national surname chiming

Chapter 473

Kuroda Mitsuzhi was successfully drawn to Zheng Chenggong's side by Chen Jinnan.

However, the Ming army did not start any substantive actions immediately, because to maximize the effect of betraying the traitor, it still needs to wait patiently and make a game.

Zheng Chenggong didn't want to be rash and expose Kuroda Mitsuyuki, but in the end he only made a small fortune.

His traitors either don't use them, or use them to completely annihilate the Kyushu allied forces.

Therefore, during the remaining ten days in April, the Ming army still maintained the previous fighting posture and strategy, as if nothing happened.

But in the rear, Zheng Chenggong asked Zhu Shuren to order the North Korean leader Li Hao to further increase the supply of grain and grass, and to transport grain from Busan to Hakata Port through the Tsushima Strait at any cost.

At the same time, Zheng Chenggong kept a low profile on the surface. The grain transport ships only entered the port at night, and the security around the port area was very strict, in order to prevent the Japanese army from knowing the reality of the Ming army's logistics and causing the Japanese army to underestimate the Ming army. military food reserves.In order to follow up by surprise.

As for Kuroda Hikyuki, during this period of time, he also showed more righteousness to his allies, and this change was very gradual, further disintegrating the vigilance of Kumamoto and Satsuma.

In Fusang, the typhoon season will come at the end of May in the lunar calendar, and the density of windy days will gradually increase.Zheng Chenggong knew very well that once it was that season, he would transport reinforcements, rations, weapons and ammunition from North Korea, and it would be much more difficult to supply than late April and early May.

The Fusang people also have high psychological expectations for "Kamikaze", and the previous dynasty once relied on this thing to destroy the Mongolian army, so once the typhoon season enters, they know that Zheng Chenggong can only rely on the already transported The inventory of the island's material operations,
The Japanese army will become more courageous than it is now. They may no longer be satisfied with hiding in the Aso volcanic mountainous area, but dare to come out of the mountain to fight the Ming army again, or put all their eggs in one basket to destroy the Ming army's logistics base.

At that time, it will be the best time for the traitor to attack in one fell swoop.

……

Zheng Chenggong's plan is very good, but whether it can be carried out is not up to him alone. After all, stalemate requires more food and grass costs, and it will also bring uncertainty.

So he must have the full support of Zhu Shuren,
It's like Wang Jian wants to keep fighting with Xiang Yan and paralyze Xiang Yan. You must first have Ying Zheng to allow you to lead an army of 60 to eat for nothing for a year.

Fortunately, Zhu Shuren's support for this little brother is still very firm, and it is impossible for Zheng Chenggong to rely on Daming to transport grain across the sea, because the freight is too expensive and the cost is too high, and the grain is originally provided by the North Koreans.

Daming only pays the grain at a fair price according to the price they transported, but does not bear the shipping cost of the North Koreans——

To make a digression, in fact, more than 60 years ago, during the Japanese Invasion in Imjin, Daming went to North Korea to fight against the Japanese army, and he also gave food money at the local par price. That time, Daming was too kind. , the North Koreans should be allowed to provide food, not even a tael of silver.

But this time, Daming took the initiative to attack and fought on the territory of the Fusang people, so it is reasonable to give North Korea the basic food price but not the freight or loss.Otherwise, even the poor places in North Korea will not be able to hold on, and it will be troublesome if thieves flock to it.

While Zhu Shuren ordered North Korea to expedite and continue the supply, he also sent Zheng Chenggong a bad news that was not directly related to the battle ahead through a messenger, and asked Zheng Chenggong to think about it himself and not to waste too much fighting.

"General, my lord wants you to save some money. Until May, he can get North Korea's full support. When the subsequent typhoon comes, it's all up to you.

In the Nanjing court, there were some complaints about the overinvestment in the battle of Fusang, and they felt that there was no benefit in these places.Ordinary gentry and bureaucrats cannot see the importance of sea power, so there is no rush.

In addition, there is the biggest bad news. The second minister of the cabinet, Han Gong, fell ill and was bedridden last winter. It dragged on for more than two months, and passed away at the end of last month.Now the cabinet needs to be reorganized, and the Ministry of Household Affairs is not as easy to talk about as before.The support for sea power in North Korea and China has also declined slightly.

More importantly, the lord intends to act like Ding You for a while, even if he doesn't have to keep his filial piety for 27 months, at least he will have a little bit of limelight, and then wait for His Majesty to win his love.

So at this time, he hopes that you will not cause trouble to the court and make more demands, otherwise he will not be able to explain to the world. "

After hearing what the messenger said, Zheng Chenggong was also slightly surprised.It's all because of the distance between Fusang and Zhongyuan. He only knows what happened a month and a half ago.

Shen Tingyang was born in the 22nd year of Wanli, and now he is sixty-five, which is considered a long life in this era.In history, he died in the first year of Yongli during the attack of the Qing army in Luyuan Port. Now, because of his son's success, he has lived 12 years longer than the same period in history, and he is still in charge of the court. He has enjoyed all the blessings he deserves .

Although Shen Tingyang was a little regretful that he could not see his blood-related grandson become emperor, but this is also normal. Who made him ten years older than his in-law Emperor Longwu? The in-laws died first.

It is said that after Shen Tingyang's death, Emperor Longwu Zhu Changxiao also stopped court for his in-laws for a few days, and gave high-standard grand arrangements, which were much more favorable than normal princes.

And Zhu Changhao's inner thoughts are actually not difficult to guess: he has already confirmed that his son-in-law will not usurp the throne, and he is not in a hurry to let the young Zhu Ciyu take the throne.

But Zhu Changhao's only worry was that Zhu Shuren wanted to fulfill some wishes for his biological father and watch his own grandson ascend the throne.If Shen Tingyang is in good health and can be tough enough to die later than his in-laws, or if he can hold on, Zhu Changhao will have to compensate for his delusion of victimization.

But now it seems that the teenage age gap is an insurmountable obstacle after all. Shen Tingyang died of illness in the end. Zhu Shuren didn't care whether his biological father saw that day or not.
Therefore, the last ten-thousandth risk of Zhu Changhao's life safety does not exist. Zhu Changhao is convinced that the court ladies and eunuchs around him will not damage his health, so that he can enjoy the last moment of his natural life.

Zhu Changhao has obtained such a large insurance, compared to it, it is nothing to spend a few more money on the funeral of his in-laws.

……

As for Zhu Shuren's decision to worry a little bit about the death of his biological father, Zheng Chenggong can also understand it.

After all, Zhu Shuren had already been given the surname Zhu by the first emperor, which was different from his biological father's surname. He still owed a little in terms of filial piety in this life.Now that Shen Tingyang is at the end of his life, it is really time to demonstrate Zhu Shuren's behavior to the world, and not to easily and directly seize love.

There is another secondary reason behind Zhu Shuren's decision-making: he really wanted to take advantage of this incident to emphasize that Chongzhen only "given his country's surname" back then, but it did not mean that Zhu Shuren needed to change his patriarchal clan. Then he emphasized to the people of the world that his surname Zhu was not caused by the current emperor's son-in-law.

In this way, assuming that after a few years, when Emperor Longwu Zhu Changhao also collapsed, Zhu Shuren would not have to guard Zhu Changhao for too long, and there would be no worry about Ding, and the pressure to seize love would be less.

Because if you are the emperor’s son-in-law, and the emperor dies, the new emperor can “change the day to the moon” and exercise power normally after 27 days, but you will leave power for a long time as a son-in-law. It is not qualified to "change the day with the moon".

Therefore, since it is destined to choose a period of time to temporarily let go of power, it is of course safer to choose to let go of power when one's own father passes away, and it will not be necessary when father-in-law dies.

In Zhu Shuren's view, the most dangerous point of his future power transfer is just the early stage when his father-in-law dies and his son takes over as the emperor's grandson.

Because if other princes surnamed Zhu questioned the blood of the new monarch, they would all explode at that point in time. After Zhu Ciyu sat firmly, no one would be able to jump out.During that transitional period, Zhu Shuren would never let go of power for a day, and he would be careful to sail for thousands of years.

……

The support from the Ming Dynasty's rear will be weakened for the time being, and now Zheng Chenggong can only rely on Zheng Chenggong himself to lure the enemy to expand the results of the battle with limited strength.

Several of his most confidant generals persuaded Zheng Chenggong to keep the changes in the court secret at the beginning, so as not to shake the morale of the army or make the enemy domineering.

Zheng Chenggong also felt that it was right to be low-key at first,
However, Chen Jinnan resisted all opinions and suggested that he use the etiquette of his nephew to wear mourning to his uncle, and arrange it in the military camp at his own expense.It is best to forcefully confiscate Fuso folk white cloth, white gauze, white silk, and other textiles to be used in Fukuoka and prefectures, and give them to some troops.

Zheng Chenggong thought it was unthinkable at first, but after thinking about it, this trick seems to be very suitable - what he is afraid of now is that the feudal clans of Kyushu are fighting in the Aso Volcanic Mountains, hoping that the opponent will underestimate the enemy.

Deliberately revealing a little flaw, when expropriating white textiles from the people, and then pretending to force some Fusang people to stand on the side of the Kyushu Allied Forces, causing thieves to flock, isn't it just to make the Kyushu Allied Forces more emboldened?
Thus, from mid-to-late May, nearly [-] Ming troops on Kyushu Island and the same number of North Korean soldiers under Li Yu's command began to collect folk textiles and looted all the weaving workshops of the Fusang people.

Many people in Fusang rebelled against this, and the Ming army happened to clean up the thorns.Anyway, Ming’s original ruling plan was to keep only illiterate Fusang farmers in the future, and try to clean up the Fusang warrior class with family and country consciousness.

And those who can run textile workshops are obviously not poor peasants in Fusang. These industries have long been controlled by low-level warriors with brains.Whoever resists just kills a lot more.

As the thieves swarmed, the news quickly spread throughout Kumamoto and Satsuma.Mitsuhisa Shimadzu and others were furious. After some investigation, they found out that Zheng Chenggong's army was offering sacrifices to his "uncle" from afar.

"Isn't Zheng Chenggong's father the eldest in the family? Why does Zheng Chenggong have an uncle?" Mitsuhisa Shimadzu couldn't understand at first.

It was later learned that it was Shen Tingyang's business.Shimadzu Mitsuhisa was a little contemptuous when he heard the words: "This kind of flattery and flatterer! The Regent of the Ming Dynasty didn't really marry him, and he still has the nerve to recognize the other party's biological father as his uncle? Brazen and shameless!"

At the same time, it is inevitable that I have contempt for Zheng Chenggong's character in my heart.

Under the influence of multiple factors, and the time has come to the end of May and the beginning of June, the typhoon season around Fusang has indeed arrived.A few days later, Kuroda Mitsuyuki brought them some good news.

It's finally time for the mole Kuroda Mitsuyuki to play a role.

"Brother Shimadzu! Great joy! I found out that the Ming army was afraid of the kamikaze season. After two ships were blown over the day before yesterday, they never dared to transport food and ammunition to Hakata Port.

The detailed work that our clan stayed around Hakata has fully inquired into the details of the enemy's military supplies! "

After Kuroda Mitsuyuki brought this good news, Shimadzu Mitsuhisa was of course very excited. After all, there has been too little good news in the past two months.

After learning that the Ming army's support would be cut off for a few months, they finally had the urge to rush out of the mountains and stop fighting with the Ming army.After all, the Japanese army nested in Aso Mountain, and it was very difficult to supply them every day. It was just an inside battle, and they could eat wherever they went, so they could barely hold on.

However, relying on the supply of the people in the mountains for a long time, the Japanese army has forced the bears to attack the barbarians in Mount Aso in the past two months. people.

After Mitsuhisa Shimadzu made a comprehensive calculation, he finally thought of a question: "Don't Zheng Chenggong know that Kamikaze Season is coming, and their supplies will be cut off? Isn't he afraid? Could it be a fraud?"

Faced with this question, Kuroda Mitsuyuki quickly reported the answer: "If you ask others about this, you will never understand it, but fortunately, brother Shimadzu, you asked me.

Although my younger brother lost the territory of Fukuoka, after all, the centipede is dead but not stiff. There are countless feudal vassals and businessmen lurking in the area who are interested in me, and have helped me inquire about the detailed movements of Zheng Chenggong's army!

From this, my younger brother learned that Zheng Chenggong had anticipated this moment a month ago. In order to fight for a long time, he snatched in advance from North Korea enough military rations for at least three to five months, and a large amount of ammunition reserves, which were stored in the Hakata port not far from the In Saga Castle.

Saga is located on a plain, and there are many rivers passing through it. Although it is not the closest port city to North Korea, it is convenient for gathering and distributing various places in the hinterland of Kyushu in the future.Zheng Chenggong counted on the food and ammunition in Saga Castle to survive the entire kamikaze season. His stocks were so abundant that he couldn't finish them in a few months. "

After Shimadzu Mitsuhisa listened, he finally understood what Zheng Chenggong relied on.

It turns out that Zheng Chenggong knew that Kamikaze could not be transported by sea!So before the kamikaze season comes, enough stock has been saved!
Therefore, it is impossible to expect Kamikaze Ji to kill Zheng Chenggong!The only chance of winning is to burn or rob Zheng Chenggong's inventory after the kamikaze season comes!
I heard that one and a half months ago, the Ming army used this trick in Aozhou, using methods similar to the Battle of Guandu and the robbery of Wuchao to gain a firm foothold!Zhang Mingzhen just gave the Aoyu Allied Forces the rear of the grain city!Then the Ming army in the direction of Ezo Ou would have enough food for a year!
What the Japanese army needs today is a replica of a different offense and defense!

"Unfortunately, although Zheng Chenggong's backup is cut off and he can only rely on inventory, he still has more than 3 soldiers. Even if he loses recently, he will definitely not exceed the scale of several thousand. His available soldiers are still maintained at more than [-]. It is inevitable... Saga's grain and ammunition may not be easy to get."

Mitsuhisa Shimadzu hesitated.

Fortunately, the truth is seen in adversity, and the wind knows the strength of the grass.Just when Mitsuhisa Shimadzu was hesitating, Mitsuyuki Kuroda jumped out:

"Brother Shimadzu! I heard that your Shimadzu family is good at fishing wild ambushes and luring the enemy away from the mountain. This time, my brother is willing to design for you to lure Zheng Chenggong away, and launch a diversion offensive in other directions on Aso Mountain first!
If you really have the guts to go into the tiger's den and get the tiger's cub, you can surprise Saga from Kumamoto along the west coast mountain road after your younger brother distracts Zheng Chenggong's main force! "

Shimadzu Mitsuhisa heard the words, thought for a long time, and couldn't help being moved by Kuroda Mitsuyuki's loyalty, and accepted the condition.

On June [-]th, the time for their planning finally came.

Kuroda Mitsuyuki launched a wave of counterattacks against Chikuzen on the main road just north of the Aso Mountains.Zheng Chenggong's main force was finally mobilized. It seemed that because he hadn't fought a tough battle in two months, he rushed forward like a fly seeing blood, as if he wanted to swallow the Fukuoka troops who dared to come out of the mountain completely.

Shimadzu Mitsuhisa observed the movement of Zheng Chenggong's army, and sent agents ahead of time to confirm Saga's defense situation and confirmed that the agents they sent could destroy the city defenses. Then he assembled the Kumamoto Satsuma feudal clans. All the combatable troops that arrived, launched a surprise attack on Saga in a desperate attempt.

However, when Mitsuhisa Shimadzu reached the river valley plain under Saga Castle, he suddenly discovered that the Ming army appeared from all directions, and even their way back to Aso Mountain was blocked by the Ming army .

Zheng Chenggong himself suddenly appeared at the top of Saga Castle, causing countless scolds to use loudspeakers to disturb the enemy's morale:
"Mitsuhisa Shimadzu! You have fallen into this general's trap! This general never went to Chikuzen. Can Kuroda Hikaru's mere trick to lure the enemy fool me? My Ming main force has been waiting for you here in the Saga Valley for a long time! Open fire ! Shoot the arrows!"

Following Zheng Chenggong's order, the cannons on the city wall rang out, muskets blared, and arrows rained down like rain.

On the surrounding roads out of the valley, there was also shouting and killing, and guns fired indiscriminately.

The encirclement circle of the Ming army was very large, that is to say, they put their pockets on the delta depression in Saga, where many rivers flow into the sea. Sea swimming, otherwise there is no way out.

On the opposite side, Shimadzu Mitsuhisa, this time he has paid a lot of money. Except for the troops of Fukuoka Domain who were taken by Kuroda Mitsuyuki to "tune the tiger away from the mountain" on Kyushu Island, other people who can fight and field battles have been pulled over.There are also tens of thousands of Aso mountain bears attacking the barbarians, and the shogunate has successively smuggled reinforcements to the island in batches during this period.

The strength of the regular Japanese army is about 7 to [-], and there are more farmers, soldiers and bears.

On the contrary, the number of the Ming army is actually only a quarter of the Japanese army or slightly less.But the Ming army was a regular army, and more than half of them were equipped with muskets. Compared with the Japanese army, which was mostly farmers and soldiers, there was no suspense.

The Ming army firmly tied their pockets, did not spare any ammunition, and fired row after row to train troops. Tens of thousands of Japanese troops fell like headless chickens and were routed.

The Ming army oppressed with layers of formations on three sides, advancing steadily and steadily. Because of the vast battlefield, this compression battle lasted for two days and one night.Soldiers whose morale collapsed directly threw themselves into the sea in batches, thinking that their water skills were not bad, and they had a chance to swim out of the encirclement.

But in fact, there are very few people who can swim more than tens of miles in the sea, and most of the Japanese soldiers in fear overestimated themselves.After the war, there were at least tens of thousands of drowned and floating corpses found in the Saga Estuary Delta.

According to Zheng Chenggong's estimation, the number of people who were driven into the sea and drowned by the allied forces of the Kyushu vassals may be more than those killed by muskets.

Mitsuhisa Shimadzu, the lord of Satsuma, and all the generals he brought were all killed in this battle.The lord of Kumamoto was also massacred.

The most stubborn feudal clans on Kyushu Island were uprooted and destroyed.

(End of this chapter)