Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 220 Battle of Hagiwara
The Bunzen Domain, which is located on the east side of Chikuzen Domain, is more suitable. Bunzen Domain is connected to Chikuzen Domain. Kokura Castle is located on the west side of Bunzen Domain, close to the junction of Chikuzen Domain and Bunzen Domain, and Bunzen Domain is also It is located exactly at the northeast corner of Kyushu Island, with the sea at its rear. If the battle goes unfavorably, they can completely retreat across the sea. The Ming army has no ships here and will certainly not be able to pursue it.

The decision was made, and the Japanese army set out from Edo under the leadership of Tokugawa Iemitsu to begin the western expedition. Along the way, many small troops from the imperial army joined. By the time the Japanese army arrived at Shufang Domain, the 20-strong army had already arrived. It became 22 people, and Tokugawa Iemitsu believed that this battle was like a divine help, and he would surely win.

Shufang Domain and Bunzen Domain face each other across the sea. If you want to go overland, you need to go around Nagato Domain. However, at this time, the Ming army has begun to send troops from Chikuzen Domain and go north to attack Nagato Domain.

Seeing that it was hopeless to make a detour from the Nagato Domain to the Buzen Domain, the Tokugawa family simply changed their minds and planned to fight the Ming army in front of the Nagato Domain's Hagi Castle.

The Shufang Domain and the Nagato Domain are collectively called the Choshu Domain. According to the Japanese, the kingdoms like the Zhoufang Domain and the Nagato Domain can also be called the Zhoufang Kingdom and the Nagato Domain, and both countries belong to the Choshu Domain, because the Choshu Domain The domain is the territory of the Mori clan, so it is also called the Mori domain.

The current lord of the Choshu Domain is Hidemoto Mori. He is the adopted son of Terumoto Mori, one of the five elders under Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He participated in the Battle of Bunroku Keicho, the Battle of Sekigahara and the Battle of Osaka. It can be said that he is an actual combatant. He has quite a lot of experience, and he has been serving the Tokugawa family since Tokugawa Ieyasu. He is now considered a veteran of three dynasties, and is currently the imperial guard of Tokugawa Iemitsu.

It is also precisely because Mao Lixiuyuan is a veteran in the battlefield, and he once fought against the Ming army in North Korea, so he is more aware of the strength of the Ming army, and he also knows that the odds of winning this battle against the Japanese are almost slim.

Therefore, although he seems to be willing to give up his main city, Hagi Castle, as a garrison for the Japanese army and as the main battleground against the Ming army, he has secretly sent people to transport his family members and belongings to Edo.

However, Tokugawa Iemitsu was completely unaware of this. He still trusted and relied on Mouri Hidemoto. Even because Mouri Hidemoto had participated in the Battle of Bunroku Keicho and had experience fighting the Ming army, the Tokugawa family Hikaru also appointed Mouri Hidemoto as the vanguard general and asked Mouri Hidemoto to command the battle.

However, Maori Hidemoto had no intention of fighting the Ming army. Now that the battle had not started, Maori Hidemoto was already thinking about how to escape after the defeat.

As for the Ming army, Zheng Zhilong had already received the news. He heard that the Japanese army had assembled 22 troops, claiming to be 30, and marched to Hagi Castle of the Nagato clan, preparing for a decisive battle with the Ming army.

Zheng Zhilong was immediately shocked and hurriedly reported the news to Li Banghua. However, after Li Banghua heard about the incident, he did not show the slightest worry. After all, everyone was watching the fight between the Ming army and the Japanese army. Basically it's crushing.

The Ming army with the new tiger squatting guns and flintlock guns can not only win more with less, but also ensure that the soldiers of the Japanese country can't even fight back. There was no advantage in shooting. Although their warriors were good at close combat, they were unable to rush forward under the intensive artillery fire of the Ming army.

Therefore, even if he heard that the Japanese army had assembled 22 troops, Li Banghua did not have any worries. Although the Ming army in Zhuqian was only 3 people, plus the hundreds of steel cannons and 30 tiger squats in their hands, With cannons and tens of thousands of muskets, Li Banghua guaranteed that they could at least defeat ten with one enemy. Therefore, the Japanese country really had [-] soldiers and horses, and Li Banghua was sure of defeating them.

What's more, now that the Japanese country has only seen these Ming armies on Kyushu Island, it has gathered all the troops from the country and brought them here to fight the Ming army. This has caused the entire Japanese country to become empty of troops and weak in defense. Now, if there is another Ming army coming from other places to fight, what will happen to the Japanese country?
It was because Li Banghua saw the entire war situation very clearly that he acted so calmly. He smiled and told Zheng Zhilong: "General Zheng, don't worry, my reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty will arrive soon!"

"Reinforcements?!" Upon hearing this, Zheng Zhilong suddenly turned from worry to joy.

It’s not that Zheng Zhilong has no confidence in the combat effectiveness of the Ming army, but he has dealt with the Japanese for so many years and knows that the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army is also very strong. It is by no means comparable to small countries such as North Korea and Annan, especially the regular army of the Japanese. They cannot be underestimated.

Therefore, Zheng Zhilong had long been worried because the Ming army had too few troops. Since the imperial court decided to go to war with Japan, the tens of thousands of naval troops brought by Li Banghua alone and the thousands of men he brought must be far away. What's not enough is that they can get some advantages in the early stage. Once the war starts in full swing, the problem of insufficient troops will become more and more prominent.

If the problem really comes to light, the Ming army may have already suffered because of this. You know, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi led the army to attack North Korea, he still had [-] to [-] troops. The Ming army would be stronger than North Korea. How could the Japanese country, which had so many troops, be reluctant to invest even [-] troops?
Fortunately, now I finally heard Li Banghua say that the reinforcements sent by the court were about to arrive. Zheng Zhilong suddenly felt a stone drop in his heart. At the same time, he was very surprised. The court sent reinforcements after all. As long as the Ming army's military disadvantage can be made up, the Japanese can be defeated. It's even easier.

However, what makes Zheng Zhilong feel strange is that until the Ming army gathered in front of Hagi Castle and prepared to fight the Japanese army, the reinforcements Li Banghua mentioned were still missing. Zheng Zhilong suddenly felt unsure again. Although he did not I have been in officialdom for several years, but I still know a lot about the affairs of the court and officialdom. It is common for things that have been promised to change temporarily.

Seeing that the war was about to break out, Zheng Zhilong finally couldn't hold it anymore and ran to find Li Banghua. He saluted and asked, "Master Junmen, our army and the Japanese army are about to go to war. I wonder when the reinforcements from the imperial court will arrive!"

Li Banghua raised his hand to smooth his beard, raised his head, thought for a while, and said, "Based on the time, this matter should have arrived."

Zheng Zhilong was immediately confused after hearing this. He couldn't help but turn around and look into the distance, and then looked at Li Banghua with a puzzled look on his face. "Is Master Junmen joking with me? Please forgive me for being so stupid." , I really can't see where half of my Ming's reinforcements have arrived!"

Li Banghua couldn't help laughing loudly after hearing this, "General Zheng, although I said that our army's reinforcements have arrived, I didn't say that the reinforcements came here?"

Zheng Zhilong was even more puzzled after hearing this. He couldn't help but wonder, if they didn't come here, how could they be called reinforcements?
Li Banghua naturally knew what he was thinking, and immediately explained: "General Zheng, has he ever heard the allusion of 'surrounding Wei and saving Zhao'?"

Although Zheng Zhilong is not a person who is familiar with military history books, he is also very smart. As soon as he heard this, he immediately came back to his senses, "Master Junmen means that our army has already marched directly to Huanglong to make a sneak attack. Did the Japanese go to the rear?"

Li Banghua nodded noncommittally and said: "So General Zheng, you can rest assured to fight the Japanese army decisively. Even with their large numbers, the Japanese army can fight hard against our Ming army. Once they meet in the rear, When news of the attack arrives, the Japanese army will be greatly confused and defeated!"

Zheng Zhilong was finally relieved. He immediately walked out of Li Banghua's commander's tent, waved the flag, and commanded the Ming army to prepare for war with the Japanese army.On the Japanese side, 22 troops have been arrayed in front of Hagi Castle, of which 5 are guarding Hagi Castle. Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu is sitting on the castle tower, and Mouri Hidemoto is wearing armor and commanding the battle on the front line.

In comparison, the number of people on the Ming army's side seems much smaller, but the number of artillery placed on the position is several times that of the Japanese army, and in addition to the artillery, there are also tens of thousands of Ming troops in the array. Carrying a blunderbuss, the equipment is extremely sophisticated.

But even so, if you are an outsider, you will still feel that the Japanese army is more powerful. Not to mention that there are many Japanese soldiers, most of the Japanese soldiers have small flags on their backs, and various flags are fluttering. It looks very impressive!

Zheng Zhilong used a telescope to look at the situation of the Japanese army on the opposite side, especially the equipment of the Japanese army. There were only a few hundred cannons. The best ones were the old-fashioned Hongyi cannons that had been eliminated by the Ming army, not to mention the fire cannons. , are all shotguns, and the total number is less than [-].

Although fire cannons have been introduced to the Japanese country for a long time, due to the limited national strength, even the troops directly under the shogunate only have three to four thousand fire cannons. The spare bird cannons are only five or six thousand. .

The number of firecrackers in the armies of each order is even less, and the number of firecrackers is pitifully small.

Japan's blunderbuss is also a matchlock gun, which can't fire a few bullets in half a day. It has a short range and low power. For the Ming army, it is almost as good as nothing.

But it has to be said that the bamboo shields of the Japanese country are still very useful, because the bamboo shields are very thick, and even the Ming army's firecrackers cannot easily penetrate them. If the soldiers of the Japanese country relied on the bamboo shields to approach the Ming army's position, Then the Ming army will inevitably suffer casualties.

Therefore, Zheng Zhilong gave orders to the artillerymen of the Ming army to adjust their artillery and aim at the bamboo shields of the Japanese army. First, they blew up the bamboo shields of the Japanese army. When the Japanese army had no bunkers, the Ming army could rely on artillery and firecrackers. advantage and annihilate them all.

After the Ming army's artillery was ready, Zheng Zhilong immediately waved his command flag and fired hundreds of giant steel cannons. The Japanese soldiers suddenly became nervous when they heard the sound, and they all looked in the direction of the Ming army's position with wary faces.

Because the positions of the two armies were three or four miles apart, although the Japanese army was vigilant, they did not expect that the Ming army's artillery could hit such a distance. They just thought that this was the order of the Ming army to start the attack.

However, some sharp-eyed Japanese soldiers had already seen hundreds of artillery shells flying out from the Ming army's position and flying towards this side. In an instant, they had reached the sky above their own position. As the cannonballs got closer and closer to them, As they got closer, the appearance of the shells became clearer and clearer in their eyes.

But perhaps because they had never seen a cannon that could hit such a distance, this matter was beyond their knowledge, so that even though these Japanese soldiers had seen the Ming army's cannonballs flying towards them, they did not respond one by one. They just looked at the shells flying towards them with dull faces, but no one ran away in panic.

The next moment, the cannonball fell from the air, instantly smashing the Japanese soldier into two pieces, and then continued to bounce forward. Wherever it went, there were stumps and broken arms. If you touch it, you will die, and if you touch it, you will die. Even though the cannonball It seemed that it was about to lose its power, rolling very slowly, and it was about to stop, but it was still extremely lethal.

When the cannonball was covered with the blood of the Japanese soldiers and flew slowly towards a Japanese soldier, the Japanese soldier saw that the cannonball was about to lose its inertia, and unexpectedly raised his hand to catch it. As a result, his hand As soon as he touched the cannonball, it was instantly broken by the cannonball, and then the cannonball continued to move forward, hitting a circular hole in his chest.

In addition to a large number of Japanese soldiers being killed by cannonballs, dozens of Japanese bamboo shields were also smashed into pieces. In front of the cannonballs, these bamboo shields were as fragile as paper.

Before the Japanese army could recover from the shock, the sound of artillery from the Ming army's position rang out again, and the second artillery bombardment came. The Ming army's artillery shells were mainly aimed at the Japanese army's bamboo shield position, and the surrounding soldiers suffered another casualty. heavy.

Then came the third and fourth rounds...

The Japanese army finally realized that the Ming army's bombardment would not stop. The battle between the two sides had already begun. They could no longer sit there and wait for death. They must attack the Ming army immediately!
Tokugawa Iemitsu was surprised and anxious when he saw it in the city, and quickly urged Hidemoto Mouri to quickly let the army attack the Ming army's position. Hidemoto Mouri had no choice but to give the Japanese army an order to attack with the whole army.

As the Japanese army began to charge towards the Ming army's position, the Ming army's artillery fire stopped instantly. This made Tokugawa Iemitsu secretly relieved, and he was even more convinced that his judgment was correct. Although the Ming army's artillery had a very short range, However, once the Japanese troops advanced rapidly, their artillery could no longer aim and fire.

The Japanese soldiers were secretly glad that the fearful cannonballs finally stopped falling from the sky.

However, just a moment later, the Ming army's artillery suddenly fired again, and this time, the artillery shells did not fall from the sky again, but exploded in mid-air above the Japanese army's heads, exploding countless shrapnel, lead pellets or iron caltrops. , covering the sky and flying towards the Japanese army below, covered by the dense rain of shrapnel, lead pellets and barbed wire, the Japanese army soldiers were killed and injured immediately.

Occasionally, some artillery shells exploded and did not scatter shrapnel, lead pellets or caltrops. Instead, they blew up several small bombs flying everywhere. Then these small bombs exploded among the Japanese troops, densely. The Japanese troops were instantly blasted out of a circular open space.

The Ming army only had a hundred steel cannons. Although they were very lethal, for hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops, the casualties caused by the bombing effect were still minimal, and they were not enough to stop the Japanese troops from charging forward.

(End of this chapter)