Since the second fleet arrived in Kagoshima, the shipping route between Kyushu and Ryukyu has been cut off due to typhoons for many days. Yin Feng has not received news from Chen Zhongji on Ryukyu Island for a long time. The Sea Spirit is under maintenance. There is no news. French sailing. Therefore, there has been no news exchange between the two units of the Chinese United Company Expeditionary Force, Satsuma and Ryukyu, for nearly twenty days.
Although Yin Feng was anxious, he was not too worried; with Chen Zhongji's ability and the troops at hand, the possibility of Huashan Jiugao's comeback was very small. These days, he went everywhere to recruit overseas Chinese in Satsuma Domain. He actually found 100 Many Chinese immigrants from the Ming Dynasty.
There are so many Chinese in a relatively remote place in Japan like Satsuma. Yin Feng couldn't help but sigh: There is a famous saying in later generations: Where there is sunshine, there are Chinese. This sentence is indeed the truth.
Among these people were businessmen from Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and other places, led by Fujian businessman Li Dayou. Li Dayou was the guide of the Chinese army’s expedition to Satsuma; the others were a large number of ordinary Ming Dynasty people who had been plundered by Japanese pirates from the coast of China. .Engage in various technical activities locally. Among them, the Xu family from Jiangxi has more than ten people, the largest number.
The Xu family has lived in Satsuma for more than 40 years. They are from Ji'an, Jiangxi Province who were captured by Japanese pirates during the Jiajing period. The head of the family is named Xu Yi. He has been practicing medicine in Satsuma for more than 40 years. He is the royal Chinese medicine doctor of the Shimadzu family.
Xu Yi is over seventy years old. His children were all born after he came to Japan and married local women. He was in a foreign land and cherished his homeland. When he learned that Toyotomi Hideyoshi was planning to send troops to invade Korea and defeat the Ming Dynasty, he immediately sent his disciple Zhu Junwang He managed to send a letter to Zhao Shenlu, the governor of Fujian, informing Toyotomi Hideyoshi that he was preparing for war and that he planned to send troops to North Korea and defeat the Ming Dynasty in the spring of next year. Unfortunately, the Ming government at that time was not aware of the news sent by North Korea, Japan and Sulfur Ball. Except for ordering the Ministry of War to send a message to North Korea for inquiries, it only issued an order to coastal checkpoints to pay attention to coastal defense. No military preparations were made.
Yin Feng recruited local Chinese craftsmen for the purpose of repairing the "Uminehun". Because according to the captured Yamada Masato, the Zhuin ships used by the Shimadzu family for sea trading were all built by Chinese craftsmen.
After the rapid defeat of the Shimadzu family, the local Chinese, except for the businessmen, hid in their homes and did not come out. Even when the Chinese army recruited large-scale manpower for work, they were unwilling to come out.
Yin Feng was very puzzled by this. Later, after finding Xu Yi in Tsurumaru Castle, he understood what was going on.
The businessmen knew about the Chinese United Company, but the Chinese expatriates scattered throughout Satsuma did not know what the Chinese army was about. They were all captured by the Japanese pirates. They worked for the Japanese masters. They were half slaves and half civilians. The information was blocked. They all regard the Chinese army as pirates off the coast of China. It was these Chinese pirate gangs who teamed up with Japanese pirates to plunder them from their hometown. Therefore, they do not trust the "Chinese pirates". They are also very worried that once the Shimadzu family returns, what will happen to them because of them? Work for the "Chinese pirates" and take revenge on them.
In the minds of these poor Ming Dynasty people, the government was the orthodoxy, although the court did not take them seriously.
Yin Feng put a lot of effort into the old doctor Xu Yi. He also showed him the seal of the Taiwan Inspection Department and the title of Qianhu issued by the imperial court. Only then did he gain Xu Yi's trust. After Xu Yi stood up After supporting the Chinese Army, a large number of Chinese expatriates began to show up. Yin Feng also successfully recruited more than a dozen shipwrights.
The upper mast, sail and cable structure of the Sea Spirit was seriously damaged. The shipwrights of the Chinese Navy Fleet, with the help of the Chinese shipwrights of the Satsuma Domain, found a large amount of wood from the Shimadzu family's warehouse. In addition, the Shimadzu family used it for manufacturing With the iron material of the Japanese sword, the repair work of the Haihun was finally completed in more than ten days.
However, only the front and rear masts were repaired. The top mast was the most severely damaged. It was really impossible to repair it in the Satsuma domain.
Yan Siqi led his 150 student troops and 100 Taiwanese indigenous soldiers on the Sea Spirit, which could barely sail. Under the protection of five two-masted fortune ships, they set out from Shanchuan Port and headed south to Ryukyu Island.
Before leaving, Yin Feng told him: "...tell Ji Zai that the secret order I gave him can be implemented."
Six days later, Yan Siqi's troops met up with the patrol ship of Navy Deputy Commander Fan Tao at Kouri Island, north of Nakijin Castle on the main island of Ryukyu. The next day, the reinforcement Ryukyu troops led by Yan Siqi landed at Yuntian Port under Nakijin Castle. Zeng Xiren, the supervisory officer under Chen Zhongji, led people to greet his arrival on the coast.
The two of them had fought side by side in the Zhonghua Commercial Building and were already very familiar with each other. Zeng Xiren patted Yan Siqi on the shoulder hard and laughed and said: "Brother Zhenquan, we have received a message from Fei Ge here. The great victory of Kagoshima. What? Like this. My little brother killed a few Japanese pirates."
Yan Siqi stood at attention and saluted Zeng Xiren eight hundred times. Then he said with a smile: "What the hell. I couldn't catch up with the Battle of Kagoshima. I just did some work to quell the local riots. There is nothing I can do."
He said seriously: "Where is Ji Zai? The captain has something to tell him..."
After Chen Zhongji regained Naha, Shuri and other places in the southern part of the Ryukyus, he encountered firm resistance from the Shimadzu army at the gate of Nakijin Castle. After the Chinese army landed in Naha, under the full encouragement of Prince Shangfeng and Zhu Nusuikakage, The Ryukyu Army, which had surrendered to the Japanese pirates, began to raise the banner of anti-Japanese aggression one after another and came to support the Chinese Army. Within a few days, Chen Zhongji gathered a total of five or six thousand troops. They arrived at Shuri Castle and saw the situation. In a sudden change, Shimazu's army voluntarily abandoned Shuri and other southern areas. They fought and retreated. Twelve days later, they threatened all members of the Ryukyu royal family and retreated to Nakijin Mountain Castle.
Kawasama Kutaka sent Ijuin Kumoto to guard the rear of Urasoe Castle. Chen Zhongji only had 1,500 members of the Chinese Army who were soldiers with firearms. The rest of the Ryukyu Royal Guards all fought with cold weapons. Moreover, the third division officer Zheng Jiong was also threatened and sent to Jingui. The Injo and Ryukyu forces lacked unified leadership, were disorganized, and had low combat effectiveness. Therefore, the Chinese and Ryukyu coalition forces spent half a month in vain at Urasoe Castle. Hundreds of lives were lost. Kaguyama Kutaka relied on the one month he fought for Nakijin Mountain Castle was built.
Kaguyama Hisaka actually started building Nakijin Castle after the failure of the first general attack on the Chunghwa Merchant Building. It took a total of two months and tens of thousands of Ryukyu coolies to build a castle on the basis of the original Nakijin Castle. A new Japanese-style mountain city. The stone materials collected from the surrounding mountains and the accompanying "Ana Taizo" craftsmen make this mountain city easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is completely beyond the reach of Chen Zhongji's 1,800 Chinese army soldiers. The "Ana Taizo" of Omi Kingdom ". It was a group of construction craftsmen that arose during the Warring States Period when daimyo from all over the world were competing to build cities. It was famous for its stone bridges. It was hailed as a precious treasure during the Warring States Period. Daimyos from all over the country hired it when building towns. And everyone had to be right. They were polite.
Nakijin Mountain Castle is no longer what it used to be. Even if Chen Zhongji recruited thousands of Ryukyu people to transport 36-pound heavy artillery to the city and directly bombarded the city wall, it would be of no avail.
Ishigaki castles during the Warring States Period in Japan still had a certain ability to withstand the artillery of the time. The biggest weakness of Japanese castles in the face of cannons was the tall castle tower; in front of cannons, this wooden structure-based thing was useless. It should not have appeared. Fortunately, firearms developed abnormally during the Warring States Period in Japan. The invention and creation of iron cannons (guns) were considered advanced in the world at that time; the development of artillery was very backward, almost equal to none. Therefore, everywhere More and more daimyo castle towers were built, and they became taller and taller.
The original gate towers, arrow towers and other tall buildings of Nakijin Castle were all burned down during the Shimazu Army’s occupation. Now they have become an advantage in the defense system of the new Nakijin Mountain Castle: although the Chinese Army has dozens of heavy artillery .But facing the thick and tall stone city wall, it was just a waste of cannonballs every day. A heavy solid cannonball hit the city wall. At most, it hit some stone powder without leaving a mark.
When Yan Siqi led the reinforcements to the vicinity of Nakirin Mountain Castle, Chen Zhongji was commanding the troops to attack the city.
Under the cover of artillery fire, the Ryukyu Army was behind and the Chinese Army musketeers were in front. They rushed towards the city wall along the rugged and narrow mountain road. When the artillery fire stopped, the Shimazu Army at the head of the city stood up and fired at the Chinese Army musketeers. The Ryukyu Royal Guards began They charged and rushed to the bottom of the city with the ladder. However, countless rolling logs and rocks were thrown from the top of the city. There were also lit gunpowder barrels. The fire was soaring into the sky and the smoke was filled. The Ryukyu Army threw down the ladder and retreated to their formation. The Chinese army also had to retreat. Even the ants There was no siege scene at all.
Yan Siqi shook his head and said: "It will take the year of the monkey and the month of the horse to capture the city like this."
Chen Zhongji looked back and was pleasantly surprised: "Brother Zhenquan, you are back. It's great."
Yan Siqi smiled: "Ji Zai, what kind of siege is this? You are wasting your time."
"There is no way. In the past few days, our army and the Ryukyu Army jointly launched several fierce attacks. The casualties were too great. Now the Ryukyu people are low in morale and have no intention to fight. I don't want our people to suffer too many casualties. This is the only way. There are still about 2,000 capable soldiers of the Satsuma Shimazu family in the city. There seems to be a lot of ammunition. A lot of food and grass have also been looted locally. Such a long siege has lasted only a few months. It is difficult to see the outcome."
Yan Siqi suddenly said seriously: "Before I come back to Ryukyu, the captain asked me to bring you a message. He said that the secret order can be implemented."
Chen Zhongji's face darkened and he lowered his head without saying a word. Yan Siqi curiously pulled over and said, "Brother Ji Zai, what is the secret order?"
Chen Zhongji raised his head with a wry smile. He looked at the Nakijin Castle shrouded in gunpowder smoke in the distance. He said in a strange tone: "It's best that you don't know. The captain's secret order was given to me when he left Ryukyu. ...It seems that he is anxious. Forget about this. Let’s talk about the Shimazu family in Satsuma. What happened to the Six Nations joint complaint against Nagasaki?"