"General, a large number of troops have been found outside Edo City. Judging from the camp, the enemy army is about 40,000." The scout sent out to explore the front quickly came to Li Kaifu to report.
"I didn't expect that Edo could react so quickly. It seems that the Tokugawa family is not useless." Li Kaifu couldn't help but admire.
"Thank you for your hard work, please go down and rest first!"
"Yes, I will leave first."
Immediately, Kaifu Li ordered the messenger soldiers beside him: "Inform us, everyone will rest in place for an hour. The cooks will light a fire to cook, and prepare for battle after eating."
"Yes, General"
"According to the general's order, all personnel will rest in place for an hour. The cooks will light a fire to cook and prepare for battle after eating."
Under the calls of messengers, the army of Yi Dynasty quickly began to rest and reorganize in an orderly manner.
Outside Edo Castle
Although the shogunate assembled the army in a hurry this time, fortunately, the troops assembled were all elite troops who stayed behind to prepare for war. So even though there was a bit of a rush, everything went smoothly and the Yi army was assembled before they arrived at Edo Castle, so that the sudden appearance of the Yi army would not be caught off guard.
Of course, the hasty assembly also destined them to be unable to do many things calmly.
For example, wearing armor.
In the past, they would keep their armor with them, waiting for the scouts to notify them that the enemy was approaching, and then put on their armor to fight.
But this time they even assembled in an unusual hurry, and with the urgency of the situation, the Yi army dropped a large number of scouts on the battlefield, so that the shogunate's scouts did not know the identity of the Yi army for a while. location.
Therefore, the troops of the shogunate could only put on their armor early and prepare their battle formations to wait for the battle that might happen at any time.
Normally, just simply fighting in formation requires a lot of physical strength, and wearing armor makes people feel even heavier. But they didn't dare to take it off, knowing that the place where they had recently discovered the Yi Dynasty's army was only ten miles away from here.
The distance of ten miles plus the time it took for them to assemble, even if our own scouts have not penetrated into the place where the enemy troops are found, it is estimated that the distance between the two sides will not exceed five miles.
At a distance of five miles, if the enemy sends out cavalry for a quick horse attack, it will never take more than half a cup of tea.
In such a short time, it is definitely not enough for the soldiers to stand in line with armor. So even if they had to wait in heavy armor, the generals of the shogunate could only do it. At most, they were asked to squat on the ground to hold on to their strength.
Fortunately, the weather in Edo, Japan has already been cold at this time. Although the sun is shining today, you will still feel cold if you don't wear enough clothes. But for people wearing armor, the temperature is actually comfortable.
This is also the reason why nomadic peoples in China have chosen to go south to plunder after autumn for thousands of years.
As time passed little by little, it was not until the Yijun had started cooking and had almost finished their meal that the shogunate army, who was waiting in formation, received the news that the Yijun was resting and making fire to cook. This made the troops who were still in high spirits The nervous shogunate troops could not help but curse loudly.
You must know that they are still hungry and have not eaten.
But there was no way. All responses in Edo were very hasty. Just transferring orders and assembling the army consumed most of the shogunate's energy. It would take some time for the logistics to keep up.
This is obviously a phenomenon where the Tokugawa family never thought that Edo would be besieged.
In fact, due to the shogunate's various policies to suppress local daimyo, basically no outside daimyo in Japan had the strength to invade Edo.
This sudden surprise landing of the Yijun Army was something that had never happened in the history of Edo and even Japan. The shogunate obviously did not expect that the enemy would not only be Japan, but other countries would also invade.
Compared with the logistical problems of the shogunate army, the shogunate army staying in Edo Castle was still frantically recruiting young men to supplement the army. Fortunately, Edo City had a population of nearly one million, so they captured enough 50,000 strong men and transferred them to the army at the front.
Looking at the nearly 100,000 troops in front of him, Tokugawa Ieharu, who originally thought that he could wait for many days for the main force to return, suddenly became more confident.
Perhaps it is not impossible to defeat the invading Yi army with this 100,000-strong army. When the time comes and cooperate with the returning army, we can kill all the invading Han people.
When Tokugawa Ieharu was still thinking about things, a retainer came to report the relevant battlefield situation and suggested that since the Yi army had rested and had meals, the army on his side should also start eating in batches to prevent the army from going hungry. Stomach war.
Tokugawa Ieharu naturally recognized this suggestion. But just when he was about to agree to this retainer, another urgent military message came, saying that Dayi's army had begun to move and was still at most three miles away from here, so Tokugawa Ieharu could prepare for the battle as soon as possible.
Therefore, Tokugawa Ieharu could only give an order, asking everyone to be alert and ready for battle at any time. After the battle was over, the shogunate would prepare wine and meat to celebrate the victory of the soldiers there.
Time has been dragging on for a long time. Although the shogunate's logistics is lagging behind, fortunately, the shogunate's logistics troops are still rushing to distribute a salty rice ball of white rice mixed with wheat grains to each of the frontline troops before the war begins.
The rice ball is as big as a fist.
If you are full, you will naturally not be full.
But this is fine food. Even in a prosperous city like Edo, it is difficult for ordinary people to eat such good food on weekdays. So it can be seen that the shogunate really used its old skills this time. Supporting this war is absolutely unambiguous.
The shogunate soldiers who were still hungry after waiting for a long time had a lot of complaints, but now they all have good food, especially after I heard that after the war, the shogunate will prepare wine, meat and rice so that everyone can have a good time. Have a meal. The complaints quickly subsided, and everyone was talking about what kind of meat they would have in the evening.
However, instead of discussing eating meat, more people talk about the yearning for rice, salted fish and miso soup.
The land in Japan is barren, mostly mountains and hills, and there are not many plains where rice and wheat, staple food crops, can be grown. Especially since Ezo Island has not been snatched by them yet, the places where staple food crops can be grown are even more limited.
The output is not large in the first place, and with various taxes, how to eat a meal of white rice is an obsession of most people in Japan.
Even if he is a so-called "noble" samurai, as long as a commoner can eat two meals a day with white rice and salted fish, he will not hesitate to ask this person to sacrifice his life.
Of course, the reason why they can discuss dinner so happily is because they haven't really seen the horror of the battlefield!
