Stories of the Japanese 00751 [Late Kamakura Period] The Battle of Shimo-Akasaka Castle: The Kusunoki Army's Ingenious Strategy

We have been looking at the movements around Emperor Go-Daigo, but let us now turn our attention to the movements of Kusunoki Masashige.
Going back in time a little, on September 11, 1331 (Genko 1 / Gentoku 3), Kusunoki Masashige raised an army at Shimo-Akasaka Castle (Chihayaakasaka Village, Osaka Prefecture). This was an event that occurred before Mount Kasagi had fallen.
The Shogunate side dispatched Osaragi Sada-nao to begin the attack on Shimo-Akasaka Castle. Furthermore, many of the troops sent from Kamakura to attack Kasagi ended up participating in the siege of Shimo-Akasaka Castle upon receiving news that Kasagi had fallen.
As a result, the Shogunate's forces swelled to 300,000 horsemen. However, since this is a figure recorded in the 'Taiheiki', it is likely an exaggeration.
The Shogunate forces saw Shimo-Akasaka Castle and, calling it a small castle, underestimated it,
thinking, "It will fall immediately."
This was because the castle's moat was quite shallow and the walls were only a single layer.
The Shogunate forces immediately launched an all-out attack, but as they entered the moat, arrows were fired in unison not only from the castle but also from the nearby mountains, resulting in over a thousand casualties. The Kusunoki forces had used the castle as a decoy and had hidden many troops in the nearby mountains.
Osaragi Sada-nao reconsidered, thinking, "I was careless. Let us establish a military headquarters and engage in a proper battle," and decided to rest at the camp for a while. However, while they were off guard, Kusunoki Masasue (?-1336) and Wada Masato launched a surprise attack with 300 horsemen, causing massive damage to the Shogunate forces. Kusunoki Masasue was Masashige's younger brother.
The reason the Shogunate forces, despite being a large army, were defeated by a surprise attack from only 300 soldiers was their lack of familiarity with the surrounding geography. Not only were they attacked from unpredictable directions, but they also did not know which way the enemy soldiers had fled.
Osaragi Sada-nao decided to grasp the surrounding geography and clear the grass to improve visibility before attacking. However, the warriors who had had their comrades killed by the Kusunoki army's surprise attack were furious and began attacking the castle on their own without any preparation.
However, this was exactly what the genius strategist Kusunoki Masashige had intended. From here on, the Kusunoki army of only a few hundred would go on to trample the Shogunate army of hundreds of thousands as they pleased. Although this is a story of questionable authenticity, it is the most interesting part of the war chronicle 'Taiheiki', so I will introduce it as it is.