On the 11th day of the third month of the second year of Gongmu, the elite troops of Tokugawa Ieyasu, led by Ii Naomasa, arrived at Ishikami as the vanguard.
As the representative of Tokugawa, Ii Naomasa completed the final handover with Luo Shangzhi, who led a thousand troops to bring up the rear. Then he watched as Luo Shangzhi's troops boarded the Qin Army's ship and left Ishikami, heading for Daqin.
At this point, the Qin Army's retreat was complete. There were no more troops of Qin Army in Ishikami, and there were no more troops of Qin Army in Nihon.
Igai Naomasa was a trusted subordinate of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was also the youngest high-ranking general. Not only did he have military talent, but he also had the famous Igai Red Troops under his command. He was also talented in politics and diplomacy. He had saved the Tokugawa clan several times when they were in danger.
Therefore, in this operation, because of its seriousness and importance, Tokugawa Ieyasu sent Ii Naomasa, who was well-versed in both civil and military affairs, to lead his elite troops to hand over the handover to the Qin Army.
Obviously, Tokugawa Ieyasu was prepared for the worst. Ii Naomasa's troops were all cavalry. Even if the Qin Army had some tricks up their sleeves, they would still be able to escape.
However, there were only a thousand soldiers of the Qin Army waiting for the handover. After the handover, Luo Shangzhi led his troops and left. He didn't stop at all. He boarded the ship and sailed away. Ii Naomasa sent someone to follow them in a small boat. The news he got back said that the Qin Army's ship had indeed gone far away.
Ii Naomasa was absolutely vigilant against this army, which had defeated 30,000 elites of the Tokugawa army and even killed the famous general of the Tokugawa army, Honda Tadakatsu. He was even ready to fight.
However, this army didn't seem to give him the chance to be vigilant. They left very quickly.
Ii Naomasa heaved a sigh of relief. He looked rather relaxed, which puzzled his subordinates.
"Honda Tadakatsu was brave and fearless, but he still lost to this army. It's clear how powerful they are. Even I might not be able to contend against them now. It's a good thing that they're able to leave as soon as possible. I'll be able to take over Ishiken with a peace of mind."
That was what Ii Naomasa was thinking. However, he soon realized that he might have oversimplified things.
He had thought that after the departure of the Qin Army, at least some infrastructure would be left behind so that he could resume managing the government affairs here as soon as possible and resume the silver mining as soon as possible, so that he could mine as much as he could before the war started.
But it was not until he arrived here that he found that all the people here had been taken away by the Qin Army. Not a single family was left, and all of them had been taken away. This was something that was not mentioned in the previous intelligence report.
Apart from the people, basically all the houses were destroyed. Many buildings near the Silver Mountain Mine were either destroyed or taken away. There were also traces of burning. All the living buildings were gone. Unless they were rebuilt, they couldn't be used at all.
That wasn't the worst part. Basically, all the entrances to the Silver Mountain Mine were blocked by huge rocks. No one knew how the Qin Army did it, but they blocked the entrances to the mines with huge rocks. It was obvious that the Qin Army didn't want to teach them a lesson.
Ii Naomasa's face was terribly dark. He immediately ordered the soldiers to go back and report. Then, he ordered people to get rid of the rocks and clean up the mines, so that the mining could resume as soon as possible.
He needed some skilled miners from Tokugawa Ieyasu to come here and resume mining. Otherwise, the soldiers wouldn't be able to do it.
The only thing he could do was to clean up the mines and send troops to patrol the area, looking for something useful.
But they were disappointed. Not only was there nothing useful, but the water source was also polluted. The wells were also polluted by animal and human bodies. The farmlands were a mess, with weeds growing everywhere.
Was this a handover?
This was clearly a strategy to strengthen the defense and clear the fields. It was exactly the same as what Tokugawa Ieyasu did in the coastal area of Kyushu Island!
Were the Qin Army worried that they would chase after them with ships?
A Silver Mountain Mine that was basically useless, without any infrastructure, couldn't resume mining. What was the use of having a silver mine but not being able to mine it?
Ii Naomasa was very angry, but he didn't know how to vent his anger.
Of course, what made him even angrier was what happened next. When his elite Red Reserve soldiers went to clean up the huge rocks at the entrance of the mines, they worked very hard. In one day, they cleaned up seven or eight entrances to the mines. Then, they tried to go inside and ask for information.
Then, they fell into a trap.
Yes, a trap.
There were sharp bamboo thorns in the dug holes. Many soldiers fell into the holes due to carelessness and were stabbed to death. If they triggered the traps, arrows would be shot out of nowhere. A few exploration soldiers in the holes were killed just like that.
The worst thing was that the bamboo thorns and arrows were all poisoned. They were all poisoned!
The next day, he was told that they had lost 117 Red Reserve soldiers.
Ii Naomasa had always been well-mannered. But this time, he also pulled out his sword and slashed it hard on his table, splitting the table into two.
Now, he finally understood why the Qin army was moving so fast.
It seemed that they were really worried that he would lose his mind and chase after them.
Ii Naomasa could swear that if the Qin Army hadn't gone far, he would definitely chase after them and fight them to the death.
But unfortunately, he didn't have this chance. So, although he stopped the operation to clear the obstacles at the entrance of the mines in time, he still lost 117 elite Red Reserve soldiers. This made him so sad that he almost fainted.
They were all killed before they even fought a battle. Elite Red Reserve soldiers! How much money would it take to train them?
This was the typical situation of swallowing one's pride. Ii Naomasa could only search the surroundings while waiting for Tokugawa Ieyasu's support to arrive.
Tokugawa Ieyasu's reinforcements came soon. Tokugawa Ieyasu still cared a lot about Ii Naomasa. Under Tokugawa Ieyasu's command, there were brave generals like Honda Tadakatsu and Kamahara Yasumasa, and the wise Honda Masanobu. But Ii Naomasa was the only one who was well-versed in both the pen and the sword.
The Red Reserve under his command also inherited the absolute elites of the Takeda Clan's Red Reserve. He was sent out to deal with unpredictable dangers.
And the current situation was strange. Tokugawa Ieyasu couldn't bear the risk of losing Ii Naomasa and his Red Reserve.
So, he sent Kamahara Yasumasa over with 20,000 troops and more than 500 miners who were hastily put together. They quickly set off for Ishikami. Meanwhile, Tokugawa Ieyasu himself led a part of the main force to advance toward Zhou Fangguo, planning to use Zhou Fangguo as his base of operations.
Kamahara Yasumasa quickly set off with his troops. In order to arrive as soon as possible, he personally led the cavalry to transport more than 500 miners to the mining area of Ishikami Ginzan. It only took them two days to arrive.
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