The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 371 The Japanese Pirates Racked Their Brains
Some bizarre and incredible things often happened in the Ming Dynasty court.

For example, during the Jiajing reign, the Yuyao Xie family, a famous official family in the southeast, was wiped out, and it was discovered that they were related to pirates and Japanese pirates.

Emperor Jiajing sent Governor Zhu Wan to encircle and suppress pirates and Japanese pirates. As a result, Governor Zhu Wan was forced to commit suicide by drinking poison.

Immediately afterwards, Governor Zhang Jing and Inspector Li Tianchong defeated the pirates and Japanese pirates and won a great victory in Wangjiangjing. As a result, the two were taken to the capital and executed!
In addition, Yan Song's disciple Hu Zongxian wiped out pirates and Japanese pirates but died unjustly in prison, and Yan Song's own son Yan Shifan actually had secret dealings with Japanese pirates and there was solid evidence!

At this moment, the Zhejiang Party officials in the court actually submitted a memorial to the Qing Dynasty to encircle and suppress the pirates.

Those who don’t know would think they are working for the country and the people.

Those who know will definitely be confused.

Aren’t pirates raised by them?
They raise pirates to do business and make money, and then submit a petition to encircle and suppress the pirates. What does that mean?
Wanli knew it clearly.

These guys are only after profit.

Because the pirate Kapitan not only refused to pay them for the goods, but also extorted their goods, they wanted to use the power of the court to eliminate the pirate Kapitan and replace him with another group of pirates to continue doing business and making money.

Moreover, the Zhejiang Party's eagerness to submit the memorial had another purpose, which was to help the Japanese pirates transfer the navy ships so that the Ming Dynasty could not transport reinforcements to its vassal state, Korea.

Wanli naturally knew this.

He had long been prepared to put on a show for the Zhejiang Party and the Japanese pirates.

At this moment, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was feeling unsure.

There were actually many elite Ming troops mixed in with the remnants and rebel forces of the vassal state of Korea!
How can this be good?

Those elite Ming troops were all great archers, and they were hiding in the trenches, so the cannons couldn't reach them at all!

He really didn't know what to do.

However, he knew very well that he must not lose this battle.

He didn't know what to do, so he issued a death order, ordering the daimyo and generals on the front line to wipe out the remnants of the vassal state of Korea and the rebel army at all costs.

This caused great trouble for the daimyo and generals on the front line, and they were all in a state of panic.

They couldn't disobey orders, so they could only rack their brains to find a solution.

Among these people, the most resourceful one was Konishi Yukinaga, the commander-in-chief of the First Legion, because he had suffered losses in front of the Ming army's trenches and he had been racking his brains for several months.

Soon, he came up with the simplest solution for Kuroda Nagamasa, which was to dismantle the door panels of civilians' homes in the vassal state of Korea to use as tower shields, steal their bedding, put it on the tower shields, and then pour more water on the bedding.

Such a shield can protect against both arrows and fire oil. The only drawback is that it is a bit heavy, and the more water is poured on it, the heavier it becomes.

Kuroda Nagamasa didn't care about that. It was heavy, and if one person couldn't carry it, then two people would do it. It was just a matter of installing an extra door handle. It was better than being a target.

Early in the morning at about noon, he deployed his troops and began to advance towards the trench. This time he didn't even dare to ride a horse, so he hid behind the shield formation.

When Li Shunchen saw the shield wall composed of strange-shaped shields, he couldn't help but frown.

How to break this shield?
Even if every military candidate of the Ming Dynasty could kill the Japanese pirates with one arrow, it would be useless because the Japanese pirates hid behind their shields and their figures could not be seen.

It seems that the kerosene can is useless. Water is still dripping from the shield. Even if the kerosene can is lit, it will be useless. It will definitely not burn through in a short time. If someone pushes it into the trench, it will burn their own people.

To be honest, he couldn't think of a way to break the shield for a while.

So, is there any solution for the military candidates in the Ming Dynasty?
At this moment, those martial arts candidates have quietly gathered together to start discussing.

The Japanese pirates have already started to advance, and they can't discuss it for a long time.

They just had a brief discussion and decided on a countermeasure.

What to do if the shield formation cannot be broken?
Then just do it!
This group of Japanese pirates has only more than 10,000 people, but they have nearly 30,000 troops. There is nothing to be afraid of.

Soon, they returned to their teams.

Immediately afterwards, except for the first row in the front, all the martial arts candidates in the back began to move. They all brought their ten young and strong men and rushed madly towards the trenches in front!

Originally, in order to gain military merit, they were all concentrated in the more than ten trenches in front. Now that they rushed forward, all 30,000 troops poured into the three trenches in front.

Moreover, all the young and strong men squatted behind the earthen wall and pressed their spears against it. The back of the earthen wall was immediately covered with spears.

What's the use?
Seeing this, Li Shunchen couldn't help but look puzzled.

However, he quickly reacted.

If we can’t break the shield formation, then don’t do it. Get ready for close combat!

He was just stunned for a moment, then he gave the order in a loud voice: "Pass the order, the Zi Camp, Chou Camp, and Yin Camp immediately enter the trench and go to support." On this side, nearly 40,000 troops from the three camps immediately rushed into the trench like a stream of ants and rushed forward quickly.

On the other side, Konishi Yukinaga, Kato Kiyomasa, and Shimazu Yoshihiro were still craning their necks to watch.

They didn't have telescopes, so they couldn't see what was happening more than ten miles to the south. They couldn't even see what was happening in the trench in front of them.

The Third Army led by Kuroda Nagamasa had already formed a battle formation more than a hundred steps in front of the trench, so it wouldn't take long to advance more than a hundred steps.

Not long after, tens of thousands of soldiers from the Third Legion pushed their shield formations to the front of the earth wall.

At this time, Kuroda Nagamasa did not order to stop advancing.

They finally reached the trench, why should they stop?

Kuroda Nagamasa said nothing, and tens of thousands of Japanese pirates pushed the shield formation up along the first row of earth walls. When they reached the highest point and then went down, the long spears attached to the earth wall were inserted behind the shield formation.

"Stab!" hundreds of martial arts candidates shouted in unison.

Tens of thousands of young men in the first row of trenches immediately thrust their spears diagonally upwards along the slope. Screams erupted from behind the shield wall, and the strangely shaped shields fell to the ground with a crash.

"Rise up!" Hundreds of martial arts candidates roared in unison again.

Tens of thousands of young and strong men in the first row of trenches immediately stood up and used their spears to push those strange-shaped shields forward.

"Kill!" Hundreds of martial arts candidates raised their weapons and rushed over the gun array into the group of Japanese pirates.

Tens of thousands of young and strong men in the first row of trenches also stepped onto the earthen wall and stabbed the Japanese pirates with their guns.

"Kill", "Kill", thousands of martial arts candidates behind shouted in unison, and were the first to jump out of the trench and rush forward. Immediately afterwards, two dense black lines emerged from the trench and rushed forward.

The martial arts candidates are not only good at riding and shooting, they are also proficient in at least one of the cold weapons such as swords, spears, swords and halberds.

What they practiced was the skills to kill the enemy in the battlefield. More than 2,000 martial arts candidates were enough to replace more than 20,000 ordinary infantrymen.

Kuroda Nagamasa's Third Army only had a total of 12,000 troops.

How could they resist these more than 2,000 martial arts candidates who brought more than 20,000 troops and rushed forward all at once?
Soon, the Third Legion was killed in pieces.

Seeing this, Kuroda Nagamasa hurriedly shouted: "Retreat!"

After saying that, he turned around and ran back.

Thousands of Japanese pirates also hurriedly followed him and ran back.

Upon seeing this, the martial arts candidates raised their hands and ordered their men to stop attacking. Then, they quickly took off the longbows on their backs, drew out their arrows, and shot them at a swift speed.

Kuroda Nagamasa was killed so tragically that less than 5,000 of his men escaped!
Seeing this, Konishi Yukinaga, Kato Kiyomasa and Shimazu Yoshihiro all looked solemn.

What to do now?
When Li Shunchen saw this, his face was full of admiration.

The martial arts candidates of the Ming Dynasty were so amazing, their martial arts and archery skills were no worse than his!
He was also a martial arts graduate, so he could naturally see that these people had learned the skills through hard work and practice, and their skills were very solid.

Now he was completely relieved. With these 5,000 martial arts candidates leading them, the fighting power of the more than 100,000 to 200,000 new recruits under his command could compete with the more than 200,000 Japanese pirates.

What's more, the Japanese pirates did not gather more than 200,000 troops to besiege them this time.

He didn't have to worry about the Japanese pirates coming in at all.

This made Toyotomi Hideyoshi angry.

The nine legions he sent to besiege Jeolla Province brought back only bad news.

The remnants of the Korean army and the rebel army from the vassal state seemed to have been reborn, and they were not at a disadvantage in a head-on battle with them.

What's even more terrifying is that this group of guys is even more powerful than them. They will fight them head-on whenever they get the chance, and it seems that they have much more men and horses than them. After several rounds of fighting, the total number of casualties of the nine legions is more than 30,000!
If it weren't for those damn tabloids, he would definitely take the opportunity to withdraw his troops in this situation.

The problem was that the tabloids spread the news all over Japan, and many daimyo's territories were filled with criticism and uproar.

If he withdraws his troops at this time, the consequences will be unimaginable.

He must win this battle, otherwise it will be a disaster.

There was no other way, so he ordered the nine legions to stop and rest, and then summoned the reserve troops to prepare to rush to reinforce.

This time, he ordered the conscription of another 100,000 troops, and almost all the samurai under the daimyo were conscripted by him.

(End of this chapter)