Tibet.

Chapter 1364: Late Autumn Operation (Part )

When a Tang army patrol boat just approached the dock, huge rocks from the defense tower fortress came pouring down. Although they did not hit the patrol boat, the waves they created almost overturned it.

The patrol boat immediately turned back to report. Ma Lin was furious and ordered: "Warships, move forward and destroy the enemy's fortifications!"

Thirty ships lined up and moved forward, about five hundred steps away from the Japanese fortifications. As the command flag was waved, thousands of arrows were fired from the ships, and thousands of arrows were fired at the Japanese defense towers and forts.

Inside hundreds of tower castles, five hundred soldiers and one thousand temporarily recruited auxiliary civilians were waiting for the Tang army's warships to approach. The range of the Japanese army's catapults was only about a hundred steps, and the Tang army's warships were still five hundred steps away.

Unexpectedly, the Tang army's arrows had been shot in advance, and what was even more deadly was that these were not ordinary arrows, but arrow mines. The fortifications on the shore suddenly exploded, and the Japanese soldiers and civilians were blown to tears and covered in blood. Dozens of towers and fortresses collapsed in the explosion.

Soon, the second round of 1,500 arrow torpedoes were fired again, and the remaining dozens of towers were all blown up. Japanese soldiers and civilians suffered heavy casualties, and the remaining soldiers and civilians fled in panic.

The Tang army warships landed, and teams of soldiers disembarked and quickly assembled on the shore. After the first batch of 3,000 soldiers had assembled, they immediately marched towards the vassal city in a mighty force.

The gates of the feudal city were wide open, and Zong Wumao, along with his brothers, nephews, and hundreds of clansmen, knelt at the gate and begged for surrender.

The handwritten edict written by Emperor Li Ye to Ma Lin clearly stated, "Kill their leaders, subdue their people, cede land and station troops there, and rule the people with the army."

Ma Lin showed no mercy and ordered the entire Zong family, young and old, to be killed. More than 200 defenders who were hiding in various places were also captured and killed.

He also ordered the Navy Lieutenant General Wang Zhigong to station 500 soldiers and 30 warships on Tsushima Island. There was no need for any government office. The military office was the government office. If there were conflicts and disputes among the Japanese people, they could ask the garrison to mediate. If the locals committed crimes, the Tang army would capture and kill them.

All the thousands of people on the island need to do is to farm and fish honestly and live a peaceful life. As long as the time is right, they will be registered as civilians of the Tang Dynasty and become citizens of a superior country.

Soon after, the Tang army captured Iki Province, killed the entire family of its leader and more than 50 guards, and relocated all of the 700 islanders to Tsushima Island. They only used the local leader's castle as an observation post, stationed 20 troops and five patrol speedboats, which were under the command of Tsushima Island.

After defeating the two countries in succession, the Tang army's warships continued to sail towards the land of Kyushu Island.

Li Chengshi's 30,000 naval forces landed at Matsubara Castle in Echizen Province.

The 500 defenders in Songyuan City discovered that it was the Tang navy that had landed, and they were so scared that they fled without a fight.

Although he captured Songyuan City without bloodshed, Li Chengshi was still a little worried. Some soldiers must have escaped back to the capital to report the news. If the Japanese retired emperor and the emperor gathered troops to fight him, he would not be afraid, but he was afraid that the Japanese rulers would escape from the capital.

Li Chengshi did not stop. He left 3,000 soldiers to guard the warships. He led 27,000 troops and quickly attacked Heijokyo.

Heijokyo is also known as Nara. Li Ye’s strategy towards Japan is very clear, which is to destroy Japan’s central court and promote the fragmentation and Warring States period of Japan’s various states.

Japan is a mountainous country. From Echizen Province to Heijo-kyo, there are mountains and hills in between, covered with lush forests, but there are gullies between the hills, and where there are gullies, there are roads.

More importantly, there is a huge lake between the two places, Lake Biwa, which is the largest freshwater lake in Japan. The two banks are densely populated and crisscrossed with roads. Under the leadership of Yang Chengqing, the army marched quickly along the west bank of Lake Biwa.

At night, when they were still thirty miles away from Heijokyo, a large number of ambushes suddenly emerged from the woods on both sides, and arrows rained down. The Tang army's vanguard was caught off guard and was hit by arrows one after another.

Immediately afterwards, countless men in black rushed out at an extremely fast speed.

Yao Zhen, the commander of the front army, shouted: "The enemy is attacking by surprise, form a battle array to protect the injured brothers!"

The Tang army was well-trained and did not panic when faced with the sneak attack. The remaining 5,000 soldiers quickly stood shoulder to shoulder and back to back, raised their spears and formed a spear formation. The thousands of men in black were all swordsmen and could not break into the spear formation. Only bursts of strange drum sounds were heard, and the thousands of men in black retreated quickly like a group of monkeys.

Soon, the main force of the Tang army came up from behind. Li Chengshi ordered the entire army to stop marching and asked military doctors to treat the injured soldiers.

The Japanese army's bamboo and wooden bows were all single bows, which could be used to shoot rabbits, roe deer, sheep, and deer. However, compared with the Tang army's compound bows and crossbows, their lethality was far inferior. Even if they could barely penetrate the Tang army's sturdy leather armor, it would only cause flesh wounds and not hurt vital parts.

However, more than 30 Tang soldiers were killed by arrows, and all of them were shot in the neck and face.

Li Chengshi ordered the corpse to be cremated and the bones to be put into a jar and brought back to the Tang Dynasty. He also ordered the soldiers to rest in place and continue marching after daybreak.

The Japanese sneak attack was actually intended to stop the Tang army from advancing and buy time for the Japanese court.

Coincidentally, at the same time that the Tang army sent troops to Japan, the Japanese court was also mobilizing a large number of troops to support the Bohai Kingdom.

Due to poor communications and delayed news, people in Japan did not know that the Japanese army in Bohai had been completely destroyed. They still thought that the Japanese army had occupied a large territory of Bohai.

As a result, all the powerful families in Japan wanted to get a piece of the pie, including the Fujiwara clan, the Soga clan, the Abe clan, the Kose clan, the Otomo clan and other powerful families. They all sent troops to gather in Heijo-kyo, preparing to divide the Bohai Kingdom.

Armies gathered in Heijokyo from all directions, and the Japanese imperial army quickly increased from 20,000 to more than 60,000.

Just at this time, the Japanese court received news that a Tang army had landed in the northern city of Songyuan. This shocked the entire Japanese court, but they all knew that something must have happened in the Bohai Kingdom.

At this time, the imperial court received accurate intelligence that the number of Tang troops was about 25,000. Under the strong insistence of the powerful minister Dokyo Ho-oh, the Japanese court quickly reached a consensus that the enemy must be kept outside the imperial city.

The 60,000-man army led by the Eight Guards Shogun Fujiwara no Toyonari marched north, ready to deal a heavy blow to the Tang army.

The Tang army passed through the hilly area and entered the flat Nara Basin. The Tang army scouts had discovered the main force of the Japanese army 20 miles ahead and immediately reported it to Li Chengshi.

Li Chengshi was a little surprised. The main forces of the Japanese court had all gone to Bohai Kingdom, so how come 60,000 troops suddenly appeared?
Yang Chengqing saw through it and said to Li Chengshi, "It should be the private army of the powerful families. Japan seized the Bohai Kingdom, and these powerful families also want to get a piece of the pie and seize a piece of land. So they sent troops to gather in the capital, not to defend against us. We only landed the day before yesterday afternoon, and they didn't have enough time."

Li Chengshi agreed with Yang Chengqing's analysis. He smiled and said, "If they come to us in droves, wouldn't it save me the trouble of going to each household to clear them out?"

Although Li Chengshi looked down on the Japanese army from the bottom of his heart, he did not underestimate the enemy and made deployments immediately.

Two thousand heavy armored infantry were deployed in the front, followed by five thousand crossbowmen, and behind them were twenty thousand spearmen.

Among the five thousand crossbows, there are two thousand crossbow cavalry. The crossbow cavalry are also spear cavalry. In addition to shooting crossbows, they also have another important role, which is to protect the sides and back of the heavy armored infantry.

In addition, when the enemy army is defeated, two thousand cavalrymen will rush to the front to intercept the enemy.

This time, Li Chengshi did not arrange arrow mines or explosive arrows. He knew very well that as soon as the arrow mines were launched, the Japanese army would surely flee in all directions, thus losing the opportunity to wipe out the enemy.

Only by using cold weapons and fighting a bloody battle with the Japanese army can we annihilate the enemy's vitality to the greatest extent and destroy the enemy physically.

Sixty thousand Japanese troops also appeared ten miles away, consisting of twenty thousand cavalry and forty thousand samurai groups.

They were exactly the same as the Japanese troops of Bohai Kingdom, with each of them being short, like a nine-year-old child. However, unlike the Japanese troops of Bohai Kingdom, this Japanese army had long weapons, the naginata.

The naginata was probably created by monks among the Tang envoys who were inspired by the long-handled swords of the Tang army and then imitated it in Japan. A tachi was mounted on a wooden pole, which looked like a pheasant's tail feathers, hence the name naginata.

However, this kind of sword could not be used in the Japanese army. On the one hand, it had only been around for a short period of more than ten years, and was only used by monks. The Japanese army was mainly composed of samurai, and the samurai who liked to carry swords to show off did not accept this long weapon. They believed that the naginata was similar to a farm tool and was a low-grade weapon used by the lower class.

But there is a more important aspect. It is not practical and the wooden pole can be easily cut in half with a single knife. This is fundamentally different from the long weapon poles of the Tang army.

The standard long weapon pole of the Tang army is not an ordinary wooden pole. It is made of extremely tough beech or ash wood. It is tightly wrapped with a layer of cloth, repeatedly soaked in oil and dried. It takes three years to complete. Finally, it is equipped with a spear head or a knife head. Ordinary knives cannot cut it, and it can remain immortal for decades.

At this time, the two sides were getting closer and closer, only two miles apart.

Fujiwara no Toyonari narrowed his eyes and calculated the number of Tang troops, which was only about 25,000. His troops were twice as many as the enemy's, so he would definitely win this battle. He drew his sword, pointed at the Tang army and shouted loudly: "Attack!"

(End of this chapter)