The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 316: Winter Battle of Osaka

December 13th, the first year of the Tianqi reign.

Nicholas Ares Liu, the new rector of the Far East Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, ordered the withdrawal of the Sixth and Seventh Guards Armies and the Korean Corps from the Eastern Expedition Army, and combined them with part of Deng Changxiong's Corps, totaling 13,000 people, to form the Western Expedition Coalition, commanded by Deng Changxiong, Zhu He, and Cheng Liang, and supervised by Qiao Yiqi, and fought fiercely in Osaka.

Save the Catholics who are being persecuted by the shogunate's pagans.

Hundreds of years later, the empire's most authoritative historians called this rescue operation in the first year of the Apocalypse the "Crusades."

Of course, more people call it:
Winter Campaign of Osaka.

~~~~~
Sekigahara, west of Gifu Castle (Note 1)

The dusty-looking young eunuch set out from the capital of the Ming Dynasty, traveled thousands of miles, and after going through many hardships, he finally arrived at Guanyuan and came to the Kaiyuan central army tent.

He looked at the unfamiliar Japan with amazement, and after some greetings, he nervously read the imperial edict to Taifu Liu.

Liu Zhaosun took the imperial edict and led his subordinates to kneel westward to thank the emperor for his grace.

Ma Shiying took the young eunuch to the city to appreciate the exotic customs.

"My dear eunuch, your journey here was not easy. Please stay in Kanto for two days. I will show you the island's customs. The singing girl here is a real gem. I guarantee you will be captivated by her. Please!"

Ma Shiying was already very familiar with the business of welcoming and seeing off guests, so he gave Wang Chengen's confidant a thousand taels of silver, and the two chatted about the situation in the capital.

Ping Liaohou was given higher titles by the imperial court, even though he had already reached the highest position in the country.

The full title of the official position awarded this time is: Prime Minister to Korea in charge of the expedition against Japan.

Abbreviation: Governor-General of Korea.

The imperial court had tacitly approved him to become the emperor of Korea, giving him legitimate control of this eastern vassal state.

After the eunuch who announced the decree left, Sun Chuanting and others came forward to congratulate him.

Liu Zhaosun was not happy at all.

"If you want to take something, you must first give it. The emperor suddenly conferred an additional title, he must be trying to paralyze me before taking action. I'm afraid something big is going to happen in the capital."

Liu Zhaosun showed murderous intent and ordered Shen Lian:
"Captain Shen, tell the Imperial Guards to take action and immediately execute these corrupt officials to prevent them from resorting to desperate measures. It's time to settle accounts with the nobles and me."

Shen Lian clasped his hands together:

"Please rest assured, Marquis Ping Liao, I will go back personally..."

Ping Liaohou waved his hand to interrupt him, his expression becoming solemn.

"You don't have to go back to the capital. Zhang Dong sent someone back to report that Miyamoto Katsunari, the man who killed your family, is in the shogunate army. I'll give you ten days off. Go to Osaka and do whatever you want."

Veins bulged on Shen Lian's face, and his muscles crackled under his fish-scale armor.

It was as if a wild beast was about to break out of its cage.

"Go ahead and do what you want to do."

Ping Liaohou repeated it, Shen Lian clasped his hands together, bowed, left the central military tent, and strode towards his own tent.

It was freezing cold, and Ping Liaohou leaned against the tiger-head bronze stove, grabbed the book "The Secret of Unknown Fire", and flipped through it while facing the fire.

Outside the tent, the sound of soldiers running for drill could be faintly heard. Above their heads, a light blue whale lamp was swaying gently in the wind.

Liu Zhaosun held the ancient scriptures in his hands, and a series of bloody and terrifying pictures came into his eyes.

The scale of the painting is so large that it could be called a seventeenth-century horror comic.

"From top to bottom, a bunch of perverts! Damn them! Damn them all!"

Ping Liaohou cursed loudly, and two guards immediately came in from the door and looked inside.

Liu Zhaosun waved his hand, signaling them to retreat.

He closed the demon book, rubbed his eyes, daydreamed for a while, then reached out and threw the secret into the fire.

At this time, Han Chao's shouting came from outside the tent.

"Sir, the missionaries are here, two of them."

"Let him in!"

After a body search, Francis walked into the tent, followed by a man wearing a white robe and a conical hat.

Francis did not return to Osaka with Hesentia to join the westward expedition.

He chose to stay in Guanyuan, to stay with Nicholas Ares Liu, and became the archbishop's chief doctrinal interpreter, or more accurately, a lecturer.

Everyone is waiting to witness the decisive battle that will determine the fate of the island nation.

Ping Liaohou arranged for Francis to sit down, and the two began to exchange greetings and talk about the current development of Catholicism in Japan.

Inside the furnace, the Secret of Shiranui was burning brightly. Liu Zhaosun turned his gaze to the man in the bamboo hat standing behind the missionary.

"Father Francis, who is this parishioner? Does he also believe in the Tao?"

"Your Excellency, Archbishop, please don't worry. You will know soon."

In the past few days, after several rounds of games with the two missionaries, Ping Liaohou won completely as expected.

From now on, in the Far East, Catholics must believe in the "Great Way".

The so-called great way is what Nicholas implemented in Kaiyuan.

Priest Francis claimed that the god of war Liu had received an oracle not long ago, and God told the archbishop in a dream that he also believed in the Tao.

The doctrines of faith of all the believers rescued by the Kaiyuan Army are undergoing revolutionary changes.

The change starts with the prayers. The prayers of the congregants will become like this:

"In the name of the Lord, the merciful, brave, generous, just, kind, and handsome Grand Tutor of the Ming Dynasty and Minister of War, Grand Secretary of the Taiji Palace, Marquis of Ping Liao, Commander-in-Chief of Liaodong, Governor-General of Korea and Shogun of the East Asian Diocese, Nicholas Liu, the God of War, thank you for giving me this delicious meal. Amen."

The kind, generous and just Nicholas Ares Liu looked at the stranger wearing a conical hat with curiosity.

Francis looked around and signaled the archbishop to send away anyone who was not involved in the ceremony.

Liu Zhaosun waved his hand, Han Chao stared at the Portuguese, and slowly retreated to the door, leaving only Pei Dahu and Zheng Zhilong by his side in the big tent.

Just as Ping Liaohou was about to speak, a low murmur came from the surroundings:
“We work in darkness to serve the light.”

Pei Dahu drew his sword as if facing a formidable enemy.

The man in white robe slowly took off his hat, revealing his true face under the mask.

The time traveler recalled the medieval adventure game he had participated in Chinese translation at the company before traveling through time, and exclaimed:
"The Assassin Brotherhood?"

The man in white robe smiled:
"Archbishop. To be more precise, I'm a female assassin from the Brotherhood. Your Excellency the Archbishop can call me Daphne."

The woman from the Assassin's Brotherhood took off her white robe as she spoke, revealing her graceful waist underneath, and slowly walked towards the Archbishop.

Priest Francis winked at Pei Dahu and Zheng Zhilong, indicating that they should temporarily step aside.

The two immediately turned around and walked out.

Liu Zhaosun looked at the surging Nordic beauty in front of him and stammered:
"You, what are you going to do?"

The blonde and charming Daphne took off the innermost layer of her skirt?
"I was called by God and ordered by the Brotherhood to come to this desolate land to thank the Archbishop for his sacrifice for the Japanese diocese..."

"Miss Daphne, please respect yourself and put on your clothes properly!"

Liu Zhaosun's body was submerged...

On December 2th, Yao Castle was taken from the Osaka Direct Territory (Note ).

Christians in the city placed Christian crosses on the city walls and used Santiago flags to pray that Tokugawa Hidetada would fall ill and die suddenly.

The fluttering flags were painted with crosses, and occasionally one could see horse prints with angels and the Holy Grail (Note 3).

The 8,000 Catholic rebels who held out in the city joined forces with the Kaiyuan army to fight against the shogunate army, which had several times more troops than themselves.

At dusk on the 17th, the vanguard of the Western Expedition Army arrived at Yao Castle.

Deng Changxiong ordered to set up camp east of Yao Castle.

The next day, the Kaihara army fought fiercely with the punitive forces of Tachibana, Matsuura, and Ōmatsu.

The earth trembled slightly, and the war horses trampled the valley. The sound of their hooves was like a mighty war drum, resounding throughout the suburbs of Yao Castle.

The Ashigaru artillery teams from the various Kanto domains stood on the ridgeline and fired long-range shots at the charging Kaihara cavalry.

The Japanese spearmen formed a tight square formation, ready to whip the slowly approaching Kaiyuan spearmen.

It was really a beating.

The spears used by the Kanto Ashigaru were very long (but not comparable to the spears of the Macedonian phalanx). When the enemy team entered the attack range, they did not stab with the spear head, but whipped it until a breakthrough was formed in the enemy line.

This was one of the tactics that Tokugawa Ieyasu used to defeat the Toyotomi clan.

But this time, the shogunate chose the wrong opponent.

Note:
1. Located in the central part of Honshu Island, Japan, it belongs to the Central Japan region.

2. Direct territory: After the Summer Campaign of Osaka (May 1615), Matsudaira Tadaaki entered Osaka Castle, rebuilt Osaka and restored order. In the fifth year of Genwa, it became the direct territory of the shogunate.

3. Horse seal: Horse seal is a mark item placed near the generals of the Japanese Warring States Period on the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)