Matsu Sakura (I) TCG

Matsu Sakura was a general of the Lion Clan in the nith century. Sakura was headstrong and prideful. Fields of Victory, p. 42 Her bodyguard was Matsu Sugi, and her liflong companions were the twins Matsu Nori and Matsu Yui. Blood of the Lioness, pp. 12-13 Her forces were known as the Blood of the Lioness. Blood of the Lioness, p. 21
== Family ==
Sakura was a tall, muscular woman, whose eyes missed nothing. Her parents were both Matsu, but she trained at the Akodo War College Blood of the Lioness, p. 16 and married to Matsu Hisoka. Blood of the Lioness, p. 10
== Battle of Snow Plain ==
In the year 820, the Lion Clan realized that nearly half of its lands had just been given to the returned Unicorn Clan. The Champion of the Lion Ikoma Kojima pressed his claim to many of the outlying towns and villages the Emperor had assigned to the Unicorn. He ordered his most skilled general, Matsu Sakura, to marshal an army to strike for the Snow Plain, one of many regions the Lion had governed in the centuries since the Ki-Rin Clan left. The Unicorn commanding the defenders, Shinjo Kamu, struck back at the Lion army with a succession of small cavalry raids. By the middle of the autumn, it seemed that Sakura would be fully in possession of the Snow Plain, but in the Battle of Snow Plain a large Unicorn infantry force produced to the Lion ever-mounting losses. Eventually, Sakura realized she might win the battle, but lacked sufficient force to reliably hold the Snow Plain for her clan. The battle ended in a tactical stalemate, with Lion facing a winter on the plain without actually having secured it. Thanks to intense lobbying from the Crane, who considered the Unicorn their allies, the Emperor quietly issued a decree: the Lion would surrender the Snow Plain to the Unicorn in perpetuity, while in return, the Unicorn would give most of the region's food production to the Lion Clan for a period of ten years. Kamu challenged Sakura to a duel to the death, but a trusted advisor took her place, because her sword arm was damaged. Blood of the Lioness, p. 27
== See also ==
* Matsu Sakura/Meta
Category:Lion Clan Members (TCG)