Chapter 202: Eastern Expedition to Japan (VI)

Xiaguan is a foggy place. Before the sky was bright, the white and milky fog covered the vast wilderness in the suburbs, and there was no sign of people outside dozens of steps. This foggy weather is generally a taboo for both sides of the war. They would rather station camps than send troops easily, but this time was an exception. In the thick fog, there was a violent explosion sound on a high slope on the left of the Japanese camp. Fifty new artillery of the Ming army bombarded the high ground one after another, blew up the small trees, and the soil splashed and flesh flew everywhere. Nearly a thousand Japanese troops were stationed on the high slope. Facing the sudden attack of the Ming army, they were panicked and no one was commanded. They shot arrows aimlessly "swoosh!" down, but they were soon dumbfounded by the Ming army's artillery.

The flowering bullet was extremely powerful. The black shells fell on the high ground like hail. The entire high ground was dyed red by the soaring sky. The cannons spewed out flashes and flew in the heavy fog. The shells soared into the sky with a sarcastic roar, bursting out balls of flames and smoke.

The Japanese army on the high ground was almost collapsed, and disgusting fear gnawed everyone's hearts. They lay on the ground and did not dare to move. Finally, someone roared like a beast, jumped up and ran forward randomly, but was blown to pieces by shells falling from the sky.

The artillery lasted for nearly half an hour. When the remaining hundreds of Japanese troops had completely collapsed, the three thousand Ming army cavalry who had been waiting for a long time suddenly launched. They were like a storm, washing the ground with an irresistible force. The swords were swung, and the murderous aura soared into the sky, sweeping all the remaining lives on the ground. The cavalry was almost blocked and occupied the high ground in one breath. When the thick fog gradually dissipated, the Japanese camp appeared clearly in front of them. This high ground may have no meaning for bows and arrows, but to the Ming army's cannon, it was like a god of death sitting on the head of the Japanese army, looking at them coldly.

In fact, from the beginning of the Ming army's artillery bombardment, Ashikaga Yoshikata immediately realized the Ming army's attempt. If the Ming army's artillery would determine the outcome of the entire battle. Therefore, before the fog had dissipated, Ashikaga Yoshikata organized 6,000 Japanese troops to counterattack the high ground frantically, trying to regain this commanding height. At the same time, the Ming army's seven thousand reinforcements also began to march towards the high ground.

Without a prelude, the prelude to the war suddenly opened in the battle against the high ground. The fog had faded, and the sunlight dyed the mist golden red. The Ming army on the high ground had already formed a formation. Two thousand musketeers were in front, and forty new cannons with replacement breezes were deployed on both sides. Behind the musketeers were three thousand cavalry, and behind them were five thousand infantry. This was the traditional tactic of the Ming army. The Shenji gun was in front, and the horse team was in back, followed by infantry.

A high platform was temporarily set up in the center of the high ground, with flag-producing officials issued combat orders in flag language. Although the Ming army had arranged its formation, it did not sit to meet the enemy. One hundred traditional artillery had been dragged to the high ground and began to shell the Japanese camp. Crazy artillery shells fell into the camp like raindrops. The roars became louder and louder, waves of explosions rose one after another in the Japanese camp. The screams of being shot, the roar of horror, and the cry of death on the opposite side echoed in the Japanese camp. The explosion caused a fire, and the flames engulfed the camp tent, and the raging fire soared into the sky. The air in the entire area was filled with the smell of soil and blood, which was suffocating.

Ashikaga Yoshiji was also desperate. On the one hand, he ordered the abandonment of the Kitada Camp, and all the soldiers gathered in the south of the camp to avoid the condescending bombardment of cannons. On the other hand, he gave up his plan of temptation and directly invested 15,000 troops to attack the Ming army. He had already seen that in addition to firearms, the other Ming army was the same as his own army. Moreover, the artillery of the Ming army on the high ground was very heavy. As long as he could regain the high ground, dozens of cannons would fall into his hands.

Ashikaga Yoshikka issued a strict order, "The first person to rush to the high ground will be rewarded with a thousand gold medals and will be promoted to three levels."

The 100,000 troops led by Ashikaga Yoshiman was the most elite of the Northern Dynasties. After several wars with the Southern Dynasties, they carried out cruel training even in normal times. To a certain extent, they were all professional soldiers. Compared with the vulnerable force of the Goryeo army, the Japanese army was obviously much sharper in terms of equipment and combat effectiveness. They wore light armor, held spears or swords in their hands, and more importantly, they were not afraid of death. Under the urging of the attack drums, and with the encouragement of heavy rewards, the cavalry was in front and the infantry was behind, and they launched a fierce attack on the Ming army.

In this head-on war, the first thing the Japanese cavalry encountered was the head-on attack of the Ming flintlock rifle. After a small-scale actual combat on Iqi Island, the Ming army's musket team had slightly changed their combat methods, changing the original three rows into two rows, with a distance of about one zhang between them. One row squatted down and filled the bullets; the other row stood up and shot, two thousand musket soldiers rose and fell one after another like waves, and bullets shot towards the charge of the Japanese army like rainstorms. Rows of Japanese cavalry rushing in the front were shot and fell down one after another, and the war horses neighed and fell down suddenly, throwing the cavalry on the horse's back horizontally, but this did not stop the Japanese army's crazy attack. They stepped on the corpses of their companions and continued to rush hard. The bows and arrows in their hands were released, and dense arrows formed a large net in the air to shoot at the positions of the Ming army, but in the end, due to insufficient range, they could not cause substantial damage to the Ming army.

The officer commanding the musketeers was Chen Yu, Qianhu. He seemed to be a robot with a cold look and the red flag in his hand was undulating. They had been secretly training on the island for nearly half a year. Not only did they train the speed of filling and loading bullets, but more importantly, their uniform movements, the red flag fell, and raised their guns to shoot; the red flag was raised, and the red flag was squatting down to load bullets. No matter whether the previous shot was shot or not, they had to obey the order. Those who had not had time to shoot should immediately adjust themselves after squatting. Before the yellow flag appeared, even if the enemy rushed in front of him, they were not allowed to retreat. They could only install bayonets to fight.

The Ming army's flintlock rifle fully utilized its advantages at this time. The bullets weave a death blockade line, which prevented the Japanese army from rushing within 200 steps. The two thousand musketeers persisted for a quarter of an hour. The Japanese army was repelled three times and charged three times. The Japanese army was killed and injured on the high slope, with bodies stacked and blood flowing into a river. The injured were lying on the ground and rolling and shouting, and soon died in pain.

The thousands of Japanese cavalry rushing in the front have been reduced by half, but the drums urging behind the attack are still rumbling. Just as they charge for the fourth time, the formation of the Ming army also undergoes subtle changes. Two rows of musketeers have become a row. The front row of musketeers stops shooting, and guards are in front of the back row of gunmen, preparing to resist the Japanese arrow attack. Although the guns and bullets have become sparse, the Ming army's artillery suddenly broke out, and forty new cannons on both wings are attacking the Japanese artillery.

The black shells fell into the Japanese cavalry and infantry clusters and exploded violently. Both lethality and shocking power far exceeded the damage of the flintlock rifle. Each shell exploded, and the soldiers within three meters of the surrounding area flew everywhere, screaming endlessly, and the broken limbs and arms were thrown everywhere. Large areas of Japanese soldiers fell down. The first thing they reacted was war horses. They were frightened by the deafening explosion sound of fire, and turned around and rushed towards the infantry behind. The people and horses collided, trampled on each other, and retreated backwards like landslides.

At this moment, the flag on the high platform changed, and the musketeers retreated to both sides. The three thousand cavalry behind burst into shouts, like a torrent of collapse, killing the Japanese army with an unstoppable momentum. They waved wolf-toothed sticks, and war horses swept into the Japanese crowd like wind, storming hard, and slashed hard. The wolf-toothed sticks hit the heads of people, and the heads were smashed; they hit the armor, the armor and flesh were torn off, revealing white bones, crying, moaning suddenly, heart-wrenching screams, and the clamor from their throats before they died one after another. On the high slopes of hundreds of steps, it seemed like a purgatory on earth, and every inch of soil was covered with flesh and blood.

Almost every Ming cavalry became a murderer, cruel and violent, like a raging storm, kicking everything on this foreign land, overwhelming everything, and invincible everything. The fleeing Japanese army fell down one by one like wheat in front of a harvester. Their spirits collapsed, threw down their spears, bows and arrows, took off their armor, they trampled on each other, scrambling to escape, shouting wildly: "Escape! Escape!"

In the middle of the high slope, Li Wei was riding on the tall Lingzhi Zhan horse and watching all this coldly. Seeing that the enemy had completely collapsed, the front army led the rear army, and the formation was in chaos, and the defeat had already appeared. He immediately raised his sword and ordered: "Order the entire army to suppress it, kill a Japanese army and reward five taels of silver, and judge the merits by the head."

The sound of the attack echoed in the air, and the rumbling drums were earth-shaking. The 15,000 Ming troops launched a general attack from all directions. The Japanese army was scared by the Ming army's firearms and began to retreat. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Yoshihisa Ashikaga had to flee towards Kyoto under the escort of three thousand personal soldiers.

In June of the 26th year of Hongwu, the Ming Dynasty Eastern Expedition Army landed on the Zhutoujiao Peninsula in Xiaguan, and a war broke out with the 30,000 Japanese troops guarding Xiaguan. The Ming army defeated the Japanese army with sharp firearms. In this battle, he beheaded 21,000 people and captured more than 6,000 alive. The Japanese general Ashikaga Yoshiki was defeated and fled to Kyoto. The Ming army then seized the Maguan Strait. The Ming army commander Li Weizheng immediately divided his troops and ordered Chen Wanli, the navy's general, to lead 8,000 troops to intercept the Japanese Northern Dynasties Minister of the Northern Dynasties who were eager to cross the sea and return to the east. He personally led 10,000 navy troops, with two treasure ships, Wei Zheng and Lushun as the main force, and led 30 warships to the capital of the Northern Dynasties: Kyoto.

Just as Li Weizheng used the excuse of clearing out the old nests of Japanese pirates, one month after the expedition to Japan in the east, the domestic situation in the Ming Dynasty also changed drastically. As many people were worried, the "Feng Fu case" expanded rapidly. Zhu Yuanzhang used Feng Sheng and Fu Youde to collude with Lan Yu to rebel as a reason, and killed Feng Sheng and Fu Youde in Fengyang and destroyed their three tribes. At the same time, the founding Duke Chang Sheng, Dingyuan Marquis Wang Bi, Puding Marquis Chen Yuan, Jingchuan Marquis Cao Zhen, Chen Shou, Dongguan Bo He Rong, Wuding Marquis Guo Ying, Jingning Marquis Guo Hai, Dongchuan Marquis Ye Sheng, Huining Marquis Zhang Wen and other forty-three high-ranking officials, including the marquis, and together with their children, wives and children, more than a thousand were killed, and countless exiled.

However, the case did not end easily. Zhu Yuanzhang was seriously ill and was afraid that the ministers in the court would really collude with Guizhou Lan Yu, so he secretly ordered the Jinyiwei to expand the scope of investigation. Anyone who had letters with Lan Yu and who had private relationships with Feng and Fu could be designated as a party. What was quite dramatic is that the Minister of Personnel Zhan Hui, who was the chief judge of the Feng Fu case, was reported to have had a joke with Lan Yu and was executed, and his wife, relatives and friends were killed.

The two "ancient and" decided by Zhu Yuanzhang quickly expanded the scope of the investigation. The major case that occurred in the 26th year of Hongwu began to become more and more serious. First, the Jinyiwei secretly investigated it secretly, and then trained it into a prison by the Ministry of Justice. Whether it is true or false, an ancient brain took it as a practical matter, and then rectified the law, and killed all the criminals' clans, or even captured the shadows. All court officials who were inquired with Lan Yu and other three dolls were inevitably suffering from the pain. Therefore, the marquis were promoted to the clan and destroyed. In just one month, thousands of officials and common people involved were involved, and all of them were carried out when Zhu Yuanzhang's serious illness was not cured.

In the Zhenyuan Guard of Guizhou, Lan Yu, who had been waiting for several months, finally got news from his family. In the hall, Lan Yu's face was pale and his body was shaking. Two personal guards hurriedly supported him from side to side. On the ground, a family member who was running thousands of miles to report the news was kneeling. He cried and told Lan Yu that his wives, concubines, children, and uncles and brothers had all been killed in Fengyang. Lan Yu, who had originally expected Zhu Yuanzhang to be afraid of being a timid, never expected that Zhu Yuanzhang was so violent and still killed his whole family without any scruples.

"Okay! OK!" Lan Yu pointed at Dongfang with a trembling body and said with a tragic smile: "Since you Zhu Chongba are ruthless, don't blame me for being innocent."

He held the table and ordered resolutely: "So quickly order Emperor Shengzong of Tang and Zhang Long to come to see me, and please invite Mr. Lu."

Tang Shengzong and Zhang Long were not in Zhenyuanwei, and two cavalrymen rushed to the scene, but Lu Siyuan was there. After a moment, Lu Siyuan rushed over. He had heard about Lan Yu's family being killed. He knew that Zhu Yuanzhang's intention was to force Lan Yu to rebel, so as not to collude with a certain prince in the future and cause more disasters. At the same time, he also confirmed the Feng Fu case.

Lu Siyuan also had to admire Zhu Yuanzhang's determination to cut off his arm. He would rather have a small pain than let the cancer spread. Once Lan Yu is designated as a traitor, no one in the world will risk rebellion to join him. However, once Lan Yu really rebels, this is somewhat different from the strategy set by Li Weizheng. In the plan given to him by Li Weizheng, Lan Yu cannot rebel publicly, but should support the Qin King to seize the throne, thus forming a three-legged situation of Qin, Yan and the court after Zhu Yuanzhang died of illness.

Now that Zhu Yuanzhang has already started in advance, it is a bit difficult to persuade Lan Yu to stay calm. However, when Lan Yu heard the news and the fierce news, it means that he was still a little confused.

Lu Siyuan had a certain plan in his heart. He hurried into the hall and saw Lan Yu sitting there bowing his head without saying a word. He immediately stepped forward and bowed deeply and said, "Lu Siyuan meets the general."

Lan Yu looked up and saw that it was him, so he quickly asked him to sit down and said in tears: "As the sir expected, Zhu Yuanzhang really killed all my family. I was confused. Please teach me the next step."

Lu Siyuan pondered for a moment and asked, "The General must first tell me the truth, do you have the idea of ​​establishing himself as an emperor based on Guizhou?"

Lan Yu shook her head and sighed: "I was so angry that I had this idea, but now I calmed down and felt something was wrong. I was worried that the soldiers in the army might have objections."

"The General was able to see this, which means that the General was not fooled."

"Sick?" Lan Yu was stunned for a moment and asked quickly, "What are you fooling about?"

Lu Siyuan stroked his beard and smiled slightly, "Does the general think the emperor really didn't expect the consequences of killing the general's family? What he knew was that he actually hoped that the general would be able to rebel immediately and become an emperor. In this way, the general's hasty decisions will definitely be dissatisfied, and the soldiers in the Guizhou army will definitely not accept it, and thus the military changes will occur. He will collapse from the middle. Perhaps the senior officials of Emperor Shengzong of Tang, or perhaps Zhang Long has a good fortune. In this way, the general's rebellion with his generals may not need him to send a soldier, and the general's head will be sent to his imperial case."

Lan Yu took a breath of air. Lu Siyuan was right in the analysis. With Zhu Yuanzhang's scheming, he must have planned this way. He almost fell for it. Thinking of this, he immediately stood up and bowed to Lu Siyuan, "Sir, I am really my Kong Ming, please teach me, what should I do next?"

Lu Siyuan said coldly: "The General is wrong. I am not Zhuge Kongming. My nickname is 'Doxiushi'. Generally, I can only understand the profound meaning of my nickname at critical moments. For example, now, I have already considered it for the General. I will offer the "Three Strategies for Extinction of Households" to the General. If the General adopts these three strategies, he will definitely be able to escape danger and take the initiative in the world."

‘Three Strategies for Divorce?’ Lan Yu murmured twice, and he hurriedly asked: “Sir, please say it clearly, I must follow your plan.”

Lu Siyuan said calmly: "The so-called three strategies for excluding households are to exterminate households, to exterminate households, to exterminate households, to exterminate households, to exterminate households, to kill Tang Shengzong and Zhang Long to eliminate future troubles, and to fully control the military power of Guizhou. Secondly, the general can send people to Xi'an to form an alliance with the King of Qin and clearly express his support for him as the new emperor of the Ming Dynasty. This person is incompetent and injustice. When he is expected to become emperor, he will kill him again, and the general can replace him. This is the Jedi household."

Lan Yu was greatly inspired. These two strategies, especially the Jedihu, opened a new window for him, allowing him to see a new future. Lan Yu asked excitedly: "What does Juetianhu mean?"

"Didn't the general think of who is the 'Tianhu'?"
Chapter completed!