Chapter 739 0734 [Demon Army]
More than 20,000 Japanese troops fled all over the mountains and plains.
The Ming army's pursuit route was mainly in the valleys, especially the Ming cavalry, which ran very fast and intercepted large groups of fleeing warriors.
But more peasant soldiers fled to the mountains. They wore tattered cloth and straw sandals, threw away their bamboo spears and went into the woods everywhere. Although they were thin, they looked like monkeys entering the mountains. The Ming army wearing medium-sized armor could not catch up at all.
Zhu Shouyi led the cavalry to rush through the fleeing soldiers, and saw a gorgeous large-armored warrior in front of him, and immediately accelerated and chased him.
Dajiang Kuangyi was terrified and hurriedly urged the warhorse.
But this little pony was carrying a heavy large armor and could not run fast at all. Zhu Shouyi caught up and knocked it off the horse's back.
"Tie him up, it's worth a lot of ransom!" Zhu Shouyi shouted.
The two riders behind him stopped their horses, held Dajiang Kuangyi down and took the rope.
This guy's ancestor was the maternal grandfather of Emperor Kanmu, and he was from the same lineage as the Sugawara clan.
The descendants of the Oe clan were mostly famous for their tribute examinations, and they produced several poets, and even semi-monopolized the imperial examinations in the Edo period. In recent decades, they have also begun to let the branch branches follow the path of the samurai family, and this time they actually participated in the war.
When the two cavalrymen tied up Oe Masayoshi, they were shocked by the makeup of this guy.
He was obviously a large-armored samurai, but he was wearing powder and trimming his eyebrows, and his makeup was the same as that of a woman.
The subsequent Ming infantry caught up and took over the prisoners from the cavalry, and the two cavalrymen continued to chase and kill.
They ran for several miles, scaring many peasant soldiers to surrender along the way. When they saw Zhu Shouyi again, they had captured two more large-armored samurai.
Money!
Each large-armored samurai meant a high ransom.
Then, they picked up the flag of Taira Tadamori. Not only was there the general flag of the general in command, but there was also a flag embroidered with the Taira clan emblem, and even Taira Tadamori's helmet was found on the ground.
The antlers on this helmet are too long. It looks very cool at ordinary times, but it seems quite a hindrance when running away. It is estimated that Taira Tadamori threw it away when he was chased.
Unfortunately, due to the obstruction of many fleeing soldiers, Taira Tadamori finally escaped.
From the morning to the evening, the Ming soldiers escorted the prisoners back one after another.
A total of 12 large-armored warriors, 674 other warriors, and 8,211 peasant soldiers were captured.
There were even large-armored warriors who fell off their horses and were trampled to death by the fleeing peasant soldiers...
In addition, a large amount of enemy baggage and food was seized!
…
Although Taira Tadamori escaped, he was injured by an arrow and ran all the way. He fell into a coma on the night of his escape.
Fortunately, he was hit by a chisel-head armor-piercing arrow, and there was no barb on the arrowhead, so the wound was relatively easy to treat.
The large-armored warriors who escaped by chance found it difficult to find their own party members, and could only gather the fleeing soldiers with their noble status. A few days later, they blocked the exits of two valleys and gradually gathered thousands of soldiers.
However, the organization of the troops was basically disrupted.
Under normal circumstances, Taira Tadamori commanded the armored warriors, and the armored warriors commanded the Langdang warriors. The warriors at all levels also had their own peasant soldiers brought from their hometowns. Management and command at all levels formed a decent army.
Although four or five thousand troops have been gathered now, the soldiers do not know the generals, and the generals do not know the soldiers. It is difficult to evacuate in an orderly manner, let alone fight back again.
The general Taira Tadamori had a fever and fainted again, and the armored warriors could only discuss retreat.
All their military food and grass were gone, and they quickly returned to the nearest military food transfer station. After obtaining the food, they were still unhappy, and they actually let the soldiers plunder, robbed all the way and retreated to the seaside, probably stationed near Hiroshima in the future.
At this time, Taira Tadamori finally woke up, and after asking about the specific situation, he almost spit out a mouthful of old blood and fainted again.
He was proud of having read "The Art of War" and knew the principle of treacherous tactics. Therefore, he chose to camp in the valley and build strongholds on the mountains on both sides. After occupying the battlefield, he waited for Minamoto Tameyoshi to outflank and attack from the front and back.
Such a great tactical arrangement, how could the whole army be defeated in a muddle?
Taira Tadamori lay on his sickbed and asked: "Does anyone know what kind of weapon the Ming army has that can spit fire and smoke?"
The samurai were silent.
A samurai suddenly said: "Maybe you can ask the Tang people who came here."
In Zhejiang and Fujian, there were sea merchants who had been trading in Japan for a long time. However, this trade was monopolized by the emperor or the former emperor, and the emperor, relatives, and powerful people were not allowed to get involved.
There were also sporadic Chinese who stayed in Japan for various reasons to marry and settle down.
Such Chinese immigrants are still called "Tang people who came here".
If it was during the weakest period of the Southern Song Dynasty, Chinese immigrants were even called "foreign guests" and "foreign people" by the Japanese.
There were even Japanese sea merchants who killed Chinese merchants in Zhejiang, but were only sent back to Japan by Southern Song officials. Even the Champa people, who had always been obedient, plundered Hainan Island to vent their anger because the Qiongzhou government refused to sell horses.
Taira Tadamori thought about it and had to lead the remaining troops to retreat.
When he returned to Bizen Province, where Taira Tadamori was serving, he found that Minamoto Tameyoshi, who had also been defeated, was actually plundering farmers and merchants with his remaining troops.
Taira Tadamori was furious. He didn't care if Minamoto Tameyoshi robbed elsewhere, but he was the Bizen governor, and this was his territory!
Taira Tadamori sent troops to capture Minamoto Tameyoshi, and the two brothers returned to Heian-kyō smoothly.
Emperor Toba had received the news of the defeat in advance, and was so anxious that he didn't know what to do.
When he heard that the two generals had returned to the court, Emperor Toba hurriedly summoned them and asked, "How did you lose?"
Minamoto no Tameyoshi was the first to answer: "I led my troops to Iwami Province and camped in the mountains for the night. Countless Ming troops rushed out from the dark forests, setting fires everywhere, and with the help of ghosts in the mountains, my troops quickly collapsed."
Emperor Toba was surprised: "In the dark mountains, can the Ming army fight at night?"
"If your majesty does not believe it, you can ask the warriors who escaped back." Minamoto no Tameyoshi said.
Emperor Toba looked at Taira Tadamori again: "What about you?"
Taihara Tadamori said: "I camped in a valley and divided my troops to occupy the mountains on both sides. I planned to confront the Ming army and wait for Minamoto Tameyoshi to lead troops to block the retreat, and then besiege the Ming army from all sides."
Emperor Toba nodded and commented: "This is a great tactic."
Taihara Tadamori said: "In order to prevent morale from falling, I led my troops out of the camp to challenge. I and the adopted son of the Ming prince rode on horseback in front of the battle. My bow and arrow could not break the enemy's armor. But the enemy's bow and arrow shot through my armor."
Emperor Toba was surprised and said: "The Taira armor actually Was it also shot through?"
Taihara Tadamori took off his clothes and revealed the bandaged wound: "I was shot and unconscious for several days."
Emperor Toba sighed: "You are also a brave man."
Taihara Tadamori said: "After I was shot, I evacuated the Langdang warriors and came forward to support, intending to fight with the Langdang of the Ming general. The Langdang warriors on the opposite side suddenly raised some long sticks. Those long sticks can spit fire and then emit thick smoke, and the sound is like thunder and lightning. More than ten steps away, all my Langdang died in the battle."
Minamoto Tameyoshi has heard this set of rhetoric, but he thinks Taihara Tadamori is making up a story.
Emperor Toba was also suspicious: "A stick that can spit fire, smoke and thunder?"
"Yes, many samurai and foot soldiers saw it," Taira no Tadamori said, "Because they saw it, they were terrified and fled, thinking that the other side was full of demons. The Ming army took the opportunity to chase and kill, and our army fled one after another, and finally the whole army collapsed and was defeated."
Emperor Toba felt particularly outrageous and summoned those samurai who had escaped by chance.
Whether it was the armored samurai or other samurai at all levels, they all said similar words. Taira no Tadamori's description was the simplest, and some samurai even said that they saw demons coming out of the Ming army's sticks with their own eyes.
Emperor Toba was dumbfounded, and Minamoto no Tameyoshi suddenly reacted and shouted: "No wonder the enemy can fight at night in the mountains, they are indeed a party of demons. I only brought a few thousand soldiers and horses, but I didn't bring a magician with me. How can I stop these demon armies?"
It's not that our army is incompetent, but the enemy has Gundam!
Therefore, this was not the fault of the war, and the two generals were not responsible.
Emperor Toba heard what they said was so weird, and sent his private confidant to secretly ask the peasant soldiers who escaped.
As a result, the peasant soldiers' answers were even more outrageous, and the battle had turned into a battle between gods and demons.
Emperor Toba had to believe it, and summoned Abe Yasunari, the descendant of Abe Haruaki, alone.
The messy rumors had already caused a sensation in Heian-kyo.
Abe Yasunari had already asked around and replied: "Your Majesty, the Tang army may have a shikigami, which is a shikigami with similar magical powers to Takemikaze. When the two armies fought, the shikigami called for thunder and lightning, so our army was defeated."
Takemikaze is the product of the combination of Chinese Buddhist beliefs and Japanese wind and thunder gods, and is also regarded as the clan protector of the Fujiwara family.
Emperor Toba asked: "How to defeat the opponent?"
Abe Yasunari said: "Perhaps, the only way is to let the Fujiwara family invite Takemikaze to fight!"
Emperor Toba hurriedly called his father-in-law.
Fujiwara no Tadashi was confused. It was true that Takemikaze was the patron saint of the Fujiwara clan, but they only knew how to worship him, not how to invite him to fight.
Fujiwara no Tadashi said, "Your Majesty, the Fujiwara clan worships Takemikaze, and Takemikaze protects the Fujiwara clan. The Fujiwara clan does not know how to invite Takemikaze to fight, and perhaps only the Yin-Yang master can do it. Whatever Master Abe needs, the Fujiwara clan will fully cooperate."
Emperor Toba looked at Abe Yasunari.
Abe Yasunari said with a stiff upper lip, "Takemikaze is a great god with supreme magical powers. I can only try it, but I may not be able to invite him."
"Then go and try it." Emperor Toba said.
These guys retreated, and Emperor Toba summoned the Minister of the Court and the northern samurai. Knowing that there was no enough food to send troops, even if they took Takemikaze to fight, they could only wait until next year.
In desperation, Emperor Toba sent a diplomatic envoy across the sea to Mingzhou (Ningbo), intending to go to Kaifeng to discuss the matter.
Rumors spread in the Gyeonggi region of Japan.
Many samurai and peasant soldiers who escaped back used their imaginations to spread more and more outrageous stories about the battle.
The Ming generals and soldiers in Iwami Province all became demons, feeding on the hearts and livers of boys and girls...
(Taking advantage of the end of the Spring Festival holiday, I took my son on a trip during the off-peak period. There will only be one update in the next two days.)