The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 383 Hammer vs Iron Shield

Wanli and Toyotomi Hideyoshi fought against each other again.

This time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent an additional 100,000 troops to his vassal state, Korea.

Wanli did not send reinforcements, but sent 100,000 hammers to Yi Sun-sin as reinforcement.

In the valley north of Lishan City, the main forces of the 12th Battalion of the vassal state of Korea and the main forces of the Japanese pirates clashed again.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi still had considerable trust in his three close confidants: Konishi Yukinaga, Kato Kiyomasa, and Kuroda Nagamasa.

He also believed that if he wanted to invade Jeolla Province, Lishan would be the best breakthrough point.

Therefore, this time more than half of the 100,000 reinforcements were allocated to the First to Fourth Legions.

The First Army under Konishi Yukinaga and the Second Army under Kato Kiyomasa each had a total of 30,000 troops.

The Third Army under Kuroda Nagamasa and the Fourth Army under Shimazu Yoshihiro also had a total of 20,000 troops.

Li Shunchen still has so many troops under his command.

Their casualties were not great, but the key point was that there were only so many young and strong men that Jeolla Province could mobilize to resist the Japanese pirates, and he had no other choice.

This time the two sides have the same military strength. Can they withstand it?
It was already a bit cold in the vassal state of Korea in November. The cold wind was howling in the valley north of Lishan Mountain, blowing the fallen leaves all over the sky, making it look bleak and desolate.

Early in the morning at about 11:00 AM, troops from both sides began to gather on the north and south sides of the trench.

The densely packed troops continued to gather, and phalanxes gradually appeared on both sides of the trench. In the hazy dawn, there were more and more black squares, so many that it seemed as if there was no end.

At around noon, the sun was rising, and the scene in the valley unfolded like a bloody scroll. The troops of both sides were in place, and the battle was about to break out.

Konishi Yukinaga, Kato Kiyomasa, Kuroda Nagamasa and Shimazu Yoshihiro had gathered in front of the formation early on, and they seemed to be discussing who would lead the army to attack.

To the south, Yi Sun-sin stood alone in front of the large formation of the vassal state of Korea.

He was holding a big hammer in his hand.

What about this big hammer?

The casting level of the Ming Dynasty was really high. The hexagonal iron hammers cast from sand molds were all angular, and there were even circles of dense anti-slip grooves carved on the handles.

Even though this hammer had not undergone any processing, he felt that it would be fine to use it for forging iron.

The problem is, the Emperor didn't send it to them to use for ironworking, but to use it to break the Japanese pirates' iron shield formation!
Can this thing break the Japanese pirates' iron shield formation?
At least give us some artillery!
Li Shunchen stared blankly at the big hammer in his hand, feeling a little disheveled.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom", a low drumbeat sounded. The Japanese pirates on the opposite side were already holding iron shields and began to form a row of shield walls more than a hundred steps in front of the trench in time with the drumbeats.

The shield wall continued to extend to the left and right, until it was about four or five miles wide before it stopped.

Li Shunchen quickly put down the hammer and raised the telescope to scan carefully.

The Japanese pirates were really equipped with iron shields!

There are at least thousands of iron shields half a meter high in this row!
Li Shunchen looked at the vaguely visible green-faced, fang-toothed beast head on the Japanese pirates' iron shield, and couldn't help feeling a little nervous.

There was no way around it. The martial arts examination in the vassal state of Korea mainly focused on the Seven Military Classics, and did not include any content related to weapons and equipment manufacturing.

Lee Sun-sin didn't know much about the materials used to make weapons, so he was nervous.

At this moment, the Ming Dynasty military candidate in the trench was excitedly holding a big hammer and preparing to swing it out.

They had all studied the "Wu Pian" and naturally knew what materials the Japanese pirates' iron shields and their big iron hammers were made of.

Both of these things are made of wrought iron from a single fire.

The big iron hammer is just a solid iron lump, and the Japanese pirates' iron shield is only slightly thicker than an iron pot.

If this hammer is swung, it would be strange if it doesn't smash the Japanese pirates' iron shield into pieces.

The Japanese pirates' shield formation began to advance, and more than 2,000 military scholars also lined up in the first trench with hammers in their hands, ready to stand up and swing the hammers.

This time, the one who led the charge was Kato Kiyomasa, also known as Tiger Kato.

Since Kuroda Nagamasa and Shimazu Yoshihiro refused to go forward, he volunteered to lead the charge.

He was also a little excited at this moment.

The vassal state of Korea obviously has no artillery, and arrows and kerosene cans are basically useless against iron shields, so the enemy cannot break their shield formation. This time they will definitely be able to rush into the trench and kill to their heart's content.

Sure enough, when they first advanced, there was no movement from the opposite side, and the enemy seemed to have no way to deal with them.

However, when the shield formation advanced to about thirty steps in front of the trench, two or three thousand strong men suddenly stood up in the trench.

These guys actually swung a black lump and smashed it towards their shield formation.

Kerosene? Kato Kiyomasa looked at the flying black lump through the gap in his iron shield and couldn't help revealing a hint of disdain.

He knew that the kerosene made in the Ming Dynasty could also catch fire if poured onto an iron plate.

The question is, what if it catches fire at such a close distance?
They just had to rush to the trench against the shield formation and throw the burning iron shields into the trench, and the kerosene would burn the enemies in the trench.

They had already discussed this, and he was not afraid of the enemies in the trenches throwing kerosene canisters.

Who would have thought that the black lump didn't break when it hit the iron shield, but it was their iron shield that was broken!
Their iron shields were actually smashed into half by these black lumps!
At this time, the row of strong men in the trench did not squat down. Instead, they all picked up their longbows, bent their bows and drew arrows, and shot a row of arrows over!

The Ming army’s sharpshooter!

Seeing this, Kato Kiyomasa shouted, "Quick, raise your shields, raise your shields!"

Although the remaining half of the iron shield cannot protect the whole body, it can still protect the head and neck.

The Japanese pirates in the front row quickly raised their half iron shields and held them in front of them.

This round of arrows didn’t hit many Japanese pirates!

Seeing this, the more than 2,000 martial arts candidates looked at each other, and soon someone bent down and picked up another big hammer.

There is also half an iron shield, right?

Then keep smashing!
Soon, another row of big hammers were swung over.

Kato Kiyomasa was hesitating whether to charge or retreat when his vision suddenly went dark. With a loud bang, his helmet was knocked crooked and half of the iron shield in the front row was smashed into pieces.

What is this?
When he picked it up and took a look, his face turned green. These guys actually used hammers to break their iron shields!
At this time, a bunch of big hammers flew over from the opposite side.

It seemed that the Ming army archers were planning to smash all his iron shields and then use them as targets.

Kato Kiyomasa quickly raised his hammer and yelled, "Retreat, retreat!"

After saying that, he turned around and ran back with the hammer in his hand.

They didn't suffer much loss in this wave of attack.

Because the first round of arrows from the Ming army archers were almost blocked by half of the iron shield.

And after the people behind them threw two hammers at them, they turned around and ran away.

Many people were still very frightened. They picked up the broken pieces of iron shields that fell on the ground to protect their heads and necks and ran, making it difficult for the Ming army archers to find many targets in a hurry.

Therefore, the total number of people shot dead in this round was less than two thousand, but many people were hit on the head by the two rounds of hammers in the back, and a big bump was made on their heads.

If we only look at the number of casualties, they have the lowest number in this round.

However, Konishi Yukinaga, Kato Kiyomasa, Kuroda Nagamasa and Shimazu Yoshihiro all looked unhappy.

They looked at the big black hammer and couldn't help but frown.

Such a simple thing actually broke the iron shield they had worked so hard to obtain!

What to fight next?
It was obvious that the enemy had prepared a lot of big hammers, otherwise those guys wouldn't have been able to throw round after round as if they were free.

But they didn't get many iron shields.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi only equipped each legion with a thousand faces.

The iron shields equipped by Kato Kiyomasa's Second Legion were smashed to pieces!

What should I do now?

The four of them stared at the dark hammer, frowning and thinking silently.

After an unknown amount of time, Konishi Yukinaga finally sighed and said, "It's better to wrap the iron shield with a wet quilt before going up. Although it will be heavy, this hammer won't be able to break the iron shield."

This is not a solution.

A big hammer will have little power when hitting a wet quilt, and the iron shield under the quilt will definitely not break.

However, this iron shield is heavy, and it is very difficult for one person to carry it and advance.

If you wrap it with a wet quilt, one person will definitely not be able to carry it.

They have experience in this. If one person can't carry it, they can tie a few more rope loops on the quilt and have several people carry it together.

Now it seems that this is the only stupid way to do it.

Upon hearing this, Kato Kiyomasa, Kuroda Nagamasa and Shimazu Yoshihiro all nodded slowly.

(End of this chapter)