The twelfth lunar month of the first year of Tianqi.
The third wave of envoys sent by Marquis Pingliao to the Edo peace talks were killed again by the shogun.
Tokugawa Hidetada was controlled by his wife Ajiang and insisted on a decisive battle with the Kaiyuan Army.
When things developed to this point, the two generals who conquered Yi could only decide the outcome in Guanyuan.
Ping Liaohou did not expect that the shogunate would be so tough and wanted to fight the Kaiyuan army to the end.
It seems that the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki was not as easy as imagined.
The shogunate's toughness further strengthened the travelers' determination to conquer.
The Japanese feared power rather than morality, and the Korean soldiers killed tens of thousands of people in Kyushu, which was not enough to make the island country's beasts surrender.
Then continue the killing to the end.
On the second day of the twelfth lunar month, Marquis Pingliao bid farewell to his beloved Jin Yuji and led the allied forces from Kyushu to attack the state, officially starting the great cause of dominating East Asia.
The 60,000-strong army advanced by land and water, galloping towards the Sekigahara area of Mino Province under the starry night.
On the land route, Deng Changxiong and Wang Erhu led the Second and Third Guards Corps, totaling 20,000 troops, across the Kanmon Strait and launched a surprise attack on the Choshu Domain.
The Choshu daimyo Mouri Terumoto is sixty-seven years old this year and is already in his twilight years.
Lord Mori had just returned to Choshu from Edo. In Edo, the shogunate listened to the slanderous words of the charming woman and insisted on a decisive battle with the Kaiyuan army in Sekihara.
Lord Maori was old and frail, unable to influence the shogunate's strategy, let alone resist the Kaiyuan army.
When the Korean soldiers came over, the Maori adults were frightened. The veteran general, who was over sixty years old, remembered that he led 3,000 troops to land in Busan and burned, killed and looted in North Korea, and then he realized that the disaster in Changzhou was coming.
"Run away, run away, the Choshu samurai cannot be used as pawns by the shogunate."
When Kaiyuan's army crossed the sea, the Changshu feudal lord immediately led his retainers and warriors to flee eastward in panic.
On the second day of the twelfth lunar month, Kaiyuan's army occupied Changmen, Zhoufang and other cities.
The Kaiyuan Army guarded the gates of each city and blocked the roads leading to the outside world from Changzhou Domain.
The North Korean soldiers went on a killing spree based on the number of soldiers Changzhou sent to North Korea that year.
The men in the Changzhou domain who did not escape were almost killed by Korean soldiers, and the beheaded corpses filled the moat. Deng Changxiong estimated that the number of dead was far more than three thousand.
Deng Changxiong summoned the North Korean commander Jiang Shangshi, severely rebuked the friendly general, and warned the Koreans not to violate the orders of Marquis Pingliao and kill indiscriminately.
~~~~
The news of the Changshu tragedy spread to all the feudal lords in Kanto, and Kanto was shocked.
Deng Changxiong led his army to continue marching eastward. An Yi Fan was frightened by the killings of Changzhou Fan and sent envoys overnight to the Kaiyuan Army camp to negotiate peace.
The envoy repeatedly told the Kaiyuan Army that An Yifan did not participate in the Korean campaign and did not send a single soldier to Busan.
"The Marquis of Pingliao has something to say first. During the Japanese Rebellion in Imchen, there was no Daimyo who sent troops to invade Korea. If he is willing to take the initiative to surrender, he will avoid death and will not be held accountable."
After receiving Deng Changxiong's guarantee, An Yifan immediately announced his surrender.
In the Wanli War to aid Korea, the Kanto daimyo was responsible for providing the money, while the Kansai vassals sent troops one after another.
To the east of the Choshu clan, other daimyo basically did not participate in the Korean War. These vassals were also preserved.
With An Yifan as an example, the daimyo of Bichu, Izumo and other places surrendered one after another.
On the seventh day of the first lunar month, the Kaiyuan army approached Tamba, only a hundred miles away from Mino Sekihara. All the feudal lords along the way fled eastward to join the shogunate army.
When Deng Changxiong and Wang Erhu led the army to rush forward on Honshu Island, Liu Zhaosun, Qi Jin, and Wu Aheng led the Kaiyuan navy to land on the Yuanjiang River and attack Miyuan.
On the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, the forwards of the First Army suddenly invaded Sanhe.
Mikawa daimyo Okazaki Honda led the samurai in a fierce battle. Under the saturation attack of field artillery and rockets, the Mikawa samurai army was wiped out, and Okazaki committed seppuku.
The Echigo, Dewa, Ueno, Kaga and other feudal clans all responded to the shogunate's call and assembled on the Mino Plain.
On the sixth day of the lunar month, Marquis Ping Liao ordered the entire army to stop pursuing and stationed in Sanhe.
The foreign fleet that Tokugawa Hidetada was waiting for did not immediately join the shogunate army after the war broke out.
These shrewd European businessmen, seeing the situation taking a turn for the worse, declared neutrality one after another.
Intruding into a war between two Eastern armies early is obviously a loss-making business.
So they sold firearms and ammunition to both sides in the war at the Nagasaki port, and even provided various supplies for the ships of both sides. Every merchant ship made a lot of money.
In the 1720s, there were many British, French, Dutch and Spanish merchant ships trading in Japan, with the total number exceeding a thousand.
Most of these merchant ships are soft-sailed speedboats equipped with cannons that weigh twelve pounds of shells. Their performance and firepower exceed those of the Japanese Zhuin ships of the same era. You can cosplay a Pirates of the Caribbean ship by planting a skull flag.
Liu Zhaosun was quite afraid of such a maritime force.
If the merchant ships of the four countries are determined to cut off the original army's retreat at all costs, Ping Liaohou and his 60,000-strong army will have to be surrendered on Honshu Island.
Fortunately, the intrigues between the four countries are not monolithic at all. They came all the way from Europe just to seek wealth and did not have to fight against the Kaiyuan Army.
Before setting off from the Hizen Domain, Marquis Tairayo ordered Li Dan and the Portuguese to abandon the siege of Kyushu. The main ships immediately joined the Kaihara Navy and headed for the Honshu waters to ensure absolute safety around the Bungo Waterway and Toga River.
Li Dan was a pirate and had keen battlefield intuition. After receiving the order from Marquis Pingliao, he immediately led a group of pirates to evacuate Ryukyu and head to Honshu waters.
After preparing for force, Hou Pingliao shouted to the caravans of the Netherlands, Britain, France, Spain and other countries through the Portuguese merchant Roman, ensuring that after defeating the shogunate, the interests of various countries in Japan would not be damaged.
Ping Liaohou's concession did not win the understanding and support of the caravans from various countries.
These four colonial pioneers had never had contact with the Kaiyuan Army before, so they did not clearly understand this kind of goodwill. They only thought it was a sign of weakness from the oriental barbarians, so they began to gather from all sides on the prefecture, ready to launch an attack on the Kaiyuan Army. An exploratory attack by the army.
And this will cost them dearly.
On the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, Mikawa Domain Castle Town.
There are sparse snowflakes floating in the sky, and this small coastal town in Honshu is completely devoid of winter tranquility.
The First and Fourth Guards Corps were stationed in this city, making final preparations for the decisive battle two days later.
The banners of Sanhe Domain cover the sky, and the soldiers and armor are like clouds.
Groups of cavalry marched on the muddy road and whizzed past the artillery. The cavalry was about to go to the northern suburbs of Sanhe, ten miles away, for defense.
The vanguard of the shogunate's army had approached the north of Mikawa, and the cavalry battalion was sent out to fight at night. Several fierce scout battles broke out between the two sides in the deserted villages in the north.
The artillerymen commanded the auxiliaries and civilians to push the heavy field artillery forward through the mud.
A carriage transporting red cannons got stuck in a mud pit. The packhorse raised its hooves and screamed, desperately pulling forward.
A short and stocky Mongolian herdsman waved his whip vigorously, slapped the horse's belly, scolded him in Mongolian, and asked the pack horse to work harder.
The packhorse struggled a few times and fell to its knees in the mud.
When the Mongolians were about to whip them, they were stopped by a Kaiyuan official in front of them.
"enough!"
Sun Chuanting scolded, and the Mongolian herdsmen quickly put away their riding whips and stood helplessly beside the mud pit.
Sun Chuanting summoned the guards and looked around. A high platform was set up a hundred steps away. Someone was singing an opera on the platform. Soldiers of the Fourth Army were sitting darkly underneath, and there were some Korean soldiers on the periphery.
"What are the instructors doing again?"
He whispered something in a low voice and ordered the guards:
"Go and call some North Koreans to come over and help."
The guards followed the order and quickly called over a dozen Korean soldiers who were watching the fun.
Everyone shouted slogans together and worked together to push the carriage. The packhorse worked up its courage and swung its front hooves, and the wheels were finally pulled out of the mud pit.
"This lord still has a way."
The Mongolian driving the carriage cautiously flattered him, and Sun Chuanting waved his hand to the Mongolians to get off.
He asked the guards to call Wei Feide, the commander of the engineering battalion, and asked him why the road had not been repaired. The war was imminent. What would happen if the transportation of food, grass and ordnance was delayed.
Wei Feide kept wiping his sweat anxiously and quickly explained to the old superior that the Japanese had built strong walls to clear the country. When they escaped, they dug up roads and dug rivers, which flooded part of the road.
Sun Chuanting ordered Battalion Commander Wei to resume transportation immediately, and if there were not enough manpower, he would recruit Koreans.
At this time, the roars of the soldiers came from behind. Sun Chuanting looked over there and vaguely saw a few figures shaking on the stage, but he couldn't see clearly.
Sun Chuanting had just arrived from Kyushu Hizen and felt very unfamiliar with the scene in front of him.
"Master Sun, that is the play "Looking at the Sea". They will perform wherever the camp is. Today it is our Fourth Army's turn."
After listening to Wei Feide's explanation, Sun Chuanting waved him to go down and do his own business.
The head of Kaiyuan Logistics was in no mood to listen to Wang Hai at the moment.
He took two guards with him and walked directly towards the main tent of Ping Liao Hou's army.
"It turns out that the training officers have been busy with this these days. When did the Kaiyuan Army start to act? It's really nonsense."
When passing the stage, Sun Chuanting shook his head and frowned. At this time, he heard someone on the stage shout loudly:
"Hahahaha, I am Tokugawa Hidetada, the second-generation general who conquered the barbarians. The whole of Japan belongs to me. I killed my father Tokugawa Ieyasu, exiled my brother Tokugawa Shinichi, and took possession of Toyonari Hideyoshi's wife Ae, just so that one day I can concentrate my strength and attack the Ming Dynasty. I will eat up all your food, steal your gold and silver, seize your fields, and snatch away your women. I heard that the women of the Ming Dynasty are taller than the giants of Edo (Japanese people call them taller) He is even taller than a giant), hahaha, he is just right enough to kidnap him into my palace and sleep with me..."
A Japanese general who was less than three feet tall, built like a Japanese melon, and had a pockmarked face, dismounted on a similarly short Korean melon (note 1), jumped up and down on the makeshift stage, brandishing a Japanese sword and facing the stage. There was a loud and strange scream.
Next to him were two equally short Japanese warriors, showing off their skills and dragging Japanese swords that were longer than themselves.
At this time, a samurai handed over a note. "Tokugawa Hidetada" read it and laughed loudly:
"What? A group of fleeing Chinese people came from Kaga Domain. Okay, I will kill them all first! Then I will attack Liaodong."
There were more than a dozen rows of soldiers sitting neatly under the stage, all staring with wide eyes at the "monster" riding a pony who was coming to rob Liaodong. The generals and pacification soldiers of each battalion stood around the soldiers. They were not in the mood to pay attention to Tokugawa Hidetada's ambitions, but only watched the surrounding soldiers nervously.
Under the nervous gaze of the soldiers, the curtain slowly fell.
The cheerful suona sounded, and the stage scene switched to a beautiful seaside.
A young man and woman dressed in Hanfu are catching the sea.
A clear and sweet female voice sounded on the stage:
The fish in the blue water are fat
The tide rises and recedes
Brother and sister come to catch the sea
Hey hey hey hey hey hey
I picked up a conch and blew the conch trumpet
The waves come and compose a song
Brother is here to catch crabs and sister is here to collect snails
Accidentally bitten by a crab
Scream loudly in pain
Ouch yea
Ouch yea
·····
Suddenly, the sound of the suona stopped, and a group of Japanese warriors appeared on the beach and rushed straight towards the Han woman. The young man quickly stepped forward to stop him and said angrily:
"Who are you?"
The samurai scolded: "I am the shogun's servant, please keep your money and women quickly and spare your life!"
The young man blocked the Japanese pirates and called his companions to go first.
"Liu Qianqian, leave quickly!"
The Japanese pirate stabbed the boy to death and chased the man running in front with a lewd smile.
Tokugawa Hidetada stepped onto the beach, faced the boy who fell on the ground, and laughed loudly:
"Hahaha, the money and women are all mine. Once I kill all of you Han people, I will attack North Korea and Liaodong!"
There was silence.
Suddenly, two soldiers in the front row rushed onto the stage, raised their sandbag-like fists and greeted the short general.
Two soldiers on the stage immediately pushed the soldiers away, and two more soldiers rushed up from behind, blocking the escape route of "Tokugawa Hidetada" who was trying to escape, and started fighting again without any reason.
When the soldiers who rushed up from behind saw that they could not find the shogun, they held down a Japanese warrior and started beating him wildly.
A group of generals rushed forward with whips to beat the soldiers. There were screams and curses on the stage, and the scene seemed extremely chaotic.
~~~~~~
Sun Chuanting stared at the stage in stunned silence. Two guards guarded him, fearing that Mr. Sun would be affected.
When Senti saw Sun Chuanting, he quickly came forward with a smile and whispered:
"Master Sun, is this "Looking at the Sea" pretty good? The script was commissioned by Marquis Pingliao..."
Sun Chuanting has been busy transporting military supplies and has no time to even chat. Today is the first time he has seen Wanghai.
He glanced at the stage where the melee was still taking place and forced a smile:
"Instructor Mori, good acting, why is this Japanese shogun so ugly?"
Senti pulled Sun Chuanting aside and whispered:
"Master Sun, this is what Japanese pirates should do. Marquis Ping Liao said that if you want to defeat the enemy in public opinion, you must first dehumanize the enemy, which means you cannot treat them as humans. Marquis Ping Liao also said that to maintain combat effectiveness One of the ways is to instill hatred and keep instilling hatred..."
Sun Chuanting smiled and said nothing. Senti had been with Marquis Pingliao for a long time, and he was already used to seeing all kinds of new terms coming out of his mouth.
He was too lazy to chat with Dongguan Zai. He had important things to do today to find Ping Liaohou.
Senti glanced towards the stage and saw that order had been restored, and the soldiers who were beating the actors were being slapped with military sticks, so he quickly said to Sun Chuanting:
"Master Sun, don't talk anymore, I'm going to go over to promote it."
After saying that, Senti said goodbye in a hurry, took small steps, three steps and two steps at a time, and ran to the stage. His small body jumped onto the high platform with a whoosh.
Several training officers immediately gathered around Chief Training Officer Sen, and they raised their arms and shouted together.
"Kill the Japanese pirates, kill Tokugawa Hidetada! Defend our homeland!"
The soldiers below were very excited. Thousands of them all stood up, raised their hands and shouted slogans.
"Kill the Japanese pirates, kill Tokugawa Hidetada, and defend our homeland!"
Sun Chuanting looked at the enthusiastic crowd on and off the stage, without saying a word, turned around and walked towards the main tent of Ping Liao Hou's army.
Note:
1. Guoxiama is a rare horse. Because of its short stature, it can ride under the fruit trees, hence the name "Guoxiama". "If you dismount your horse and come out of Longshui in Deqing", "You can ride it under the fruit tree"; "There are stallions that produce it by chance, and it is rare to get it, so its price is very expensive."
