The two bloody defeats of the Japanese reinforcements in the territory of Hitachi and Kai provinces spread the invincible power of the cavalry of the Broken Army throughout the territory of the Japanese Kingdom, from Kyoto and Osaka in the west to the westernmost Choshu Domain, the central part to Omi and Rinei, and the northeast to the entire territory of Mutsu, and almost all the feudal states and samurai knew the prestige of the Ming cavalry. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Along with the prestige of the Ming army, the Ming army's iron-blooded, ruthless, bloodthirsty slaughter notoriety, for them is the battle of Yokohama, the battle of Kai Blood Temple, the battle of the bloody slope, as well as the thousands of burned villages, as well as thousands of slaughtered villagers, in the eyes of the Japanese people is simply innumerable.

These villages were densely populated with Mutsu, Hitachi Province, Ueno, Shimono, Echizen, Echigo, Sagami, Musashi, and Mino-Shinano, and the entire northeastern part of the Wa Province and the Kanto region were ravaged by the Ming army.

These prestige and tyranny deterred countless feudal states, and the 40,000 eastern reinforcement troops concentrated in the Gyeonggi area of Kansai in Kii were also intimidated by the prestige of the Ming army's iron cavalry, so they could only march eastward slowly.

To be exact, Tokugawa Yorinobu, the twelfth son of the Tokugawa family Kantori, the lord of the Kii Domain, was shocked by the Ming army.

He knew in his heart that the army in his hand was Edo's last hope, and as long as he was not defeated, there was room for Edo to fight or surrender, and if he was also defeated, then it did not mean that there was no control over people, and I was afraid that the daimyo from all over the country would have to rise up and fight for power.

To say that Tokugawa Yoshinobu was extremely short-tempered, he was also famous for his tyranny among Tokugawa Ieyasu's sons.

However, Tokugawa Yoshinobu was also famous for his ability to accept advice, and according to his style, commanding an army of 40,000 was to march east in one fell swoop, and if it was blocked by the Ming army, it would be a joint battle that would go down in history, defeat the Ming army in one fell swoop, and relieve the crisis in Edo.

He didn't think of anything to replace it. However, when the news came that Tokugawa Yoshinao's entire army had been wiped out in the Battle of Kai Blood Temple and that he had only been spared, the pen head of the family beside him, Tadaji Ando, and the old Mizuno Masanao strongly advised the feudal lord not to fight a decisive battle with the Akito.

Although the 40,000-strong army included 6,000 soldiers from the shogunate at Osaka Castle and other places, 6,000 from the Kii Domain, and more than 20,000 soldiers from more than 30 daimyo from the Choshu Domain, plus 2,000 cavalry, it seemed to be very strong. However, the reinforcements of the Kii Domain were no different from each other, and they were all mixed armies of different commands.

Even among the 40,000 troops, there were more than 10,000 soldiers from the former Tokugawa family's feud with the former Western Army, and the active request for war from the former sworn enemy Choshu Domain was extremely suspicious.

Therefore, if the battle begins, the army has its own agenda, and if it goes well, it is good to say, but if it does not go well, it may collapse immediately like the first two reinforcements.

Therefore, at this time, it is necessary to preserve the military strength and not seek a decisive battle. As long as this army is preserved, the Ming people will not dare to act unscrupulously.

Tokugawa Yoshinobu has always relied heavily on the elders, so the rhetoric of the two made him in a dilemma, after all, each has its own good, if the quick victory is great, then the Ming people will be immediately defeated, and the problem will be solved.

But if the battle was defeated, Tokugawa Yoshinobu couldn't imagine what the Tokugawa family would be.

Just when Tokugawa Yorinobu was weighing left and right was extremely difficult. News came from Tanma that the number of Ming cavalry in Jiafei had increased to 8,000. Kai was almost turned into white ground, and now it haunts the border between Shinano and Kai countries.

This is the final blow, Tokugawa Yoshinobu will not arrogantly think that the military strength ratio of one to four can compete with the Ming army's nearly 10,000 cavalry, even if he wins by luck, these 40,000 military horses will also lose most of them. In other words, the Tokugawa family will lose most of its military strength, so it will be the Akito who will withdraw from the army, and it is certain that Japan will re-enter the era of the Warring States Struggle for Hegemony.

In other words, the outcome of victory or defeat will not be too good, so what is there to think about, Tokugawa Yorinobu immediately decided to slow down the pace of the march.

How slow. Slow enough to move ten miles a day, 'advancing' eastward at a turtle speed, clearly telling Edo that it was better to make peace and not fight again, and Tokugawa Yorinobu, who was in his thirties, hinted to Tokugawa Iemitsu that now he could only make peace, otherwise it would be the time when the Tokugawa family lost control of Japan's national affairs.

As for whether Edo could receive it, there was no problem, so there were only 8,000 people left behind, that is, 6,000 North China troops and 2,000 Korean troops.

The so-called siege of the castle was to kill all the people who transported rice and grain to Edo, cutting off the grain routes in Edo, but the Akito did not care at all about the contact between Edo and the direct leaders of the other feudal domains, and even connived at the shogunate to receive the war situation from the outside world, the movements of the emperor and nobles of Kyoto, and the daimyo from all over the country.

If you want to say that the biggest impact of the successive defeats is definitely not the emperor of Kyoto, the so-called officials and nobles, and the relatives of various regions, the daimyo of the genealogy, and the daimyo of the outer kind, but the Tokugawa Iemitsu and the elders of the family who have been hit the hardest.

Iemitsu, who was waiting for reinforcements and news of a great victory in Edo, received news of a series of defeats, and his two uncles were defeated in the battles of Blood Slope and Blood Temple, only to be spared, which means that his hopes were narrowed from three to one.

In Tokugawa Iemitsu's view, it is simply the rhythm of the day to die, at this time Iemitsu is already a little crazy, and he really shouted out the order to lead more than 10,000 ashigaru out of the city to fight with the Ming army of less than 10,000 left behind, so that the old ministers of the left and right families hurriedly dissuaded, this is the rhythm of suicide.

The castle was patched together with the shogunate's own standing equipment and dozens of daimyo retinue samurai in Edo, and there were indeed more than 10,000 ashigaru in these entanglements, but anyone who could say that these soldiers could defeat the 8,000 Ming cavalry outside the castle would probably not be able to do it even if they invited Hachiman Okami.

At that time, Edo will be defeated, and Edo will be lost, which will be tantamount to announcing the end of the Edo Tokugawa shogunate and the beginning of Japan's return to the era of warring states for hegemony.

After all, the shogunate itself has been defeated twice, and the pro-clan has been defeated twice, and the residual strength may be quite strong, but it is not much stronger than some of the big domains, not to mention that the strength of the Tokugawa family will have to be counted as the imperial family, and the intrigue within the Tokugawa family at that time can be imagined.

Therefore, these old and important ministers even made a blood admonition, if the family is out of the city to fight, then cut their abdomen and admonish themselves.

In fact, Jiaguang is an impatient temper, after the calculation, at this time he has no intention of going out, he also knows that if the battle is more auspicious, he also wants to revive his family name, and also wants to defeat the Ming army and save his Jiaguang's reputation, to put it bluntly, he has not lived enough, how can he die like this.

Then, the almost turtle-speed advance of the reinforcements from Kansai and Kyoto, and the news came that nearly 10,000 cavalry of the Broken Army were active in Shinano.

Obviously, the nearly 10,000 cavalry of the Broken Army were waiting for the arrival of these 40,000 reinforcements, and at the same time they were taking care of doing something else to burn, kill and loot.

And the speed of the Kansai reinforcements shows that one must have the confidence that Tokugawa Yorinobu, the general of the Kansai reinforcements, did not have the confidence to win, and had to preserve his strength, and then there was the fact that the shogunate was forced to sue for peace with the Akito.

"His Royal Highness the General, Lord Lai Xuan is also forced to do this, if you drive a decisive battle, everyone will be happy if you win, and the Ming people will be defeated, if you are defeated, just like the first two reinforcements, the foundation of my shogunate has been lost, and I am afraid that the world will be shaky and chaotic again."

Sakai Tadashi persuaded,

"The old minister's meaning is to consult with the Ming people first, and see what the Ming people mean, the Ming people have always been far away in the western continent, and they also said that the Great Tomorrow sent them to crusade against the ministers, if my shogunate promised them some conditions, uh, maybe the Ming people will retreat."

Sakai Tadashi said it very tactfully, the meaning is obvious, let's talk about peace, now this is the safest way.

Tokugawa Iemitsu's face was gloomy and silent, the prestige of the last two generations of generals to make the whole of Japan worship the great names, and a few years after he took power, he was defeated by the Ming army of 20,000 people, and even the town of Edo was trapped, and he was as embarrassed and helpless as a bird in a cage, and it was no wonder that it was very difficult for him to bow his head.

"Your Excellency General, it doesn't hurt to talk about it first, if the west decides the winner, you might as well deal with the Ming people here."

Matsudaira Nobutsuna is also a black-bellied person, and this peace talks dragged on, and the statement of delaying and waiting for change finally made Tokugawa Iemitsu nod.

In fact, Iemitsu no longer had hope for Western reinforcements, after all, if Tokugawa Yorinobu fought with such a mentality, then it would be undefeated and won.

But Iemitsu also pinned his hopes on the navy, in case the fleets of Kyushu, Shikoku and some of the daimyo in Honshu succeeded, although the possibility is not too great, but once it succeeds, the Ming army's fleet will lose most of the battle, then the Ming army's cavalry army will be in turmoil, and when the time comes, the shogunate will call the daimyo from all over the country to counterattack, and it is not impossible for the Ming army to be wiped out.

Even if the Ming army is not annihilated, it is expected to be a big victory, this is the real ambition in Jiaguang's heart, because the possibility of success is not too big, so it is said to be ambition.

But before that, it was also a good plan to deal with the Ming people and make the Ming people think that the shogunate was suing for peace and relax their vigilance.

This time the envoy is still Sakai Tadashi, there is no way, who made Sakai Tadashi familiar with it, the last secret agreement with the Ming people was talked about by him, and the proposal for this peace talk was put forward by Sakai Tadashi, no one is more suitable than him.

In this way, the sixty-year-old minister Sakai Tadashi once again embarked on the journey of peace talks, this job was an errand that was not human inside and outside, and it was completed, and the Edo crisis was solved, but later generations do not know how many people will criticize and write and regard it as the culprit, in fact, he is just doing it on orders.

No, no one in the country scolded, but there is no solution to the current crisis, the shogunate is in turmoil, as the head of the Tokugawa family, he is sitting on the same boat with the Tokugawa family, the Tokugawa family's warship sank, the Sakai family also had to drown, no one was good, this is also knowing that this is a big pit, Sakai Tadashi also has to jump, this is not only for the shogunate, but also for his family and the feudal state.

Sakai Tadashi was accompanied by more than 100 guards and left the city from the south gate, because the camp of the Ming army was five miles outside the south gate.

As soon as they left the city for three miles, a hundred teams of the Broken Army surrounded them, and after Daoming came to the intention, Sakai Tadashi and his party were led into the camp of the Ming army. (To be continued.) )