with the force concentrated in vital dazaifu and hirotsugu's connections in the capital, this situation posed a serious threat to the central government. shōmu, who also might have been worried about a possible involvement of silla, responded by assigning ono no azumabito as general over a suppression army of 17,000 men taken from eastern and western japan except for kyushu — the largest royal army of the 8th century. as draftees had been released a year before due to the epidemics, it took another month before they could be mustered. on 29 september the government sends a reconnaissance team of 24 native hayato. forces on either side consisted of both infantry and mounted soldiers and were under local command of district magistrates. according to william wayne farris, in 8th century japan, the horsemen played a decisive role in the strength of an army. before any battle, in this conflict, a large part of the government troops would be recruited from western honshu where many good mounted archers were located, giving them a decisive advantage over hirotsugu who was limited to kyushu. later in the conflict, some of hirotsugu's mounted soldiers would defect, augmenting this advantage.