Summoning the Peak of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 2931 Qin Zheng defeated Yeon Gaesomun

Kumamoto Castle, inside the castle lord’s mansion.

Looking at Yeon Gaesomun, who was bandaged and had wounds on his face, Wang Mang suppressed his anger and asked, "General Yeon Gaesomun, with your strength, how did you manage to be defeated by Qin Zheng twice in three days?"

Wang Mang had always used and guarded against Yeon Gaesomun, a powerful official who had fought against many famous generals such as Li Ji, Li Daozon, Liu Rengui, and Su Dingfang during the reigns of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong of Tang. Although he lost more than he won, he fought again and again and still dared to draw his sword.

He had to do without him. There were only so many talented people in the Three Han Kingdoms, and Yeon Gaesomun was already the best among them. If Wang Mang didn't use him, there would be no one else to use.

Wang Mang himself had been a powerful official, so he naturally would not give his subordinates the opportunity to seize power. Yeon Gaesomun also went from being forbearing at the beginning to being under the control now, which showed that he was completely conquered by Wang Mang.

Wang Mang knew that although Yeon Gaesomun was brave, he was also quite strategic and was by no means a reckless man. That was why he was even more curious about how the Qin government had managed to let Yeon Gaesomun fall into the trap twice without even showing his face.

Upon hearing this, Yeon Gaesomun looked aggrieved and recounted how he fell into the trap. It turned out that on the way to Junji Castle, he learned that his own envoy had successfully persuaded the castle to surrender, and the lord of the castle, Shimazu Toshihisa, was preparing to surrender the entire city.

But soon thereafter, news came back that Qin Zheng had seen through Shimazu Toshihisa's intentions and had personally led his troops to suppress them, so Yeon Gaesomun was needed to go to the rescue.

If it was only the first piece of news, Yeon Gaesomun would naturally believe it, but with the second piece of news, he was somewhat skeptical. After all, false surrender on the battlefield was too common.

Although Yeon Gaesomun had some doubts in his heart, he did not completely disbelieve it. After all, the lord of Hitoyoshi Castle, Shimazu Toshihisa, was the younger brother of Shimazu Yoshihisa and Shimazu Yoshimitsu, and both of them had died in the previous war against Japan.

Of course, this is not the point. The point is that after the death of Yoshihisa and Yoshimizu, their younger brother Yoshihisa should have succeeded to the throne. However, under the forced support of Daqin, the position of family head was finally inherited by Shimazu Tadatsune, a fourteen-year-old child.

Shimazu Tadatsune's life experience was also very complicated. He was the third son of Shimazu Yoshihiro, but because Shimazu Yoshihisa had no son, he and his second brother Shimazu Kubo were adopted by their uncle as adopted sons. Later, the two brothers both married Shimazu Yoshihisa's daughters, who were their cousins.

In terms of status, as the son of Yoshihiro and the adopted son and son-in-law of Yoshihisa, Shimazu Tadatsune is more qualified than Yoshihisa.

But the problem was that the Shimazu family had just suffered a major defeat and two family heads had died in succession. Tadatsune, who was only fourteen years old, was still a half-grown child and could not handle such a complicated situation at all.

On the other hand, although Shimazu Toshihisa was not as good as his two elder brothers, his abilities and skills were not bad.

Therefore, from a practical point of view, Shimazu Yoshihisa is the best candidate to inherit the family headship, and he has also won the unanimous support of the clan and retainers.

If nothing unexpected had happened, Shimazu Yoshihisa would have definitely inherited the family headship, but an accident happened.

Under the forced intervention of the Qin Dynasty, Tadatsune, who was only fourteen years old, succeeded to the throne, and Shimazu Yoshihisa also lost the opportunity to become the head of the family.

Yeon Gaesomun felt that anyone who had such an experience would probably develop resentment towards the Qin Dynasty, so although he did not believe it completely, he still decided to verify it. After all, even if Shimazu Yoshihisa really surrendered in disguise, it would be impossible for there to be no flaws at all.

Yeon Gaesomun was very confident. He felt that as long as he was cautious enough, he would not fall into the trap and could even turn the tables on the opponent. However, the cruel reality slapped him in the face. In the end, he was pinned to the ground by Shimazu Toshihisa without even seeing Qin Zheng.

When Yeon Gaesomun arrived at Inji Castle, there was shouting and fighting in the city, and the Qin army outside the city was also rushing into the city. It seemed that the Qin government had arrived in advance and had already entered the city with the help of the insiders.

Yeon Gaesomun observed from many angles but could not find any flaws. At this time, the South Gate was wide open again and the defeated army escaped from inside.

Yeon Gaesomun confirmed it again from the defeated soldiers, and only then did he completely put aside his doubts. He immediately led his troops into the city to support Shimazu Toshihisa.

But after charging into the city, Yeon Gaesomun soon discovered something was wrong. Although the fight was realistic, the blood was not strong. How could this be a gunfight? It was clearly a trap set for him.

Yeon Gaesomun immediately ordered to stop the advance and the entire army to withdraw from the city. Fortunately, the discovery was made in time and the number of troops entering the city was not large, but it was obviously not so easy to withdraw.

Just as Yeon Gaesomun's order was passed on, the city gate at the rear suddenly fell down, cutting Wang Mang's army in half.

Yeon Gaesomun and nearly two thousand troops were trapped in the city. Although another five thousand troops were stopped outside the city, they fell into command chaos because there was no commander.

At this moment, a large number of archers emerged on the streets of the city, and the Qin army outside the city was divided into two, attacking Wang Mang's army from the east and west.

"Yeon Gaesomun, you have fallen into the trap set by my governor."

He appeared on the city wall, looked at Yeon Gaesomun below, and sneered: "It's not too late to surrender now."

Looking at Shimazu Suijiu on the tower, Yeon Gaesomun could not hide his anger and shouted, "Shimazu Suijiu, you bastard, Daqin killed your two brothers and snatched your position as the head of the family. With such an irreconcilable hatred, you still want to work for Daqin and deceive me with a false surrender. Are you a man?"

  Shimazu Yoshihisa's face changed when he heard this. He carefully glanced at the Qin envoy beside him and shouted in response, "Yeon Gaesomun, don't talk nonsense if you don't understand. My eldest brother died in a storm, and my second brother committed suicide after being captured by Sun Ce. What do their deaths have to do with the Qin Dynasty?

As for snatching the position of head of the family, that is even more nonsense. Mikikumaru is the recognized successor of the Shimazu family. As a real uncle, I, Shimazu Toshihisa, would be a beast if I competed with my nephew for the position of head of the family. You are insulting me by saying that."

Hearing what Shimazu Yoshihisa said, the Great Qin envoy beside him, that is, Mijumaru, Shimazu Tadatsune, immediately showed a satisfied smile. That's right, Shimazu Tadatsune was the envoy of Qin Zheng.

Although Shimazu Tadatsune was young, he was actually not a simple man. According to the original history, he followed his father to fight in Korea when he was fourteen years old. He also ambushed the famous Ming general Li Rusong with his father Yoshihiro in the Battle of Sacheon during the Keicho Campaign. However, not only were they discovered, but they were also defeated by 3000 Ming cavalry led by Li Rusong.

Now that Shimazu Tadatsune is sixteen years old and even has a son, he naturally understands the meaning behind the competition for family heir.

To be honest, Shimazu Tadatsune also hated Daqin very much. After all, if Daqin had not formed a coalition to invade Japan, so many people in the Shimazu family would not have died. But unfortunately, he was able to sit on the position of family head thanks to Daqin.

Everything Shimazu Tadatsune has comes from Daqin. Without Daqin, he is nothing, so naturally he can only follow Daqin until the end.

As for his uncle Shimazu Toshihisa, Shimazu Tadatsune also changed from being wary at first to acceptance and cooperation. After all, no matter what Shimazu Toshihisa thought in his heart, at least he did the work on the surface.

Shimazu Tadatsune also knew that he was young and it would be difficult for him to convince others, so he did not ask his third uncle to obey him, but only asked him to recognize his position as the head of the family.

As for Shimazu Yoshihisa, when he first learned that Daqin had forcefully intervened and had made it impossible for him to become the head of the family, he truly hated Daqin to the core.

But as the interests of the Shimazu family and the Qin Dynasty became increasingly intertwined, and Shimazu Yoshihisa was sent to Qin as one of the first envoys to study, his horizons were greatly broadened, and naturally he no longer cared about the petty gains of the past.

Today, Shimazu Yoshihisa no longer values ​​the position of head of the Shimazu family. After all, no matter how powerful the head of the Shimazu family is, he is no more powerful than a prefect of the Qin Dynasty. Qin Zheng also promised to let him be the governor of Southern Kyushu after the war. Naturally, there is no reason for Shimazu Yoshihisa to betray the Qin Dynasty.

Although Shimazu Yoshihisa and Shimazu Tadatsune, uncle and nephew, each had their own ulterior motives, they were truly loyal to the Qin Dynasty, even more loyal than many Han people.

After hearing what Shimazu Toshihisa said, Yeon Gaesomun was immediately furious. He never thought that there would be someone in the world who could be so shameless and could talk about recognizing a thief as his father so confidently.

"Coward, coward..."

Yeon Gaesomun was so angry that he started to curse loudly, and Shimazu Tadatsune's face suddenly turned cold. He said indifferently: "Third Uncle, this man is about to die, but he is making trouble and blaming others. We should send him off as soon as possible."

Hearing this, Shimazu Toshihisa nodded and immediately gave the order: "Shoot."

Following Shimazu Yoshihisa's order, the archers who were lying in ambush all around shot their arrows one after another, instantly knocking down a large number of soldiers. In just a few rounds of arrow rain, more than half of Wang Mang's army in the city were killed or wounded.

Yeon Gaesomun became even more furious upon seeing this, and he rode alone out of the army, intending to rush up to the city wall and kill Shimazu Toshihisa.

Shimazu Toshihisa knew how brave Yeon Gaesomun was, so he naturally did not dare to be careless. He quickly commanded nearly a thousand soldiers who were ambushing below to form a formation to surround and kill Yeon Gaesomun, but it only slowed down Yeon Gaesomun.

Although the Qin army was stronger than the previous Japanese army, they were not proficient in formations, and Shimazu Toshihisa had not yet mastered the coordinated operations of multiple arms. Therefore, even though he commanded a thousand people to surround and kill Yeon Gaesomun alone, they were still easily broken through by the enemy and killed to the edge of the city wall.

However, before that, Shimazu Toshihisa did not do nothing. He called in the trump card sent to him by Qin Zheng, a total of 500 Qin heavy armored Modao soldiers, to protect him and Shimazu Tadatsune.

The five hundred Qin heavy infantrymen, each wearing heavy armor and holding Mo Dao, were unparalleled in combat power. The Qin government left them to Shimazu Toshihisa specifically to deal with Yeon Gaesomun.

The warhorse ridden by Yeon Gaesomun was not a famous horse, but just a good horse. Although he had the strength of a god of war, he would still be at a disadvantage if faced with the five hundred heavily armored Modao soldiers who were surrounded by them.

The Qin army had obviously been specially trained in encirclement and killing, and they formed a battle formation much faster than the Qin Auxiliary Army, so much so that Yeon Gaesomun was surrounded by a group of Modao soldiers just after he killed three soldiers. Although he managed to fight his way out, his horse was hacked to death.

However, Yeon Gaesomun, who was forced to fight on foot, became even more powerful. He charged forward while avoiding being surrounded. He finally climbed onto the city wall, where he was stabbed in the back. He did not expect that Shimazu Toshihisa and his nephew Shimazu Tadatsune had already moved away.

Yeon Gaesomun knew that he could not kill Shimazu Toshijiu, and when he looked at his own troops in the city, he found that only a hundred people were left, but there were thousands of enemy troops surrounding them. It was obvious that there was no hope.

"Shimazu Suijiu, remember this, sooner or later I will chop you off with my own hands."

After saying this, Yeon Gaesomun decisively jumped off the city wall before the Qin army surrounded him.

Wang Mang's 5,000 troops outside the city were also attacked by the Qin army. They were in chaos because they had lost their main general and were defeated by the 3,000 Qin troops, suffering heavy casualties.

With the return of Yeon Gaesomun, Wang Mang's army had a backbone. Yeon Gaesomun, who escaped from the trap, also displayed his strength as a god of war. He repelled several attacks of the Qin army in succession and commanded the entire army to fight and retreat.

Upon seeing this, Qin general Zi Cha Ying naturally would not let Yeon Gaesomun escape, so he led 300 cavalrymen to attack the enemy's flank, hoping to defeat the enemy completely. However, before he could defeat the enemy, he encountered Yeon Gaesomun who came back to support him.

Zi Che Ying is a character in "The Rise of the Great Qin Empire". He is a descendant of the three heroes of the Zi Che clan during the time of Duke Mu of Qin. At the age of sixteen, he became a major general in the army and assisted Shang Yang in his reforms and strengthening the country. Later, he came up with many brilliant plans and made many military achievements. He was a wise and brave general.