Mayabashi castle, 1592, Castle lord: Sanada Nobuyuki.
(Most following generals are made up)
It's been 6 months since Sanada Yukimura defected.
In those months alot has changed, Mayabashi was getting besieged by Hōjō Ujikatsu while Ujinobu reorganized the clan and reformed the political system. After 6 months of work Ujinobu came to aid his brother in the siege.
"Shigesato, where are we right now?" Ujinobu asked.
"We are about 5 miles away from Mayabashi." Adachi Shigesato said.
Adachi Shigesato is one of the 3 major generals of the Hōjō together with Shichijo Nobushige and Fujiwara (no) Yorihide.
Shigesato was originally a Nagano retainer but after the death of Nagano Narimasa he defected with only 16 years to the Hōjō and was favored by Ujiyasu and Ujinobu.
Fujiwara Yorihide is the heir to the main branch of the Fujiwara and the diplomat of the Hōjō.
Nobushige is the strategist and was originally a peasent but like Oda Nobunaga, Ujinobu promoted by skill not prestige.
Together they formed the Hōjō no shinshō.
"My lord, what do you think we will await at Mayabashi?" Yorihide asked.
"Yorihide, you are 61, you know what awaits us." Ujinobu answered.
"Indeed my lord, but in the last years I learned so much new about sieges and battles than I did in 40 years." Yorihide said.
"That is pretty impressive." Yukimura added.
"How about you? Yukimura, what will you do if your brother doesn't surrender?" Ujinobu asked.
"I will fight for you, my lord." Yukimura stated.
"But why? Is your loyalty to your lord greater than the one to your brother and father?" Ujinobu asked.
"You, my lord, have the potential to unify these warring states. No one else except maybe Tokugawa Ieyasu has this potential but you have beaten Takeda Shingen, Satake Yoshishige and even Toyotomi Hideyoshi." Yukimura said.
"I have but Odawara was just sitting around, Takeda Shingen was just tactics and Satake Yoshishige just uses brute force instead of strategy." Ujinobu said.
"Maybe but you are different, you are a beloved leader, a brave warrior and a brilliant tactician." Yukimura said.
"You are too kind, Yukimura." Ujinobu said.
"We have arrived!" Shigesato announced.
"Finally! Ujikatsu, I have arrived!" Ujinobu shouted.
They went up to the commander's tent to meet Ujikatsu.
"Brother! You have finally arrived!" Ujikatsu said.
"Yeah, I have 8.500 men with me and 20 cannons, this should help, right?" Ujinobu said.
"You have no idea what kind of nightmare this castle is." Ujikatsu said.
"What? It's that bad?" Ujinobu asked.
"They have already shot 670 men, and destroyed half of our supply lines." Ujikatsu said.
"Then let's bombard this damn castle." Ujinobu said.
"Finally, progress." Ujikatsu said.
"Men! Prepare the mortars and cannons! Burn this castle to the ground!" Ujinobu yelled.
And soon enough Mayabashi was put under heavy artillery fire.
After days of bombarding the castle still didn't surrender.
"Those damn fools!" Ujinobu yelled and cut his table in half with his Katana.
"Ujinobu, calm down!" Ujikatsu said.
"I'm sorry, I just want to annihilate the Sanada quickly and after that return to reclaim Shimosa from those treacherous Satake." Ujinobu explained.
"But brother, your wife's father is Satake Yoshishige." Ujikatsu said.
Ujinobu's wife is Satake Fumiko or better known in Kantō as Sāhime, both got married due to a arranged marriage by Hōjō Ujiyasu and Satake Yoshishige to put an end to their rivalry. This worked up until 1569 when Odawara was besieged a 2nd time by Takeda Shingen, the alliance broke. But Sāhime and Ujinobu still remained married because love did form between both, although their marriage was childfree, Ujinobu refused to adopt or get a concubine. (This is fictional)
"It doean't matter now, we are in Kozuke, not Shimosa." Ujinobu said.
"Brother, I have an idea." Ujimasa said.
"And that would be?" Ujinobu asked as he put his Katana away.
"Nobuyuki is a Sanada and what does the Sanada clan tend to do after winning a siege?" Ujimasa said.
"Pursue the enemy." Ujikuni added.
"If I understood it right, your plan is to lure the Sanada out and fight them on a battlefield?" Ujinobu asked.
"Yukimura, can you help us with luring your brother out? If you don't want to fight in the battle, I can deploy you to Edo." Ujinobu said.
"No, I will lure my brother out if it means victory." Yukimura stated.
"And how so?" Ujiteru asked.
"We burn the citadel with flame arrows then they'll have to flee after that we line up gunners to shoot them and come from the sides with cavalry." Yukimura explained.
"Now that's a plan I would expect from Sanada Masayuki's son!" Ujinobu said cheerfully.
"Brother, I will ready the archers and gunners." Ujikuni said.
"Good, I will lead the left cavalry force and Yukimura the right." Ujinobu said.
"What?! Brother! What if you die there?" Ujiteru asked panicked.
"Then tell Fumiko I love her." Ujinobu said short and went out of the tent to organize the ambush.
3 hours later
Both cavalry wings have hid themself in the sorrounding forest, waiting for the attack to begin.
"There they are!" A soldier said and pointed at the fleeing soldiers getting in formation after they noticed the gunners.
"Men of Hōjō! I am honored to be fighting with you! Hōjō uji banzai!" Ujinobu yelled.
Both cavalry wings charged into the sides of the Sanada army. The unexpecting soldiers panicked when they were getting shot from the front, attacked from both sides and no way of fleeing because Mayabashi was burning to the ground.
"Kill them all!" Ujinobu cried and got off his horse, killing on enemy with his Yari.
Ujinobu killed many enemys before he noticed Sanada Nobuyuki and Sanada Yukimura standing across from eachother.
"Nobushige?" Nobuyuki asked.
"I am now known as Yukimura." Yukimura answered.
"You treacherous bastard!" Nobuyuki screamed and charged towards his brother.
"Join lord Ujinobu and you will be spared." Yukimura said while blocking the attack.
"Never! You left me, father and your daughter behind to serve this unrightful Daimyo!" Nobuyuki said and attacked Yukimura again.
"He will be the fourth unfier, trust me Nobuyuki." Yukimura said.
"Never, Die Nobushige!" Nobuyuki cried.
Nobuyuki tried to kill Yukimura, but Yukimura dodged and buried his spear in Nobuyuki's throat.
"Forgive me brother." Yukimura said as he held his dying brother in his hands.
After 2 hours the Sanada army collapsed because of Sanada Nobuyuki's death and their disadvantage in this battle.
"We have won!" Ujinobu cried.
Cheers erupted from the massive army and the the camp.
"Yukimura, I am sorry for your loss." Ujinobu said.
"It's no problem, I will send his body back to Ueda. It pains me to not attend his funeral." Yukimura said.
"I can request a truce, so you can." Ujinobu said.
"No, It's alright." Yukimura said.
"I have to say, the valor of these soldiers is magnificent." Ujinobu stated.
"What now, brother. Do we march against Ueda? Or Numata?" Ujiteru asked.
"No, I will send a messanger to Ueda, requesting their surrender." Ujinobu said.
"Do you think that they'll accept?" Ujiteru asked.
"Yes, Masayuki has no heir, no army, no generals to defend Numata and then Ueda will burn if he rejects or the Tokugawa use the chance to besiege Ueda a second time." Ujinobu explained.
"Ok, what now?" Ujiteru asked.
"Now! We go to Odawara and celebrate!" Ujinobu said.
The now sadly only 15.000 men strong army instead of 30.000 besieging Mayabashi marched towards Sagami to celebrate this glorious victory.
Odawara, 1592
Three months after Mayabashi the Sanada clan accepted the proposal of Ujinobu. The Sanada clan is annihilated and all generals are free to choose if they want to serve the Hōjō. Now, to seal the deal. Sanada Masayuki came to Odawara.
"Lord Ujinobu, Sanada Masayuki has arrived." Nobushige said.
"Bring him in." Ujinobu said.
A man ptobably in his late 50s came in wearing clothes you only wear at the imperial court.
"Sanada Masayuki, the cunning fox of Shinshū, it's a pleasure to meet you." Ujinobu said.
"The pleasure is on my side, I suppose you know why I came?" Masayuki said.
"To submit, I hope." Ujinobu said.
"Yes, but what about my retainers?" Masayuki asked.
"They are free to retire or serve the Hōjō clan." Ujinobu answered.
"Ok, I got one more question, who killed my son?"
Yukimura stepped closer, trying to say something but Ujinobu stopped him.
"I don't know, he most likely got shot, I am really sorry." Ujinobu said.
"Thank you for telling me, I will await your armys to take over Ueda and Numata." Masayuki said and left the room.