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The smoke of gunpowder from Kagoshima Castle had not yet dissipated, but Zheng Zhilong had already stepped into the former residence of Shimazu Iehisa.

He did not sit on the tatami that symbolized the authority of the feudal lord, but walked straight to the hanging map of Kyushu. He pressed his fingers heavily on the territory representing Satsuma, and his voice was as cold as iron:

"This place is the foundation for our Ming Dynasty to conquer Kyushu. Send out orders, organize the troops, secure the points, and prepare food."

Kagoshima Castle became the new center of the Ming army. Zheng Zhilong ordered a thorough militarization of the feudal lord's castle.

Three hundred craftsmen and their captives worked day and night to build twelve stone forts at strategic locations along the Kagoshima Bay. Each fort was equipped with three 1,000-jin Portuguese cannons, covering the main waterways.

The existing naval dock was expanded, and ten captured Satsuma ships were dismantled, with the wood used to reinforce the waterline armor of the Ming army's Fukusen ships. Li Kui's navy no longer just blockaded, but formed a standing fleet with 24 main warships (Fukusen, Cangshan ships) and more than 40 scout ships with Kagoshima Port as its home port, with a cruising range reaching the Osumi Strait in the north and the Tokara Islands in the south, completely cutting off traffic in the southwestern waters of Kyushu.

From Kagoshima Castle to the north and east, along the main roads leading to Higo Domain (Kumamoto) and Osumi Domain, Zheng Zhilong ordered the construction of permanent bastions at five key passes. Each bastion had a garrison of 500 soldiers, equipped with 200 musketeers, 100 crossbowmen, 50 cavalry, and 150 auxiliary soldiers.

The bastions were designed in a star shape, with outer walls up to ten feet thick and deep trenches dug outside to bring water in. There were gunpowder depots, granaries, and wells inside the forts, which could hold out independently for a month. These forts were like nails wedged between the Satsuma Domain and the newly conquered areas, serving as forward bases, defense nodes, and keys to controlling traffic lines.

Kagoshima Castle itself was transformed into a huge barracks and arsenal. The city walls were thickened, 30 gun positions were added, and 100,000 kilograms of gunpowder and countless lead bullets were stored. The city was divided into areas: military camp area, craftsman camp area, storage area, and military administration area. The mansions of the former Shimazu family samurai were requisitioned and transformed into officers' residences and intelligence centers. Zheng Zhilong even dug several tunnels under the city leading to key strongholds outside the city in case of an emergency.

Zheng Zhilong implemented the ancient motto "Before the army moves, food and fodder must go first" more thoroughly.

The route of Busan-Tsushima-Geoje-Kagoshima was fixed and became the real "lifeline". Zheng Zhilong reported to Emperor Zhaowu and was granted permission to set up the "Transportation Office for the Frontline of the Japanese Expedition" on Geoje Island, which was manned by his trusted generals to coordinate the transportation of food, fodder, weapons and personnel.

The transfer warehouse on Geoje Island was expanded three times to store 150,000 shi of grain, and a large dock was built to repair ten 400-ton grain ships at the same time. North Korea was ordered to ensure the safety of land transportation, and under pressure, Gwanghaegun sent an additional 3,000 soldiers to protect the grain along the way.

Zheng Zhilong knew that it was very risky to rely entirely on rear transportation. He issued a strict "Satsuma Grain Collection Order": in the name of the Kagoshima Military Administration, rice, beans, and dried vegetables were collected according to the acreage. At the same time, a large number of young and strong captives and civilians were forcibly recruited to open up military settlements in the relatively flat and fertile valleys in the southern part of Satsuma. The old soldiers of the Ming army, with a small number of interpreters, were supervised, and simple farm tools and seeds were issued to implement militarized management. The first batch of military farms is expected to be harvested in the summer of the following year. Although it is not enough to support the army, it can greatly alleviate the pressure on logistics and replenish fresh vegetables on the spot.

The 300 craftsmen and their families transferred from Shandong were properly settled in the craftsman camp in the valley behind Kagoshima Castle. The camp was heavily guarded, and the fire was kept burning day and night. They not only repaired the damaged fire guns, armor, and siege equipment, but also used the limited iron ore and wood resources in Satsuma to imitate and improve them. Daily output: 80 to 100 repaired fire guns, 20 new bird guns (rougher craftsmanship), 3,000 arrows, 500 spear heads, and several armor parts. More importantly, they began to try to use the rich sulfur resources of Satsuma to improve the formula of gunpowder and increase its power.

Simple military occupation is costly. Zheng Zhilong is well aware of the way of division and disintegration, so he directed his spearhead at other feudal states in Kyushu.

After strict screening (focusing on whether they had participated in the early resistance and whether they had family members in the Ming army-controlled area), eight hundred relatively obedient and strong Satsuma surrendered soldiers (mostly former foot soldiers and lower-level samurai) were separately organized into the "Satsuma Support Camp."

Directly commanded by ten Ming army centurions, they were issued captured Japanese weapons and simple uniforms (different from the Ming army). They were mainly responsible for the following auxiliary tasks: maintaining public order in Kagoshima Castle and the surrounding occupied areas, escorting prisoners to mines, and assisting in the transportation of materials. Zheng Zhilong treated them better than ordinary prisoners (50 grams of rice per day and a meager military pay), but strictly prohibited the issuance of firearms and implemented a strict joint responsibility system. The emergence of this "fake army" greatly reduced the burden on the front-line troops of the Ming army and gave other Satsuma people a demonstration of "loyalty".

The Interpretation Office became an intelligence center. Sixty Ming army spies who were proficient in Japanese (including the Satsuma dialect) (some trained by the Interpretation Office, and some selected from the army) were continuously dispatched. Their targets were not only the neighboring Higo Domain (Kumamoto), but also Bungo (Oita) and Hyuga (Miyazaki). They used various methods: disguised as merchants, monks, and ronin, they infiltrated the castle town to collect information on the garrison, food storage, and the leader's intentions.

He paid huge sums of money to bribe frustrated samurai, wealthy merchants, and even impoverished nobles to obtain intelligence on high-level decision-making.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of the surrendered ones returning to their hometowns to visit their families, they spread rumors that the Ming army was powerful and invincible, that resistance would be met with slaughter, and that early surrender would be treated well.

The most crucial step: Zheng Zhilong instructed that "goodwill" be conveyed through secret channels to some weaker small feudal domains in Kyushu that had bad relations with the Shimazu family or the shogunate (such as the Sagara family of the Hitoyoshi domain and the Mori family of the Saeki domain) - as long as they nominally submitted to the Ming Dynasty, severed ties with the Tokugawa clan, and stopped resisting, their territory and family name could be preserved. This was a naked attempt to divide and induce surrender.

Qiu Chengyun did not leave Kyushu. He and his two hundred disciples were like ghosts, taking on the darkest tasks: eliminating stubborn rebel leaders, monitoring whether the surrendered soldiers and generals had any unusual movements, and dealing with possible collaborators within the Ming army. Their existence itself was an invisible deterrent, ensuring that Zheng Zhilong's rear was relatively "clean."

When the ruling machine of Satsuma began to roar, Zheng Zhilong set his sights on the vast and fertile Higo Domain (Kumamoto Domain) in the north. This was not only the core hinterland of Kyushu, but also the territory of Kato Kiyomasa, an important pillar of the Tokugawa shogunate in Kyushu. Zheng Zhilong did not choose to march immediately, but adopted the "peeling bamboo shoots" tactic.

The Ming navy strengthened the blockade of the coastal areas of Higo Domain, especially its important ports, the Amakusa Islands. All merchant ships that tried to transport grain into Higo were seized, the goods were confiscated, and the personnel were temporarily detained. At the same time, spies spread rumors in Higo: Kato Kiyomasa had secretly negotiated peace with the Ming army to preserve his strength, and would sacrifice the samurai group on the border; the Ming army had thunder and fire, and the strong city could not stop it; the men who resisted would be enslaved and the women would be made camp prostitutes after the city was broken. Panic spread in the castle towns on the border of Higo.

Zheng Zhilong ordered the Satsuma Auxiliary Camp and some of the elite Ming troops to form several fast-moving troops of hundreds of people, and constantly harassed the border strongholds between Higo Domain and Satsuma (such as Yatsushiro Castle and Minamata). The tactics were extremely cruel: using the advantages of firearms to strike from a distance, not pursuing occupation, but only aiming to kill and wound the defenders, burn granaries, destroy water sources, and plunder young and strong people. After success, they quickly withdrew to the fortresses in Satsuma. This continuous bloodletting made the border defenders of Higo exhausted and demoralized, and many villages were abandoned, forming a vast uninhabited buffer zone.

After months of continuous harassment, which had firmly attracted the attention of the Higo clan to the southern border, Zheng Zhilong secretly mobilized his main forces. He did not directly attack the important town of Kumamoto Castle, but instead targeted the relatively isolated and wealthy Amakusa Islands in the west of the Higo clan. Amakusa is rich in seafood, has a good harbor, and its people are relatively independent. In history, the "Amakusa Rebellion" against the lord broke out, and it was not a monolithic entity with the Kato family.

Zheng Zhilong's plan was to use his absolute superiority in land and sea forces to capture the Amakusa Islands with lightning speed, and use them as a springboard to attack Higo and even the entire northwest of Kyushu, and cut off Higo's possibility of obtaining foreign aid through the West Sea. At the same time, he deliberately relaxed the surveillance of certain small roads on the southern border to give the Higo defenders the illusion that they could "counterattack Satsuma's weak points" - in fact, he was luring the snake out of its hole and preparing to annihilate its living forces in a field battle.

Zheng Zhilong stood on the highest arrow tower of Kagoshima Castle, looking north towards Higo. The sea breeze blew his dark blue cape. The city under his feet had turned into a huge war machine, with the sounds of iron forging in the craftsmen's camp, the sounds of drills in the military camp, and the sounds of horns at the docks intertwined. The silver mines of Satsuma Domain continuously produced ore, which was melted into silver to maintain the war machine; the labor of the surrendered consolidated the foundation of the fortress; and the rumors of spies quietly grew in the heart of the neighboring domains.

The sword in Zheng Zhilong's hand, called "War", had been repeatedly sharpened on the grindstone of Satsuma, and it was shining with cold light. The next step, the sword's tip would point to Higo, and then the entire Kyushu.

Each step forward was accompanied by the establishment of fortresses, the extension of food routes, the infiltration of intelligence, and the coercion of surrendered soldiers. This was not a stormy conquest, but a slow, firm, and suffocating strangulation like a giant python.

.....................

The third year of Zhaowu, December 17th.

The darkness before dawn enveloped the Hondo Bay on Amakusa Shimoshima. The sea breeze was fierce and the sound of the waves was low.

In the military council hall of Kagoshima Castle, the whale oil lamp stretched Zheng Zhilong's figure and cast it on the map of Kyushu. His fingertips pressed heavily on the location of the Amakusa Islands, and his voice echoed in the empty stone room, cold and hard: "Amakusa is the key to defeating Higo. Advance by land and sea. Within seven days, I want the flag of Shimazu (it should be Shimazu here, but Amakusa belongs to Higo and is the territory of Kato Kiyomasa) to be replaced by the sun and moon of the Ming Dynasty!"

Ten Ming army centipede speedboats, with black hulls and paddles wrapped in cotton, glided along the coastline like ghosts. Each boat carried twenty Western Factory guards and thirty Ming army death squads.

The guards wore dark red jackets, with rapiers tied to their backs; the assassins held short blades in their mouths and carried oil cans and fire starters on their backs. They avoided the reef area where the waves were hitting the shore, and in the gaps between the patrols of the garrison, they climbed up the relatively weakly defended northern cliffs of Qijin Port like geckos. The throats of the two yawning foot soldiers on the sentry tower were pierced by rapiers almost at the same time, and their bodies were gently laid down.

At 3:30 in the morning (about 4:00 in the morning), the twelve small Higo Navy ships (police ships) and several fishing boats anchored in the port of Saitsu suddenly burst into flames from the inside! The Western Factory guards and assassins set fire to the kerosene tanks and destroyed the steering wheels of the ships. The fire spread rapidly with the wind, and the port was in chaos. The shrill alarm bell had just rung twice when it was nailed to the bell stand by a well-shot heavy crossbow arrow.

Almost at the same time as the fire broke out in the port, a red light lit up on the sea level. The main force of the Ming navy led by Li Kui - 18 Fu ships and 25 Cangshan ships, like a giant beast emerging from the ink sea, lined up in a battle line, with the side gun ports bursting open.

"put!"

Li Kui's banner slashed down fiercely. A deafening roar tore through the dawn! More than a hundred red cannons, Portuguese cannons, and bowl-mouthed guns spewed flames at the same time. The hot iron bullets, buckshot, and incendiary bombs were like a rain of destruction, pouring down on the wooden pier, watchtower, shore defense fortifications, and the panicked defenders of Qijin Port. Wood chips, gravel, and broken limbs flew in the flames.

As the artillery fire extended, hundreds of sampans and small boats loaded with Ming infantry rushed to the bombed beach like arrows under the cover of the navy's artillery fire. The first wave to rush onto the beach was the musketeers! They quickly formed three rows and, under the hoarse command of the officers, fired in turns at any defenders who tried to organize resistance. The death barrage formed by lead bullets pressed the surviving defenders to the point that they could not raise their heads. Following closely behind, the swordsmen and spearmen roared and jumped into the broken fortifications, engaging in brutal hand-to-hand combat with the remaining defenders. The resistance quickly collapsed, and Qijin Port changed hands at the beginning of the Chenshi (about 7 o'clock).

The capture of Saitsu Port is just the beginning.

Zheng Zhilong's target was the entire Amakusa Islands. The Ming landing force, in battalions of 1,000 men, advanced rapidly along the main roads of the islands, led by the surrendered Satsuma Auxiliary Battalion (disguised as defeated soldiers) who were familiar with the terrain. Li Kui's navy cruised along the coastline, using naval guns to support the land assault and block the narrow waterways between the islands to prevent the defenders from supporting each other or escaping. The resistance on the island was mainly concentrated in several small forts with stone walls (such as Hondo Castle and Ushibuka Castle), but under the overwhelming firearms advantage of the Ming army (concentrated use of captured and homemade Japanese iron cannons, in conjunction with the Ming army's fire guns) and infantry and artillery coordinated tactics, these small forts collapsed one after another like castles on the beach. The stubborn samurai were ruthlessly shot, and most of the foot soldiers and civilians who lost their command chose to surrender.

By December 22, all the main strongholds in the Amakusa Islands were hoisted with Ming army flags. The local magistrate of the Kato family in Amakusa committed seppuku.

The news of the fall of Amakusa was like thunder, shaking the entire Higo domain.

Kato Kiyomasa was furious. He knew very well the strategic significance of Amakusa - without this maritime barrier and source of supplies, Higo's western gateway would be wide open!

What worried him even more was the possible landing point of Zheng Zhilong's navy. He fixed his eyes on Yatsushiro Castle on the border between Satsuma and Higo. This was the throat for entering the hinterland of Higo by land, and he believed that this was the direction where the Ming army was most likely to launch a large-scale land attack.

(End of this chapter)