Late Ming Dynasty: Conquering the world starting from riding and cutting

Chapter 154 Fifty Years in the World

On the muddy mountain path, dozens of riders were galloping. They were all ragged, looked panicked, and completely lifeless.

It seems to be a defeated army, and as expected, it is Kumamotoo and his Hatamoto samurai.

"drive!"

The fleeing Kumamoto-o completely ignored the wails of the war horses under his crotch, and waved the cowhide whip in his hand with all his strength to let the war horse under his crotch speed up. As long as he reached Fukuoka Castle, he would be able to settle down.

Looking at the walls of the city, Kumamoto finally felt relieved. Three days of galloping had left him exhausted and a huge defeat had devastated his spirit.

As he was about to enter the city, he was stopped by the warriors guarding the city, "Stop whoever comes!"

In a hurry, dozens of people rode on horseback, causing quite a stir. With a shout, all the defenders on the city wall pulled their bows and arrows. As long as the military commander gave an order, they could shoot all these people off their horses.

"I am Kumamoto-o, the head of the Kumamoto family. Please let me into the city to see the Tokugawa Grand Hall!" Kumamoto shouted as he looked at the military guards guarding the city.

After a moment, there was still no response. Kumamoto could already hear the thumping in his heart and the sound of bowstrings and arrows rubbing against the wall.

"Let me do it!"

Matsudaira Nobutsuna, who was behind Kumamoto, suddenly spurred his horse forward and looked up at the city head: "Niwa Yushi, it's me, Matsudaira Nobutsuna, letting us into the city."

"Matsuhira Fengxing!" A commotion immediately came from the top of the city, "Sir Fengxing, don't worry, I will open the door right away."

Niwa Yushi!

Kumamoto sneered and silently remembered this person. When he saw the main hall, he must learn from this person.

By the way, there is also Matsudaira Nobutsuna, this person is not a good person either.

It seems that a defeat made Kumamoto lose his mind. Now all his hopes are placed on Tokugawa Iemitsu, thinking that the main hall will punish these people for him.

After a while, the gates of Fukuoka City opened wide, and Niwa Yushi led a group of samurai out of the city, surrounded the Kumamoto men and collected their weapons.

Kumamoto was surprised to see that they seemed to be using hemp rope.

"What are you doing?! Why are you tying me up?"

Kumamoto wanted to get his sword back, but was held down by several samurai next to him.

"Lord Matsudaira, what's going on?" Kumamoto, who didn't understand the situation, had no choice but to turn his attention to Matsudaira Nobutsuna, who came back with him.

Unexpectedly, the person who responded to him was Matsudaira Nobutsuna's cold eyes, as if he were looking at a dead body. "If you lose your city and land, you will be punished according to the law! Kumamoto-sama should stop having delusions."

"That's not the case. It was obviously you who asked me to retreat, so I did it!" Kumamoto stared at Matsudaira Nobutsuna and roared at the top of his lungs.

"Hahaha! I told you to retreat. Don't forget that I am just a messenger, and you are the commander-in-chief. You also know the military orders of the Tokugawa Grand Palace. Hold on to Toyooka Castle, but yours failed to hold on for a day and fled. "

"That's not it, that's not it. Didn't you also see the Keelung Army's artillery? You can't defend it at all. How do you want me to defend it?"

"Obviously it was you who went out of the city to fight in the field without permission, which led to the big defeat. As the coach, you cannot absolve yourself of the blame. Hold on!"

"You lied to me. You said that the main hall would not hold you accountable." The former top tyrant of Kyushu was like an old dog being slaughtered by others.

"A dog that has lost its home dares to bark!"

Watching Kumamoto and his soldiers being beheaded one by one, the blood flowing from his neck dyed the grass outside the city burgundy. If he comes back next year, the grass here will definitely be lusher.

"The Kumamoto family is considered dead!" After getting rid of this person, Matsudaira Nobutsuna was in a good mood.

Finally, he completed the first task assigned to him by the Tokugawa Grand Palace. He got rid of Kumamoto, captured Saga, and forced Shimazu to surrender. The shogunate truly controlled the territory of Kyushu.

Looking at Fukuoka Castle, Matsudaira Nobutsuna was very entangled in his heart, whether he wanted to get rid of Yamashita Tomoko, the leader of this battle.

Although Yamashita had spoken rudely to him, Matsudaira Nobutsuna was still unwilling to do so out of consideration for the shogunate.

Now he is the commander-in-chief of an army, responsible for the lives of 10,000 soldiers. Even if he contradicts the main hall, he is still the pillar of the shogunate.

If you use tricks, you will avoid being criticized by the soldiers, and your future promotion path will be unusual and even more difficult.

But if Tomoko Yamashita is not eliminated, it will be difficult for him to explain himself in the main hall.

The dilemma gave him a headache.

"Forget it, let's wait and see for a few days. The Keelung Army is probably arriving soon!" Matsudaira Nobutsuna simply put down his obsession and waited and saw. He was still very much looking forward to the battle between the veteran general and the Keelung Army.

The information on the battle formations of the two armies was also sent to Tokugawa Iemitsu through his handwriting, giving him a clear understanding of the Keelung Army that had traveled across the ocean.

"Please take a look at the main hall. Our army is currently stationed in Kokura River Castle. The Purple River flows through it to the south, and the Dailiang River flows through it to the east. The flow of the two rivers is not large, and there is no flood season in summer." It is abandoned. Dozens of flags were re-erected on the small hill of Kokura E Castle that had been there for many years.

Under the flag, Asaichi Saga, the future lord of Kitakyushu, respectfully explained the topography and water system of the Shimabara Peninsula to Qin Hao and the generals of the Keelung Army.

Since there is no flood season, it is naturally impossible for any large-scale war to occur here. Moreover, it is still a peninsula. Apart from the higher mountains, there seems to be nothing special about it.

However, this is the only weakness of the Saga Territory, and it is also a point that no one has noticed. If Qin Hao didn't like to study maps, he really wouldn't have discovered it.

The island is originally a peninsula, surrounded by sea on three sides, and is a natural port.

If it is controlled by the shogunate, shogunate soldiers will continue to gather here to attack the Saga Territory.

Fighting a protracted war was not in his plan. The main purpose of coming to Fusang was to train troops. If the loss of troops was too large and he would be unable to conquer the Central Plains in the future, he would have lost the watermelon and picked up the sesame seeds, and the gain would not be worth the loss.

This time the Saga family mobilized 300 Hatamoto samurai and 1,000 Ashigaru warriors; Keelung used all the forces of the sea and land to dispatch 3,000 people. The navy had a maximum of 1,800 people, the army only had 1,000 people, and the rest They are auxiliary arms such as baggage troops and engineering troops.

However, Qin Hao's training has always treated everyone equally. The combat capabilities of these baggage soldiers, engineering soldiers and even medical soldiers are very good. In an emergency, they can also put down the tools in their hands, wear bamboo armor, and go into battle with swords and guns to kill the enemy.

Qin Hao has absolute confidence in this.

For a moment, on the other side of the Shimabara Peninsula, cars and horses were roaring, and flags and flags were like a forest with murderous intent rising into the sky.

Fukuoka Castle, the only city on the Shimabara Peninsula, originally belonged to the Saga family, but the shogun at the time was Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Regarding Kyushu Island, which he had no control over, he only used three hundred gold ingots to get this land from the Saga family. This was exactly the same as the beautiful country deceiving polar bears to buy Alaska.

Fukuoka Castle is a typical Japanese-style fortified castle. It is located at the foot of the active volcano "Mt. Kunimi" and has always been known as the second mountain of Fuso. There are hot springs everywhere in it and it is a famous hot spring resort.

Because it is located in the crater of a volcano, the hot spring water here is milky white sulfur spring, which is very effective in treating cold constitution, skin diseases, etc., so it is also an excellent place for future generations to travel. Of course, this is a digression.

The form of Fukuoka Castle is generally a square Liangaku-style flat castle. The bricks and stones used in the four walls are all picked from "Kunimi-dake", which is high and strong.

In addition, there is a moat three meters wide and five meters deep outside the city. This river surrounds the Fukuoka Castle Honmaru and is connected by wooden bridges in the form of Ninomaru and corridors.

If you destroy the wooden bridge, it will block the only way out of the city on land, which has advantages and disadvantages. If you take advantage of the sea and transport a steady stream of supplies from the sea, that is a huge advantage. It is really difficult for the enemy to break through from the front. .

This was also where Tokugawa Ieyasu was very cunning. He had long expected that the shogunate would inevitably have conflicts with Kyushu. The struggle for power had never been a conflict that could be reconciled, so he had already made plans.

Forefathers planted trees, and later generations took advantage of the shade. It was because of Fukuoka Castle that Yamashita Tomoko was so confident that he could transport soldiers and supplies into the city with great arrogance.

But everything he did had been seen by Qin Hao, and he smiled in his heart.

When it comes to naval strength, Fuso's broken ship Xiaopeng can't catch up even with eight poles. Letting him transport troops is a real conspiracy.

Seeing you transport thousands of soldiers, seeing you transport millions of grain and grass, when the time comes, everything will be in vain.

Gathering troops for a decisive battle, this is Qin Hao's goal.

"In the main hall, the thirty-eight oars are currently the most difficult thing for our army to attack!" Saga put down the monocular telescope in his hand with great care and let out a long sigh.

Oars are devices similar to the inner walls of Ming Dynasty cities or forts and forts. For the siege party, the crossfire coming from the oars and city walls is a fatal blow to the siege team, which often requires The corpses of the soldiers were piled up to form a road to the city.

These thirty-eight oars were built during the reign of Tokugawa Ieyasu. It is generally believed that it is very difficult to carry out such construction and repair projects on land transformed by volcanic ash and lava flows. The transportation of one stone alone is a huge task. It’s a difficult problem, and it consumes a lot of manpower and material resources.

However, he still completed this task, which shows that the collection of corvees cost a lot of money and food.

Such a unique and ruthless vision amazed Qin Hao, a later generation. He was truly worthy of being an old turtle during the Warring States Period. Tokugawa Ieyasu was worthy of this title.

"If our army breaks through the city wall with artillery fire, can you lead your troops to break through the city?"

Qin Hao looked far into the distance, and with his excellent eyesight, he could see all the ships, large and small, on the sea.

And further out on the sea, five three-masted sailing ships were hung with sails on the side of Fukuoka City. They were galloping back and forth like fierce horses on the sea, showing off their power.

Now the Keelung Navy has blocked the entire peninsula, and all shogunate ships that dare to attack have been sunk one by one. Qin Hao's military order is that not even a fly or mosquito can be allowed in now.

If I let you in, you won't encounter any obstacles; if I don't let you in, you won't receive even a fly or an insect.

"As long as the big tube of the main hall can blast open the city wall, my troops can climb onto the city to fight hand to hand and fight to the death!"

In order to regain the ancestral property of his ancestors, Saga became even more cruel. They took out money and food from the treasury, and at the cost of three kilograms of white rice and one hundred yen per day, they hired three hundred banner warriors from various small and famous families in Kitakyushu to form a vanguard. If killed or disabled during the war. A one-time pension of two hundred stone rice will be paid.

Anyway, the money and food are all supported by the Qin Hao Hall, so Saga Touichi is naturally not afraid of death!

Only when the entire Kyushu is captured will the use of this money be maximized.

When he thought of commanding tens of thousands of troops and thousands of chariots and cavalry, Saga felt so heroic that he could not wait to go into battle in person with his sword in hand.

Fortunately, a gust of cold wind blew away his fever. Thinking of the soldiers who were missing arms and legs due to the war, there was another chill in his heart.

If a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall, a king will die doing his best.

After comforting himself for a moment, Saga asked the bugler to issue the attack order.

"Fuso's troops used the sound of cannons as a signal. After hearing the firing of our naval gunboats, they rushed towards Fukuoka Castle. With the vanguard as the forerunner and Ashigaru as their successors, our troops were responsible for supervising the battle.

In addition, our army's field cavalry is on alert outside Fukuoka City and is responsible for conveying military orders! If a military order is issued, it will be executed immediately. If there is any violation, he will be executed without mercy.

This is a big battle, so please be careful! "

"Hiyi!"

After a period of admonishment for the battle, the commander immediately ordered people to wave the command flag. The cavalry galloped their horses and waved the small flags in their hands to pass on the orders one after another.

Soon, the Saga family's army began to advance, like a chaotic vanguard of dark clouds. These vanguards were composed of Hatamoto samurai, waving various traditional weapons such as tachi, ribashi, and bamboo spears in their hands. The uniform old bamboo armor funded by the Keelung Army, with such good equipment, they still hope to shine in battle and earn a lot of wealth for their families.

Behind the vanguard, there were a thousand ashigaru. Compared with the vanguard, they were obviously different by more than one level. Apart from a bamboo spear in their hands, they only had canvas strips on their heads. There was no so-called armor at all.

Behind the Ashigaru, five hundred Keelung Army musketeers served as supervising the battle team. The muzzles of their guns were equipped with sharp bayonets, and the cold light on the tip of the knife complemented the rising sun.

As long as anyone dared to take a step back, they would be answered with hot lead bullets and bayonets piercing the throat.

Just waiting for the shelling signal from ships at sea, the Saga army will swarm forward.

The defenders on Fukuoka Castle also knew that today was the most critical moment, and they were afraid that the sun this morning would be the last time many people would see it.

Whoever was on the top of the city began to chant a war song loudly.

I often think about the drifting and impermanence of the world

For example, morning dew

moon reflected in water

Prosperity is fleeting in an instant

romantic figure

Things are different now

fifty years of life

Could it be bustling?

Dreams of life

go down in history

Failure and annihilation