Li Chenggui wants to delay the situation until the situation changes, which is obviously fanciful.
Even if he has sent someone to notify Arutai.
It's just that the Ming army blocked it and couldn't find it, so how could the person who notified it be easily found?
At this moment, the 200,000 Ming army led by Zhu Shu had also arrived on Kyushu Island.
The precarious situation on Kyushu Island was immediately relieved, even though Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had already dispatched half a million troops at this time.
However, as a defender of the city, Zhu Shu said he had no pressure.
Although earthquakes occurred frequently in Japan, the city wall built by the Ming army was ten meters deep. No matter what earthquake happened, it would not matter.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has rich combat experience, but facing a city wall that is ten meters deep and eight meters high, he really has nothing to do.
Tens of thousands of people were killed, and in the end all they could do was stare blankly.
"Your Excellency, General, if this continues, until the Ming Dynasty frees up its hands in Goryeo, I'm afraid our plan will fail."
"There is news from Goryeo that Li Chenggui has begun to flee and does not dare to fight the Ming army head-on. The Mongolians in the grassland have also run into the forest to avoid being hunted by the Ming army."
"Once Li Chenggui is captured, all those Ming troops will definitely come to Japan. That's when the time comes."
Takeuchi's face was full of worry.
The current situation is not complicated, but it is not moving forward at all as they imagined. Instead, it is getting worse.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu waved his hand a little tiredly. He didn't know what Takeuchi said, but what method could he use to deal with the Ming army now?
Although the entire army has not yet been mobilized, an army of half a million is already Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's current limit. If there are any more, it will be a drain on the cauldron.
Thinking of the Japanese defeat, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu gritted his teeth and said: "We can't lose. Now, whether it's Goryeo or the Mongols, they run away when they see the Ming army and don't dare to fight head-on."
"But we can't do this. We have no retreat. If we can't defeat the Ming army, then the Japanese country will be completely destroyed."
"The only hope now is to fight to the death."
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu really didn't want to go to this step, because it would cause countless Japanese casualties, but he had no other choice.
Moreover, among the three countries of Japan, Korea, and the grassland, one must face the Ming army directly to have any chance of victory.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu once pinned his hopes on Goryeo and the grasslands, and Koryo also pinned his hopes on the grasslands and the Japanese country.
Isn't it the case in Arutai?
In terms of overall national strength, the only country that could confront the Ming army head-on was the Japanese state.
"this"
Takeuchi and Kuroda looked at each other.
They didn't expect to take this step in the end, and it was the worst step.
No daimyo wanted to throw all his people into such a death battlefield and forcefully attack the city, which would mean unimaginable losses.
"Inform all daimyo and the council."
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu sighed.
Soon, all the prominent Japanese daimyos gathered to attend this grand council.
There were hundreds of people.
They represent almost the entire Japanese aristocratic class and are also the core and top group of people.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu didn't hide anything and directly told the current situation.
To put it simply, there were only two ways to go before Japan.
Either fight to the death, or surrender now and become a vassal of the Ming Dynasty.
In fact, most of the daimyo did not want to fight to the death, but the Ming Dynasty's policies gave them no choice.
The situation on Kyushu Island made them understand that once they became affiliated with the Ming Dynasty, all of them, the noble class, would lose all their privileges and become like ordinary Japanese people.
"Fight to the death!"
The first daimyo stood up from his kneeling position and shouted with a firm voice.
"Fight to the death! Fight to the death!"
More and more daimyo stood up.
They want to protect their own interests and protect their privileges. If the Ming Dynasty rules the Japanese country, even if they will not become prisoners, they will lose their status as nobles and become ordinary people. This is unacceptable to them.
After all, it is the untouchables who charge to the death, not the nobles like them.
As long as you think about it, you will understand what to choose.
"Fight to the death! Fight to the death! Fight to the death! Fight to the death! Fight to the death!!!"
All the daimyo stood up at this moment and roared loudly with emotion.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu looked at the scene in front of him and sighed in his heart that the military spirit could be used.
At this point, the Japanese country will mobilize all its effective forces to attack Kyushu.
In the name of the emperor and the shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu announced the nationwide mobilization war of the Japanese nation. All Japanese males over the age of fourteen must respond to the call of the emperor and the shogunate to participate in the war.
A large number of siege equipment were continuously manufactured for use in the war with the Ming Dynasty.
Now, the Chikuzen, Bunzen, and Bungo areas of Kyushu Island have fallen into the hands of the Japanese.
The former Hizen, Chikuhou, Hihou, and Hinata were the Jincheng, Yancheng, Qicheng, and Qincheng of the Ming dynasty.
After some thought, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu decided to concentrate his efforts on attacking Yancheng first.
Because at this time, King Yan and his heirs had not come over, Yancheng had no owner, and it was also the best place to attack.
He believed that perhaps the other three countries would not mobilize much force in response to Yancheng's request for help.
At this moment, Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng were guarding Yan City.
"Now that the prince and his son have not returned, the Japanese want to attack Yancheng, so it seems they can only defend it."
"I just don't know if King Qi will stand by and watch." Zhu Neng said with some worry.
Now there is only one prince in Kyushu Island, King Qi, who controls all the Ming army soldiers and horses on Kyushu Island.
Zhu Neng was worried that he deliberately failed to provide support.
Zhang Yudao: "Don't worry, King Qi will never sit idly by and do nothing. The prince is still with Goryeo."
"If Yancheng is destroyed, it will be the responsibility of King Qi. Then the prince will definitely cause trouble for King Qi."
"I think Prince Qi will definitely not want to face our prince."
"Now we just need to defend Yancheng firmly."
Zhu Neng asked worriedly: "What if we can't hold on?"
Zhang Yu said with a smile: "Then you can't keep it. Your Majesty sent a message before. If you can't keep it, there is no need to stick to it."
"When the princes return, this Japanese country will naturally be within easy reach."
After hearing this, Zhu Nengcai felt much more at ease.
Judging from the current situation, it probably cannot be defended.
The matter of Japan mobilizing its national troops is not a big secret. You can find out with a little inquiry.
Although the Ming Dynasty was strong, how could one city fight against the entire Japanese kingdom?
The fact was just as they guessed.
In just ten days, the Japanese army directly launched an attack on Yancheng.
The densely packed Japanese army pushed forward the siege equipment and stormed Yancheng.
The artillery on the Yancheng city wall roared, and each shot could cause a large number of casualties. However, facing the ant-like Japanese army, the casualties were not too many.
Matchlock guns were set up on the city wall and kept shooting at the Japanese troops coming over. Even so, the Japanese troops' offensive was still very strong.
This fight lasted three days.
From dawn to dusk every day, the Japanese siege never stopped.
Even at night, Japanese people would constantly steal the city.
Under the city wall, the corpses of Japanese soldiers were already covered.
Even after paying a heavy price, the Japanese army has not yet been able to capture the city.
On the fourth day, Qi King Zhu Shu led a large army to come to the rescue and fought fiercely with the Japanese army.
After losing tens of thousands of soldiers, Zhu Shu had to temporarily withdraw from the battlefield.
There were too many Japanese soldiers. While fighting Zhu Shu, they did not interrupt the siege of Yancheng.
Although the casualties of the Ming army had reached as many as 40,000 to 50,000, the Japanese army had lost at least 150,000 Japanese soldiers.
This is already very good.
Most of the 200,000 troops brought by Zhu Su were guardsmen, not the professional army of the Ming Dynasty.
Most of the time they are doing farm work.
After all, the elites of the Ming Dynasty are now mainly concentrated in the grasslands, as well as in Siam and Majapahit.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu completely ignored the losses of Japanese soldiers and directly attacked Yancheng from all sides, while leaving enough troops to prevent Qi King Zhu Shu from supporting Yancheng.
Half a month later, Yancheng had run out of ammunition and food.
Zhu Neng and Zhang Yu had no choice but to break out of the siege at the South City Gate.
With Zhu Shu's support, the number of people who finally broke out was less than 7,000.
Although Ashikaga Yoshimitsu captured Yancheng, he did not feel comfortable.
Because the Japanese soldiers' losses have reached more than 200,000.
Even though Ashikaga Yoshimitsu still has nearly 700,000 troops in his hands, they still need to capture Jincheng, Qincheng, and Qicheng.
If one city loses 200,000 troops, then if we attack three more, wouldn't it mean that we will only have a few hundred thousand troops left in the end?
If the fighting continues like this, all the Japanese troops will be wiped out, and only a few old, weak, women and children will be left in the entire Japanese country. So why fight?
When the Ming Dynasty sends another 200,000 to 300,000 Ming troops, what will Japan do to stop them?
Is it possible to recruit all women into the army?
Of course, that's not how the accounts are calculated.
The biggest key to Japan's current losses is the support of Qi King Zhu Su in the field battle.
The losses on Qi King Zhu Su's side were not small. The Ming army with 200,000 reinforcements now only had a little over 100,000 left.
Including the defenders of the remaining three cities, the total number of Ming troops currently on Kyushu Island is only about 220,000.
At that time, Lan Yu's 38,000 men, including the common people and prisoners, were less than 40,000, and they could stand up to Chen Youliang's 600,000 troops for 117 days.
Why did Zhu Neng and Zhang Yu disappear in more than half a month?
In fact, the key is the difference in personnel.
The reason why Lan Yu was able to defend Hongdu was not only due to his own reasons, but also due to Chen Youliang.
Although Chen Youliang had an army of 600,000, many of them were temporarily assembled by him, and many of them were naval troops with no experience in siege warfare.
In addition, his tactics were poor and he did not take advantage of his numerical advantage to launch a large-scale attack. Instead, he attacked for one day and rested for two days.
This gave Lan Yu a chance to breathe.
Later, when he saw the soldiers in Hongdu City resisting desperately, Chen Youliang actually wanted to retreat. He lacked confidence, and he was reorganizing the army. This was a taboo for military strategists.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu is different.
As the person who ended the Northern and Southern Dynasties of Japan, he had rich experience in leading troops in combat, and his military talent was particularly outstanding.
From the very beginning, he knew that the only way was to attack by force.
Therefore, they directly attacked Yancheng from all sides. Even when Qi King Zhu Shu led his troops, he did not stop, and instead forced a battle with Zhu Shu, completely ignoring the loss of troops.
The Japanese warriors who dared to retreat were also killed without mercy.
I have to say that there is something about the Bushido spirit of the Japanese. Many warriors risked their lives for glory and rushed to kill. This was also the key to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's ability to capture Yancheng in half a month.
When Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng left Yancheng, except for the people, everything else was destroyed.
All the food was burned and all the firecrackers and artillery were destroyed, leaving nothing to the Japanese.
At present, Zhu Shu, plus Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng's remaining troops, still has about 110,000 troops.
There are only 40,000 defenders in each of the three cities.
In fact, each vassal king still had some private soldiers, but they were all sent to Luzon to dig gold mines.
Zhu Shu has arranged for personnel to move all his private soldiers back to deal with the Japanese offensive, but it will be difficult to return in a short time.
The problem now is that we don't know which city Ashikaga Yoshimitsu will attack next.
In order to prevent the crown prince from being caught, Zhu Shu could only transport all the royal family members from the three cities and arrange them to the rear.
Losing the city is a trivial matter, and we can get it back when the time comes, but if any of the princes of the Ming Dynasty is captured alive, it will become very troublesome.
The same problem also faced Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.
There are three cities, which one to attack first.
In fact, no matter which city he attacked, Qi King Zhu Shu would carry out rescue operations. It all depended on how many troops the Japanese soldiers lost.
Maximize the loss of Japanese soldiers and fight to the end. Even if Kyushu Island is lost, it will be a victory for Ming Dynasty.
By then all the men in the Japanese country would be dead, how could they deal with the Ming Dynasty?
"Attack the three cities together."
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who had not slept all night, issued the strategy of dividing his troops to attack the city at dawn.
The 700,000-strong army was divided into four parts, and 150,000 troops were arranged to attack each city.
And he himself led the remaining 250,000 troops to respond.
Such a tactic sounds very ridiculous.
Because a force of 150,000 troops was simply not enough to capture a city with 40,000 Ming troops.
However, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's plan was not based on the city.
His target is Qi King Zhu Shu.
The three cities were all feint attacks.
He wanted to ambush Qi Wang Zhushu.
Of course, this is only a third of the hope.
A daimyo asked why he didn't attack a city and then ambush Qi Wang Zhushu.
In fact this is impossible to do.
Because only by surrounding three cities can the Ming Dynasty's exploration be sufficiently isolated, and only then can the conditions for an ambush be achieved.
If you only besiege one city, the other two cities will definitely send people to investigate the situation, so an ambush will naturally be impossible.
After all, it is not the actions of tens of thousands, but hundreds of thousands of people, and the traces cannot be covered up.
This is a big gamble.
If Ashikaga Yoshimitsu bets right, then he can fully recover Kyushu Island in the shortest time and with the least amount of troops.
At that time, whether it is to support Goryeo or to stick to Kyushu, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu can either advance or retreat.
Even if the Ming Dynasty attacked by force, it would still require more troops.