The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 314: Battle of Sekigahara
The Battle of Sekigahara was postponed.

It is said that this was because there was a traitor within the shogunate army.

The Catholics in Osaka Castle suddenly revolted, and the Shogun needed to deal with "his family affairs" first.

The Portuguese side repeatedly urged the Kaiyuan Army to go to Osaka to rescue these "people abandoned by God", but Ping Liaohou refused on the pretext of insufficient troops.

Liu Zhaosun certainly would not do something stupid like trying to grab chestnuts from the fire.

He needed to use this period of time to accumulate more troops, deal a fatal blow to the Kanto feudal lords, and intimidate Japan and surrounding forces through a great victory, so that the shogunate would unconditionally accept the "Treaty of Niuguan" he proposed.

On the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Kaiyuan Army ended its short rest in Mikawa Domain, broke camp, and advanced towards Mino Sekigahara.

Sekigahara is a small basin.

It is located in the central part of Honshu Island, with Mount Ibuki to the north, Mount Sasao and Mount Tenman to the west, Mount Matsuo to the southwest, and Mount Nangu to the southeast.

This place is a key road connecting Hokuriku Road to the northwest and Ise to the southeast, and is an excellent venue for field battles.

Twenty-two years ago, Tokugawa Ieyasu led the Eastern Army to defeat the Western Army of the Toyotomi clan led by Ishida Mitsunari here, thus laying the foundation for unifying the world.

Twenty-two years later, Liu Zhaosun, the Grand Tutor of the Ming Dynasty, Marquis of Pingliao, and Shogun, will lead his army here to defeat the shogunate coalition forces and establish a new order in East Asia that he led.

On the sixth day, each army dispatched its night troops to advance ahead, and the cavalry regiment sent a large number of cavalry to cover the flanks of each army.

The elite cavalry stepped on the thin snow on the mountain road of Songwei Mountain and roared past the neatly marching columns of soldiers.

Artillery, infantry, cavalry, and auxiliary troops formed a long line, stretching endlessly. The marching team extended northward from the Mikawa Plain to Matsuo Mountain, with a distance of one hundred miles between the end and the beginning.

On the icy mountain road, auxiliary soldiers pushed field artillery pieces and advanced slowly, and the sound of cavalrymen whipping and shouting could be heard from time to time.

Liu Zhaosun rode on his horse with his body bent, looked around, and felt as if he had returned to the battlefield of Sarhu at the beginning of his time travel.

Sun Chuanting, Yuan Chonghuan, Qiao Yiqi and others rode side by side on horseback, surrounding Ping Liaohou.

"A general's success is built on the sacrifice of thousands of men, let alone to achieve such an unprecedented feat. After this battle, I wonder how many more will die."

Liu Zhaosun looked at the artillery pieces struggling to move forward on the mountain road and felt a sense of compassion for the world.

Everyone was silent after hearing this.

Sun Chuanting traveled all the way from Kyushu, and what he saw along the way was that everyone in Kaiyuan, from the Training Department to the combat representatives, from the Liao people to the Mongols, was in a state of fanaticism.

If we have to find the calmest person right now, it must be Ping Liaohou.

Sun Chuanting did not think that what he said just now was hypocritical. As the saying goes, one should not meddle in matters that are not within one's jurisdiction. What Ping Liaohou is thinking now is no longer something he can understand.

Liu Zhaosun didn't care about his subordinates' reactions and kept muttering to himself.

"I hope this is the last battle. After returning to the capital, we can rest and recuperate, and give the people ten years of peace."

Having said that, everyone has come to their senses.

Ma Shiying took the lead and said:

"After this battle, Marquis Ping Liao will be the highest-ranking official. It's a matter of timing and luck. After returning to the capital, you must have Emperor Tianqi perform the abdication ceremony, then ascend the throne, change the era name, and establish the system. Everything will happen naturally, and there's no delay."

As soon as Ma Shiying opened his mouth, the others did not want to be left behind and followed suit to persuade him to go in.

Qiao Yiqi's second statement:
"What Magistrate Ma said is quite right. Marquis Ping Liao should first summon Military Supervisor Kang back to the capital and have him build momentum there, encouraging the officials there to join in the push for the throne. Yang Jinglue should also contribute to this end."

Hawkish representative Wu Ahheng said:

"I will follow General Liu until death. If necessary, the navy can cut off the canal and land in Tianjin."

Liu Zhaosun looked at Wu Aheng encouragingly without saying anything.

Seeing that the three of them had already spoken, Sun Chuanting also said:
"You three are right. Marquis Ping Liao, this matter is of grave importance and requires early preparation. Don't forget the purpose of this Eastern Expedition. I have heard that there has been unrest in the capital. The Emperor Tianqi, taking advantage of the army's expedition, has joined forces with the nobles and officials of the capital to plot a rebellion. While he may not be able to stir up trouble, this trend must not be allowed to continue."

Liu Zhaosun suppressed his laughter, and a picture of himself clutching Tianqi's arm and threatening the emperor appeared before his eyes:

"Your Majesty, you must not rebel!"

Finally, Liu Zhaosun's gaze fell on Yuan Chonghuan behind him.

"Yuan Ducha, what do you think?"

Yuan Chonghuan remained calm, ignoring everyone's gazes, and said resolutely:

"I believe that the incident in the capital is not a cause for concern. Military achievements are paramount, and the Battle of Sekigahara should be prioritized. Only after victory can we consider the next step."

Liu Zhaosun nodded approvingly to Yuan Chonghuan, spurred his horse forward a few steps, and turned back to his confidants, saying, "The Tianqi Emperor is young and impulsive, and will never settle down as Emperor Xian of Han. Since I've spared his brother Zhu Youxiao's life, I certainly won't kill him. Let the young emperor torment himself in the capital for now, but those treacherous ministers around him cannot be spared. I've already had Shen Lian and the others prepare to assassinate Li Mingrui and the others upon our return from the Eastern Expedition."

~~~~
The rumbling sound of horse hooves echoed throughout the mountains of Honshu.

The image of the cavalry battalion with its fierce armored cavalry and sophisticated armor equipment deeply shocked the Japanese people living around Mount Matsuo.

This is no wonder. Compared with those short warriors and weak dismounted soldiers, the tall and strong Kaiyuan cavalry are undoubtedly gods descended from heaven.

The Kaiyuan cavalry refreshed the Japanese people's understanding of cavalry. The Japanese people, shocked by the Kaiyuan army's appearance, could not help but worry about the future and fate of the Shogun.

"The barbarians who came this time are all giants. I wonder if the foolish son of the Tokugawa family can survive."

The "stupid son" of the Tokugawa family referred to by the people was the second Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada.

In the eyes of the common people, the second Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada was a typical playboy.

Compared with his father Tokugawa Ieyasu, Tokugawa Hidetada's qualifications and abilities were too poor to be compared with his father. It is most appropriate to describe this father and son as a tiger father and a dog son.

Twenty-two years ago, in the Battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Hidetada led an army of 3,000 to attack Shinano Ueda Castle, which was guarded by 100 men, but was blocked for ten days.

Ultimately, he failed to make it to the Battle of Sekigahara led by Ieyasu in time and was nearly beheaded by his father.

Afterwards, Tokugawa Hidetada became addicted to women and, at the instigation of his wife Ae, sent someone to poison tempura, killing his father.

He then exiled his brother on the charge of lese majesty. On the eve of Ping Liaohou's eastern expedition to Japan, the second Shogun was committed to the great cause of persecuting Catholics in Japan.

If Liu Zhaosun had not intervened, this scumbag's path to the pinnacle of power would have been as smooth and open as ever.

Of course, now it is no longer a question of whether it goes smoothly or not.

Tokugawa Hidetada would most likely have lost his life.

Liu Zhaosun didn't know much about Japanese history. Before traveling through time, he once thought that the history of the Warring States Period was basically equivalent to "village heads fighting each other."

After catching up on relevant historical knowledge during this period, the time traveler corrected this view in time. He no longer equated the war between Japanese daimyo with the armed fights among villagers.

It was an armed fight between the township head and the town head.

Liu Zhaosun also deeply realized that:
"The various despicable cruelties and perverse tendencies born from the narrowness of the country and the numerous disasters it has suffered—this is the original sin of this island nation."

The only way to reform the bad habits of this nation is to start with conquest.

As the decisive battle of Sekigahara approached, some daimyos on Kyushu Island who had not been massacred by the Korean soldiers, either to seek revenge on the Tokugawa shogunate or out of the Stockholm syndrome effect (Note 1), defected to Ping Liaohou and competed to be the vanguard of the Kaiyuan Army's eastward expedition.

Among them, Satsuma Domain is the most typical.

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Liu Zhaosun's 22nd birthday, the lord of Satsuma Domain, Shimazu, brought two samurai and came all the way from Satsuma Domain.

Shimazu expressed his intention to surrender to the Kaiyuan Army, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Ping Liaohou and complete the campaign against the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Ping Liaohou personally negotiated with Shimazu and expressed his appreciation for his move from evil to good.

Liu Zhaosun thought of the Battle of Guanyuan twenty-two years ago.

In that great war that determined the division of the world, Tokugawa Ieyasu used conspiracy and trickery to bribe Kobayakawa Hideaki of the Western Army.

At the most critical moment of the Battle of Sekigahara, Kobayakawa Hideaki ordered an offensive against Yoshitsugu Otani's Western Army, which led to the gradual collapse of the Western Army's right wing. Subsequently, the morale of other Western Army units was severely hit, and the Western Army quickly disintegrated.

Liu Zhaosun will defeat Tokugawa in Tokugawa's place using Tokugawa's method.

In the end, the Kaiyuan Army incorporated part of the Western Army, and about 8,000 Western Army soldiers were incorporated into the vanguard and became cannon fodder in front of the Koreans.

Ping Liaohou paid these cannon fodder generously enough.

He promised the lord of the Shimazu domain that after defeating the Tokugawa shogunate, he would grant Satsuma autonomy and allocate half of Kyushu's land to the Shimazu clan.

On the 13th day of the twelfth lunar month, the six major legions arrived at Sekigahara one after another and immediately set up camp there.

The Kaiyuan army prepared for battle and confronted the shogunate coalition forces that arrived from various domains in Kanto at Sekigahara.

The decisive battle is about to begin.

The Kaiyuan troops participating in this battle included the entire First Guards Army, part of the Second and Third Guards Armies, and all the troops of the Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Armies, plus auxiliary troops and surrendered soldiers from Korea, Mongolia, Jianzhou, and Kyushu. The total number of troops from all units was 98,000, of which more than 40,000 were directly involved in combat.

Note:
1. Stockholm syndrome, the Stockholm effect, also known as Stockholm syndrome or hostage complex, refers to a complex in which victims develop feelings for the perpetrator, even helping the perpetrator in return. This feeling causes the victim to develop a fondness for the perpetrator, become dependent on him, and even assist the perpetrator.

(End of this chapter)