This was a war that had been prepared for a long time. All Tokugawa Ieyasu needed was an excuse. At that time, Terumoto Mori occupied the fortified Osaka Castle. If he attacked, there would be heavy casualties. Moreover, the Eastern Army at that time was not complete.

It's a monolithic piece.

Therefore, after Tokugawa Ieyasu chose to significantly weaken Terumoto Mori's strength, he let this old rival go.

Now everything is unnecessary, the Tokugawa family has controlled the entire Japanese country. Tokugawa Ieyasu's power is even greater than that of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

After straightening out all the relationships, Tokugawa Ieyasu had long wanted to take action against his old rival Terumoto Mori. Now that Kotaiji had given him a perfect excuse, how could he not make good use of it? Besides, he also took over the services of Kato Kiyomasa and Kuuki Yoshitaka.

Hush money!

The day before Li Xiao arrived at Nagato, Tokugawa Ieyasu sent an envoy, Nobu Makoto, to deliver an ultimatum to the Mori family. Either hand over the 50,000 taels of gold they had robbed, or suffer the wrath of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Mao Lihui was so angry that his head was smoking. After tearing Nobu Cheng's shirt into eight pieces, he finally felt a little better. Anyway, the two sides had long been at odds with each other, so now that he had killed a loser, he could still breathe a sigh of relief.

"Haga!" Tokugawa Ieyasu yelled angrily when he saw Shang Shang Nobucheng returned to the state of parts. He thought that Mouri Terumoto would resist, but he never expected that Mouri Terumoto would kill his own envoy. The two countries were at war.

Most people still abide by this rule passed down from China!

After all, everyone fights for profit, fighting life and death. Either for money or for land!

After the bloodshed, the bosses of both sides would think of something at the same time.

Communication is the best way to solve problems!

The mission of the envoy is to convey the news from the bosses of both sides, and when necessary, patient persuasion and education must be carried out. Now that Mouri Terumoto has killed Shang Shang Nobucheng, it means that the Maori family does not even want the last chance to negotiate.

This is to fight with yourself to the end!

Since the Battle of Sekigahara, when Tokugawa Ieyasu took control of power, this is the first time someone has challenged his authority like this!

"Kato-kun, you immediately organize a crusade. The great Ming Dynasty will send one hundred troops for every ten thousand koku. I will personally cut off Mouri Terumoto's head." Tokugawa Ieyasu said fiercely.

"Sir General, I heard that Mouri Terumoto received help from the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty army has nearly two thousand people and has landed at Nagato. And they have more than a dozen warships to help!" Wakisaka Anji reminded Tokugawa Ieyasu.

.

After all, the Ming Dynasty is a big country. If Maori Huiyuan has the support of the Ming Dynasty behind his back, things will become complicated.

"The army of the Ming Dynasty...!" Tokugawa Ieyasu was hesitant. He was still deeply impressed by the battle with the Ming Dynasty army in Korea. Konishi Yukinaga, a famous general of the generation, was almost annihilated in Pyongyang.

Now that the Ming army has actually arrived in the Japanese mainland, does Mouri Huiyuan really want to rely on foreign forces to fight against him?

"The army of the Ming Dynasty is vulnerable. Jun Song, Liu Ting and others who fought hard in Korea were killed by our Jin army. The Ming army is now corrupt and incompetent, and its military discipline is broken. General, don't worry too much

Them!" Huang Taiji proudly said to Tokugawa Ieyasu.

You bastards have swallowed my gold. This time I will let you know how powerful Li Xiao is. Since the gold is not coming back, it will be a happy thing to see you beaten to pieces.

"Your Excellency, General, I think what Babele said makes sense." Kato Kiyomasa was one of the people who most wanted to kill Mouri Terumoto, because in the Battle of Sekigahara, Mouri Terumoto looked like Mouri Hidemoto and he fought to death.

Kato Kiyomasa suffered heavy losses in that battle. If this kind of hatred is not avenged now, how long will it take?

Tokugawa Ieyasu also believed in Huang Taiji's words. The battles after the rise of Houjin were enough to support Huang Taiji's seemingly arrogant words.

"Don't worry about the Ming Dynasty's army. It only has about two thousand people and only a dozen warships." The other half of Tokugawa Ieyasu's confidence came from the number of Ming troops.

How much trouble can more than two thousand people create on the battlefield? There are more than a dozen warships...! The Kumano Suijun controlled by Kato Kiyomasa and Kuuki Yoshitaka has more than 200 warships and more than 40,000 soldiers.

As for Mouri Terumoto, who started out as a naval force, he now only has more than 30 warships. The navy has less than 6,000 men, and the army has a larger number, which will never exceed 10,000.

In order to raise these soldiers, Mouri Terumoto emptied his family fortune. There were already complaints in the fiefdom due to heavy taxes. This was the limit of his ability to raise soldiers!

This time, Tokugawa Ieyasu prepared to kill the chicken with a sledgehammer. He assembled an army of 50,000 from various daimyo to jointly attack the already greatly weakened Mouri Terumoto.

"Hai!" Kato Kiyomasa agreed and looked at Wakisaka Anji proudly. This old guy had always been against him, and now the general was on his side. Looking at Wakisaka Anji's bitter face, Kato Kiyomasa felt extremely happy.

The various daimyo were summoned by Tokugawa Ieyasu and assembled the number of troops they should dispatch as quickly as possible. Of course, these daimyo were not stupid. The elite warriors of the family would never be dispatched, and more of them would recruit the peasants.

Cannon fodder is sent to the battlefield.

Anyway, this battle will definitely be won, and some farmers will be lost but some spoils will be gained. This is a very cost-effective deal.

There was a nursery rhyme circulated in the Japanese country that the rice of the Tokugawa family could bury the entire Edo Castle. The gold and silver of the Mori family could cover the ground of Osaka Castle.

Although the Maori family is now in dire straits, a skinny camel is still bigger than a horse. No one will believe that the Maori family has no money. All the famous people are eager to try and prepare to go to the Maori family to grab a good deal.

Li Xiao was helplessly waiting for the upcoming battle in Hagi City, and his daily training life was very boring.

The mobilization ability of the army in this era was overestimated. Even in a rigid country like Japan, it would definitely not be possible to organize a large army in ten days and a half.

It took Tokugawa Ieyasu a full month and a half to organize the army to attack the Maori family. The farthest army even came from Hokkaido.

Looking at the densely packed military camps around Edo, and then looking at the densely packed more than 200 warships on the sea. Tokugawa Ieyasu was full of confidence, and intelligence showed that Mouri Terumoto did not receive any assistance except for the two thousand Ming Dynasty troops.

This time the crusade against Mori Terumoto involved more than 80,000 soldiers and naval forces. Of course, according to convention, there should be a claimed number. Kato Kiyomasa really dared to brag, claiming that the crusade army had 500,000 people.

Looking at his densely packed army, Tokugawa Ieyasu had no doubt that the Maori family entrenched in the southwest would be crushed into powder by the army.

Under the blazing sunshine of July, Tokugawa Ieyasu left Edo with his close retainers and samurai, with the ambition to eliminate Terumoto Mori and truly unify Japan.

Although the gathering speed was very slow, the marching speed was quite fast. It must be said that the Japanese people's spirit of obedience was very strong. It took only five days to walk from Edo to the outskirts of Hagi Castle.

"My dear, the Japanese pirates have many more soldiers than the Tatars." Mangui looked at the people all over the mountains and plains, eyes popping with stars. This time Maori Terumoto couldn't sell iron, and promised all his warriors that as long as they cut down

For one head, you can get a reward of fifty taels of silver!

We have reached the last moment, and there is no need to hide it anymore. If we don’t spend money at this critical moment, how long will it take?

Although the price is not high, this time it was Li Xiao's private action. The Ming court would never recognize his military exploits in Japan, and certainly would not give Li Xiao any reward. In fact, no one impeached him for sending troops to Japan privately.

The best result of Wei Zhongxian and Ye Xianggao's strict suppression.

Mangui doesn't think so. They are all poor now. The folks living in Changdao are still waiting for their extra money. Mongolians are very practical, but no matter how practical they are, they will feel uncomfortable if they eat relief food all day long.

Sorry.

Now Man Gui looked at the dark military camp opposite, and all he saw were ingots of shining silver.

"Yes! There are many Japanese soldiers, but they have few cavalry. They should be easier to deal with than the Tatar soldiers!" Li Xiu was also watching.

"You don't have to worry about things on land. What you have to worry about is the Japanese navy. Maori Terumoto said that this time, the entire Kumano navy is dispatched. You have more than a dozen ships to deal with more than 200 Japanese warships.

Is it possible?" Li Xiao was a little worried about Li Xiu. After all, this was the first time for his younger brother to organize such a large-scale naval battle.

"The Maori family also has more than 30 ships, and our ships are equipped with artillery and trebuchets. Our ships have a great advantage at long distances. If an enemy ship approaches, let the Maori family's navy meet them. In this way,

Our losses will be minimized."

"Yo! Okay, second brother!" Man Gui looked at Li Xiu in surprise. He didn't expect that this young man who usually kept silent could actually fight. Although he was not familiar with naval battles, this kind of charge allowed others to fight.

His character of causing trouble behind the scenes is exactly like that of Li Xiao.

"It's all my elder brother who taught me well!" Li Xiu felt a little embarrassed when Man Gui praised him.

"Hmph! Brother, does killing Japanese pirates count as military merit?" Li Hu looked at Li Xiu and snorted, and then asked him the question he was most concerned about. Since talking to Li Xiao that night, he was very interested in military merit.

"It doesn't count!" Li Xiao's answer made Li Hu feel like he was being poured cold water from head to toe.

Among this team, Li Xiao is the biggest. If he says it doesn’t count, it definitely doesn’t count. Li Hu feels deeply resentful about this.

Because they are local snakes, Li Xiao and Mao Li Huiyuan's positions are very good. They are all on a hillside facing north and facing south. There are various roadblocks under the hillside. There are also things like pits with sharp bamboo inserted in them.

With powerful explosives and firecrackers, Li Xiao felt that even if tens of thousands of people from the other party were packed under his feet, they might not be able to fill it up completely.

Tokugawa Ieyasu faced south and north this time, not only at a disadvantage in terms of terrain. When attacking during the day, the sun also became a disadvantage. Li Xiao and the others faced the sun with their backs, so Li Xiao's soldiers could calmly aim and shoot.

But Tokugawa Ieyasu's soldiers not only had to attack from their backs, but also had to face the bright sun. Before they could attack, their eyes were dazzled. How much hit rate could a musketeer who shoots by feel have?

Despite this, Tokugawa Ieyasu still confidently believed that he could easily defeat the Ming Dynasty and the Maori family's army. Tens of thousands of troops could crush them and take Maori Terumoto's head back to Edo.

Without giving Li Xiao and Mori Terumoto much time to react, Tokugawa Ieyasu began the siege the next day after arriving at Hagi Castle!

Tokugawa Ieyasu's purpose was very simple, to pretend to attack the Ming army's position and attack the Maori family's army with the main force, trying to defeat the Maori family in one fell swoop. By then, it would be useless no matter how powerful the Ming army was.

At the same time as the army attacks, the navy will also attack Nagato Port. After occupying Nagato Port, the navy will land behind Mori Terumoto. By then, Mori Terumoto will be attacked from both sides, and he will definitely not be able to hold on for long before he collapses.

.

Including the warships of the Ming Dynasty, the Maori Navy has only fifty ships in total. The Kumano Navy of Kuuki Yoshiro has more than 200 ships. And many of them are armored ships covered with iron sheets. This thing

The sides of the ship are all wrapped in iron sheets. Don't even think about piercing them with an ordinary matchlock gun.

There is no problem with the Folan cannon, but how many Folan cannons are there on any ship these days? There are only a handful of people in Japan who can afford cannons, and Kato Kiyomasa has a few Folan cannons under his command. Those are his.

All belongings!

Kato Kiyomasa always felt that his right eyelid was twitching badly today, but looking at the prosperous military formation behind him, Kato Kiyomasa felt that he would be able to sit in the hall of Hagi Castle soon.

Only one head of the fiery red sun peeked out, and the Japanese army camp was full of hungover people. This was clearly an advertisement for the Ming army in this era.

With an order, Kuroda Kanbei led his men and rushed towards Li Xiao's position.

According to yesterday's battle plan, he was responsible for the feint attack on Li Xiao. In his opinion, this task was easily accomplished. With more than 10,000 elite soldiers, it would be a shame if they could not crush several thousand Ming troops.

"Kajiji! Onboard!" Kuroda Kanbei roared, and the long knife in his hand slashed through the air.

"Ah...!" The Japanese soldiers seemed to be dumbfounded, because the terrain of the opposing army's formation was so good. In many cases, fifty cannons were enough to change the entire direction of the battle.

The shiny gun carriage is smaller than the Folang machine, but it is very powerful!

The Japanese soldiers came over like a tide, but Li Xiao was nervously looking at the ranging stone on the ground.

When the leading Japanese soldier passed the ranging stone, Li Xiao gave the order to fire almost at the same time. The mortar shells, with a whistle, hit the Japanese soldier on the head.

"Boom", "boom", "boom"...! Thirty mortars roared, and the charging Japanese soldiers in the fire were very miserable.

The person was lifted up by the huge air wave of the explosion, and then arms, legs and other human body parts flew everywhere. The powerful explosion power shocked everyone at once.
Chapter completed!