【263】Siege of Kumamoto Castle

Where can the small Funai city accommodate the 100,000 troops of the Ming Dynasty and Korea? Therefore, after Shimazu Mitsuhisa sent his retainer Shinna Tadayao to lead 1,500 people as guides and vanguards, 5,000 people from Kong Youdebu, the vanguard of the Ming army, and 3,000 Korean troops from Park Zhonghuan of the Korean army, killed Kumamoto Castle, the main city of the Hosokawa family.

Kumamoto Castle, along with Osaka Castle and Himeji Castle, is one of Japan's three most famous castles, and was built by the famous Kato Kiyomasa for seven years, and was rebuilt from Kuma Castle during the Muromachi period. Kiyomasa Kato was one of the most popular generals of the Warring States period with his "Tiger Retreat" and a series of anecdotes. During the invasion of Korea, due to the hard work of Qingzheng, the Japanese army was quite smooth in the early stage of the Korean War, and it is recorded in the history books of the Ming Dynasty as follows: "The Japanese people are upright, strong and severe, and they are really famous generals among the chiefs." After that, the name of Kato Toranosuke Kiyomasa spread throughout Japan.

Kato Kiyomasa's ability to build a castle was discovered by Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the construction of Osaka Castle, and Kiyomasa, who was only twenty-four or five years old at the time, established the exact location of the present Osaka Castle and served as the director of the preparatory fortifications for the construction of the castle, making great contributions to the construction of the majestic Osaka Castle in the future. After discovering the potential of Kiyomasa's castle building, Hideyoshi ordered Kiyomasa and Hiroko Terasawa to build Hizen Nagoya Castle, the base camp of the Japanese invasion of Korea.

In the sixteenth year of Tensho, Sasa Narumasa was ordered by Hideyoshi to be disemboweled, and after the territory was confiscated, Higo was divided into two countries, the north and the south, and Kiyomasa and Konishi Yukinaga received them respectively. Qingzheng received 250,000 stones, and took Kumamoto as the residence. Kumamoto was built on the site of the construction of the Mt. Chausu in the southeast of Kumamoto, across the Tsubai River, while the Shirakawa River and the Ikogawa River in Higo became natural strongholds, and it is one of the few castles in the history of Japanese castle construction that occupies a natural hazard.

When Shinna Chungyao introduced Kato Kiyomasa, his tone was very awe-struck, but Kong Youdeok and North Korean General Park Zhonghuan became more and more angry the more they listened. The more brave and good you are Kato Kiyomasa, the more Koreans and Ming people you will kill during the Korean War. Especially when Kiyoshi Kato was in North Korea. In the Imjin War, the most hated by the Korean people was probably Kato Kiyomasa.

Park Zhonghuan said disdainfully to his subordinates: "Brothers, the siege of the city is a very boring thing, let's sing two folk songs to cheer up!" ”

The North Korean soldiers asked, "General Park, what folk song are we singing?" "The Ballad of Kikyo"? ”

Park Zhonghuan said in a very inflammatory tone: "This city is called Kumamoto, and it was built by the Japanese general Seimasa!" We sang "It's so happy, Qingzheng ran away!" and "It's You—The Righteous General". ”

"What? Will the Japanese be upright? The North Korean soldiers were in an uproar

Qing Qing Qing, Qing Qing Qing, Qing Qing, Qing Qing,

It's really happy, Qingzheng has run away!

Hit hard, kill hard, hit hard, hit mercilessly!

It's really happy, Qingzheng has run away!

It's a pleasure to beat the enemy and capture the prisoners!

Look, the enemy is scurrying around!

It's really happy, Qingzheng ran away! ……

It's you, the Righteous Warrior!

Thirty miles from Anton,

Dare to come and smuggle?

Come, please, and make you a ghost of my sword,

There is no return!

Some of the North Korean soldiers were full of tears, and some gritted their teeth and sang these two folk songs

As the commander of the Second Army of the Japanese invasion of Korea, Kato Kiyomasa went straight to Seoul after the landing of Governor Konishi in Busan. And Konishi Yukinaga, as the vanguard, went on a rampage, swept away the cowardly Korean defenders, and even took down several cities, Kato Kiyomasa then rushed after him without an inch, and couldn't help but be angry, so the poor Koreans also suffered. "Connivance" accounted for a large proportion of Kato Kiyomasa's way of motivating his soldiers, and he connived at the slaughter of cities everywhere he went, and even participated in the burning and looting himself, often slaughtering tens of thousands of local Korean residents. In Jinju alone, more than 60,000 North Korean civilians were slaughtered; the massacre of more than 20,000 North Korean civilians in Ulsan; Gyeongju killed more than 30,000 Korean people; Sangju killed 20,000, Wenqing killed 20,000...... Countless people have lost at least hundreds of thousands of North Korean soldiers and civilians on the way from Busan to Seoul under the butcher's knife of Cheongjeong and his men. After attacking Seoul, Qingzheng connived at the soldiers to plunder for three days, slaughtering more than 80,000 civilians, including 5,000 surrendered officers and soldiers, plundering countless property, and finally setting fire to the city, destroying tens of thousands of houses and palaces.

All these bad deeds made Kato Kiyomasa notorious in Korea, so much so that the Ming Dynasty and North Korean documents used "mad dog" to describe Kato Kiyomasa, and to this day, the word "Kato Kiyomasa" is still synonymous with "dog" in Korean. Therefore, the Goryeo Peninsula dog meat restaurant is prosperous, and people cut the dog and slaughter the dog every day, the original meaning is to kill "Kato" to vent their anger.

However, this Japanese general, who committed the most heinous crimes in the eyes of the Korean people, has an excellent reputation in Japan itself and in his own territory, and is one of the few people who is rarely criticized behind him. The local people of Kumamoto still refer to Toranosuke as "Kiyomasako" today. It is no exaggeration to say that the local people's admiration for Kato Kiyomasa has formed a kind of "Pure Faith", and the degree of love of the Warring States military commander Shinna Tadamoto (Shinna Tadayao's father), who also has a high reputation in Kyushu, is far from being compared with Kiyomasa, so Shinna Tadayao will speak with awe when he mentions Kato Kiyomasa.

Kong Youde is also a belly of fire, because after Song Youliang's propaganda machine to build momentum, Kong Youde and all the soldiers of the Ming army who conquered Japan are convinced: The reason why Jiannu can rise in Jianzhou is because Japan attacked Korea that year, and the Ming Dynasty sent troops to support, so that the old chief of Jiannu wild boar skin took advantage of the loophole. Kong Youde recalled the suffering he and countless people in Liaodong, how could he not be angry?

Kong Youde shouted: "Enough, can singing take revenge?" Can singing bring back a dead family member? ”

Park Zhonghuan took the lead and responded loudly: "Can't ~~ blood debt and blood repayment~ blood debt and blood repayment!" ”

Immediately, the Ming army and the Korean soldiers also shouted: blood debt and blood payment, blood debt and blood payment!

"Good~!" Kong Youde pressed down with both hands, signaled everyone to silence, and then shouted: "The gunners listen to the order, and all the cannons are aimed at a concentrated bombardment of the enemy city." ”

"Order!"

"Park Zhonghuan listens to orders!"

"The last general!" Park Zhonghuan responded

"After the city is broken, you are the second echelon to enter the city!"

"Order!"

"The generals will obey the order! After the city was broken, you waited as the vanguard and entered the city. Kong Youde looked at Xinna Zhongyao in an unquestionable tone

"Yes!" Xinna Zhongyao lowered his head, not daring to look directly at Kong Youde's fierce gaze

Boom, boom, boom

The artillery of the Ming army began to roar, and the heavy shelling enveloped Kumamoto Castle, but, unexpectedly, this city, which seemed to Kong Youde to be like a country manor in the Ming Dynasty, was still very durable. Kumamoto Castle's fortification has been proven in modern warfare. During the Southwest War in the 10th year of the Meiji era (1877), the 13,000-strong Saigo Army attacked the Kumamoto Town Taiwan Army, which had only about 3,400 defenders. Saigo Takamori, the general of the Saigo Army, led 30 mountain artillery and 30 mortar artillery to attack, and the commander of Gugancheng who defended the city only had 13 mountain artillery, 7 mortar artillery and 6 field artillery that had been eliminated, so it could be said that there was no hope of victory at all. However, after 52 days of strong attack, the Saigo army declared a total defeat and retreated

Fifty large-caliber Kofilin fired four salvos at the same section of the wall before a gap large enough was opened.

"General, what are you hesitating about?" Kong Youde asked Xinna Zhongyao through an interpreter

"Yes~~" Shinna Tadayao hurriedly pulled out the sword from his waist, pointed at Kumamoto Castle, and shouted: "いけ! すすめ! いけ (rush!) ）”

"Roar~!" Fifteen hundred Satsuma soldiers shouted! すすめ! いけ (rush!) Enter Kumamoto Castle

Let's say that in Kumamoto Castle, the hereditary elders of the Hosokawa family, the so-called three families of the Upper Secretaries, Matsui Jiji, Nagaoka Masanaka, and Ariyoshi Kayoshi Masa commanded the cage army in the castle to make desperate resistance

Matsui sent to the military in his hand and shouted loudly: "Don't stop the iron cannon~"

"There~ go to the oars and shoot arrows, you must stop the enemy!" Nagaoka held a bow in his hand and shot arrows at the Shimazu Satsuma soldiers who were pouring into the castle

And Ariyoshi Xiangliang held a spear in his hand and fought hand-to-hand with the Shimazu army at a gap in the city wall, "With Yoshika Liang here, who will send him to death?" "There is Ji Xiangliang wielding a spear, quite a general's style

"Idiot!" Kong Youde saw Ariyoshi Xiangliang wearing brightly colored and gorgeous foot gear at a glance, and he said to the musket chief flag beside him: "That's the Japanese chieftain general, right?" ”

When the musket commander heard this, he said to the sniper beside him: "The general has an order, shoot the general who wields the spear!" ”

"Order!" The Ming sniper immediately picked up a sniper rifle with a scope and fired copper-shelled bullets, and aimed it at the head of Ariyoshi Xiangliang

At this moment, Ariyoshi Kagara didn't know that he had been targeted, and he deliberately stood on a high place and shouted loudly: "The samurai of Shimazu listen, if you are Japanese, how can you betray the general and betray the emperor to work for the Tang people?" You guys~~~"

Before Yoshika's words fell, a bullet was shot into his left eye, and Yoshikaliang leaned back, and with a pop, brushed down from a high place, and the bullet entered his left eye, opening a big hole in the back of his head before it came out

Although Xinna Zhongyao, who was fighting hard with a knife, didn't know what was going on, but when he saw that Yuji Xiangliang was killed, he immediately stepped forward and cut off Yuji Xiangliang's head with a knife, let the soldiers pick it on the tip of the gun, and shouted: "Ask for Yuji Xiangliang~ Ask for Youji Xiangliang!" ”

Suddenly, the Hosokawa army, which had blocked the gap, began to lose morale, and soldiers continued to throw down their weapons and flee, and the Shimazu army led by Shinna Tadayao finally attacked Sannomaru and began to attack Nimaru.