The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 319 Total War: Checkmate 2
Two blood-stained Oyu war horses limped back to the front of the shogunate army, let out a mournful cry in front of tens of thousands of troops, and fell to the ground and died.

The noisy shouts of people and neighing of horses on the Yaoi Plain suddenly disappeared, and the air was filled with a faint smell of sulfur.

Under the various banners of Majima in the Kanto domains, the daimyo looked at each other in bewilderment, and the famous generals under the Tokugawa shogunate all showed expressions of astonishment.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Ushiujiuhan's one hundred elite cavalry and five hundred foot soldiers were completely wiped out.

Even Lord Ushiku did not escape.

What kind of opponent is on the other side?
"Idiot, if there was a shadow warrior to die in his place, this wouldn't have happened!"

Tokugawa Hidetada's nephew complained loudly.

It was quiet all around.

This cold joke did not resonate with the Kanto lord.

Everyone looked heavy.

Yamaguchi Shigemasa participated in the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute and the Summer Campaign of Osaka. Although his fortunes had fallen on hard times in recent years and his family fortunes had declined, he was still a renowned general of the Warring States Period. To see him disappear so quietly now!

"Niu Jiufan is dead, who dares to fight?!"

The daimyo had a vague idea of retreating. The barbarians from the Ming Dynasty seemed difficult to deal with. Perhaps the elite troops of the Ming Dynasty had arrived.

"Who dares to accept the challenge?"

The Shogun's nephew shouted again.

Glancing around, he saw that the daimyos who had been so arrogant just now were all keeping their heads down and remaining silent.

Several wise lords have already begun arranging for the elders to prepare for retreat.

"The barbarians have cavalry. The elite cavalry from the Korean campaign are as fierce as the wind. You won't be able to escape!"

The Shogun treated the daimyo of each domain well. This was the time to serve the country, but the lords behaved like cowards.

Just as the Osaka deputy was feeling disappointed and frustrated, a steady voice came to his ears:
"The Okabe clan is willing to fight for the general! Teach these barbarians a lesson!"

"it is good!"

Lord Matsudaira looked up at the feudal lord Abe Nobumori with a look of relief in his eyes.

The first lord of the Okabe Domain in Musashi Province was only 1600 years old this year. He was a retainer of the Tokugawa clan. His mother was the daughter of Mizuno Tadashige, and he was born in Hamamatsu, Totomi Province. In , he participated in the Battle of Sekigahara as part of Honda Masanobu's army and later in the Battle of Osaka. Due to his outstanding military achievements, he was known as the Eagle of Kanto.

The Okabe clan's foot soldiers and cavalry immediately began to form up, with the armored foot soldiers with long spears in front, holding bamboo spears pointed diagonally forward, and the foot soldiers with muskets began to load ammunition into their matchlock guns.

"The Okabe clan is strong in cavalry, but lacks cannons. We need more arquebuses to deal with the barbarians! The Toriyama clan will provide 500 cannon-armed foot soldiers to assist!"

The lord of Toriyama Domain, Naomasa Nagai, loudly ordered his foot soldiers to send reinforcements with iron cannons, and the Tsuchiura Domain head of the family, Masanao Tsuchiya, also ordered the Tsuchiura Domain musketeers to join the battle.

After the two big bosses expressed their support, the other feudal lords also came to reinforce, either sending elite cavalry or sending iron cannon foot soldiers. The daimyo who lacked cavalry and iron cannon sent long spear foot soldiers armed with bamboo spears.

Although each feudal lord belonged to the same faction, they usually acted independently, their training varied greatly, and even their equipment, such as rifles and muskets, were different.

It was originally thought that to deal with the barbarians of the Ming Dynasty, each vassal would take turns to fight, and the battle would be resolved after a few rounds. However, it was unexpected that the barbarians were so powerful that it would be impossible to win by a round-robin battle.

However, suddenly mixing these uneven teams together will inevitably lead to various problems.

Just like the Battle of Sekigahara, there was still a lack of coordination between the various feudal domains. Their tactics were crude, and the arquebusiers were in a mess and did not cooperate with each other.

The foot soldiers of each domain waved their whips and beat the foot soldiers who were running around, and there was a noisy shouting and cursing all around.

At this moment, bursts of exclamations were heard from the front.

"The barbarian musketeers are coming!!"

Muto Kihei, the chief foot soldier general of the Okabe clan, cried out in alarm, and the foot soldiers, who were armed with bamboo spears and arranged in a sparse formation, made room for the foot soldiers with arquebuses behind them to fire.

Abe Nobumori glared at Kibei:
"No commotion, Ashigaru, form your ranks! As commanders, stand still like a mountain!"

The elegant Abe Nobumori waved his palm-leaf fan forward.

The white-faced boy, sitting cross-legged and holding a samurai sword, covered his mouth with his hand and smiled, then quickly stood up and placed the waist hanging (stool) under Lord Abe.

Abe glanced at Xiaoxing (Note 1), smiled faintly, and shouted sharply:

"Onboard!"

Amid the rapid sound of drums, the Kaiyuan Army's musketeers had reached a position of 300 steps. The injured foot soldiers lying on the ground were killed one by one by them. The team did not appear to be in disarray at all. They marched in an orderly manner towards the shogunate army to the sound of drums. The musketeers wore double-layer iron armor, and as they advanced, countless red tassels on their helmets leaped up and down like flames.

The foot soldiers of each team waved their military halberds and ordered the iron cannon foot soldiers to prepare to load.

The three thousand arquebusiers were arranged in six horizontal rows, with two steps' distance between them in front, behind, left and right, to prevent their own gunpowder bags from being ignited by their companions' matchlocks when firing the gun.

The musket foot soldiers took off their whips one after another, and the foot soldiers generals shouted loudly while holding their whips, and orders rang out one after another in the ranks.

"Clean the medicine pool!
Pour the primer into the gunpowder pool!
Close the lid!

Pour in the gunpowder!

Add bullets! Add spacers!
Tamping the gunpowder!

······
Some ashigaru who were slow or made mistakes were immediately whipped by the ashigaru general.

"Secure the matchlock!"

The only thing left is to pull the trigger.

When the matchlock falls, the cover of the gunpowder reservoir pops open, igniting the propellant. The projectile can then be launched, causing fatal damage to the barbarians. "Boom! Boom!"

After two loud bangs of cannon fire, thunderous shouts of "onboard" were heard from the front of the battle.

The Toriyama clan's Menkokubeng (Flange gun) finally opened fire.

Two iron balls weighing about three pounds each flew over the Kaiyuan army formation and softly landed on the open space behind the battle formation.

"Onboard!"

The fire support from friendly forces gave great courage to the foot soldiers of the Okabe clan.

Lord Abe was calm and composed, nodded slightly, took the coconut ladle filled with sake from the young man, took a sip, and when he returned the sake to the young man, he couldn't help but touch the beautiful boy's white and delicate little hand.

The beautiful child smiled, full of charm.

"Guochuang is indeed a divine weapon. Kibei, have Lord Toriyama fire another cannon to boost our army's morale!"

The Ashigaru general Muto Kihei opened his eyes wide with excitement and ran quickly to the back with bowed legs.

Not long after, Kibei came back dejected.

"Sir Abe, Lord Toriyama said the shells are precious, so wait until the barbarians get closer before firing!"

Although Lord Abe was somewhat dissatisfied, he could also express his understanding. You have to know that during the Battle of Sekigahara, the Tokugawa Army would not use it easily even when the country was in ruins. After all, this is a national treasure.

"Let the foot soldiers take advantage of the morale..."

Before Lord Abe could finish his words, he suddenly heard dense muffled thunder coming from the east.

"Will there be thunder and heavy rain in Osaka during the twelfth lunar month?"

"Probably not?"

Lord Abe called out the young prince's name loudly.

"Kitamaru! Kitamaru!"

The young man named Kitamaru quickly handed over the Dutch-made telescope and gave it to the dashing young lord with affection.

Nobumori Abe did not touch Kitamaru's plump little hand again, but grabbed the telescope and looked towards the east.

As soon as he raised the telescope, an expression of astonishment appeared on his face.

"National Collapse! There are over a hundred National Collapses! How come their National Collapses are so easy to move? Only two people can push them!"

Lord Abe was still puzzled when dozens of iron balls whizzed past the Ma-Indo flag.

Lord Abe and Kibei shrank their necks, feeling lucky that they were not hit.

The master and servant exchanged a glance, and Kibei exclaimed:
"They are fighting against Lord Toriyama's country collapse~!

Under the retaliatory attack of the Kaiyuan artillery, the precious national bombardment of the Toriyama clan, which had just fired two shells, was immediately covered and bombarded by more than ten times the number of field artillery shells.

The crude three-jin French cannon was instantly smashed into scrap metal, and the gunner who was cleaning the barrel like a craftsman was beaten to a pulp by the iron ball.

The remaining shells flew towards the arquebusiers who were loading ammunition, scattering the first three rows of arquebusiers and plowing more than a dozen deep blood grooves in the dense crowd.

A broken leg flew up from the battle formation in front, carrying the tragic atmosphere of the battlefield, and slammed heavily into the Abe clan's Asuka family crest flag, breaking the flagpole with a snap.

Human blood splattered like raindrops.

The raindrops fell on Abe Nobumori's face.

"Ahhh!"

The famous general of the Warring States Period fell to his knees and cried loudly.

Kibei helped the lord up.

"The barbarian artillery fire is too strong, retreat quickly! Retreat!"

"Lord Abe, horse soldiers! Horse soldiers!"

The sound of iron hooves like thunder sounded in front of the barbarians.

"Get out!"

Kibei pulled up the lord of Abe domain and, ignoring the foot soldiers' heart-wrenching screams, fled desperately towards the rear.

Abe Nobumori was being pulled by Kibei and was a little dazed. As soon as he saw the enemy, his own warriors were on the verge of collapse.

Suddenly, Abe Nobumori stumbled and fell to the ground, and the force pulling him suddenly disappeared.

A five-jin iron ball hit Kibei, breaking him into two pieces.

The katana worn by the Ashigaru general immediately shattered into pieces.

Abe Nobumori collapsed to the ground, warm urine mixed with flying flesh and blood, flowing down his gorgeous armor and all over the floor.

Kitamaru, who escaped afterwards, screamed and fainted.

Note:
1. Kosei: A daimyo's attendant boy, a sword-bearing guard, accompanied the daimyo's daily needs, including serving tea and meals, reading, and entertaining guests. Since daimyo spent their entire lives on the battlefield, the presence of a "kosei" was both necessary and common. While not every daimyo could afford to travel the world with a beautiful concubine like Liu Zhaosun, bringing along a "beautiful boy" was a solution. Almost every Japanese general of the Warring States period had more than one beautiful boy by their side. Examples include Maeda Toshiie and Kosei, Oda Nobunaga and Mori Ranmaru, and Baba Mino and Takeda Harunobu.

(End of this chapter)