Yamazaki (Level 15)

Hideyoshi Hashiba turns his army toward Yamazaki, seeking revenge for his lord, Nobunaga Oda. Driven to defeat Mitsuhide, Aoi and Inugami join him.

## Level Introduction

Finally revealing his hidden powers, Mitsuhide Akechi turns against his former lord, Nobunaga Oda. Amid the flames of the burning Honnoji Temple, Nobunaga takes his own life. Upon hearing the news, Hideyoshi Hashiba marshals his forces and heads for Yamazaki to deal with Mitsuhide…

## Walkthrough

**First task:** Reach 2000 Earth Force within the time limit!

You will have a very short time to build as many pillars as possible in areas of high Earth Force. As soon as you gain control of Inugami, activate the lead function and get to the group of soldiers closest to you, there are a few spots of high earth force near them. Use bow pillars here as they will come in handy shortly. Picking up more soldier units as you go, run west along your front lines, placing pillars in areas of high earth force as you go. The area in front of the westernmost defence is riddled with earth force so drop lots of pillars for your following soldiers to build. If you've moved quickly enough, you should manage to attain 2000 earth force. If not, restart the level and try a new technique unless you are not concerned about completing all tasks.

**Second task:** Open a path and support the cavalry!

Gather up all available troops including cavalry, and start to head out through the central slope towards the Demon army. Stay at the head of your men and clear the attacking Demons as you go, building life and bow pillars as you progress. Make your way for the area indicated on your mini-map and try to keep east. A group of Demons will continually spawn in the centre-east area of the map so make sure pillars are built here to keep them at bay. When your cavalry reach the green arrow on the mini-map this task will be complete.

**Third task:** Stop the Giant Demons from attacking base camp!

A horde of Demons and Giant Demons will appear in the south. Take Inugami straight there are defeat the Giant Demons before working on the lesser Demons.

**Fourth task:** Smash Blood Crystals and reduce Demon numbers!

Quickly remove all Demons that are attacking your remaining fort defences on the west side. Then begin clearing a path through the remaining Demons along the west side of the map, leading your troops as you go. When you eventually reach the blood crystal, you will need to take out a Giant Demon. Build multiple fire and life pillars and use Inugami to defend your troops as they take down the crystal.

Once this is done, another crystal will appear and you will be swarmed by Spider Demons. It is time to abandon the slow progress method of advancing your troops and have Inugami destroy this spider horde solo. Protecting your troops is priority. Once your have taken out a majority of the large spiders, keep leading your troops toward the blood crystal. You will not need your full remaining army. In fact this is not recommended as you only really need one unit to reach the crystal. For once you can leave your men at the crystal without fear of them being attacked. Instead you need to focus on killing the Demons that spawn further to the west. While you do this, your troops will whittle down the crystals health until it is destroyed. You can also use this opportunity to take down any non-respawning Demons left.

## Plot

With Mitsuhide’s betrayal, Aoi realises that the Demons and their aura of evil can sway the hearts of men. She concludes that if more powerful minds fall to the Demon spell, the chaos in the realm will spread beyond mortal hands. With this in mind, she and Inugami head out to stop Mitsuhide.
Hideyoshi’s army, along with Inugami and Aoi, stand against Mitsuhide’s colossal Demon army. As the Demon soldiers break through the army’s fort defences, Inugami begins to cut a path through swathes of the enemies, clearing the way for the main force. However, as the ally cavalry advance, the base camp is flanked by a new wave of Demons. Inugami rushes back to aid in the fight, bringing down the two leading Giant Demons.
Through the demonic army, the group spots a giant blood crystal, and plan to destroy it to reduce the enemy numbers. Slowly advancing with Inugami at their head, the Hideyoshi infantry reach the blood crystal and destroy it. With the number of Demons finally starting to dwindle, Aoi spots a final blood crystal, and the army advance towards it. With its destruction, the Demons are no longer able to spawn and the battle is won.
With the Demon army defeated, Mitsuhide appears on the battlefield before Aoi and Inugami. He tries to appeal to Aoi, explaining how the Demons can be used to end the chaos in the land. Aoi remains totally disbelieving, telling Mitsuhide that he only spreads further chaos, and that he must be stopped. Defiant, Mitsuhide tells Aoi that she will never be able to stop him, and departs for Azuchi Castle.

## True History

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 news that Nobunaga had been killed, and that Mitsuhide had taken command of his possessions, 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 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 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. That night, Hideyoshi's men sent a number of ninja into the Mitsuhide camp, setting fire to buildings and generally causing fear and confusion.
On the following morning, the main fighting began and Hideyoshi launched the right wing of his forces across the river, and into Mitsuhide's front lines. They made some progress, and were soon joined by the left wing, with support from atop Mount Tennōzan. The majority of Mitsuhide's men fled, with the exception of the 200 men, who charged and were destroyed by Hideyoshi's larger force.
Soon, panic set in among the Akechi army, and Hideyoshi's army chased them back to Shōryūji. Mitsuhide himself fled much further, to the town of Ogurusu, where he was captured by bandits and killed. Mitsuhide is rumored to have been killed by a peasant warrior with a bamboo spear by the name of Chōbei Nakamura.
Hideyoshi used this victory as a stepping-stone to gain control over Nobunaga's former territories and eventually all of Japan.