The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 424 Toyotomi Hideyoshi Goes Crazy

Japan, Honshu Island, Osaka Castle.

This is a new city that was built in the 11th year of Tensho, which was the 11th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty.

Its scale and tight defense are rare in the whole of Japan.

Osaka Castle has three layers of city walls and two moats, and the moats are quite wide, allowing several large warships to sail in parallel.

The main city and the second city wall are both built close to the moat. When viewed from the water, the city walls look as high and inaccessible as cliffs.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi also took great pains to ensure his own safety.

It is impossible to capture such a strong city with the existing weapons.

However, at this moment he didn't feel safe at all.

He was very panicked.

This time he was really panicked.

He didn't know how long he had been sitting on the top floor of the towering castle tower.

Noon is approaching and the warm sun is high in the sky.

The weather was quite warm and pleasant, but he could not feel any warmth, he only felt flustered.

This move by the Ming Dynasty was too vicious.

This is to undermine their fighting spirit!
Was he spreading the threat of the Ming Dynasty simply to avoid being ousted?

no!
He realized that the Ming Dynasty was most likely planning to attack the Japanese mainland this time.

The problem is that other people may not be able to see it.

Many of these family letters were written by his trusted generals.

He really didn't expect that the Ming Kingdom would do this to him.

Who would listen to his crazy preparations for war and prepare to resist the invasion of the Ming Dynasty?

What would happen if everyone thought that the Ming Dynasty would not attack the Japanese mainland?

There is a high probability that these guys will unite to deal with him!
This move by the Ming Dynasty was really too vicious.

Only then did he remember that he had been deceived by the Ming Dynasty because of the Japanese tabloids and had continuously sent reinforcements to the vassal state of Korea. As a result, the Ming Dynasty suddenly swallowed up four hundred thousand to five hundred thousand troops!
idiot!

The commander of the Ming Dynasty was too cunning.

Such vicious tricks can be used.

What should he do now?

Some people panic and then act recklessly or simply give up.

Such people are destined to achieve nothing great.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi has proven with facts that he is a man of great achievements.

So, what happens when he panics?

He sat there in deep thought for who knows how long before he picked up his pen and began to write the letter.

Originally, he wanted to invite Tokugawa Ieyasu and Mori Terumoto for a meeting.

However, in the current situation, Tokugawa Ieyasu may not necessarily listen to him.

Mori Terumoto should come, but that guy is too lazy and is surprisingly slow in doing anything. If he wants to wait for someone to come from thousands of miles away, it will probably take a month or so.

He couldn't wait, so he had no choice but to write a letter.

What he meant in the letter was that this was a conspiracy of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty wanted to undermine their fighting spirit before attacking again.

This also proves that the Ming Dynasty wanted to attack the Japanese mainland. Otherwise, the Ming Dynasty would not have gone to the trouble of printing so many tabloids and distributing them everywhere.

He just wanted to stabilize Tokugawa Ieyasu and Mori Terumoto so that these two guys would not have any rebellious ideas.

There are only three forces in Japan that have more than 100,000 troops, and the only one left is Maeda Toshiie who can mobilize tens of thousands of troops.

Most of the other famous men have been recruited and captured by the Ming Dynasty. Now it is difficult for those guys to recruit tens of thousands of able-bodied men.

In other words, as long as he could stabilize Tokugawa Ieyasu and Mori Terumoto, Japan would not be in civil strife.

As for Maeda Toshiie, there shouldn't be any problem.

This guy has a good relationship with him and doesn't have much ambition, so he shouldn't join forces with other daimyo to force him out of power.

After he finished writing the letter, he ordered someone to deliver it to Tokugawa Ieyasu and Mori Terumoto as quickly as possible.

Then he ordered someone to call Xiao Xifei over.

At this moment, Xiao Xifei also saw those Japanese tabloids.

He even thought that it was unlikely that the Ming Dynasty would attack the Japanese mainland.

Because he had been to the Ming Dynasty twice, the Ming emperor did not show any intention of attacking the Japanese mainland.

The first time was because they were attacking the vassal state of Korea, and the person who brought him there was a traitor from the Ming Dynasty. So, the Ming emperor was very angry, and he caught the traitor, tortured him, and then beheaded him.

At that time, the Ming emperor did not threaten to attack the Japanese mainland, they just did not want to negotiate.

The second time, the Ming emperor was only bargaining for compensation, and his intention to cease fire and stop fighting was very obvious. He had no intention of attacking the Japanese mainland at all.

The problem is that His Majesty Taiko always says that Ming China wants to attack the Japanese mainland.

This was most likely because Taiko was afraid of being ousted by a coalition of other daimyo, so he used Ming as an imaginary enemy to rally everyone to confront the enemy. He thought about this for a long time before finally reaching the top floor of the castle tower.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi stared at him for a long time with a gloomy face, then slowly said: "I will order people to start preparing money and food. When the money and food are almost ready, you will go to Ming."

Going to Ming Dynasty at this time?

Xiao Xifei nodded and bowed, saying "Hai" without daring to say anything more.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi then gave detailed instructions: "When you meet the Emperor of Ming, don't talk about anything else except releasing the prisoners. Try to get him to release our prisoners as soon as possible."

This is unlikely.

Xiao Xifei thought about it, then said stubbornly, "Your Highness, the Emperor of Ming sent a message last time: if we don't cede Kyushu Island, he won't release a single Kyushu soldier."

Of course I know this.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi said coldly: "Tell the Emperor of Ming that we can cede Iki Island and see how many Kyushu soldiers he can release."

Iki Island!
That island is not even as big as Tsushima Island. Will it be useful to cede it to the Ming Dynasty?

Also, Iki Island is too close to Kitakyushu. If you cede it to the Ming Dynasty, aren’t you afraid that the Ming Dynasty will use Iki Island as a springboard to attack Kitakyushu?

Xiao Xifei didn't dare to ask, he could only bow quickly and say, "Hi."

Toyotomi Hideyoshi thought for a moment, then asked, "Do you think it's possible for Shimazu Yoshihiro and his men to escape from the Ming capital on their own?"

what?
If the Ming Emperor doesn't release them, let them escape back on their own!
Xiao Xifei was stunned for a moment, then slowly shook his head and said, "Your Highness, this is unlikely, because the capital of the Ming Dynasty is too big, and there are many Ming troops stationed inside and outside the Ten Princes' Palace where they live.

More importantly, they had to go to school every day. Even if they could escape from the Ten Princes' Palace, they only had one night to flee out of the capital of the Ming Dynasty. If they did not go to school early the next morning, they would definitely be exposed.

The Ming capital is so big, and they are not familiar with the terrain. It is estimated that they may not be able to escape from the Ming capital in one night. The Ming capital is full of people. If they fail to escape at night, they will be discovered soon. "

Can't they escape?

Toyotomi Hideyoshi frowned and asked, "What about the captured soldiers and young men? Do you know where they are being held now?"

How would I know that?

Xiao Xifei shook his head cautiously and said, "I haven't heard any news about this."

Alas, if I had known this would happen, I would have taken the risk to rescue the captives while they were still in Liaodong.

Now the court officials of the Ming Dynasty have no idea where those captured soldiers and young men are being held.

What should I do now?

He sighed secretly, frowned and pondered for a while, then waved his hand and said, "Go and prepare. We can set off in about half a month."

Xiao Xifei quickly bowed and took his leave.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi just sat there, frowning and thinking.

He had already guessed that the Ming emperor was deliberately using prisoners to drag them along.

Because the Ming emperor knew very well that it was impossible for them to cede Kyushu Island.

This was the excuse the Ming emperor used to detain the soldiers on Kyushu Island.

Originally, he thought that it would be a loss for the Ming emperor to keep hundreds of thousands of prisoners.

Who knew that officials from the Ming court would soon bring him news that the Ming emperor had ordered his men to take the captives to Liaodong to open up wasteland and cultivate the land!
In this way, the Ming emperor will not only not lose money, but will also earn a lot of grain.

However, the captives at the back were taken away again, and no one knew where they were taken to open up wasteland and farm.

Officials in the Ming court guessed it was Dongfan, but they simply didn't have enough warships to go to Dongfan to investigate.

At this time, the Ming navy had tens of thousands of ships of all sizes. The hundreds of warships they sent over were just delivering food to the enemy, not to mention rescuing the prisoners.

If it really doesn't work, then we can only abandon the prisoners!

One batch this year, one batch next year, no matter how many captives the Ming emperor releases, he will take action.

He ceded Iki Island in order to force the Ming Dynasty to take action.

If you don't come to attack the Japanese mainland, I will send people to Iki Island to fight you!
See if you are angry.

If you don’t come, I will go to Tsushima Island to fight you!

He is doing whatever it takes in a desperate situation.

Because as long as the Ming army attacked the Japanese mainland, his crisis would be resolved.

Moreover, the troops mobilized by various princes now number more than 300,000. If the captured able-bodied men are included, the number will be over one million.

The Ming Dynasty now has more than one million troops, but it is still threatened by the northern barbarians and it is impossible to bring all of them to Japan.

He estimated that the Ming Dynasty could only mobilize a few million troops to attack Japan.

He was not afraid of this small number of people, because Japan was their territory and they were the defending side. With a few million against a few million, they already had the advantage.

If the Ming Dynasty released another 100,000 prisoners in the next two years, their advantage would be even greater.

When the time comes and the main force of the Guangming Army is worn down, they will take advantage of the situation to counterattack the Tang Dynasty!
I have to say, this guy is really a little crazy or persistent.

At this time he was still thinking about counterattacking Tang!

However, perhaps it was precisely because of his madness or persistence that he was able to become the ruler of Japan.

Otherwise, it would be a blessing for him, a ronin from a poor family, not to starve to death.

(End of this chapter)