According to the latest news obtained by Minamoto Yoritomo, Wakasa Country, Ise Country and Mino Country have been attacked by the Ming army.
The local shogunate responded to Minamoto Yoritomo's call and was preparing to cooperate with Minamoto Yoritomo against the Ming army, so they urgently sent people to ask for help. This showed that the Mina army was extremely powerful and they could not fight with it in the field and could only defend the city.
However, the Ming army had terrifying siege weapons that sounded like thunder and could explode. There were also terrifying iron balls that could directly threaten the city walls. They were extremely powerful and put great pressure on the city.
They urgently need support. Without support, they may not be able to survive even five days.
The Ming army was too strong, unusually strong.
Minamoto Yoritomo and his father-in-law Hojo Tokimasa were greatly surprised when they learned about this incident. While marveling at Ming's powerful military strength and logistical capabilities, they were troubled about how to support the three countries being attacked.
There is no doubt that the three countries being attacked have become everyone's first line of defense. If they are broken through, there will be more places that will suffer and more places that will fall.
Then everyone will have less energy to concentrate, and it will be more difficult to win.
However, neither Minamoto Yoritomo nor Hojo Tokimasa intends to send troops. They only intend to give all three countries except help.
the reason is simple.
They lacked powerful warriors and could not send elite troops to support the Three Kingdoms. They could only sit on the sidelines and use the time they bought to continue to expand their armies.
Japan lacked the concept of war at the end of the Heian period. Because of its small population, large-scale wars involving more than ten thousand people rarely occurred. Therefore, people at the time generally believed that the victory of a battle depended on the strength of the samurai's personal fighting ability, that is, elite warriors. duel between them.
Most of the people are just cannon fodder, waving flags and shouting and fighting with the wind. What they really rely on are elite soldiers, which is similar to group fights on the street.
This is a matter of course in small-scale battles, and the battles in some periods of ancient China also took this form. There are even forms of war that restrict civilians from entering the battlefield, such as the aristocratic game-style wars in the Spring and Autumn Period.
But once the country's population increases, the demand for resources increases, and the intensity of war increases, this will no longer be the case.
A gentleman's game war will suddenly turn into a bloody battlefield, and the military systems, war forms and war concepts between countries will undergo drastic changes.
This change happened very early in China, while in Japan it took much later.
At this moment, Japan has no concept of battle, no concept of coordinated operations of various arms, and no concept of the overall war situation of military formations colliding. They all believe that in war, individual bravery determines everything.
Their military concept is still at the level of small-scale armed fighting.
This is an important reason why the Taira regime was able to be established, because Taira Kiyomori was personally brave and powerful.
This is also an important reason why the Ming army has repeatedly won battles, because the Ming army's military concepts crushed them.
Even for the 30,000 troops that the Ping clan finally assembled, elite warriors occupied an important position and were equipped with sophisticated equipment. However, the ordinary infantry, who accounted for the majority of the number, did not even have complete equipment or uniform military uniforms.
Some were holding standard weapons and wearing simple military uniforms, some were holding iron farm tools and wearing their own simple clothes, and some were simply holding bamboo guns and wooden sticks, dressed in rags like beggars.
This is not an army in the military sense at all, but more like a refugee team.
Therefore, when Kong Zhende encountered the 30,000-strong Ping army, he even thought that he had encountered a patchwork of peasant uprisings. For a time, he thought that civil strife broke out in Ping'an Jing.
When it comes to actually fighting, the process is very simple.
The opponent's tactics are that the infantry serve as cannon fodder and are responsible for pulling the strings, while the elite warriors are responsible for fighting and winning. The military hierarchy is clearly divided, and they do not subordinate or help each other.
The samurai will not attack because the infantry are being slaughtered, and the infantry will not attack because the samurai are in trouble.
Generally speaking, when the elite samurai group encounters difficulties in an assault, it is when the infantry wavers. When the samurai retreat, the infantry have already fled, as fast as a scud.
Can this concept of war be compared with the Ming army?
the answer is negative.
The infantry met the Ming army as a whole, whose concept of war was far beyond theirs for several generations. They were undoubtedly crushed by the Ming army's formation. The elite warrior group tried to turn the tide and was crushed by the Ming army.
The various arms of the Ming army were able to cooperate, change formations, and use cold weapons and hot weapons in conjunction. There was no personal heroism and they advocated collective decisive victory.
The Japanese army would not.
Obviously, Minamoto Yoritomo and Hojo Tokimasa also viewed the war in this way.
Although they feel the need to support each other, because the warriors on their side are not strong enough and their numbers are not large enough, they need a lot of time to prepare.
They have just made a call and are in the process of raising troops. They still need time to recruit more troops and prepare more food, grass and logistics.
They need more time to recruit brave warriors, and more time to recruit a sufficient number of cannon fodder infantry. If they can't recruit them, they will recruit them by force, which is commonly known as catching strong men.
But will the Ming army give them this time?
They still don't know that the offensive efficiency of the Ming army is calculated in days, but all their actions are calculated in months.
There is a huge gap between the two sides at this level, which is one of the important reasons why Japan cannot launch effective resistance.
The Ming army was so fast that they were overwhelmed and had no time to organize enough troops to assemble to form a fighting force.
The only organic army that had formed a fighting force was beaten from the front by the Ming army, and the entire army was wiped out.
The ideas of Minamoto Yoritomo and Hojo Tokimasa were good, but given the extremely high offensive efficiency of the Ming army, their ideas could only be regarded as ideas.
They did not have time to assemble all the armed forces of eastern Japan to fight the Ming army.
They could only be forced to face the Ming army. They were forced to challenge the Ming army one by one. The Ming army turned the big battlefield into a small battlefield and formed an absolute advantage in strength and military superiority on the small battlefield. As a result, they were defeated like a mountain. .
While Minamoto Yoritomo was busy making military preparations, his half-brother Minamoto Yoshitsune arrived in Izu from Mutsu Province on the northeastern border and brought the Fujiwara family from Mutsu Province to respond to Minamoto Yoritomo's call. news.
The Fujiwara clan is preparing an army, and when the time comes, they will immediately go south to support them.
Minamoto no Yoritomo was very happy, hosted a banquet for his brother whom he had not seen for many years, and then informed him of the current emergency.
Minamoto Yoshitsune expressed his willingness to lead an army to fight against the Ming army. We can't just let the three countries challenge the Ming army alone, right?
Minamoto Yoritomo told Minamoto Yoshitsune about the actual problems on his side. Minamoto Yoshitsune expressed his understanding, and then decided to rush to Mino Country with the thirty cavalry he brought with him to provide support that was more symbolic than practical. Improve the reputation of Yoritomo Minamoto's side.
It is July 13, 2017, the Republic of China.
The Ming Army's North Route Army, led by Su Jue, attacked Wakasa Country, while the South Route Army, led by Kong Zhende, advanced by land and water to attack Ise Country. The main force of the Middle Route Army, still led by Xin Qiji, broke into Meinong Country.
The three armies advanced hand in hand. On July 13, both the South Route Army and the North Route Army achieved decisive victories, while the Center Route Army encountered stubborn resistance from local forces in Meinong Country.
After all the defense facilities were destroyed, the local guardian Mino Genji family was more courageous and unwilling to admit defeat.
With the main force collapsed, they concentrated their last thousand troops and launched a decisive battle with the Ming army after the destruction of Gifu City.
(End of chapter)
