After the annihilation of the main force of Mori Hidemasa, the battle in the Choshu Domain was basically over, and there was no strength left in the Choshu Domain to resist the Kyushu army.

When Zheng Zhibao captured Hagi Castle, an army of 50,000 led by Wang Yingshen besieged Hiroshima Castle.

The original lord of the Hiroshima Domain was Fukushima Masanori, the head of the "Shigatake Seven Guns", but due to political stance, the Tokugawa Shogunate was the first to be eradicated after the Tokugawa Shogunate won the world. After Fukushima Masanori was eliminated by the shogunate, Asano Nagasaki became the lord of the Hiroshima Domain, and now the lord of the Hiroshima Domain is Mitsumori Asano.

However, Fukushima Masanori is still very famous in the local area as the head of the "Shidake Seven Guns", and local legend says that he committed suicide by seppuku after a series of humiliations by the Tokugawa shogunate. As a result, Fukushima Masanori has won great sympathy from the local people, and although more than 20 years have passed since this incident, there are still many people who support Fukushima Masanori.

After Wang Yingshen besieged Hiroshima Castle, he immediately met with people who supported Fukushima Masanori's opposition to the Shogunate. The two sides agreed that the people of the Miyoshi family would be responsible for opening the city gate as a condition for surrendering to the king of Kyushu.

On April 16, Wang Yingshen's army, with the cooperation of the Hiroshima Miyoshi clan, captured Hiroshima Castle, and Asano Mitsukatsu, Asano Tsunashi and others were killed in battle, and most of the rest of the Asano family were captured.

After capturing Hiroshima Castle, Wang Yingshen cooperated with the Miyoshi clan, and the army was overwhelming all the way, and it took more than half a month to control the Hiroshima Domain.

In order to drive Zheng Zhilong's forces out of Honshu and maintain the prestige of the shogunate, Tokugawa Iemitsu began to prepare for the westward expedition.

After easily seizing the Choshu and Hiroshima domains, Zheng Zhilong was firmly in control of the two domains while actively preparing for the Eastern Crusade.

The war in Dongying was in full swing, and the preparations for the Ming Northern Expedition to Russia had also come to an end. According to the tripartite discussion between Zhu Youxiao, the Metropolitan Governor's Office, and the Military Department, Zhu Youxiao decided that the Russian troops of the Northern Expedition would be divided into two routes: first, You Shiwei of the Shenyang Governor's Mansion would lead 20,000 troops from Yakutsk to Turukhansk, and Chen Si of the Beijing Governor's Mansion would personally take charge of the 50,000 troops and send 50,000 troops to Beihai (Lake Baikal) to take Kilensk and Bratsk.

In mid-May, the Ming army's Northern Expedition had not yet been completed, but Zheng Zhilong carried out another eastward expedition. In the first eastward expedition to Honshu, the Kyushu army not only did not lose money, but also made a lot of money, which made Zheng Zhilong have the heart to immediately go east for the second time. Moreover, now the morale of the Kyushu army is booming, and the soldiers are full of food, which is the best time to expand the results of the Eastern Crusade.

The Second Eastern Expedition was led by Zheng Zhihu, leading 60,000 troops, and the first target of the Eastern Expedition was the Songjiang Domain. The feudal lord of the Matsue Domain was Matsudaira Naomasa, a relative of the shogunate.

Tokugawa Ieyasu divided the daimyo of all Japan into three categories according to his loyalty to him after the war, namely the daimyo of the clan, the daimyo of the pedigree, and the daimyo of the outer style.

The daimyo were those who were the same daimyo as Tokugawa Ieyasu before the Battle of Sekigahara, or who had been loyal to Toyotomi Hideyori and surrendered after the war during the war. The pedigree daimyō, also known as the hereditary daimyō, refers to the daimyo who followed Tokugawa Ieyasu until the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, and the status of the pedigree daimyo is second only to that of the daimyo of the pro-domain. A feudal daimyo was a feudal lord who was related to the Tokugawa clan and had a very high status.

Zheng Zhihu's Eastern Expeditionary Army encountered extremely stubborn resistance in the Songjiang Domain, and it was not until early June that Zheng Zhihu's Eastern Expeditionary Army surrounded Songjiang Castle.

Matsue Castle, also known as Thousand Bird Castle, is named after the graceful wings of birds on its roof. By the time Zheng Zhihu's army surrounded Matsue Castle, reinforcements from Mitsumasa Ikeda of the Okayama Domain had already appeared on the right side of the Kyushu Army.

"Second brother, according to the report of the spies, the 33,000-strong army led by Mitsumasa Ikeda will arrive at Matsue Castle in three days." Zheng Zhifeng said.

"Matsue Castle is strong, and Matsudaira Naomasa is determined to die, and it will take at least ten days to capture Matsue Castle." Zheng Zhihu said.

"Second brother, since Mitsumasa Ikeda has sent it to the door, we might as well simply destroy Mitsumasa Ikeda's reinforcements first." Zheng Zhifeng proposed.

"It is desirable to encircle the area and send reinforcements, but Mitsumasa Ikeda is resourceful and extremely cautious, and it is almost impossible to ambush him, and it is best to confront him head-on and defeat Mitsumasa's reinforcements as quickly as possible." Wang Yingshen said.

"How many soldiers and horses do you need to defeat Mitsumasa Ikeda's reinforcements?" Zheng Zhihu asked.

"At least 20,000 is needed." Wang Ying thought for a moment and said, "If Mitsumasa Ikeda is not willing to fight a decisive battle with our army, but only wants to hold off our army, disperse our army, and buy time for subsequent reinforcements, then what should we do?" ”

"I've also heard of Mitsumasa Ikeda, a very difficult character, and if he really just wants to drag our army, it's really a very troublesome thing." Zheng Zhihu said.

"Second brother, no matter what Mitsumasa Ikeda plans, as long as our army takes Matsue Castle, the shogunate's reinforcements will definitely retreat without a fight, and all problems will be solved." Zheng Zhifeng said.

"What the fifth brother said is extremely true, as long as our army can take Songjiang City, all problems will be solved." Zheng Zhihu thought for a while and said, "General Wang, I'll give you 10,000 soldiers and horses, can you hold back the shogunate's reinforcements for a few days?" ”

"If there are only reinforcements from Mitsumasa Ikeda along the way, as long as the gunpowder and food are sufficient, I can delay it for at least half a month, and if the number of reinforcements from the shogunate continues to increase, it will depend on the situation." Wang Yingshen replied.

"Ten days, within ten days I will do my best to capture Matsue Castle, if I can't capture Matsue Castle within ten days, the army will be ready to withdraw to the Hiroshima Domain." Zheng Zhihu said.

"No."

……

Early the next morning, Wang Yingshen led 10,000 soldiers and horses to block Ikeda's reinforcements. And Zheng Zhihu's side also personally went into battle to supervise the battle and increase the attack on Songjiang City.

Within three days, the artillery of the Kyushu Army had consumed almost seventy percent of its ammunition, and more than a dozen artillery pieces had been damaged. Ninomaru in Matsue Castle was bombed into ruins in many places under heavy artillery fire from the Kyushu Army.

It wasn't until the fifth day that Zheng Zhihu was able to truly control Matsue Castle Ninomaru. And Matsudaira Naomasa relied on Matsue Castle's Honmaru and Tenshu to continue to stubbornly resist the attack of the Kyushu army.

After attacking Matsue Castle, Zheng Zhihu did not relax for a moment, he took the lead and led the army to continue to storm Honmaru. With the support of superior artillery, Zheng Zhihu finally completely took Songjiang City on the eighth day.

(End of chapter)