Preparations For Battle
When Nobunaga died, Hideyoshi was busy fighting the Mōri clan. After betraying and defeating Nobunaga at Honnō-ji, Mitsuhide sent a letter to the Mōri. The letter contained a request for an alliance to crush Hideyoshi, but the letter's messenger was captured by Hideyoshi's forces and the plot was revealed.
Upon hearing the news that Nobunaga had been killed, and that Akechi Mitsuhide had taken command of his possessions, Toyotomi Hideyoshi immediately negotiated a peace treaty with the Mōri, remaining careful to keep Nobunaga's death a secret. Once the treaty was secured, he then led his troops on a forced march towards Kyoto, averaging 30 to 40 km a day.
Akechi Mitsuhide controlled two castles (Shōryūji and Yodo) in the Yamazaki region. Due to his lack of men for the impending battle with Hideyoshi, he attempted to win the hearts of the people in that region in order to gain more troops. However, his appeals to Hosokawa Fujitaka were fruitless, and so he was unable to add significant strength to his forces.
Less than two weeks after Mitsuhide's betrayal, Hideyoshi's army finally arrived and attacked Mitsuhide's inferior forces at Yamazaki. Learning of the size of Hideyoshi's army and not wanting to be caught inside a castle with his force divided, Mitsuhide resolved to prepare for battle somewhere to the south. Due to its position between a river and a mountain, Yamazaki provided Mitsuhide with choke points that could ease the number of enemies his forces would have to face at any one time.
Meanwhile, Hideyoshi decided that a wooded area called Tennōzan, just outside the town of Yamazaki, was key to strategic control of the road to Kyoto. He sent a detachment under Nakagawa Kiyohide to secure this area, while he led the majority of the army to Yamazaki himself. His forces took over the mountain and gained a significant advantage.
Mitsuhide arranged his army behind a small river (the Enmyōji-gawa), which provided an excellent defensive position. That night, Hideyoshi's men sent a number of ninja into the Mitsuhide camp, setting fire to buildings and generally causing fear and confusion.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Yamazaki
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