Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 374
"How long can the military ration last?"

"Several extra meals, now it's less than 12 shi."

In Nagoya Castle Castle Tower, when Tokugawa Iemitsu turned his back to Date Masamune and asked, Date Masamune could only tell the whole truth.

But before Tokugawa Iemitsu could say anything, the sound of hurried footsteps made people feel tense like the midnight bell.

A samurai ran up to the castle tower with a nervous expression, and hurriedly knelt on the ground to appease the head:

"General... Nagano, Yamanashi, Gifu, Fukui and Edo have fallen!"

"What stupid words?!" Date Masamune immediately cursed when he heard the words, but the samurai tremblingly said:
"The Ming army sent the corpses of Saitian, Uesugi, and Takeda, as well as the plaque of Edo Port, and a charred corpse that couldn't be seen clearly. The corpse...the corpse..."

"What happened to the corpse?!" Tokugawa Iemitsu couldn't sit still, he got up and looked at the samurai, and the samurai could only bite the bullet and shout:

"The corpse is very similar to Lord Xiuzhong!"

"..." The hall fell silent after the words, Tokugawa Iemitsu's face turned pale in an instant, but soon slowly turned rosy.

"It can't be my father. If it is my father, it is impossible to fall into Edo in such a short time."

Tokugawa Iemitsu couldn't believe it, but the route Yang Wenyue released to him couldn't allow him not to believe it.

Gifu - Yamanashi - Edo...

This is a route deliberately created by Yang Wenyue, which represents the Ming army's capture of Edo in the mountains.

In other words, even if Tokugawa Iemitsu did not believe that Yang Wenyue had breached Edo, the fall of Gifu, Yamanashi, and Nagano, coupled with the cut off of the food road, actually made the Japanese army in Nagoya already in a situation of being besieged on all sides.

"General, we have to break through!" Date Masamune responded:

"With enough food, the conflict between the samurai and the ashigaru and the iron cannon has not deepened. Now we should abandon the civilian husband and take the samurai and ashigaru, and the iron cannon retreats."

"Where to retreat?" Tokugawa Iemitsu's face was full of sadness, because in the blueprint Yang Wenyue showed him, their team was already trapped.

"Walking in the mountains, the Ming army is small, so it is impossible to encircle the entire mountain."

Date Masamune said resolutely, and at this time there were footsteps again, and a samurai ran up with an opened letter:

"My lord general! This is a letter from a Ming army general."

"Who opened it?" Tokugawa Iemitsu looked at the opened letter and had a bad feeling in his heart.

"I saw some ashigaru from the letter and opened it, but they should not be able to read." The samurai said guiltily.

This kind of thing can't allow him to feel guilty. After all, many ashigaru and civilian husbands in this battle were captured from cities like Edo. Maybe some people can read and write.

Tokugawa Iemitsu naturally knew it too, so his expression was ugly.

But even so, he still stepped forward to snatch the handwriting.

He took a cursory glance, and when he learned that the opposing generals were Yang Wenyue and Wu Aheng dispatched by the Ming Dynasty, his mood fell instantly.

"Our opponents are Daming's Yang Wenyue and Wu Aheng."

He looked at Date Masamune, and Date Masamune paused when he heard the words:
"Is it Yang Wenyue and Wu Aheng among the six generals of the Southwest Rebellion?"

"They also participated in the Battle of Restoring the Liao Dynasty." Iemitsu Tokugawa sat in his seat, his eyes flickering unclearly. Obviously, it took him so long to find out who the opponent's general was, which made him feel defeated.

The Tokugawa shogunate did not blindly close the country. To be precise, they actually knew something about what happened in the Central Plains.

Although Yang Wenyue and Wu Aheng were transferred to the local government as civil servants a few years ago, their abilities have always been there.

Now that these two people have been transferred to Japan to fight against him, it is no wonder that this battle will be different from before...

"Samurai, Ashgaru, how many other Iron Gunners are there?"

Tokugawa Iemitsu raised his head and asked Date Masamune, but Date Masamune said:
"There are 7000 samurai, 9000 more ashigaru after days of bombardment, and [-] iron gunners."

"Gather them in one place, and each carry enough rations for half a month, and we will break through tonight." Tokugawa Iemitsu finally ordered.

"Hi!" Date Masamune was relieved. As long as they succeeded in breaking through, with nearly [-] troops, they should be able to gain a firm foothold further north.

After getting the order, he quickly ordered people to arrange the distribution of food.

Afraid of delaying his trip, he allocated thirty catties of corn grain and five catties of dried fish to each soldier who broke through.

In this way, they could only take away less than [-] shi of grain, leaving nearly [-] shi of grain.

In order to prevent the civilian husband from surrendering, Date Masamune planned to set a fire before leaving to burn all the [-] shi army rations.

"The army will break through when you are ugly, and you will retreat immediately after you lead people to set fire!"

"Hi!"

In Date Masamune's other garden, when he was giving orders to a samurai, a short child heard the news and left pretending to be a clean bucket.

It's just that the route he left was very complicated. After going around a few times, he appeared in front of the small courtyard in the back alley of the Bieyuan.

"Tuk Tuk Tuk-"

There were three knocks on the door, and then the door opened slowly.

The child opened the door and walked in. The first time he entered the courtyard, he saw three tall Ming people.

It is too easy to identify Ming people in Japan, but anyone who is taller than five feet is basically Ming people.

"An Tonglang, you are here, let's talk after we eat."

The three men around the dining table greeted the child enthusiastically, and the child sat down and explained honestly:
"My lord, Date Masamune said that they will break out of the siege and retreat in Choushi, and they will also set fire to the granary."

"Really..." Hearing An Tonglang's words, the three men looked at each other, and then the leading man said to An Tonglang:
"Since the news has been found out, then you should not go back and rest here tonight. The Heavenly Army will enter Nagoya tomorrow."

"After tomorrow, I will ask someone to take you and your mother to live in Jeju Island. I have already asked someone to prepare [-] acres of land and [-] acres of orange groves that you like."

"Really?!" Hearing that his mission was over, An Tonglang's eyes widened, and he was so excited that he couldn't believe it.

"Of course, but your name has to be changed, otherwise the Koreans on the island may make things difficult for you."

The man smiled, and took out a money bag and put it on the table:

"There are ten taels of silver in it. After tomorrow, use it to live a good life with your mother in Jeju Island."

"Yes! Thank you very much!" An Tonglang bowed his head deeply after hearing this, but the man said:
"We should thank you, your information came in a timely manner." After finishing speaking, the man said to the left and right:
"We have to inform Lu Tongzhi of the news, and by the way, we must spread the news of the burning of the granary, so that the ashigaru and the people are in turmoil, and Tokugawa Iemitsu cannot lead tens of thousands of people to retreat in an orderly manner."

"Let's do it." Hearing the words, the two people on the left and right got up, turned around and left the small courtyard.

As dusk fell, news spread like mushrooms after a rain in the ruined Nagoya, and at the same time many ashigaru also received orders to assemble.

After such an order was issued, the already skeptical peasants immediately became nervous.

When the atmosphere of suspicion began to spread, some peripheral guards who were hidden in it also began to instigate:

"They want to burn the granary, let us starve to death here, and fight them!"

"Save the granary!"

"Even before you die, you have to eat a full meal!"

Sporadic uprisings and protests sounded, but at this time, no one cared about the peasants at all.

Tokugawa Iemitsu, Date Masamune and others have already started to pack their bags and prepare to break out. The samurai were assembled, so the peasants began to rush towards the granary.

They walked among the ruins, and at the same time, the Jin Yiwei who had hidden early opened the gates of Nagoya's split-level city wall one by one.

It can be said that the entire Nagoya has fallen into an undefended situation.

"Master General! Someone opened the gates of the city, and the peasants rushed towards the granary noisily!"

The Japanese cavalry on horseback reported to Tokugawa Iemitsu who was about to evacuate, but Tokugawa Iemitsu looked directly at Date Masamune after hearing this:
"I'll leave the rest to you. I'll gather the troops and withdraw from the city first."

"Hi!" Date Masamune bowed his head in response, and then ordered while Tokugawa Iemitsu and the others left:
"All civilians who dare to approach the granary will be killed, and the granary must be burned!"

"Hi!" The cavalry behind Masamune Date quickly turned their horses and went to inform the soldiers and horses in the granary.

The turmoil in Nagoya city and the news of Jinyiwei were naturally known to the Ming army outside the city.

In the face of the riots, Yang Wenyue, who was sitting on the sentry box, sat firmly on the Diaoyutai:
"Get ready to fire the flying crows and fire dragons out of the water! The catapult throws fierce oil and fireballs, give them a fire."

"Yes!" Cao Bianjiao, who was next to him, immediately went down to work, and the Ming army arranged for Shenhuo Feiya and Huolong Chushui.

"Shenhuo Flying Crow" is divided into "Flying Sky Thunder" and "Winged Rocket" with two wings.

These two kinds of rockets are respectively filled with gunpowder in the crow-shaped and spherical bodies, and the gunpowder line passes out of the gunpowder, and is connected in series with the gunpowder in the powder cartridge of the take-off rocket.

When launching, first ignite the gunpowder line of the take-off rocket, so that the rocket flies to the enemy, and detonates the gunpowder in the crow body and the ball, killing and burning the enemy's troops, which is a sharp weapon for breaking the formation and attacking the city.

As for the fire dragon coming out of the water, this is a multi-stage rocket recorded in the "Wu Bei Zhi" of the Ming Dynasty. The first stage rocket is tied outside the paper paste tube, and the second stage rocket is inside the dragon mouth. Attacking on water, the range can reach three miles.

These two types of firearms capable of leaping over the city walls were temporarily refitted by Yang Wenyue before the battle. Their belly was gunpowder, and the outside was wrapped with fierce fire oil packed in bamboo tubes.

As long as it flies to the city and explodes, it will put the fire oil on the ground and houses. Even if the explosives can't make them ignite, the fireball of the follow-up trebuchet is enough.

Due to the turmoil in the city, all the movements of the Ming army were not monitored. They easily pushed [-] trebuchets under the Nagoya city.

Immediately afterwards, hundreds of chariots were pushed up, and with the screeching sound of ignition, hundreds of fire dragons came out of the water and flying crows flew out from the top of the chariot.

Some were unlucky and hit the city wall, but most of them flew into Nagoya Castle.

All the generals of the Ming army watched the battlefield with binocular clairvoyance. They saw the flying crows and fire dragons flying out of the water and flying into the city before exploding in the air. Fire oil.

Immediately afterwards, the trebuchet broke out, and barrels filled with kerosene were thrown out, each weighing fifty catties.

Three hundred trebuchets were launched unscrupulously, and their range was farther. Therefore, when barrels of kerosene fell from the sky, some of the peasants who were still parading were smashed to death on the spot, and some were splashed by kerosene. all over.

Some Japanese soldiers who didn't know why were squatting on the ground with their heads in their hands one second, and were drenched all over their faces by the fierce fire oil falling from the sky the next second.

"What is this?" A samurai sniffed, his pupils that were originally relaxed immediately tightened, and shouted loudly: "It's fierce oil!!!"

"Go find a shovel, no! Just bury them in the soil with a knife!!!"

Some Japanese generals reacted quickly, but at this time, the catapults of the Ming army outside the city began to be loaded with fireballs.

Without anyone interfering, they used torches to ignite the fireball, then smashed the switch, and the three hundred trebuchets threw the fireball instantly.

The fireballs with flames flitted across the city in the panic-stricken eyes of the Japanese generals, and fell into Nagoya city one after another!
"Bam—"

After a dull sound sounded, the whole Nagoya was instantly set ablaze, and the peasants who were still in a stalemate with the granary samurai were also affected.

For a moment, the Nagoya Castle in the dusk was lit up by huge flames, and Yang Wenyue, who was holding a binoculars, joked with his mouth:
"What a big pile of fireworks..."

"Should we send troops to stop Tokugawa Iemitsu and the others?" Wu Aheng asked next to him, and Yang Wenyue also waved his hand and said:

"Thirty thousand catties of fire oil, two battalions of cavalry, you choose someone to do it."

The two of them stopped talking, and Wu Aheng also smiled and turned to look at Cao Dingjiao:
"Jiexiu, you and your eldest brother lead two battalions of cavalry, and bring [-] catties of fire oil, and set up an ambush on the mountain road."

"The last general takes orders!" Cao Dingjiao heard that he finally had a chance to appear on the stage, and immediately bowed in response, then turned around and mounted his horse, and rode away.

On the contrary, Yang Wenyue looked at the Nagoya Castle with big fireworks, and said dissatisfiedly:

"I thought I could provoke them and let them kill each other, but I didn't think these folks were too timid."

"The result of this battle is already good, you and I should be a little more relaxed." Wu Aheng stroked his beard:

"After this battle is over, Edo Castle can be won in just ten days."

"If you think about it, you and I can also prepare to return to Daming."

"In this kind of place, fighting against such rats is really unsatisfactory. I would rather fight Jianlu and the barbarians in the southwest."

"It's good to have a fight. If you don't like it, just throw it to me." Yang Wenyue responded with a smile, and Wu Aheng could only shake his head with a smile.

The two talked here, and the unknown ancient house city had become a sea of ​​flames.

The folks scrambled for the grain in the granary. Even if some people were hacked several times, they would throw themselves on the grain, bite open the bag hard, and die contentedly after stuffing a large handful of corn.

"Retreat! Can't burn anymore."

The samurai in charge of burning down the granary saw that his side was swallowed up by the peasants, so he had no choice but to give an order to retreat.

Similarly, due to the igniting of the fire, Tokugawa Iemitsu had no time to wait for all the Ashgaru to gather. After gathering only [-] troops, he hurriedly led people out from the north gate.

They rushed towards the deep mountain, but they didn't know that the [-] Ming cavalry had already entered the mountain path before them with enough firepower.

"Pour out all the oil for me!"

Cao Bianjiao was on his horse's back, grabbed the knife with one hand, and poured out all the fierce oil in his kettle with the other.

Following his example, all the cavalry poured out fire oil one after another.

At the same time that the oil was poured out, the cavalry soldier Tang Qi also came on horseback, and bowed back and said:
"General, the Japanese army is only seven miles away from here."

"The whole army retreats to the mountains on both sides!" Cao Bianjiao immediately ordered after hearing the words, and all the cavalry immediately retreated into the mountains with their horses after hearing the words, and concealed their tracks.

In May, the Great Wujian Mountain was on fire, and the smell of corruption in the forest, as well as the smell of burning oil and smoke from Nagoya Castle in the distance were constantly entangled in the mountain, and there was no smell of burning oil poured down by Cao Bianjiao and the others.

Even the strong wind was on the side of the Ming army, blowing the smell of oil and smoke from Nagoya into the mountains.

Tokugawa Iemitsu originally gathered 4 people to retreat, but on the way to retreat, there were fewer and fewer people.

Some ashigaru took the opportunity to take off their armor and escape, and the smoke provided them with an environment to escape. Therefore, when they ran into the Great Wujian Mountain, Tokugawa Iemitsu found that he had less than 3 people left.

"asshole!"

He cursed in his heart, but Date Masamune looked at the smoke around him and said:

"It's an environment where it's easy to set up an ambush, and we have to get through it quickly."

"Naturally..." Tokugawa Iemitsu nodded, but at this moment when they were discussing, Cao Bianjiao, who was hiding in the mountains, suddenly took down his bow and arrow.

He drew his bow and arrow, and fired a rocket at a marked mound below the mountain.

The rocket cut through the thick smoke and the sky, and hit the mound in an instant, and this movement also attracted the attention of Tokugawa Iemitsu and others.

"Enemy attack!"

"Boom bang—"

"The overall situation is set!"

Cao Bianjiao's palms were covered with sweat, and the fire that ignited in an instant ignited the mountain. All the cavalry of the Ming army did not need the order of Cao Bianjiao and Cao Dingjiao. The Japanese army hacked and killed.

Under the impact of the [-] Ming army cavalry, the Japanese army, which was already on the verge of collapse, was completely defeated. No one could stop a favorable counterattack, or even stop it a little.

Charges, defeats, escapes, and even complete disintegration have become the reality that the Japanese army is witnessing bit by bit, and a large number of swords have been thrown on the ground.

They frantically fled towards the mountain pass. As the saying goes, the army is defeated like a mountain. Once the army retreats, there will be no chance. No matter what is in front, it will not be able to stop the defeated army.

They thought of various ways to escape from the battlefield, but they were originally limited by the topography of the Great Wujian Mountain. Except for the direction ignited by the fire, all other directions were crowded together, and they couldn't find a way that could allow so many people to escape. the way.

The Great Wujian Mountain had become a desperate place. The Japanese soldiers had no way to escape. When they were overtaken by the Ming army, they knelt down and begged for mercy. Some even dropped their swords and guns and knelt directly on the ground.

The scenes on the battlefield, like the last straw, completely declared the demise of the Japanese army.

A large number of Japanese ashigaru and iron gunners surrendered first, but Tokugawa Iemitsu and Date Masamune, who were supposed to command the army, were blocked by the fire.

"Don't panic! Don't panic!"

Tokugawa Jiaguang shouted the order hoarsely, and then the "whoosh" of the flames completely overwhelmed his voice.

"Master General! Let's retreat first!"

Masamune Date held Tokugawa Iemitsu, as if he was about to lead him across the fire and retreat alone.

However, he didn't say much, and whistles sounded from all over the Great Wujian Mountain.

"withdraw!"

Tokugawa Iemitsu shook the reins and led the three thousand cavalry around him to rush through the sea of ​​flames that had not yet formed a wall of fire, preparing to flee to the depths of the Great Wujian Mountain.

"Wonu dare!"

Suddenly, there was a deafening roar, and brothers Cao Bianjiao and Cao Dingjiao chased after them with [-] cavalry.

"It's the generals of the Ming army, kill them!"

Tokugawa Iemitsu, who originally wanted to escape, immediately reined in his horse, trying to counter-kill Cao Bianjiao with [-] cavalry.

"Let's retreat first!" Date Masamune tried to dissuade him.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Tokugawa Iemitsu ignored it and headed forward with the cavalry.

In the sea of ​​flames, the Ming army cavalry raised their blunderbusses and pulled the trigger at a distance of thirty paces.

"Clap clap-"

The sound of riding guns rang, and the Japanese cavalry fell off their horses one by one. The fallen horses caused a domino effect, and the Japanese cavalry in the rear were tripped and turned on their backs.

Tokugawa Iemitsu was also one of the members who was thrown away. He got up dizzy, drew his sword and wanted to fight again, but a long spear flew through the air and pierced his arm instantly.

"asshole!"

The pain in the arm made Tokugawa Iemitsu couldn't help cursing, but after the cursing came fear.

He turned around and wanted to run, but before he could escape, Cao Bianjiao led someone to rush from behind.

He grabbed the long spear stuck in the corpse, and at the same time he threw the long spear flying on the corpse of the long spear, he stabbed between the wrong body.

Tokugawa Iemitsu was stabbed in the back by a spear, Cao Bianjiao held the gun with one hand, suspended him in the air, and sprinted for more than ten steps.

"Ah ah ah—"

The shrill screams kept ringing out, and Tokugawa Iemitsu kept waving his hands, trying to grab the gun barrel on his back to get out of trouble, but the next second Cao Bianjiao swung his spear, throwing him out on a piece of bluestone.

His head collided with the bluestone, blood spattered, and after several convulsions, he was dead beyond belief.

"kill!"

Regardless of Tokugawa Iemitsu, Cao Bianjiao turned his horse's head and charged towards thousands of cavalry in front of him like a tiger entering a flock of sheep.

"kill!"

Behind him, more than 300 Ming army cavalry also rushed forward, showing their martial arts in the face of several times the Japanese army.

Compared with the cavalry of the Ming army, the cavalry of the Japanese army is like a child riding a dog.

Obviously it was three hundred against three thousand, but it played the power of three thousand against three hundred.

When Date Masamune saw the power of the Ming cavalry, he shook the reins and fled towards the depths of the Great Wujian Mountain with more than a dozen cavalry around him.

In just half an hour, more than half of Tokugawa Iemitsu's 3 people were arrested, burned to death, and most of them killed.

His own body was burned beyond recognition because the Ming army did not harvest it in time.

As the sky gradually brightened, when Cao Bianjiao placed the unrecognizable head of Iemitsu Tokugawa on Yang Wenyue's desk, Yang Wenyue couldn't help stroking his beard:

"Now, there is no obstacle for Guochao to wipe out the Japanese pirates."

"Forget it, I can basically report victory to His Highness..."

　Chapter 2 between [-]:[-] and [-]:[-]

　　
　
(End of this chapter)