The destruction of the main force of the Choshu Domain and the brutal burning, killing and looting of the Choshu Domain territory once made the Japanese reinforcements on Honshu Island fall into fear.
Except for the direct troops of the shogunate, if other vassals want to respond to the call of the shogunate to "respect the king and fight against the Ming Dynasty", they must first think carefully to ensure that they will not be targeted by the Ming Dynasty for targeted revenge.
This is like when there is a group fight, first focus on one or two dogs that bark the most ferociously and beat them to death, so that the rest of the dogs will not dare to come up and be used as cannon fodder.
After all, Fusang is a country with many vassals. Compared with a centralized country where the imperial court is at the mercy of its own hands, a country with many vassals is always more likely to beggar its neighbor at this time.
Of course, the news that the reinforcements on Honshu Island were not patrolling quickly reached the ears of the four powerful feudal lords already on Kyushu Island.
The four powerful vassals gathered together, but they did not dare to delay any longer. They quickly decided to take advantage of the Ming army's division of troops to burn, kill and loot the territory of the Choshu lord at the suggestion of the Satsuma lord Mitsuhisa Shimazu.
Kitakyushu's Hakata Port launched a counterattack.
The logic of this decision is also very simple. Shimazu Mitsuhisa directly said to the other three generals:
"Now Zheng Chenggong has divided more than half of his troops to massacre the Changzhou domain to deter the rest. If we can't push Zheng Chenggong into the sea even when Zheng Chenggong's remaining troops are empty, we will be even less able to push Zheng Chenggong into the sea in the future when he returns after wiping out the entire Changzhou domain army.
Opportunity!
This is a battle of life and death! Only by winning this battle can we ensure the safety of Kyushu and re-energize the confidence of all the feudal lords in Honshu to rescue us!"
The other three generals were convinced, and the offensive was launched.
On April 12, two days after the Choshu Army crossed the sea and was destroyed, the Kyushu vassal coalition forces hurriedly assembled all the artillery and iron cannons and launched a counter-landing attack on the Hakata Port water fortress, which did not seem to be strong, in an attempt to contain the remaining troops.
The Ming army in the port village drove out into the sea.
In their view, when Hakata Port was originally in the hands of Fukuoka Domain Kuroda Mitsuyuki, no fortifications were built at all.
It had been less than ten days since Zheng Chenggong had occupied the area, and Zheng Chenggong had not done much construction work. He just dug a few trenches in the soft soil outside the port, and piled the excavated soft soil behind the trenches to form a parapet.
The Ming army didn't even do the work of cutting down trees to build wooden fences or building formation houses, because the Ming army's landing troops could not leave the port too far at that time, and there were not so many trees to cut down in the surrounding area, which could not provide sufficient wood.
How much defense can this kind of pure earth trench wall without wood or stone reinforcement have?
At least half of Zheng Chenggong's direct line was transferred to Changzhou, and almost all of Li Yu's Korean riflemen were transferred. Now the number of troops in Hakata Port is definitely less than 10,000. The Kyushu Allied Forces gathered more than 80,000 people to attack, which is at least ten times the strength.
Advantage, this battle is worth fighting!
In the early morning of that day, the Japanese army began to prepare firepower. With only twenty or thirty cannons and thousands of iron cannons, they bombarded the port. The Ming army hid in the trenches and did not fight back at first, which made the originally worried
Hope grew in the hearts of the Japanese generals.
Didn't the Ming army's artillery fire back? Were all the warships equipped with cannons transferred away? The Ming army didn't pay attention to the fact that the Kyushu Allied Forces dared to counterattack?
The Ming army deserved to be defeated! Previously, relying on the sharpness of the naval guns, they actually did not build a fixed fort on the shore for nearly ten days after seizing the port. They always tried to rely on the naval guns to provide fire support for the defense of the port!
The Japanese troops blasted open a few holes in the trenches, and then swarmed with spears in hand and launched a "board charge"——
Subject to Fuso's national power and financial resources, katana swords were too expensive after all. When tens of thousands of troops were mobilized at every turn, it was impossible for everyone to carry a sword, and iron cannons were always used as auxiliary firepower. Among the 80,000 Japanese troops, the number of people equipped with iron cannons was absolutely
No more than 20,000, and the rest can only use long guns.
…
In the defense fortifications of Hakata Port opposite, Zheng Chenggong saw this scene through the telescope and couldn't help but smile evilly.
Of course, he himself had returned to Hakata Port. Since he intercepted and killed the Choshu clan's crossing force in the Shimonoseki Strait that night, Zheng Chenggong did not need to worry about the mopping up operations on the shore of Honshu Island. Li Yu was enough.
But even if Zheng Chenggong himself came back, and even if Hakata Port had the necessary defensive artillery fire, when facing the initial fire preparations of the Japanese army, Zheng Chenggong still chose to warn the artillerymen to be cautious and not to fire in counterattack without clear orders.
His purpose in doing this was to induce the Japanese army to invest more in order to consume more and kill the Japanese army in a short time.
On the other hand, the reason why he dared to do this was obviously based on technical reasons. If the Ming army suffered obvious casualties when the Japanese bombardment was in vain, then the soldiers would definitely not dare to do this, even if they had orders
You will also lose your composure.
Zheng Chenggong relied on the technology that General Vauban from France had studied for the Ming Dynasty in the past few years to build anti-shell defense fortifications.
As we all know, General Vauban in history was the number one master of siege and defense in the West in the 17th century. His reputation as a siege master was mainly reflected in his ability to design anti-cannon bombardment projects.
The siege trench position he created always ensured that his own soldiers and artillery would suffer almost no damage no matter how much enemy artillery bombarded the city. He had already tried this trick in the final stages of dealing with the Qing Dynasty, and gradually got used to it.
I have spent the past few years in seclusion, and when it comes time to fight Fusang, I don’t know how much better I am than the Fusang people.
Fuso's previous direct-aimed solid shell shelling was simply scratching the Ming army's itch.
In order to better lure the enemy, the Ming army even pretended to abandon the middle section of the outermost trench network, deliberately showing weakness to lure the Japanese army to rush in through this gap.
In fact, there were already traffic trenches and lateral cross-fire trenches waiting on both sides of the gap.
Tens of thousands of Kyushu vassal coalition troops rushed up like this in batches. Seeing that the first batch was shot by the Ming army, more than a thousand people broke through the first trench. The Japanese generals behind became more and more excited, and kept attacking.
Reserve teams pile up.
"Let the artillery fire with full force. Don't bomb the enemy charging directly. Directly bombard deep behind the enemy, giving priority to covering the Japanese artillery positions and iron artillery positions."
Zheng Chenggong observed that the enemy had fully taken the bait and finally showed its fangs. For a time, all the firepower of the Ming army that had been hidden was fully opened.
The Ming army's artillery had already completed the range and direction measurement of the lax and lack of concealment of the Japanese rear iron artillery array and artillery positions. At this moment, hundreds of artillery guns fired in unison, with blooming mortar shells and solid iron bullets flying alternately, tearing out bursts of destruction.
The wind screams shrilly and strangely.
The artillery shells exploded in the crowd, blowing up the Japanese iron artillery team and knocking people off their feet, leaving limbs and broken arms flying everywhere.
The Ming Army rifle team on the front also fired cross-fire, knocking down the Japanese spearmen who rushed into the area that was more than one mile wide and deep, like cutting wheat.
The Japanese spearman who was a peasant soldier suddenly collapsed. The bamboo armor on his body was unable to resist iron slag and lead bullets.
The spears in their hands are generally three bays long (one bay is equal to one meter six). This was originally used to keep distance on the Fuso battlefield. Each inch longer is stronger, but now it has become a complete burden. When facing flanking firepower,
It was very difficult for the soldiers to turn around and face the enemy.
If you turn around with such a long spear, you will accidentally hit your comrades on the left and right sides. Under the brutal slaughter, the Japanese army's formation became even more chaotic.
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The bloody massacre lasted for less than half an hour - Zheng Chenggong originally estimated that with such a killing speed, the Japanese army would collapse within a quarter of an hour at most once they opened fire, but he did not expect that the Japanese army would last much longer than he expected.
It is probably because you have reached a dilemma and the sunk cost invested is too great. If you stop at this time, all the bets you placed before will be lost in vain. If you hesitate, you will lose more miserably and lose more chips to follow up.
In this case, Zheng Chenggong was no longer polite, and just had time to wait for the meat grinder to slowly accelerate. When all obstacles that could hinder the rotation of the meat grinder blades were crushed, and the Japanese army finally collapsed uncontrollably, Zheng Chenggong decisively ordered the Ming army.
Chase in formation.
The Ming troops came out of the trenches and formed formations, alternately catching up and firing, and then stopped reloading, and friendly troops from the back row came forward again. If the Japanese troops kept running away and had no chance to fire, then the Ming troops would keep their guns loaded
There is a set of ammunition inside, and then they run with bayonets in pursuit. If they can catch up, they release rows of guns, and then they go up and engage in hand-to-hand combat.
Eighty thousand Kyushu coalition troops, at least more than 10,000 people, died in vain in the trap position outside the Ming army's Hakata Port camp. More casualties occurred during the pursuit.
In the end, the total casualties definitely exceeded 30,000. Taking into account the large number of deserters, the allied forces of the Kyushu vassals were completely crippled.
After this battle, the Ming army took advantage of the situation to pursue, and just two days later, they launched an attack on Kuroda Mitsuyuki's Fukuoka Castle.
Due to the heavy loss of troops in the offensive battle, Kuroda Mitsuyuki could not persuade his allies to help him defend the city. The Japanese army briefly defended and saw that the Ming army's siege artillery was extremely sharp and the walls of Fukuoka Castle were completely unable to block it.
The Japanese army had no choice but to abandon thousands of corpses and then fled south.
Kuroda Mitsuyuki lost his core territory as a city and became a lonely ghost. He could not vent his inner depression. Looking at the Kumamoto and Satsuma clans, they still had their territory intact, but some people died. He
I couldn't get angry at all.
…
After Zheng Chenggong counterattacked Fukuoka Castle on Kyushu Island, he did not launch any more large-scale offensives for the time being because he did not have enough troops to spread the occupation.
Zheng Chenggong has been fighting for many years and knows the military very well. He knows very well that he must concentrate his efforts and cannot be greedy for too much and occupying everywhere to give the enemy every opportunity to defeat him. Only by further completely crippled or even annihilating the main force of the enemy's effective force can it be the time to enclose the territory.
As a result, the Kyushu battlefield in mid-April temporarily returned to calm.
On April 17, Li Yu completed the burning, killing and shock on the border of Changzhou domain. The defenders returned to Jiuzhou. The Ming army joined forces and the strength was strong again.
Although the Japanese vassals did not dare to openly reinforce Kyushu, the direct troops of the shogunate did not give up, so many territories directly under the shogunate in Kanto sent small groups of hundreds or thousands of troops.
They learned the lesson from the Choshu clan's previous attempt to take a shortcut and were intercepted by the Ming army through the Maguan Strait. Now they have all taken other waterways.
Anyway, the Seto Inland Sea between Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu is generally neither wide nor deep. Even if it takes more than ten or even dozens of miles to cross to the other side, it is not unacceptable to the Japanese army.
After the Japanese army was able to sail everywhere, Zheng Chenggong's interception and killing efficiency at sea gradually decreased. On average, for every enemy soldier intercepted and killed at sea, two or three enemy soldiers could successfully cross the sea and land on the island.
Both sides were gathering strength, and the war situation stabilized for a time.
…
But everyone knows that peace is temporary after all.
As time entered the end of April and the beginning of May, Zheng Chenggong became tired of this kind of consumptive small-scale killing, so he came up with a new trick.
After occupying the entire territory of Fukuoka Domain, he advanced his army to the junction area of Fukuoka Domain and Kumamoto Domain, and the two armies held a stalemate at the dangerous location of the remaining mountains of Aso Mountain.
At this point, Kuroda Mitsuyuki's territory had actually been lost. The troops and tribesmen he had fled had become guest troops. Even food, grass, arrows and gunpowder had to be provided by the Kumamoto and Satsuma clans.
Zheng Chenggong expected that Mitsuyuki Kuroda, the guy who had been harmed by Chiyu, would be filled with anger, so Zheng Chenggong sent a reliable emissary to contact the other party.
This secret envoy was not familiar to the top officials of the Ming Dynasty. He was a personal confidant that Zheng Chenggong had cultivated in recent years. His name was Chen Yonghua - yes, it was Chen Jinnan who organized the Heaven and Earth Society in history.
Chen Yonghua is more than ten years younger than Zheng Chenggong. He is now just twenty-five years old. He only followed Zheng Chenggong in the last two years of the war to destroy the Qing Dynasty. He did not have the opportunity to make much contribution in the war to destroy the Qing Dynasty. He is still just a naval guerrilla.
, he is already considered to be a good soldier and has risen through the ranks very quickly.
In the previous defensive battle of Bodo, Chen Yonghua followed Zheng Chenggong and performed well. His troops also achieved the result of killing thousands of Japanese troops. It is estimated that after returning to the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of War will still give him praise.
This time, Zheng Chenggong wanted to do something big again and needed a few people who were not afraid of death and dared to negotiate with the Fuso people. Chen Yonghua volunteered to take over the job. He was usually more thoughtful and knew that the Zheng family was running a business in Fuso, so he secretly studied Japanese hard.
, just in time to use it now.
Chen Yonghua disguised himself, made some plans, and finally met Mitsuyuki Kuroda in Kumamoto Castle.
Chen Yonghua first took out some jewelry that Zheng Chenggong used to express his sincerity, and then said straightforwardly:
"Kuroda-kun, I have heard for a long time that your great-grandfather Kuroda Takataka was Toyotomi Hideyoshi's number one adviser and had countless plans. Your grandfather Kuroda Nagamasa was also very famous during the Sekigahara War, and he had hundreds of thousands of stone fiefdoms in Fukuoka.
Your family has been a kiroshitan daimyo for generations. Until the Shimabara Amakusa Rebellion more than 20 years ago, the shogunate forcibly frightened the Kyushu vassals and forced kiroshidan to abandon the religion. The Edo shogunate suppressed you Kyushu daimyo so much, why should you be a virtue?
Kawaga Tsuna is working hard."
Of course, Mitsuyuki Kuroda would not be convinced by Chen Yonghua's few words. He just sneered.
"No one has died since ancient times, and his loyal heart will be remembered in history! Our Fusang warrior family is based on loyalty. When faced with foreign enemies coveting China, we should be united with the outside world! You still hope that we can't break up!" Fusang warriors have always liked to quarrel with each other in the Tang and Song Dynasties.
People of integrity, if you compare yourself with their famous sayings, only one out of ten can actually do it, and Mitsuyuki Kuroda is just a shameless bluff.
Chen Yonghua: "How dare I create a estrangement! However, our Ming Dynasty is not a military country, nor is it for land. This must be made clear. In order to punish Satsuma and other vassals, our Ming Dynasty first annexed our Ming vassal country!
Even though the Ming Dynasty once attacked Choshu and Oshu, I, the Ming Dynasty, have said that as long as Fuso recognizes the Ming Dynasty’s right to rule Kyushu and Ezo, then the Ming Dynasty will not take any of it!
The Ming Dynasty will withdraw from this land again on the day peace is reached!
What I, the Ming Dynasty, want to punish are only the Satsuma clan, as well as the Kumamoto clan and the Choshu clan, which have always been in cahoots with them. You, the Fukuoka clan, were only implicated by the Satsuma clan!
Now that the entire territory of Fukuoka Domain has been completely occupied by General Zheng, the disparity in strength between the two armies on the battlefield is obvious to all. You will never have a chance to take it back! In this case, why don't Kuroda-kun look away and treat the land of Fukuoka as not yours?
Yes, don’t worry anymore.
And if your army can switch sides and serve as our Ming Dynasty's internal correspondent, helping our Ming Dynasty to encircle and annihilate the main force of Kumamoto and Satsuma, then the peace of all Kyushu will be just around the corner. After peace is restored, our Ming Dynasty will naturally need someone to take over and guarantee the process of withdrawing from the Choshu Domain and other places.
,
We, the Ming Dynasty, can put pressure on the Edo shogunate and ask our Ming Dynasty troops to withdraw from the Choshu Domain, and the remnants of your Fukuoka Domain will be responsible for maintaining local order.
In this way, although you lose the fiefdom on Kyushu Island, you can get the land of the Choshu Domain that was completely slaughtered as compensation. The noble domain can completely move to Choshu with its samurai and tribesmen who were lucky enough to survive the war and start over!
It's better than never to recover from it, and just cut off the incense!"
The reason why Zheng Chenggong needs internal support is because Kyushu is large and has complex terrain. It covers an area of nearly 40,000 square kilometers, which is almost the same as Da Yuan Island, but has a population of three million. The key is the volcanic areas such as Mount Aso in the center of the island.
The terrain is too complex, and Ming Dynasty will definitely fall into a quagmire if it fights guerrillas with the mountainous natives.
Therefore, creating a Fuzi that can be used as a transitional ruler for a long time in the future, even if it cannot be used as a puppet, will be very helpful to the long-term rule of the Ming Dynasty.
Kuroda Mitsuyuki had never imagined this path at all. He felt that his fiefdom had been completely lost, and he was unlucky enough to be used as cannon fodder for friendly forces. He was depressed and crazy.
Unexpectedly, the Ming Dynasty actually proposed to him that "after peace negotiations are achieved, the land can be exchanged through mediation" and induced the Edo shogunate to move him to the vacated land of Choshu.
This immediately gave Mitsuyuki Kuroda hope for a comeback.
As for those slogans about dying... Come on, the Fuso samurai often talk about it, but compared with the bait of restoring the feudal country, these Fuso talents have no moral integrity.
Kuroda Mitsuyuki confirmed with some disbelief: "Why do you guarantee that you will help me move to Changshu after the feudal period?"
Chen Yonghua would not just show weakness, he showed off his muscles just right: "Just because General Li Yu has burned almost all the territory of the Choshu Domain, the land has been emptied, and we are just waiting for the people from the Fukuoka Domain to come over after the war."
Farming.
We can also guarantee that before the war, I, the Prince of Ming Dynasty, privately ordered that the Kumamoto barbarians should be cleaned up after the war. The obedient people of Fukuoka could be moved to Choshu, while the Satsuma natives would kill all their samurai and literate people, leaving only those without integrity.
The peasants who were aware of themselves were gradually transformed into our people of the Ming Dynasty."
Kuroda Mitsuyuki didn't know whether to believe it or not, but he felt that the Ming plan had been done in such detail, so it shouldn't be just a slap on the forehead.
As for why the regent of the Ming Dynasty wanted to massacre the Kumamoto clan with his care, Kuroda Mitsuyuki obviously couldn't understand it - in fact, it was just a bit of bad taste from Zhu Shuren. After all, Zhu Shuren was now founding the country in Nanjing, and more than two hundred years later, the people from Kumamoto
The Kumamoto Division carried out the massacre in Jinling City.
In this current time and space, although those Kumamoto barbarians had not had time to commit crimes, it was not a big deal if the Zhushu people were disinfected and eliminated in advance. Anyway, if you want to establish rule and establish prestige, you must kill some in a punitive manner. Under the same conditions, give priority to cleaning more
It's not a big deal to disinfect some of the uncivilized Kumamoto savages.
At most, one side can be opened, killing all the men and leaving the women, and transporting them back to the Central Plains to be used by the bachelors of the Ming Dynasty to ease conflicts.
After much hesitation, Kuroda Mitsuyuki finally decided to accept Zheng Chenggong's conditions and become the spy's internal correspondent.