I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 686: Vice General of the World

The daimyō who were appointed to the throne had to go to Edo on a rotational basis to attend the ceremony. Even if it was not their turn this year, their wives, children and ministers would still have to stay in Edo.

For example, Shimazu Yoshiki's son Shimazu Tsutoyo was born and raised in Edo, and even his name was given by the former shogun.

Shimazu Yoshiki did not need to go to Edo because he gave up the position of governor of the family to his son. The son happened to stay in Edo to recuperate and fulfill his duty of attendance and marry the shogunate. However, he continued to hold the power of the governor of the family in the name of the future.

Kill two birds with one stone!

Until his grandson became a bastard again. The adopted daughter Joganin who was married to the previous shogun failed to give birth to an heir.

Starting from Shimazu Yoshiki and ending with his grandson, they have been bastards for three consecutive generations, which is very troublesome.

But he had no choice, because after his grandson was born, this guy was worried about dying of illness.

Now that Edo is besieged by the Ming army, those local daimyo who have not had their turn to go to Edo must send troops to rescue.

But the speed of reinforcements cannot be guaranteed. This is not because the big names are not working hard, but because of the actual situation. Unlike China, Japan has built infrastructure such as post stations and official roads, and even the language has not been unified.

Japanese civilians in many places speak Japanese that they cannot even understand their names.

This problem was not alleviated until after the Meiji Restoration, when Japan implemented compulsory universal literacy, and many spectacled soldiers were successfully born during that period.

Reinforcements from all over the country were sent out after hearing the news, and the one closest to Edo was the Mito Domain.

Mito Domain is also called the Mito Tokugawa family. The ancestor of the family is Tokugawa Yorifu, the eleventh son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of the three royal families of the Edo shogunate. According to Tokugawa Ieyasu's will, the successive lords of the Mito family are "deputies of the world" and must assist the shogun.

Even during the Meiji Restoration, the Mito Domain was classified as Chinese and granted the title of Marquis.

By the way, Zhu Shunsui, who was famous in the late Ming Dynasty, was the teacher of Tokugawa Mitsuki, the second generation lord of Mito Domain.

When the siege of Edo broke out, the shogunate's samurai warriors who failed to enter the city were unable to defeat the Ming army, so they fled to the Mito domain.

While Mito Clan gathered the fleeing samurai, it slowly called on all the Kanto clans to recruit troops to rescue Edo City.

It's not that they deliberately wanted to be so slow. In fact, the family governor is only seven years old this year. The previous family governor, Tokugawa Soyao, died too early, leaving a little baby to succeed him.

The task of recruiting troops to rescue Edo could only be carried out by retainers left over from Zongyao's era, and the efficiency would quickly go to waste.

It wasn't until all the Daimyos of Kanto came to the Mito Domain with their armies to see "Vice General" Tokugawa Sohan taking charge of the overall situation that the Mito Domain's army was ready to be assembled.

And it hasn't been completely assembled yet. The civilian husbands Ashigaru have gathered a lot, but not many samurai retainers. Many are still on the way, and some of them are Hatamoto samurai who escaped from Edo.

At this time, several months had passed since the siege of Edo, and the news that Zhou Yong had captured Kyoto and captured the emperor's family had already reached Mito Domain.

A group of retainer samurai from Mito Domain, as well as the Shodai Daimyo who came with troops, gathered in Mito Castle for a meeting to discuss the matter.

"Edo is in danger now. We should send troops as soon as possible to rescue the general."

"But China is powerful, and if we rush to send troops, regardless of victory or defeat, we may anger the Emperor of China."

"Edo is surrounded, how can it still care about this?"

"That's right. The emperor and the emperor have been captured by the heavenly army. If we don't send troops in time, there is no guarantee that there will be any changes among those great names."

"The Chinese army is strong. According to the Hatamoto samurai, their iron cannons are sharper than our Japanese army. Our Japanese army has not been in battle for a long time, and the civilian ashigaru are even more useless. We still have to wait to gather more You can fight with a warrior!"

"Edo has been besieging the city for more than a month, and the troops are very fast. Not only is it justifiable to send troops now, but they can also go to rescue the emperor and the emperor. As for the iron cannons of the Heavenly Army, the iron cannons need to be ignited. Just choose a rainy day, and the Heavenly Army's iron cannons will be sharp. , it will be difficult to achieve success. The walls of Edo City are strong and thick. We and the general should cooperate internally and externally to catch them unawares, and we will definitely achieve a complete victory."

The last person who spoke was a Daimyo from Shimono Kingdom. This guy obviously read a lot of Confucian classics and could even talk a few idioms.

"You're right, iron cannons are afraid of water. As long as we fight in rainy weather, attack them unprepared, and cooperate inside and outside, we will definitely win a complete victory." All the participating Dai Dai names nodded in agreement.

"Then when is the best time to send troops?" someone asked.

Another Daimyo replied: "Of course the sooner the better. We are gathering troops in a hurry and cannot afford food. We must fight quickly."

There was also a arrogant Shodai Daimyo who said: "We have an army of 100,000 including the Ashigaru civilians. Even if the samurai gather together, there are more than 30,000 people. How can we defeat the heavenly army of several thousand people?"

Thirty thousand people can't beat a few thousand people, so we really don't need to play anymore and go home to wash up and sleep!
"That's a good thing to say."

At least this is what these famous people from all over Kanto thought.

As soon as they left, the Kanto Allied Forces gathered in Mito, and directly appointed the seven-year-old Tokugawa Munehan, the governor of the child family, as their general, and rushed to Edo Castle in a mighty manner.

The total strength of the coalition forces is about 100,000, but the civilians in them account for more than 70%, and most of them have no armor and the weapons are not fully distributed.

There are another 30,000 samurai. They are said to be samurai, but they are actually improvised from various Kanto vassals. There are not only serious city samurai, but also many rural samurai brought over, and some ronin temporarily recruited by the Mito clan.

In general, this is a fish and dragon... no, it is a mixed bag of fish and loaches, a miscellaneous army among miscellaneous brands.

The Kwantung Allied Forces moved south very quickly because they used waterways. After crossing my grandson's residence (a street where they stayed), they were finally discovered by the Ming Army's reconnaissance cavalry.

The rise of the Tonegawa water transport in the Edo period led the locals to establish Ogashijuku. It is very close to Edo and naturally became a transportation hub.

The Ming Army's reconnaissance cavalry discovered the Kwantung Allied Forces, and they naturally also discovered the existence of the Ming Army. It's a pity that the two sides are not at the same level at all. The Kwantung Allied Forces feel that they have more soldiers and generals. They just need to be prepared for the Ming army's night attack and gallop south to wait for the decisive battle on the rainy day.

"Grandma, I've been waiting for these guys for almost a month, and finally reinforcements have arrived!"

When Wang Zongtan got the news, he immediately cursed angrily: "If it were my Ming Dynasty who kept complaining like this, I would have to cut them all down. By the way, where did you just say they stopped, my grandson? What kind of weird name is this?" "

The name is really strange. It is said that it is a noble name passed down from the Imperial family.

My grandson is a noble? Niubi.

"Boom boom boom!"

The Ming army's artillery immediately bombarded Edo Castle.

Prime Minister Ooka was startled, thinking that the Ming army was about to launch an attack on the city, and hurriedly mobilized troops to help defend the city wall, not daring to venture out of the city to investigate the situation without permission.

Wang Zongtan divided his troops into three thousand, took away all the cavalry, boarded the captured Japanese pirate ship, and quickly rushed to my grandson.

In just one day, they arrived at the camp of the Kwantung Allied Forces.

It was dark, and not long after the Kwantung Allied Forces fell asleep, they suddenly heard someone shouting a warning.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! It's the Chinese army, the Chinese army is coming!"

The other coalition samurai were resting, but the Hatamoto samurai who had escaped from Edo were the most alert.

Once he heard that he had been exposed, Wang Zongtan simply didn't bother to conduct any more night raids and lit torches directly.

The three thousand infantry did not launch a direct charge, but the five hundred cavalry advanced first, throwing grenades everywhere at the enemy camp.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

It doesn't matter how many people were bombed. What's important is that the Kwantung Allied Forces were originally very disorganized. Most of them were civilians and had no fighting ability. They also generally suffered from night blindness (pathological night blindness caused by not eating meat).

Being bombarded by Ming army's grenades indiscriminately, they didn't even have time to gather their troops, and the camp was blown up in an instant.

The civilian ashigaru were crying and running around, not listening to orders at all. Many samurai woke up from their sleep and had no idea what happened when they got up.

There was a mess everywhere, and... it was pitch black.

Tokugawa Munehan, the general of the coalition forces, is a seven-year-old baby who only eats rice and salted fish every day and cannot keep up with his nutrition, so he needs sleep very much.

The bombing of the camp did not wake him up, but he was woken up by his personal samurai and nanny.

"What's wrong?" Tokugawa Zonghan rubbed his sleepy eyes.

The warrior said anxiously: "Master Governor, the Celestial Army is attacking at night!"

"Then defend the enemy?" Tokugawa Zonghan looked confused.

The warrior was stunned, knowing that what he said was in vain, so he could only say: "Master, please come up quickly, I will carry you on my back and escape."

Tokugawa Sohan was still very confused, and he was carried out by the samurai on his back. Several retainers had already come over with the samurai. They tied the little baby governor to the samurai's back and ran away.

While running, the little kid fell asleep again.

As for the lords of various feudal dynasties in other camps, some wanted to lead warriors to resist, while others also ran away.

The infantry of the Ming army could not catch up, so they simply let the cavalry chase. Only a few groups escaped on horseback, and the number of torches was less than 300.

The five hundred Ming army scout cavalry turned into combat soldiers on the spot and divided into several groups to pursue each other.

Japanese war horses have short legs, and even the daimyo's horse is not very tall. It is certainly not as good as the Ming army's Marwar war horse.

Moreover, it was still dark and the horses could not be seen. The riding skills of those daimyo were not as good as the Ming army cavalry, so naturally they could not run fast.

Soon these escaping daimyo warriors were driven out, and all those who resisted were killed. After several waves of attacks, all the Kanto daimyo became prisoners.

There were also a few who couldn't bear the humiliation and chose to commit suicide on the spot.

Tokugawa Munehan, the nominal general of the coalition forces, failed to escape. It was really inconvenient to escape with a little baby, and the samurai had to protect the little governor.

After being overtaken by the Ming army's cavalry, they could not even charge and resist: "We are samurai of the Mito domain. On my back is the Mito family governor Tokugawa Sohan, who is also the deputy general of the world. Don't kill us."

Wang Zongtan didn't waste much effort. He attacked dozens of miles in one day and defeated the "100,000 Kwantung Allied Forces".

Moreover, there was an unexpected surprise: he actually captured the "deputy general" of the shogunate.

　My grandson's name is very popular in Japan, and in the year of the Guangzhou Asian Games, a Japanese athlete called me grandson, and he succeeded in finishing third, overshadowing the championship.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)