prosperous age

"Zhu Cheng, lead the assault team out of the city, then send someone to Tsuda Castle to summon the four hundred cavalrymen there to join you."

You should stay outside and not enter the city. Instead, look for opportunities to raid the Japanese pirate camp and harass them while they are attacking the city.

Be sure to prioritize your own safety. Without a large army to protect you, retreat far away after each battle.

On the city wall of Datianzhuang, Liu Ting glared at his tiger-like eyes and gave orders to his personal guard captain.

He was originally a squad leader in the cavalry, but because of his skill in archery and horsemanship, he caught the eye of Liu Ting, who wanted to appoint him as the captain of his personal guard.

Now, he plans to gather several hundred cavalrymen from the city and go out to actively harass the Japanese pirates, instead of staying in the city doing nothing.

The only place he could think of was Tsuda Castle, where the troops were also his own men. Although they were now under Qi Jiguang's direct orders, they would still obey his commands.

As for the other two cities in the vicinity, they are either too far away or it would be difficult to mobilize their troops to provide support.

"Yes, General."

Zhu Cheng was not one to procrastinate. The Japanese pirates had been attacking the city relentlessly since yesterday afternoon, and they hadn't stopped even late into the night. Torches and bonfires were everywhere on and around the city walls, clearly showing that the Japanese pirates were determined to take down Datianzhuang.

This offensive was powerful and resolute. Even though Tokugawa Ieyasu and others were extremely unwilling, they did not dare to argue with Hashiba Hideyoshi.

In reality, both Akechi Mitsuhide and Tokugawa Ieyasu, though both were senior retainers of the Oda clan, had indeed lost out to Hashiba Hideyoshi in their struggle for power.

Because of his numerous military achievements during the Oda era, Toyotomi Hideyoshi wielded immense influence within the Oda clan, far exceeding that of others.

During this period, Akechi Mitsuhide and others who had made great contributions had been sealed off by Oda Nobunaga and had begun to consider preserving their strength, no longer having the same drive as before.

Now the backlash has arrived. Even if they are as extraordinary as Hideyoshi Hashiba, they will find it difficult to quickly increase their influence within the organization and can only fall behind.

This alone shows that Toyotomi Hideyoshi's ambitions were even greater. In fact, as early as the first year of Tensho (also known as the first year of Wanli), Toyotomi Hideyoshi was appointed lord of Nagahama Castle in Omi Province, and was given 220,000 koku of northern Omi Province, which was formerly the territory of the Asai. He renamed the castle Nagahama Castle and began to join the ranks of the warlords of the Sengoku period.

However, he did not back down because of the city's siege. He maintained his fighting spirit and fought in the north and south during Oda Nobunaga's unification war, strengthening his influence within the "Oda clan".

When Shibata Katsuie plotted to rebel and kill his patriarch Oda Nobunaga during the Honnoji Incident, it's possible that his actions were motivated by jealousy.

He was once Oda Nobunaga's most trusted confidant, but he was surpassed in every way by the young general Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and he had no way to deal with it, so he chose the most dangerous way to deal with it.

Just as Liu Ting began to actively respond to the Japanese pirates' frenzied attacks, daimyo such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Terumoto Mori had already arrived near the battlefield.

Yes, after half a day and a night of fierce attacks yesterday, they thought taking Datianzhuang would be a piece of cake. Such an intensity of attack was absolutely the best in all the siege battles during the war, without exception.

However, as they approached the city wall, the Ming army's artillery fire remained sharp, and rows of Ming gunmen continued to appear suddenly on the city wall, relentlessly reaping the lives of the Japanese pirates below.

Whenever groups of Japanese pirates appeared near the city walls, they would inevitably be bombarded by artillery from multiple directions.

A group of dozens of people could instantly be riddled with bloody alleys as cannonballs from the Ming army pierced through them.

"Takenaka, where is Takenaka?"

Seeing that the Japanese army's attacks had failed to breach the city, Toyotomi Hideyoshi grew anxious and lost the calm demeanor he had displayed before noon the previous day.

"Lord Takenaka has personally led his troops to attack the city."

A guard hurriedly reported this.

"Nonsense! My general is personally attacking the city! You few go and call him back."

Hideyoshi Hashiba was greatly alarmed and hurriedly gave the order.

Takenaka Hanbei was a fierce general whom Hashiba Hideyoshi discovered by chance more than ten years ago when he attacked Saito Tatsuoki. In the ninth year of Eiroku, which was the second year of Ryūkei, Oda Nobunaga decided to build Sunomata Castle, but the fierce generals Shibata Katsuie and Sakuma Nobumori suffered defeats one after another.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was given the mission in a time of crisis. With the help of Hachisuka Masakatsu, he successfully completed the task. Legend has it that Sunomata Castle was built overnight, which further earned him the appreciation of Oda Nobunaga and is praised by later generations.

Soon after, in Mino, Takenaka Hanbei easily captured Inabayama Castle with only seventeen riders, and afterwards Hanbei abandoned Inabayama Castle.

Upon learning of this, Toyotomi Hideyoshi summoned Hanbei to his command with the courtesy of "three visits" and used Hanbei's strength to persuade the Mino Triumvirate to surrender. With his supporters turning against him, Saito Tatsuoki was defeated and captured.

It can only be said that Chinese culture has had a great influence on the Japanese. They even learned from the Three Kingdoms in some small matters and imitated the etiquette of the Three Kingdoms in many things.

"Boom boom."

Two loud explosions rang out from the city wall in the distance, instantly sending dust flying.

Even from ten miles away, Hideyoshi Hashiba could feel the shock of the explosion.

"The Ming people used that kind of thing again."

Kobayakawa Takakage lost his voice.

The "Heaven-Shaking Thunder" was a weapon used by the Ming army to destroy sections of the city wall whenever Japanese pirates gathered and began to scale it.

After the explosion, only corpses were left behind. Even if soldiers who ran out coughing up blood tried to escape, they would usually collapse and die within a hundred steps.

Clearly, the recent explosion has once again dashed the Japanese army's hopes of breaching the city walls.

Looking up at the sky, it was already close to noon. Hideyoshi sighed, "It's been going on for a whole day and night. The soldiers need to rest too."

Order the troops to retreat and have the camp prepare food so that the soldiers can eat their fill.

This afternoon, the last two squads of soldiers were lightly deployed to attack the city.

If we can't take Ota Estate by evening, we'll retreat.

"boom."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than another violent explosion occurred in the distance, and the smoke seemed to obscure even the city walls.

"Go up and have a look."

Hideyoshi Hashiba spoke first, and without waiting for anyone else to react, he took the lead and approached the battlefield.

Several miles from the gate of Datianzhuang, Hideyoshi Hashiba and his men stopped and focused their attention on carefully observing the Ming army's city walls.

There was a cannon at regular intervals, constantly firing shells down on the city walls.

Such a density of artillery made them tremble with fear.

The Ming army's equipment was far superior to that of the strongest Japanese soldiers.

Every few breaths, heads would suddenly appear on the battlements, firing downwards before quickly retreating.

Meanwhile, the Japanese artillerymen below the city could only take advantage of this opportunity to attack the Ming troops on the city walls.

There's also the large cannon, which can continuously fire projectiles at positions with artillery.

However, judging from the density of artillery fire, such a strike seems to have little effect.

In fact, the large cannon did indeed play a remarkable role in the early stages of the war.

However, during the battle, after the Ming army deployed swordsmen and shieldmen to protect the gunners, the lethality of the cannons was greatly reduced. It was more threatening to fire directly at the Ming army's musketeers and spearmen from the city walls.

As for Japan's cannons, although they were numerous, they suffered considerable losses in the war, especially those cannons that were directly hit, whose barrels were bent and almost unusable.

Moreover, due to the difference in elevation, the artillery's effectiveness is not significant if it cannot be densely deployed.

Especially when the Japanese pirates approached the city walls, the cannons dared not fire, fearing that they would hit their own men.

To breach the city walls, one would need to get even closer after attacking them. Such a position is practically suicide.

In reality, the small and medium-sized artillery used by the Japanese pirates in siege warfare was not very practical. Unless the enemy had no artillery support, they were basically powerless.

Would the Ming army not have cannons?

Of course not. In fact, the medium-sized breech-loading cannon was already able to counter the offensive of the Japanese pirates' largest cannons.

When Hideyoshi Hashiba and his men entered the battlefield, a group of more than ten people, with dozens of guards following them, the nearly one hundred people naturally attracted the attention of the Ming army on the city wall.

"come here."

On the city gate, Liu Ting pulled aside a gunner and asked, "Do you see that group of people over there?"

"General, I see it."

The gunner quickly looked around and easily spotted a group of people watching the battlefield from a distance.

"Can the General's Cannon reach that position?"

Liu Ting asked loudly.

In such an environment, whispering is definitely not an option. With constant gunfire and shouts of battle, it's difficult to hear what the other person is saying even face-to-face unless you're yelling.

"It's possible, but it's not very accurate."

The gunner raised his hand and made a few gestures, which Liu Ting knew were simple rangefinding techniques.

Teaching soldiers math and how to calculate ballistics is, of course, unrealistic.

However, the Ministry of War was not incompetent; simple distance measurement techniques could indeed be learned through training.

Those who master these skills can become artillery commanders, leading a dozen or so men in an artillery unit, which is equivalent to a squad leader in the army.

"Aim all six cannons at those guys and fire one shot at a time. You might only have one chance."

"Tell a few gunners to calculate the exact time and fire carefully."

The strategy of "capture the king to capture the thief" was familiar to Ming Dynasty generals.

In fact, whether it's fighting the enemy cavalry, the Jurchens, or anything else, as long as you keep an eye on this point, you can at least change the situation to one where you are neither victorious nor defeated.

Yes, as long as the location of the enemy leader was exposed, they would often be subjected to fierce surprise attacks by the Ming army in the wars of the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty.

In the Battle of Songshan, which broke out in the fourteenth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, the Ming army initially swept through the enemy lines, and the Qing army was powerless to resist the Ming offensive.

However, after losing the supplies at Bijia Mountain, Hong Chengchou wanted to retreat. At this time, the Ming army was in a panic and did not send out troops in the order ordered by Hong Chengchou. Wang Pu and others were the first to break away from their unit and flee, causing chaos in the Ming army camp, which was then captured by the Qing army.

Even in such a difficult time, when Hong Dai was discovered by the Ming army when he personally approached the battlefield for inspection, Ming general Cao Bianjiao also led his troops to decisively launch a surprise attack on Hong Dai's camp.

After breaking through several Qing army defense lines, Cao Bianjiao encountered Hong Daiba Yala and was eventually intercepted, forcing him to abandon his raid.

The Bayara were the elite force of the Later Jin army, also known as the White Armor Army.

During the Tiancong era, Huang Taiji centralized the Bayara troops from various banners and called them the Bayara Camp. The chief officer of the Bayara Camp was called "Bayara Dao Ejen". In the eighth year of Tiancong, the title was changed to "Bayara Dao Zhangjing".

Given the situation at the time, Cao Bianjiao had indeed approached Hong Dai and was nearby. However, his cavalry was relatively weak. If he had received support and directly broken through the Bayala defense line, the outcome of the war might have been very different.

Of course, these are all things for the future. Whether they will happen in this life is already a very low probability.

The reason why it cannot be completely eliminated is due to the inertia of history.

When Wei Guangde was in power in the Ming Dynasty, he would naturally try to avoid the mistakes that might occur during that period.

For example, transferring Li Chengliang effectively cut off Nurhaci's chance to rise again. Later, when Qi Jiguang took charge of Liaodong, he repeatedly sorted out and suppressed the forces among the Jurchen tribes who were dissatisfied with the Ming Dynasty.

Well, Nurhaci, whom Wei Guangde thought was dead, was actually still alive. However, at this time, he had already become a subject of the Ming Dynasty, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and parents.

However, whether this person will continue their previous life's work in the future remains uncertain.

Meanwhile, atop the city wall of Datianzhuang, six gunners ran to their respective gun positions, repeatedly confirming important parameters such as the cannon's range and propellant charge, and finally aimed at the group of people.

Meanwhile, Hideyoshi Hashiba and his men, already inside the scope, were completely unaware that danger was approaching.

"General, the artillery is already aimed at them, within range."

The artillery officer returned to the city wall and reported to Liu Ting.

"beat."

Liu Ting wouldn't be affected by the "brain-degrading aura" and wouldn't overthink things before firing.

At this moment, he only confirmed that the group of people must be extraordinary. He did not see that the retreating Japanese pirates were fleeing from both sides of them and did not dare to charge at the group of people.

Moreover, there were armored warriors running towards them, seemingly showing great respect to the group.

The captain stood on the city wall, waving his small flag, and then waved it forward.

The gunners at several gun positions all stared at the small red flag, and no one bothered to aim anymore. Instead, they directly inserted the red-hot iron tongs into the breech lugs.

"Boom boom boom"

Six heavy cannon shots rang out in succession, and six projectiles, propelled by the explosion of gunpowder, flew out of the cannon muzzle and rushed forward.

The instant the cannon fire sounded, Hideyoshi Hashiba seemed to sense something and suddenly bent down and crawled down.

Immediately, he heard a shrill scream.

When he looked up again, many people in front of and behind him were either seriously injured or dead on the spot, or were screaming in agony with missing limbs.

"Rewind."

Without time to care about the injured, Hideyoshi Hashiba shouted and led the way in running backwards.

However, the guards from each family rushed forward behind them, brushing past him as they quickly searched for their masters, grabbing them and fleeing to the rear regardless of whether they were dead or wounded.

"Oh dear, we were hit by four bullets, and two of them were hit too far away."

Liu Ting could see the scene ahead clearly through his telescope.

One of the four bullets hit the group directly, but it was slightly off-center and hit someone on the side. Another bullet was aimed at the center, but it was still a few steps away from the other side.

Although it didn't hit directly, the ricocheting bullet still grazed a few people in the middle of the crowd.

The other two bullets hit the ranks of guards or officers at the back, which is a bit of a shame.

However, given the current artillery technology, it was already quite remarkable that four out of six cannons had hit targets, and Liu Ting couldn't say anything about it.

"Hopefully, the Japanese pirate leader was killed by the smash, then the Japanese pirates won't have the courage to continue attacking the city."

Only then did Liu Ting begin to consider the identities of those people.

However, not only was he unaware, but even Wei Guangde wasn't entirely sure of Hideyoshi's identity, only having some vague guesses. (End of Chapter)