Jingtai Fengyun: The First Absurd Emperor of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 736 Akamatsu raids Changlu Ikui, Kyoto collapses and Ouchi surrenders

On July 21, Dingguo Duke Xu Yongning and Xinghan Marquis Chen Mingde brought the main force of the navy to Sakai Port.

Also transported together were 5,000 sets of armor, 10,000 magic guns, and 100 artillery pieces.

But these are not for the Ming army.

As soon as the ship arrived at the port, Xu Heng asked the Chisong family to take away the ordnance.

This batch of ordnance is not given or sent, but is temporarily loaned and needs to be returned after the war.

Mitsuu Akamatsu assassinated the sixth shogun Ashikaga Yoshitsune, and the shogunate army killed nearly all of the Akamatsu clan.

Now it's time to settle the score.

In order to break the situation quickly, Xu Heng started a proxy war.

The Chisong clan was happy to fight this battle. Only by making contributions to the Ming Dynasty could they be qualified to continue to buy food from the Ming army and be in a favorable position after the war.

The most important thing is that more than 70 members of the Akamatsu clan died back then, and now that the Muromachi shogunate has become a lost cause, the opportunity for revenge has arrived.

On July 26, as soon as Ashikaga Yoshimasa opened his eyes, Hino Tomiko came to report that the 20,000 elite men who had been blocked by the Ming army at Owari could return to Kyoto in two days.

Ashikaga Yoshimasa was stunned after hearing this. Previously, the Kamakura shogunate's Ashikaga Shige clan and the Kanto governor's Uesugi clan had become involved, and the Muromachi shogunate sent 30,000 people to support the Uesugi clan.

Later, the Ming army landed in Ise and Owari, and the Muromachi shogunate transferred back another 20,000 troops to defend Kyoto.

As a result, these 20,000 people were blocked by the Ming army at the end of the battle, unable to advance or retreat.

But suddenly, the Ming army let it go, and the 20,000 people returned to Kyoto without any hindrance.

Something went wrong. What did the Ming army want to do?

Hino Tomiko advised: "No matter what, having 20,000 more people is always a good thing."

Ashikaga Yoshimasa replied angrily: "Woman's opinion, what's the point? Originally there were 60,000 to 70,000 troops in Kyoto, but now there are 20,000 more.

Is that 20,000 people? That’s 20,000 mouths!

There is no need to fight, the lack of food alone is enough for us to collapse without a fight.

This is all a conspiracy, Duke An Guo of the Ming Dynasty must have been too ruthless. "

The situation has reached this point, Ashikaga Yoshimasa has become discouraged. Since the sneak attack on Busan and Jeju Island failed one after another and the entire navy was destroyed, failure was doomed.

The current battlefield situation is exactly the same as the Battle of Changping. Let's fight decisively. The Ming army's fortress is extremely strong and a strong attack will definitely not succeed. If we don't fight decisively, we have no food to eat. In less than a month, we will definitely collapse and collapse without a fight.

At the end, Ashikaga Yoshimasa slammed the table: "I personally wrote a letter of war and made an appointment with Duke Anguo of the Ming Dynasty. Five days later, I am willing to fight a fair battle with equal forces."

In the afternoon, Xu Heng received the letter of war and announced it to everyone.

Yue Zheng smiled and said: "Why do you want to accept the invitation of General Zhengyi? We can only defend for a month at most and we can win without fighting."

Xu Heng shook his head: "I think it's better to agree. Ashikaga Yoshimasa needs to go through a decisive battle and give an explanation to his superiors.

With this explanation, they could surrender with peace of mind.

Let's fight with equal strength, so they don't have to say that we can't win with force or that they are unwilling to admit it.

We agreed that neither side would use firearms and would use heavy armor to kill light armor. Wouldn't that be a one-sided massacre? "

Xu Heng said this, and others no longer objected. After all, soldiers also need heads. With heads, they can be rewarded for their merits, promoted and made rich.

To prevent people from doing meritorious deeds is like killing their parents. So Xu Heng also replied to the letter in person and ordered the entire army to prepare for war.

July 27th, early in the morning.

On the first day when Ashikaga Yoshimasa commanded the soldiers to prepare for the war, five thousand heavy armored elites of the Akamatsu clan entered Kyoto.

Kyoto has no city walls, so it would be a bit difficult to imitate Emperor Jingtai of the Ming Dynasty and defend the capital.

But Ashikaga Yoshimasa didn't care at first, and scolded the generals: "It's just the five thousand remaining members of the Akamatsu clan. It would be better if we mobilized heavy troops to drive them all out and kill them."

Arima Chika replied with a grimace: "My lord, all the enemies are wearing heavy armor, while we are all wearing light armor, or even no armor. It would be really hard to fight, and we can't hold it back at all."

"Heavy armor? Where did you get the heavy armor?"

No one answered, the question was self-explanatory.

Ashikaga Yoshimasa suddenly realized that it was no wonder that Duke Anguo of Ming Dynasty agreed so happily. It turned out that the arrangements had been made clearly.

There was no other way. They were supposed to reorganize the army and prepare for a decisive battle, but now they could only send the most elite warriors to resist the Akamatsu clan's attack.

The fighting lasted until the afternoon of the next day, when 20,000 elite soldiers who came back from Owari finally arrived. Under attack from both inside and outside, they fought hard for another two hours, until the Akamatsu clan retreated after dark.

The shogunate army repaired for two days, and this difficult July was finally over.

On the first day of August, Ashikaga Yoshimasa got up early and prepared to lead his army to set off. Tomorrow was the scheduled decisive battle and he had to rush to the battlefield in advance.

Unfortunately, I didn't even have time to eat breakfast. When the personal soldiers came to report, Tu Yikui broke out. Tens of thousands of people poured into Kyoto, occupied Hoshoji Temple and its surroundings, and confronted the shogunate army.

Ashikaga Yoshimasa was dumbfounded again. His teeth were clogged no matter how hard he drank cold water. Why is it such a coincidence that Doichi Kui will break out sooner or later? There will be a decisive battle tomorrow. You told me that Doichi Kui broke out.

This question can be answered by a private soldier: "My lord, when the 20,000 reinforcements came back, they robbed the people of food and livestock along the way. In previous years, they robbed people. But this year there is a severe drought, and everyone is already unhappy. How can we resist doing this?" Once they were robbed, it would be strange if they didn’t resist.”

It turns out that was the case. Ashikaga Yoshimasa understood the whole story, but there was nothing he could do about it. Tens of thousands of people may be bombarded, but they won't go away; they may be persuaded, but they don't understand.

Killing them all seemed possible, but An Guogong and others had to smile crookedly.

In this way, when the Ming army attacks Japan, it will be a matter of raising up the majestic king's army and rebels to punish the unjust and save the common people from disaster.

Ashikaga Yoshimasa figured out that this civil uprising was also planned by Anguo Gong. He deliberately sent back 20,000 reinforcements. As expected, Kyoto was in a state of uproar.

Unable to play with this old fox, Ashikaga Yoshimasa felt a sense of powerlessness deep in his heart, so he broke the jar and threw it:

"I would rather be in pieces than in ruins. Leave 30,000 people to protect the imperial palace and guard the capital. The remaining people go with me to fight to the death with the Ming army, and take the Ming Emperor in our hands with us."

Ashikaga Yoshimasa marched towards Sakai Port with an army of 40,000.

Xu Heng and others had breakfast and were gathering in the Chinese army's tent to discuss matters. Soldiers came in and reported: "My lord, the special envoy of the Great Internal Affairs Bureau has come to ask for surrender."

Xu Heng smiled at everyone and said: "He surrendered at the right time. If it's a few days later, he won't need to surrender alone. Okay, let the special envoy come in."

The special envoy of Ouchi Masahiro came in and handed over a form of surrender, as well as a handwritten letter from the Emperor of Heaven accepting the surrender and praising Ouchi Masahiro.

Everyone stood up and watched. It was not surprising that they surrendered, but Hongzhen, the great internal minister, was prepared for a rainy day and was able to get the emperor's approval.

(End of this chapter)