Jade Rope Castle, also known as Gan Rope Castle, was originally a small fortress in the eastern part of Sagami Province, and it was not recorded until the expansion and repair of Hojo Hakumo, and it became an important stronghold of the Hojo clan to defend Sagami Bay and the Miura naval army in the early days.

After the Odawara conquest, the castle was owned by the Tokugawa clan along with Sagami Province, and was later rewarded by Ieyasu to Honda Masanobu, who knew 10,000 koku, and since then Masanobu has become a powerful courtier with a daimyo personality and can be on an equal footing with ordinary castle lords and daimyo.

Such a castle, deep in the heart of the eight prefectures of the Kanto region, was subjected to heavy shelling from the sea in the early morning of May 7. The bombardment, which lasted for nearly an hour, caused great damage to the castle's fortifications, and the arrowheads, castle towers, palaces, and even granaries were reduced to rubble in the bombardment, and Honda Masanobu's carefully repaired garden and the gradually developed castle town were also scorched in this flying disaster.

In the smoke and dust, Honda Masanshige, the second son of Honda Masanobu, crawled out of the ruins of the palace in rags, and was discovered by a passing samurai. Masashige did not seem to have fully reacted to this incident, and while urging his retainers to get the Nanban Mirror, he led a few people who hurried to the south of the city, which was the most damaged, to find out who had caused this unwarranted disaster.

When you come to the south of the city, in addition to the devastation and wailing soldiers and people, the most striking thing to see is probably the dense black spots on the sea and the cannonballs that continue to fall into the city from the broken earthen gap.

Honda Masashige took the Nanban Mirror from his retainers, looked into the distance with a suspicious face, and couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat: "Wuqitong!" That's right, this must be the water army of the right house! Didn't you receive news that the southeast naval army of Youfu was sent to North Korea, how could it appear here? Could it be that Kuroda and Shimazu have already ......" He handed over the Nanban mirror to his retainer Honda Tadashima Moroma, and then sat down on the maza, hanging his head and trying to think about how to deal with it.

Honda Tadahiro is an old minister around Masanobu, and he has followed Masanobu since Mikawa was a hit, and his combat experience is also very rich, and he has a little bad feeling when he sees Honda Masahiro so depressed: "Mikawa Mamoru was ordered to guard Jade Rope City, and he must not let the lord down!" ”

"But Ma Shou, you better pick up the Nanban Mirror and take a good look first!" Honda said without raising his head.

Honda Tadahiro didn't know why, picked up the Nanban mirror and put it in front of him, and looked in the direction of Sagami Bay, and was immediately frightened: the black spots in the distance turned into hundreds of warships at this moment, puffing up the sails printed with five-seven paulownia, riding the wind and waves, covering the sky, forming a magnificent Great Wall on the water. Long look at the first release of Chinese network.

"Lao Chen has never seen such a scale of naval forces, the warships led by him seem to be the most advanced Nanban warships, the length of the ship is more than 30 meters, the deck is three layers, and there are more than ten large cylinders on each floor. Honda Tadahiro didn't know what to do at the moment, he looked at Honda Masahiro with a frightened face, hoping that the second highness of the Honda family could come up with a strategy to defend against the enemy.

At this moment, outside Sagami Bay, the naval forces of the Yamato Toyotomi clan are marching at full speed, and the flagship "Nippon Maru" and the main battleships "Yamato Maru" and "Ise Maru" are all the most advanced galleon sailing ships. The stirred waves swept over the side of the boat with silvery white spray, and then joined the raging waves at the stern of the boat, leaving a glittering ribbon that expanded into the distant sea, creating thousands of shimmering waves.

Ogasawara Tadakiyo stood on the bow of the "Nippon Maru", and he also looked at the Jade Rope Castle in the distance with a Nanban mirror.

"Lord Kaiyu, the new palace has led the army to capture Kururi Castle, and the Satomi clan of Tateyama Castle has also surrendered Kaicheng as agreed, and the Fangso Peninsula is basically pacified." An envoy excitedly reported to Ogasawara Tadakiyo.

Zhongqing said to everyone with a satisfied face: "Sure enough, it is the tiger father and no dog, Fang Fang Fang Mamoru has just taken the castle island and Kannon Aki, and realized the suppression of the Miura Peninsula, and now the Iki Mamoru has suppressed the Boso Peninsula, so that Edo Bay will be in the hands of our army, and when we take the Jade Rope Castle, there will be no stronghold south of Edo Castle that can resist the offensive of our army." ”

"Kiimaru and Igamaru have done a great job!" Fukushima Masaharu said excitedly: "I heard that the Miura Navy also resisted stubbornly at first and defended the island of the city, but under the suppression of our army's powerful firepower, it was destroyed in an instant, and even the water village on the island was razed to the ground, which is the key to ensuring the landing of the army." ”

"The Nanban warships that the lord spent a lot of money on are not in vain," Ogasawara Tadakiyo said with a smile, "but thanks to the fact that the Tokugawa army went out with the inner government, our army was able to capture Edo Bay so smoothly." Ladies and gentlemen, Anfang Mamoru has completed the set task, and we must also speed up the pace. ”

After the forced landing of the Shimazu clan, Ogasawara Tadashi did not go to Kitakyushu with Kato Kiyomasa, but led the naval army and the army stationed in Korea to Shingu Port in Kii Province, and after joining up with the Shingu naval army of Horiuchi Clanzen, they marched to Edo Bay together, intending to complete the flanking attack on Edo Castle with the Tokaido coalition army attacking Edo from the road.

Compared with the high-spirited Ogasawara Tadashi, the Tokugawa army in the jade rope castle can be described as disheartened, especially after learning that the Miura naval army was wiped out, Honda Masashige was even more at a loss, originally there were only more than 200 people in hand, after a burst of artillery bombardment by the Toyotomi naval army, there are barely more than 100 people who can still fight a battle, and the city fortifications are completely destroyed, and they can't resist the attack of the Toyotomi army.

"But Mamori, the enemy's goal is obvious, that is, to attack Edo Castle, I think that instead of trapping this city, it is better to lead troops to the north and assist Nakayan (Tokugawa Hidetada) to defend the city, so as to protect the foundation of the country!" Honda was cowardly, but it was inconvenient to say it explicitly, so it could only be implied that Honda was lodgy.

I didn't think that Honda Tadahiro didn't buy it, but said in front of everyone: "When Odawara conquered that year, the Hojo clan first defended Izu Nakayama Castle, and then defended Jade Rope Castle after the castle was broken, and did not surrender until the grain and grass were exhausted. From the beginning to the end, he never had the idea of going to Odawara, because he knew that once he could not resist the nearly 10,000 troops of my Tokugawa family, then these troops would participate in the siege of Odawara, and even if he went to Odawara to defend the city desperately, his role would be minimal compared to the threat caused by these nearly 10,000 people. Now that His Highness has been ordered to defend the city, he should also have this awareness, and besides, there is a Tokaido coalition army led by the Asano family in the north of Edo, and there is a Toyotomi naval army in the south, and the pressure is already very great. Please think twice, Your Highness! ”

Honda Masashige didn't expect Tadahiro to lose face like this, and he was suddenly ashamed, he pulled his throat and said: "Now that the Miura Peninsula and the Boso Peninsula have fallen into the hands of the enemy, what's the point of me still trapped here?" The Hachiman Palace has been captured by the Horiuchi Anfang under the right house, and the Toyotomi clan's five seven tongs have been fluttering in the wind in front of the torii, and if you don't go now, you will only be attacked by land and water, and the current Jade Rope City is different from that year, you look at the ruins around here, how long can you resist the Toyotomi army with this more than 100 old, weak, sick and disabled? But I don't want you to die in vain like the family members under His Royal Highness, so please go to Edo Castle with him. ”