The eldest grandson of Emperor Ming Dynasty!

Chapter 813 The Japanese country’s huge gamble

Li Chenggui wants to delay the situation until the situation changes, which is obviously fanciful.

Even though he had already sent someone to notify Arutai.

It's just that the Ming army couldn't find it despite the blockade, so how could the person who notified him be easily found?

At this moment, the 20 Ming army led by Zhu Shu had also arrived on Kyushu Island.

The precarious Kyushu Island was immediately relieved, even if Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had already dispatched 50 troops at this time.

However, as a defender of the city, Zhu Shu expressed no pressure.

Although earthquakes occurred frequently in Japan, the city wall built by the Ming army was ten meters deep. No matter what earthquake happened, it would not matter.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has rich combat experience, but facing a city wall that is ten meters deep and eight meters high, he really has nothing to do.

Tens of thousands of people were killed, but in the end they could only stare blankly.

"Your Excellency, General, if this continues, until Ming Dynasty frees up its hands in Goryeo, I'm afraid our plan will fail."

"There is news from Goryeo that Li Chenggui has begun to flee and does not dare to fight the Ming army head-on. The Mongolians in the grassland have also ran into the forest to avoid being hunted by the Ming army."

"Once Li Chenggui is captured, all Ming troops will definitely come to Japan. That's when the time comes."

Takeuchi's face was filled with worry.

The current situation is not complicated, but it is not moving forward at all as they imagined. On the contrary, it is getting worse.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu waved his hand a little tiredly. He didn't know what Takeuchi said, but what method could he use to deal with the Ming army now?

Although the entire army has not yet been mobilized, an army of 50 is already Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's current limit. If there is more, it will be a drain on the cauldron.

Thinking of the defeat of Japan, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu gritted his teeth and said: "We cannot lose. Now, whether it is Goryeo or the Mongols, they will run away when they see the Ming army and do not dare to fight head-on."

"But we can't do this. We have no retreat. If we can't defeat the Ming army, then the Japanese country will be completely destroyed."

"The only hope now is to fight to the death."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu really didn't want to go to this point, because it would cause countless Japanese casualties, but he had no other choice.

Moreover, among the three countries of Japan, Goryeo, and the grassland, one must face the Ming army directly to have any chance of victory.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu once pinned his hopes on Goryeo and the grasslands, and Koryo also pinned his hopes on the grasslands and the Japanese country.

Arutai is not like this.

In terms of overall national strength, the only country that can confront the Ming army head-on is the Japanese state.

"This"

Takeuchi and Kuroda looked at each other.

They didn't expect to take this step in the end, and it was the worst step.

No daimyo wanted to throw all his people into such a death battlefield and forcefully attack the city, which would mean unimaginable losses.

"Inform all daimyo and the council."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu sighed.

Soon, all the prominent Japanese daimyos gathered to attend this grand meeting.

There are hundreds of people.

They represent almost the entire aristocratic class of the Japanese country, and they are also the core and top group of people.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu didn't hide anything and directly told the current situation.

To put it simply, there are only two ways in front of the Japanese country.

Either fight to the death, or surrender now and become a subsidiary of the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, most of the daimyo did not want to fight to the death, but the Ming Dynasty's policies gave them no choice.

The situation on Kyushu Island made them understand that once they became affiliated with the Ming Dynasty, all of them, the noble class, would lose all their privileges and become like ordinary Japanese people.

"Fight to the death!"

The first daimyo stood up from his kneeling position and shouted with a firm voice.

"Dead fight! Dead fight!"

More and more daimyo stood up.

They want to safeguard their own interests and protect their privileges. If the Ming Dynasty rules the Japanese country, even if they will not become prisoners, they will lose their status as nobility and become ordinary people. This is unacceptable to them.

After all, it was the untouchables who charged to the death, not the nobles like them.

As long as you think about it, you will understand what to choose.

"Fight to the death! Fight to the death! Fight to the death! Fight to the death! Fight to the death!!!"

All the daimyo stood up at this moment and roared loudly with emotion.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu looked at the scene in front of him and sighed in his heart that the military spirit was available.

At this point, the Japanese country will mobilize all its effective forces to attack Kyushu.

In the name of the emperor and the shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu announced the nationwide mobilization war of Japan. All Japanese males over 14 years old must respond to the call of the emperor and the shogunate to participate in the war.

A large number of siege equipment were continuously manufactured for use in the war with the Ming Dynasty.

Now, the Chikuzen, Bunzen, and Bungo areas of Kyushu Island have fallen into the hands of the Japanese.

The former Hizen, Chiku, Hihou, and Hinata were the Jincheng, Yancheng, Qicheng, and Qincheng of the Ming dynasty.

After some thought, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu decided to concentrate his efforts on attacking Yancheng first.

Because at this time, King Yan and his heirs did not come over, Yancheng had no owner, and it was also the best place to attack.

He believed that perhaps the other three countries would not mobilize much force in response to Yancheng's request for help.

At this moment, Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng were guarding Yan City.

"Now that the prince's son has not returned, the Japanese want to attack Yancheng. It seems that they can only defend it."

"I just don't know if King Qi will stand by and watch." Zhu Neng said with some worry.

Now there is only one prince on Kyushu Island, King Qi, who controls all the Ming army soldiers and horses on Kyushu Island.

Zhu Neng was worried that he deliberately failed to provide support.

Zhang Yu said: "Don't worry, King Qi will never sit idly by and do nothing. The prince is still with Goryeo."

"If Yancheng is destroyed, it will be King Qi's responsibility. The prince will definitely cause trouble for King Qi then."

"I think Prince Qi will definitely not want to face our prince."

"Now we just need to hold Yancheng firmly."

Zhu Neng asked worriedly: "What if we can't hold on?"

Zhang Yu said with a smile: "Then you can't keep it. Your Majesty sent a message before. If you can't keep it, there is no need to stick to it."

"When the princes return, this Japanese country will naturally be within easy reach."

After hearing this, Zhu Nengcai felt much more at ease.

Judging from the current situation, it probably cannot be defended.

Japan's mobilization of national troops is not a big secret. You can find out with a little inquiry.

Although the Ming Dynasty was strong, how could one city fight against the entire Japanese kingdom?

The facts are just as they guessed.

In just ten days, the Japanese army directly launched an attack on Yancheng.

The densely packed Japanese army pushed forward the siege equipment and stormed Yancheng.

The artillery on the Yancheng city wall roared, and each shot could cause a large number of casualties. However, facing the ant-like Japanese army, the casualties were not too many.

Matchlock guns were placed on the city wall and kept shooting at the Japanese troops coming over. Even so, the Japanese army's offensive was still very strong.

This fight lasted for three days.From dawn to dusk every day, the Japanese siege never stopped.

Even at night, Japanese people would constantly steal the city.

Under the city wall, the corpses of Japanese soldiers were already covered.

Even after paying a heavy price, the Japanese army has not yet been able to capture the city.

On the fourth day, Qi King Zhu Shu led a large army to come to the rescue and fought fiercely with the Japanese army.

After losing tens of thousands of soldiers, Zhu Shu had to temporarily withdraw from the battlefield.

There were too many Japanese soldiers. While fighting Zhu Shu, they did not interrupt the siege of Yancheng.

Although the casualties of the Ming army have reached as many as 15 to [-], the Japanese army lost at least [-] Japanese soldiers.

This is already pretty good.

Most of the 20 troops brought by Zhu Shu were guardsmen, not the professional army of the Ming Dynasty.

Most of the time they are doing farm work.

After all, the elites of the Ming Dynasty are now mainly concentrated in the grasslands, as well as in Siam and Majapahit.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu completely ignored the losses of Japanese soldiers and directly attacked Yancheng from all sides, while leaving enough troops to prevent Qi King Zhu Shu from supporting Yancheng.

Half a month later, Yancheng had run out of ammunition and food.

Zhu Neng and Zhang Yu had no choice but to break out of the south city gate.

With Zhu Shu's support, the number of people who finally broke out was less than [-].

Although Ashikaga Yoshimitsu captured Yancheng, he did not feel comfortable.

Because the Japanese soldiers' losses have reached more than 20.

Even though Ashikaga Yoshimitsu still has nearly 70 troops, they still need to capture Jincheng, Qincheng, and Qicheng.

One city lost 20 troops, so if we attack three more, wouldn't we only have 10,000+ troops left in the end?

If the fighting continues like this, all the Japanese troops will be wiped out, and only a few old, weak, women and children will be left in the entire Japanese country, so why fight?

When the Ming Dynasty sends another 30 to [-] Ming troops, what will Japan do to stop them?

Is it possible to put all women into the army?

Of course, the accounts are not calculated in this way.

The biggest key to Japan's current losses is the support of Qi King Zhu Su in the field battle.

The losses on Qi King Zhu Su's side were not small. The 20 Ming army that came to support now only had a little over [-] left.

Including the defenders of the remaining three cities, the total number of Ming troops currently on Kyushu Island is only about 22.

At that time, Lan Yu's 8000 men, including the common people and prisoners, were less than 4, and they could stand up to Chen Youliang's 60 troops for 110 days.

Why did Zhu Neng and Zhang Yu disappear here for more than half a month?

In fact, the key is that the personnel are different.

The reason why Lan Yu was able to defend Hongdu was not only due to his own reasons, but also due to Chen Youliang.

Although Chen Youliang had an army of 60, many of them were temporarily assembled by him, and many of them were naval troops with no experience in siege operations.

Coupled with his poor tactics, he did not take advantage of his numerical advantage to launch a large-scale attack. Instead, he attacked for one day and rested for two days.

This gave Lan Yu a chance to breathe.

Later, when he saw the soldiers in Hongdu City resisting desperately, Chen Youliang actually wanted to retreat. He was not confident enough, and he was reorganizing the army. This was a taboo for military strategists.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu is different.

As the person who ended the Northern and Southern Dynasties of Japan, he has rich experience in leading troops in combat, and his military talent is particularly outstanding.

From the very beginning, he knew that the only way was to attack by force.

Therefore, they directly attacked Yancheng from all sides. Even if Qi King Zhu Shu led his troops, he did not stop and turned to fight Zhu Shu forcibly, completely ignoring the loss of troops.

Japanese warriors who dared to retreat were also killed directly without mercy.

I have to say that there is still something in the Bushido spirit of the Japanese. Many warriors risked their lives for glory and rushed to kill. This was also the key to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's ability to capture Yancheng in half a month.

When Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng left Yancheng, except for the people, everything else was destroyed.

All the food was burned and all the firecrackers and artillery were destroyed, leaving nothing to the Japanese.

At present, Zhu Shu, plus Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng's remaining troops, still has about 11 troops.

There are only [-] defenders in each of the three cities.

In fact, each vassal king still had some private soldiers, but they were all sent to Luzon to dig gold mines.

Zhu Shu has arranged for personnel to transfer all the private soldiers back to deal with the Japanese offensive, but it will be difficult to return in a short time.

The problem now is that we don't know which city Ashikaga Yoshimitsu will attack next.

In order to prevent the prince from being caught, Zhu Shu could only transport all the royal family members from the three cities and arrange them to the rear.

Losing the city is a small matter, and we can get it back when the time comes, but if any of the princes of the Ming Dynasty is captured alive, it will become very troublesome.

The same problem also faced Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

There are three cities, which one to attack first.

In fact, no matter which city is attacked, Qi King Zhu Shu will carry out rescue, it depends on how many troops the Japanese soldiers lose.

Maximize the loss of Japanese soldiers and fight to the end. Even if Kyushu Island is lost, it will be a victory for Ming Dynasty.

By then, all the men in the Japanese country will be dead, how can they deal with the Ming Dynasty?

"Attack the three cities together."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who had not slept all night, issued the strategy of dividing his troops to attack the city at dawn.

The 70-strong army was divided into four parts, and 15 troops were arranged to attack each city.

And he himself led the remaining 25 troops to respond.

Such a tactic sounds very ridiculous.

Because 15 troops were simply not enough to capture a city with [-] Ming troops.

However, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's plan was not based on the city.

His target is Qi King Zhu Shu.

The three cities were all feint attacks.

He wanted to ambush Qi Wang Zhushu.

Of course, this is only a third of the hope.

Some daimyo asked why they didn't attack a city and then ambush Qi Wang Zhushu.

This is actually impossible to do.

Because only by surrounding three cities can the Ming Dynasty's exploration be sufficiently isolated, and only then can the conditions for an ambush be achieved.

If it were just to besiege one city, the other two cities would definitely send people to investigate the situation, so an ambush would naturally be impossible.

After all, it was not the actions of tens of thousands, but hundreds of thousands of people, and the traces could not be covered up.

It's a big gamble.

If Ashikaga Yoshimitsu is right, he will be able to fully recover Kyushu Island in the shortest time and with the least amount of troops.

At that time, whether it is to support Goryeo or stick to Kyushu, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu can either advance or retreat.

Even if the Ming Dynasty attacked by force, it would still require more troops.

(End of this chapter)