Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 473 Overwhelming Advantage

A power that is completely on a different level.

After more than a decade of wars in the Northern Frontier, Outer Yunnan, Southeast Asia, and Japan, foreign vassal states near and far have confirmed the power of the Ming Dynasty.

It was not just the power of the weapons, but also the enterprising ambitions unleashed by the Ming people.

Those who adapt to the new era will change the fastest and will be more proactive and courageous than those who yearn for the old days.

Just as the Japanese army was no longer afraid of the difficulties of the long expedition: for many soldiers who participated in the war, whether they stayed in Japan in the future or returned to the Ming Dynasty to receive the rewards that the Taichang Dynasty had never broken its promise and the way out after retirement, they were fighting for their future.

What's more, there were cavalry from the northern border, Korean naval and land forces, and surrendered Japanese soldiers as servants, and the firearms in their hands often destroyed everything in their power.

Although the Zhiyuan had not yet cut through the waves of the Seto Inland Sea, the legend of the black ship had already spread in Gyeonggi and Kanto.

But what made them feel even more helpless than the Ming navy was the elite troops from Liaodong of the Ming Dynasty who had actually landed in the West.

What has been cut off or even half-abandoned is the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine, a "Tenryo" area directly under the control of the shogunate - because they were reluctant to give it up directly.

With Yamabuki Castle as the core, there were more than 20,000 soldiers of the Shogunate's Western Front Army who were forced here from the surrounding areas by the Mori coalition forces. In fact, they were an isolated force.

Then came the elite troops of Liaodong who suddenly landed at Onsenzu, north of Iwami.

Tsukune Port. Since the discovery of Iwami Ginzan, this has been the outer port of Iwami Ginzan. This port is of great importance for transporting silver out and bringing in materials for mining operations.

It was always thought that the Ming army would use Kyushu as its forward base, but the Beiyang Fleet suddenly arrived here with its troop transport ships.

Ma Chengxun sent his father Ma Gui away and is still in mourning.

But there has always been competition in the military, and he has the important task of fighting for the future of the Ma family.

Iwami Ginzan was the first target that Denraku gave him.

As long as the Mori family, which controls Nagato and Suo, maintains a firm attitude, once Iwami is captured, the army can come here directly from Tsushima Island, and then move eastward, approaching the northwest of their so-called capital from the north.

The central army of the northern route will drive the Mori coalition forces along the southern route all the way to Osaka.

The southern army controlled Kyushu and Shikoku, and then went to Ise Bay to control the only road from Kanto to Kansai.

The Jiulei Gun, naval guns and gun carriages are more useful than anything else.

After the initial counterattack on the port left more than a thousand bodies behind, the shogunate soldiers finally had to retreat to a higher and more advantageous position and no longer take the offensive to face the Ming artillery.

Ma Chengxun calmly built a defense line on the seashore.

Fortunately, the defense line here is easy to build. Wenquanjin itself is located between valleys, and there are mountains on both sides of the harbor. If we control a few mountain passes, we will have no worries for the time being.

But after all, the terrain here is too narrow and cannot accommodate too many troops gathering.

If this silver mine was not so important, Ma Chengxun would have gone directly to Izumo, which is further northeast. There is a lake there, and on the west bank of the lake there is a large flat area between the north and south mountains.

Fortunately, it’s only a hundred miles in total, not far.

If we control this place, it will be easier to establish a real northern camp there by attacking from both land and sea.

"This stone has silver, copper and iron?"

Several years passed, and So Yoshinari of Tsushima Island had grown into a boy of sixteen or seventeen years old.

Now he has accepted his fate, and it just so happens that the Ming Dynasty also has the Zong surname.

Now he nodded excitedly: "Exactly, General."

Ma Chengxun sighed and looked at the mountains in the distance. "After landing, I finally know how Japan wants to resist the might of heaven. General Jin, after I lead the army to capture Yamabuki Castle, you will guard here first. There is still a battle to be fought. Since there is a lot of silver, copper and iron in Iwami, we must make good use of it. We can't transport all the military supplies from Ming Dynasty."

Jin Jingrui came with him, bringing most of the Korean generals and soldiers.

"General, go ahead without worry. I will make sure Shi Jian is not in any danger!"

"I'm afraid most of the silver has been taken away. If there is any captured, it will be used to pacify the local people first."

Ma Chengxun was not concerned about who controlled the silver mountain.

I heard that at its peak, it could produce nearly one million taels of silver a year. But in recent years, the output has begun to decrease.

The Ming army has been on Tsushima Island for many years, and the Iwami Silver Mine is probably a case of fishing in a dry pond, and they are trying to transport the mined silver as quickly as possible to avoid future losses.

The majority of the people on the island today are still the powerful people, especially those in Edo.

Therefore, it is more important to let Jin Jingrui control Iwami first, and use this temporary benefit to appease the hearts of those Korean generals and soldiers who are willing or forced to come to Japan.

They can't go back.

As an important official representing the Koreans, Jin Jingrui will also have interests in the future mining of the Japanese mines, and he will manage it well.

Ma Chengxun was even more enthusiastic about his achievements and captures.

According to information from So Yoshishige and other retainers of the So family on Tsushima Island, the Iwami Silver Mine has probably produced a total of 300 to 400 million taels of silver since it was first mined.

The small island of Japan has more than just this silver mountain.

Although a lot of this silver has flowed out through maritime trade over the years, the remaining amount is still considerable.

"Don't give them the opportunity to transfer troops from the south." Ma Chengxun ordered directly, "The standard camp will prepare and rest for an hour, and then follow me to march!"

After Ma Gui passed away, the Ma family's personal soldiers had already been incorporated into the standard battalion set up in Liaodong, and they were the elite among the elite.

After the Ming Dynasty attached importance to military industry, especially after the invention of steam engines and improved iron and steelmaking techniques, the armor-wearing rate of the Ming army's elite troops had risen to an extremely high level.

It is certainly not convenient to march in the mountains with heavy armor, but the reason why this Onsenzu exists is because it is very close to Iwami Ginzan.

A distance of less than twenty miles is tolerable.

And along the way, we have to keep attacking camps and strongholds, fighting and advancing.

So an hour later, the vanguard standard-bearing battalion of 1,500 soldiers set out fully armed.

It is really not advisable to bring more people with us. We can only lead the way along the mountain road with these few people, and then follow up from behind, and finally gather more firepower under Yamabuki Castle.

The terrain was clearly extremely unfavorable, and the strength of the troops immediately engaged in battle was vastly different, but what difference did it make?
The total number of "iron artillery soldiers" that can be deployed here is less than 500, and the rest are mostly foot soldiers. Those wearing armor are basically high-ranking samurai who formed the hatamoto soldiers after the establishment of the Edo Shogunate and samurai of lower status who formed the samurai. The number of this part, distributed here, is less than 1,000.

The spear foot soldiers could not reach the engagement distance at all. The bows of the bow foot soldiers and the old matchlock guns of the iron artillery soldiers were far inferior to the Ming army in terms of range and firing speed. The reason why they were called foot soldiers was because they wore very little armor and were "light on their feet." If they were all cold weapons, it would be fine, but when they encountered the Jiulei gun and the tiger squat cannon carried by the most elite Liaodong standard soldiers, they were crushed all the way.

This situation had already occurred when they wanted to retake Onsenjin. Although they were now on a mountain road that they were more familiar with, the situation did not change much. Anyuan Denbei watched helplessly as the Ming army got closer and closer to Yamabuki Castle.

As the Silver Mountain Magistrate, he no longer has the final say on military matters here.

The silver mine he was in charge of could no longer proceed normally.

The mines were all outside, and there was a batch of silver that had just been refined using the ash blowing method in the city. Although the amount was not large, it was about to fall into the hands of the enemy.

"Damn it! Haven't the hatamoto who were on guard against the traitors in the Mori coalition come back yet? They are the only ones who can slightly..."

"What's the use? General, Lord!" Someone was already afraid and suggested, "Let's go to Izumo while they don't dare to take risks!"

"This is Tenryoku! It's better to die here than to give up like this and go to Izumo and commit seppuku to apologize!"

"…With what happened in Nagasaki, this isn't the first Tenryu to be abandoned…"

"Nabeshima-san died in Saga!"

"General! Without the flag bearer cavalry, there is no way to cause them more casualties as quickly as possible. The strategy of the Anti-Islamic Army Headquarters is a war of attrition. Why should the elite troops of the Western Kingdom be here..."

"What does consumption mean? Don't you understand? If you give up like this, what can you consume from them?"

As Anyuan Denbei listened to the arguments among the generals of the western front army, he felt even more desperate.

But they are currently just sitting in the city, and are far less desperate than the defenders in the outposts and passes along the outer mountain roads.

"You can kill them! Aim for their faces!"

The commanding warriors looked at the dots of light reflected from the dense armor over there. The small flags and red tassels flying on the top of their helmets were dazzling.

The only parts of her body that could be hit were her face and the feet that were occasionally exposed under her skirt armor.

But their shooting tactics are nothing like the three-stage formation first developed by Oda Nobunaga and now the main tactic of the arquebusiers.

They were advancing in scattered formations, hiding themselves and covering each other, and there was no sign of how to load the muskets in their hands with bullets and gunpowder.

They would often advance a distance after the sound of artillery fire, and then shoot at the defenders while they were avoiding artillery fire.

Even if some brave hatamoto and retainers rushed out after their guns were fired, chaotic gunshots would often come from nowhere.

There seemed to be little interval between the sounds of gunfire; this was a completely unfamiliar tactic to them.

Ma Chengxun looked at the battle situation through a telescope from a distance and said, "Armor protects the body, but weapons are even more powerful. Pass on my order, do not be afraid of danger, separate the left and right patrols, and each team of three guns will be equipped with a cannon team. Clear the way through the forest. Each team will bring a tongue and an interpreter."

A special bugle call was sounded, and the commander at the front began to make arrangements after capturing another outpost.

Soon, several teams of about thirty people spread out to attack more branch roads instead of gathering on the main mountain road leading to Yamabuki Castle from Onsenzu.

"Hey, those guys jumping out with flags on their backs look quite similar to the little flags on our helmets."

"It's all to let people know where our team is. Don't worry about that. Just ask him which way is easier to get there. It's too hard to climb over mountains and hills!"

The interpreters were all trained on Tsushima Island, including Koreans and Japanese people on Tsushima Island.

The tongue, of course, was the person captured in Wenquanjin before.

"Boss, let him take us to the mine!"

"Damn you, mine! Do you think there's nothing but silver in the mine? It's all rock!"

"Then take it to the place where silver is refined?"

"In the city! Stop talking so much, don't gather so close together, have you forgotten what you did in your daily training? What if you wander around and get surrounded by a large army? Just because you fired a few shots, do you think you can defeat a hundred people alone? How many magazines do you have on your back?"

By this time, flowers were blooming everywhere to the north of Yamabuki Castle.

They insisted on setting up some defense lines outside the city, so the Ming army simply dispersed and advanced in a fan shape.

After all, the casualty ratio is disproportionate. If a small team like this were unable to conduct combat in this mountainous environment, they would probably be able to eliminate a small stronghold with over a hundred people or even more.

At the headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Army, intelligence from the front line continued to arrive, and the commander-in-chief, Sakai Tadayoshi, was already a little overwhelmed.

As the daimyo in the west waited and watched, and some followed Mori Terumoto and wanted to "rebel", the headquarters of the Goi Army became the vanguard in the long run.

The idea of ​​using the narrow terrain of the West Country to consume the Ming army now seems unrealistic. If the foot soldiers are so vulnerable to the elite of the Ming army, how many people are willing to go and sacrifice their lives? Do we have to frequently risk entering the front line with the elite of the Anti-Islamic Army?
"Only in the Battle of Sekigahara, the hatamoto cavalry can create an opportunity to win, and hide some ambushes around in advance. It is difficult for them to scout everywhere."

Sakai Tadatoshi shook his head upon hearing this: "Those people from the Mori coalition... and the Mongolian cavalry..."

He found it hard to imagine a situation where the Mongolian cavalry could actually gallop across the Kansai Plain.

"Are you planning to retreat to Osaka? General!"

"No!" Sakai Tadatoshi said, "We must stop the fleet led by the black ships! Since Mori Terumoto and his men have made such a choice, the elite Ming army naturally cannot come all the way from Sanyo Road. Their best strategy is to land by sea, directly plunder the territories of the daimyo and hereditary daimyo in Kinki, and then obtain supplies from the sea."

“…These traitors!”

At this moment, the narrow and long western part of the country and the outer fortresses of Kyushu and Shikoku should have been advantages and geographical advantages. However, with the decision of Mori Terumoto and others with old grudges and future ambitions, coupled with the rapid control of Kyushu Island by the Ming army from the north and south, if Shikoku Island falls again in the next step, the narrow and long western part of the country will not be enough to serve as a barrier. The Ming army can directly threaten the core area of ​​Kansai by relying on its naval strength.

"The general cannot hesitate any longer. If we lose the battle, Kanto will be destroyed quickly. The troops we can support Shikoku Island are limited, so Edo needs to pay attention to Shikoku Island. Whether it is the hereditary daimyo or the outer daimyo on the island, Edo needs to come up with a way to make them do their best to resist the foreign enemies!"

Sakai Tadatoshi added: "If the Mongols are allowed to land, our plan at Sekigahara will have no chance of success. The only cavalry that could create a chance of victory, the hatamoto cavalry, must not be pinned down by the Mongol cavalry!"

News was exchanged between Kanto and Kansai.

This time, the Mongols are really coming.

The difference is that this time they came with the stronger Han people.

And the North Koreans who claim to be seeking revenge...

Sakai Tadatoshi actually also wanted to retreat. Perhaps the new depth from Kansai to Kanto was the place where the enemy could be consumed.

But if we withdraw from Kanto, what will happen to Kyoto?
The shogunate is the shogunate after all, and Lord Hidetada was the one who was granted the title of Shogun.

If he abandoned Kyoto, how much of his reputation, which was already inferior to that of Lord Kakan, would be left? Would he immediately transfer the title of Emperor to Mori Terumoto in the Imperial Palace, which was already in name only, and then make the Kanto outer daimyo and even the hereditary daimyo surrender?

There must be this great battle in Kansai.

Even if we retreat later, it's fine.

Sakai Tadayoshi could not tell the real reason why the Mongols could not go ashore: with a large number of cavalry, could they retreat safely?
(End of this chapter)