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Zheng Zhilong saw through Kato Kiyomasa's psychology. He ordered the harassment troops operating on the Satsuma-Higo border (mainly composed of the Satsuma auxiliary camp and a small number of Ming army elites) to increase the "pressure" in the direction of Yatsushiro Castle.

They frequently appeared in villages outside Yatsushiro Castle, burned granaries, destroyed roads, and even deliberately let the defenders "seize" some damaged Ming army flags and uniforms, creating the illusion that the main force of the Ming army was about to launch a large-scale attack. At the same time, the guard posts set up by the Ming army on several main roads leading to Yatsushiro Castle seemed to be "relaxed" a lot.

A series of "intelligence" and "emergency" on the border made Kato Kiyomasa believe that Zheng Zhilong's main force was gathering in the direction of Yatsushiro Castle with the intention of storming! He couldn't just sit there and watch the gates being breached.

After leaving a large number of troops to guard the core Kumamoto Castle, Kato Kiyomasa personally led 8,000 of the most elite soldiers of the Higo clan (including 2,000 well-equipped, brave and combat-skilled "Tora Kato" hatamoto samurai) to the south to support Yatsushiro Castle. He was determined to use the familiar terrain outside Yatsushiro Castle to fight a decisive field battle with the Ming army, defeat its main force in one fell swoop, and reverse the decline!
Kato Kiyomasa's army arrived near Yatsushiro Castle in the early morning of December 25. The castle commander reported that the Ming army's harassing troops had "hastily" retreated to the Weibei hilly area in the southwest after discovering the arrival of the army.

Kato Kiyomasa was eager to win, and did not suspect any trickery, so he ordered his entire army to pursue! He wanted to annihilate the Ming army that dared to go deep into Higo. The Higo army fell into the death trap carefully set by Zheng Zhilong.

The Weibei Hills are undulating, with gullies crisscrossing. Although the forests are not dense, they are enough to block the view. When Kato Kiyomasa's vanguard of 2,000 elite troops (mainly cavalry and elite samurai) chased into a relatively open valley, countless Ming army sun and moon flags were suddenly erected on the surrounding hillsides!

There were no horns or drums. What responded to the Higo Army's suspicion was the dense sound of gunfire like popping beans! The 3,000 Ming Army musketeers ambushed on the reverse slope of the hillside on both sides were divided into three rows, and in a textbook-like round-shooting method, they poured hot lead bullets at the crowded Higo Army at the bottom of the valley. The cavalry at the front seemed to have hit an invisible wall, and the men and horses fell to the ground. The armor that the samurai were proud of was like paper in front of the close-range Ming Army muskets, and was easily torn apart.

While the musketeers fired fiercely, hundreds of Ming crossbowmen on higher commanding heights calmly operated their foot-operated and waist-operated crossbows. Their targets were not ordinary foot soldiers, but those samurai generals and flag bearers who were dressed in gorgeous armor and wielding swords and trying to organize a counterattack. The heavy crossbow arrows made a shrill sound of breaking through the air, accurately penetrating the visors and breastplates, ruthlessly removing the command nodes one by one.

Just as the Higo army was in chaos and in a dilemma, the thunderous sound of horse hooves suddenly rang out from behind the forests on both sides of the valley! Two thousand Ming cavalrymen (500 of them were heavily armored cavalrymen), like two red-hot knives, fiercely stabbed into the chaotic flanks of the Higo army. The Ming cavalry were well-equipped, with tall horses and amazing impact. They did not fight with the samurai, but used the speed of horses and the slashing of spears and sabers to repeatedly collide, cut, and trample, completely breaking up the Higo army's formation.

When the Higo army completely collapsed, lost its organization, and fled in all directions, accompanied by heavy footsteps and the sound of metal friction, the real killer of the Ming army - a square formation composed of 5,000 elite infantrymen wearing heavy armor (chain mail, cloth armor, and some captured modified armor), holding long spears, wolf-whips, swords and shields, slowly pressed from the direction of the valley entrance like a moving steel wall. They marched in neat steps, with long spears like a forest, and compressed the scattered Higo soldiers back to the center of the bloody valley like driving cattle and sheep. Any sporadic resistance that tried to attack the square formation was ruthlessly strangled by the dense long spears and swordsmen behind the shields.

Kato Kiyomasa was protected by his loyal hatamoto warriors and tried to break out in the direction of Yatsushiro Castle. However, he was surrounded by Ming troops and desperate fleeing soldiers. He witnessed with his own eyes that the "Tiger Kato" warriors he was proud of fell in large numbers under the stranglehold of firearms and cavalry. A stray arrow hit his mount, and the warhorse threw him to the ground with a wail. When he struggled to stand up, pulled out his beloved katana to "swallow" and prepare for the final "fight", his vision was filled with the cold gun tips of the Ming heavy infantry.

This "Ghost Kato" who was famous for his bravery and fortitude ultimately failed to reach the enemy. He was pierced through the body by several spears in the chaos and died on the battlefield. His head was cut off by the Ming army and hung on a tall flagpole.

The tragic news of the defeat outside Yatsushiro Castle and the death of Kato Kiyomasa in the battle was like a bolt from the blue when it reached Kumamoto Castle. The morale of the defenders completely collapsed. The family elders who were acting as the governor of the domain tried to make a last stand by relying on the solid stone walls of Kumamoto Castle (then called Kumamoto Castle, later changed to Kumamoto). This huge castle, built by Kato Kiyomasa with all his efforts, was famous for its solidity and grandeur, and was the spiritual symbol of the Higo domain.

After clearing out the remaining enemies in Yatsushiro Castle, Zheng Zhilong's main force continued to advance by land and sea, and completed the encirclement of Kumamoto Castle on the tenth day of the first lunar month in the fourth year of Zhaowu.

The Ming army did not attack immediately. The navy completely blocked the only waterway connecting Kumamoto Castle to the outside world, Shirakawa. On land, the Ming army built dozens of artillery forts and earthen walls at strategic locations outside the city, dug deep trenches, and set up antler barricades, surrounding Kumamoto Castle tightly.

Kato Kiyomasa's blood-stained "swallowed" sword and blood-stained horse seal (military flag) were placed on long poles by the Ming army and displayed in various places outside the city.

Hundreds of captured Higo samurai were escorted to the foot of the city, and the Ming army interpreter read aloud Zheng Zhilong's letter of surrender in Japanese, promising that those who opened the city and surrendered would be spared, while those who resisted would have their entire clan exterminated after the city was captured.

Dozens of surrendered soldiers from the Satsuma Support Battalion (deliberately selected from the Higo people with pure accents) came forward to tell their stories of how they were treated well after surrendering.

After nightfall, the Ming army gathered the captured Japanese cannons and Ming army muskets and launched irregular, aimless and intensive shooting into the city. The huge noise and the occasional flashes of death in the darkness tormented the defenders' tense nerves all the time.

The long siege and the huge psychological pressure, coupled with the harsh winter environment, caused an epidemic to break out in the city (most likely typhoid or dysentery). Medicines were in short supply, and food was becoming increasingly scarce. Every day, corpses were carried out and hastily burned at the foot of the city wall, and the smell of burning filled the city. Despair spread like a plague. Some lower-ranking samurai and foot soldiers began to collude privately, intending to open the city and surrender.

On the night of the 20th day of the first lunar month, the moon was dark and the wind was high. Several ghostly scarlet figures, taking advantage of the fatigue and internal chaos of the defenders, quietly sneaked into the castle tower of Kumamoto Castle with their extraordinary light skills and strange body movements of the evil-repelling sword. Their goal was not to assassinate (the family elders were no longer important), but to set fire! At the same time, several granaries and armories in the city caught fire inexplicably at almost the same time! The soaring flames instantly illuminated the night sky, and the city was in chaos.

"The Ming army is attacking the city!"

"The castle tower is on fire!"

Cries of panic echoed throughout the city. The already demoralized defenders collapsed, and many dropped their weapons and tried to open the city gates to escape.

The Ming army outside the city saw the flames rising into the sky and the chaos and noise coming from inside the city.

Zheng Zhilong decisively ordered a general attack!

Hundreds of artillery pieces of varying sizes were concentrated to launch a devastating concentrated bombardment on several sections of the Kumamoto Castle wall that were weakly defended due to the chaos. Stone chips flew everywhere, smoke and dust filled the air. Under the cover of artillery fire, the Ming army infantry carried ladders and pushed huge battering rams, rushing towards the gaps in the city wall and the crumbling city gates like a black tide. The resistance was minimal. When the heavy battering ram finally broke open the huge gate of Kumamoto Castle, what the Ming army saw was the fire all over the city, the fleeing defeated soldiers, and the defenders kneeling on the ground begging for surrender.

The heart of the Higo domain, Kumamoto Castle, fell.

Zheng Zhilong stepped over the still smoking ruins of the city gate and entered the huge city that symbolized the glory of the Kato family. The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder, blood, and burning. The streets were littered with discarded weapons and corpses. The surviving defenders and civilians huddled in the corners, their eyes filled with fear and numbness.

Zheng Zhilong had no joy of victory, only cold efficiency. He immediately ordered:

1. All captured high-ranking samurai from the Higo clan who participated in the battle outside Yatsushiro Castle or the final resistance at Kumamoto Castle were executed, regardless of whether they surrendered or not. Their heads were built into a Jingguan and placed outside the city gate. The family elder and more than 20 of his close associates were taken to the Yatsushiro Valley where Kato Kiyomasa died in the battle and beheaded in public.

Second, do all you can to put out the remaining fires and salvage the granaries and arsenals that have not been burned down. All the weapons, armor, gold, silver, grain, fodder, horses, etc. that have been seized should be registered and added to the military funds.

Third, all the young and strong men in the city (samurai, foot soldiers, civilians), except for a few with special skills (such as blacksmiths and doctors), were treated the same as the prisoners of Satsuma and escorted to the rear mines or engineering camps. Women, children, the elderly and the weak were centralized for control. Kumamoto Castle itself, following the Kagoshima model, began to undergo a thorough transformation into a military fortress.

Zheng Zhilong stood on the ruins of the castle tower, which had not yet been cleared, and looked out to the north and east at the vast Kyushu land - Hyuga, Buzen, Bungo, Chikuzen, Chikugo...

The fall of Higo was like a sharp cut in the heart of Kyushu. Satsuma, Amakusa, and Higo, three points connected together, formed a stable and huge forward base. The navy fleet obtained two excellent bases in Kagoshima and Amakusa, and controlled a wider range. On land, the road from Satsuma to the hinterland of Kyushu via Higo has been opened. The scale of the Carpenters' Camp was expanded again, and the production capacity doubled by utilizing the relatively abundant resources of the Higo Domain (especially forests and iron ore). More surrendered soldiers were screened and added to the "Assistant Camp", and they will play a more "active" role in future attacks on other domains. The shadow of the West Factory, along with Zheng Zhilong's footsteps, penetrated deeper into the darkness of every corner of Kyushu.

Zheng Zhilong did not stay in Kumamoto for long. After leaving a large number of troops to garrison, rectify and reform, he led the main force, with the power of victory, and marched eastward without stopping. His next target was Hyuga Domain (Miyazaki), which had fertile land and was close to the Bungo Channel.

The road to conquering Kyushu Island began a new bloody journey in the ashes of Kumamoto Castle. Every step forward was accompanied by the construction of fortresses, the coercion of surrendered soldiers and the blood of rebels. Like a snowball, it rolled unstoppably towards the final destination - the entire Kyushu.

………………

The fall of Higo Domain and the death of Kato Kiyomasa were like a huge rock thrown into a calm lake, causing a storm among the lords of the archipelago. Fear, anger, suspicion and the instinct to survive intertwined, and a joint storm against the Ming expeditionary force began to brew in the shadows of Kyushu and even Honshu Island.

The news first broke out within Kyushu.

Upon hearing the news, Ito Yuhei (lord of Hyuga Sadohara Domain) turned pale. His territory was adjacent to the newly conquered Higo, and he was the first to be hit. The rumor that Zheng Zhilong's main force was heading eastward made him even more uneasy. On the one hand, he urgently reinforced the capital Sadohara Castle and recruited all the young and strong men in the territory. On the other hand, he quickly sent his trusted retainers, carrying valuable gifts and letters for help, to ask for help from Otomo Yoshitsugu (Bungo, Oita) in the north and Shimazu Tadatsune (the new lord of Satsuma Domain, nominally surrendered to the Ming, but actually dormant in secret) in the east.

The letter was written in mournful words: "The Ming invaders are extremely fierce, and the Queen of Fei is already defeated. We are all in danger! I beg you to think of our common cause and send reinforcements as soon as possible to fight against the powerful enemy together!"

In Bungofu Castle (Oita City), Otomo Yoshitsugu held Ito's letter for help, his knuckles turning white. The Otomo family had long since declined, no longer as glorious as it was in the "Kyushu Three Kingdoms". He was afraid of the Ming army's offensive, and was also wary of the neighboring Shimazu family (although they nominally surrendered to the Ming). What was even more difficult was that his territory faced the Bungo Waterway controlled by the Ming navy, which put him under tremendous pressure.

The counselor suggested: "The Ming army is too powerful to be defeated. However, if we sit back and watch Hyuga fall, the gates of Bungo will be wide open, and we will be in danger! We should quickly unite with Shimazu (Tadatsune), Tachibana (Muneshige), and even the Chikuzen and Chikugo domains to form an army of rebels!"

Otomo Yoshitsugu finally made up his mind. On the one hand, he wrote back to Ito to promise support (but the military force was limited). On the other hand, he sent several envoys to various places overnight with secret letters to form an alliance against the Ming Dynasty.

Although Kagoshima Castle was under the rule of the Ming army, the foundation of the Shimazu family was not destroyed. Shimazu Tadatsune was "enclosed" by Zheng Zhilong in a corner of the city. He seemed to be submissive, but in fact he was in a state of distress. The fall of Higo made him see the terrifying war machine of the Ming army, and also made him realize that if the lords of Kyushu were defeated one by one, the Shimazu family would never be able to turn things around. He used the remaining underground network and disguised himself as a confidant of a businessman to convey the message to Tachibana Muneshige (the lord of Yanagawa Domain in Chikugo, famous for his good fighting skills), Kawagoe Katsushige (the lord of Saga Domain in Hizen, a descendant of the Ryuzoji clan), who still had considerable strength, and some of the old retainers of the Kato family who fled into their territories: "The Ming people want to wipe out all my samurai! The survival of Kyushu depends on this one move! Although Tadatsune is in the hands of the enemy, he is willing to devote the remaining strength of Shimazu to secretly help the righteous army!" He secretly instructed his old subordinates to deliver some of the hidden weapons and funds to the resistance forces.

Kuroda Nagamasa (Lord of Chikuzen Fukuoka Domain, important retainer of Tokugawa Hisayoshi, and Tandaidai of Kyushu) sat in Fukuoka Castle, worried.

The loss of Higo meant that the Ming army had penetrated deep into Kyushu, directly threatening the Chikuzen and Chikugo regions under his control. He shouldered the heavy responsibility of monitoring Kyushu for the Tokugawa shogunate, and was well aware that the seriousness of the situation far exceeded local disputes.

On the one hand, he issued strict orders to strengthen coastal and border defenses, especially the vigilance of Hakata Bay. On the other hand, in his capacity as "Kyushu Tandai", he issued a very important call to action to powerful daimyo in Kyushu (Tachibana Muneshige, Nabeshima Katsushige, Arima Harunobu (lord of Shimabara domain), and even the Kanbu family of Osumi), requiring all parties to send important officials to Kokura Castle (located in Buzen, close to Honshu) as soon as possible to form an alliance and discuss plans to resist the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, he sent fast horses across the sea to report the crisis in Kyushu and the request for help to the Edo Shogunate at an urgent speed of 800 miles.

(End of this chapter)