Daming talker

Chapter 743 Everyone Has Self-Awareness
As the commander-in-chief of the 40,000-strong army, Tokugawa Ieyasu had the final say on whether to go to war, hold on, or retreat.

Although the military inspector Asano Nagamasa was not very satisfied with Tokugawa Ieyasu's decision before, he never raised any objections and appeared to fully respect Tokugawa Ieyasu's decision.

Because things don't seem so urgent, no matter what choice you make, there is still plenty of room for error and maneuver.

Just like a couple’s life, even though there are conflicts, they can still get by.

However, the news brought by Konishi Yukinaga that "the Ming navy is about to arrive", whose authenticity was unclear, became an opportunity to ignite the conflict.

Regardless of whether the news is true or false, the content of the news itself will make the Tokugawa army lose their room for maneuver in the next stage of decision-making, and they will no longer be able to make do with their lives.

Everyone has their own logic in their hearts, and no one thinks that their logic is wrong until the final result is revealed.

Tokugawa Ieyasu did not want to risk completely destroying his army by rescuing Shimayama Castle, because the main force of his army was the soldiers and generals of his Tokugawa family.

How could one be willing to sacrifice one's own main force just to save another's direct lineage?
People with this kind of awareness have long been lost in the long river of the Warring States Period.

However, Asano Nagamasa's thinking was different from Tokugawa Ieyasu's. He believed that Shimayama Castle must be rescued, even at the risk of risk and at a price.

Anyway, the main force of our army is the Tokugawa family, so no matter how many people are sacrificed, it doesn't matter. And there are a lot of direct descendants of the Toyotomi family in Shimayama Castle, and of course there are his own sons, so he has to save them.

Under this contradiction, they naturally started arguing, and even forgot that Konishi Yukinaga was still present.

So when the relatively calm Tachibana Muneshige pointed at Konishi Yukinaga, Konishi Yukinaga was tactfully invited out of the curtain.

Without the presence of “outsiders”, Asano Nagamasa said bluntly: “The Taiko’s expectation for the Korean War is well known.

If the Grand Minister had tens of thousands of troops but gave up rescuing Fukushima Masanori, Hachisuka Iemasa and others and simply retreated without a fight.

Even if you, the Tokugawa family, can withdraw intact, how will you face the wrath of the Taiko after you arrive in the country? And how will you explain to the Taiko?"

There is not only anger, but also suspicion.

The direct line of the Toyotomi family has suffered heavy losses, the troops of Konishi Yukinaga and Kato Kiyomasa have been completely wiped out, the troops of Fukushima Masanori and Ukita Hideie have been half-crippled, and your Tokugawa family is deliberately preserving its strength. What does Taiko think?
Tokugawa Ieyasu sighed. Although Asano Nagamasa's words were a threat, they were also true.

This war should not be fought militarily, but it must be fought politically.

Even if there is a high possibility of losing the battle, the guilt would be much lighter than retreating directly.

Losing a fight is a question of ability; whether to fight or not is a question of attitude.

Then Konishi Yukinaga was invited in again and told, "Each of you will go out to fight in two days!"

After sending Konishi Yukinaga out of the camp, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Asano Nagamasa, Shimazu Yoshihiro, and Tachibana Muneshige discussed the battle plan together.

Among these four people, Tokugawa Ieyasu and Asano Nagamasa had just arrived, while Shimazu Yoshihiro had been procrastinating and just playing a supporting role.

Only Tachibana Muneshige actually fought two bloody battles with the Ming army. One was the Battle of Pyeongyang, where Tachibana Muneshige was the main force of the Japanese army and stole the show. The other was the Battle of Seoul, where Tachibana Muneshige was responsible for covering the retreat.

At that time, Japan boasted of two great generals. Generally speaking, there was Honda Tadakatsu in the east, who was known as the best in the Warring States Period, which seems to be what Oda Nobunaga said; and there was Tachibana Muneshige in the west, who was known as the unparalleled in the west, which was what Toyotomi Hideyoshi said.

So everyone else looked at the "experienced" Muneshige Tachibana and let Muneshige Tachibana speak first.

Tachibana Muneshige was an open-minded person, not pretentious, and he spoke directly: "Based on past battles, the Ming army looked down on our army and most of the time did not take it seriously.

For example, at the beginning, the general Li Rusong of the Ming army dared to charge towards Seoul with thousands of troops; and when our army was retreating, hundreds of Ming cavalry dared to follow our army of tens of thousands to look for opportunities to fight. "

Although everyone was unhappy, this was also the fact. For example, right now, the Ming army on the other side was estimated to be less than 20,000 people, yet they dared to challenge their 40,000 troops.

Those ignorant and stupid Koreans began to say proudly that the Tianbing fighting the Japanese pirates was just like the Japanese pirates fighting Korea - I don't know what these Koreans have to be proud of?
Then I heard Tachibana Muneshige continue to say: "So in this battle, we can only take advantage of the arrogant mentality of the Ming army.

At that time, all the elite troops, especially the cavalry, can be gathered on the right wing, while the center and left wings will gradually retreat after engaging in battle.

The Ming army's strongest cavalry lineup would certainly pursue and kill without hesitation, becoming disconnected from the infantry in the rear.

Then our elite troops on the right wing can directly charge into the rear of the Ming army and seek the final chance of victory."

While the others were thinking, Tachibana Muneshige added, "In the Battle of Bitei-kan, we deployed our troops in this way, retreating from the front to lure the enemy, and then using our elite troops on the flanks to strike hard."

Tokugawa Ieyasu said: "If there is no objection, we will fight according to this strategy."

He had never seen the Ming army before. He would not go wrong if he listened to the advice of experienced people.

The greatest advantage that Tokugawa Ieyasu had throughout his life was that he knew himself!
The others had no better suggestions, so they all said, "Please ask the Grand Minister to give the order!"

After thinking for a while, Tokugawa Ieyasu began to deploy his troops and said, "Our Tokugawa family's Honda Tadakatsu Army, Ii Akabe Army, and Tachibana Army will form the right wing, commanded by Tachibana attendants, and wait for the opportunity to attack!"

Shimazu Yoshihiro and Asano Nagamasa were secretly surprised. Tokugawa Dainagon, you really dare to deploy like this! You actually gave the core force of your Tokugawa family to Tachibana Muneshige to command!
But to be honest, the right wing consisting of Honda Tadakatsu, Tachibana Muneshige, and Ii Akabe is indeed too strong. If it were in China, it could sweep from Kanto to Kyushu.

Tachibana Muneshige was moved and bowed, saying, "Thank you for your trust, Grand Councilor. I will do my best and fight to the death for victory!"

Honda Tadakatsu was the most powerful general of the Tokugawa clan, and the Ii Red Armored Cavalry had the "bloodline" of the famous Red Armored Cavalry of the Takeda clan.

Tokugawa Dainagon gave the two elite troops of his family to Tachibana Muneshige for command, and this magnanimity really impressed Tachibana Muneshige.

No wonder Tokugawa Dainagon has such a good reputation and popularity in the Eastern region.

Then Tokugawa Ieyasu continued: "I am in the center of the army, and Shimazu attendants are on the left wing. Listen to my orders and work together to advance and retreat!"

On the other side, Konishi Yukinaga brought the news of the Japanese army's response to the challenge back to the Ming army camp.

General Ma Gui opened his eyes wide and looked at Lin Tianshuai without saying a word, his eyes full of humble pleading.

Lin Tianshuai couldn't stand being stared at, so he waved his hand and said, "You command! Let you command! You have full authority to command this battle!"

In terms of self-knowledge, Marshal Lin is definitely not inferior to Tokugawa Ieyasu! How can he be as professional as Ma Gui and Li Rusong, who have been trained for generations and have a long history of military experience, in commanding a battle array on the spot?

Lin Tailai is good at grand strategic planning and small-team assaults, not battles and tactics.

Xie Sheng, Po Gui, Bai Sai and other powerful generals of the Xuanda faction quickly surrounded Ma Gui and went up to the stage to select generals.

He placed a tiger-skin chair next to Ma Gui and bowed to Lin Tianshuai to take a seat.

Ma Gui quickly took the command arrow, turned to look at Lin Tianshuai next to him, and said with reason:

"The safety of the Marshal is related to the morale of the entire army. We cannot take risks lightly. You can lead a thousand guards to the rear to support the battle and serve as the general reserve of the entire army!"

Lin Tianshuai: “.”

You don't mention the more critical forwards on the left, center and right, what's the point of determining the back formation first?
(End of this chapter)