Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

Chapter 158 Yoshikawa Motoharu's Attack
Three days later, Li Rusong received the silver and was about to move out of camp when he suddenly saw people running into the camp from outside the gate. Li Rusong had a bad feeling.

"What's going on?" Li Rusong asked anxiously.

"Japanese pirates, a lot of Japanese pirates suddenly appeared fifty miles away from Xiaocang City." The man took two breaths of white air, covered his chest and panted, "Deputy General Zhao asked me to inform the general."

"how many people?"

"At least tens of thousands."

Thousands?

This is a considerable number of people. Not counting the troops in Kokura City, he can only mobilize 5,000 people now.

Most of the shells had been used up, and we were planning to return to the fleet for replenishment, but we didn't expect to encounter this incident first.

And the Qiuyue family behind them, if they knew that reinforcements were coming, they would probably become active again.

Li Rusong suddenly felt tremendous pressure.

"General, what should we do now?" The man asked timidly when he saw that Shangguan had not spoken for a long time.

"Well, you return quickly and order Zhao Yuan to hold out for at least ten days." Li Rusong nodded at the visitor and quickly ordered, "After ten days, even if the city is captured, I will give him the credit for the first victory."

"Yes, sir!" The scout agreed and left.

Li Rusong turned around and called Zhang Yunxiu and Otomo Yoshitsugu, and told them what he had said before.

After hearing this, Zhang Yunxiu asked Otomo Yoshitsugu directly: "Mr. Otomo, whose army do you think this is?"

"Most likely it's the Mori family's army." Otomo Yoshitsugu said without hesitation.

"I think so too." Zhang Yunxiu smiled, his eyes suddenly shining brightly, "With an army of tens of thousands of people, even the Mori family will come out in full force. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attack the Mori family."

"Sir, are you planning to go with a fleet?" Li Rusong asked.

"Yes."

Zhang Yunxiu nodded slightly.

The territory of the Mori family is located northeast of Hakata Bay and can be reached along the Sea of ​​Japan.

This time the Mori family is out in full force, and it is a great opportunity for him to take over Iwami Ginzan in one fell swoop.

Zhang Yunxiu acted immediately after saying it. After giving Li Rusong and Otomo Yoshitsugu a few instructions, he immediately led a group of troops back to the fleet.

Kokura Castle.

The guerrilla Zhao Yuan, who was in charge of guarding the city, was wearing a silver helmet and silver armor, with one hand on the city wall. Looking around, flags fluttered in the wind outside the city, and armor and swords swayed like a forest.

Just one look and he couldn't help feeling nervous.

On the Japanese pirate side, a tall middle-aged general was in charge of commanding the troops.

He was about forty years old, tall, with a sharp face, a high nose, and a pair of big, round, dark eyes under thick eyebrows.

He was wearing black and red armor and had a samurai sword hanging from his waist, which made him look intimidating.

That is Yoshikawa Motoharu, the uncle of the current head of the Mori family, Mori Terumoto.

As to why his surname is Yoshikawa, there is a lot of twists and turns.

The eldest son of the previous head of the Mori family, Mori Motonari, died early, leaving only a young son.

Mori Motonari was worried that his two sons would compete for the position of family head, so he adopted them to the Yoshikawa family and the Kobayakawa family respectively.

One of the two sons was renamed Yoshikawa Motoharu and the other was renamed Kobayakawa Takakage.

Unlike Mori Terumoto and Kobayakawa Takakage, Yoshikawa Motoharu was a strong-willed person and the pro-war faction in the family.

He didn't even take Toyotomi Hideyoshi seriously, so when he heard someone was looking for trouble, he immediately asked for orders to go and fight.

Standing on the hillside, Yoshikawa Motoharu glanced at the soldiers on the city wall from afar, turned around, and shook his head at the subordinates beside him: "It is said that the Ming army is brave and the firearms are extremely sharp. I still don't believe this today!"

"Fujino-kun."

"Hi!" A short Japanese pirate nodded vigorously.

"You, I don't think this Xiaocang Castle is that strong. You take 500 people to attack the East City."

"Hey!"

"Mr. Iguchi, you take 500 men to attack the north city. Mr. Hihara, you take 500 men to attack the north city! The rest will be kept as reserves. Whichever side attacks smoothly, you will provide support there."

Yoshikawa Motoharu issued the orders one by one. Immediately after he finished speaking, someone looked at him and asked, "Yoshikawa-kun, why don't you attack the west city?"

"Sun Wu of China once said that when besieging a force, there must be a gap. There is no need to send any more troops to the other gate. You just need to attack the other three gates." Yoshikawa Motoharu waved his hand and explained slowly.

"Yoshi, Yoshikawa-kun is indeed the Tiger of San'in."

"Now, it's time for the Ming army to have a taste of what it feels like to be defeated by the military tactics of their ancestors." "Hahahaha"

After a loud laugh, the Japanese pirates galloped on their horses and waved the red flag.

The Japanese pirates, who were the vanguard of the siege, raised their weapons high, shouted "Long live, long live" and rushed straight to the Kokura Castle.

If you look down from above, they are so densely packed that they look like a swarm of black locusts.

On the city wall, Zhao Yuan had also made deployments early on, with a thousand men, with two hundred guarding each gate.

Two hundred of them served as reserve troops, ready to provide support at any time.

"When the enemy is within eighty steps, the musketeers should prepare to fire!" Looking at the charging Japanese pirates, Zhao Yuan raised his hands high and shouted with a gloomy face.

"Bird gunners, get ready."

"Bird Gunner"

As soon as the superior gave the order, an officer would repeat it twice.

"Brush brush"

The sound of loading gunpowder was heard rapidly in the queue.

In a moment, a bunch of black bird guns were raised high and aimed at the Japanese pirates charging below. The maximum effective killing range of the bird gun is 100 steps, but that is when there is no armor.

If you really want to break the armor, it is best to be within fifty steps.

Zhao Yuan set the distance at eighty steps and opened fire. When they ran two steps forward, the distance was not too far at fifty steps.

In the blink of an eye, the Japanese pirates rushed to a distance of eighty steps outside the city.

"Fire!"

Pungent white smoke rose from the city walls, and then, a series of earth-shattering explosions suddenly occurred.

Red-hot lead bullets gushed out from the pitch-black gun barrels, forming a dense network of fire that rushed straight towards the Japanese pirates under the city.

The Japanese pirates at the front looked closely and saw a black object flying towards them. They subconsciously tried to dodge, but the object was running very fast and was in front of them in the blink of an eye.

Lead bullets suddenly pierced into the charging ranks, and a gorgeous flower of blood immediately burst out under the city.

"what?!"

"My eyes, my eyes."

"Baka. Baka, block it with your shield, block it with your shield."

The Japanese pirates stepped on the body of the person lying on the ground in front of them, but they didn't care and continued to charge forward with gritted teeth.

Zhao Yuan stood at the front, waving the long sword at his waist and giving orders: "The musketeers, step back, and look for opportunities to kill the enemy in teams of ten. The sword and shield soldiers, and spearmen, step forward and prepare to engage the enemy!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the spearman took a step forward, tightly gripped his weapon, and stared at the Japanese pirates below.

The Kokura Castle was not very high. After the Japanese pirates rushed to the city wall, some of them carried battering rams and rammed the wall.

Another group of people put long wooden ladders on the city wall with a snap, and then crawled up like ants.

Arrows and stones rained down from the top of the city walls, and the Japanese pirates below had ferocious faces and climbed forward rapidly, roaring.

A young Japanese pirate climbed to the top of the city wall in the blink of an eye. Just as he was about to be overjoyed, a spear stabbed his neck.

He was unable to dodge and the spear suddenly pierced into him.

The young Japanese pirate's pupils suddenly shrank, and an equally young face was reflected in his dark eyes.

He desperately covered his throat, trying to stop the gushing blood.

Unfortunately, nothing could help. He only felt his vitality draining away and his whole body was cold.

The Ming army soldier on the city wall smiled grimly and kicked the Japanese pirate in the chest. The Japanese pirate flew backwards and fell to the ground dead.

No one noticed him. The Japanese pirates behind him stepped on the corpses and continued to charge forward.

If a siege fails to break through the gate quickly, it will be like a living meat grinder for the attackers.

It is normal for the casualty ratio to reach five to one.

Zhao Yuan was stationed at the east gate, giving orders in an orderly manner. Suddenly, he saw a man pop up in front of him. He shouted suddenly and chopped him with his sword.

The man raised his hands to block, but his hands were chopped off like carrots.

"Ah!" After a pig-slaughtering roar, the Japanese pirate fell down the ladder and fell to the ground with a "bang" like a sack, motionless.

(End of this chapter)