prosperous age

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

Four out of the six cannons had achieved their goals, and in his joy, Liu Ting began to consider the identities of those people.

After being shelled, those behind did not flee in panic, but instead rushed forward to snatch the dead and wounded, and then led them back. This scene was witnessed by Liu Ting.

He put down the telescope, rubbed his chin, and muttered, "Looks like we might have caught a big fish."

The people behind were clearly the guards of the dozen or so people in front, which is why they were so nervous and rushed forward to rescue people after seeing the dead and wounded in front.

At this moment, the Japanese pirates who had been attacking the city had already retreated. Liu Ting immediately snapped out of his thoughts and ordered his soldiers to carry his wounded comrades off the city wall. Those who were still breathing were immediately treated by the army doctor, and those who had died were identified and recorded.

These people will be cremated and their ashes will be placed in jars and taken back home.

Although the Japanese pirates only attacked the city for one day, the Ming army's casualties also rose sharply that day, with the number of dead in Datianzhuang approaching three thousand.

Fortunately, Liu Ting had left behind two thousand supply troops, which, although not strong in combat, were still capable of defending the city walls.

Meanwhile, squads of soldiers carried gunpowder pellets onto the city wall as supplies for the next battle, while the cooks lit fires and set up large pots at the foot of the wall to prepare food.

Even so, the officers of each battalion still received a large amount of beef jerky from the supply depot and distributed it, even though the stock was already low.

At this time, Liu Ting would never be stingy with the supplies given to his soldiers.

This method of siege warfare is absolutely unsustainable, unless the Japanese pirates are truly determined to attack the city at all costs.

"I just don't know if Commander Qi will send reinforcements."

Liu Ting thought to himself that when the Japanese pirates attacked the city overnight last night, he immediately sent someone to report back.

Of course, the intensity of the siege, lasting a full day and night, was something he hadn't anticipated.

Meanwhile, in the Japanese pirate camp outside the city, in the same makeshift wooden hut, a group of daimyo were sitting inside.

Many people were only slightly injured. The officers and daimyo who were seriously injured or killed were sent back to the rear. They could only find doctors in the rear cities. If they received timely treatment, they might be able to recover under the care of traditional Chinese medicine.

At this time, Hideyoshi Hashiba had already taken off his armor, and the army physician was applying ointment to his back.

Although he was lucky enough to dodge the ricochet, the bullet grazed his back. His leather armor couldn't withstand the friction of the hot bullet, leaving a red mark on his back.

However, compared to those unlucky people, he is already considered lucky.

In fact, starting from the 16th century, both in the East and the West, the heavy, heavily armored armor of the past began to evolve towards lighter designs.

Due to advancements in firearms technology, traditional armor could only protect against swords and blades, but was difficult to defend against gunfire.

The Ming army issued its soldiers cotton armor mixed with iron plates, which provided warmth and some protection. Importantly, it was cheaper than leather or iron armor and was also more convenient to wear and use in combat.

The generals still wore iron armor, and the generals who charged into battle would even wear three layers of armor, namely cotton armor, leather armor and iron armor, in turn, to enhance their protection.

Although it is still not as good as European plate armor in terms of defense, its overall defensive capabilities are actually higher.

European plate armor was not unavailable in the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Works and Ministry of War. Although it was expensive, the mission that visited Europe bought two sets at a high price and compared them with the Ming army's armor.

Without a doubt, plate armor is far inferior in terms of flexibility.

Although plate armor is not afraid of ordinary muskets, it is still difficult to withstand heavy muskets.

As a result, the Ministry of War abandoned this type of European armor and did not even intend to manufacture or equip it to generals.

Chinese armor has been constantly evolving, developing from cloth armor to leather armor, and then to iron armor, in accordance with the development of productivity.

Especially during the Tang Dynasty, according to the "Tang Liudian", there were thirteen types of armor, including Mingguang, Guangyao, Xilin, Shanwen, Niaochui, Baibu, Zaojuan, Bubei, Bubing, Pijia, Mujia, Suozi, and Majia.

Of course, the most well-known is the Mingguang Armor, which is said to be related to the round guards on the chest and back.

The Mingguang Armor has an oval-shaped metal plate on its chest and back armor called the Heart Mirror, which enhances the defense of the chest and back.

The term "Bright Light Armor" is said to originate from the fact that these round armors were mostly made of metals such as copper and iron, and were polished to a high sheen, much like a mirror. When worn on the battlefield, Bright Light Armor would emit a dazzling "bright light" under the sun, hence the name.

Although the Song Dynasty lacked a powerful cavalry, it was willing to invest heavily in infantry equipment due to its strong national strength.

The infantry armor of the Song Dynasty was heavier than Western chainmail and not much different from Gothic full armor.

However, during the Ming Dynasty, influenced by the light cavalry equipment of the Yuan Dynasty, the weight and protection of armor declined somewhat. This may also be related to the fact that the Ming army gradually used firearms to defeat the enemy.

1636 Bombardment of Hideyoshi

12-26 00: 06
4178 words

The situation in Japan is actually similar. From ancient times to the Warring States period, and then to the Azuchi-Momoyama period, armor became the mainstream. Influenced by the matchlock gun, the protective structure was improved. In the Edo period, armor gradually shifted to ceremonial purposes, and retro-style large armor and lightweight reinforced armor appeared.

Everyone in the room had already removed their armor and were sitting forlornly to rest, creating a very somber atmosphere.

They were so focused on observing the Ming army's defenses that they forgot about the range of the Ming army's firearms, which is why they were subjected to this bombardment.

Mori Terumoto's left hand was broken, Kobayakawa Takakage, who was beside him, also suffered a broken right arm, and two daimyo died, though neither of them were important figures.

However, the occurrence of such an event at this time is still a significant blow to morale.

With a creak, the wooden door was pushed open, and Takenaka Hanbei walked in with his left arm wrapped in gauze.

"My lord, are you alright?"

Following the etiquette of the Three Kingdoms, Takenaka Hanbei always addressed Hashiba Hideyoshi as his lord.

"It's nothing, we just got bombarded a bit."

Although an unknown ointment had just been applied to his back, it still burned with pain. Hideyoshi could only grit his teeth and ask, "And you, how's your arm?"

"When I climbed the city wall, I was struck by a heavy axe from the Ming army. Fortunately, I had a shield to block it, otherwise I would have lost my arm."

However, the doctor said that no bones were injured, and she shouldn't exert herself for a while and should rest.

Takenaka Hanbei lowered his head and said.

He already knew that Toyotomi Hideyoshi had sent people to find him, but unfortunately he still failed to breach the Ming army's city walls and was even injured.

He was no longer able to fight the battles that followed.

"Are the soldiers all arranged?"

Hideyoshi Hashiba asked again.

"Everyone is eating. After resting for half an hour, we can get back into the fight."

Takenaka Hanbei immediately replied.

Ancient Japan also used the Chinese twelve-hour system for timekeeping, only with different names, but it was actually copied from China.

"You're on the front lines, do you think we have a chance of breaking through Datianzhuang?"

However, perhaps due to the impact of the shelling, Hideyoshi Hashiba did not continue the conversation but instead asked a direct question.

"If we have enough troops, it's still possible."

My warriors once reached the city walls, but the Ming defenses were indeed very strong. Once we scaled the walls, they would gather spearmen and axemen there.

"If too many people gather below the city, they'll throw gunpowder bombs down, exploding large numbers of them," Takenaka Hanbei honestly stated. "Although I also climbed onto the city wall, I couldn't peek out. I thought I'd found an opening to climb up, but I was immediately struck by a Ming axeman and fell off the wall."

Actually, he was lucky to escape with his life. If it weren't for the large number of dead and wounded below, and the fact that he landed on several soldiers on the city wall to slow his descent, he probably would have died from the fall.

"When you reached the top of the wall, did you see any gunpowder from the Ming dynasty?"

Hideyoshi Hashiba continued to press for answers.

As he spoke, the others in the room looked at him.

They had already witnessed the sharpness of the Ming dynasty's firearms, and their fear intensified.

Without gunpowder to deplete the Ming army's resources, this battle would be extremely difficult.

They preferred to fight the Ming army hand-to-hand with their men rather than be hit by gunfire.

"The Ming people on the city wall must have had plenty of gunpowder. Since I personally led the troops to attack the city, the Ming people's firearms have never stopped."

Moreover, after I climbed the city wall, I saw many gunpowder barrels on the wall, from which the Ming people were scooping out gunpowder.

No one knows whether he actually saw it or not, but that's what Takenaka Hanbei said at that time.

His words naturally caused everyone else in the room to change color, especially Tokugawa Ieyasu.

"Is this the benefit of having a vast territory and abundant resources?"

In fact, the Japanese of this era were quite aware of their own strength. They were merely living in a corner of the country and were far from China. However, during the Sui and Tang dynasties, they had close exchanges with China and naturally knew the vastness of China's territory, which was far beyond what Japan could compare to.

They once longed for the Tang Dynasty because it presented an incomparably powerful empire.

Given the strength of Japan at the time, it was simply unable to withstand the attack.

After the Tang Dynasty weakened, they decisively abandoned their relationship with the Tang Dynasty. Later, due to the wars in the Central Plains, their contact was almost completely interrupted until it was restored in the Song and Yuan Dynasties due to maritime trade.

They thought that the Ming Dynasty was no longer as powerful as the Tang Dynasty. They thought that those disgraced samurai could turn the southeast of the Ming Dynasty upside down. So they didn't think the Ming people were that scary at first. Even though news of defeats kept coming from Mori Terumoto's side, many of them didn't take it seriously.

However, this time, at Ota-sou, they truly witnessed the power of the Ming Dynasty, which was something that Japan could not resist even with its entire national strength.

Although the information is inaccurate, we have a general idea of ​​how many Ming people came.

That is, around 100,000 people, including their navy.

Yet, this very army caused them to suffer heavy losses and failed to capture even a single city.

They were a little scared. Even though they had initially thought of taking Datianzhuang and then negotiating peace with the Ming people, the current situation made the success of such negotiations very low.

"Xiao Zhao."

Without pressing further, Hideyoshi Hashiba had already considered all the possible scenarios ahead.

Unable to ascertain the Ming army's specific ambitions, his current strategy is consistent with Kobayakawa Takakage's previous tactics: to utilize the terrain and the advantages of the mountains and forests to intercept and prevent the Ming army from advancing further.

Despite the fact that the Ming army had halted their offensive, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was more inclined to believe that the situation was due to the weather.

Winter is not a good time to advance troops.

Perhaps once spring arrives and flowers bloom, Ming reinforcements will arrive, and then they may continue their attack on other parts of Japan.

"Lord Hideyoshi."

Kobayakawa Takakage, who was standing to the side, stood up and answered.

"I've been troubling you these past few days. You shouldn't have been assigned any tasks while you were injured, but now this is something only you can do."

Hideyoshi Hashiba looked at Takakage Kobayakawa and said, "Following the previous method, disperse your forces and deploy them in strategically important mountainous areas nearby, ready to intercept the Ming army's attack."

Upon hearing this, everyone knew that Toyotomi Hideyoshi had chosen the worst possible strategy: to delay the Akihitos's attack.

"Our earlier discussions are unlikely to be effective, including the matter of taking the initiative to negotiate peace with the Ming people."

However, this matter still needs to be done; we need to contact them and find out exactly what they want.

Furthermore, we must choose a location advantageous for a decisive battle and lure the Ming army there. Only if we can defeat them head-on once will they be willing to negotiate peace with us.

"That's what Hideyoshi Hashiba said."

"Should we convene everyone to discuss this first, or perhaps even get His Majesty the Emperor's approval?"

At this moment, Tokugawa Ieyasu spoke up.

He was relatively lucky to return here unharmed, but he was severely frightened and is still somewhat afraid.

If it had been slightly off-target, it wouldn't have hit Terumoto Mori, but him.

"The Ming people should not launch a major attack for at least a month, otherwise they would not have chosen to defend Datian Village."

"I'll leave this to Kobayashi; we'll return to Kyoto to discuss this matter."

Having made his decision, Hideyoshi Hashiba naturally wouldn't hesitate.

"Should we continue the attack later?"

Takenaka Hanbei understood. At present, neither the timing nor the terrain was favorable, and the lord did not intend to continue fighting and increase casualties.

Hideyoshi Hashiba did not answer, but simply shook his head slightly.

He had never suffered such a defeat since he joined the army.

It's not that he hasn't suffered defeats, but he's never fought a defeat with such devastating losses.

He was even adept at seizing enemy cities by cutting off their water and food supplies and by turning them against their own side.

But this time, he was helpless against the Ming people's heavily fortified city.

With their leader abandoning the attack, the Japanese troops in the field gradually regrouped after lunch and began to withdraw from the camp for reorganization.

Meanwhile, the Ming army opposite them was unaware of this and remained gathered at the foot of the city wall, ready to fight the Japanese at any moment.

Liu Ting also ate at the city gate, but he waited until the end of the 11 PM to see the Japanese launch another attack.

Through the telescope, the silhouettes of Japanese people could be faintly seen at the edge of the forest.

"General, the Japanese pirates may be reorganizing, and they may attack again tonight or tomorrow morning."

The Ming generals were all gathered on the east city tower. They had been happily boasting about their achievements in the battle, but after the Japanese army failed to attack for a long time, they began to speculate about the enemy's possible plans.

"We must not let our guard down. It might be a delaying tactic to make us think they have given up."

Liu Ting agreed with this and nodded, saying, "There was intelligence that the Japanese had gathered an army of more than 400,000, but I think there are only 300,000 here."

Perhaps they are waiting for reinforcements, or preparing for a more intense attack.

Everyone needs to work hard these next two days; the city's defenses absolutely cannot falter. (End of Chapter)