Chapter 167 Coming from the Sea II
Ando Naoji is indeed old, but the old guys from the Japanese country and the cabinet ministers of the Ming Dynasty who are in their seventies and eighties are probably about the same spirit. Besides, this old guy has been the patriarch of the Yusan family for his whole life, and he is very good in the bodyguard business. A few have worked for twenty years, and the first thing they do after retirement is play with women.
Even though Ando Naoji is already seventy years old, his body is in great shape. The women who sleep with him every night are all young women. Even his youngest son is now three years old.
The defense of Weishan Castle is not as detailed as the spies reported. According to the Japanese practice of "garrisoning" for the sake of the people during the war, the actual number of troops in Weishan Castle at this moment is less than a thousand, all of which are in the military camps outside the mountain city. Among them, this is also a standing force. Of course, of the one thousand people, less than 500 are actually on duty. The remaining half are farming in the villages around Weishan City. If the horn sounds during the battle, they will directly pick up their swords and guns and commit suicide. Prepare armor and go into battle to kill the enemy.
As the eldest son, Hiroshi Ando, the next governor of the Ando family in Oyama Castle, has already led a total of 8,000 vassal soldiers in Oyama to follow Tokugawa Hidetada in the westward expedition. Furthermore, Oyama Castle is in Edo, and This place belongs to the hinterland of the Musashi Kingdom, and is surrounded by fiefdoms of various feudal lords. Who dares to sneak attack Edo?
Weishan City is the first important stronghold.
Of course, this is just the wishful thinking of Naoji Ando and other veterans of the Warring States Period...
"Master Hou, three miles ahead is Weishan City..."
The importance of Weishan City was undeniable. Jinyiwei's people had penetrated into this area. The spies who came to respond after receiving the news immediately reported all the specific conditions of Weishan City to Chen Cao.
Chen Cao was on his horse, talking to Song Che. Next to him, Zhao Xin and Liao Yaowen were holding open maps.
"The spies have made it very clear that the city is full of five hundred defenders, plus five hundred more. These people are in Ando Village. By the time they pick up their weapons and come to help in the battle, Oishan Castle has already been destroyed, so when Xiu, speed up, break through Edo as soon as possible, and then return to the army, we still have to be on the safe side, if the Toyotomi clan loses, we will become dumplings."
Even in the old fiefdom of the Yusan family, the Oyama clan only had more than a hundred cavalry. When the clan soldiers in the mountain city horse village saw a large number of cavalry appearing on the Guandao plain in the distance, they were also wondering which family it belonged to. Will you come from Edo Port?
"How many cavalry does the Daimyo of Northern Mutsu have?"
A vassal soldier turned to look at the person next to him.
"I didn't know that Lord Taige is currently marching westward against the rebels. The navy has just set out. They may be reinforcements coming by boat from the North. Go tell the captain and let them make a decision."
When Ando Naoji received the news, the vanguard company of Tang Kainian's First Division had already rushed into Oyama City, because the soldiers on duty had never seen so many cavalry before.
Just when the feudal soldiers were curious and wanted to go up to ask, gunshots rang out...
"whats the matter?"
After a while, the horrified voice of his son Ando Heiji came from outside the door: "Father, the enemy has entered the city. Please quickly retreat to the castle tower to command the battle."
Is this okay?
"What do you do for food? You don't even know when the enemy is coming?"
Ando Heiji then quickly lowered his head and said: "The enemy army... the enemy army... are all cavalry and iron cannons... we are not opponents..."
"What? All cavalry? And iron cannons?" Ando Naoji tried hard to calm down his mind, but at this moment, the sound of gunfire in the entire Oyama City had completely covered up the noise, and he couldn't calm down...
"Quickly...go to Edo for help and tell the General that there are enemy troops..." Ando Naoji still hasn't figured out one thing until now, that is, who are these enemy troops?
"Quickly, go to the castle tower quickly..."
Ando Heiji looked at his father running towards the castle tower wearing only a loincloth. With the beauty holding some clothes to cover him, he finally stood up and followed his father.
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
Five hundred people were charging in groups, and there was no need for a regiment to enter at all. The vanguard company was already engaging in the tactic of lining up to kill. Although the opponent's scattered iron gunners could fire two black guns to injure the Dingwu army, they were greeted by lead soldiers. The consequences of being beaten into a sieve.
The battle ended quickly. When Chen Cao walked into the inner city of Oyama Castle with his sword on his back, Song Che came up to him and said, "Naoji Ando should be in the castle tower. How about attacking him?"
Chen Cao looked up at the castle tower a hundred meters away, and then said: "Save ammunition, let Ning Guoxing shoot them, and use the castle tower as a coffin for Ando Naoji."
Chen Cao walked around the main hall and just passed by the room where Naoji Ando slept before. The beautiful woman from before had already put on her coat and rushed out. She accidentally bumped into Chen Cao's arms...
The woman knelt down to apologize in horror. How could Chen Cao understand her? He turned to look at Zhao Xin who was following him, but Liao Yaowen was not there. He must have arrested people to move the wealth of Weishan City as ordered.
"Master Hou, my subordinates don't understand..."
"Get her dressed..."
Xin Zhao smiled slyly: "I understand..."
The battle at Oyama Castle ended quickly. Huang Degong, who was responsible for blocking the reinforcements from Ando Village on the outside, killed the feudal soldiers who wanted to support Oyama Castle and fled like a chicken. He also gained a lot of benefits.
'Boom...'
There was a muffled sound from the Shenwu cannon. Ning Guoxing, who was becoming more and more skilled in artillery, hit the castle tower of Weishan Castle with one shot this time. With the help of a precious flower bomb, the pointed roof of the castle tower was accompanied by a huge fire. and dust fell into the city. Even if someone survived, they would be seriously injured and died.
Of course, what Chen Cao didn't know was that Ando Naoji, who was surrounded in the castle tower, had committed seppuku. His sons were originally preparing to surrender, but they didn't know a cannonball was coming.
"Gather the troops and leave one company behind to take all the captured weapons onto the warship. Also, take away all the women over the age of fifteen in Weishan City."
"yes..."
After Chen Cao finished his instructions, he quickly got on his horse. This place is still ten miles away from Edo Castle. Oyama Castle is also the transit area between Edo Castle and Edo Port. The sound of siege and artillery will definitely alert the surrounding town halls. If the report is returned, Chen Cao and the others' plan will definitely be exposed.
..
The construction of Edo Castle began after Ieyasu was entrusted by Hideyoshi, and its predecessor was run by the Hojo clan of the Musashi Kingdom. After Ieyasu made it the capital, it expanded aggressively. Its city defenses were built based on the Ming Dynasty Nanjing Castle. There are wide city walls, horse paths, horse exits, and arrow towers that correspond to the layout of the Ming Dynasty city. There are also urn towers at the four gates, and there is even a moat around the city.
The only thing that made Chen Cao feel gratified was that due to the national strength and national conditions of Japan, the city wall of Japan was not very high like the city wall of Korea. The height of the four front gates with arrow towers and urn towers was less than five meters, while the surrounding city walls were It is less than four meters. If a person is standing on a war horse, he can jump up the four-meter city wall with a single step.
If it were the Nanjing City Wall of the Ming Dynasty, the arrow tower at Zhengyangmen would be twelve meters high, and the height of the surrounding city walls would be about eight meters.
"It seems that I'm still exposed..."
Chen Cao sighed, because he had clearly seen from the telescope that the city gate facing them towards the west gate had been closed, the suspension bridge was raised, and the city wall was lined with flags and crowded with people.
"Have people throw away the flag of the Ando family, and order people to put up the military flag of my Ming Dynasty."
Chen Cao's royal flag reads "Great Ming Dynasty Ding Wuhou", and the second banner reads "General Soldier Dingwujun Chen". Since the opponent has discovered it, he will simply let the opponent die. Understand who is coming to attack them.
Fortunately, the Japanese people at this time were very thorough in their study and research of Ming Dynasty culture, otherwise they might not even be able to recognize these words clearly.
Tokugawa Iemitsu suddenly raised his head: "What? Ming army?"
Ishikawa Sukazu, who stayed behind, did not go westward with Tokugawa Hidetada because he needed Ishikawa Sukazu's ability to coordinate the transportation of military supplies in Japan.
"Yes, my lord, it's the Ming army..." Ishikawa Shuhe's voice even trembled.
Tokugawa Iemitsu almost couldn't sit still and murmured: "How did they come? They came just as the navy set off. Could it be that all our Japanese navy were wiped out?"
"They should have come by sea..." Ishikawa Sugawa echoed.
"Coming from the sea?" Tokugawa Iemitsu was a little reluctant to believe that the people coming were Ming soldiers: "Can you see clearly?"
"The ones the guard team is asking me to go to in person are indeed the Ming army. Their flags have the words 'Dingwuhou of the Ming Dynasty' and 'General Soldier Dingwujun Chen' written on their flags. They are absolutely unmistakable. They are the famous names in Japan. But no family can afford to support 20,000 to 30,000 cavalry.”
"What? Twenty or thirty thousand cavalry?"
Tokugawa Iemitsu couldn't sit still anymore. It was okay. His opponent actually had 20,000 to 30,000 cavalry. If you put this in the Japanese country, it would be the absolute strength of the king of Japan...
I just heard Tokugawa Iemitsu trembling: "Quick...quick...quickly send people to ask the surrounding feudal lords to quickly send troops to support Edo, and..." Tokugawa Iemitsu couldn't help it. He was trembling and his mouth was almost speechless: "Send someone to chase Father and tell him what's going on here...quickly..."
"yes..."
