Ashikaga Norikatsu sat quietly in the center of the room, with his eyes closed and his mind clear. His focus was on the developments over the past few years and their impact on the present. He was the distant relative of the Ashikaga Shogun line, which over their reign were nothing more than puppets, with someone else behind the scenes pulling at their strings. Ashikaga Norikatsu was not of this breed, nor was his father, or his father, they were not a family to be toyed with or pushed around. They were of the true Samurai breed, nothing was as important that loyalty, honor, and discipline. As a samurai it was his duty to spend a part of each day in deep meditation, his thoughts on his responsibilities, his enemies, and his death. For a samurai, death was to be held in the regard that death would come at anytime. One should be prepared to face his own death, when that time came, with dignity and honor. But, today Ashikaga Norikatsu did not focus his mediation on his own death, but on the death and undoing of his enemies who moved, even now, against him.

To the south and east, Hojo Soun, the Diaymo of three provinces, Izu, Sagami, and Kazusa was marshalling his forces to come against him. Their power in the Kanto was almost unquestionable. Currently it was winter and the fighting would be hindered by the weather, so now was the time to prepare, investigate, and gather information. It was possible though that Hojo would ignore the winter and advance, that would not be uncommon. Either way, soon the war would come to his doorstep, and he would answer it, with his sword drawn…….



TROOPS:
Ahikaga Norikatsu has ordered that an army be raised and assembled in the capitol of Edo.
-6,000 mounted samurai (24,000koku)
-4,000 mounted warriors (12,00koku)
-20,000 foot samurai (40,000koku)
-25,000 spearmen (25,000koku)
-8,000 archers (8,000koku) total: 109,000 koku
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ORDERS:
-Border forts to be built along the bordering hostile territories.
-20 Kobaya are to be built in a coastal town, construction to begin immediately.
-Horseback Scouts are to be organized immediately.

OCC: I would like an update as to when these forces would be come readily available to me, especially the scouts. Thank you.