"The shogunate has issued an order that no ship is allowed to go to sea."
"What a joke, when will the shogunate's orders control our empire? Does the shogunate want to rebel?"
The benefits of a strong country are reflected.
Facing the interrogation by the shogunate army, the imperial merchants were rebellious and spoke very contemptuously.
They have the confidence.
Because the country supports them.
"sail!"
The imperial merchants completely ignored the shogunate's prohibition and insisted on leaving.
The interrogating shogunate officer's face was extremely ugly. His hand was holding the handle of the knife, loosening and tightening, tightening and loosening again.
Obviously, he was in extreme conflict.
The shogunate gave him a strict order, and no one was allowed to leave.
Moreover, he very much suspected that there were spies of unknown origin on board this ship.
Once these spies are allowed to leave, the shogunate's plan is likely to be exposed.
But this is a merchant ship of the empire, a place outside the law. If there is really going to be trouble, can the shogunate withstand the wrath of the empire?
Won't they push him out to be cannon fodder in the end?
But if the ship is released today, regardless of whether the secret is leaked or not, can the shogunate bypass him?
"Sir, it's a dark night and the wind is high, maybe you can..."
In a moment of confusion, the adjutant gave him a reason.
This is the sea, it's pitch black and there's nothing all around.
At this time, in this place, if something unexpected happens, who would know?
The officer's face showed a fierce look, and he suddenly roared and rushed onto the imperial merchant ship.
The fighting soon began, and the roars of humans were like a hundred ghosts walking in the night above the vast sea, scaring away all living creatures.
More than an hour later, the officer returned to his ship covered in blood.
"Sink the ship."
On the vast sea, as long as the ship sinks, it will die without evidence and leave no future troubles.
After a while, the imperial merchant ship began to tilt obviously, and finally disappeared from the screen bit by bit.
Seeing that his hands and tail were clean, the officer was satisfied and ordered to return.
But the people in the shogunate didn't notice at all. Just under the stern of their boat, there was a tired and frail figure hanging.
The army of the foreign daimyo finally rushed into the Edo Plains and marched to Maebashi Castle.
This city was responsible for the important task of defending Edo, so heavy troops were deployed for defense.
Maori Guangguang was not surprised by this.
If there is a heavy defense, just fight.
Anyway, the main force of the shogunate's army was currently fighting the rebellion in Sendai. They were thousands of miles apart and couldn't come back at all.
It was the battle on the Eastern Front that made him very dissatisfied. Shimazu Mitsuhisa had not captured Mount Akagi so far, so he could not come to join him.
Without a group of troops, he would have to attack the front bridge alone.
But it doesn't matter, after this battle is over, there will no longer be any debate about who is the leader who deserves the name.
Mitsuhiro Mouri seemed to see that he was about to replace the Tokugawa family and become the new generation of shogun.
Guarding Maebashi is Sakai Tadakatsu.
In Doi Toishi's plan, this place is a top priority and must not be lost. Otherwise, if the Daimyo army dwindles thousands of miles and really rushes to Edo Castle, the situation will be difficult to predict.
In short, Maebashi cannot be lost, and neither can Akagi Mountain.
These two points are the key to holding back the daimyo's army.
As for the main force of the shogunate army...
I never went to Sendai at all.
Although the riot in Sendai was extremely harmful to the shogunate, as long as the daimyō were eliminated, no matter how big the riot was, it would be nothing more than a storm.
Both Tokugawa Iemitsu and Doi Toshikatsu are confident that they will be able to pacify the situation.
At this time, Doi Toshiki led his army to hide in Kumagaya, waiting for the enemy to be consumed in large numbers at Maebashi before he came out.
Date Hidemune was assigned a very difficult task.
He led his army through the Chichibu Mountains and fought to the rear of the daimyo's army.
The mountains here are not very tall and steep, but they are so dense that there is no road to walk along them.
Date Hidesune had to find a way out.
For this reason, Doi Toshiki handed over most of the food and grass to him.
Doi Toshikatsu never thought about the consequences if Date Hidemune failed to cross the Chichibu Mountains.
Japanese people have always dared to place bets on things like luck.
The funny thing is, I lose far more often than I win.
The eternal truth is that there will be no winner at the gambling table.
The battle to defend Maebashi was fought fiercely. Tadakatsu Sakai refused to retreat until the end, completely exchanging human lives for human lives.
His 8,000 defenders fought for seven days, suffering more than 5,000 casualties, and only 1,500 people could still fight. Even he himself broke his left arm, but he still persisted.
His sacrifice was worth it.
Mouri Mitsuhiro lost more than 10,000 people under Maebashi Castle. The entire army was exhausted and exhausted.
In addition, the Saku Valley is rugged and difficult to navigate, making it very difficult to transport food and grass, and the army has begun to starve.
Like Toi Toshi, Mitsuhiro Mori is also a gambler at critical moments.
He didn't think about retreating, so he bet that the front bridge could be captured in the next attack, and then rushed to Edo.
Maori Guangguang lost his bet.
At the most critical moment, Doi Toshi's well-trained army appeared.
The shogunate's army rushed through Maebashi Castle and rushed like a flood towards the chaotic formation of the daimyo army.
Everything happened so suddenly that the daimyo army had no time to stop the resistance and collapsed under the powerful offensive of the shogunate army.
Toshi Doi adopted the craziest style of play.
He put the musketeers on the front line, shooting almost on the opponent's head.
Although this caused heavy casualties to the Musketeers, it directly shattered the last resistance of the Daimyo army.
At the rear of the musketeers, the bronze artillery pieces were also pushed up, and they were also on the front line of bombardment.
The artillery of the daimyo army worked continuously for several days in order to attack the city. Not only was it short of ammunition, it was also severely damaged.
Even because the barrel is so hot, it can no longer be used.
The firepower gap between the two sides was too great, and the battle became the winner.
The ghost of Maori Mitsuhiro was so great that he did not expect that the shogunate army would suddenly appear.
In addition, the daimyo army is a coalition force.
As we all know, the alliance has suffered many defeats since ancient times.
A coalition means that the command is not smooth, and it is easy to fight independently when encountering danger.
Moreover, every daimyo has the idea of preserving his strength. When encountering difficulties, he does not think of fighting to the death, but of quickly retreating and leaving the danger to others.
As a result, the Daimyo army completely broke up and fled across the mountains and plains.
Mitsuhiro Mouri completely lost control of the army and ran faster than anyone else.
But Saku couldn't go back.
Still on the way, bad news came.
Date Hidemune paid the price of nearly half of the casualties, just crossed the Chichibu Mountains, and suddenly reached the foot of Saku Castle.
Saku had been damaged before, and the Daimyo army had no intention of repairing it. It was just used as a logistics base.
Facing the sudden appearance of the shogunate's army, the weak defenders here collapsed at the first touch, and watched helplessly as the few grain reserves were burned clean by the shogunate's army.
Not to mention, Date Hidenune stopped the daimyo's defeated army.
The two sides started the bloodiest fight in the long and narrow valley.
One side wants to completely eliminate the enemy, and the other side wants to escape.
Both sides broke out with unprecedented fighting power, so that dead bodies soon filled the valley.