Tokugawa Ieyasu led the army in a hurry to attack cities and seize territory. Maeda Toshiie did not hesitate either. He quickly gathered the power of his family and the strength of his servant daimyo, and assembled an elite army of 30,000 people. Toyotomi Hidetsugu opened the arsenals in Osaka and Kyoto to arm them, and raised the combat effectiveness of this army to the extreme.
Then, Toyotomi Hidetsugu sent his capable retainers to join forces with Maeda Toshiie's fierce generals. An army of 10,000 people marched to the Edo area, ready to directly attack Tokugawa Ieyasu's lair and use his family as a threat.
Among the remaining 20,000 people, 10,000 people were separated as officers to lead the newly recruited 30,000 people. Under the leadership of the veterans, they began to train new recruits. Maeda Toshiie personally supervised the training of the soldiers, striving to form the combat effectiveness in the shortest time possible. The remaining 10,000 people were sent to the direction of Ishinami to set up a defense line, to protect Ishinami Ginzan, and to seize the initiative in advance, to resist Tokugawa Ieyasu's attack, and to buy time for the reinforcement of the army.
It could be said that Maeda Toshiie and Tokugawa Ieyasu were racing against time, fighting and preparing with all their strength for the future hegemony. Whoever seized the first opportunity would win, and the reward for victory was very rich, which would be the whole of Country R.
As time went by, the news could no longer be covered up. The news that Tokugawa Ieyasu rebelled and killed Toyotomi Hideyoshi had spread throughout Kyoto. Everyone had the psychological expectation that the world would be in chaos again. Judging from the current situation, the two largest forces in Country R were still the Toyotomi clan and the Tokugawa clan. Although the Tokugawa clan had won a major victory, the Toyotomi clan was like a centipede that died but did not die. Kyoto was still in their hands, and the emperor was still in their hands. Everything was not clear.
No one dared to say that they would definitely win. No one dared to say that Tokugawa Ieyasu would definitely win if Tokugawa Ieyasu had more people, while Toyotomi Hidetsugu would definitely not win if Toyotomi Hidetsugu had fewer people. There were too many examples of winning with fewer people. In the past few decades, there were countless examples. No one dared to say that they could definitely predict who would win. Therefore, when Maeda Toshiie and Toyotomi Hidetsugu issued the recruitment order again, although people did not respond as much as the last time, they did not make it obvious that they would avoid it.
This was an investment, an extremely risky investment. Whoever won would win the future, and whoever lost would lose everything. No one dared to bet rashly.
The minor daimyos under the command of Toyotomi Clan were watching, and so were the other daimyos. No one dared to say that they would definitely bet on the right treasure. They did not have many things in their hands. Once they bet all of their things, they would really choose a side. If they did not choose a side well, they would have no future. There was no such thing as mercy in the fight for the world.
Tokugawa Ieyasu killed Toyotomi Hideyoshi and slaughtered those who disobeyed him. This would certainly make many people fearful, but it would also make many supporters or sympathizers of Toyotomi Hideyoshi very dissatisfied. As a result, they would completely fall to Toyotomi Hidetsugu's camp. That was because Toyotomi Hidetsugu originally had a group of retainers. This would make Toyotomi Hidetsugu's power more powerful. In addition to the existence of Maeda Toshiie, which was not weaker than Tokugawa Ieyasu, Tokugawa Ieyasu did not seem to have much of an advantage.
The only advantage was the destruction of the main force of the Toyotomi Army, and the main force of the Tokugawa Army still existed. Therefore, in the weakened Xikoku region, the Tokugawa Army was invincible and invincible. Except for the Satsuma Domain and other places that had effective resistance, most of the areas had fallen. Tokugawa Ieyasu's vanguard general, Honda Tadakatsu, had already reached the Nagato Kingdom. The vanguard was directed at the Ishikami area. His goal was to take down Ishikami Ginzan.
At this moment, the Ming Army fleet led by Xiao Ruxun had rested on Tsushima Island for a day and set sail again. There was a storm on the sea a few days ago, but Xiao Ruxun did not order the risky march. After a few days of rest and waiting for the storm to pass, the army set sail again and went straight to the Ishikami area. After landing, they were ready to take advantage of the situation to attack the Ishikami Kingdom. A dozen Japanese pirates who were familiar with the terrain of the Ishikami area were selected and rewarded with a lot of money in exchange for their guide.
The number of cannons of the Ming Army had also been further increased. Song Yingchang modified all the cannons collected into cannon carriages and handed them to Xiao Ruxun. Xiao Ruxun now had at least eight hundred cannons that could be used, but he still lacked heavy cannons. Basically, they were light cannons and medium cannons. The heaviest cannons were only five or six hundred kilograms. Obviously, they did not have much chance of winning against the Japanese pirates.
This was not important. A few isolated cities could not stop the Ming Army from wreaking havoc. The equipment and combat effectiveness of the Ming Army obviously surpassed that of the Japanese at this time. The Ming Army, which had accumulated rich combat experience, fought against the Japanese who had no combat experience with the Ming Army in Nippon, the victory of the field battle was beyond doubt.
On February 10th, three days before Xiao Ruxun arrived in the coastal area of Ishikami, Tokugawa Ieyasu's main force invaded the Nagato State, giving Honda Tadakatsu's vanguard, which had been slightly delayed, enough support. The forces supporting Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Nagato State were completely wiped out, and the pro-Tokugawa regime was established. Tokugawa Ieyasu symbolically left more than a hundred soldiers to show their occupation and rushed to Ishikami State. As long as he took Ishikami Ginzan, he was not afraid of having no military expenses. After taking Ishikami Ginzan, he could lead the army straight to Kyoto and fight in a straight line.
It was unwise and unrealistic to attack all the regions. He did not have the troops and time to attack all the regions. As long as the other side surrendered and surrendered, it would be fine. The rest could be solved by political means after the world was pacified. Attacking the world meant being the enemy of the world. Those with real power in those places had always said whatever they wanted and followed whoever was strong. These people would obey the strong and would not resist. If you wanted to attack them, wouldn't you be asking for trouble?
But the Ishikami area was different. The Ishikami Ginzan area was under the control of Toyotomi Hideyoshi after the establishment of the Toyotomi regime. This place originally belonged to the Maori family. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi focused on controlling it, it was equivalent to taking Ishikami Ginzan. Of course, the Maori family was unhappy.
But in the face of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and most of the daimyo of Country R, they really had no confidence and could only admit defeat. Toyotomi Hideyoshi set up enough troops here to protect Ishikami Ginzan. Even when the war on the Korean battlefield was at its fiercest, he did not transfer troops from here.
Therefore, there were more than 8,000 Toyotomi clan troops in the entire Ishikami area that could be mobilized. Most of them were loyal to the Toyotomi clan and were very loyal to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After the news of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death came, these troops were filled with grief and indignation. They hated Tokugawa Ieyasu's betrayal, but Toyotomi Hideyoshi was dead. They faced two choices. One was to surrender, and the other was to fight to the end.
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