big song poppi

Chapter 642 0639 [Old tricks again? ]

Just three days later, the news that Sun Zhi led his troops to attack Heian-kyo reached the ears of Emperor Shirakawa.

After all, it is Japan, and they have the advantage of geographical location. Moreover, it is impossible to hide the transportation of food, supplies and artillery, so it is common to be discovered.

However, Sun Zhi's move was an open strategy, not a conspiracy. Even if the Japanese king and his ministers knew about it, they could do nothing about it.

The capital was empty, with only two or three thousand remnants of defeated soldiers. The Taira, Fujiwara, and Minamoto clans did have soldiers and generals, but they were all stationed far away. It would take at least a month for the samurai from Oshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu to enter the capital.

"What? The Chinese army is coming?"

Sun Zhi's surprise attack was so sudden that even the old fox Baihe Fahuang could not hide his emotions and looked shocked.

Originally, he had expected that even if Fujiwara no Tadamichi's attack failed, the Chinese envoys would lead their troops back to the harbor and wait quietly for the arrival of the Chinese army.

But Emperor Shirakawa never expected that the Chinese envoys would dare to attack Kyoto with such a small number of troops. It was simply unbelievable.

This is Heian-kyō!
The most majestic city in Japan.

A field battle is a field battle, and a siege battle is a siege battle.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu says: The best military operation is to attack the enemy's plans, the next best is to attack their alliances, the next best is to attack their troops, and the worst is to attack their cities. Attacking a city is a last resort.

There were 3,000 defenders in Kyoto, plus nearly 100,000 civilians. Let alone 3,000 people, even 20,000 people would not be able to take it down.

Thinking of this, Emperor Baihe frowned and said, "Are there really only 3,000 Chinese soldiers?"

The attendant replied, "Reporting to the Emperor, there are indeed only 3,000 people. According to the fishmongers at Hyogo Tsu Port, the Chinese envoys only have ten ships this time, and 3,000 people is the limit. No more can be accommodated."

"Well!"

Emperor Shirakawa nodded thoughtfully, then waved his hand and said, "Go and invite the Regent and the left and right ministers."

"Hai!"

The attendant bowed deeply and turned to leave.

Soon, Fujiwara Tadamichi and his two companions arrived.

Emperor Shirakawa didn't waste any words. After the three people knelt down and saluted, he immediately asked, "What do you think about the Chinese envoys leading troops to attack Heian-kyō?"

Upon hearing this, Fujiwara Tadamichi and the other two fell silent.

This matter was indeed a bit strange, and they were not sure for the moment, so they did not dare to speak rashly.

After a moment, Yuan Weiyi was the first to break the silence, saying in an uncertain tone: "Perhaps, the Chinese envoy tasted the sweetness of the previous battle and planned to repeat the same trick, attempting to use the ingenious puppet gunpowder to trick the city gate open."

To be honest, this statement is a bit far-fetched. After all, they have suffered losses once and been fooled once.

As the saying goes, every failure makes you wiser. To try to use the same trick again is to treat them as fools.

But after careful consideration, it seems that there is no other explanation except this one.

Otherwise, why would the enemy use 3,000 men to attack the city, especially Kyoto, the most solid and magnificent capital of Great Japan?

Fujiwara Tadamichi hesitated for a moment, then nodded and agreed, "I think the Right Minister's words make sense."

"I think the Chinese envoy should not be so... arrogant."

Ping Zhongsheng thought about it and did not use the word "stupid" but "arrogant" to describe the behavior of the Chinese envoy.

His experience and intuition honed on the battlefield told him that something was wrong, but he couldn't figure out what.

Fujiwara Tadamichi sneered: "Only a few days have passed. Has Lord Ping forgotten the arrogance and conceit of the Chinese envoy in the palace?"

"Hi, what the Regent Minister said is absolutely right."

Recalling the words and actions of the Chinese envoys in the past few days, Taira Tadamori suppressed his doubts and nodded in response.

After listening to the analysis of the three people, Emperor Shirakawa said in a deep voice: "Whether the Chinese envoys are arrogant or have hidden conspiracies, we must respond with caution. From today on, we will close the gates of Kyoto, concentrate the food in the city, and give priority to the samurai. As long as we can hold out until the samurai from Oshu, Shikoku, Kanto and other places arrive, the Chinese soldiers will retreat."

"Food is of vital importance. It is of utmost importance. I intend to hand it over to the Regent Minister to be in charge of coordinating and allocating it."

"Yes!" Fujiwara Tadamichi nodded solemnly.

Seeing this, Emperor Baihe sneered in his heart.

This kid Zhongtong is such an idiot!
Food is indeed important, but it belongs to logistics. No matter how well you do it, it will be useless because the people and warriors will only remember the commander who defended the city.

With this in mind, Emperor Shirakawa glanced back and forth between Taira Tadamori and Minamoto Tameyoshi, and continued to give orders: "The responsibility of defending the city will be the responsibility of the Left Minister."

The Taira clan has been restless recently, but considering that Taira Tadamori has extensive combat experience, it would be safest to have him in charge.

"Hai!"

Taira Tadamori first accepted the order, and then proposed: "Your Majesty, there are not many warriors in the city, and the Chinese soldiers are brave. Can we let the monks in the city resist the foreign enemies together, and recruit some strong civilians to help defend the city?"

"can."

Emperor Baihe nodded and said, "I will inform the Supreme Monk later and order him to send his monks to guard the city."

……

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Just as the Japanese king and his ministers were busy preparing to defend the city, Sun Zhizheng led two thousand naval soldiers and more than four hundred recruited samurai to Heian-kyo.

These more than 400 Japanese warriors had their own ulterior motives. Some of them really believed the lies made up by Mr. Yin and thought they were fighting for the emperor and for justice.

The other part is simply afraid of death, and after Ju Zhukang throws out the opportunity, they immediately take advantage of it to back off.

There is also a small group of smart people who pretend to be ignorant even though they know the truth, intending to be speculators.

After all, the Japanese class system was rigid, and a samurai was still a samurai. No matter how great their achievements were, they were still samurai. The Taira clan, a samurai family that crossed the class barrier, was the only one in a thousand years. If Emperor Shirakawa had not supported the Taira clan to balance the Fujiwara clan, Taira Tadamori would still be playing in the mud on Shikoku Island.

And what Ju Zhukang said made them see the opportunity.

But no matter what these 400 warriors thought, they were filled with extreme awe and fear of China and did not dare to have the slightest thought of rebellion.

It was really the battle a few nights ago that completely frightened them.

Thunder roared, fire splashed, and then more than a dozen people died...

This is really scary and weird.

In addition to awe and fear, they were also extremely surprised by the food provided by the Chinese army.

It turned out to be corn porridge made with dried fish and vegetables, and a kind of multi-grain bread. After being put into the porridge and boiled, it immediately foamed and expanded, and was sweet and delicious.

Even though they were warriors and belonged to the powerful class, their food was actually very poor, even worse than that of the common people in the Central Plains.

Japan is originally an island, with 70% to 80% of its land being mountains, and only a few plains. The land is barren, and natural and man-made disasters often occur, so the grain harvest is extremely limited.

For hundreds of years, Japan has implemented a policy of isolation, resulting in the decline of trade and the inability to import food from outside.

Samurai like Tachibana Takeyasu, although there are a hundred households in their territory, the amount of food they offer each year is pitifully small, and they usually eat a kind of rice called glutinous rice.

The so-called glutinous rice is a rice ball made by mixing and kneading corn, soybeans, cassava and wild vegetables together and finally steaming them.

This kind of rice ball is very hard, and its texture and taste are worse than wheat rice.

As for rice and noodles, they were basically used to pay tribute and taxes, and were only eaten during major festivals.

But fish...no one eats it.

Many people may not know that after Emperor Saga issued the "meat ban", the Japanese people did not eat meat for hundreds of years, including fish and seafood. The ban was not lifted until after the Meiji Restoration.

The emperor and the dignitaries were vegetarians, so the samurai naturally followed suit, and so did the common people.

This is why the Japanese are thin and short.

Genes are part of it, but not eating meat is more important.

(End of this chapter)