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Chapter 636 [The Profound Meaning of Warfare]

Li Dingguo had a headache in the face of the tortoise shell. The storm must have caused too many casualties, and the shelling could not do enough for the city defense artillery due to the terrain.

And the defenders in Tsurumaru Castle were equally frightened.They had been besieged for many days, and their morale was already low. In the attack and defense of the stone wall just now, they directly lost one-fifth of their troops.

Today, the defenders have less than 2000 people, and they have no hope of winning.

If Shimadzu Mitsuhisa's prestige was not still there and he could suppress the samurai and ashigaru in the city, these defenders would definitely surrender without saying a word.

Occupying the stone wall and continuing to besiege the city, Li Dingguo did not panic for the time being.

But it is said that Shimadzu Mitsuhisa's eldest son, Shimadzu Tsunahisa, returned to Kagoshima from Edo by order of the shogunate.He came back to succeed the family governor, supervised his father's caesarean section to apologize, and ended up going straight to Hirado Castle by boat halfway, accompanied by Matsuura Nobusada from the Matsuura family.

"The shogunate asked me to cut open my stomach? Haha." Matsuura Shigenobu laughed.

Shimadzu Tsunahisa said: "For the current plan, only the Matsuura family will send troops to defeat the Tang soldiers together with my Shimadzu family. Otherwise, even if the family governor is changed, the heavy war compensation cannot be afforded."

Retainer Tianchuan Yuhuang said: "My lord, perhaps you can send Shichizaemon as an envoy to persuade Tang soldiers to relax the conditions for withdrawing troops."

"Let him be an envoy? I'm afraid he will never return!" Matsuura Shigenobu sneered.

Qizaemon is Zheng Daozhou, Zheng Chenggong's younger brother.

And Tianchuan Yuhuang is Zheng Chenggong's pro-grandfather.According to legend, this man's surname was Weng, who was originally from Quanzhou. After entering Japan, he changed his surname and became a retainer of the Matsuura family.

Zheng Chenggong's biological mother, Tian Chuansong, has been taken back to Fujian to settle down, but the Hirado clan is unwilling to let Zheng Daozhou go.This is to force the Zheng family to smuggle goods to Hirado while conducting official trade in Nagasaki.

Matsuura Shigeno believed this person, probably the one with the longest vision among the Japanese feudal lords.

He has been familiar with Confucian classics since he was a child, and at the same time he has followed the Christian religion, and has rapidly grown his strength through maritime trade.The root cause of Tokugawa Iemitsu's seclusion was the Hirado clan, which had seriously threatened the rule of the shogunate.

After the country was closed and closed, the Dutch business house located in Hirado was also forcibly relocated to Nagasaki by the shogunate.

Although this move greatly damaged the strength of the Hirado Clan, Matsuura Shigenobu was not one to be taken lightly.He encouraged farmers to reclaim wasteland, supported the development of industry and commerce, and at the same time secretly engaged in smuggling and pirates. Even when his own house was burned, he could not rebuild it in order to save money and food.

On the other hand, Mitsuhisa Shimadzu, this guy owes a lot of debt, and he still wants to build a holiday villa in Kirishima.

Matsuura Shigenobu later cultivated a good son, not only did not indulge in pleasure, but also promoted the Confucian benevolent government, and devoted himself to helping the poor and low-level people.

Standing tall, Matsuura Shigenobu looked at the sky and said, "If the shogunate does not send troops, I will come from the Matsuura family!" He suddenly sneered, "The shogunate's plan is nothing more than to use Tang soldiers to weaken the strength of our Matsuura and Shimadzu families. , the rule of his Tokugawa family will be worry-free forever.”

Hirado, Cheng's House.

Zheng Daozhou is only this year, but he has already become the head of the Zheng family's trading in Hirado.

"Master, the Matsuura family seems to be going to war. It's very lively outside the city these days, and the samurai from the castle town are being ordered to enter the city." Zheng Zhong reminded.

Zheng Daozhou sighed: "I know, there are people watching in the business hall, and I am not allowed to take a step away, because they are afraid that I will take the opportunity to escape."

Zheng Zhong worried: "Will the business hall be in danger?"

Zheng Daozhou shook his head: "As long as the Matsuura family still wants to smuggle by sea, they will not attack the Zheng family business house. You send a man to Nagasaki instead of going by sea, go to Nagasaki by land. Tell the Zheng family business house there, Let them take a boat to Kagoshima to report. It is said that the Matsuura family is gathering troops, and it is likely to go south to fight with the Datong army."

"Yes!" Zheng Zhong bowed and stepped back.

Zheng Daozhou has been adopted to his grandfather's family. His surname should actually be Tagawa, so he is also called Tagawa Jiro in Japan.

Historically, his mother, Tian Chuansong, was unwilling to surrender to the Qing Dynasty and committed suicide as a martyr. Zheng Daozhou always asked to return to China to fight against the Qing Dynasty.But the Japanese side never let people go, so Zheng Daozhou could only give up and continue to deliver anti-Qing supplies to his brother Zheng Chenggong in Japan.

This time and space is even more outrageous. Since Zheng Zhilong was made a duke and Zheng Chenggong married a princess as his son-in-law, the Matsuura family attached great importance to Zheng Daozhou.Zheng Daozhou's wife at this time is the youngest sister of the Governor of Matsuura, and her son is already one year old.

However, after Li Dingguo occupied the stone wall, he continued to besiege the city for more than 30 days, and the defenders in the city showed signs of collapse.

After another month of siege, Tsurumaru City will be short of food.

At this moment, news came from the navy that a Zheng family merchant ship had arrived from Nagasaki, reporting that the Hirado clan was preparing to gather troops to go south.

Li Dingguo was overjoyed, and said: "It's just in time. Don't besiege Tsurumaru City too much. Breaking the city early will scare away the enemy's reinforcements."

Matsuura Shigenobu not only gathered troops to go out, but also landed in Akune.

The accompanying Shimadzu Tsunahisa, as the eldest son of the family governor, ordered Akune and Izumi to send troops to the Shimadzu family castellan.If you don't send troops, let the Matsuura family's army directly attack the city!

All the way to the south, the army became stronger and stronger. When they reached Ijuin, there were 8000 coalition troops from the Matsuura and Hirado feudal clans.Counting the civilian husbands, there are more than [-], and they are known as an army of [-].

After setting off from Ijuin, Shimadzu Tsunahisa said: "These people in the Satsuma domain may not be willing to contribute to the frontal battle. They did not save their troops before.

I have already offended my father, and now I wish my father would die sooner. If my father is still alive, I will definitely question them. "

Matsuura Shigenobu nodded and said, "This problem is very troublesome. Don't look at the [-] troops of our two families, but the only ones who are really united are the warriors of the Hirado Domain. Do you have any good suggestions?"

Shimadzu Tsunahisa made a suggestion and said: "You can use the Shimadzu family's secret technique of warfare to catch wild volts!"

The so-called fishing field ambush is to set up an ambush, pretending to be defeated to lure the enemy to pursue, and then the ambush will be exhausted to wipe out the incoming enemy.

This method of warfare, which is very common in Chinese wars, has been praised by the Shimadzu family as a miracle, and has won brilliant victories many times.Even with this method of warfare, he defeated Toyotomi Hideyoshi's vanguard and won the eldest son of Chang Zonggabu Yuanqin.

What kind of woodpecker warfare is there, that is the ultimate mystery of Takeda Shingen.

In fact, it is to separate the cavalry to go around and kill at the critical moment of the battle, specifically attacking the most vulnerable troops of the enemy, and causing the enemy to be defeated by breaking the surface.

The most interesting is Uesugi Kenshin's car hanging array.This thing is more like a fairy method, or a big move in the game. In actual combat, it must be full of loopholes, and it will be beaten by the enemy until my own mother doesn't know it.In order to have practical significance, every soldier must be ordered to prohibit, and all middle-level officers must have the ability to adapt to changes.

If the Chexuan formation is real, the middle-level officers under Uesugi Kenshin's command may all be first-class generals.

The coalition forces of the two feudal lords traveled all the way, looting the people along the way.They sent troops too fast, and there was not enough food and grass. They had to grab food from the people. The people in the area under the jurisdiction of Shimadzu's main family, the closer they were to Tsurumaru Castle, the more people had done business with the Datong Army.Comparing the two, the Datong Army trades fairly in the sky and on the earth, and never kills or robs. On the contrary, the soldiers of Shimadzu and Matsuura are more like invaders.

As a result, the nearby people fled one after another, took their families and mouths to join the Datong Army, and offered to help deliver military information.

About six miles away from Tsurumaru Castle, the Datong Army met the enemy coalition forces.

The Datong Army only has 5000 people, and the rest are still besieging Tsurumaru City.The enemy coalition forces are even smaller, only 3000 people, many of whom are poorly dressed civilians.

Guitou 48 said: "General, watch out for the Shimadzu family's Diao Ye Fu!

After listening to the translation, Li Dingguo realized that it was the secret of the Shimadzu's method of warfare, and he couldn't help laughing: "It's been a long time since we have fought, and the lure of the enemy has been perfunctory. With so many civilians acting like this, there may be less than a thousand real soldiers. Dragoons go to battle!"

The Datong Army brought war horses here, not many, only 300 horses.The sea was bumpy, some got sick and died, and now there are more than [-] riders.

Yuan Shizhong's military rank has been promoted to colonel, but he still commands 2500 dragoons.

At this moment, Yuan Shizhong led [-] cavalry into battle.After running for dozens of steps, they were divided into left and right teams, trying to outflank and annihilate future invading enemies.

"Run!

Seeing that it was the cavalry who were facing the battle, the enemy troops who had lured the enemy turned around and fled away after a long distance.As for the civilian husband, he collapsed instantly, and even forgot to lure the Datong army to the valley.

After a while of pursuit, more than a thousand people were captured, hundreds were beheaded, and only more than 800 enemy troops fled into the valley.

In the northwest of Tsurumaru Castle, there are valleys everywhere, and you can set up an ambush anywhere you choose.

"withdraw troops!"

Yuan Shizhong smiled and asked the herald to blow the trumpet, but he didn't chase after him at all.In Yuan Shizhong's eyes, the Shimadzu family's profound method of fishing wild ambushes is just a joke. From being a bandit to joining the Datong Army, he has fought on the battlefield for ten years. What kind of tactics to lure the enemy has he never seen?

Shimadzu Tsunahisa was particularly shocked. Looking at the defeated soldiers who had fled back, he said in horror: "The enemy has a resourceful general, and my Shimadzu family's Yuyefu didn't work!"

Matsuura Shigenobu said: "It's okay, anyway, only a few hundred soldiers were sent to lure, and most of them escaped, and the rest were ordinary farmers. Fishing wild ambush doesn't work, so we can only fight head-on. It's a pity that the two of us, the really powerful ones are Naval, land combat is not our forte."

Shimadzu Tsunahisa said: "The iron artillery team of the Matsuura family will definitely be able to fight Tang Bing!"

The coalition forces rested in the valley for a day, and then slowly marched out the next day, leaving the valley for a decisive battle with the Datong army.

The Datong army still only had [-] soldiers, and there were more than [-] wild warriors. The rest of the troops were too lazy to bring them over from the besieged city.The main fear is that if all of them are present, the enemy troops will be scared away.

The two coalition forces of Shimadzu and Matsuura, however, included the peasants and pulled them all out to form troops.As far as the number of people is concerned, it is indeed quite magnificent. There are about 2 people, which is four times that of the Datong Army.

And there is also a cavalry team, more than 200 dwarfs, riding on mule-like ponies.Some of them had flags on their backs, and the flags fluttered when they ran, which was indescribably funny in the eyes of Datong soldiers.

These Japanese cavalry rushed to the flanks, Yuan Shizhong led the dragoons out, raised their guns after dozens of steps away.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

A burst of gunfire rang out, and more than 200 Japanese cavalrymen fell down immediately, more than 30 cavalrymen.

Matsuura Shigenobu shouted in surprise: "Get the cavalry back quickly, Tang soldiers have iron cannons on horseback!

Riding iron cannons is the ultimate mystery of Date Masamune, and some people also played dragoon tactics in the Sengoku period of Japan

Chapter 637 [Battlefield seppuku]

"The Iron Cannons move forward!"

Seeing his own cavalry being hunted down, Shigenobu Matsuura made a decisive decision and ordered the gunfire soldiers to come forward to respond.

The Matsuura family was the first place equipped with muskets in the Warring States period of Japan, the Sanqiang domain.

At the beginning, there were only two iron artillery teams of 300 people, but now it has grown to as many as 800 people.

He even learned Nobunaga's three-stage attack.

"Ming woo ming~"

Yuan Shizhong blew the trumpet to stop the pursuit, and the dragoons retreated to the flanks of the battlefield, reloading bombs very skillfully on horseback.

Matsuura Shigenobu led the banner himself and took charge of the Chinese army.Let your own spearmen and firecrackers act as the front army slowly pressing forward, and let the Shimadzu's team line up on the two wings.

Suddenly the flag was waved, and the Matsuura family's position launched six small Franco cannons.This thing is an old thing, and it was bought from the Portuguese for a lot of money decades ago.Usually installed on sea ships, because the caliber is relatively small, it can also be disassembled for land operations.

Li Dingguo smiled and said: "Drag them all out, let the Japanese see what artillery is.

25 cannons appeared slowly.

"There are so many big barrels (artillery)?"

Including Matsuura Shigenobu, the nobles of Hirado and Satsuma clans all changed their faces dramatically.

Especially the Satsuma army, they didn't want to save the governor, and they planned to run away at any time.Seeing that the Datong Army launched 25 artillery pieces,

The morale of the army fluctuated in an instant, and there were already signs of fleeing without fighting.

Just as the Datong artillery was loading shells, the dragoons finished changing their ammunition and began to circle around the enemy's rear.

The move of the dragoons made Matsuura Shigenobu not dare to retreat. If he retreated, he might collapse and be chased and killed by the dragoons.

Up to now, I can only bite the bullet and fight.

Shimadzu Tsunahisa reminded: "We can't wait for Tang Bing's big tube to launch, and kill the whole army quickly!"

Matsuura Shigenobu is still hesitant. Although he has a strong level of internal affairs, he has only participated in the suppression of the Shimabara Rebellion, and his actual command experience is not very rich.

Hearing Shimadzu Tsunahisa's suggestion, Matsuura Shigenobu also reacted.The morale of the allied forces is unstable, and if they are bombarded by 25 artillery pieces, this battle will be impossible to fight again, and the whole army must rush forward to kill in close combat.

"The whole army marches forward!"

Due to the large number of civilians mixed in, the [-] coalition troops advanced very slowly, and their formations were uneven.

"Boom boom boom boom!"

After only ten or so steps, the first round of shelling by the Datong Army began, and all of them shot at the Matsuura family's army—the army was more orderly, and it looked like the main force of the coalition army.

Iron bullets roared and flew out, turning into calf terminators one after another.

Iron bullets bounced off the ground one by one, breaking one's calf along the way, plowing flesh and blood alleys among the coalition forces.

"Samurai of the Banner, step forward!"

After the first round of shelling, the former army of the Matsuura family couldn't bear it anymore.Matsuura Shigenobu released the Banner warriors, and these warriors raised their swords forward, hacked and killed scattered scattered soldiers, and then led the front army to charge together.

The joining of the banner warriors greatly boosted the morale of the former army, and they continued to charge up against the artillery fire.

Yuan Shizhong led the dragoons, bypassing the enemy formation with archers and musketeers, and did not choose to shoot, but charged towards the enemy's civilian troops.

How dare the Japanese peasants face the charge of cavalry and the sound of hooves?

"Run away!"

The peasants threw away their weapons, turned around and fled collectively. Some even panicked and fled towards Matsuura Shigenobu's banner troops.

Matsuura Shigenobu quickly commanded and responded: "Pikemen, iron cannons, and archers, stop the horse-riding iron cannons of the Tang people!"

The order was issued smoothly, but the corresponding troops seemed a little confused.Because after Yuan Shizhong defeated a group of civilians, he continued to circle backwards, completely disrupting the enemy's blocking troops.

Matsuura Shigenobu could only command the bannermen's own soldiers, form an formation to block the attack, and at the same time push the more than 200 cavalry up.

"Bang bang bang!"

The dragoons fired a salvo at close range, and the Japanese cavalry of the Matsuura family directly fell more than 50 cavalry.These little cavalrymen were so frightened that their livers and gallbladders were torn apart, they completely forgot about their mission, and they reined in their horses and ran as far as they could go.

Yuan Shizhong didn't chase after him. After opening the distance, he reloaded the ammunition.

After such a toss, Matsuura Shigenobu's Banner Army was completely out of touch with the charging former army.

The former army was also in a difficult situation. Under the leadership of the banner warriors, they