The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 395 Traitor
At this moment, the Japanese pirates who invaded the vassal state of Korea were really scared.

They thought the Ming army was going to surround and annihilate them all.

To be honest, they didn't expect that the Ming Dynasty could send so many troops at once.

What they didn't expect was that the Ming army was so well prepared with siege weapons.

In fact, muskets, cannons, bombs and even kerosene cans are not unsolvable.

If they were the attacking party, and the enemy was on the city wall, they would have no way to stop them even with so many muskets, cannons, bombs and kerosene.

However, as the defenders, they still have a way, but it will take a lot of time to transform the defensive facilities on the city walls.

Unfortunately, so many Ming troops rushed over at once, and they had no time to prepare.

They are all regretting it now.

If they had made preparations in advance and used the dozens or even hundreds of cities and fortresses in their vassal state, Korea, to resist layer by layer, they might have been able to withstand the attack of the Ming army.

It's too late to say anything now. They are surrounded in a limited number of cities and cannot get out. They can't obtain supplies to transform the defensive facilities on the city walls.

It seemed like they could only wait to die.

At this moment, almost all the Japanese pirates who invaded the vassal state of Korea were in a state of panic. They thought that the Ming army was ready to launch a general attack.

Who would have known that at this time, Qi Jiguang, the Grand Marshal of the Ming Dynasty, would leave behind millions of troops from the vassal state of Korea and return to Beijing!
It was already scorching hot in the capital in June, but Wanli still did not go to the Mountain Resort.

This war to annihilate a country is no joke, he must stay in the capital to take charge.

There are still many traitors in the Ming Dynasty court, and these guys are capable of doing anything.

If he wasn't in the capital to keep them under control, who knows what kind of trouble these guys would cause.

Qi Jiguang was still very confident in commanding the front line. This Ming Dynasty war god was a little lacking in surprise, but he was very powerful in other aspects.

The reason why he invited Qi Jiguang back to Beijing was because he had come up with another good idea.

It was still around 1 a.m. that day, and it was getting dark. Qi Jiguang took a navy speedboat and quietly entered the imperial city and came to the side hall where maps were specially displayed.

Wanli had been waiting for a long time, and even Li Yuansheng had returned.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli asked, "Yuan Jing, after this battle, what do you think of the Japanese pirates' combat effectiveness?"

How to say this.

Qi Jiguang thought about it carefully, then said cautiously: "Your Majesty, I feel that this battle has not yet revealed the combat effectiveness of the Japanese pirates.

Because this time the battlefield is in the vassal state of Korea, which is separated from Liaodong Town by a river, and we have local people from the 12th Battalion of the vassal state of Korea to lead the way. The Japanese pirates are invaders and are not as familiar with the terrain as the locals. Moreover, they are brutal and violent and unpopular.

The military and civilians of our vassal state, Korea, have been looking forward to our sending troops for a long time, but many of the Japanese pirates were forcibly dragged here by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. We have the advantage of time, place and people.

More importantly, the Japanese pirates were fooled by the Emperor into thinking that we had no reinforcements, so they didn't put any effort into defense. We suddenly attacked them and they hadn't reacted yet.

Judging from all these, the Japanese pirates responded hastily this time and did not display their full combat power.

If we were to attack Japan from across the sea, it would be hard to say; they might be able to unleash astonishing combat power on their own territory."

He knew very well that the reason Wanli asked this was to assess the difficulty of destroying Japan.

He couldn't talk nonsense about this, and he couldn't underestimate the enemy just because of a big victory. He understood that arrogant soldiers would be defeated.

Wanli nodded slightly upon hearing this and said, "It's really hard to say how effective this is. The vassal state of Korea, with over 200,000 troops, is controlled by pro-Japanese traitors. They are just like paper and have no fighting power at all. However, the volunteer army spontaneously organized by the civilians can fight the Japanese pirates back and forth.

It now appears that traitors play a significant role. We haven't considered this method before, but now is the time to consider it."

what?
This method is a bit too despicable!

Didn’t you say that you hate traitors the most?
Now you yourself are cultivating traitors who collaborate with the enemy and betray your country!

Qi Jiguang endured it for a moment, but still said carefully, "Your Majesty, I dare to ask, is this necessary?"

Wanli nodded without hesitation and said, "Of course it is necessary. To deal with the Japanese pirates, we must use every possible means. As long as the means are beneficial to us, we can use them."

Okay, then use it.

Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Who do you think is the most suitable?"

what?
You asked me that! I'm not that familiar with the Japanese pirates.

Qi Jiguang thought about it carefully, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, based on my understanding of the Japanese pirates, I think the commander-in-chief of the Seventh Corps of the Japanese pirates, Mao Li Terumoto, is the most suitable.

This guy seems to be here purely to appease Toyotomi Hideyoshi. When we attacked Geochang, his men fled without offering any resistance. When Yang Yinglong led 100,000 men to Daqiu, this guy also abandoned all the outer cities without hesitation and gathered all the troops back to Daqiu to defend it.

Maori Terumoto?

After hearing this, Wanli thought about it and seemed to have no impression of it. He had only heard of Mori Motonari.

However, this Mori Terumoto is obviously not Mori Motonari.

He had never heard of such a person in Japan.

Can this guy be trained?

He simply asked, "Yuan Sheng, what do you think of this person?"

Li Yuansheng recalled: "When Mori Motonari was in charge, the Mori clan was arguably the strongest force in Japan.

At that time, they had conquered eleven of the sixty-six countries in Japan, and Mori Motonari's three sons, Mori Takamoto, Yoshikawa Motoharu and Kobayakawa Takakage, were all rare generals. If the Mori clan had maintained its expansion momentum at that time, it would be hard to say who would rule Japan.

However, Mori Motonari's eldest son, Mori Takamoto, suddenly died of illness on the way to an expedition, and his eldest grandson, Mori Terumoto, was only a few years old and could not inherit the family business at all. From then on, the Mori family gradually stopped its expansion.

It seemed that Mori Terumoto just wanted to preserve his strength. Toyotomi Hideyoshi persuaded him to surrender on the condition that his Mori clan's territory would not be touched, and he actually surrendered.

If he had not surrendered, Toyotomi Hideyoshi probably would not have unified Japan by now."

This guy wants to conserve his strength, right?

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Okay, let's try this Maori Terumoto."

Uh, it seems like you haven’t gotten to the point after talking for so long.

Qi Jiguang thought for a moment, then said cautiously, "Your Majesty, we have completed the siege. What should we do next?"

I have thought about this a long time ago.

Wanli said without hesitation: "I ordered people to make you a batch of large flags, on which are written in Japanese: The Great Ming is a country of etiquette and rituals, and you will not be killed if you surrender.

Take these flags back and have your men plant them around all the besieged cities so that all the pirates can see them."

Uh, is that all?
Qi Jiguang still asked cautiously: "Your Majesty, what if they still refuse to surrender?"

Wanli said calmly, "Then we'll keep the siege going and starve these pirates to death. If they don't surrender, we'll starve them to death!"

This move will not cause any casualties, the key is that it takes too long.

Moreover, many of the Japanese pirates are inhumane and can do anything.

Qi Jiguang heard this and said with some concern: "Your Majesty, if we continue this siege, who knows how long it will last. Moreover, the cities we are besieging are all large cities in Korea, and there are many Korean civilians inside. Your Majesty, many of the Japanese pirates are inhumane."

This issue does have to be considered.

Some Japanese pirates are really capable of doing anything.

If these guys do it, we can't take them as prisoners and we must kill them all.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then nodded slowly and said, "Well, let's start with Maori Terumoto.

You ordered the secret guard who knew Japanese to go to Daqiu, write a letter to Mori Terumoto, and then have Yang Yinglong arrange for people to shoot the letter into the city with strong bows.

Just write in the letter, as long as you surrender, everything can be negotiated."

Will this guy surrender?
Qi Jiguang thought for a moment and then asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, what if he doesn't surrender?"

Wanli explained in detail: "This can be considered as our test. If this guy surrenders now, he has the potential to become a traitor.

If this guy doesn't surrender, then we have to consider changing people. Don't the Japanese pirates have so many legions? If Mori Terumoto doesn't surrender, then we will try changing people. We will try them all and see if anyone surrenders.

If just one surrenders, not only will we have the traitor, but we can also have him write letters to persuade other pirate generals to surrender."

This is actually a trap. Once the Japanese pirate generals surrender after receiving the letter, there will be no turning back. They can only go down the same path and become traitors for the Ming Dynasty!

So, will this guy Mori Terumoto surrender?

(End of this chapter)