The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 682: Fear from the Deepest Point

The Shimazu army suffered a disadvantage in the field battle, with all cavalry casualties, more than half of the foot soldiers killed or wounded, and countless pieces of armor and weapons lost, the losses were devastating.

Shimazu Hisayoshi stood up from his stool, and his paper fan and military finger fell to the ground, along with the exaggeratedly shaped Maru-shiki horse-print flag.

The warrior carrying the flag was so frightened by the brutal battlefield before him that he wet his pants. He dropped the flag and fled without a trace.

Not only the flag-bearing warriors, but as the Qi army approached step by step, everyone turned around and fled at the same time.

Amaterasu is no match for a lead bullet. Even the bravest warrior can be killed by a miniature bullet fired by the Qi army.

Some slow-witted foot soldiers still carried sacks on their backs, imagining how much gold, silver and treasures they could put in them after defeating the Ming army, just like they did when they defeated them.

I have to say they overthink it.

Until they were killed by the rapidly approaching musketeers with Minié bullets, and their deaths were extremely tragic.

The foot soldiers who were still dreaming and dazed around them finally reacted, dropped their sacks, and fled to the west for their lives.

The Qi army's musketeers closely followed the fleeing soldiers of the Shimazu army and fired calmly at the Japanese pirates from behind. The generals of each flag ordered the soldiers to fire freely, and there was a crackling sound under the Tsurumaru Castle.

The Qi army did not stop shooting until the last group of Japanese pirates retreated into the city. The musketeers retreated to the back to rest, and the artillerymen carried the cannons from the back to the front and began to adjust the muzzle height, preparing to launch a new round of artillery fire on this group of trapped turtles in front of them.

The surviving foot soldiers and musketeers had just retreated back to Tsurumaru Castle, climbed up the city wall, and looked up to see this horrifying scene before them.

Not far in front of Tsurumaru Castle, hundreds of artillery pieces of various types were constantly adjusting their angles, with their muzzles aimed at Tsurumaru Castle.

Since the Shimazu family's artillery had been destroyed during the landing battle - there was no other way, because the Satsuma clan always liked to gamble - there were actually not many artillery pieces left in Tsurumaru Castle, let alone a firefight with the Qi army's artillery.

That was something the Satsuma gunners dared not even think about.

~~~
Although Lord Shimazu repaired Tsurumaru Castle many times during his lifetime, this type of defense is difficult to describe in a few words. In terms of the height of the city walls, it is probably equivalent to the city defense level of ordinary counties in Da Qi.

This is no wonder, after all, Shimazu Hisayoshi has never been to Daqi...
The city walls were low, the firearms were outdated, and the morale of the army was extremely low.

Just as the Shimazu army was fighting bloody battles in the front, at some point, the clan headquarters suddenly exploded with a loud bang and turned into ruins.

The people of Satsuma in Tsurumaru Castle clearly heard the rumbling sound of the collision and felt the violent ground shaking. Everyone thought it was an earthquake - Kagoshima is a volcanic island formed by earthquakes - and just as the people ran out of their houses for refuge, they were shocked to find that the hall where the lord of the domain lived was being swallowed by an increasingly wide crack in the ground.

This is something more terrifying than an earthquake.

When the Shimazu army retreated back to the city, Shimazu Hisayoshi was surprised to find that the brick and stone houses in Tsurumaru Castle, "the fortress of the Shimazu lord", had completely collapsed.

The blue bricks used to build the clan headquarters were said to have been transported from Linqing in the Ming Dynasty. The Shimazu family spent a huge amount of money to build these houses.

However, now, half of these blue bricks that sailed across the ocean to Kagoshima have suddenly disappeared, along with the feudal lord Shimazu Mitsuhisa and his wife and children.

When Shimazu Hisayoshi witnessed the mess, he found that not only the bricks, but even the wood on the house seemed to have been carried away by something, or fallen into a huge space under the basement.

A huge fear from the underground gripped Jiuqing.

The entire provincial government hall was like a giant termite nest, its bottom hollowed out and something could be vaguely seen wriggling beneath the ruins.

"Lord Jiuqing! The Tatars are attacking!"

The samurai beside Shimazu Hisayoshi pointed at the battlefield in the distance and shouted in horror.

Shimazu Hisayoshi's brother had just died, and now his nephew was missing. If he died in battle again, the Shimazu family would be extinct.

But now he has no energy to grieve for his dead relatives. Jiuqing just received news that another group of Tartars are burning, killing and looting in Hizen Domain. They kill all the people in the villages and cities, and set them on fire before leaving, just like treating termites.

It is said that even the lord of Hizen Domain was used as a sacrifice by the Tartars!
Shimazu Hisayoshi hurriedly glanced around, not bothering to explore whether his nephew had sunk into the ground, and hurriedly led the samurai back to the wall of Tsurumaru Castle.

He said to several Shimazu retainers around him, "Now the Lord of the Shimazu Domain has disappeared, and his life or death is unknown. The Shogun is far away in Edo and does not know the details of Kagoshima. I have no time to appoint anyone. As a matter of urgency, I will take over as the head of the Shimazu family. Do you have any objections?"

All the samurai retainers expressed no objection.

Shimazu Hisayoshi nodded slightly and said to everyone:
"As you have all seen, the purpose of Tatars' invasion of Japan this time is not to capture cities and territories, but to annihilate our ethnic group and destroy Japan. To be honest, not only our domain, but also the Hizen domain and the northern domains have been attacked by Tatars. Now the enemy is strong and we are weak, the enemy is numerous and we are few. The rise and fall of the shogunate depends on this battle, and you should do your best!" The retainers were excited, and everyone raised their arms and shouted, vowing to fight Tatars to the death.

"Our vassal state has a large population, a hundred thousand people. One hundred thousand civilians, one life for each. Even if a hundred thousand people die in battle, we will stop the Tatars from advancing north and prevent them from joining forces."

Shimazu Hisayoshi proposed the strategy of 100,000 deaths, which really inspired everyone present.

"Nan Zhao, take some officials with you and distribute bamboo spears to the people in the city. Every woman, old or young should have one."

The samurai Nan Zhaoyilang echoed, "My lord, you are right. As long as the Satsuma people are united in their hatred of the enemy, the Tartars will suffer heavy casualties in their siege and will quickly retreat."

Shimazu Hisayoshi nodded without comment.

At this time, the retainer who had been silent all this time said loudly:

"Equipping the people with bamboo spears is just sending them to their deaths in vain, isn't it?"

Everyone saw the deployment of the Qi army, and there were not even a few spearmen to be seen, which meant that the other side did not give them any chance to get close. It was unknown what use the bamboo spears would have in the hands of these civilians.

Before Shimazu Hisayoshi could say anything, several young and energetic warriors pointed at the retainer and cursed:
"Coward! Coward! You deserve to be punished by God!"

The retainer immediately stopped talking.

"How many warriors are there in Satsuma?"

Nan Zhaoyilang followed his lord and shouted, "More than half of our men were killed or wounded, and only 5,000 have escaped."

There were five thousand Shimazu soldiers standing on the city wall. Many of them had thrown away their weapons and armor. They were like frightened birds, dejected and had no fighting spirit.

Suddenly, there were cries of terror all around:
"The Tartars are attacking the city! Their shield carts are coming!"

"The soldiers on the Tartar ship have all landed!"

Shimazu Hisayoshi tiptoed and looked out of the battlement with trembling hands.

As far as the eye can see, the Kagoshima Bay is densely packed with black military flags, and beneath the flags, waves of soldiers are charging towards Tsurumaru Castle.

More than three hundred shield carts rolled towards the city wall from different directions. Jiuqing estimated that Tatar Qi had dispatched at least 30,000 troops to attack Tsurumaru Castle.

"A lion fights a rabbit, a lion fights a rabbit."

Just as he was sighing with emotion, five miles away, thousands of warships anchored on the coast suddenly emitted a dazzling red light, like a monster lurking in the abyss opening its eyes wide.

The shell whizzed past his head and hit the house behind him like a meteor. With a loud bang, a house less than a hundred steps behind Shimazu Hisayoshi was directly hit through by the shell.

"The rise and fall of the shogunate depends on this battle! No retreat, fight the Tartars! Get on board!"

The city gate suddenly creaked open from the inside.

"Baga! A bunch of idiots!"

Under Jiuqing's angry gaze, more than a dozen excited warriors, holding torches in their hands and accompanied by a group of musket-carrying soldiers, rushed out of the city and charged forward into the front row of shield carts.

Since muskets were useless against shield carts, they wanted to use fire.

But how can a flesh and blood body stop the advance of the siege troops?

There was a deafening explosion behind the shield cart, and the warriors in the front were riddled with Minié bullets.

Amid the warriors' tragic howls, the shield carts rumbled past, breaking people's legs, and continued to advance towards the city wall.

The Satsuma warriors were originally short, but the wheels, which were more than half a person's height, crushed them even shorter.

(End of this chapter)