Daimyos from all over the country live in Edo. Even if it happens to be their turn to return to their fiefdoms this year, their wives, children and accompanying officials will still stay in Edo.
Therefore, when Edo was besieged, reinforcements would definitely be sent.
However, the pace of reinforcements is very slow, mainly because the roads are not easy to travel. Japan does not have official roads spread throughout the country. Even the land tax collected by the daimyo every year must first be transported by sea to Osaka and Edo, and then from these two cities.
Transported across the country by sea.
The first to take action was the Mito clan, one of the three royal families.
Mito Domain was very close to Edo, and the feudal lord would often come to Edo Castle for a walk even when he was in his own fiefdom. And because the feudal lord was also a Tokugawa clan, he was called the "Deputy Shogun of the Shogunate."
After the Edo samurai who failed to enter the city were defeated by the Daido Army, many fled to Mito Domain.
Tokugawa Mitsuki ordered the gathering of these samurai, and also issued an order to all Kanto feudal clans, asking all the Kanto daimyo armies to come to Mito Domain first to gather.
When Han Shouxin captured Kyoto, Tokugawa Mitsuo had already gathered more than 30,000 troops, and at the same time recruited Ashigaru in the territory. He also recruited many civilians, claiming to be an army of 200,000, hoping to scare away the Chinese army.
Tokugawa Mitsuaki himself had never fought in a war, but he was the most educated daimyo in Japan.
Tokugawa Mitsuhiro himself serves as the editor-in-chief of "History of Japan", "Etiquette Code", and "History of Hitachi". He does not live in the castle, but lives in the mountains to the west of the city. He calls himself the "Hermit of the West Mountain"
.Under his encouragement, the literary style of Mito Domain flourished, and Mito School gradually formed.
Zhu Shunshui, who served as a cabinet minister to Zhao Han, was Tokugawa Mitsuhiro's teacher in another time and space.
At this time, a war was about to begin, and Tokugawa Mitsuhiro was surrounded by a large group of scholar-strategists in addition to his retainers and samurai.
Yoshi Hongmoto, who is well versed in Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism and Chinese history, said: "According to the Edo samurai brought here, the Tang soldiers' iron cannons were sharp, and they fought in street battles and maintained a well-organized formation. In addition to suppressing peasant unrest, our army has already carried out two
We haven’t fought a war in thirty years. We must not rush to rescue Edo this time. We must continue to gather troops in Mito. Only when we have more than 50,000 soldiers can we really go to the battlefield."
Okabe Yinao, who is also proficient in Confucian classics, retorted: "Edo has been besieged for more than a month, and the soldiers are very fast, so they must rush to the rescue. "Sun Tzu's Art of War" says that this war is nothing more than the right time, the right place and the right people. The shogunate defends
Edo Castle has taken advantage of the territory. The Tang soldiers came out of nowhere to invade our Japanese land. Our army must be united as one. This is human harmony. My brother said that the Tang soldiers had sharp weapons. After the reinforcements arrived in Edo, they could attack on rainy days. This is called the right time. The right time.
I have the right location and people, so how can I be invincible?"
[To be honest, I have been using Yeguo to read and catch up on books recently. I can switch sources and read aloud with many sounds. www. Android and Apple are available.]
"This is a wonderful statement." All the literati praised him one after another.
Tokugawa Mitsuki asked his retainers again: "Do you think we should send troops immediately, or continue to wait for the remaining Kwantung troops?"
The retainer Ukai Mitsuba thought for a while and said: "House Governor Rong Bing, the armies in various parts of Kantung are all doing their own things. Although the home governor was temporarily appointed as the general of Kanto, he cannot effectively command the entire army. Now there are rumors in the army.
Starting from the beginning, samurai who fled from Edo described the Tang soldiers as invincible heavenly soldiers. If they continue to gather troops and fail to advance, the longer the delay, the lower the morale of the Kanto tribes will be, and the deeper their fear of the Tang soldiers will be."
"Then set off quickly!" Tokugawa Mitsuhiro listened to the opinions of his retainers from a distance.
The Japanese Kwantung Allied Forces rushed to the aid of Edo.
There are tens of thousands of warriors in various banners, more than 8,000 ronin are temporarily recruited, and there are more than 30,000 ashigaru. As for the civilian husbands, they are countless.
Just as the reinforcements passed not far from my grandson's place, they were spotted by the Datong Army's reconnaissance cavalry.
My Sun Tzu Station, later known as My Sun Tzu City. It is more than 40 miles east of Edo and is a waterborne commercial market town.
Tokugawa Mitsuki nodded in agreement and added: "I just discovered the cavalry of the Tang army. When I read the Tang Dynasty classics, I found that the Tang people used night attacks since ancient times. We need to be more prepared tonight!"
"That's for sure," Ugaigami said, "but please don't worry, Lord Governor, this place is still more than thirty miles away from Edo. It will take a long time for the Tang people's cavalry to rush back to report the news. If we want to send troops here,
It's sixty miles to go back and forth, and there will definitely be no time for a night attack tonight. When we march tomorrow, we need to be more prepared to avoid being ambushed halfway by the Tang army."
Tokugawa Mitsuki nodded: "That makes sense."
…
"Boom boom boom boom!"
Dozens of artillery pieces fired wildly at Edo Castle.
The daimyo in the city thought that the Datong Army was about to launch a general offensive, so they hurriedly mobilized their troops to defend.
Amidst the roar of artillery, 2,000 cavalry and 2,000 infantry took a sea ship and landed at Ichikawa not far to the east. Then, the infantry took a captured small morning boat, and the cavalry rode along the river, running at full speed to raid the Kwantung reinforcements.
The Japanese Road Leading Party was responsible for identifying the road and turning south of Liushan.
Since the sky was completely dark, the cavalry also led their horses on foot. With their titles on their backs and their horses' hooves bound, they tried not to make any noise. The four thousand Datong troops all moved forward in silence.
When we arrived at the Kwantung Allied Forces camp, it was already past four in the morning, and even the enemy sentries were asleep.
The camp of the Kwantung Allied Forces is backed by a small hill. There are some wooden fences set up around the camp, and a lot of iron pear trees are also scattered to prevent sneak attacks.
Several of the infantrymen of the Datong Army who were the first to approach were accidentally pierced through their feet. Fortunately, they had branches in their mouths, and they just grunted in pain. The injured soldiers retreated, and the rest of the soldiers came over to clear the obstacles, including Tiejiali.
It's strung together with thread, and once you pick it up, it's a big bunch.
Then he destroyed the wooden fence, and as soon as he pushed it to a section of the wall, the secret sentry of the Kwantung Allied Forces was awakened.
"Tang Bing is coming, Tang Bing is coming!"
As the secret sentry issued a warning, four thousand Datong troops began to light torches and swarmed in through the knocked down wooden fence.
Tokugawa Mitsuhiro and his banner set up a tent on the mountainside to rest. After Ukai Miden explained, he also felt that there would be no night attack. Because it would take time for the Chinese cavalry to go back to report the news, and it would also take time to mobilize the night attack troops.
It was already dawn when I came all the way here.
Therefore, Tokugawa Mitsuhiro slept soundly and was awakened from his dream at dawn.
"What happened?" Tokugawa Mitsuru asked as he hurriedly dressed.
When Ukai heard the news, he ran into the tent and said with a horrified look on his face: "Sir, Tang soldiers attacked at night!"
Tokugawa Mitsuaki asked: "Didn't you say that the enemy had no time to attack at night?"
When Ukai saw Chuan Chuan, he cried bitterly: "The Tang army is too fast."
Tokugawa Mitsuaki asked again: "What's the situation outside?"
Ukai Miden replied: "Several camps in the west are in chaos, and the army in the east is gathering."
Tokugawa Mitsuki didn't bother to get dressed, so he got out of his tent and looked down the mountain. He saw fires everywhere in the military camp to the east, and there were many torches moving towards the east.
Some of the torches moved very fast, and they were two thousand Datong cavalry.
This place is beyond the small hill and is surrounded by plains, which is very suitable for cavalry to gallop. The cavalry specializes in killing and driving away the defeated troops, and the task of setting fire to the camp is left to the infantry. The camp of tens of thousands of Kwantung Allied Forces was half disrupted in the blink of an eye.
Japanese samurai rarely had meat to eat, and Ashigaru were even less qualified to eat meat. Many of them suffered from night blindness.
Unable to see clearly in the dark, and with no time to put on their armor, most Japanese soldiers grabbed their weapons and fled, and many even threw away their weapons.
They couldn't tell the direction and subconsciously fled to a place where there was no fire.
The Datong cavalry deliberately slowed down their horses and divided into several groups to drive away the enemy like a herd of sheep, causing all the defeated troops in Kanto to rush eastward. Wherever the defeated troops went, it was like a virus contagion, and a few daimyo who were gathering troops were also routed.
The soldiers fled eastward with him.
Seeing the horrified shouts getting closer and closer, the Kanto generals did not dare to attack the easternmost camps, and fled with the gathered Hatamoto samurai.
"Sir, let's go quickly!" Ukai brought the war horse.
"Yes, withdraw the troops, withdraw the troops first." Tokugawa Mitsuhiro, already at a loss for words, climbed onto his horse with the help of Ukai Midenden.
This knowledgeable feudal lord, who was familiar with the classics and histories, thought that fighting would be nothing more than that.
Only then did he understand why night attacks always worked. He was suddenly surprised, and the party being attacked completely lost his organization. Tokugawa Mitsuaki was unable to contact the various ministries at all, and could only command his own Hatamoto samurai. There was no one in the tens of thousands of troops.
Useless!
The hill was not steep, and Tokugawa Mitsuru was so anxious to escape that he actually accelerated his horse when going downhill.
The war horse couldn't see the mountain road clearly, and before it could run very far, it stumbled and knocked Tokugawa Hikari away.
"grown ups!"
"Governor House!"
The retainers and warriors rushed to help him and found that the guy had fallen unconscious.
Ukai had no choice but to take Tokugawa Mitsuhiro on horseback to run away. After a bumpy ride, Tokugawa Mitsuhiro was awakened. Mihu asked: "Did you escape?"
"Not yet." When Ukai heard the news, he reined in his horse and stopped, and ordered a samurai to hand over his horse and let Tokugawa Mitsuru ride alone, otherwise the two of them would run too slowly on one horse.
Taking advantage of the time to change horses, Tokugawa Mitsuhiro looked behind him and saw the Chinese army's torches, which were already very close. There seemed to be shouts from all directions, and his tens of thousands of troops had been completely routed.
As for the civilized counselors who accompanied the army, they didn't even have horses, so they died who knows where.
The short legs of the Japanese pony carried Tokugawa Mitsuhiro and continued to run wildly. A river suddenly appeared in front of him, which was the Tone River next to my grandson's hotel. It was this river that prospered in commerce, and the town of my grandson's hotel was born.
.
"Where's the boat?"
Ukai Miden looked at the empty river and was furious.
When they came, in order to cross the river, they collected many boats at my grandson's residence, and tens of thousands of troops crossed the river in batches.
The daimyo who camped in the easternmost place tonight were farthest from the night attack, so they all ran away with almost no losses. The defeated troops fled to the Tonegawa River and drove all the boats to the other side. Not a single sampan was given to the Tokugawa.
The light remains.
"Go north!" Tokugawa Mitsuhiro said.
Unable to cross the river, these unlucky people had no choice but to flee north along the river bank.
Most of Tokugawa Mitsuhiro's banners did not have war horses. They escaped too slowly and were killed and captured countless people along the way. It was inevitable that some betrayers wanted to be honored and took the initiative to tell Tokugawa Mitsuhiro's escape direction.
The Datong cavalry learned the news and immediately accelerated their pursuit.
A war horse with long legs is much faster than a horse with short legs.
The pursuers were getting closer and closer, and Tokugawa Mitsuaki complained endlessly. He was a man of culture, not as good at riding as other daimyo, and riding a horse at night was beyond his ability.
His retainers, the samurai, suffered even more. In order to protect their master, they had to slow down their escape.
Not far to the north, the pursuers from behind were close at Chi Chi.
Tokugawa Mitsuaki didn't want to run away anymore. He was a decent man. After reining in his horse and stopping, he pretended to be calm, turned over and dismounted, and then began to tidy up his appearance. Only then did he realize that he was not wearing his coat and his hat was missing.
When the Datong cavalry chased them more than ten steps away, Tokugawa Mitsuhiro shouted loudly: "The lord of Mito Domain, Tokugawa Mitsuhiro, is here. If you are bloodthirsty, please take my life."
Nonsense, prisoners are rarer than heads, let alone the "deputy shogun of the shogunate".
Tokugawa Mitsuaki knew that he would not die and would be used as a bargaining chip, so he could act so calmly.
