Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

North of Kyushu Island.

On the coast, soldiers wearing armor and with serious faces, holding weapons, quickly retreated to the road away from the coast.

They all looked unwilling and kept looking back at the billowing black smoke behind them.

The vast majority of these people have lived here for more than two years.

Leaving so suddenly, and in such a disgraceful way, would make anyone feel unwilling.

However, military orders were as heavy as a mountain, and since Shikoku Island had become an isolated city, they had no choice but to obey.

As they walked along, everyone remained silent.

The only sound left in the vast wilderness was the collision of armor leaves.

Li Rusong stood on a high ground, accompanied by more than 30 personal soldiers. Looking down, he saw the scene of the great retreat, which made his eyes burn with anger and his breathing quicken.

If I had 50,000 Liaodong troops, why would I be afraid of these Japanese pirates!

Unfortunately, this is a Japanese island, and he only has less than 20,000 soldiers. Some of them are auxiliary troops. If he really fights the Japanese pirates on Shikoku Island, even if he is a god, he will be defeated.

In the end, he could not escape the fate of defeat.

Therefore, strategic retreat became the only option.

"Slow, too slow." Looking at the troops dawdling, Li Rusong could not help but frown. He turned to the messenger next to him and ordered, "Go tell them to hurry up. They must march fifty miles today before they are allowed to rest!"

"Yes." The messenger immediately rode away and came to a high ground to convey the military order.

At this time, a middle-aged general beside Li Rusong said indignantly: "Marshal, these damn Japanese pirates are too bullying. It's good enough that we don't fight them. How dare they take the initiative to provoke us!"

"They won't be rampant for long." Li Rusong replied with a smile.

"I can't swallow this!" The middle-aged general stamped his feet, his face full of humiliation, "Tell me, when we were in Liaodong, those barbarians smiled when they saw us."

"Now he's biting people on his own initiative."

"I see that you are not angry, but worried about the lack of silver." Li Rusong teased him with a smile.

Everyone around burst into laughter.

There is silver all over the Japanese island, especially the Iwami Silver Mine, which produces at least 800,000 taels of silver every year.

Sixty percent of the silver went to the national treasury, thirty percent went to the internal treasury, and the remaining ten percent was divided among the local garrison.

This also resulted in exceptionally high salaries for local garrisons.

At the same time, the garrison serves for a five-year term, and after five years, they can return to the Ming Dynasty.

You can earn money and have a woman to accompany you. Where can you find such a good job?
The general was teased by Li Rusong, scratched his head and smiled innocently, but still muttered: "Marshal, money and women are trivial matters. This little Japanese pirate actually dared to take the initiative to offend the power of the Ming Dynasty. This trend should not be encouraged."

"Yes." Li Rusong nodded in agreement.

As they were talking, they suddenly saw a loud commotion behind them and a fleet of warships loaded with Japanese pirates were heading rapidly towards the shore.

There are no more than four or five thousand people, and they should be the vanguard of the Japanese pirates.

"Damn it, you dare to chase us with such a small number of people? Brothers, get the hell out of here!" The general who spoke earlier became furious and took the lead to run towards the foot of the mountain.

Li Rusong and others all cursed inwardly, thinking that they were really being taken advantage of as soft persimmons, with only four or five thousand men daring to chase them like this!
So the army stopped running, put down their cannons, turned their guns around and faced the Japanese pirates who were about to land.

Getting closer, getting closer.

Soon the first ship docked and a short Japanese pirate jumped off it.

Then, the second person, and the third person.
In a short while, a large group of Japanese pirates gathered on the shore.

They looked up at the Ming army that had formed a camp not far away, and their faces turned cold. Because they did not see panic on these people's faces, but calmness, looking at their own side calmly.

The pitch-black muzzle of the gun was pointed straight in his direction.

There was a brief silence for a moment.

"Rumble"

Loud noises were heard one after another, and a thick white fog rose above the main gun position.

The red-hot lead bullet rushed out of the muzzle, drew a perfect arc in the air, and then suddenly fell into the Japanese pirates' formation.

Suddenly, the Japanese pirates at the scene were in chaos.

There were shouting and broken limbs everywhere.

There was not a single intact body among the bloody corpses on the ground.

"what!!"

"Baga. Baga, charge forward, charge forward."

"The Ming army's artillery will take time, so charge forward quickly."

"Onboard."

The Ming army's artillery position was located on the high ground on the left side of the coast, less than four miles away from the coast. There was an open area several hundred meters long between the two armies.

As soon as the artillery fire stopped, the Japanese pirates thought that the Ming army's artillery fire had stopped, so they rushed forward roaring.

On the opposite side, thousands of musketeers armed with muskets had already walked out in front of Li Rusong's army.

He raised the bird gun high and aimed at the Japanese pirates rushing forward.

"First team release!"

"bang bang bang"

A circle of white mist floated up, and the bullets streaked through the air, fiercely embedding into the bodies of the charging Japanese pirates. Instantly, a burst of blood mist erupted from the charging Japanese pirates, and screams mixed with curses resounded throughout the wilderness.

The Japanese pirates who were in the front fell to the ground with a bang, and their bodies were oozing juice like a watermelon.

Before the Japanese pirates behind them could catch their breath, they saw black lead bullets coming through the wind again, like black poisonous snakes, baring their fangs and biting their bodies.

As the lead bullet entered the body, there was another piercing pain.

They screamed in pain.

After two rounds of shooting, the ground was filled with hundreds of corpses.

Now, these charging Japanese pirates finally understood why the Ming army, with such a small number of people, dared to interfere in the affairs on the Japanese island.

Now, they only have one thought: run!
The sooner the better.

Almost at the same time, the Japanese pirates in front turned around and ran madly behind them.

But the people behind cannot see the situation in front clearly.

All we heard was a "bang bang bang" sound from the front, and our people were screaming.

At this moment, the people in the front were running back, while the people in the back were pushing forward. The people on both sides were like two torrents, "boom" and collided with each other, causing chaos immediately.

Li Rusong personally led the musketeers forward.

Tapping.

Thousands of musketeers held their muskets, maintained formation, and advanced at a steady pace. They raised their guns, aimed, and fired, with a sudden "bang bang bang" sound.

The square was filled with white mist and sparks were flying everywhere.

The red-hot lead bullets roared towards the chaotic ranks of the Japanese pirates.

There was another heart-rending scream.

The Japanese pirates who were blocked fell to the ground, and the Japanese pirates behind them became the front. Thus, the funny scene was repeated, the people in the front wanted to retreat, and the people behind continued to squeeze forward.

This scene was like a modern conveyor belt, with the people behind desperately pushing the people in front to the muzzle of the Ming army's guns. After four or five rounds of volleys, the gun barrels gradually became hot.

The Japanese pirates fell to the ground.

Li Rusong's face was cold, and he roared in a hoarse voice: "Pay bayonets!"

"Install the bayonet!" an officer's voice was immediately repeated.

"Brush brush"

When the Ming army soldiers heard the order, they all reached for their waists, took out the short blades on them, and placed them on the front end of the bird guns.

"Kill!"

Suddenly, the previously quiet Ming army turned into vicious wolves and pounced on the retreating Japanese pirates. The repression of many days was stimulated by the smell of blood and released.

I saw a middle-aged soldier rushing the fastest, and in a few breaths he caught a Japanese pirate with a young face.

Judging from his age, he is about fourteen or fifteen years old.

The same size as my son.

At this moment, the young pirate's legs were shaking, his face was filled with panic, and he could hardly hold the spear in his hand. The middle-aged soldier shouted, and without any mercy, he raised his spear and stabbed the pirate in the heart.

The Japanese pirate's face was distorted with pain and he opened his mouth wide and shouted loudly.

The middle-aged soldier held the gun tightly with both hands and twisted it to the left, causing blood to spurt out from the Japanese pirate's heart.

The middle-aged soldier stepped forward, kicked the little Japanese pirate down, pulled out his bayonet, and stabbed the pirate in the neck.

Hot blood spurted all over his face.

Without stopping, as if he was just killing a pig, the middle-aged soldier stepped over the corpses of the enemy and joined the pursuit. The fight continued until dusk, with corpses strewn all over the beach and blood flowing like a river.

A few rays of setting sun shine on it, making it look even more bleak and solemn.

Li Rusong glanced coldly at the Shura field on the coast, waved his hand, and called on the army to continue retreating.

The next morning, when Li Rusong's army was about to break camp, they suddenly heard a soldier report that a group of Japanese pirates had arrived ahead.

Li Rusong frowned and subconsciously ordered his men to prepare for battle. Then he realized something was wrong and asked, "You mean, in front? Not in the back?"

"Yes." The soldier answered respectfully.

"That should be our support. Let's go and meet them!" Li Rusong shook his stiff body, stood up, and ran to the front of the camp.

It was Aineng who led the Shimazu family's soldiers to meet them.

When the two groups saw this, Li Rusong and Ai Neng quickly stepped forward, opened their arms, and hugged each other tightly.

After a long while, the two men finally let go of each other. Li Rusong grinned and joked, "Captain Ai, everyone says that you are very powerful now. The Shimazu family even handed over the army to you."

"I think if you give birth to a son, you should just change his surname to Shimazu, and he can also be the head of the Shimazu family."

Aineng came to Kyushu Island five years ago.

At that time, he was good friends with Shimazu Iehisa, the fourth son of the previous head of the family.

After a few interactions, the two became solid allies.

Later, Li Rusong's army invaded Japan, and Kyushu Island was nominally unified. The Otomo family and the Shimazu family both became forces close to the Ming Dynasty.

Aineng's status also rose accordingly.

Two years ago, he married a woman from the Shimazu family and became a prominent figure between the two families.

At this moment, when Ai Neng heard Li Rusong's joke, he was not annoyed. Instead, he put his mouth close to his ear and said, "Marshal Li, in fact, if you are willing to marry the Shimazu family, let alone one woman, even five women would be willing."

"Forget it, I'm not worthy of it." Li Rusong shuddered when he thought of the Japanese women whose faces were as pale as ghosts.

Ai Neng smiled secretly in his heart and wanted to instigate more, but Li Rusong waved his hand to interrupt him: "Okay, now is not the time to talk about this. Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army will be here soon, so our army should enter the city quickly."

"Yes, yes, please come in, Marshal Li!" Ai Neng seemed to understand something and quickly turned sideways and made a "please" gesture.

The next evening.

The army marched into Tachibana Castle in a mighty force.

As soon as he entered the city, Li Rusong sent people to settle his troops, and immediately met with Qi Guozuo and his generals.

In the hall, Li Rusong and Qi Guozuo sat side by side, with the rest of the Ming army and Japanese generals on both sides.

After they sat down, Li Rusong, as the supreme commander stationed in Japan, stood up first and said, "Everyone, no matter you are from Kyushu or Ming Dynasty. Toyotomi Hideyoshi wants to unify Kyushu and seize our territory. Can we agree?!"

"No!" A clanging voice immediately rang out from the crowd.

"Okay!" Li Rusong smiled and nodded, and continued, "Don't worry, everyone. This Tachibana Castle is impregnable. Now there are more than 40,000 troops in the city, including the Kyushu army. I am not afraid of Toyotomi Hideyoshi even if he comes."

Everyone nodded when they heard this.

In the crowd, a Japanese man with a mustache, a large patch of hair removed from the front of his head, and a pigtail stepped out and asked, "General, we want to know when your Ming army will arrive?"

Qi Guozuo immediately introduced to Li Rusong: "That is Otomo Aikawa, a retainer of the Otomo family."

Hearing this, Li Rusong smiled friendly and looked at Otomo Heikawa and explained, "Don't worry, Your Excellency Otomo, our Ming army is on the way and will reach Kyushu in no more than a month."

Facing the rest of the daily life, Li Rusong called them all Japanese pirates.

When talking to the people of Kyushu Island, he called them Kyushu people.

The purpose is to separate these people and make them think that they are not part of Japan.

Otomo Aikawa and the reinforcements from Kyushu all nodded, thinking: Compared with the Ming Dynasty, Toyotomi Hideyoshi may have the upper hand for a while, but if the war continues, Toyotomi Hideyoshi will definitely not be a match. As long as we survive this difficult time, all of their coalition forces will be liquidated by the Ming Dynasty.

After realizing this, Jiuzhouren's face was filled with smiles, and he wanted to kneel down to Han Li Rusong's father.

Li Rusong sneered in his heart, but on the surface he smiled and was friendly with these people.

After a few brief greetings, the military meeting officially began, with Li Rusong first designating the battle plan.

Where to raise military rations and how many people each army should send.

Which family will guard which city gate, and precise deployment has been made.

As soon as he finished speaking, Qi Guozuo stood up and continued to add to what Li Rusong said. Unconsciously, the full moon outside the window disappeared into the clouds, and the cold air filled the air. Qi Guozuo realized that it was getting late.

"Everyone, it's getting late today, go back and have some rest. We can talk about anything tomorrow."

"Yes."

Everyone stood up and walked out of the meeting hall.

In an instant, only Li Rusong, Qi Guozuo and Ai Neng were left in the hall.

After a moment of silence, Ai Neng looked at Qi Guozuo, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated. Qi Guozuo was puzzled, so he took the initiative to ask: "Captain Ai, if you have anything to say, just say it directly."

Ai Neng gritted his teeth and asked tentatively: "General Qi, have you heard any rumors?"

"What's the rumor?" Li Rusong and Qi Guozuo asked together.

"The imperial court is planning to change the military households and garrisons. I'm afraid you, the hereditary commander, will have to..."

"How can this be?"

Qi Guozuo's face was full of disbelief. If this knife were to chop down, who knows how many people's jobs would be ruined.

"This time we're serious. Let's see if our Ming Dynasty's garrison troops can still fight?" Ai Neng looked serious. When Qi Guozuo and Li Rusong heard this, they thought of his identity.

I already believe it about 50% in my heart.

Li Rusong was fine, but Qi Guozuo was struggling. (End of this chapter)