Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 222
In addition to those who were killed and kidnapped by the rebels, most of the Japanese in Hagi Castle also escaped through the back door, and only a few hundred people escaped through the front door.

After the Ming army drove these hundreds of Japanese people into a valley, they sent people to guard the entrance of the valley and used the valley as a temporary prisoner of war camp.

Subsequently, while waiting for the fire in Hagi Castle to be extinguished, the Ming army also began to sort out the [-] surrendered prisoners of war. First, they selected those who were willing to surrender and serve the Ming army, and then removed those who were hiding among them and posing as soldiers. The generals found out and executed the Japanese generals who were unwilling to surrender.

Then they drove the remaining surrendered soldiers into the prisoner-of-war camp in the valley, waiting for the imperial ship to transport labor to Siberia to come and meet them.

After the destruction of Hagi Castle, the feudal lord Mouri Hidemoto fled to the Yamaguchi Castle of the Shufang clan. The Nagato clan and the Shukō clan both belonged to the Choshu clan and were the territory of the Mouri family. Now the Nagato clan has fallen into the hands of the Ming army. , Maori Xiuyuan had no choice but to flee to Zhoufang Fan.

After occupying the Nagato Domain, land transportation between Honshu Island and Kyushu Island was cut off. The Japanese army had to take the sea route if they wanted to go to Kyushu Island.

Although the sea route between Honshu Island and Kyushu Island is very close, if you want to transport a large number of troops across the sea, you still need a lot of ships, which is not that simple.

Therefore, now the Ming army can safely turn around and digest the entire Kyushu Island. Today, there are still six kingdoms on Kyushu Island: Chikugo Domain, Bungo Domain, Higo Domain, Hyuga Domain, Satsuma Domain and Ohsumi Domain that have not been conquered. The Ming army has been defeated, and now it's time to go back and deal with them.

The Ming army fought a decisive battle with the Japanese army at Hagi Castle of the Nagato clan. They also needed to send troops to stay in the areas that had been captured in the rear. After all, there were still six kingdoms on Kyushu Island that had not been defeated by the Ming army. They were likely to take the opportunity to make a sneak attack. The rear of the Ming army.

However, Zhu Tianqi had already thought of this problem that Li Banghua was worried about in advance, and secretly sent someone to give an order to Mao Wenlong on the Osumi Islands, asking him to cross the sea to attack Osumi, Satsuma and Hyuga. In this way, this The six kingdoms had to guard against Mao Wenlong from the Osumi Islands in the south, and did not dare to send troops to leave the vassal to attack the rear of the Ming army.

However, the connection between Zhu Tianqi and Mao Wenlong was naturally not allowed to be known to Li Banghua. Therefore, Zhu Tianqi just told Li Banghua that there was no need to worry about the problems in the rear. Just gather troops to fight the Japanese army in Hagi Castle. There was Mao Wenlong in the south of the Japanese country. , they dare not act rashly.

Li Banghua didn't know that Mao Wenlong was also a friendly force to some extent, so naturally he couldn't completely relax. The emperor Quan was trying to comfort himself, but he still carefully left a few troops as a defensive force in the place where defense should be fortified. Then he led his army to attack Hagi Castle.

Mao Wenlong's troops were not as powerful as the Ming army, and their equipment was not as sophisticated as the Ming army. They were all new steel cannons and flintlock muskets.

But after all, Mao Wenlong's troops participated in the battle to regain Liaodong, and they still received a batch of new equipment issued by the court, but they were not like Li Banghua's navy, which could shoot with one man or two with one cannon.

But even so, relying on the three to four thousand flintlock guns, five to six thousand matchlock guns, three hundred new steel cannons, five hundred new Hongyi cannons, and one thousand new tiger squat cannons, the old-fashioned There are three thousand artillery pieces of various colors, which is considered well-equipped compared with the Japanese army.

Therefore, even if Mao Wenlong's troops fought against the Japanese army and could not defeat the Japanese army with almost no casualties like the Ming army, they could still control the casualties to a very small level, rendering the Japanese army unable to fight back.

After all, Mao Wenlong was a ferocious big pirate. He did not have the same bottom line as the Ming army. Once he defeated the Japanese army and occupied the Japanese territory, he would burn, kill and loot, leaving a mess everywhere he passed. , wreckage is everywhere.

In comparison, the Ming army's treatment plan for the Japanese was very benevolent. Not only did they not beat or scold them, but they also took care of food and housing. They also distributed work, and they were all hereditary and irreplaceable iron rice bowls.

While Mao Wenlong's tribe was wreaking havoc on the three kingdoms in the southern half of Kyushu Island, the Ming army also began to march southward towards Bungo Domain, Chikugo Domain and Higo Domain.

Chikugo Domain only had two cities, Kurume and Yanagawa, which were easily captured by the Ming army.

The Higo Clan was relatively larger and protected the Amakusa Islands. There were more than a dozen counties in total, but it only had two castles, Kumamoto and Hitoyoshi, and two battle houses, Takase and Uto. The Ming army still spent some effort to conquer them. It was completely occupied by Higo Domain.

Although Bungo Clan on the east side is not large, it is richer and more powerful than Chikugo Clan and Higo Clan. There are six castles alone, namely Hinode Castle, Kitsuki Castle, Fuuchi Castle, Usuki Castle, and Oka. Castle, Saeki Castle, and Hita, a land directly under the shogunate.

However, the Ming army's offensive against the Bungo Domain became more and more rapid. Li Banghua deliberately waited for several Ming armies to attack the Higo Domain and Chikugo Domain to gather in the Bungo Domain before ordering his troops to march eastward. The result was that Naturally, the Ming army was overwhelming all the way, and the Japanese army had no power to fight back. Six cities were captured in an instant, and Bungo Domain fell into the hands of the Ming army in an instant.

After occupying Bungo Domain, the Ming army had controlled the entire northern half of Kyushu Island, and was about to meet with the Mobunryu tribe operating in the southern half.

However, just when Li Banghua and Zheng Zhilong were discussing whether to take the opportunity to go to war with Mao Wenlong and complete the plan to annihilate the traitor Mao Wenlong that had not been completed in Jeju Island before, all of Mao Wenlong's troops suddenly withdrew from Kyushu Island and withdrew to the Osumi Islands.

The news of Mao Wenlong's evacuation from Kyushu Island came from the Japanese people who fled from the southern half of Kyushu Island.

As the territory occupied by the Ming army became larger and larger, more and more Japanese people were in the occupied areas. Although the Ming army had a clear "Disposal Plan for the Occupied Areas", local Japanese people were concentrated wherever they went. .

However, as the number of people involved increased, tens of thousands of Ming troops had to divert and deal with millions of Japanese people. Naturally, they were unable to do so, and they were more than willing but insufficient. In addition, the Japanese country had many mountains and jungles, so it was difficult to ensure that no fish slipped through the net. .

If only a few people were missed, it would not be a big problem. I am afraid that if the Ming army invades the Japanese vassal counties in a large scale, it is inevitable that some Japanese people will organize a resistance army on their own and engage in some hostile and sabotage acts against the Ming army in the rear.

Therefore, Zhu Tianqi had already ordered Li Banghua to send people to carry out pacification and propaganda work in the occupied areas. As much as possible, these tasks should be handed over to the "Ming Xie Army" composed of surrendered Japanese soldiers. Compared with the Ming Army, they could make The Japanese people arrived to be more "friendly" and had a clearer understanding of the topography and population of the Japanese country.Therefore, in the areas currently occupied by the Ming army, in all counties and villages, you can see the "Ming Xiejun" beating gongs and drums and walking in the streets. Sometimes they post "Announcements of Anmin" and sometimes they shout : "Surrender to the Ming army, be a good citizen, and the Ming army will give you preferential treatment!"

At the same time, these Ming Xiejun also vigorously publicized to the Japanese people that the Ming Dynasty's conquest of the Japanese was to blame the Tokugawa shogunate, not against the Japanese people. This war was also initiated by the Tokugawa shogunate. They attacked passing Ming warships in the sea area and provoked the Ming army. They also allowed the Satsuma clan to invade the Ryukyu Kingdom, a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty...

In short, according to the Ming Xiejun, all the blame for this war lies on the Tokugawa shogunate, and the Ming army is naturally an existence of absolute justice.

It is precisely because the propaganda work of the Ming army was so good that almost no one in the Japanese country was hostile to the Ming army. On the contrary, they all resented the Tokugawa shogunate. Even some Japanese people who were oppressed by the Tokugawa shogunate and the feudal lord daimyo, Instead, they welcomed the Ming army who came.

The Japanese people in the southern half of Kyushu Island are a typical example. After they were invaded by Mao Wenlong's tribe, they were like living in hell on earth. Therefore, in their eyes, the area occupied by the Ming army in the northern half of Kyushu Island was simply paradise, so These Japanese people began to flee to the north one after another, and even took the initiative to find the Ming army to surrender.

Naturally, the Ming Army accepted all the Japanese people who came to their door. However, in order to prevent spies from getting in, they still had to conduct a certain screening process. The Japanese people from the Ming Xie Army were also needed to help with the screening. They could tell which ones People are ordinary people, and who are warriors or dignitaries.

After Li Banghua learned that Mao Wenlong had evacuated Satsuma, Osumi and Hyuga, he immediately sent scouts to investigate and found that there was indeed no trace of Mao Wenlong's tribe. Then he sent three troops to Satsuma, Osumi and Hyuga. , took over the local area.

At this time, in the northern part of Japan, the Ming army marched south from Ezo Island and directly attacked the Mutsu Domain. Then, from the east coast of Honshu Island, they marched all the way down Rikuchu Domain, Rikuzen Domain, Iwaki Domain, and Hitachi Domain, and attacked Musashi Domain's Edo Castle. Come.

Although the Ming army on this route only had [-] soldiers and horses, they were all elite Liao troops. The leading general was a young general named Wu Sangui, who was the nephew of Zu Dashou, the envoy of Nuergan.

Although Wu Sangui was only 24 years old this year, he was extremely brave in combat. This time, the court gave Zu Dashou an order to send people south from Kuwu Island to attack the Japanese country. Zu Dashou also wanted to support his nephew Wu Sangui, so he specially arranged this mission handed it to him.

When Wu Sangui was young and vigorous and wanted to make contributions, he happily received [-] Liao troops from his uncle and set off from Kuwu Island.

Also to express himself, Wu Sangui marched in a hurry along the way. The Japanese army was already empty of troops in various places, and the Ming army was coming with ferocity. In a month, they reached Shimoso-han on the east side of Musashi Domain, and there was only Katsushika County between them and Edo Castle.

At this moment, Tokugawa Iemitsu led a hundred thousand defeated troops and finally hurried back to Edo. After seeing that Edo City was still intact, Tokugawa Iemitsu breathed a deep sigh of relief.

But at this time, Edo City was already shrouded in fear. The [-] Ming Army in the East were staring at Edo City like [-] evil ghosts, ready to trample Edo City to the ground at any time.

The cities of Japan were different from those of the Ming Dynasty. Except for the cities of generals, lords, and daimyo, they were not surrounded by walls. Therefore, they had no power to fight back when the army came.

Many people in Edo have begun to flee westward. After learning the news that the Ming army was marching south from Ezo Island, the dignitaries in the city also began to transfer their properties and relocate their families.

Although the ministers in the shogunate remained firmly seated in Edo Castle on the surface in order to show their loyalty to the general Tokugawa Iemitsu, in fact they had already arranged their move and fled quickly when the Ming army arrived. .

After Tokugawa Iemitsu returned to the shogunate, he felt unable to sleep peacefully. The fear always shrouded his heart. He had to summon six of his men to discuss what should be done next.

Matsudaira Nobutsuna and Horita Masamori agreed that Edo must be abandoned and transferred to Kyoto immediately.

The other four people objected. They believed that since the Japanese country still had 20 soldiers and horses, plus the samurai and retainers of various families in Edo City, how could they gather [-] to [-] soldiers and horses? The Ming army that attacked was less than [-]. If they fought to the death, they might not be able to defeat the Ming army and save Edo Castle.

The four of them had previously been firm warriors in their attitude towards the Ming Dynasty, but now they still focus on fighting rather than fleeing, which can be considered persistent.

And the main reason why they thought they could fight the Ming army was because the Ming army attacking from the north was different from the Ming army from the south. They did not have huge cannons in their hands, and they were all lightly armed.

They believe that the reason why the Japanese army could not defeat the Ming army before was mainly because of their equipment. Without those powerful artillery, the Ming army would not be so scary.

After hearing what the four of them said, Tokugawa Iemitsu couldn't help but feel a little moved. After all, besides being reluctant to abandon Edo Castle, he really needed a victory. Since the war with the Ming army, the Japanese army had suffered a series of disastrous defeats. The Tokugawa shogunate had been disgraced, and his prestige as a general was also gone.

You must know that Tokugawa Iemitsu has just taken over the actual power of the shogunate from his father Tokugawa Hidetada. He has just taken charge of the government and it is the time when he should establish his prestige. If he continues to be so cowardly, he may not be able to convince the public in the future.

Furthermore, Tokugawa Iemitsu's trust in Matsudaira Nobutsuna and Horita Masamori was also shaken. Previously, Tokugawa Iemitsu had followed the advice of Matsudaira Nobutsuna and Horita Masamori. However, in the end, Japan But it turned into the current situation, which made Tokugawa Iemitsu begin to doubt the wisdom of the two of them, and turned to move closer to the other four.

Matsudaira Nobutsuna and Horita Masamori were squeezed out by the other four precisely because Tokugawa Iemitsu's trust in them was shaken. After the four people's persuasion, Tokugawa Iemitsu finally made up his mind to fight with Ming. When the army fought again, he immediately followed the suggestions of the four people and ordered the samurai throughout Edo to summon their retainers to prepare for the war, and all men and women in the city were required to participate in the battle and serve in the battle.

(End of this chapter)