Battle of Fukuoka
From Warpedia
Battle of Fukuoka (Battle of Bun'ei) | |||||||||||||||||
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From top to bottom: in-game portrait for the battle; Artwork of Japanese samurai defending a stone barrier at Hakata Bay against a Mongol attack; location of the battle (represented by the red dot). | |||||||||||||||||
Date: |
20 November 1274 | ||||||||||||||||
Location: |
Hakata Bay / Chikuzen Province / Kyushu / Japan | ||||||||||||||||
Historical result: |
Japanese victory
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Objectives: |
Victory conditions:
Defeat conditions:
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Historical analogue: |
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The Battle of Fukuoka (presented as Fukuoka in-game and known historically as the First Battle of Hakata Bay and the Battle of Bun'ei) is an historical battle in Shogun: Total War added with the Mongol Invasion expansion. The battle is a re-enactment of a battle fought during the first Mongol invasion of Japan between Yuan China with its Korean vassals and the Kamakura shogunate of Japan at Hakata Bay in Chikuzen Province. Following a string of invasions of Korea between 1231 and 1281 that led to the Kingdom of Goryeo's eventual capitulation and vassalization by the Mongol Empire, Kublai Khan, who became Khan of the Empire in 1260 (although this was unrecognized by the Mongols in the west and by this point the Mongol Empire had been divided into four, effectively independently operating successor states, one of which was Yuan China in which Kublai was sovereign), set his sights on Japan and sent a letter to the Emperor through emissaries demanding tribute and vassalization. The first and second sets of emissaries sent were met with and ultimately rejected, while all ensuing diplomatic outreach attempts were spurned by Japan and refused permission to land: while the Imperial government of Japan wanted to compromise, they held no power to force the issue, and the shogunate refused to negotiate with the Mongols.
With Japan refusing vassalization, Kublai Khan decided to invade and conquer the country through military force, and began preparations to assemble a massive invasion force that was ready by 1274, but was delayed for an additional three months before finally departing with a 15,000 strong force consisting of Mongol, Han Chinese and Jurchen troops, as well as 6 to 8,000 Korean troops and 7,000 Korean sailors, embarking on a fleet of 3,500 ships. Kublai's plan was to invade and conquer the islands of Tsushima and Iki first, before landing at Hakata Bay. On 4 November 1274, the first Mongol invasion forces arrived and began landing on Tsushima island, and a force of 8,000 troops of the initial Mongol invasion force defeated the Tsushima garrison and slaughtered the inhabitants before securing the island. On 13 November the invasion fleet departed Tsushima and attacked Iki island, where 100 samurai put up a spirted defense before falling back to the island's castle, where they were surrounded and eventually killed. The garrison's commander was able to dispatch a ship to escape to Hakata Bay to inform the island of Iki's defeat, but his daughter, also sent with the ship to escape, was killed when a passing Mongol fleet loosed arrows at the escaping ship. The Mongols once again slaughtered the inhabitants and once again departed soon after, finally arriving at Hakata Bay by 19 November. By then the Japanese had built fortifications and mobilized thousands of warriors in preparation for the Mongol landing: finally, on 20 November, the Battle of Bun'ei began: with their fleet anchored in the bay, the first Mongol troops landed at Hakata, quickly overrunning the town but were engaged by a contingent of samurai soon after. The samurai fought long and hard, seemingly outmatched by the superior firepower and tactics of the Mongols, who utilized a form of early rocket artillery, had infantry that employed phalanx-like tactics and loosed arrows into the ranks of attacking samurai. Despite this, the Japanese stubbornly held on, and were able to inflict heavy casualties on the Yuan invaders. Despite winning numerous early engagements, the Mongols did not pursue the Japanese back to their defenses at Dazaifu, some sources citing lack of ammunition while modern historians believe it was unfamiliarity with the terrain and the fear of Japanese reinforcements nearby. At Torikai-Gata a good portion of the Mongol army was engaged by a large samurai force and defeated, losing 3,500 men.
Exhausted by this defeat, the Yuan army began to withdraw back to their ships in the bay, a process that took over a day: seeing this, the Japanese launched night raids on the retreating Mongol force, inflicting further casualties. The Korean commander, Hong Dagu, finally gave the order for the fleet to weigh anchor and return to China, abandoning the invasion. A great typhoon hit the Mongol fleet as they were withdrawing from the bay, with dozens of ships lost as they were sunk or dashed against the rocks, sundering and tearing them apart. As the fleet made its way back home, hundreds more ships were lost in the storm, with a small portion of it surviving to return to China. Of the 30,000 troops of the Mongol invasion force, 13,500 would never return, nearly half the invasion force. What had begun as a stalemate at Hakata Bay had turned into a decisive Japanese victory, a sudden storm (considered a divine wind by the Japanese victors) sigle-handedly annihilating the Mongol fleet. The invasion was considered a catastrophic disaster for the Mongols, but it would not stop Kublai from making another attempt in 1281, which also failed, and he would have made a third attempt if not for his death in 1294. The Mongols would never again attempt to conquer Japan.
The player assumes control of the Mongols. The map is filled with hills and a forest along the northern edge, with the sea to the south and the Mongol invasion fleet anchored nearby. The Mongol army is deployed at the base of a hill near the shoreline, while the Japanese army is deployed in the forest, largely hidden. The player's objective is to assault the Japanese positions in the forest and destroy or rout them from the field, while still having units on their own on the map. The player is defeated if their army is destroyed or routed, or if Bavjeitu is killed.