Vol 2 Chapter 2357: The powerful Yamata no Orochi
Chapter 2357 The powerful Yamata no Orochi
Chapter 2353: The powerful Yamata no Orochi
April 1, the second year of Shenwu.
Only half a month had passed since they sent troops to Japan. The allied forces of Qin, Wei, Song and Wu had won four great victories: the Great Victory at Tsushima, the Great Victory at Bungo, the Great Victory at Higo, and the Great Victory at Satsuma.
After four great victories, although Otomo, Mori, and Shimadzu still control most of Kyushu, their main forces have been completely lost.
Although the three families can recruit new soldiers, they obviously cannot compete with the fierce Central Plains army with new soldiers alone.
In addition, apart from the capture of Motoharu Motoharu, the daimyo of the three families, the other two daimyo also died one after another.
As soon as the Higo War ended, Zhou Yu personally led an army to attack Yanagawa Castle, the capital of the Otomo family, and captured the city within one day. Otomo Seihide set himself on fire after the city was breached.
So, now Otomo, Mori, and Shimadzu have no daimyo, and they are once again in a leaderless situation.
If it were normal, the three families could still choose a daimyo, but now that the Central Plains Allied Forces are pressing on the border, the city owners of each city have too much time to take care of themselves, so how can they choose a new daimyo.
Without a daimyo to coordinate the four directions, the city lords of each city could only fight on their own. With their forces dispersed, they would naturally become weaker and weaker, and they would be even more unable to resist the Central Plains coalition forces.
For the Central Plains Allied Forces, the war has progressed to this point, and the next step must be a direct push, so the spoils can already be divided.
Early before attacking Kyushu, Zhou Yu, Xia Houyuan, Sun Ce, and Zhao Guangyi had already discussed how to carve up Kyushu Island.
There are nine lands in Kyushu Island, namely: Chikuzen, Chikugo, Bunzen, Bungo, Hizen, Higo, Hinata, Satsuma, and Ohsumi.
After some deliberation, the three countries with the largest plain area and the largest population, Hizen, Chikuhou, and Hihou, were owned by Da Qin, which had the largest military force, the largest contribution, and also the greatest credit.
In addition, Zhuqian and Fengqian were returned to Wei.
Bungo and Hyuga returned to the Song Dynasty.
Satsuma and Osumi were returned to Wu.
The three kingdoms of Qin, Wei, Song and Wu were all fair and just.
Now that the main forces of the three families have been lost, Kyushu no longer has an army to fight. Therefore, the coalition forces of the four countries no longer need to gather in one place. They can completely disperse and send out troops to attack each one. Each of them can attack the territory they have determined in advance. This can also avoid Uneven distribution of spoils.
April 2, the second year of Shenwu.
The allied forces of the four kingdoms of Qin, Wei, Song and Wu once again divided their forces into four groups and began to capture all parts of Kyushu.
The Qin army had already captured the entire Hizen Kingdom, but Chikugo and Higo had only captured a few cities. Twenty or thirty cities such as Nashimoto, Mifune, and Takamori had not yet been captured.
Therefore, the next main task of the Qin army is to capture all these cities and completely destroy the Dayou family.
This time Zhou Yu did not lead the army in person, but ordered nine generals, Zhao Yun, Lu Bu, Huang Zhong, Xu Huang, Gao Shun, Yu Jin, Zhang He, Wang Jian, and Chen Tang, each to lead an army of 5,000, and divide the troops into nine groups to attack as quickly as possible. It swept the two countries of Chikugo and Higo.
This time the Qin army did not go on a killing spree, but allowed Japanese troops from various places to surrender.
The resources consumed in the conquest of Japan are not small. If they are all supplied by the local government, it will also be a big burden for the countries in the process of self-cultivation.
Therefore, for the four-nation coalition to conquer Japan, the best way is to support war with war.
Zhou Yu's mass slaughter in the early stage was not only to shock the Japanese and make them feel awe, but also to collect food, wealth, and resources.
Zhou Yu needed the manpower and material resources of Kyushu to support the 50,000-strong army that conquered Japan. Naturally, it was impossible to kill everyone in Kyushu.
Of course, if the Japanese army stubbornly resists, it means that the Qin army's deterrence is still not enough, so they will still massacre the city after breaking the city.
Most of the cities in the Japanese Kingdom were short and small. Even the capitals of the major forces could only be compared with the county towns in the Central Plains, so they could not stop the Qin army's offensive at all.
The Japanese troops in the cities of Chikugo and Higo naturally knew this, so after learning that the Qin army agreed to surrender, most of the defenders did not resist and decisively chose to surrender in Kaesong.
Within one day, Wang Jian's troops captured three cities one after another, and two of them surrendered voluntarily.
Wang Jian was not the most powerful. Zhao Yun's troops defeated four cities in one day, and all of these four cities took the initiative to surrender.
However, there are those who are willing to surrender, and naturally there are those who are stubbornly resisting.
The lord of Ganmu City, one of the three elders of Bungo, Yoshioka Nagazo, was unwilling to open the city and surrender. As a result, the city he was guarding was breached by Lu Bu within half an hour.
After the city was broken, the entire Yoshioka clan was exterminated. Of the 20,000 people in Ganmu City, only 8,000 were massacred.
Although the Qin army will slaughter the city this time, it is different from before. They will not slaughter them all indiscriminately. Instead, they will only slaughter the men who are taller than the wheel, leaving the women and children alone.
In troubled times, women mean population, and population means productivity, so women should not be killed if possible.
As for those children who are not as tall as a wheel, their minds are not yet fully developed and cannot remember hatred. They will naturally be used by the Qin Dynasty when they grow up, so these two types of people will not be included in the scope of massacre in the future.
In addition to Ganmu City, Gaolai City and Xiongchuan City were also unwilling to surrender, and were massacred by Xu Huang and Zhang He respectively.
After the news that the three cities were massacred if they refused to surrender, the city lords of each city no longer dared to resist, and opened their cities one after another, voluntarily surrendering to the Qin army.
From the time of dispatching troops in nine routes, it only took five days for the Qin army to completely occupy the two countries of Chikugo and Higo, and surrendered nearly 15,000 Japanese troops.
Of course, most of these 15,000 Japanese soldiers were new soldiers, and their combat effectiveness was completely different from that of the Japanese soldiers captured before.
As for the Wei, Song, and Wu kingdoms, the situation was similar to that of the Qin army. The army would hardly encounter much resistance after marching to a certain place. However, those who resisted and broke the city were massacred, so not many people dared to resist.
“Captain, the sixteen cities of the Zhuhou Kingdom and the eighteen cities of the Higo Kingdom have all been captured, and 15,800 Japanese soldiers have been surrendered.
According to statistics, there are more than 89,600 households in the three countries, with a total population of 380,000. "Guo Jia reported the report with a smile.
“There are so many more people?”
Zhou Yu showed a look of surprise. The massacre caused by the coalition forces was not small. At least two to three hundred thousand people were killed including the army, but he did not expect that there were still nearly 400,000 people.
“In addition, our army seized a total of 760,000 shi of grain and grass, 60 million taels of copper coins, 220,000 taels of silver, 68,000 taels of gold, jewelry and antiques, etc., which are equivalent to about 40,000 taels of gold..."
“So many were seized.”
Zhou Yu showed surprise again. He didn't expect that a mere big friend's family would be able to capture such a huge sum.
Then if he destroyed the Oda family, the overlord of Japan, wouldn't the confiscation be able to account for 20 to 30% of Da Qin's total annual tax revenue?
Guo Jiaze explained with a smile: "Although the Dayou family is not the overlord of Kyushu, it is the richest family in Kyushu because it occupies the largest plain. In addition, the princes of the Japanese country squeezed the people too much, and the common people were no different from slaves, and their income was basically small. It was nationalized, so the people of Japan were generally poor and the country was rich.
In addition, there is a medium-sized gold mine in Hizen Province, and a medium-sized silver mine in Chikugo Province that is almost completed.
It is precisely because of this that Dayou's family has been able to accumulate so much money and wealth, but now they all belong to me, Da Qin. "
“One Otomo family owns two gold and silver mines, so wouldn’t there be more Oda families in Honshu?”
Zhou Yu showed a look of surprise and said with a smile: "No wonder His Majesty will cross the sea to attack the Japanese country. Once the Japanese country is completely conquered, our Daqin may not be short of development funds."
“That’s right.”
Guo Jia nodded slightly and said with a smile: "The Japanese country suffered this calamity because, firstly, it offended our country, the Qin Dynasty, and secondly, it was because of the treasure."
There are indeed many gold and silver mines in Japan. The No. 1 Gold Mountain, Echigo Sado Gold Mountain, had the largest output in the world during its peak period and was the backbone of the shogunate's finances for 300 years.
As for the First Silver Mountain, the Iwami Silver Mine was the largest silver mine in Japan and even the world for more than 400 years from 1562 to the Edo period. At that time, one-third of the world's silver was produced in Japan. Therefore, it was called "Silver Islands" by the people of the Ming Dynasty.
The three families of Ouchi, Nizi, and Maori fought for the dominance of Iwami Ginzan. Many wars broke out and lasted for more than ten years, eventually ending in the victory of the Maori family.
In addition, the gold mineral reserves in the Kai area accounted for about one-third of the country's gold production when production was at its highest.
During the period when the Takeda clan had its largest territory, the number of large and small gold mountains within its territory reached as many as 28.
From this it can be seen that Japan’s rich gold and silver minerals are a huge wealth for any country.
After listening to Guo Jia's introduction, Zhou Yu realized that the gold and silver mine output of Kyushu Island was not even a fraction of that of Honshu, and he became more eager to attack Honshu and seize these gold and silver mountains.
“If you want to attack Honshu Island, you have to wait at least until the three kingdoms of Wei, Song and Wu conquer their respective territories, but you shouldn’t have to wait too long.” Zhou Yu chuckled.
Although the progress of the Wei, Song and Wu Three Kingdoms was slower than that of Qin, it was not too slow. After all, there were no opponents at all, so how difficult could it be?
“Report...to the Grand Governor, there is urgent news from the Song and Wu coalition forces.”
"Um?"
Zhou Yu frowned slightly. Now that the overall situation in Kyushu has been decided, the armies of Song and Wu have no rivals in Southern Kyushu. Why did they send an emergency message?
“Hurry up and bring it up.”
)
Zhou Yu opened Sun Ce's letter and scanned it at a glance. But when he saw it, his expression changed drastically because Sun Ce was actually defeated.
What happened is this. After Sun Ce occupied the Satsuma Kingdom, he immediately went to conquer the Ohsumi Kingdom. However, when he attacked Suishui City and massacred the city, he discovered that there was a hidden master in the city.
This man actually defeated the three generals Han Qinhu, Zhou Tai and Ling Tong by his own strength.
Sun Ce was overjoyed to see this man's martial arts skills and his hunting ambition, so he fought with all his strength, thinking of defeating him and then taking him under his command, but he didn't expect that he was overconfident and was defeated by the opponent instead.
Had Li Hu and other generals not joined forces to rescue him, Sun Ce would have even died at the hands of that person.
Sun Ce failed to subdue his men and was severely wounded and even lost several generals. Naturally, it was impossible to let go of the mysterious man, so he chased him all the way into the Hyuga Kingdom, and joined forces with the Song Army to continue the pursuit, and finally ended up at Satohara Castle. Surround it.
Zhao Guangyi saw that he was so brave and could actually injure the little overlord Sun Ce, and he also wanted to conquer him, so he ordered not to shoot cold arrows, but he didn't want to be killed by the man who killed several Song generals, and even Gao Huaide and other fierce generals were beaten. injured, and forced his way out.
Both the Song and Wu armies suffered heavy losses at the hands of this man, and lost many generals, so they would not let him go, so they gathered strong generals to form a pursuit team and followed him all the way, vowing to kill him. , to avenge the dead generals.
Now that this person has fled into Feihou Kingdom, and Feihou Kingdom is the base of the Qin army, Sun Ce and Zhao Guangyi want to ask Zhou Yu to cooperate in hunting down this person.
“I really didn’t expect that Bo Fu would be defeated by a Japanese. It seems that there are strong people in the Japanese country.”
As he spoke, Zhou Yu took out the portrait from the envelope. The picture on it was exactly that mysterious man, a middle-aged man who looked extremely vicious.
“I’m going to pass on the order and immediately block all major arteries in Hihou Country, and fully cooperate with the friendly forces of Song and Wu to arrest this person.
In addition, show this portrait to Tachibana Michyuki, Otomo Sorin, and Mori Motoharu, and ask them whether they recognize this person. "
)
Zhou Yu's Japanese traitor plan was implemented very smoothly.
Under Guo Jia's lobbying, Tachibana Michyuki and Mouri Motoharu, in order to prevent their families from being exterminated, chose to join the Qin Dynasty after some reflection.
After seeing the portrait, Otomo Sorin and Motoharu Motoharu both said they did not recognize the person in the portrait. Only Tachibana Michyuki recognized the person.
“Yamata Torochi, nicknamed: Yamata no Orochi, once killed eighty-six generals of the Oda family in the First Honshu War. No one in the entire Oda family was his opponent.
Oda Nobunaga mobilized an army of 100,000 to encircle Yamata no Orochi, but he broke out on his own and even almost fought Oda Nobunaga. He is also the strongest enemy in the rise of the Oda family," said Tachibana Michyuki .
“If this person is really that strong, how did Oda Nobunaga defeat him?” Zhou Yu asked.
Tachibana Michyuki shook his head and said: "Oda Nobunaga did not defeat Yamata no Orochi, he was defeated by Susano'o. Everyone thought he died in Susano'o's hands, but unexpectedly he was hidden in Take refuge in Southern Kyushu.”
“Who is Susano’o?”
Zhou Yu frowned and asked, vaguely having a bad feeling in his heart. These two people might cause a lot of trouble to the coalition forces.
“Susano-o is...”
Before Tachibana Michyuki could finish speaking, a soldier suddenly broke in.
“Grand Governor, something serious has happened. Generals Xue Dingshan and Yue Yun have been injured by the wanted criminal.
Five generals Lu Junyi, Guan Sheng, Lin Chong, Qin Ming, and Hu Yanzhuo joined forces, but still failed to kill him, and he escaped after eighty battles. "
"What? Yue Yun was injured? Lu Junyi and five others can't take him down even if they work together?"
Zhou Yu was completely shocked.
Yue Yun's strength is not weak. If even he loses to Yamata no Orochi, then Mi Houwang, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, and Huang Zhong are probably no match. If they fight alone, only Lu Bu and Zhao Yun can win.
(End of this chapter)
