Late June of the eighth year of Japan's Enho period, Kyushu, Fukuoka Castle.

The once prosperous castle town in the north of Fukuoka Castle no longer exists!

According to the order of Kuroda Mitsuyuki, the lord of the Fukuoka Domain, the entire castle town was razed to the ground...including the historic temples and tenement houses, all of which were demolished.

The reason why Kuroda Hikaru issued such an order was of course to resist Ming!

The Ming Emperor on the other side of the Korean Strait seems to want to fight a gentleman's war this time... In April, he sent someone to inform the lord of the Fukuoka Domain, Kuroda Mitsuyuki, that the Ming Ming soldiers were going to fight against Wang Hua at his doorstep.

There was a big battle between Japanese soldiers and he was asked to quickly tear down all the bits and pieces in front of his house so as to clear a piece of land for the battlefield.

Although Kuroten Kouki was reluctant to part with the prosperity of Hakata Town, in order to fight against the Akiko and be loyal to the emperor, he had no choice but to demolish the house.

It wouldn't work without demolishing it. His hometown, Fukuoka Castle, is too close to the coast, only about a mile and a half away.

Almost as soon as you leave the city, there are bustling towns. If they are not demolished, those miscellaneous buildings can easily be used by the Ming army who landed and become a fortress for laying out artillery.

Although Kuroda Mitsuyuki was a secluded Japanese feudal lord, his Fukuoka clan was very close to Nagasaki Port and across the sea from Korea. So he knew very well what kind of firepower the new Ming Dynasty's army had?

Although the Fukuoka Castle he owned was strong, under the bombardment of the Ming army's powerful artillery and rocket launchers, it was only a matter of time before the city was destroyed and the feudal lord was defeated!

Therefore, after learning that the Ming army was about to invade, Kuroda Mitsuichi stepped up the defense and training of the feudal army. On the other hand, he sent people to Kyoto to seek help from General Tokugawa who was in Kyoto.

This time, the Tokugawa family's response was also very timely. They quickly issued an order to "send troops to Hakata Bay" to various vassals in Kyushu, China (referring to the western part of Honshu Island), Shikoku, etc., and also announced the general's personal expedition, and also

Fukuoka Castle was designated as the temporary residence of the shogun when he commanded the Battle of Hakata..

Mitsuyuki Kuroda, as a foreign daimyo, was highly valued by the shogun and was given the post of Jindai - taking full command of the allied forces of the feudal lords gathered in Hakata Bay before the arrival of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi himself.

So during this period, large areas of military camps appeared in the fields south of Okaka Domain, including Satsuma Shimazu, Choshu Mori, Saga Nabeshima, Kumamoto Hosokawa, Hiroshima Asano, Tottori Ikeda, Tosa Sanuchi, and Tokushima.

The troops of Haizuka, Uwajima Date, and other powerful feudal clans from the Southwest have all arrived... Each battle house has also been built day and night, with each family's crest printed on each side.

The flag is already fluttering in the sea breeze of Hakata Bay.

As the seventh day of July approaches, the atmosphere in Hakata Bay has become increasingly solemn. The feudal lords or the clan lords of the powerful southwestern clans who have gathered in the Fukuoka clan are invited by Kuroda Mitsuyuki every day.

Go to Fukuoka Castle to hold a meeting to discuss countermeasures - although the Ming Dynasty's heavenly troops have not arrived yet, all kinds of bad news have been coming from Nagasaki and across the sea these days!

The first bad news came from Nagasaki. The merchant ships and merchant houses of the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, England and other countries, which had always said they would support Japan's resistance to the Ming Dynasty, are now withdrawing... and they are also

They didn't evacuate very far, and they all evacuated to Shanghai.

What does this mean? Who do these foreign devils support?

The second bad news is also related to the foreign devils who greased their soles...the flintlocks and gunpowder they promised to support are basically not in place, unless the feudal lords who want to get the flintlocks and gunpowder give enough money!

Even if they are not willing to give out muskets and gunpowder, these foreign devils are still willing to send reinforcements to help?

It’s unreliable even if you think about it!

The third bad news is that there is actually no news - the clan lord of Tsushima has not contacted Fukuoka for almost a month.

Moreover, there is no news from the entire island of Tsushima! None of the ships Kuroda Mitsuki sent out to contact the island have returned.

This shows that Tsushima Island, located in the Korean Strait, has probably been captured by the Ming army and will serve as a springboard for the Ming army to land in Hakata Bay.

It seems that what the Ming Emperor said about landing at Hakata Bay on the seventh day of July was not a bluff!

The war will probably come as planned!

However, the main force of the army led by Tokugawa Tsunayoshi has not yet arrived. It is still within the territory of Choshu Domain and has not yet crossed the sea into Kyushu Island... What does he mean? He wants to imitate his grandfather Tokugawa Hidetada.

Late for the fight?

...

"We should never have trusted those Nanbarians from the beginning... The only people we and other foreign greats can rely on are ourselves!

Now that we are facing a formidable enemy, we outsiders must unite!"

In the Honmarunouchi of Fukuoka Castle, the man who "rose from the ground" is a middle-aged man with a full beard, but not well groomed, who looks a bit downcast. It is the man who wants to bring down the curtain, but has no courage to carry it out, so he has to spend time with him during the holidays.

The feudal lord of the Choshu Domain, Tsunahiro Mouri, was silent about the fact that his subordinates shouted twice about the fall of the curtain.

Hearing his words, Kuroda Mitsuyuki couldn't help but frown.

Who said that foreigners must be united when they get together? For the same lord of the foreigner clan, there were some who did well and some who did not.

The Mori family was brutally slaughtered by Tokugawa Ieyasu because they were on the wrong side in the Battle of Sekigahara, and lost most of their territory, so they became as vicious as they are now.

However, a family like the Kuroda family has expanded from a few hundred thousand koku to a current size of four to five million koku... But you must be cautious!

Thinking of this, Kuroda Mitsuyuki glanced at Shimazu Tsunaki of Satsuma Domain again.

The situation of the Satsuma Shimazu family is a bit similar to that of the Choshu Mori family. They are also a feudal clan with more wolves and less meat. However, the Ishidaka of the Shimazu family is much higher than that of the Mori family... Ishidaka is strength!

"The Choshu Marquis (the feudal lord was often called a marquis in the Edo period) is right. We, the foreign lords of the feudal lord, should indeed unite as one at this time..." Tsunaki Shimazu and Tsunahiro Mouri are from the same sect, obviously.

It was through Qi'er in private.

He paused and then said: "The Ming invaders are about to land, Japan is facing a national crisis, and the General's army has not yet arrived... If we don't unite, I'm afraid we will be destroyed!"

"Yes!" Tsunahiro Mouri immediately took up the topic, "We have already boarded the same boat. If we can't work together, it will really be over... and I also heard that the Japanese invaders will use Koreans to lead the battle!

Everyone must be clear about the consequences if the North Koreans are allowed to kill in our territory, right? So if we cannot unite and fight to the death, the consequences will be disastrous!"

"Yes!" Shimazu Tsunayuki echoed, "Gentlemen, we can only protect our territory and homeland by uniting as one and advancing and retreating together..."
Chapter completed!