The Toyotomi Clan was going to start a full-scale war with the Tokugawa Clan.
This news was definitely true.
The news spread from Kyoto to all the territories of the Toyotomi Clan, and then spread to the surrounding areas. Everyone knew about it, including the common people.
In fact, it was impossible for the common people not to know about it. When the army went to war, the common people had to transport food and fodder from the rear to the front. This was their duty.
Since the common people knew about it, there was no one who didn't know about it. Naturally, those who knew about it included the Tokugawa Clan's spies hiding in the territories of the Toyotomi Clan. They easily knew where the Toyotomi Clan's target was.
So the spies acted quickly. When the Toyotomi Clan gathered their army to attack Ishiken, they sent the news to Ishiken.
When Ii Naomasa heard the news, he immediately sent it back to Tokugawa Ieyasu and asked for reinforcements from Tokugawa Ieyasu.
He knew very well that it wasn't just 20,000 people who came back. It was very likely that it was the main force of the Toyotomi Clan, at least 70,000 to 80,000 people. He wasn't confident that he could fight against 80,000 people with his 4,000 Red Reserves and Yasumasa Kanbara's 20,000 people. It was no different from seeking death.
The reason why the Red Reserves were so arrogant usually came from the main force behind them. The main force was far weaker than the Red Reserves, but it wasn't that difficult to defeat the Red Reserves with all of them. After all, not everyone was as fierce as Zhao Zilong, who could fight against tens of thousands of enemies.
Ii Naomasa had a good understanding of his own strength, so he quickly asked for reinforcements from Tokugawa Ieyasu. At the same time, he hurriedly built a defense system, planning to fight a decisive battle with the Toyotomi Clan in Ishiken.
Ii Naomasa no longer had much interest in mining the mine. He really couldn't afford it, so he sent out miners to explore the mine bit by bit. In the end, they kept falling into traps. Many of the miners were killed or injured, causing many of the miners to resist entering the mine. Their efficiency was greatly reduced.
After occupying Ishiken for more than half a month, they had only opened five mines. The rest hadn't been opened yet. Many miners didn't dare to enter. Too many animals that were used to break through the traps died. Ii Naomasa felt that he couldn't afford the cost anymore.
Damn Qin, how many traps did he set up?!!!
Although he had defeated Asano Yukinaga, the joy in Ii Naomasa's heart quickly faded. Instead, there was a lot of haze, and the psychological shadow was expanding endlessly.
It was all thanks to the traps set up by the Qin Army.
However, no matter what, he still had to continue to defend and clear all the traps in the mines, so that the miners could carefully break through the traps in the mines and resume mining. This was to give the Tokugawa clan's finances a shot in the arm.
After Tokugawa Ieyasu received Ii Naomasa's victory report and warning, he made many arrangements.
He had gathered around 30,000 of his own elites and around 50,000 of his daimyos. His main force of around 80,000 was more or less complete. This included the 20,000 vanguard that Yasumasa Kamihara had brought with him, while he brought 60,000 of his main force to the rear.
The logistical issues had also been arranged. He had recruited 60,000 civilian workers and 80,000 large carriages to transport food and fodder. When everything was ready, they could march to Ishiken. He himself had left Kyushu and set foot on the land of Honshu, ready to support Ishiken at any time. He asked Ii Naomasa and Kamihara Kamihara to continue defending.
The Toyotomi clan's army should have more people than him, but their combat power and quality were probably not as good as his. Most of them were newly recruited. There were not many veterans who had fought with Toyotomi Hideyoshi and even Oda Nobunaga.
They had either died in Korea or died of illness or old age. The quality of the Toyotomi clan's army had greatly declined. Although they had a lot of people, they were seriously lacking in combat experience, just like Asano Yukinaga's 20,000 people who were easily defeated by Ii Naomasa.
Therefore, Tokugawa Ieyasu wasn't worried that he couldn't defeat the Toyotomi clan. What he was worried about was that Qin would step in from behind, catch him off guard, and turn the whole situation around in an instant.
If the Qin Army also turned the situation around, then the whole country of Nihon would really be finished.
He and the Toyotomi clan were fighting for the hegemony of Nihon. If Nihon was gone, what was the point of fighting for hegemony?
He wasn't completely unsuspicious of the Qin Army's movements. In fact, he was still a little suspicious. Therefore, he had never stopped keeping alert and collecting intelligence. As he marched to Ishiken, he dealt with the intelligence of Qin from overseas.
However, after the unification of the Qin Army, the efficiency of counter-espionage was greatly improved. The spies he had sent to the coastal inland of Daming in the early years were all wiped out by a special unit of the Qin Army dressed in black. They were tortured for intelligence, and seventeen or eighteen intelligence points were destroyed in a row.
His intelligence personnel suffered heavy losses. Therefore, he had to send people from the mainland to try to find ways to re-enter Qin to spy on intelligence.
The intensity of the Qin Army's attack on spies made Tokugawa Ieyasu very panicky. At the same time, he also felt that if the Qin Army had such a strong way to fight against spies in its own land, would there also be an elite spy group operating in Nihon?
He couldn't control the Toyotomi clan, but he could make decisions in his own land. Therefore, he also launched a campaign against the spies of the Qin Army in his own land.
However, the results were very little. So far, he had only caught seven or eight suspects, and they all refused to admit it. They cried and screamed that they were killed by him, which made him wonder if he had caught the wrong people.
The intelligence network in Daming that he had worked so hard to build in the past seven years was completely uprooted after the Daqin Army conquered the world. This was unexpected to him, and his reaction was not fast enough. He was almost blind to the problem of targeting the Daqin Army. It seemed that it was a little too late to mend the fence after the sheep was lost.
But he had to fight this war. Even if he felt uneasy, he had to continue fighting. He had to fight. If he didn't fight, the Toyotomi clan would not let him continue to separate Nihon.
He had no choice but to do this.
However, he still had doubts in his heart. He always felt that he had to leave a way out for himself, just like when he fought with Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
He also left enough elite troops in his nest. Once things went wrong, they would immediately escort his family and important property and leave by ship. They would advance to the northeast of Nihon, which was the unexplored Shibari area.
In his opinion, if unfortunately, he was right and the Qin Army launched a surprise attack, then they would not be able to run away on land. Instead, they would disturb his army. Therefore, he might as well let his family and property escape directly to Shibari by sea. When he got the news, he would run away without any distractions, and he would not worry about this or that.
As the king of turtles, when it came to escape and survival, the Tokugawa Ieyasu was an absolute expert. He was the king of extreme survival, the king of ninjas.
In contrast, the Toyotomi clan was much worse. They concentrated on preparing for the war with the Tokugawa clan. They decided to completely annihilate the main force of the Tokugawa clan in Ishimi and unify Nihon.
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