On the 20th of April, the second year of Longwu, as the Daqin army was advancing in full swing, the first batch of population screening teams and accompanying troops began to set off for Japan.
Four days later, they landed on the island of Kyushu.
At the same time, Ma Hu and Chai Guozhu had already wiped out all the resistance forces in Kyushu, defeating all the Tokugawa forces in Kyushu. They were now in the process of cleaning up the remaining forces, and the island of Kyushu had basically been pacified.
The Tokugawa forces in Kyushu were not too small in number. After all, there were at least five to six thousand regular soldiers. However, they were unable to unite as one to fight against the Qin Army. Hence, they were divided and eliminated by the Qin Army. They were also unable to support each other, and this was the outcome of fighting for their own lives.
The main force led by Ma Wei was still advancing. Along the way, they did not encounter any strong defenses. The largest force was only a little more than a thousand people, and they were defeated with just one attack. Next, they continued to march forward. The defenses in Japan were too weak to withstand a single blow, and some even abandoned the place and fled for their lives.
Of course, they were fleeing to Kyoto.
Kyoto was the ruling core of the Toyotomi clan, and it was also the seat of the Mikado. Since ancient times, it had been the political and economic center of Japan. With fertile land and affluent households, whoever occupied Kyoto would have the right to rule the world.
At present, Kyoto was the ruling core of the Toyotomi clan, but it was threatened by Li Rusong.
Li Rusong was infamous for burning, killing, and looting along the way. The civilians who fled from this direction were also the most panicked and the fastest. Along the way, some of them were even robbed and killed three or four times. Those who were lucky enough to survive tried their best to exaggerate the ruthlessness of the Qin Army.
If they did not run now, they would lose their lives. Running to the capital was the safest.
Such thoughts filled everyone's mind, and they were really panicking.
However, they did not know that some people were even more panicked than them. The people they sought protection from were even more afraid of the ruthless demon army than them.
On the 18th of April, Jingdou received the news that the Qin Army was marching towards them. Along the way, the Protectors of various countries suffered heavy losses, and the army was routed like a landslide.
The main reason was that Toyotomi Hidetsugu had taken the elite main force to the decisive battle against Tokugawa Ieyasu, so the powerful daimyos and troops were not stationed here. The ones left behind were a bunch of crooked people. Naturally, they were no match for the elite Qin Army.
They rode on their warhorses and galloped quickly. Wherever they went, not a single blade of grass was left behind. They set fire to many places and massacred innocent commoners. Their crimes were truly monstrous.
However, the more they publicized it, the more it increased the fear in Jingdou. All the key personnel of the Toyotomi clan in Jingdou had been taken away. The one left behind to take charge was Maeda Toshiie's son, Maeda Toshinaga, and 5,000 troops. With such a shabby lineup, how could they face the 100,000 Qin Iron Cavalry?
Li Rusong's 20,000 Iron Cavalry claimed to be a 100,000 strong army. When he attacked, he constantly asked people to spread the rumor that 100,000 Iron Cavalry were charging. When the rumor reached Jingdou, it became true. Jingdou turned pale with fright, and everyone was frightened three times in a night.
When they found that they could not sleep at all, they simply did not sleep. They all ran to the house of Maeda Toshinaga, who held military power, to ask for an explanation. They went to ask Maeda Toshinaga how he planned to deal with this problem, whether they would flee or defend.
Maeda Toshinaga's ability was far from his father's. His prestige was also not comparable, but at least he had received an excellent education. He knew that the most important thing to do right now was to contact Toyotomi Hidetsugu and gather enough intelligence. Thus, he sent loyal family officials to the Danbo Country to scout for intelligence.
While they were waiting for intelligence, the officials in the court and the families of the generals who had gone out to war all came to make trouble. They all came to ask what to do and asked Maeda Toshinaga to provide troops to protect them.
The commoners in the city also heard this news. In their shock, they all asked the government for protection and accurate information. However, right now, Maeda Toshinaga really did not have accurate information. He could only first send his most capable family officials with 2,000 troops to the north of Jingdou to set up defenses and form a line of defense.
Then, he urgently issued a conscription order to the whole city. He needed more troops.
However, even if the reward was increased to ten times the normal amount, only about 500 people would apply for the conscription. In desperation, he could only issue a forced conscription order. In other words, he had to catch able-bodied men.
He used the lives of his family members to threaten them to become soldiers. In any case, he had caught more than 10,000 people and gathered an army of 15,000 to put up a facade.
However, the most important problem had yet to be solved, and that was the problem of intelligence. Only with accurate intelligence could he make an accurate judgment. Otherwise, he would have to bear all the responsibility if he made the decision to abandon the capital and escape just because he listened to rumors and made a mistake.
He really could not bear this responsibility. After all, this was the capital, and the Emperor of Japan was still here.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi came from a humble background. He was the only person in Japan who rose to the top as a farmer. Even so, he was looked down upon and ostracized by many high-ranking officials. Because of this, Toyotomi's regime needed the Emperor's righteous name to suppress the world.
Therefore, Toyotomi Hideyoshi treated Emperor Go-yōsei very well. This habit continued on to Toyotomi Hidetsugu. Toyotomi Hidetsugu also respected Emperor Go-yōsei and treated him as a banner to bully the Tokugawa clan.
Therefore, Maeda Toshinaga was under a lot of pressure.
He had just taken over the heavy responsibility of his father, and now he had to face such a thing. It was really hard for him to accept and imagine.
However, things happened just like that. Two days later, the intelligence came back. In order to speed up, his henchman used a messenger pigeon to send the intelligence to Maeda Toshinaga as fast as possible. When Maeda Toshinaga read it, he was shocked.
The Qin Army's cavalry burned, killed, and looted along the way as they broke through the Danbo Kingdom, wreaking havoc in the Danbo Kingdom.
Now, they had entered the Yamashiro Kingdom, and the progress was very fast. It was estimated that they would reach the capital in two days. However, the strange thing was that they kept destroying villages and burning houses, forcing a large number of people to move in the direction of the capital.
But now, a large number of refugees could already be seen. Now, there were many refugees around the capital, and they were moving in the direction of the capital. The henchman who set up the defense line in the north asked him for instructions on whether to open up the defense line and let the people enter the capital.
Maeda Toshinaga began to think about whether to do so or not.
However, before he could come to a conclusion, more trouble came knocking on his door. Emperor Go-yōsei sent someone to ask him what the situation was. Should he go or stay? What was the situation on Toyotomi Hidetsugu's side? The capital was facing danger, and he was going to ignore it?
Maeda Toshinaga had not made a decision yet, but he had to answer the question of the Emperor. He could only put down the question at hand and ask his henchman to stop the refugees from coming over. Then, he entered the palace to meet the Emperor.
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