prosperous age

While Wei Guangde was fast asleep, a fierce battle was raging in Tsuda Castle.

A large number of Ming troops rushed into the city. Although the Mori clan had also deployed troops in Tsuda, especially those who had retreated from places like An'un to Bingo, although not many, they were gathered in several nearby cities. Therefore, the Mori army in Tsuda Castle numbered as many as 8,000.

However, being attacked at night, especially with the Ming army launching a fierce attack on Suo, Nagato, and An'un, the governor of Tsuda Village never expected that his own territory would also be attacked.

In a panic, a large number of Japanese soldiers, unaware of what was happening, were swept out of the East Gate along with the fleeing soldiers from the West Gate.

After all, people tend to conform.

Perhaps on the battlefield, these peasant soldiers would follow the warriors and charge ahead, because they knew that their enemies were ahead, and only by defeating them could they survive and receive the lord's reward.

But with the night raid, the entire city was thrown into chaos. In such a situation, who cared about the orders of the samurai and captains? They just followed the others and ran.

Two thousand Ming soldiers entered the city and, after a night of fighting, killed more than three thousand Japanese pirates, ending the battle.

As dawn broke and the sun shone on the earth, the Ming army had completely taken control of the three gates of Tsuda Castle.

After making simple arrangements for the city's defenses, Liu Ting left a few officers to patrol the city walls and reassure the people inside the city, especially after inspecting the two warehouses. Half of the troops then began to rest, while Liu Ting went directly to the warehouses to check on the situation.

"General, we're taking inventory. There's a lot of food and weapons piled up here, but we can't use any of the weapons."

The platoon leader in charge of guarding the warehouse today recounted what he had seen in detail. It was also because of the surprise attack that the Japanese army did not even have time to burn the warehouse when they retreated, and were swept away by the fleeing soldiers. It was truly a huge surprise.

Because Liu Ting had already seen the grain stored in the warehouse, much of it of it was rice.

Japan's agriculture is based on rice, supplemented by other grains.

However, rice was not something ordinary people could afford; it was all paid for by taxes and delivered to the lords, while the common people had to rely on coarse grains to fill their stomachs.

Much of this rice was used as military rations.

In the event of war, rice would be allocated as another way to boost morale.

After all, most peasant soldiers only had a handful of opportunities to eat rice throughout the year.

Serving the lord, however, meant being able to eat rice while in the army.

Although it wasn't enough to fill their stomachs—just a small lump of food each time, mostly coarse grains—it was still a life they couldn't have imagined.

"It's a pity that only some of the rice was new rice; most of it was made into cooked rice."

Dry rice is simply cooked rice that has been dried. It can be rehydrated by adding water and can be considered an ancient prototype of convenience food, as it is lightweight and can be stored for a long time.

Japan doesn't actually produce much rice, as its topography dictates that it produces millet, barnyard grass, and other miscellaneous grains, as well as tubers, especially taro.

However, the daimyo had no shortage of rice, because he would collect and store almost all the rice in his territory as military rations.

And much of this rice was cooked into dry rice.

After all, Japan has been plagued by wars for decades, and these military rations could be diverted at any time.

Dry rice is also more convenient to use during wartime, as it does not require a lot of firewood and can be eaten simply by soaking it in hot water.

In addition, miso was also an important spoils of war captured by the Ming army in Japan. There were also some military rations pills. The Japanese mixed rice flour, miso, sesame seeds, and medicinal herbs and kneaded them into pills. Each small pill could provide high calories and high nutrition and served as emergency rations for soldiers.

In the event of a major battle, soldiers would be given two ration pills for emergency food on the battlefield.

"Send rice and miso to each battalion, and confiscate some pickled vegetables, especially meat, from the city."

The Ming army did not follow the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention when conquering Japanese cities, because the resistance they encountered was slight, and therefore they did not carry out a massacre in the Japanese cities.

Well, in reality, massacres were mostly a way for the attacking side to vent their anger and vent their frustrations after suffering heavy losses.

Perhaps the biggest discovery made by the Ming army since its attack on Japan was miso.

This food, made primarily from soybeans and fermented with salt and various types of yeast, was highly praised by Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers. They said it was even better than the pickled vegetables sent from the supply camp when eaten with rice.

Moreover, the Ming army also had a tradition of looting after the war.

Military supplies were naturally confiscated and stored, and then gradually distributed for use, but other supplies were not taken care of much.

In any case, after capturing a city, Ming soldiers, being undisciplined, would usually receive a sum of money.

After all, Japan has a lot of gold and silver. With a little effort, one can get a lot of silver and copper coins from merchants and wealthy households, especially copper coins that circulated during the Ming Dynasty, which were quite common in Japan.

At this time, Liu Ting issued an order to pacify the city. As a result, when he came out of the warehouse, he saw Ming soldiers who should have been resting coming out of Japanese houses. Each of them had bulging waists, and many of them were wearing or carrying things they had their eyes on.

"Notify the two captains to clean up the items."

Liu Ting ignored this, but still gave instructions to his personal guards.

We can't favor one over the other. These soldiers who should be resting aren't resting; they've gone off to make money.

The soldiers standing guard on the city wall behind them wouldn't get much of a reward.

In response, the Ming army had long had an unspoken rule: soldiers who captured the spoils first had to hand over a portion of their spoils to the guards on duty.

Although there were fewer items, everyone felt more at ease.

Most importantly, these things happen in rotation, and it mainly depends on luck.

In wealthy cities, one can make a fortune, while in poorer cities, one can only accept their bad luck.

"Sir, should we allow the merchants to enter the city as well?"

The guard asked in a low voice.

The merchants mentioned by the soldiers were actually merchants accompanying the army. Don't assume that merchants would be afraid of war and stay far away.

In fact, during ancient wars, merchants accompanying the army were always very active. They would follow the army's movements, usually delaying them by one or two days, and their business was to buy the spoils of war from the soldiers.

At the same time, they also took on the task of safekeeping and even mailing, helping soldiers to convert the looted money into cash and send it home.

There's no need to worry about whether businessmen will be greedy and embezzle their money.

It's easy to understand if you think about it. Even if he had ten lives, he wouldn't dare to embezzle these money. Their main customers are all soldiers who don't care about their lives.

Even if they have high-ranking military officials as their backers, once they get down to the ground, nobody cares about their background. If someone kills them, no one will know who did it. Even if they have many skilled guards, they wouldn't dare to undermine the morale of the troops.

The officers allowed them to do business, but they would never allow them to do anything that would undermine morale.

The profession of military merchant reached its peak during the Tang Dynasty. At that time, the Tang army was virtually invincible against all neighboring countries except Tibet. Merchants who accompanied the army and purchased spoils of war earned enormous profits. Those military merchants not only acquired spoils but also made money through the postal relay system.

You can hardly imagine Tang soldiers going into battle with strings of copper coins wrapped around their waists; that's really unrealistic.

Converting spoils into cash through merchants accompanying the army was also the best way to distribute spoils among the various battalions.

Money is much easier to distribute than material goods.

With so many benefits, even Qi Jiguang couldn't resist the temptation, especially since most of the merchants who came with him this time were from Liaodong.

Behind them is the shadow of Wei Guangde, the chief minister.

In fact, in recent years, due to the decline in the Ming army's combat strength, the merchants who accompanied the army have become market makers in the border towns, buying up the harvest of the Ming army's grain.

In other words, because the Liaodong merchants had established early and close ties with Wei Guangde, they acted as accompanying merchants, following the Ming army to purchase spoils of war after Qi Jiguang made contact with them.

They targeted all useful resources from the grasslands, including cattle, sheep, and furs.

The processed materials can be sold for money, while daily necessities such as pots and pans can be sold back to the grasslands at high prices.

"Let them come up here and clean up the mess in the city."

After listening to his personal guard's words, Liu Ting thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

The presence of merchants accompanying the army was also an important pillar in maintaining harmony within the military.

While Liu Ting was consolidating his gains in Tsuda Township and distributing the spoils, four or five thousand Japanese soldiers who had retreated from the city gradually gathered outside the city.

They dare not launch a counterattack on the city.

The Mori clan organized counterattacks in Izumo, but suffered heavy losses each time, and were thus forced to adopt a passive defensive posture.

Standing atop a hill, the garrison commander of Tsuda Castle gazed at the fallen castle for a long time, and could only sigh helplessly.

"Gather our forces and head to Datian Township."

The largest city in the vicinity is Daejeon, where nearly 10,000 Japanese soldiers are stationed.

Their retreat would also strengthen the defenses of Daejeon Castle.

Moreover, that's where the food supplies are. Otherwise, with several thousand men in the wilderness, they would have scattered due to hunger within a few days without the Ming army even needing to attack, and it would have been difficult to regroup them.

While morale is still high, the best way to preserve strength is to gather the defeated troops and retreat to the next city.

As the guards relayed the order, the samurai began calling out to the soldiers, and after a brief reorganization, they set off with them on their journey to Datian Township.

Many of these defeated soldiers had even lost their bamboo spears and were fighting empty-handed.

After all, a weapon two zhang long would be very cumbersome to carry when trying to escape.

Fortunately, more than a thousand arquebuses and cannons were left behind, nearly half of the firearms were preserved, and they should be able to explain themselves to the head of the family.

Soldiers are worthless, bamboo spears are worthless, but firearms are very expensive and difficult to forge; those are what the heads of each family value most.

It took the defeated troops a day to cross the only mountain town between Tsuda-go and Ota-sho.

Here, the defeated soldiers were finally able to have a hot meal. Although they were only half full, it was still much better than when they were starving after their journey.

Meanwhile, news of the fall of Tsuda Castle to the Ming army was quickly relayed back to Ota Castle by messengers from there.

At this time, the castles of Japan were roughly divided into four categories: mountain castles, flat mountain castles, flat castles, and water castles.

Mountain castles are fortified cities built in strategic locations. The warriors who belong to the castle usually live in villages or towns in or at the foot of the mountain, but fight on the mountaintops during wartime. The form of the mountain castles varies depending on the terrain, and the castles are built in strategic locations according to local conditions.

Omi-no-Dani Castle was built on the mountainside, while Bitchu-Matsuyama Castle was built on the mountaintop. Because of the consensus that the higher the terrain, the less vulnerable it is to attack, most mountain castles would not give up their height advantage.

At the time, Noto Nanao Castle, Mino Inabayama Castle, and Izumo Getsuyama Tomita Castle, which were known as "castles that could not be captured even after a long siege", were outstanding examples of mountain castles.

Pingshan City is a type of city that appeared at the same time as mountain city, mainly due to the limitations of natural terrain conditions, such as cities built on hills or small mountains.

The biggest difference between this type of city and mountain city is that ordinary people also live in the city, similar to ancient Chinese cities. However, this type of city is often not large, since it is near the mountains and ordinary people mostly live in the nearby forests. It is often just a military fortress the size of a town, similar to the fortified towns on the border of the Ming Dynasty.

Pingcheng was the largest city. As cities were leveled during the mid-to-late Warring States period, Pingcheng, with its well-connected streets, convenient transportation, and developed economy, became the mainstream city.

However, the daimyo who were still in the midst of war could not completely trust this kind of flatland fortress, so a large number of satellite cities appeared around the main city to provide auxiliary defense.

The daimyo resided in Heijo, the central city, and built mountain fortresses along the surrounding borders, assigning retainers to defend them.

Especially after the separation of soldiers and farmers was achieved, this defense system demonstrated its advantages even more.

These cities are very similar to those of the Ming Dynasty, truly serving as cities primarily for the protection of civilians. They are also the most economically developed areas, with industrial zones and residential areas within the city.

Water castles are castles completely surrounded by the sea and rivers. Due to the limitations of the terrain, many such castles appeared in Japan, mostly built on islands and near major rivers.

For cities of this type, ships are the means of attack, thus giving them an unparalleled advantage in defense, making them very difficult to besiege.

The towns of Jintian and Datianzhuang, which Liu Ting was to attack, were of the Pingshan city type, protected by city walls, making them easy to defend and difficult to attack.

In fact, in the past, Japanese castles were not popular in flatland or mountain castles; mountain castles were the mainstream, as they were easier to defend.

However, with the widespread use of firearms in Japan, the daimyo discovered that with firearms, Heijo Castle was actually easy to defend against enemy attacks, which is why Heijo Castle and Heiyama Castle gradually emerged.

In fact, if it weren't for the Ming Dynasty's eastern expedition, Toyotomi Hideyoshi would have started building Osaka Castle, the largest castle in Japan at the time, the following year. It would have become the main base of the Toyotomi family and remained their residence until it was captured by Tokugawa Ieyasu.

With Osaka Castle and the surrounding citadels, the Toyotomi clan resisted several attacks by the Tokugawa clan until they finally made peace. The Toyotomi clan abandoned the citadels surrounding Osaka Castle, which ultimately led to the fall of Osaka Castle and the destruction of the Toyotomi clan.

After resting for two days in Jintian Township, Liu Ting arranged the defenses there and took care of other follow-up matters. Then, he led his personal guards and temporarily assigned scouts to form a cavalry team of over a hundred men and hurriedly left the south gate towards Datian Village.

In order to capture the two castles in Bingo before the Mori clan could react, Liu Ting risked splitting his troops into two groups to attack Tsuda and Ota respectively. Now he had to find another Ming army force of three thousand men and command them to attack Ota Village.

Meanwhile, news of the Ming army's capture of Tsutada Township had already reached Datian Village.

As an important city in the Binghou region, the garrison of Daejeon Castle naturally attached great importance to it, abandoning its previous complacency and sending out many scouts to patrol the city to guard against a surprise attack by the Ming army.

Although there were more than 9,000 people stationed in the city, the city of Tsuda, which had 8,000 people, was captured by the Ming army in one battle, which served as a reminder to him.

Open field battles outside the city were out of the question; news of the Ming army's superior artillery had already reached their ears through the mouths of the routed soldiers of Iwami and Izumo. (End of Chapter)