The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

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When Kuroda Mitsuyuki led his army to Kuroda Castle, the sun was already setting. Kuroda Castle was called a castle, but it was actually a town without walls.

Since the shogunate reduced the number of domains, in order to prevent the daimyo from seizing power again, it was ordered that all domain lords could only retain the castle tower and the town below the castle, and were not allowed to build castle walls privately. As a result, the walls of Kuroda Castle were completely demolished ten years ago.

The town stretched out along the gentle slope at the foot of the mountain, with rows of low wooden houses with thatched and thin wooden roofs. There wasn't even a wooden fence around the town; only a few ditches served as its boundaries.

The permanent population is only twenty or thirty thousand, mostly fishermen and farmers. The town has only one decent street, with a few rice shops, a blacksmith shop and a general store selling sea salt on both sides.

Kuroda Mitsuyuki rode on his horse, with five thousand soldiers trailing behind him in a long column. The front of the column had already entered the town, while the tail was still raising dust on the dirt road outside the town.

The townspeople were terrified by the black smoke from the previous days. When they saw the army approaching from afar, they all hid inside their houses and closed the doors, only peeking out from the cracks in the doors.

In Japan, the samurai class is considered supreme, and commoners are not to be looked upon; if they are seen on the roadside, they must kneel in welcome.

The garrison commander, Matsuura Heijuro, trotted out to greet him, kneeling on one knee in front of his horse. He was about ten years old, with a stubble beard and sunken eyes, clearly having not slept for several days.

"Lord! You've finally arrived! The area around Kuroda Castle has been suffering terribly!" Matsuura Heijuro's voice trembled.

Kuroda Mitsuyuki dismounted and pulled him up, asking, "Where are those Jurchens?"

"It's in that big mountain to the left of Black Mountain Castle!" Matsuura Heijuro turned and pointed to the dark mountain to the south. "That mountain is called Takatori Mountain. There are only two slopes to go up and down the whole mountain. The other three sides are all cliffs. Yesterday afternoon, I sent three scouts up there. They came back and reported that there are at least a thousand people on the mountain, setting up camp. They also kidnapped a lot of young women and dragged them all up the mountain."

Upon hearing this, Kuroda Mitsuyuki observed through those telescopes.

"How many roads lead up there?"

Matsuura Heijuro immediately took out a map.

"My lord, there are only two passes. One on the eastern ridge, and another halfway up the western mountain. The rest are so high that even monkeys can't climb them. This is a map of the surrounding area, just drawn!"

Kuroda Mitsuyuki did not take it, but turned around and said to Kuroda Hachizaemon, "Bring me the map of our domain."

Kuroda Mitsuyuki wouldn't look at such a hastily drawn map; his family had lived in Fukuoka for so many years, they naturally had the most detailed maps.

Upon hearing this, Kuroda Hachizaemon immediately took out a hand-drawn sheepskin map from his pocket and spread it on the counter of the rice shop by the roadside.

Kuroda Mitsuyuki gazed at the setting sun for a moment, then looked up at the mountain range of Takatori. Takatori was the highest peak in the area, with a cliff on the west side, a sheer drop on the south side, and a steep slope on the north side. Only the east and west sides each had a gentle slope leading down the mountain.

Instead, there were two gentle slopes, both of which were gravel paths, no more than two zhang wide, with dense thickets of mixed trees on both sides.

"Heaven is on my side!" Kuroda Mitsuyuki straightened up and tapped his finger heavily on the map. "Yataibei!"

"Here!" Kuroda Matahei stepped forward.

"Take a thousand samurai and a thousand foot soldiers, plus six hundred arquebusiers, and go up the mountain from the gentle slope on the west side. Remember, stop and form ranks halfway up the mountain. Don't rush up. Put the arquebusiers at the front, load the flintlock muskets, and light all the matchlock muskets. If the Jurchens charge down, use the arquebuses to harass them. If they don't come down, block this slope tightly and don't let a single rabbit escape."

"Yes!" Kuroda Matabei turned around and went to muster the troops.

"Inoue Yagoro!"

"exist!"

"Take three hundred cavalry and five hundred foot soldiers and blockade the gentle slope on the eastern ridge. The cavalry don't need to go up the mountain; they can line up on the flat ground at the foot of the mountain. The Jurchens are fast on the mountain, but once they come down, it's flat ground. No matter how fast they run, they only have two legs, while your horses have two. If anyone runs down the eastern ridge, the cavalry will be the first to chase after them and cut them down."

Inoue Yagoro pounded his chest, then excitedly turned his horse around to call for reinforcements.

"The remaining two thousand samurai and fifteen hundred foot soldiers will garrison with me at Kuroda Castle." Kuroda Mitsuyuki planted his katana in the ground. "Both slopes are blocked, and the Jurchens are locked up on the mountain. They have limited food supplies, and every day they wait is one less. We will not attack the mountain, but wait at the foot of it. Within three days, when reinforcements from Saga and Kurume arrive, we will surround and encircle them on the mountain."

Matsuura Heijuro cautiously asked from the side, "Lord? Aren't you going to wipe them out immediately?"

Kuroda Mitsuyuki was silent for a moment, then said, "The mountains are high and the roads are treacherous; we can only wait."

On Eagle Mountain, Yarha was squatting behind a large rock, chewing on a blade of grass, looking down the mountain through the gaps in the trees.

On the two dirt roads at the foot of the mountain, countless torches were moving about, and the shadows of the arquebusiers stretched long in the setting sun. He spat out a blade of grass and cursed.

"They're not stupid." Yarha stood up, brushing the dirt off his knees. "Both roads are blocked, and there are cavalry down the mountain. They're trying to trap us on this mountain."

The hunter asked, "How about we take a plunge while it's still dark?"

"Charge my ass." Yarha glanced down the mountain again, shook his head, and said, "One thousand against five thousand. The road down the mountain is only so wide. If we charge down, we'll be running straight into the muzzles of arquebuses. Even if we manage to break through, there are cavalry waiting on the plains."

He turned and walked towards the camp. The camp was set up in a dense forest at the top of Eagle Mountain. A thousand Jurchen hunters sat in twos and threes under the trees; some were sharpening their axes, some were wiping their knives, and others were checking their bowstrings. In the middle of the camp were sacks of grain that had been plundered from the foot of the mountain, as well as dried fish and pickled radishes, all neatly stacked.

Behind the camp, more than two hundred young women huddled together, their faces filled with terror.

They were snatched from various villages over the past few days. Most of them were still wearing torn coarse cloth kimonos. Some were sobbing softly, while others had cried until they were too exhausted to continue and were just sitting there in a daze.

Several Jurchens watched them from the side, holding knives in their hands, but they did not make a move. Yarha had given a strict order: save the food and don't touch the women yet; now is not the time for pleasure.

The hunter followed Yarha, counting on his fingers: "If we eat sparingly, we have enough food for half a month, and water from the mountaintop spring. What will we do after that?"

"Half a month? Half a month isn't what's worrying us, it's them." Yarha sat back on his rock, took out a small leather pouch from his robes, and took a sip of water. "The other two groups of North Sea savages are still burning, killing, and looting outside. The Fukuoka lord has piled up all five thousand soldiers at the foot of the mountain to block us, so the area around Fukuoka Castle is empty. Once the North Sea savages have burned down the villages outside, they'll naturally circle back. At that time, will those Japanese savages at the foot of the mountain continue to lie in wait or go back to put out the fire? If he divides his forces, we'll charge. If he doesn't divide his forces, his lair will be burned to the ground."

He paused, then said, "Besides, General Xu's army has gone to Honshu Island. Once the fighting starts there, the Japanese on Kyushu Island will have to send troops to rescue Honshu. As long as we stay on the mountain, they'll be the ones in a hurry."

The hunter nodded and asked no more questions.

Yarha stuffed the leather bag back into his arms, leaned against a rock and closed his eyes. The torches below the mountain were still burning brightly, and the sobbing of the more than two hundred women could be heard from time to time.

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