Hirohito Kōichi really did everything he could.
He actually set his sights on his own queen, but it was no wonder. With the country and the family ruined, what was a mere queen to him?
If Tokugawa Hideyoshi was defeated and Tokyo City was in a situation where there was no hope at all, I am afraid that as long as Zhang Wuji could withdraw his troops, it would not be impossible for Hirohito to recognize him as his godfather. As for paying tribute and becoming a vassal, that would be even more natural.
However, at this moment, Hirohito Koichi still forced himself to suppress the impulse in his heart. After all, letting his own queen talk to Zhang Wuji and assassinate Zhang Wuji showed his incompetence as the emperor. The rise and fall of the country cannot be relied on by women unless it is absolutely necessary.
…
Five days later.
Zhang Wuji's army was still on the way back to Tokyo. Although there were still some cities in the east of Japan that needed to be swept, they had to take Tokyo first. As long as Tokyo was taken, even if there were still places of resistance in the entire Japan, it would be leaderless. Those cities that had not yet been taken would most likely choose to surrender after seeing Hirohito Hiroichi's head.
Of course, it doesn’t matter if they don’t surrender. Even if they don’t surrender, the Ming army will beat them into surrender.
Hirohito concentrated most of his troops in Tokyo. There must be few defenders in the remaining places. At that time, the Ming army only needs to send a small-scale force to easily sweep them away.
His attention turned to Tokugawa Hideyoshi. After a fierce battle with the Ming army five days ago, he had been fleeing in a more hasty manner. However, the scene of easily shaking off the Ming army's pursuers in his dream did not happen. Before the decisive battle that day, he had been ignoring a very serious problem.
That was his army, which had been trying every possible way to evade or shake off Zhang Wuji's army. However, could the Ming army pursuing him only be the 20,000 heavily armored troops led by Zhang Wuji himself?
The answer is definitely wrong, because the ones chasing him were also Yang Xiao’s cavalry, but the number of that cavalry was just a little smaller.
But now it seems that sometimes the more and the less need to have a corresponding reference. At the beginning, Yang Xiao's 3,000 cavalrymen were facing Tokugawa Hideyoshi's 50,000 to 60,000 troops. With such a ratio, the number of Yang Xiao's cavalrymen was naturally pitifully small. But after a big battle a few days ago, Tokugawa Hideyoshi abandoned all his soldiers and fled with only more than 200 personal soldiers on war horses. In this way, when facing Yang Xiao's more than 1,000 cavalrymen behind him, it was almost a one-on-five situation.
The outcome was completely different from what Tokugawa Hideyoshi had imagined. He fled on horseback with more than 200 personal guards that day, but he only escaped more than half an hour earlier.
The surrounding area within hundreds of miles is mostly mountainous and hilly, and there are not many roads suitable for people and horses to walk on. Therefore, Tokugawa Hideyoshi could probably only escape along one road.
No matter where they escaped, they would leave traces behind, so much so that on the fifth day, they were almost bitten by Yang Xiao. After running for more than two hours, they saw a stream in front of them. Only then did Tokugawa Hideyoshi order the horses to stop and drink some water, and the people to stop and catch their breath.
However, when Tokugawa Hideyoshi was lying by the stream drinking water, Takeda Nobuo said, "General, things are a little different from what we expected. The Ming army is really too difficult to deal with. It has been five days, and it has been six days including the day of the battle. During these six days, I am afraid we have not slept for twelve or thirteen hours in total. The rest of the time we were running frantically."
Over the past few days, dozens of horses have died of exhaustion, and without their war horses, we can only let the soldiers fend for themselves. Now, there are only more than a hundred of us left. This cannot go on. If we cannot shake off the Ming cavalry behind us, we will be exhausted to death.
Tokugawa Hideyoshi also frowned: "I know we can't go on like this, but what else can we do now? Our troops can't hold on. Do you think the Ming army can hold on?"
"I just don't believe that there is no reduction in staff on their side."
Nobuo Takeda was also somewhat helpless: "Of course there were casualties on the Ming army side, but their number is several times ours."
Tokugawa sighed again: "He's at the end of his rope, a dog that has lost its home."
"I used to think that my abilities were far superior to those of other Japanese generals, but I didn't have the opportunity to display them because I was unsuccessful. However, after the Battle of Edogawa, I realized that there are always people better than you, and in the final analysis, it was all because of my own incompetence."
After hearing this, Takeda Nobuo hurriedly explained: "General, it's not that you are incompetent, it's that the Ming army is too cunning."
After hearing this, Tokugawa couldn't help laughing and said, "Maybe, maybe the Ming army is too cunning, but doesn't Mr. Takeda want to admit that cunning is also part of strength?"
"In a national war, winning is all that matters. What's wrong with being cunning? What's wrong with being mean? What's wrong with being cruel and massacring cities at will like the Ming army?"
"Isn't this what they should do? Can we deny their ability to fight well just because of these cunning factors?"
Takeda Nobuo was speechless. He knew Tokugawa was right. He knew his earlier use of the word "cunning" was the perfect excuse for his own soldiers' incompetence. But now that things had come to this, what else could he do? At the very least, he should think about how to survive.
After thinking it over, he guessed that the Ming army was about to catch up again, and after the Ming army caught up here, they would certainly take a short rest. Therefore, after hesitating for a while, Takeda Nobuo said: "General, let's let half of the soldiers escape on the spot, and the remaining soldiers will protect you with two horses. In this way, we can definitely escape successfully."
After hearing this, Tokugawa was moved at first, and obviously thought that this was a good idea, but then he thought again, he was first defeated at Edogawa, with 50,000 people defending the natural barrier for only one day, and then he was defeated again a few days ago, and more than 20,000 soldiers risked their lives to win such a chance for him to escape.
And now, the more than one hundred people left around him are his last confidants. Just as he had thought before, if Tokugawa Hideyoshi could make a comeback one day, all of these people would be promoted to generals. These people are his last foundation and his last backbone. How can he bear to abandon them at this moment?
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