Passing through the short hilly terrain, the valley ahead suddenly opened up.

It is surrounded on all sides by small hills, with a large area of low flat land in between. The castle was built on a hill, and the flat land below the hill is where the castle town is located.

Hundreds of peasant soldiers had already scattered and fled, and some simply climbed the hills.

The warriors of the Hao clan rushed towards the mountain city, and the Ming light cavalry pointed at these people to chase after them, because they had the best armor on their bodies.

He was the first to be captured without riding a horse, and he knelt on the ground and begged for mercy and did not dare to move.

Zhu Shouyi took the lead, swept a large number of routs along the way, and only stared at Masuda Akira to chase after him.

Seeing that the chase was getting closer and closer, Masuda Akiaki's son Masuda Akiaki shouted: "Father, go back to the city quickly, I'll stop the pursuers!" ”

This guy was young and vigorous, and he really turned around and raised his gun to charge back at the Ming cavalry.

Zhu Shouyi rode his horse to accelerate, and when the two horses were staggered, he picked Yitian Zhaoming off the horse's back with a gun, and then continued to chase and kill without stopping.

Masuda Zhaoming was injured but not dead, struggling to get up, and then the Ming cavalry who rushed to it stabbed him in the throat with another shot.

"Open the gates!" Masuda shouted.

Iwami National Castle has two inner and outer walls, and Masuda Akira has rushed to the outer city. But there were not many soldiers defending the city, and most of them were pulled out to fight, and a few of the soldiers guarding the city saw the pursuers coming, and they were so frightened that they didn't dare to let Masuda Akira in.

Masuda Akira turned his head to look, and suddenly became even more panicked: "Hurry up and open the city gate!" ”

Due to the usual prestige of this person, the soldier could only open the door with a hard head.

As soon as the gate opened, Masuda Akira dismounted and entered, shouting, "Close the door, close the door!" ”

Several archers on the city wall also shot arrows at Zhu Shouyi.

Zhu Shouyi did not chase any further, turned around to surround those routs, and waited for the large army to come and attack the city.

The castle town has become a pot of porridge, and the people have closed their doors to take refuge, and those who are far away have fled with their families into the mountains.

When Zhu Xiaozhong came to the castle town with 3,000 armor soldiers, the captured nobles and warriors, as well as the people who did not escape, were all stunned by these terrifying legions.

Japan imitated the military system of the Tang Dynasty and established a defense system, also known as the corps system.

Like the military system of the Tang Dynasty, with the collapse of the land system, the anti-human system also collapsed.

The Tang Dynasty supplemented it with the athlete system, which was a bit similar to the military household system (not involving family members), and a bit like a professional mercenary, and the early athletes still retained some of the nature of government soldiers.

Japan also followed suit, and the same system of athletes was adopted.

Athletes, in Japan, gradually evolved into the samurai class!

There were probably two kinds of samurai at the end of the Heian period.

One is the samurai of the commons, who are raised and dispatched by the officials of the state government.

One is the village lord samurai, that is, the private armed forces of the big landowners.

But no matter what kind of samurai, at the official level, they are actually all "athletes" under the ken'er system. To put it bluntly, he is a professional mercenary, and he has not yet become a social class!

Since it is a professional mercenary, then the Ming army can also be hired.

Yuan Sheng pointed to the kneeling captives everywhere and whispered to the interpreter, "These athletes can be hired, but in order to show their loyalty, they must have the consent of their masters. ”

Zhu Xiaozhong listened to the translator and said it again, and immediately smiled: "The athletes are all here." ”

The interpreter shouted, "Athlete come here!" ”

Those captured warriors came to Zhu Xiaozhong one after another, and knelt on the ground again.

Zhu Xiaozhong pointed to the wealthy clans again and asked, "Are you willing to transfer these athletes?" ”

Where do the wealthy people dare to say that they are unwilling?

Hurriedly agreed.

Zhu Xiaozhong asked the warriors about their salaries again, and after listening to it, he pouted: "Follow me in the future, and the rice grain you can receive every month will increase by 30%." ”

The samurai were overjoyed and bowed down to thank him.

Since the Hao clan agreed to transfer the athletes, they promised on the spot that there would be no more subordination, so Zhu Xiaozhong asked the warriors to hold a loyalty ceremony.

Not to be loyal to an individual, but to the Ming court.

The samurai probably understood that they would be the "commons athletes" of the Ming Dynasty in the future.

"Bring the rice!" Zhu Xiaozhong shouted.

The crew brought rice from the port, paid the new samurai in advance on the spot, and each of them was given an additional "transfer fee".

Those warriors carried sacks of grain and shouted one after another: "Swear allegiance to the Ming Dynasty, swear allegiance to the Ming Dynasty!" ”

The local wealthy clan was furious and terrified.

Because they know that these athletes are truly loyal to the enemy.

Now is not the era of the samurai, the samurai class has not yet been fully formed, can a group of professional mercenaries still be required to be loyal?

Zhu Xiaozhong and the warriors said: "You each go back to your hometown and take your family members here to settle down." ”

This is not only to take the samurai's family as hostages, but also to free the samurai's family from the control of the original owner.

Zhu Xiaozhong was not in a hurry to attack the city, and sent a soldier to accompany the local samurai back to his hometown, and spent more than half a month to gather the samurai's family. Then, he occupied a residential area in the castle town and let the newly recruited samurai and their families move in.

Iwami's main fighting force, the warrior samurai class, was subdued by Zhu Xiaozhong in this way.

Immediately, through the information provided by these samurai, Zhu Xiaozhong sent troops to capture the Yitian clan and completely annex the land under the name of the Yitian clan.

He gathered the captured wealthy clansmen, pointed to the people of the Yitian clan, and said, "All the adult males have been killed!" ”

As the heads fell to the ground, the captured wealthy clans were frightened and weakened.

Zhu Xiaozhong said to Yuan Sheng again: "One-third of the land of the Yitian clan will be owned by your Yuan family in the future, and you can recruit athletes on your own." ”

Yuan Sheng was so excited that he wiped his tears and shouted: "Swear allegiance to the Ming Dynasty, swear allegiance to General Zhu!" ”

Zhu Xiaozhong said to the newly recruited warriors: "One-third of the land of the Yitian clan will be divided equally among you. From now on, you are not only a great Ming athlete, but also a small master of Iwami Province. ”

The samurai looked at each other, then knelt down and thanked each other.

Land can buy hearts and minds, and land can be exchanged for loyalty. These samurai in front of them, after obtaining the land, are determined to be loyal dogs of the Ming Dynasty, even if the emperor sends troops to kill them, they will fight to the death.

The remaining one-third of the land of the Masuda clan, as well as many commons of Iwami Province, will be used as the commons of the Ming Overseas Army in the future.

In fact, it does not collect much tax, mainly symbolic, representing the rule of the Ming Dynasty over Iwamikoku.

Zhu Xiaozhong got up with a smile, deliberately imitated Prince Zhu in every word and deed, pointed to the mountain castle of Iwami Province and said, "Attack the city tomorrow!" ”

There are very few soldiers left in the city.

Before the siege, Zhu Xiaozhong also asked the warriors to shout.

"The athletes in the city listened, the Yitian clan has been killed, and the land of the Yida clan has also been confiscated. We have all been rewarded with land, and as long as you surrender to Kaicheng, you can also be given land to become a small lord. Kill Masuda Akira, and there is another meritorious reward! ”

Can a soldier be given a land to become a nickname?

Is there a heavy reward for killing Masuda Akira?

The small number of samurai left behind in the city couldn't help but look at Masuda Akira.

Masuda Akira was horrified and said, "As long as you hold the national city, the emperor's army will soon be able to ......."

Before he finished speaking, a samurai had already rushed over.

The rest of the samurai were afraid that they would not be able to make a big achievement, so they also rushed to raise their weapons and wanted to snatch Masuda Akira's head.

Defending the city?

What are you kidding, there are so many great Ming armorers outside the city, and they can't hold it with three heads and six arms.

Soon, the gates opened.

The peasants trembled and knelt on the ground, while the samurai came with human parts to ask for their rewards.

Those who grabbed the head were rewarded with five buckets of grain, and they could share an extra acre of land.

And whoever grabs the other parts also has his own reward.

Everyone was happy.

In the Iwami national castle, Zhu Xiaozhong summoned the wealthy clans in the country and said to them: "The Masuda clan refuses to surrender, so there is a disaster of extermination." If you do not rebel, you will not kill your people, nor will you confiscate your land. Even when the Emperor's army comes, you can join it, as long as you don't make a difference. When I defeat the Emperor's army, you will officially take refuge in the Ming Dynasty. ”

These conditions are very lenient and benevolent, and they are always for the sake of the wealthy family.

Everyone was convinced, knelt in front of Zhu Xiaozhong, and swore that they would never go against Daming.

Zhu Xiaozhong also said: "Shi sees that there are silver mines in the country, and you each mobilize your clansmen and subjects to go to the mountains to find silver mines and silver veins. Once found, there is a reward. If he finds it and hides it, I will destroy his entire people!" ”

The wealthy families received the order, stayed in the city for a good meal, and then returned to their hometowns to find silver mines.

In another hundred years, Iwami Silver Mountain will be discovered. However, due to the low mining technology, only those open-pit silver mines were mined at first, and it was not until the Ming Dynasty Chinese learned the technology that the deeper silver mines were officially mined.

During the special period of Spanish frenzied silver mining in the Americas, Iwami Silver Mountain could even account for one-third of the world's silver production!

However, it is said that these wealthy families, after fleeing back to the countryside, actively searched for silver mines for the Ming Dynasty, and sent people to Heianjing to seek reinforcements.

If the emperor's army was defeated, they took refuge in the Ming Dynasty and offered the silver mines to the Ming Dynasty.

If the Emperor's army wins, they can also make meritorious contributions, and they can also divide the silver mines afterwards.

Anyway, it's not a loss.

……

Emperor Toba, what are you doing at this time?

Clean up the court!

His old and immortal grandfather is finally dead, and from then on it is up to him to decide.

First of all, it is to welcome Fujiwara Yasuko into the palace, so as to gain the support of his cousin Fujiwara clan, and use the Fujiwara family to suppress the power promoted by his grandfather.

Secondly, consolidate his own hospital politics and exclude the hospital politics left by his grandfather.

This guy is playing with fire, and his grandfather vigorously promoted the middle and lower class aristocracy, with the aim of nothing more than to strengthen centralized power.

However, Emperor Toba did the opposite, and actually reused his relatives and nobles. This eventually led to the birth of Japan's first shogunate period, with the emperor becoming an outright puppet.

"Your Majesty, the Ming army defeated the Nagato naval army and quickly captured Iwami Castle!"

When Emperor Toba heard about this, he was really a little confused, and asked, "Which country is Ming Kingdom?" I only know the Song Kingdom, the Jin Kingdom and Goryeo, where is this Ming Kingdom? ”

"Your Majesty, the Ming Kingdom is the Song Kingdom. The Song State has died, and the new emperor of China is known as the Ming Dynasty. ”

"How could China send troops to kill them? And he didn't come to fight Heiankyo, but he went to the remote Iwami country? ”

"I don't know."

"Gather the army now! Before sending troops, send an envoy to Iwami to ask for clarification. ”

(Three corrections have been made in the previous chapters: first, the Niren Mongols were brain-whipped into the Sauron Mongols, and second, the light cavalry did use less extra-long cavalry spears, which had been changed from four meters to three meters; Thirdly, the location of Iwami Kunijo has been corrected. ）

(End of chapter)