If I fail to overcome the tribulation, I can only return to the Ming Dynasty and become a prince.

Chapter 164 The Japanese gather
Although because of Zhu Zhankun's decisive action, the Japanese daimyo on Kyushu Island did not learn about the capture of Tsushima Island before the Ming army landed, so they missed the best opportunity to assemble the army in advance to resist the Ming army's attack.

However, the huge fleet of the Ming Dynasty arrived in North Korea and occupied Jeju Island to build a stronghold. The daimyo on Kyushu Island could still get this information.

Therefore, although they did not know when the Ming army would land and attack, the Japanese daimyo on Kyushu Island still made some preparations for the war in advance, such as rectifying their armaments, hoarding military rations, and preparing their samurai for war.

However, considering that it was the busy farming season when the Japanese daimyo on Kyushu received the news, they were busy with farming and really did not dare to recruit their subjects on a large scale to become peasant soldiers, so the so-called preparations were just preparations for war. But they were not ready for war.

After all, the Japanese state implemented a feudal system, and even the daimyo relied on their retainers and the samurai and soldiers supported by their retainers to maintain their military strength.

Although the daimyo himself has direct samurai and soldiers, the number is usually not very large. When he really wants to use troops, he still needs to notify his retainers in advance to summon the samurai and soldiers they support, and then gather them under the daimyo to form an army. .

This way of fighting is no different from the European military system of knights and lords. They are all manifestations of feudal enfeoffment.

Chinese civilization was actually very different from this before the Spring and Autumn Period. The Emperor of Zhou divided the princes into vassals, and the princes were the vassals of the Emperor of Zhou. These princes also had their own vassals. When it was necessary to fight with troops, the vassals would bring their respective vassals with them. The soldiers of the family gathered under the command of the princes and followed them to fight.

This kind of military system can certainly ensure that an army with certain combat effectiveness can be maintained in the territory for a long time. After all, armored professional soldiers such as soldiers and samurai are usually the biggest guarantee for a family. As long as the vassals are not particularly bad, , they will be more attentive to maintaining it.

Unless they are really too poor to support themselves, or the vassal himself is a weirdo, he will not search or save in this regard.

But also relatively speaking, if the vassals under them have enough force, it is also easy to develop ambitions. When ambitions match strength, it is easy for the subordinates to overcome the superiors.

This is true in Europe, it is true in Japan, and it is true in China.

Therefore, after China developed its society and achieved great unification, it began to abolish the feudal system. Although this thing continued for hundreds of thousands of years, the feudal system itself was no longer the main military system and political management of Chinese civilization. system, but transformed into a ceremonial aristocratic system.

In Europe, the use of this military system did not end until the rise of the Industrial Revolution and knights were swept into the trash heap of history with muskets.

After all, the central standing army established under the background of unification is stronger than the private armies of the nobles in terms of scale and efficiency.

Although some people will say that extreme mobilization under the enfeoffment system can squeeze out more manpower than the central standing army, the gap in combat effectiveness between the standing army and the levy army is also obvious.

However, the Japanese country was relatively closed and conservative. It was not until modern times that the country was broken open and the old system of the entire country completely collapsed, which was the end of the feudal system.

Now, the Japanese country naturally still has a feudal system. If the daimyo as the lord has not announced the assembly of the army, the vassals cannot summon the army in advance.

So after Zhu Zhankun came over and occupied Fukuoka, the daimyo on Kyushu Island hurriedly began to gather troops to prepare to resist the Ming army's conquest.In fact, having already received the news that the Ming army would launch an attack, the daimyo on Kyushu Island should have been ready for the battle. However, due to the constraints and restrictions of the enfeoffment system itself, Kyushu Island The daimyo cannot summon the army in advance, let alone maintain the state of summoning the army for a long time.

Without him, the vassals would fight with the daimyo, and the daimyo would have to take care of the food.

The richer daimyo could still use money to buy grain from grain merchants. The poorer daimyo, let alone farming, would go on a hunger strike to save food when there was really not enough food. It is not an exaggeration.

Under such circumstances, it was naturally impossible for the daimyo on Kyushu Island to assemble their troops several months in advance and leave the grain waiting to be harvested in the fields to prepare for the Ming army's attack.

If you really do this, I'm afraid your vassals will rebel before the Ming army comes.

So they originally planned to use Tsushima as cannon fodder just like the Yuan Dynasty did when they conquered Japan. The Ming army attacked Tsushima, and the Japanese on the island sent the news back. They could take advantage of the Ming army to attack Tsushima and return from Tsushima. During this time when the island came to Kyushu Island, it summoned troops to defend itself.

In this way, when the Ming army lands on Kyushu Island, they have already assembled a large army, and they can hold on for a while even if they cannot win.

The shogunate will definitely send reinforcements by then, and the battle will still be fought.

If they are more lucky and the Ming army encounters a divine wind and destroys their fleet, then Japan will be able to win another victory in vain.

Don't think this idea of ​​the Japanese is ridiculous. It is precisely because the two Mongolian expeditions against Japan were defeated by typhoons. Therefore, the Japanese have always said that they are a country blessed by the divine wind. When they learned that the Ming army was coming to attack them, In many places in Japan, people pray to the gods and pray for the divine wind to rise again.

But it is obvious that in front of the real dragon, even if the Japanese gods really have the ability to set off the so-called "divine wind", they will not be able to stir up any trouble.

When the daimyo of Kyushu Island spent several days and struggled to bring the "army" of 5000 people together and the three guards and horses led by Fan Zhong, who were not full, met head-on and started a battle, It is fully proved.

Although the army assembled by the Daimyos of Kyushu Island this time included 5000 samurai warriors and long-serving soldiers from various families, and there were also 2 peasant soldiers recruited, the strength was almost that of Zheng Fan's army under Fan Zhong's hand. Three times, but the two sides only fought fiercely for half an hour, and the army finally assembled by the Kyushu daimyo was beaten to collapse.

It's not that these samurai masters didn't fight hard, nor that the peasant soldiers they recruited collapsed at the first touch.

In fact, under the demonizing propaganda of the daimyo, they regarded the Ming army as the Mongols who frequently massacred the city. The morale inspired by defending their homeland was pretty good, even if they withstood the Ming army's muskets and tiger squatting cannons. He dared to launch an attack despite suffering huge casualties.

But the gap in combat effectiveness and equipment cannot be made up by morale and numbers.

(End of this chapter)