"General Zheng, it's better to withdraw the army and bombard it with artillery for a day."

The fierce battle of Caojin City lasted for an hour, and although the Ming army was advancing steadily, its own casualties began to gradually increase.

Looking at the amount of more than 400 people who had been killed in the battle, a general from the Eastern Army Governor's Mansion was dissatisfied with his mouth, and Zheng Zhilong could only reassure him when he heard this:

"Although our army has suffered 400 casualties, the casualties of the Japanese are several times that of our army, and they are now on the verge of collapse......

Zheng Zhilong also wanted to appease the other party, but before he could finish speaking, the sound of Tang riding galloping came from a distance.

Zheng Zhilong and several other battalion generals heard the sound and saw that the Tang cavalry also led the team to ride a horse, dismounted before the battle, and trotted all the way over:

"General, in the north of Kusatsu City, I found that there are Japanese reinforcements from Toyogo Town, and the strength is about two battalions!"

"It should be Yoon Da Masamune's reinforcements." A staff general spoke immediately, and Zheng Zhilong also said when he heard this:

"I said why did Matsudaira hold out for so long, it turned out that he was waiting for reinforcements."

"They shouldn't have many troops, otherwise it would be impossible for a veteran figure like Yin Da Masajong to come to the aid with only 7,000 soldiers and horses."

An old-school general who participated in the Battle of Fuliao opened his mouth to remind, and after speaking, he suggested:

"If the general army is insufficient, the news should be sent to Yan Jinglu of Osaka Castle now, and let Jingliu command the army to go to Nagoya by sea and go straight to Edo Castle!"

"This ......" Zheng Zhilong was a little undecided, because he knew that His Royal Highness King Qi had said that he needed to fight slowly and carefully in Japan.

It's just that if he doesn't send this kind of news back, it may be remembered by someone who cares.

Therefore, after thinking about it, Zheng Zhilong still turned his head and said to Zheng Zhifeng, the sworn brother next to him:

"Send a message to Yan Jingluo......"

"Yes!" Zheng Zhifeng should get down, and then went to arrange for Tang Qi to pass the news.

Everyone knew that Zheng Zhilong was not easy to decide, so he didn't make any suggestions, just simply spread the news, as for whether it was a surprise attack, this required Yan Siqi to make a decision.

It was only while they were discussing the decision that the Japanese army at the head of Kusatsu Castle was gradually defeated due to the loss of its elite, and soon someone rode back the news.

"Returning to the generals, General Zheng Zhihu has taken the southern section of the city wall, and the Japanese have retreated to the inner city and the east and west sections of the city wall!"

"Good!" Hearing Tang Qi's reply, Zheng Zhilong turned his head to look at the others:

"General Liu, General Li, please ask the two leaders to go north and intercept Yin Da Masazong's reinforcements, and the rest of the soldiers and horses will be pressed up, and our army must eat all the troops of Matsudaira Tadaaki!"

"I'll take my orders!" The two generals responded, and Zheng Zhifeng, who returned, also responded.

With the loss of the southern wall, the Japanese began to retreat to the west and east walls, as well as to the alleys in the city for a short rest.

Zheng Zhihu did not blindly pursue, but ordered someone to clean up the corridor at the city gate, clean up the battlefield, harvest the head by the way, and count the battle losses of the Japanese army.

Some of the wounded and fell, and the Japanese soldiers who kept wailing were relieved by the Ming army's sword, and their heads were harvested one after another.

Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhifeng led two battalions to enter the southern city wall, and reports of battle damage and beheadings were constantly sent by the garrisons of various posts.

"Our army lost 422 casualties, 713 lightly wounded, and 327 seriously wounded."

"The first level of the Japanese Kou harvests four thousand five hundred and sixty-seven level ......"

Two quarters of an hour later, Zheng Zhilong looked at the summary and bowed slightly: "If you don't count the more than 700 lightly injured brothers who didn't affect the battle, the battle losses between us and the Japanese Kou are close to one to six. ”

Zheng Zhilong was very satisfied, but a staff general of the Eastern Army Governor's Mansion was dissatisfied:

"One to six, if this is known by His Highness and Sun Dudu, we will inevitably be reprimanded."

What this general said was not false, because before they set out on the expedition, Sun Yingyuan had already explained that the record of the Eastern Army Governor's Mansion could not be worse than the Battle of Korea.

In the Battle of Korea, how much was the battle loss of the Ming army and the Japanese army?

Unlike the records in the History of the Ming Dynasty, Korean officials who witnessed the battle, as well as a small number of Japanese daimyo who participated in the war, spoke highly of him.

In the records of the Koreans, the Ming army lost less than 2,000 casualties in the entire first aid to Korea, and during the same period, at least one-third of the 56,000 Japanese soldiers killed were killed in battle with the Ming army, and the two sides were killed and wounded 1 to 10.

The second aid to the DPRK, tomorrow the two armies will start a more fierce competition, although this time the Ming army is a little high and low, but the casualties in the whole stage are not much.

Even if the battle of Ulsan, which was recorded with great casualties of the Ming army, there were not tens of thousands of people slashed and killed by the Japanese army as Ding Yingtai and other trolls of the Ming Dynasty themselves said.

Whether it is in the "Dongshi Songbao" jointly signed by Yang Hao and Ma Gui after the war, or in the "Xuanmiao Zhongxing Chronicles" recorded by North Korean officials, the number of Ming soldiers killed in battle and died of disease did not exceed 1,600, and the number of wounded did not exceed 3,000.

On the other hand, the Japanese army was much more miserable, and in the "Korean Chronicles" by the Japanese samurai Okochi Hidemoto, the Japanese army was harvested by the Ming army more than 18,000 people in the "Battle of Nongsho" in the peripheral war alone.

During the Battle of Ulsan, the Japanese army lost more than 20,000 deaths.

Not only that, but the Japanese army's "Korean Service Record" also mentioned that there were thousands of Japanese troops left in Daoshan City, who were hungry for more than ten days, and after the siege was lifted, they went crazy and ate Haisai regardless of it, and as a result, "they were all killed, but only Qingzheng and some other characters survived".

Kato Kiyomasa, who was touted as the "Tiger Kato" by later generations, barked wildly before the war, shouting that the 400,000 Ming army could not break the city.

As a result, he was thoroughly taught by the Ming army to be a man in the whole battle, just like being carried by someone carrying a bucket of feces to drench it firmly from head to toe, and he wanted to die several times during the battle, and was persuaded left and right.

After the war, Yang Hao and Ma Gui, who obviously suffered great damage to the Japanese army, were fabricated by the trolls led by Ding Yingtai in the Ming Dynasty, and reversed right and wrong.

As everyone knows, Kato Kiyomasa was completely discouraged by Yang Ho and Ma Gui, ran from Ulsan to Seosangpo to hide, and closed his door to complain.

Tiger Kato was completely reduced to Kato Cat, which was also the most high-quality blow to Japan by the Central Plains Dynasty since the Tang Dynasty.

However, even with such a disproportionate exchange ratio, the biggest loser in the Battle of Ulsan remained the Ming Dynasty.

With Yang Ho and others being replaced, Ma Gui was also influenced by the capital, and he cowered in the second Battle of Ulsan, and the final Battle of Sacheon almost completely buried the image of the Ming army before.

The defeat in the Battle of Sacheon led to the Ming army killing about 12,300 people in the second battle into Korea, and the destruction of the Japanese army was about 30,000 to 40,000.

If there had been no such battle, in the second invasion of Korea, the Ming army's battle loss ratio against the Japanese army should have been 1 to 6, not 1 to 3.

However, even so, on the whole, the cumulative number of deaths of the Ming army was only about 16,000, while the Japanese army died at the hands of the Ming army of about 50,000, plus the number of people who died of non-combat reasons such as death of disease was 50,000, and the total number of deaths should be more than 100,000.

The Ming army's battle losses against the Japanese army remained at about 1 to 6.

Sun Yingyuan confessed that the Eastern Army Governor's Mansion had to go out to fight a battle loss ratio that exceeded the first battle in Korea, that is, to the extent of one to ten.

With the current battle damage of one to six, not to mention that their group of people will be scolded by Sun Yingyuan, even Yan Siqi will not be able to run away from the ending of being involved.

From the time Yan Siqi and others landed in Siguo in June of the sixth year of the Apocalypse to the present, in nearly two and a half years, the Ming army has wiped out a total of 73,000 Japanese troops and lost 3,700 people, close to the battle loss ratio of 1:20.

It is precisely because of this battle loss ratio that Zhu Youzhen did not send someone to replace Yan Siqi, because he felt that Yan Siqi played well.

But if it is according to Zheng Zhilong's style of play, it is estimated that at most he will win the state capital, and Zhu Youzhen will have to be replaced by Jingluo Yingzhou.

Therefore, after the general of the Eastern Army Governor's Mansion was dissatisfied, Zheng Zhilong also found that the battle loss ratio was larger, so he was a little uneasy:

"It's okay to redeem some, as long as our army uses artillery to annihilate Matsudaira Tadaaki's department, it can still fight a dozen battle losses."

"General Zheng Mingjian...... "The general of the Eastern Army Governor's Mansion heard this, and Zheng Zhilong also explained to Zheng Zhifeng when he saw this:

"Let people transport artillery on the road, divide the troops to block the four gates, and then prepare the fire oil and trebuchet, I want to burn Caojin City!"

"Yes!" When Zheng Zhifeng heard this, he immediately responded, turned around and went to arrange.

The lighter five-pound cannon was pulled to the head of the city by the Ming army using a cloud car, and the ten-pound cannon was pushed to the alleys of each street and alley.

There are about 20,000 civilians in the small Kusatsu City, and for these civilians, Zheng Zhilong, who knows the lives of Japanese civilians, quickly thought of countermeasures.

"Huh! I said that the people inside, the Ming Dynasty did not come to invade us, the Ming Dynasty came to bring us culture, the south side is already dividing the land, and the civilians can get one acre of land per person! You only need to harvest 30% of the field."

"Think about your family, and how the emperor and the shogun dealt with us?"

"We don't have fields, and we still have to do labor!"

"You are a soldier for the general, but there are only three rice balls a day, and I am here as a civilian husband for the heavenly soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, and I can eat two catties of "silver relics" every day, as well as a fresh fish, as well as unlimited salt and soy sauce. ”

"Wake up! You idiots! In the face of such a general, what is there to be worthy of your allegiance! ”

In Kusatsu City, when some Japanese people were sent to the front by Zheng Zhilong, they immediately began to persuade some civilians in Kusatsu City to surrender according to the manuscript written by Zheng Zhilong.

After reading Zheng Zhilong's manuscript, some people also counted the "criminal punishments" of the Tokugawa shogunate.

As a perverted country that bullies the weak and the strong, the peasants of Japan are a group of people without dignity and power, no matter what era they are in.

After the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, in order to strengthen its rule, it established a complete shogunate system following the Ming dynasty's vassal system.

The shogunate was the supreme ruler of the shogunate, and the emperor was only the nominal head of state and had no real power.

A feudal domain was a feudal domain given by a shogun to a local daimyo and its ruling body.

The feudal system of rule, consisting of the shogunate and the feudal state, was the shogunate system.

The economic basis of the shogunate system was feudal land ownership, and the land of the country was divided into four types: shogunate domains, daimyo domains, imperial government domains, and temple and shrine domains.

The shogunate territory, known as the "Tenryo", covered a quarter of the country's land and included the three major cities of Edo, Osaka, and Kyoto, as well as other commercial and transportation centers, as well as important military locations.

The daimyo domains, known as feudal domains, accounted for nearly three-quarters of the country's land and belonged to more than 216 daimyos, while the territories of the imperial family and temples and shrines were very small.

Under the shogunate system, feudal lords at all levels divided the land into small plots and cultivated them by peasants, from whom they received "annual tribute" and various taxes.

The peasants had the "right of permanent tenancy" to the land they cultivated, thus forming the principle of "the scholar governing the peasants and the peasants raising the scholars" unique to the Japanese feudal society.

Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate had a strict feudal hierarchy, and the social classes were divided into scholar, agricultural, industrial, and merchant classes.

Among them, the "peasants" are the peasants, who account for eighty percent of the country's population, who are the direct producers of the feudal ruling class's territory and bear the obligation to pay feudal land rent and annual tribute.

Ground rent is usually paid in the proportion of "five public and five people", "six public and four people" or even "eight public and two people".

From the very beginning of its establishment, the shogunate bluntly declared: "The criterion for levying taxes on the peasants is that they will neither be allowed to die nor live."

In addition, peasants also have to perform various kinds of labor, mainly "state service" and "township service".

The former refers to the construction of bridges, roads, and embankments, while the latter refers to the daimyo "Pilgrimage Confession", when the peasants were required to provide horses and porters for the post stations along the way.

In addition, the peasants' clothing, food, housing, and transportation were strictly restricted by the feudal government.

As lowly peasants, they were not allowed to make clothes other than cotton and linen, eat more rice, buy alcohol and tea, smoke, build houses that did not match their status, and were not allowed to move or change occupations at will, and were not allowed to buy, sell, transfer, or divide farmland.

Even the crops grown in the fields must be regulated by the government.

Farmers living under this system basically eat two meals a day, and the so-called rice is a small amount of brown rice to cook radishes, taro, butterbur, bamboo shoots and other chowder.

Those who are a little richer can add a small amount of salt or sauce to eat, but in any case, as long as they are farmers, they can only make do with it.

Because all the nutrients needed to be absorbed from such a simple diet, the Japanese at that time generally ate a large amount of food, and it was normal to eat one pound at a time.

As for the white rice that the people of the Ming Dynasty ate casually, it was called "silver relics" in the countryside, and it basically belonged to the food that only existed in legends.

For the peasants under the shogunate, salted fish was a treasure that could be passed down from family to family.

Generally, there is a salty dried carp at home, and every year during the Chinese New Year, take it out and make soup in hot water, and the fish should be immediately fished out to dry and continue to hang on the top of the gate as the mascot of the family.

If the salted fish is boiled for a little longer, the woman and the old man who cook will even hang themselves in shame.

All in all, the fate of the Japanese peasants was extremely tragic under the brutal feudal exploitation and oppression of the high level of the shogunate.

Knowing this, the generals of the Eastern Army Governor's Mansion couldn't help but speak:

"Mother, this Japanese court uses people as livestock."

His words made some of the Ming army garrisons nod their heads and say:

"Yes, I thought that only two catties of rice were given to the people every day, and a fish was already very harsh."

"But every time they distribute food, they bow and thank you with a smile, and I am still curious, I didn't expect them to have such a miserable life."

Some generals of the Ming army couldn't help but speak, while Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhifeng, Zheng Zhihu and others stood at the head of the city and chuckled.

The reason why Yan Siqi gave land to Japanese farmers was not because his conscience was not upset, but because these lands needed to be planted.

One acre of land per person sounds like a lot, but the area occupied by the Ming army after the destruction of the war, excluding the millions of prisoners involved with the shogunate, actually only occupied a small part of the land harvested by the Ming army.

For other fields, Yan Siqi is using the policy of helping to cultivate one acre, and the farmer can get half of the yield per mu.

This doesn't sound like much, and it can even be said that if this policy was placed in Daming, it would have been scolded a long time ago.

But in the eyes of the Japanese peasants, it was already the "angels" of the Ming Dynasty who enjoyed the meal.

Many of them have already eaten the "silver relics" that they dare not hope for, that is, the so-called white rice.

With one acre of land of their own, as well as three or four acres of land that they help the government cultivate, they can harvest three stones of rice every year.

For them, rice freedom is basically achieved.

Not only that, when Yan Siqi started the war, most of them were before the farming and autumn harvest.

Although he only gave the peasants two catties of rice a day, a salted fish, unlimited soy sauce and salt, and a daily wage of five wen, this was already a great "benevolent government" for the peasants who needed to bear the burden of forced labor and also needed to provide clothing and food for the shogunate's soldiers and horses.

Ordinary factories such as honeycomb coal yards, iron-making yards, and cement yards were paid between 20 and 30 wen per day in Daming, while in Yingzhou, only 10 wen were paid to farmers.

But even so, these factories are still crowded.

For the shogunate peasants, it was something they could not think of because they could still get paid for their work.

This phenomenon, especially after Yan Siqi was able to collect nearly 10 million Shitian Fu every year, became particularly serious.

Since Zhu Youzhen had not yet issued a policy on transporting grain from Yingzhou to Daming, Yan Siqi sold most of the grain to the imperial store of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, except for retaining some grain to supply the army.

The imperial stores of the Imperial Horse Supervisor have been established in various parts of the three provinces in the south of Yingzhou, and after the collection of rice, they are very "black-hearted" to set the price of 600 wen per stone of rice.

Logically speaking, such a price is the price of rice that only occurs in the severely affected areas in Daming, but in the face of such a rice price, many farmers are eager to buy it.

It is equivalent to saying that they planted the land and paid for grain, Yan Siqi sold the grain to the imperial store, and the farmers went to work in the factory to make money to buy rice to eat.

After the whole cycle, Yan Siqi and Yu Ma Jian not only harvested the materials produced by the major factories, but also asked the farmers to help them work for free.

But in the face of such "exploitation", the Japanese peasants were still happy, happily believing that the Ming government had brought culture and light.

For example, these people who were dragged to the battlefield, they were obviously very resistant to serving the Ming army at first, but when the two catties of rice and a salted fish every day were placed in front of them, they decisively chose to surrender.

There were no defections or rebellions in the entire war zone as Yan Siqi, Lu Jianxing, Zheng Zhilong and others guessed.

Not only that, but some peasants would also take the initiative to flee from the north to the south under the rule of the Ming army, and brought some information about the movement of the shogunate army.

For example, now, after determining that the Japanese peasants would not rebel, Zheng Zhilong began to use them to persuade most of the strong men forcibly conscripted by the shogunate to surrender, in an attempt to rebel or cause riots, and this operation immediately paid off.

"Don't do it! We surrender! ”

In some neighborhoods, the short shogunate ashigaru and auxiliary soldiers, and strong men began to walk out with their hands raised, and there were quite a few of them.

"Good, good!"

Seeing this, Zheng Zhilong, who was watching with binoculars clairvoyance at the head of the city, hurriedly applauded and ordered:

"Those who surrender, give them a pound of white rice, a salted fish, and a tael of oil, half a tael of salt, and half a tael of sauce every day."

"Yes!" Zheng Zhifeng, who heard the words, nodded immediately, and then hurriedly arranged for people to surrender, while Matsudaira Tadaaki, who led the troops to prepare for the street battle, was so angry that he almost fainted.

"Yaga! These lowly peasants, have they forgotten their identity and nationality?! ”

Matsudaira Tadaaki was lying on the roof of a house, watching many strong men walk out of the neighborhood, constantly scolding.

"What are we going to do now?" A daimyo next to him asked nervously.

Obviously, they all saw that if the stalemate continued in such a situation, the Japanese army would only be completely annihilated in Kusatsu City.

"Haven't that old guy's reinforcements arrived yet?!"

Matsudaira Tadaaki turned his head to ask his retainers, but the other party shook his head and said:

"They should have arrived half an hour ago, and now it seems that the Ming army has intercepted them."

......Hearing this, Matsudaira Tadaaki gritted his teeth, and while he was still hoping for reinforcements, there were more and more Japanese soldiers in the neighborhood who surrendered.

It was only an hour, and the Ming army did not even launch an attack, but only mobilized some people to advocate the Ming army's policy towards the peasants, which attracted the Japanese troops on the east and west city walls, and most of the captured strong men hiding in the neighborhood.

More than 7,000 people surrendered, and with the previous number of first harvests, that is, there were less than 7,000 men left under Matsudaira Tadaaki.

"Well, it looks like no one is going to surrender."

Zheng Zhilong, who had been waiting for a quarter of an hour again, saw that the Japanese army did not move, and he immediately instructed Zheng Zhihu:

"Trebuchet ready, throw all the fire oil into the city, and then throw the fireball, I want to burn the Japanese Kou!"

"The last general commands!" When Zheng Zhihu heard this, he grinned.

He began to direct the army to prepare for the throwing of the fire, while the other generals began to evacuate the troops stationed at the various alleys.

"What's going on?"

"The Ming army has retreated!"

"Could it be that Lord Yin Da attacked the Ming army with reinforcements?"

"Shall we break out?"

When the Ming army began to retreat en masse, the daimyo in the streets and alleys of Kusatsu Castle began to discuss, while Matsudaira Tadaaki looked around the castle walls.

It's a pity that the distance is a little far, and he can't see it very clearly.

"Is the Ming army going to shell us?" Matsudaira Tadaaki was still thinking about it, but at this time, a jar the size of a human head suddenly fell from the sky.

"Bang-"

The sound of the jar shattering brought everyone's discussion to a halt.

Before they could study where the jar had fallen, the jar began to fall from the sky.

The clay pots continued to fall from a great height and then shattered.

Soon, a pungent smell poured into Matsudaira Tadaaki's nose.

"This is Menghuo oil!"

Matsudaira Tadaaki's scientific name flashed through his mind, and then immediately turned his head and said loudly:

"These are Menghuo oil, the Ming army wants to attack with fire! The whole army is ready to break through to the northern city! ”

"Peng Peng Peng—"

Matsudaira Tadaaki commanded the army to retreat and did not have the idea of extinguishing the fire oil.

Since Japan is built entirely of wood, manpower is often so small when faced with fire.

Matsudaira Tadaaki had given up on holding Kusatsu and was going to retreat with the remaining seven thousand men.

However, his reaction was too slow after all......

"Light the fire, put it!"

When Zheng Zhihu at the head of the city stood next to a trebuchet and gave the order, some gunners immediately lit a special fireball with torches.

As another gunner swung his hammer against the trebuchet's mechanism, the fireball was ejected in an instant.

This one fireball is just a signal, and when it is fired, the rest of the trebuchets throw fireballs.

The fireball fell into the city with gunsmoke, and the fire ignited instantly under the witness of the beautiful scenery of Kusatsu Castle......