The Red Mansions

Edo Castle, in the military tent——

Jia Heng and Wei Wang Chen Ran were drinking tea and talking. In the past few days, firecrackers and shells rained down like rain, and the heroic scene of almost blowing up the city to pieces also shocked Wei Wang Chen Ran.

After a while, a young general wearing armor quickly entered the military tent, clasped his fists and reported: "My lord, the Jurchens have gone out of the city to attack the cannon position."

Jia Heng put down the tea cup and said, "Let Shui Yu get ready."

Wei Wang Chen Ran looked surprised, his eyes paused slightly, and asked: "How did Ziyu know that the Jurchens would send people to attack the military formation lined up with artillery and muskets?"

Under Jia Heng's sword-browed eyebrows, his eyes showed some certainty and he said: "It's not difficult to guess. The Hongyi artillery bombardment was very fierce. Obai and Azig have violent tempers and have always been fearless. Seeing such a situation , I will definitely not give in, and will definitely send troops out of the city to attack our artillery and musket positions."

This time when the Han Dynasty deployed troops in Edo, they relied more on the advantages of Hongyi cannons and other firearms. Of course, the combat quality of the soldiers was actually guaranteed to a certain extent.

King Chen Ran of Wei, with thick eyebrows like swords, his clear eyes sparkling, said in shock: "Zi Yu is really good at predicting events. The Jurchen Tatars really sent people to attack the artillery and musket positions, and they were suddenly ambushed."

This time, as Jia Heng went to conquer Japan, he watched Jia Heng deploy his troops and generals and strategize up close. The King of Wei almost became Jia Heng's little fanboy.

At that moment, Tong Tu Lai led a group of soldiers and horses to rush towards the Han army's artillery and musket array. However, before he could get close, many soldiers and horses suddenly rushed out from both sides. The leading generals were Jia Chang and Jia Chang. The two generals of Ling, with stern expressions on their faces, came out from the diagonal stabs.

All around, thunders swished in the sky, falling on the cavalry array where Tong Tulai was, and exploded, with broken shrapnel ruthlessly piercing the body of the Jurchen Eight Banners.

"唏伦~"

As the horses panicked, a large number of Jurchen soldiers fell from their horses to the ground and died in front of the cannon array.

Seeing this, Tong Tu Lai paused slightly with the long knife he was waving in his hand, a look of surprise appeared on his face, and only one thought flashed through his mind.

Fell into a trap!

Before he had thought about it for too long, the horse suddenly neighed and its hooves leapt up. Tong Tulai's expression suddenly changed, and he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck.

It was clearly a thunderbolt that exploded, and a piece of iron exploded into his neck, immediately dripping with blood.

The cruel war is full of all kinds of chance, so to grow into a famous general, you need to be lucky.

Until the evening, the five thousand Jurchen bannermen led by Tong Tu Lai were completely wiped out by the Han army who had been ambushing them for a long time. To a certain extent, Tong Tu Lai could be regarded as a prophecy.

He didn’t die in Tanba Castle, but he died in Edo Castle!

Azige and Aobai in Edo City also received the bad news that they had been ambushed after being harassed. They sat slumped and were speechless for a long time.

"Oops." Azige muttered, his face as pale as paper.

It's true that the house leaks and it rains all night, and the broken boat encounters the wind.

Five thousand elite bannermen were wiped out. At this moment, there were only about 35,000 bannermen in the city. The situation became increasingly unfavorable to our side.

Ao Bai's big face filled with ferocious aura had a worried look on his face, and he said: "Your Majesty, it's not a good time to stay here for a long time. It's better to break out of the encirclement as soon as possible."

This time Tong Tu Lai led five thousand bannermen, but all of them were lost in the ambush of the Han army. It can be said that it suddenly woke up Aobai and Azig, and they could no longer continue to waste their lives with the Han army.

The joy of sweeping across Japan and breaking into Edo Castle also gradually faded over time.

Azig frowned and said with a worried look on his face: "I have no confidence in whether these 40,000 elites can be brought back to Shengjing in full."

Obai was silent for a moment, a look of sadness appeared on his rough face, and said: "It is not easy to leave with the whole army now."

Azig was silent for a moment and said: "Do your best and try to find another way out."

A look of determination appeared on Ao Bai's majestic face, and he said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, let's go first. I, O Bai, will stop here and hold back the Han soldiers and horses."

Azig said decisively: "Let's go together."

During this period, the experience of the two fighting side by side to conquer the Japanese country, especially the lack of support, also made Azig feel sympathy for Obai.

This Obai is indeed a general who will be of great use in the future and cannot be compromised here.

Then, the two mobilized their troops and dispatched soldiers in Edo Castle to prepare for the last stand.

Having just suffered a defeat, it was natural that they could not withdraw their troops now, as it would be easy for the enemy to take advantage of them. In the next few days, they would tightly guard the city to defend against the Han army's siege.

For the next five or six days, the Han navy maintained a relatively high-intensity siege. The Jurchen soldiers suffered nearly a thousand casualties, and the two sides suddenly fell into a stalemate.

The unexpected opportunity for a breakout sought by Obai and Azig also began to surface.

……

……

Under Edo Castle

Jia Heng stood under the city wall, holding a monocular telescope in his hand, watching the changes in the flags on the top of the city, and said to Wei Wang Chen Ran on the side: "Your Highness, the Jurchens want to withdraw their troops."

King Wei Chen Ran nodded, looking like he was curious about the baby, and asked, "How did Ziyu figure it out?"

"Intuition." Jia Heng's eyes were as bright as stars and as bright as rainbows, and he said: "The Jurchen soldiers and horses can no longer afford to be damaged, and it is imperative to break out."

If we look back in hindsight, the Jurchens lost tens of thousands of Jurchen elites in this Japanese conquest, which may become an important turning point in the confrontation between the Han and the captives.

The prelude to the counterattack will be fully launched next year.

Next year, the New Deal will be popular in the world, and the national treasury will be strong. Maybe the Jurchens will be wiped out, just next year!

Thinking of this, Jia Heng turned to look at Li Shu, who was riding side by side, and ordered: "Let the troops be on guard against the Jurchen Tatars escaping from the city gate, and send a message to Jia Fang. Be careful to prevent the Jurchen Tatars from escaping in the next two days. No one is allowed to escape." mistaken."

In the past few days, Jia Fang and Cen Hu led their troops to Edo Bay and had several fights with the Jurchen bannermen and North Korean navy servants who stayed in Edo Bay.

Both sides suffered casualties, because the Jurchen bannermen in Edo Bay could take a boat on Edo Bay and use the Qing Dynasty version of the "red cannon" to shoot at the Han army.

And Edo Castle is also shrouded in the clouds of war at this moment.

Aobai and Azig had already mobilized their troops intensively and began to prepare for a breakout. It was obviously impossible to safely exit Edo City without leaving any troops behind.

Therefore, Azig planned to leave eight thousand soldiers behind, and these soldiers were naturally abandoned.

At this moment, Azig glanced at the flag owners. There were two red flags and two blue flags.

A look of sorrow appeared on Azige's face, and he said: "Two thousand people will be mobilized from each banner to break up the army here. We will break out tonight. For the sake of our great cause of the Qing Dynasty, I leave it to you."

All the Eight Banners below were unified, and upon hearing this, their expressions were similarly solemn and solemn.

However, such difficult situations have happened many times in the Nurhaci and Huang Taiji eras.

In the evening, the setting sun shines slantingly, and the gorgeous sunset glow is almost like brocade, covering the entire sky. The wormwood in the wilderness is swaying in the wind. Occasionally, a few crows flutter their wings and fly up to the sky, seeming to emit light. There is an ominous atmosphere.

Accompanied by the sound of "dong dong" drums, the nearly 100,000 troops of the Denglai Navy and Jiangnan Navy of the Han Army prepared various ordnance and began a fierce attack on Edo City.

"Boom!"

Hundreds of red cannons and various long and short cannons poured down on Edo Castle. Amidst the billowing smoke, Edo Castle, the city where the Jurchen shogunate ruled the Japanese country, seemed to be shaking.

The Jurchen soldiers were on the top of the city, holding sabers in their hands, trying hard to resist, but they were completely helpless in the face of such fierce artillery fire.

It was not until half an hour that the volley of artillery and muskets ceased, and a large number of Han soldiers began to carry ladders and push crash carts to storm Edo Castle.

There were even soldiers who dug tunnels under the city wall and buried explosives under Edo Castle. With a "boom", the city wall shook. However, Edo Castle was built with bluestone strips and poured with glutinous rice soup. For a time, His mouth was not blown open.

This fierce attack almost caught the elite Jurchen Eight Banners off guard.

Especially when all the ministries were preparing to withdraw their troops under the cover of night, they had already packed their bags, and when such a sudden attack happened, who could withstand it?

Edo, in front of the shogunate's residence——

"Your Majesty, it's not good, the Han army is coming into the city." At this time, a young Jurchen general hurried forward and said to several people with a hurried expression.

It turned out that the warrior family in the city organized a group of dead soldiers, killed the Jurchen soldiers, opened the closed city gate, and planned to welcome the Han army into the city.

As the saying goes, Tao eats a pot of pulp to welcome the king's master.

Azige's expression changed. He stared at Obai and asked, "The Han army is in a hurry to attack on the outside. What should we do?"

Ao Baihu's eyes showed worry, and he said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, the matter has come to this, we can only make mistakes and withdraw our troops now!"

At this moment, even if they do not withdraw their troops, it is inevitable that they will suffer a huge rout. Azig made a decision immediately and said loudly: "Come here, after the remaining soldiers and horses are cut off, all the bannermen will withdraw according to the original plan."

At this moment, the afterglow of the setting sun was slowly setting, but between the four corners of the twilight, the falling night seemed to envelope the entire Edo Castle.

The soldiers and horses of the Jiangnan Navy and the Denglai Navy poured into Edo City and began to fight with the Jurchen soldiers and horses.

The battle between nearly 100,000 troops from both sides was so brutal that the shouts of killing were loud.

The Jurchen Eight Banners soldiers who stayed behind were even more fearless. They relied on the city walls and streets to fight with the Han army, fighting for a glimmer of life for Azige and Aobai.

Jia Heng was standing under the banner of the Chinese army, looking at Edo City with a distant expression. Under the sunset, his cold and determined eyebrows seemed to be enveloped in a ball of golden light.

Since he became the Duke, he has rarely personally fought such wars unless he was facing an enemy general.

Not only is the son of a rich man unable to sit in court, but he also gives his generals a chance.

Wei King Chen Ran said: "Zi Yu, after this battle, the Jurchen Tatars should completely withdraw from Edo City."

Jia Heng pondered for a moment and said: "Your Highness, this battle is not only about recovering Edo City, but mainly about annihilating the effective force of the goddess, and creating opportunities for the future Northern Expedition to Liaodong."

After saying that, he ordered the general of the Guard Army on the side: "The Central Guard Army will send troops to pursue them to prevent Azig and Obai from escaping."

"Yes."

As the guard general left, the situation on the battlefield gradually became clearer. A large number of Han soldiers rushed to the top of the city, gradually drowning some Jurchen soldiers wearing soaked cloth armor.

At this point, the victory is determined!

……

……

In the seventeenth year of Chongping, it was the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.

After six or seven days of continuous siege, the Edo City of the Japanese shogunate was finally captured by the Han army. There were more than 25,000 Jurchens and the elite Eight Banners were lost forever in Edo City.

If Tong Tu Lai's 5,000 elite soldiers and the 10,000 Jurchen soldiers and horses in Danbo City are added, a total of more than 40,000 soldiers and horses died in the Japanese city.

The Qing Dynasty only had so many soldiers and horses. This time, it was really damaged and it would not be possible to recover for ten or eight years.

And Aobai and Azig did not live or die with Edo City. They only led 7,000 elite soldiers and horses, and they were defeated all the way. They boarded ships from Edo Bay, joined the Korean Navy, and fled to the vast sea. Detour to Liaodong.

After a night of fighting, a large number of Han soldiers poured into Edo City and began to wipe out the remaining bandits and some ronai and samurai who took advantage of the chaos to rob.

Jia Heng and Wei King Chen Ran, surrounded by generals, arrived at the loyal Edo City of the Han Dynasty in the early morning of the next day.

And when a Han army flag was planted on top of the majestic Edo Castle, Jia Heng's expression was complicated and incomprehensible, and his mood was somewhat emotional.

This can be considered to some extent, revenge for future generations?

Wei Wang Chen Ran naturally did not have the special sentiments of Jia Heng, but he was overjoyed. He looked at the boy in the python suit with shining eyes and whispered: "Zi Yu, Edo Castle has fallen."

This time during the expedition, I witnessed almost the entire process of how this young man in python suit fought.

Jia Heng nodded and said with emotion: "Your Highness, in a few days, the New Year will be almost here."

This war to conquer Japan actually did not have many twists and turns. It was a battle of taking advantage of the situation, using an upright division and the power of firearms to crush the Japanese country with backward weapons.

Perhaps, in the history books of the future, there will be a few simple descriptions: In the 17th year of Chongping, on the 15th day of the twelfth lunar month, Jia Heng, the Duke of Wei, led the Han army to conquer Edo City.

Just when Jia Heng's heart was ups and downs, a horse came from the city gate, holding the reins and curling his armor like the wind.

Li Shule, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, stopped his horse and held his fists in his arms, saying: "Captain, Your Highness, the remaining bandits in the city have been wiped out. I would like to ask the Governor and Your Highness to lead the troops into the city."

Jia Heng turned to look at King Chen Ran of Wei on the side and said, "Your Highness, let's go to the city and stay here."

King Wei nodded and looked into those bright eyes. For some reason, he felt a strange feeling in his heart.

Maybe Rumu? If we start from Song Tian's side, it seems that it can be far-fetched?

Well, it should be an epic feeling of a monarch and his ministers meeting in a stormy situation?

As they spoke, they headed towards the mansion where the Edo shogunate was located.

In Edo City, Han soldiers came out from all over the streets and alleys to put out the raging fires in the city and stabilize order.

In addition, I found some famous names of the Japanese country and posted notices to calm the people in the current Japanese characters.

While Jia Heng was talking to the King of Wei, he entered the shogunate's mansion to discuss matters and sat down behind a short lacquered wood table.

As time passed, the generals who entered the city began to collect battle reports one after another.

Jia Heng ordered Song Yuan, the marching chief who accompanied him, and said: "Collect the grain and fodder in Edo City to supply the army at any time."

Because Azig, Obai and others left in a hurry, they did not have time to burn the collected granaries. In other words, once they were burned, wouldn't it mean that the Han army would find out that they were about to run away?

King Chen Ran of Wei felt sad and said: "Zi Yu, it's a pity that Ao Bai and Azige ran away."

Jia Heng smiled nonchalantly and said, "Compared to the tens of thousands of Jurchen Eight Banners elites, these two people just ran away."

However, there is actually not much regret. Although the two are brave and powerful, they can only go with the flow in the face of the harsh situation where the Jurchens lost two battles in a row and lost half of their lives.

Unless Nurhaci is resurrected, the seeds of the Qing's defeat have already been laid.

Crossing the sea to conquer the Japanese country is a national policy that coexists risks and benefits.

King Wei Chen Ran said: "Zi Yu, what are you going to do next?"

Jia Heng said: "Clean the battlefield and wait for Tokugawa Tsusushige and Satsuma Domain."

If they were stationed in Edo, then the Japanese emperor would have to stay in Edo Castle, while the Han navy could be stationed in Edo Bay.

First of all, the first step he wants to promote is to popularize Chinese and Chinese characters, and gradually assimilate the entire Japanese country culturally. Then he will unite with the weak emperor to suppress the Satsuma and Choshu clans, win over the remaining forces of the Tokugawa family, and realize a way to lead the British empire. style offshore balancing hand.

Promoting Chinese is actually not as difficult as imagined, because of the radiation range of the Chinese civilization circle, the nobles of the Japanese country are actually proud of knowing Chinese characters, and even speak Chinese.

As for suppressing the overthrow of the powerful feudal vassals, it is possible that in the future these two vassals will fall not as vassals but as Han.

Jia Heng was thinking about the strategy of going to the sun in his mind. He turned to look at King Wei and said, "Your Highness has stayed up all night. Let's go and rest first. I will give it to the Holy One later."

When Wei King Chen Ran heard this, his mind couldn't help but he said in a clear voice: "Then I will grind the ink for Ziyu."

When Jia Heng heard this, his eyes moved slightly, he nodded and said, "Why bother His Highness the King of Wei?"

He secretly thought, that day at Daci'en Temple, he was grinding ink for Tian Niuer. Now it can be regarded as a kind of repayment?

King Wei Chen Ran said: "Ziyu, there is no need to be polite to my family. Anyway, I am idle."

Then, Jia Heng took out the memorial and began to write a statement, mainly describing the use of troops since he led his troops to Japan, and the positioning of the two vassal states of Japan and Korea.

As the saying goes, stationing the navy in Edo, conducting sea trade to support the customs, and using the customs to support the navy would not cost the court a single meter.

In particular, to station troops in Edo later, this required convincing of Emperor Chongping and even the minister of military aircraft.

Otherwise, the civil servants in the country will angrily denounce it as a waste of money and people. Of course, the military expenses for raising troops must come from the Japanese country.

There is obviously no doubt about this.

King Wei Chen Ran finished polishing his ink on one side and stared at the young man writing the book, feeling a sense of respect in his heart.

He is truly a talented person of great talent, and few people in the world can match him.

No wonder Mr. Deng mentioned that if Duke Wei was not so lustful, he would really harm the country.

But is lust really a weakness?

Who knows that it wasn't Jia Ziyu who deliberately showed the world his weakness to hide it?