Chapter 158 Cute Kumamon!

After defeating the shogunate's dispatched army, the remaining Kumamoto family was no longer a threat. They could be eliminated and then march south to annihilate Shimazu and unify Kyushu.

The marching order was arranged, with Han Xian as the commander-in-chief, Shuntianying as the first army, Saga family as the second army, Qin Hao and Saga Chaoyi in the middle army, and nearly 10,000 people marched by land and water along northern Kyushu to the south to capture cities and land.

Buzen, Bungo, Chikuzen and Chikugo were all taken down in one go. The Kumamoto family army retreated immediately after a slight contact, leaving an empty city for the expeditionary army.

As soon as Kumamoto died, the Kumamoto family had internal strife. According to the spy report, Kumamoto's sons disagreed. Some wanted to surrender, while others chose to resist stubbornly. In the end, no one could convince anyone.

So a big fight broke out, and the garrisons of these small border towns were called back to join the war. As for the current result, Qin Hao did not know, and Han Xian had sent people to inquire about the news.

However, even these small empty towns caused constant quarrels in the expeditionary army.

The reason is very simple, that is, the Saga family borrowed a lot of daimyo troops from northern Kyushu for this expedition. Those daimyo and the Saga family were only nominal superiors and subordinates, not completely submissive.

Now with the Keelung army in front, it is a sure thing to take Kyushu, so none of these families want to miss this good opportunity. If they can eat a bite, they will be prosperous. Such a good opportunity is rare.

If the Saga family can eat, how can we not eat? With a greedy mentality, as many small daimyo as possible in northern Kyushu will come.

For these people who came from afar to fight the rebels, Qin Hao had to come out to comfort them, praise them a few words, and then reiterate the military order.

Robbery is allowed, but killing is not.

These are all good seedlings for work. Keelung's Bazidou Coal Mountain is short of people. When Zhuge Xuan sent a letter yesterday, he urged Qin Hao to send a batch back to work. But they are precious and cannot be killed.

If these farmers are sent to the Keelung army, they can be exchanged for food, money and cloth. Ten kan or three stones of food and one piece of cloth per person.

These words made the hearts of the feudal lords as hot as charcoal. If you don't take advantage, you are a fool.

Originally, everyone came here from afar to make a fortune. Since people can also be exchanged for things, let's rob things first and then rob people.

Double harvest, happy.

These small daimyo made a lot of money, but Saga Asaichi, the future leader of Kitakyushu, was ashamed.

First, the people he called wanted to poach his people, and he couldn't control it; second, they robbed too much, making the Saga family hungry.

Originally, there were too many monks and too little meat, and now it is even more scarce.

A few days later, the Saga family was extremely dissatisfied with the Second Army's rush into Buzen Castle and wantonly looting. They almost had a fight with several daimyo. After all, this was my territory. I had finally seized it. I was just about to revive my family business, but you robbed it. What else can I leave for me?

Rats? !

Or beetles!

You even didn't let go of the farmers who worked the land? !

Who will pay me the annual tribute in the future? !

How can I build the place? ! (Without money, how can I live a comfortable life and enjoy the comfortable life of the upper class in Keelung!)

For the unprovoked looting by several daimyo, the Keelung Army just scolded them not to kill people indiscriminately. They were also very obedient and sent the farmers they caught to the Keelung Navy's ships.

Those who obeyed got money. Although Saga Chaoyi had ten thousand grass mud horses passing by in his heart, he could do nothing about it.

Qin Hao was also very interested in this situation. Anyway, he was not the one who was upset in the end. You can make as much trouble as you want. I don't care.

The army was noisy all the way south, heading for Kumamoto.

Kumamoto - the border between northern Kyushu and southern Kyushu.

Kumamoto has been the geographical center of Kyushu since ancient times. As for whether it is a political or economic center, Qin Hao can't tell. The future economic center of Kyushu is Nagasaki, but that place was beaten by a "fat man", which is not very auspicious.

"Where did all the people die?!"

On the way south to Kumamoto, there are more and more empty cities. Some fortresses don't even have a person, and farmers can't be seen working in the fields.

You know, it's early summer now, the rapid growth period of wheat seedlings, which requires a lot of water for irrigation. If you miss these few days of auspicious time, the wheat seeds harvested in autumn are likely to have shrunken grains.

Such an important day, don't the farmers in Kumamoto know, or do they just don't care.

Looking at the green wheat ears in the field, Saga Asaichi felt very distressed.

These are all mine, all of them!

"My lord, there seems to be something wrong with these wheat ears." A foot soldier next to Saga Asaichi said, this person was Inada Taro.

When he came with Saga, he found that there was something wrong with the wheat ears in this field.

"What's the problem?" Saga Asaichi was shocked and hurried down to the field to grab a wheat ear to observe.

This look surprised Saga, "How could there be no wheat husks." Saga fell on the ridge of the field, holding a wheat ear in his hand, as if he was lost.

Even if he had never worked in the field, he knew that wheat ears without wheat husks could not produce grain.

"Damn it, who did it?! I am so angry."

Saga Asaichi first thought of the stupid sons of Kumamoto O, but he also felt that they didn't seem to need to do so. No, they had to, they were afraid of me.

When he thought of this, the pain on Saga Asaichi's face improved.

"It wasn't the Kumamoto family who did it, it was the Shimazu family!" Qin Hao rode his warhorse to the ridge and told Saga Chaoyi the unfortunate news.

"Ah?" Saga looked confused and asked, "How is it possible? Didn't I send troops to block the Shimazu family's passage to the south?"

Hearing this, Qin Hao was furious. He had just received news from the front line that the Shimazu family had actually taken a detour into the Kumamoto territory, so that the garrison Qin Hao sent out had no effect at all and was defeated.

"If you had told me earlier that there were other roads, this would not have happened." Qin Hao scolded dissatisfiedly.

"Alas, I'm so confused." Saga Chaoyi grabbed a handful of mud on the ridge and threw it on his head, "I should have thought of it earlier."

There is indeed more than one way to the south, there are hundreds of large and small ones, but Saga mistakenly thought that the Shimazu family would generally choose to take the right path, so he made a mistake.

However, even if he knew in advance and made arrangements, it would be difficult to defend against the Shimazu family.

"Kumamoto is a poor place with little production. If the Shimazu family uses the bait of having enough food to recruit farmers to serve as foot soldiers, the casualties in this battle may be more serious than those in Fukuoka Castle!"

In the marching team of the central army, Han Xian worriedly expressed his concerns to Qin Hao.

There is the Aso volcano in the northeast of Kumamoto; there is the Shiranui Sea (Yashiro Sea) in the southwest. Because there is a land volcano and a sea volcano, Kumamoto was called the "Land of Fire" in ancient times (the prototype of Naruto's Land of Fire is here!).

Just as the saying goes, poor mountains and bad waters produce unruly people, the harsh natural environment of the Kumamoto family forced local farmers to become particularly fierce and wild in order to survive, and they often plundered.

During the Fuso Warring States Period, Fuso circulated the slogan "The world's strongest soldiers are the best in Kyushu, and the strongest soldiers in Kyushu are the best in Kumamoto."

If people in later generations talk about Kumamoto, the first thing that comes to mind is definitely the cute "Kumamon" who is popular all over the world. He is like a panda, but he has two more blushes on his face, which seems to be a little different from the powerful soldiers now.

Even though we know that the soldiers of Kumamoto are strong, this battle must be fought.

Otherwise, the 10,000-strong army would not be able to attack the Shimazu family's Kagoshima Castle in the south with confidence.

The reason is actually very simple. This Kumamoto Castle was originally used to block the Shimazu family's northward passage.

The construction site of Kumamoto Castle was chosen in the Chausuyama hilly area southeast of Kumamoto, spanning Hikawa Town, while the Shirakawa and Yamato Rivers in Higo became natural key points. It is a rare flat mountain castle in the history of Fuso castle construction that occupies a natural barrier.

Now it has become the northern gate of the Shimazu family, firmly nailed on the passage between Kitakyushu and Minamikyushu.

Trying to get around it? Almost impossible!

There are many small roads, but none of them can be used by the army.

Even if a few troops can sneak past, how can a large group of troops get through?

Even if they cut through the mountains and climb over vines, how can they ensure the food and supplies of 10,000 people?

Food cannot be transported by small roads. If it is transported by the main road, it may be cut off by the Shimazu family's garrison in Kumamoto Castle at any time.

At that time, 10,000 troops will either starve to death or jump into the sea!

And if the army is dispersed, it will definitely be a meat bun hitting a dog, and there will be no return.

Dividing troops has always been a taboo in military strategy!

In history, I don’t know how many generals have suffered such a big loss, and some even made the country feel refreshed because of it.

The Battle of Sarhu launched in the 47th year of Wanli is a typical example of this. The Ming army appointed Yang Hao as the governor of Liaodong, and divided the troops into four routes to attack the capital of the Later Jin Dynasty, Hetuala.

The governor Yang Hao was the commander-in-chief of all the troops and was stationed in Shenyang. Du Song, Ma Lin, Liu Yu, and Li Rubai, the four generals, led four armies with a total of 120,000 troops, claiming to be 470,000 troops, and were scheduled to set out on February 21.

As a result, the news was known to Nurhaci, who led 100,000 Jurchen cavalry and ate them one by one.

Since then, the national strength of the Ming Dynasty has plummeted, and no troops have been sent out.

Qin Hao is not Yang Hao, and the Shimazu family is not the Later Jin Dynasty.

Qin Hao will never allow such a foolish thing to happen to him.

"The Japanese are upright, strong, and serious. They are indeed famous generals among the chiefs." When accompanying Toyotomi Hideyoshi to invade Korea, Kato Kiyomasa was remembered by the Ming army for his toughness and endurance. The main reason was that this kid's troops often appeared and disappeared, and they especially liked night attacks.

However, what made the Ming army remember more vividly were the Japanese cities he presided over the construction of in Korea, especially the Ulsan Japanese City, which made the Ming army bleed.

Especially the commander of the Ming army at that time, Yang Hao, turned out to be this guy again, who lied about military intelligence and delayed the war, and I don’t know how many soldiers died unjustly.

However, this old guy was killed by Chongzhen this year because he actually proposed to the cabinet to give up Shanhaiguan and make peace with the Later Jin.

How could Chongzhen, who had just come to power, accept this? He directly dismissed him from his post and dragged him down to chop him off. This was one of the few good things Chongzhen did.

If this man were still alive, Qin Hao would still like to meet this "first war god" who almost defeated the Ming family.

And Kumamoto Castle is the most outstanding work of Kato Kiyomasa after returning to China.

Kumamoto Castle is a flat mountain castle, and the city adopts the technology of the Ulsan Japanese Castle.

The entire city is 5.5 kilometers long. The southwest and northeast areas are the ancient city of Chiba Castle, known as Demaru Castle. Not far to the southeast is the famous ancient mountain spring temple in Kyushu. Jianzhen practiced here for a period of time when he crossed the sea to the east.

Kato Kiyomasa is particularly good at building stone walls, and is famous for the upper part called "Warrior Banner". The main defense facilities were concentrated in the south to deal with the invasion of the imaginary enemy Satsuma Domain.

The castle tower of Kumamoto Castle is a unique one in Kyushu. The castle tower is a linked watchtower type. The large castle tower has 6 floors and 1 basement, which is called the "first castle tower".

The small castle tower has 4 floors and 4 basements, which is called the "second castle tower" or "Gojo", and is the residence of the castle lord's wife.

In addition to the castle tower, the towers, which are called "Yar" in Japanese, are scattered all over the city.

The six-story turret of Hatta Ken, the five-story turret of Teramoto Heihachimaru, the Akagi turret, the Kanmono turret (the Nagaoka Book Pre-turret), the flat turret, the Akagi turret, the Kita Jujuken turret, the Higashi Jujuken turret, the Minamoto Shin turret, the four-story turret, the 14-story turret, and the Tago turret are all around the city wall. The arrow holes on them can not only allow archers and iron gunners to shoot at the attacking team under the city, but also humanely consider the problem of blind spots in shooting.

The "Warrior Banner" mentioned above is a facility with a reverse slope to provide archers with the best shooting angle!

After listening to Han Xian's introduction to the situation of Kumamoto Castle, the Keelung Army couldn't help but take a breath of cold air when they saw the geography and defense facilities around Kumamoto Castle arranged by the officers with cups, plates, and tea bowls.

"What a strong city!" Even Zhang Hu, who usually looked down on Fuso, was still frightened at this moment.

Looking at the map, and then looking at the Kumamoto Castle, which was almost full of traps and ambushes, everyone cursed the eighteenth generation ancestor of Kato Kiyomasa who built the city.

Don't you have anything to do at home? Or are you worried that someone is going to harm you? Is it necessary to build such a city!

"Since this city is so strong and easy to defend but difficult to attack, why did the Shimazu family take it so easily?"

It is reported that the Shimazu family only took three days to break through the city. I think there is a way. If we understand the Shimazu family's approach, wouldn't it be better to follow the prescription and try again?

"My lord, the Shimazu family had already planned this. When Kumamoto invaded Saga, they sent spies to sneak into Kumamoto Castle. After hearing that Kumamoto was killed, they encouraged the Kumamoto family to fight each other. Taking advantage of the chaos in the city, the spies who had been ambushed inside joined forces and captured Kumamoto Castle!"

"Now, the Shimazu family general Yokota Katsuto is guarding the city. That guy has already killed all the residents in Kumamoto Castle, leaving only the Shimazu family's troops, who are guarding like an iron barrel. This trick is probably useless!"

Seeing this, Qin Hao could only march his entire army towards Kumamoto Castle and fight head-on with Yokota Katsuto, a well-known brave general of the Shimazu family, under the city!

See who has the last laugh!