During Japan's long Warring States Period, the areas such as Satsuma held by the Shimadzu family were rarely directly invaded by enemies. As a strong vassal in the southwest, the Shimazu family has been in constant battle since the four brothers Yoshihiro unified Southern Kyushu. It's just that the Shimadzu family is attacking everywhere to dominate Kyushu.
Now this is the first direct attack from the Chinese army that the Satsuma Shimazu family has encountered.
Most of the so-called "real Japanese" that invaded mainland China during the "Jiajing Great Japanese Pirates" were Japanese cannon fodder recruited by coastal Chinese pirate gangs. Satsuma was also involved. The main members of the Satsuma Samurai Order here have all participated in Korea. On the battlefield, they fought against the Ming Dynasty regular army. They did not have a high evaluation of the force of the Chinese army. The reputation of "Shi Manzi" was not unfounded. The Ming Dynasty army had a high evaluation of the combat effectiveness of the Shimazu family army. Therefore, Shimazu Tadahashi From the bottom of my heart, I was not worried about what the Chinese troops who landed would do.
"...The people who came to Kagoshima this time were not the Ming Emperor's army. They were the private soldiers of Taiwan's maritime merchants. The leader was called Captain Yin. He was probably a first-rate tycoon like Captain Wufeng. What do you think of this? Opinion. Should we stand firm and wait for reinforcements, or should we go out for a decisive battle?" Shimazu Tadashi looked around, his eyes filled with excitement. Although he served as the head of the family, he has never been able to gain the prestige he deserved in the family samurai group. The reason for this is Because the martial arts skills of his father, Shimazu Yoshihisa, Yoshihiro and the other four brothers were too outstanding and their reputations were too famous. His position as the head of the family was often suspected of enjoying the benefits. Therefore, in terms of his personal emotional tendencies, he really wanted to Use the reputation of defeating the Chinese in one battle to consolidate his position as the head of the family.
Shimazu was the first to speak unceremoniously: "I think it is impossible to go to war. For one thing, our Satsuma country is currently empty of troops. Even if we mobilize those countrymen, we can only gather a total of less than 3,000 troops in a few days. ; And the number of enemies. Now we can see that there are more than 3,000 people who have come ashore. Secondly, the enemies come from afar. The weapons they use are large iron cannons. Most of the required supplies have to be shipped from Taiwan. We As long as we hold on to Tsurumaru Castle and wait until Ryukyu Kavayama Kudaka's army returns or reinforcements from surrounding areas arrive, it will be easy to defeat the enemy."
As soon as this statement came out, it was approved by Kume Kayama, Kutora Ewa and other retainers. Shimazu Tadashi's face sank. Before he could refute, the veteran Shinna Tadashi suddenly shouted in a loud voice that was not suitable for his age: "Reinforcements. Where are the reinforcements? Is it Ito Yukei from Hyuga or Takahashi Motane from Nobeoka Castle?"
The two people mentioned by the old man are wealthy families who are at odds with the Shimadzu family. They are the targets of the Shimadzu family's protection. When everyone looked at each other, the old man Xinna coughed a few times and continued: "The Shimadzu family is surrounded by enemies. Kumamoto's Kato Kiyomasa and other Kyushu daimyo were jealous of our ability to conquer Ryukyu Taiwan. Once they heard that we were attacked by Taiwanese Chinese, they must be waiting to see our Satsuma jokes. If they come to support us, they will also wait for us. Come back when you lose both sides in the fight with the Chinese."
Shimazu Tadahashi gratefully bowed his head to Tadashi Shinna, put away the fan in his hand, and said loudly with the aura of a superior: "Shinna-kun is right. The Shimazu family has to fight now. It doesn't matter if we don't have enough troops. Our Satsuma army has repeatedly faced enemies whose numbers are several times or more than ten times ours. We have failed several times."
Yamada Yuei, Kawakami Hisaro and other close branches of the Shimadzu family all stood up to support Shimazu Tadashi: "Kizakihara defeated Hyuga Ito's army. Otomo Sorin's army was defeated by Otomo. Okitazu joined forces and defeated Ryuuzouji's army. Totsugawa ambush Tosa Chosong's army and Sichuan defeated the Ming army in a joint battle. We always defeated more with less. Now we are no exception when dealing with these Chinese merchants. My lord, let's go to battle."
Old man Xinna also said: "My lord, we are going to fight. My grandson Gendo is willing to be your vanguard."
The young Xinna Gendo leaned over and knelt: "I am willing to die in service to the Lord."
Seeing this scene, Tadashi Shimazu did not give up: "My lord, the envoys of the Chinese merchants have arrived in the city. Why not meet them. There is no news about the Restoration Sai Yoshihiroden in Kajigi. We still have to wait..."
Shimazu Yoshihiro interrupted him impatiently: "My father is the number one general of our Shimazu family. He will never retreat in the city and dare not go out to fight. These merchants are just humble merchants in the Ming Dynasty. There is no need for me to see their envoys." He turned back to his bodyguard and said, "Hanbei, go see the envoys of the merchants and send them back. Tell them: I, the Shimazu family, will fight with you on the battlefield. They negotiate."
…
The Chinese United Company's expeditionary force is landing one after another. The number of people on the Kagoshima coastline has reached more than 5,000. The three giant ships of the Feizi are cruising in Kagoshima Bay. They fire several shots on the land from time to time, threatening the Shimadzu army. action.
Yin Feng had just landed at the mouth of the Inari River in a small boat. He walked up to the fort and sighed in his heart. In the history of China for thousands of years, he was probably the first Chinese to land on the Japanese mainland with his army. This The trajectory of history has truly been changed by myself.
"Sir Captain, our entire artillery battalion has landed. All five cannons have landed."
Li Kuiqi, the young commander of the artillery battalion, raised his left hand across his chest and saluted as usual: "Sir, the captain, the field artillery positions have begun to be set up. By order of deputy commander Yang Dacheng, our artillery battalion's assault team has been formed. Please give the order. "
"Report." A barefoot sailor musketeer rushed over and knelt down on one knee outside the wall of Yin Feng's black guards.
"What's the matter?" Yin Feng waved the sailor over and asked kindly, "Is it brother Danmin from Yazhou? How is the situation ahead?"
The sailor blushed and said excitedly: "To return to the captain, I am from the Dan family in Haikou. My name is Lin Shuisheng. Our brothers from the fifth battle fleet have arrived one mile away from Shi Manzi's home city. No. Encountered enemy resistance. However, the foreign envoys have returned."
"Oh. Let them come over."
Yin Feng had no hope at all whether the envoy could complete his mission. It turned out to be the case. The Shimadzu family didn't even accept the envoy's letter. They just drove him back. They even said they would negotiate with the China Company on the battlefield. .
Yin Feng sneered and glanced at the old general Chen Di: "How about... old general Chen."
Chen Di was also very angry with the Shimazu family's arrogance: "Japanese pirates are Japanese pirates after all. They don't make any sense at all."
"To be honest, they can't be Japanese pirates." Yin Feng said lightly. He expressed his gratitude to the Jesuit missionary who acted as the envoy. Then he said to Li Kuiqi: "Okay. Take me to see your surprise attack." Team."
At around five o'clock in the afternoon, on the Inari River beach, countless Chinese people were seizing the time to carry weapons and ammunition to the shore.
On the other side of the river beach, there are five carts pulled by ten donkeys. There are three 6-pound field guns and a 50-barrel rainstorm gun - a Chinese-style organ gun. The other cart is equipped with Chinese specialties. -20-tube rocket launcher.
100 gunners and rocketeers carried broadswords on their backs. 100 sailor musketeers served as escorts. A total of 200 raid members were ready to go. Li Kuiqi stood at the front with his head held high and his chest raised, looking straight ahead. Yin Feng stood in front of him, nodding with satisfaction: " Well done. You put this guy together so quickly. Your mission is to lure the enemy. Be careful not to get entangled with the enemy. Come back immediately after delivering the gifts. The Japanese pirates burned so many houses in Taiwan. We have to retaliate. Go ahead. .”
The mouth of the Inari River where Yin Feng's main force is currently landing is only 3 miles away from the Shimadzu furniture town Tsurumaru Castle. To the north is a hilly mountainous area. On the other side is the beach of the Kagoshima port area. The north bank of the river mouth is where the Catholic Church is spread. The landing place where the Jesuit missionary Francisco Javier landed in Japan when he first arrived in Japan.
From Tsurumaru Castle to the Inari River, the terrain is basically plain. It is indeed a good place for fighting.
Therefore, Yin Feng did not dare to neglect. He had already asked the forward sailor musketeers to set up a warning position 500 steps away from the landing site.
At a place 300 steps away from the mouth of the Inari River, a temporary wooden fence was set up with wooden branches from north to south. 1,000 Sailor Musketeers have camped there. On a slightly higher platform one mile north of the mouth of the river. Li Kuiqi's artillery battalion has installed 30 6-pound field guns and 10 heavy field guns over 24 pounds there. Manpower is being organized to dig trenches and set up roadblocks.
The main force of the infantry. The first regiment Yang Dacheng's 4 battalions of 2,000 men. The second regiment Mai De's 4 battalions of 2,500 men are forming up at the river beach. They are desperately carrying various weapons, equipment and ammunition to the shore.
After nightfall, the Chinese camp was lit with torches everywhere. The figures were flashing and it looked very busy. The Satsuma Shimazu family had decided to go out for a field battle tomorrow. The entire Tsurumaru Castle and the samurai outside the city were 1,500 meters away from the Chinese camp. Residences, castle towns and other places are also brightly lit and people are moving around. There are many swords and guns. They are also busy preparing for war.
In the port area north of the mouth of the Kodoku River, Chinese sailors and sneak reconnaissance teams of the Shimadzu family samurai clashed constantly at night. Small-scale hand-to-hand battles continued to occur on the empty beaches and in the grass on the plains.
The Shimadzu samurai who were familiar with the terrain and had good close combat skills made the Chinese Sailor Musketeers suffer from the beginning.
In order to ensure the safety of the left wing of the landing bridgehead, Yin Feng had to send out 150 special battalion soldiers from Luo Aquan and let them rush into the darkness and advance towards the mouth of the Jiatu River.
Throughout the first half of the night, on the beach plain between the Kodoku River and the Inari River, the Chinese and Japanese armies had dozens of small-scale encounters in the dark.
There are a total of five wooden bridges on the Kobutsu River. From the upper reaches, they are "Tamae Bridge", "Shinkami Bridge", "Nishida Bridge", "Koryo Bridge" and "Take no Bridge". Shinna Tadashi and his grandnephew Shinna Fujiwara are at Nishida Bridge The imperial gate hosted this evening sneak attack and harassment battle.
At first, the flames of musket fire kept appearing on the plain ahead. It was the Chinese firing guns at night. As a result, the muzzle flash made them the target of the Shimazu family's archers.
Gradually, the fire light decreased and disappeared. There were more faint screams and the sound of swords clashing. Then, groups of retreating Shimazu samurai appeared at the other end of the bridge, supporting each other. Then return to the other end of the bridge.
The two Shinna family warriors, one big and one small, looked at each other. They all felt unbelievable. Could it be that the brave and skilled Shimazu family warriors had failed in a hand-to-hand fight at night?
"What's going on?" Xinna Zhongjiu grabbed a warrior of his family and asked sternly: "Why did you come back in such a mess?"
The warrior held the door, exposing the wound on his back; a short crossbow arrow was stuck in his back.
"What's this."
"A kind of continuous crossbow arrow. It is silent. It fires more than ten arrows at a time. And the opponent is also a master of night fighting..." The injured man took a breath and said: "They can lurk behind us without making any sound. We can't defend ourselves..."
"take a look."
Shinna Fujiwara suddenly opened his mouth wide. He pointed to the north and shouted: "There's a fire. Tsurumaru is on fire."
The samurai at the Nishida Bridge Royal Gate all turned their heads and looked north. At the same time, they took a breath of cold air.
The tall castle tower of Tsurumaru Castle caught fire.