaga crept into Kanbei's tent while he was out talking to Hideyoshi. He quickly grabbed some letters that had been exchanged with the other Templars and memorized their contents before escaping. He narrowly avoided Kanbei as he returned. He gathered his Assassin's and prepared to inform them of what he had discovered.
"My fellow Assassins' I have managed to find important information regarding the Templars plans."
The others listened intently.
"As it stands we currently have nothing to fear…They know that Ieyasu-sama harbours us, but they don't plan on doing anything about it…until Hideyoshi dies."
This surprised the others, Toranaga nodded.
"Yes," He explained, "Hideyoshi is our Lord's lifeline, we must be prepared however, from the moment Hideyoshi dies the Templars will start moving against Ieyasu-sama."
Shortly after the meeting Toranaga accompanied Ieyasu to meet with Hideyoshi who had something to discuss, Mitsunari and Sakon were also present.
"Ieyasu, I'd like your opinion on something." Hideyoshi stated, "I've received a letter that was fired over the wall, it is from a Hojo retainer who says he wishes to defect, he plans to open up the gates and let us in, should we trust him?"
Ieyasu and Toranaga shared a look before Ieyasu replied.
"It is inadvisable to trust him since he could easily be luring us into a trap. I suggest we send a small group to wait, should he open the gates for them then the men we hide in ambush can also join the attack. If it is a trick, our ambush unit can rescue our comrades."
"You seem confident this will work." Mitsunari snapped, Sakon smirked at his companions hot-headedness before asking, "Well Ieyasu, are you sure this plan will work?"
Ieyasu nodded and Hideyoshi agreed to try. The result was catastrophic for the traitor. He did indeed keep his promise but was found out quickly and ended up being killed before any help could reach him, so the Toyotomi returned to their waiting game.
The siege had been going on a long time and Hideyoshi was getting tired.
"Okay, this is getting ridiculous, we're going to starve them out, but we have to make sure we don't deplete our own supplies in the process."
There were a few murmurs as others tried to come up with plans but Hideyoshi already had one.
"Ieyasu, I believe your Ninjas can help us here." Ieyasu nodded and listened, "Do you think they could find some way to sneak into the enemy storehouses and render them useless?"
Ieyasu looked at Toranaga who nodded.
"Very well then, we shall not fail you," Ieyasu replied, Hideyoshi sighed, "I hope not."
So Toranaga led a unit of Assassins who, with their grappling hooks scaled the walls and took their positions near each storehouse. They watched carefully and when the enemies dropped their guard they were killed. They then got to work and soon, with the use of a few bombs the storehouses were in flames and the Assassins back at the Tokugawa main camp. By the following day the Hojo food supplies were depleted and it wasn't long after that their surrender came.
Following their surrender Ujimasa, Ujinao and all their family members were forced to commit Seppuku. Odawara castle was rebuilt and the people's fears laid to rest. Ieyasu was granted the Kanto domain as his reward for his efforts. He accepted gratefully and made the city of Edo his base of operations. The Assassins' were still on guard however as Hideyoshi's life was the only thing keeping the Templars from acting openly. That didn't mean they wouldn't act at all however. The war to unify Japan was over, but the war in the shadows continued and the first target was Fuma Kotaro.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.