The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 287 Yuan-Day War
In the East China Sea, hundreds of boats are racing on the river, and flags cover the sky.

The huge fleet was moving towards Japan in a mighty and majestic manner.

On the main ship Fuchuan, generals including Tang Mu, Zuo Yidao, An Guo, Chen Jizu, and Lei Xiong gathered together, studying the map of Japan and discussing the details of this expedition to Japan.

"In history, Hu Yuan had twice launched expeditions to Japan, but both times he had very bad luck and encountered hurricanes, suffered heavy losses, and ended in failure."

An Guo loved reading, so he was considered the most knowledgeable among the generals.

When discussing the expedition to Japan, the first thing that comes to mind is the historical period of Kublai Khan, when the Yuan court launched two expeditions to Japan, both of which ended in failure.

An Guo looked at the generals, trying to draw their attention to the naval battle.

"In the past, the Mongol cavalry swept across the world. Kublai Khan inherited the Khanship and began to use "Han law", regarded himself as the emperor of the Central Plains, and adopted the suggestions of Ashu and Liu Zheng, attaching importance to naval training, trying to make up for the shortcomings of the Mongol army."

"Kublai Khan wanted to conquer this small country across the sea, and sent envoys to Japan many times, but all returned in vain. Kublai Khan then lost his patience and realized that Japan was "obstinate and closed, and difficult to persuade", so he strengthened his determination to use military force against Japan. Now I think it was just a whetstone chosen by Kublai Khan to build a navy."

It is well known that the Mongolian cavalry is unparalleled in riding and shooting.

But there are gains and losses. Because they are a nation on horseback, they are naturally not used to fighting on water.

Kublai Khan, who was fond of "Han law", was also a heroic figure. In order to conquer the Southern Song Dynasty, which was blocked by the Huai River, he urgently wanted to make up for this shortcoming of his own army, so he carefully selected Japan as an overseas target for his men, trying to test and hone his navy.

"In the first expedition to Japan, the scale of the Hu Yuan army was as high as 25,000 Mongolian and Han troops, and 8,000 Korean auxiliary troops. They once entered Tsushima Island, Iki Island and other places, and then started the landing battle. As a result, they encountered stubborn resistance from the Japanese. Even Liu Fuheng, the left deputy marshal of the Yuan army, was shot and injured. The Yuan army chose to temporarily retreat to the sea, but unexpectedly a strong wind arose, and the warships were trapped in the hurricane. Countless soldiers were killed and wounded, and countless ships were burned. In the end, the Yuan army retreated in a hurry, losing a total of half of its troops. Since then, the first expedition to Japan by the Hu Yuan army ended in failure."

"After that, Kublai Khan sent envoys to Japan several times in an attempt to make it surrender. However, Japan beheaded the envoys directly. During this period, the Former Song Dynasty had been completely destroyed by Kublai Khan. Hu Yuan received a large number of naval warships and troops from the Former Song Dynasty. So he asked the former Song surrendered generals Fan Wenhu, Xia Gui, Lu Wenhuan, Chen Yi and others whether Japan could be attacked. They all agreed."

"So in the second year of the Battle of Yashan, Kublai Khan launched a second expedition to Japan. This time the scale was even larger than before. Kublai Khan ordered Xindu and Hong Chaqiu to lead 40,000 Mongolian, Han and Goryeo troops to set out from Hepu, Goryeo, known as the Eastern Route Army. Fan Wenhu led 100,000 former Song surrendered troops to set out from Jiangnan, known as the Jiangnan Army. The two armies met at Iki Island in Japan, and then headed straight for Japan."

"The combined strength of the two armies of Hu and Yuan reached 140,000, which shows Kublai Khan's determination to crush Japan. However, the Eastern Army encountered a hurricane again when landing on Tsushima Island, and countless casualties were caused. After landing, they slaughtered the Japanese on Tsushima Island, and then marched to Iki Island, where they encountered a storm again, and many soldiers were killed and injured. Later, the Eastern Army landed on Shiga Island, and as expected, they encountered tenacious and resolute resistance from the Japanese. The two sides fought for a long time, and in the end, the Eastern Army, which had to fight a long expedition and fought in a different place, was defeated repeatedly. In addition, a plague broke out within the Eastern Army, so they had to retreat to Iki Island and wait for Fan Wenhu's Jiangnan Army to arrive."

Upon hearing the disastrous defeat of Hu Yuan’s Eastern Army, all the generals present changed their expressions.

Although there are several factors that cannot be ignored, such as the exhaustion of the soldiers after a long expedition and the fact that the enemy had the advantage of time, place and people when fighting in a foreign land, no matter what, that was the Mongolian army that swept across the world, so how could they be defeated?
And he keeps failing every time!
Can't you win once or twice, at least it would boost morale!

In addition, there was the plague that broke out in the army during the war, which was something that all soldiers feared.

Plagues were also quite common in the army, especially in this kind of foreign land operations. Drinking Japanese water and eating Japanese rice could easily cause acclimatization and lead to illness with fever and diarrhea, or getting cut during combat and causing the wound to become infected. Anyway, there were too many reasons for the outbreak of plague in the army, and once it really broke out, it would be fatal, dealing an unprecedented blow to military morale!

So in the end, the 40,000 Eastern Army troops were unsurprisingly defeated and did not even achieve any decent results.

This is exactly what the generals are worried about at this moment.

If they couldn't defeat the 40,000 Hu Yuan Eastern Route Army, could their 10,000 Ming Dynasty soldiers really destroy Japan?
For a moment, everyone put away their contempt for Japan and began to worry about the war.

An Guo pretended not to notice the worried expressions of the crowd and continued to speak to himself.

"The Jiangnan Army set out from Qingyuan and Dinghai, mobilizing more than 3,500 ships. People at the time said, 'This is the largest military expedition since the Sui and Tang dynasties.' However, the funny thing is that the Jiangnan Army fleet deviated from its course and sailed to Tamra (Jeju Island). It was not until the Eastern Route Army was defeated and retreated to Iki Island that the Jiangnan Army's vanguard fleet arrived at Iki Island and successfully joined the Eastern Route Army."

"However, before the Yuan army could regroup and continue its march into Japan, tens of thousands of Japanese troops from various forces including the Matsuura Clan, Sonokiri, Chiba, Takagi, Ryuzoji, and Shimazu attacked Iki Island directly, trying to annihilate the Eastern Army. After several days of bloody battles, the Eastern Army finally won, and then abandoned Iki Island and headed to Hirado Island to join forces with the main force of the Jiangnan Army."

"Just as the Hu Yuan army was resting and preparing to gather all its forces to launch a landing war against Japan, an unprecedented and terrifying hurricane suddenly arrived. The huge waves surged up and the place where the Yuan army fleet was anchored suffered a devastating blow, especially the large ships of the Jiangnan Army. More than half of the Jiangnan Army were killed or injured, but the Goryeo small ships were saved."

"The surviving officers and soldiers of the Yuan-Li coalition gathered on a nearby island. The generals of the Eastern Expedition had a dispute over the next move. In the end, a group of generals chose to retreat again with their direct troops. Fan Wenhu was even more discouraged by the hurricane and returned directly to Goryeo, abandoning hundreds of thousands of troops. The morale of the Yuan army was completely broken, and Kublai Khan's second expedition to Japan ended in failure."

"After that, Kublai Khan was very upset about the failure of the expedition to Japan. He was very unwilling to accept it. He sent envoys to persuade the Japanese and prepare for the expedition many times. However, they were aborted in the end due to many obstacles. The main reason was the turmoil in Jiangnan and the war with Annan. In addition, the conservative forces in the Yuan court were firmly opposed. Even Kublai Khan's crown prince Zhenjin opposed continuing the expedition to Japan, which directly led to the Hu-Yuan war. Until Kublai Khan's death, the expedition to Japan was completely stopped and no one mentioned it again."

After briefly recounting Hu Yuan's disastrous defeat in his eastern expedition to Japan, An Guo mentioned an interesting point.

"These two wars caused the internal foundation of the Hu Yuan Dynasty to become unstable, leading to widespread resentment among the people of Jiangnan. Many people launched anti-Yuan uprisings. On the contrary, because of the victory over the arrogant Mongolian army, the morale of the Japanese nation was high, especially those inexplicable hurricanes!"

"The Japanese believed that during the Second War, it was those sudden hurricanes that destroyed the fighting spirit of the Mongolian expeditionary army, which enabled Japan to overcome the difficulties. This victory gave the Japanese an illusion that they were a country blessed by gods and Buddhas, and that they were not attacked by other countries and that they would continue to exist. This was called the Divine Kingdom Thought. The hurricane that caused the destruction of a large number of Yuan Dynasty ships and soldiers was also called the "divine wind" by the Japanese!"

Kamikaze!

Protect the Japanese!

It is not affected by attacks from other countries and continues uninterrupted!
After hearing the entire story of Hu Yuan's expedition to Japan, even Tang Mu, Zuo Yidao and others couldn't help but be secretly shocked.

Could it be that these despicable Japanese people really have the "divine wind protection"?
Otherwise, why would the hundreds of thousands of Mongolian expeditionary forces encounter inexplicable hurricanes again and again in the Second War?
If it weren't for these sudden hurricanes that hit the fleet, how could the Mongolian expeditionary force lose morale and eventually not even dare to fight, but directly retreat and announce the failure of the second expedition?
If hundreds of thousands of troops land successfully, they will be able to flatten this tiny country even if they push forward slowly, right?

It's all those hurricanes!
Or as the Japanese call it... the divine wind!
All the generals looked at the backbone, Tang Hao, Marquis of Zhongshan of the Ming Dynasty.

They were eager to confirm from their own Lord whether the Japanese were really protected by the divine wind!

Otherwise, how the hell are we going to fight this war?
Our army only has 10,000 soldiers!
Tang Hao looked at An Guo with a smile.

After hearing An Guo's words, the morale of the generals was somewhat shaken, which was something Tang Hao had not expected.

The reason why he did not speak out to stop An Guo just now was that he wanted to use An Guo's words to warn the generals not to take it lightly. War is not a joke and people will die.

But now it seems that An Guo’s warning was a bit excessive, so that these guys are feeling uneasy.

You still have to speak up yourself!

Tang Hao looked at the generals and spoke with a smile.

"In maritime warfare, weather is an extremely important factor. Not only hurricanes, but also wind direction and wind speed are extremely critical."

"Many times, headwind and tailwind are the key to success or failure. For example, the Japanese boats can only sail with the wind, but our Ming warships can sail against the wind. If the wind direction helps, there is no reason for us to be defeated even if we encounter Japanese pirates on the sea."

In the early naval battles of the Age of Discovery, a particularly important point was to seize the upper wind direction, because at that time everyone's shipbuilding level was similar, there were no advanced warships that were beyond the times, and everything depended on the wind direction.

If the ship seizes the upwind direction, its speed can be faster and its artillery range can be longer. On the contrary, if it is in the downwind direction, the ship's speed will be very slow and the artillery range will be shorter.

"Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty was very unlucky to encounter hurricanes twice during his expedition to Japan. Needless to say, the result was that the Yuan Dynasty army suffered heavy casualties due to the typhoons. Just as An Guo just said, these inexplicable hurricanes destroyed the fighting spirit of the Yuan Dynasty soldiers!"

"But have you ever thought about this question? Our fleet has been sailing for so long and is about to land on the Japanese mainland. Have you ever encountered any hurricanes?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone was shocked.

"Yeah, we haven't encountered it yet!" "What's going on?"

"Is it God's will that the Ming Dynasty destroy the Japanese?"

The generals were talking about it, their faces filled with excitement.

An Guo also fell into deep thought. This was indeed an absolute fact. The Ming warships had never encountered a hurricane so far.

why?
Is it possible that the Japanese Kamikaze is not working today?
Looking at these guys talking about "God's will" and "divine wind", Tang Hao couldn't help but smile and shook his head.

Actually, it’s hard to blame them, because this is the stupidity of the entire era.

Under the ideological constraints of the decadent Confucianism, the emperors would be extremely reverent towards these gods and Buddhas. Once they were related to them in any way, they would believe them without a doubt, which made them appear foolish and ridiculous.

If there is a chance in the future, I must find a way to dethrone this decadent Confucianism. Science is the real truth!

"I told you to study more, but you insisted on feeding pigs!"

Lord Zhongshan's words stunned all the generals.

"What kind of kamikaze is this?"

"This is just the Japanese trying to gild their own reputation."

"These hurricanes are actually a kind of climate phenomenon, typhoons formed by the subtropical monsoon climate."

Everyone was stunned when they heard this, and An Guo subconsciously asked: "My Lord, what is a typhoon?"

Tang Hao: "..."

After a moment's silence, Zhongshan Hou patiently explained it to these guys.

After all, these are all generals, and most of them will serve as generals in the navy in the future, so they still need to understand these basic knowledge.

"Typhoons are extremely powerful storms that often appear in oceans and offshore areas. They often bring violent winds, heavy rains and storm surges, which are difficult to withstand by humans."

"If you go out to sea frequently, you can often see it on the sea. Just like the storm we saw the first time we went out to sea, it was also a typhoon, thousands of miles away from Japan. What kind of divine wind is this? So there is no such thing as a divine wind. It is all just climate change."

"The Mongols failed to conquer Japan because they made a mistake in their decision-making. They like to send troops in summer and autumn. This is the habit of the Mongols who live in the grasslands all year round and wait until autumn when the horses are fat and strong to send troops. Sending troops in summer and autumn happens to coincide with the autumn harvest of the Central Plains Dynasty, so they can plunder and go back to spend the winter!"

"But typhoons are most likely to occur at this time, so the Japanese are just lucky. The second time the Mongols went out to sea, they encountered a large number of typhoons. Otherwise, the Mongolian cavalry would have destroyed this tiny country long ago!"

During its heyday, the Yuan Dynasty conquered almost every corner of the Asian continent, so its military strength was naturally unquestionable.

However, typhoons cannot be resisted by human power, at least not in the future, let alone now.

The generals nodded as if relieved, but An Guo's next words made their faces turn pale.

"My Lord, don't we also send troops in autumn?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone was dumbfounded.

It seems that this is really the case!

Then according to what the Marquis said, wouldn't I and the others also...

"What are you worrying about?"

Tang Hao scolded angrily: "Since I know about this typhoon, will I still lead you into the ditch?"

"We dispatched troops in late autumn, and it is almost the beginning of winter today. Even if there is a typhoon, it will not be too strong. With our large ships, we can sail against the wind. Besides, we will land soon. What are you still worried about?"

After being scolded by their own lord, the generals finally felt relieved.

"In addition, there is another important reason why Hu Yuan's expedition to Japan failed, and that is the internal unity of Japan."

"After the first war against the Hu Yuan, while the Hu Yuan were actively preparing for war, the Kamakura shogunate was also preparing for another invasion by the Yuan army, and began to build and strengthen the defense mechanism along the coast of Kyushu. At that time, the Kamakura shogunate even formulated a "foreign conquest" plan, wanting to use offense as defense, and prepared to mobilize the samurai from Sanin, Sanyo and Nankai to attack Goryeo in March of the following year, with Kyushu Island as the center."

"Although this ridiculous "foreign conquest" plan was ultimately not implemented, the ships and troops gathered in the Hakata Bay area stayed in the northern coast of Kyushu for a long time to guard the sea area. At that time, the Kamakura shogunate also took the opportunity to strengthen its rule, so the entire Japanese country was actively preparing to resist the upcoming invasion of the Hu Yuan army."

"In other words, the right time, right place, and right people all stood on the side of Japan. No matter how many people the Hu Yuan army had, it would be useless and would only fail in the end."

As soon as he finished speaking, Tang Hao stood up and stretched.

"But this time, when our army attacked Japan, the situation was completely different."

"First of all, it's the weather. Our army did not encounter a typhoon, so the weather is on our side."

"The second is the geographical advantage. Ma Yong and Deng Boyan will leave information along the way. Once our army lands smoothly, we can march directly to Kyoto according to the marching route they left. Therefore, even if the Japanese were born and raised here, they do not have any geographical advantage for our army."

"Finally, it's about harmony among people. The Muromachi shogunate is caught in a civil war and has no time to take care of other places. The Japanese daimyo are not quiet people either. They started to attack and fight each other, trying to annex each other. So now Japan is a chaotic place with endless civil strife. Besides, they don't know that the Ming Dynasty will suddenly send troops to attack Japan. Who will build a defense line along the coast to resist our attack?"

"Our army has the advantage of time, place and people, while the Yuan army has none of them. This is why the Yuan army will be defeated and our army will win!"

"Don't think too much. Go down and prepare well. The battle will begin soon!"

"If we cannot destroy Japan this time, all of you should jump into the sea and commit suicide!"

Hearing this, all the generals trembled and immediately took the order to prepare.

Tang Hao began to wipe the sword in his hand.

The Hu-Yuan War did not have no impact at all. The Kamakura shogunate, the ruler of Japan at the time, was severely damaged by resisting the attack of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, which also created conditions and opportunities for the later rise of the Muromachi shogunate.

If the Hu Yuan army at that time had been tougher and directly destroyed the Wa Kingdom, would history have been rewritten?

Unfortunately, there is no if!
But since Tang Hao is here, he must make up for this regret!
Tang Hao personally helped Kublai Khan accomplish what he had never accomplished in his entire life!
Destroy the Japanese nation, massacre the Japanese people, and completely eliminate this disgusting and despicable nation!
(End of this chapter)