prosperous age

Liu Ting did not take the intelligence about the unusual movements of the Japanese army at Tottori Fortress seriously.

It just so happens that the weather is terrible right now, with snow piled up half a foot deep outside, making long marches impossible.

Japan is actually not a large country. The distance between their cities is at least a day's walk, and that's under normal weather conditions.

Given the current circumstances, even if he were to travel from Tottori Castle to his Ota Estate, it would take at least three days to walk there.

Moreover, Liu Ting had been studying under Qi Jiguang for quite some time. Although he was rather impulsive, he wrote very well about the importance of caution in military campaigns, and in particular, he learned to think critically.

Although he did not take any action, after capturing Ota-sou, he made the city's defenses very thorough, including sending scouts to monitor the movements of the Japanese troops on the surrounding hills, and he did not abandon them even when the weather was bad.

Perhaps, in his mind, if the Japanese army was preparing to retreat back to nearby cities, he would take the initiative to send troops to attack the Japanese army on several nearby hilltops.

Those who are far away may be difficult to pursue.

But for those who are close by, catching up and eliminating them doesn't seem difficult.

In Qi Jiguang's war dictionary, there was no such thing as passively taking a beating; otherwise, he would not have formed a wagon battalion, which was prepared for proactive attacks.

Unlike Li Chengliang's approach, Li Donglin organized the Liaodong Iron Cavalry to clash with the Mongol cavalry on the grasslands.

Perhaps he also realized that the threat posed by the Mongol cavalry was diminishing, and that their combat effectiveness had been greatly weakened in the face of the heavily armed Ming cavalry.

That's why he dared to use a small number of elite cavalry to launch a proactive attack on the grasslands and sweep away the Mongol cavalry.

Instead of mobilizing his small number of elite cavalry, Qi Jiguang trained them to be scouts and gather intelligence on the surrounding area.

He built a cavalry battalion with mounted infantry, who dismounted and formed ranks upon arrival at the battlefield; the horses were merely a means to improve mobility.

Of course, they also had some mounted combat ability, but they were slightly lacking in direct confrontation with the Mongols, though they were no problem in pursuing and killing them.

Liu Ting learned Qi Jiguang's proactive approach perfectly, so he never intended to stay quietly at Datianzhuang.

However, given Commander Qi's orders, he dared not overstep the bounds, so he could only wait for the Japanese army to retreat on its own initiative before pursuing them.

Unfortunately, his plan was no match for Kobayakawa Takakage. Kobayakawa had no intention of retreating at all, and the Japanese army miraculously held on despite the terrible weather.

However, it didn't matter. Liu Ting felt that his arrangements were sufficient, and the Japanese army would not be able to hide any movement from the eyes of the spies he had sent out.

Moreover, due to the bad weather, the rotation of Ming scouts has become more frequent recently.

Indeed, going out of the city at this time is a real ordeal. Coming back will not only leave you with half a life, but it's also quite possible to lose your life outside the city.

It was under these circumstances that a force of over two thousand Japanese pirates quietly approached Daejeon Castle.

Liu Ting's calculations were correct; in such severe weather, large-scale mobilization was indeed difficult.

Marching in such weather would be a disaster. Even the lowest-ranking soldiers, who were not valued, were afraid of dying and did not want to die meaninglessly.

When pushed to the brink, there's always the possibility of an outbreak or mutiny, even killing the commander-in-chief; at worst, one can simply defect to the enemy.

Although surrendering to the Ming Dynasty seems quite different from surrendering to a daimyo in the past.

But in the eyes of these Japanese farmers, the daimyo and the Ming dynasty didn't seem to be that different.

Therefore, under the meticulous arrangements of their commander, Kobayakawa Takakage, the Mori clan, who were in charge of leading the vanguard, chose another method to quietly arrive at the battlefield.

He carefully selected over two thousand veterans from the Mori clan, even appointing the most loyal samurai of the Mori family as squad leaders, thus forming the most elite force in Japan.

It was wishful thinking for more than two thousand men to think they could capture a city defended by five thousand Ming soldiers. So he also organized the Japanese troops from various mountain strongholds along the way and launched an attack with them.

The anomaly discovered by the Ming scouts at Tottori Fortress was actually the supplies prepared for this raid. The force consisted of more than 2,000 men from Tottori Fortress and more than 4,000 Japanese soldiers from more than a dozen hills along the way. Under the cover of night, the force quietly entered two hills near Ota-sho without the Ming scouts noticing.

It was very bold; the Ming scouts came from the Liaodong Night Scouts, but even they couldn't withstand the cold of the night.

Even scouts sent out of the city would choose safe camps to rest temporarily at night, and then monitor the enemy's movements again at dawn.

For six or seven days in a row, the Japanese troops at Tottori Fort and the nearby hills showed no unusual behavior during the day, which greatly misled the Ming scouts.

There was a large mansion in the east of Datianzhuang. It originally belonged to a wealthy merchant in the city. There was a large shop in front and several independent courtyards in the back, which served the functions of storage and living quarters respectively.

Liu Ting chose this location because it was close to the east gate, making it convenient for him to command his troops nearby.

The shop has been converted into the main hall of the garrison headquarters, where Liu Ting works during the day, handling military documents and allocating various supplies.

At this moment, Liu Ting was sitting in a chair, flipping through the reports from his scout team over the past two days.

After the Japanese army made one unusual move, there was no further activity, which was very strange. Although Liu Ting did not believe that the Japanese pirates would take the initiative to attack in this weather, he was also considering what the unusual situation that day meant.

He couldn't anticipate the enemy's moves like his father or General Qi, but he understood that unusual movements in the army often indicated a certain action.

However, it was strange that there were no new movements from the Japanese pirates for several days in a row.

"Where did the mobilized supplies and troops go? Was it a feint before they returned to camp to rest, or did they head east and take a detour to another place?"

Liu Ting had almost forgotten about the incident, but it was mentioned again in the report submitted by the scout team, which stated that no abnormalities had been found at Tottori Fort in recent days, so Liu Ting recalled the matter.

It was already extremely difficult for Ming scouts to cross those mountains and penetrate deep into Tottori Fortress, so it was naturally even more difficult to scout behind Tottori Fortress, so they almost never took such actions.

However, the scouts analyzed that some of the troops from Tottori Fortress might have been transferred to other places, leading them to conclude that Ota-sou might not be the main target of the Japanese pirates.

Liu Ting put down the documents, stood up while holding onto the wobbly chair, and couldn't help but glance back at the chair.

It was indeed a chair, made by military craftsmen. However, perhaps because it was made in a hurry, it was fine at first, but after sitting on it for a few days, it started to wobble.

"Someone, have the craftsmen make a better chair. This one rockes really hard when you sit on it."

Although Japan imitated China, chairs, which were already common in China, did not become popular in Japan.

In fact, in ancient Japan, people were accustomed to sitting on the floor, so ordinary households rarely had furniture such as beds and chairs.

Even though this was the home of a wealthy Japanese merchant, there were no beds or chairs, only stools, which were very low and Liu Ting was not used to.

"Walking like the wind, lying like a bow, standing like a pine tree"—this was the basic requirement that the ancients had for men. This requirement was not only a constraint on their physical appearance, but also a shaping of their character. As a result, the Chinese gradually developed the habit of sitting on chairs instead of sitting on the ground.

However, at this time, Japan still maintained the traditional way of kneeling without any change.

The Japanese people's habit of kneeling is also a result of learning traditional Chinese etiquette and lifestyle.

Before the Northern and Southern Dynasties, our ancestors also sat on their knees. There were no stools or beds in ancient China.

Stools only appeared during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. They were originally used by nomadic peoples to mount their horses, and only became popular during the Song Dynasty.

In the late Han Dynasty, the Central Plains region introduced the Hu bed from the Hu people, a folding stool similar to that used for fishing. As a result, the Han people gradually abandoned the uncomfortable kneeling posture, which later evolved into a chair.

The Tang Dynasty had the greatest influence on Japanese culture. In the process of learning from Tang culture, Japan adopted a completely wholesale approach, so the kneeling posture popular among the Tang people was adopted back by Japan.

This includes not only their usual words and actions, but also their clothing.

Ancient Chinese clothing was also rather "unscientific." Both men and women wore clothes similar to the open-crotch pants of today's toddlers. The long pants had an opening between the two legs for easy access to the toilet and other activities.

In addition to these trousers, people in this period would also wear a long skirt over their open-crotch trousers so that they wouldn't be exposed.

However, such attire necessitates kneeling. If one were to sit casually on a chair like today, there is a high risk of accidental exposure, which would be considered impolite.

The habit of wearing "open-crotch pants" continued until the Song Dynasty, when stools or chairs became popular, and then gradually came to an end.

By the Ming Dynasty and later, except for infants, almost no one wore open-crotch pants anymore, and various stools and chairs were developed during this period.

Of course, Japan did not simply copy the clothing of ancient Chinese people. Instead, they combined Tang Dynasty clothing with their own traditional attire to create the kimono.

Wearing a kimono, a person is almost completely enclosed in a "tube," making it difficult for women to take large steps when walking, let alone sit down casually. Therefore, kneeling is the most comfortable sitting posture for them.

The fact that no chairs or beds could be found in Japan naturally made Liu Ting, and even all the Ming generals, feel very uncomfortable.

Therefore, almost all Ming generals, including Qi Jiguang, sent people to make chairs and beds for themselves. Liu Ting was no exception. When going out to fight, he certainly couldn't skimp on himself.

"This chair is uncomfortable now," Liu Ting said.

"Yes, General."

The guards around him hurriedly agreed, planning to have the army craftsmen remake a sturdy and durable chair so that he could take it with him later.

God knows how desperate they must have been when they first landed in Japan, breaking into countless Japanese homes in their search for a bed for their leader, only to find nothing.

It wasn't until repeated interrogations of Japanese prisoners of war that it was confirmed that no one in this country knew what a bed was, and they couldn't even find a chair. They were incredibly poor.

At this moment, Liu Ting had already strode out of the house, and his personal guards hurriedly followed.

After leaving the mansion, he relayed a message to the others, instructing them to arrange for craftsmen to make chairs, while he himself rode off on horseback with the general toward the east gate.

Patrolling the city every morning and afternoon has become Liu Ting's habit, and as the garrison commander of Datianzhuang, this is also his daily task.

After climbing the city wall and gazing into the distance for a while, he asked the officer there, "Is there anything unusual?"

"Reporting to the General, there is nothing unusual."

The officer hurriedly replied.

"You will be personally responsible for the lookout posts on the city wall. Soldiers can take shelter from the wind and snow under the city wall, but someone must be on duty in the city."

There's also a gun emplacement; someone has to be there.

Because the walls of Japanese castles are not very tall, they can be climbed, although it is somewhat troublesome.

After fighting the Japanese army, the Ming army confirmed that Japan lacked heavy artillery, only had some light cannons, and did not even have any powerful field cannons. Therefore, the Ming army's cannons were not evenly distributed on the city walls.

Qi Jiguang would never have done the practice of dispersing firepower; he always concentrated the cannons in a few places on the city wall.

Even if the Japanese pirates manage to scale the city walls, we have nothing to fear. We can simply bombard the walls with breech-loading cannons and tiger-squatting cannons. As long as the cannon positions are kept at a sufficient distance, the cannonballs will not fly onto the Ming army's cannon positions on the other side. It can be said that no matter how many Japanese pirates scale the city walls, they will not be enough to be killed by the cannons.

Therefore, the Ming army chose to position their artillery near the city gates and the ramps for getting on and off the horse.

"Night patrols must also keep the soldiers on duty alert."

Liu Ting nodded and was about to leave for the next place when he suddenly stopped and turned back to the officer.

"Sir, in this weather, they dare to launch a night raid?"

The officer was clearly skeptical. It was cold during the day, and even colder at night. Moreover, in those days, many people suffered from night blindness due to malnutrition, so night fighting was definitely not the first choice for a commander.

Fighting with torches is like providing the enemy's arquebusiers and archers with live targets.

"Yes, it's always good to be careful. We can't afford to make any mistakes."

Liu Ting emphasized this point and then turned to leave.

His words clearly had little effect; he himself didn't believe the Japanese pirates would launch a night raid, so how could he expect his men to take it seriously?

"Tachibana, how are your men doing?"

About ten miles outside Daejeon, on a sunny mountain peak, stands a small, inconspicuous wooden house.

However, at this moment, this is the command post for the Mori clan's attack, and Kobayakawa Takakage is talking to several military commanders leading the troops here.

Tachibana Muneshige and Takahashi Munemasa were both famous military commanders of the Mori clan. They were the commanders who led the troops from Tottori Castle this time, and their more than two thousand men had already arrived here quietly and were hiding on three nearby hills.

"It's not good. Because it's nighttime, dozens of people have gotten separated, and more than two hundred people have frostbite and cannot join the army in the raid on Daejeon City."

Tachibana Muneshige replied with his head down that although preparations had been made, losses still occurred during the actual march.

The battle hasn't even started, and they've already lost 10% of their troops. This is a dereliction of duty by the generals in charge.

Takahashi Tomomasa, standing to the side, also kept his head down, not daring to look at Kobayakawa Takakage. Although he also harbored resentment, he had never gone on a campaign during this season before, and the difficulties were unimaginable.

"So, the only troops we can deploy this time are a little over six thousand."

Kobayakawa Takakage didn't notice their state and just said in a low voice.

Have the Ming troops in the city shown any unusual behavior recently?

Kobayakawa Takakage turned to Arima Harunobu, the general commanding the Japanese troops outside the castle, and asked.

"No, the Ming army's patrols on the city walls have not changed in the past two days, so they should not know about us."

"I can't speak," Arima Harunobu said hastily. (End of Chapter)