Japan seized the opportunity very well, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu himself had strong military talent, otherwise it would have been impossible to end the War between the Northern and Southern Dynasties and unify Japan.

When the Ming army was caught off guard, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu led his army in a surprise attack.

In order to prevent the news from leaking, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu directly mobilized his own troops instead of joining forces with the daimyo.

The Japanese soldiers launched a surprise attack on Chikuzen from Nagato and successfully captured it in just three days.

At the same time, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu ordered the daimyo of the four provinces of Iyo, Tosa, Awa, and Sanuki on Shikoku Island to unite and send troops to directly attack Bungo.

The Ming army attacked Kyushu Island from two directions at the same time.

The Ming army reacted quickly and quickly stockpiled troops for defense, but the Japanese soldiers were very fast and the Chikuzen and Bungo regions had already fallen.

The Buzen region sandwiched in the middle would obviously be difficult to defend for too long.

The four princes of the Ming Dynasty quickly met to discuss the matter.

It's just that Zhu Gaochi did not come to Japan at this time, so there were only the Prince of Qin Zhu Shangbing, the Prince of Jin Zhu Jihui, and the Prince of Qi Zhu Xianxuan.

"This damned Japanese country actually dared to take advantage of the Ming Dynasty's conquest to cause chaos and invade the land of our four royal palaces. This time, we must let them know a profound lesson. We should unite our troops and attack Japan immediately. What do you think, my two brothers?"

Zhu Jihui spoke first.

He was born in the eighth year of Hongwu, while Zhu Shangbing and Zhu Xianxuan were born in the thirteenth and seventeenth years of Hongwu respectively.

As the oldest of the three, he naturally took the lead in this meeting.

In terms of military affairs, Zhu Jihui still had some talent, but he was naturally much inferior to his father Zhu Gang.

"What my brother said is true, but what should we do now that there is no one in charge of Prince Yan's Mansion?" Zhu Xianxuan first agreed with Zhu Jihui's words, and then asked.

Prince of Qi Zhu Yu was a bastard's son. Although he was also a vassal prince, he actually had little say. Zhu Xianxuan was intelligent and understood his own situation.

Zhu Jihui thought for a moment and said, "Xianxuan, you and I will join forces to attack Chikuzen Province, and Shang Bing will go with the troops of the Prince of Yan's Palace to attack Bungo Province."

"Now the two armies of Japan should be preparing to attack Buzen. If we send troops at this time, we will definitely catch them off guard."

Zhu Xianxuan nodded: "Just listen to my brother."

However, Zhu Shangbing did not express his opinion at this time.

"Shang Bing, what do you mean?" Zhu Jihui asked with a frown.

Zhu Shangbing said, "Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has a great reputation. I heard the Japanese say that he is the god of war of Japan. If he dares to attack at this time, he must have prepared for a long time."

"I'm afraid we are no match for him in terms of marching and fighting. I'm afraid if we don't win, it will be a big problem for us."

"Why not wait for the imperial court to send troops to support us, or for father and his men to come back? This will be much safer."

Zhu Jihui immediately said: "What do you mean by safe? I think you are just afraid. They are just small Japanese soldiers. How can they be compared with the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Shangbing wanted to persuade him again, but Zhu Jihui did not take it seriously.

It was obvious that Zhu Jihui wanted to gain credit for himself.

But they apparently neglected their own military capabilities.

When the emperor's grandchildren were born, the Ming Dynasty had already been pacified, so Zhu Yuanzhang focused their education on literature and neglected leading troops in battle.

In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, the Ming Dynasty no longer needed too many wars.

However, no one expected that the sudden appearance of the eldest grandson would bring about a huge change in the trajectory of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Jihui had always been with his father and had participated in many battles in Japan. This time when his father was not in Japan, Zhu Jihui wanted to show his abilities.

Zhu Shangbing's status was much lower than that of Zhu Jihui, because his biological mother was the second concubine Deng, who was executed by Zhu Yuanzhang, and his status was also weakened. He was able to become the crown prince because of his grandfather, Ninghe King Deng Yu.

Although his younger brother Zhu Shanglie was nominally the legitimate son, in reality, because the Princess of Qin was the sister of Wang Baobao, the Prince of Yuanqi, he was just a title.

Zhu Jihui felt that he could win because he had the illusion of being invincible when he followed his father.

How could a few young boys who had just started out fight against Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who had fought for his entire lives and was fighting on his home turf with the advantage of being at home?

This is no longer a question of underestimating the enemy or not. The two sides are not on the same level.

Zhu Jihui personally led his troops to fight, but was ambushed by Japanese soldiers halfway.

Since the loss of Kyushu Island, Japan has been spending a lot of money on the research of firearms, and has large-scale equipment of both cannons and matchlock guns.

Of course, the quality cannot be compared with that of the Ming Dynasty, and the Japanese soldiers also lack armor.

However, when they were in Chikuzen and Bungo, the Japanese soldiers obtained a lot of Ming army equipment.

Zhu Jihui divided his troops into two groups, hoping to defeat the Japanese troops in a short period of time.

However, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu secretly joined forces with the troops on Shikoku Island, and concentrated all the equipment of the Ming army to be used in Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's personal guards.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's personal guards were not large, only less than 30,000 people.

These 30,000 people were the most capable Japanese warriors left over from so many years of war, almost like raising poisonous insects.

They were taller, stronger and better trained than ordinary Japanese soldiers.

Even when the Ming army joined forces with Goryeo to launch a massive attack on Japan, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu did not send out this army, but instead kept it on Honshu Island.

But this time, he brought all his guards.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu learned from spies that the Ming army was divided into two routes. He ignored the Ming army in the south, but concentrated his forces on dealing with the Ming army in the north led by Zhu Jihui.

And they took the initiative to attack in an ambush.

When Zhu Jihui was ambushed, he was completely stunned. The roar of artillery fire almost made him deaf. The soldiers who did not receive orders from their superiors were like headless flies, not knowing whether to attack or defend.

Fortunately, the middle-level officers of the Ming army responded quickly and immediately evacuated in groups, stopping the losses in time.

Zhu Jihui also quickly withdrew under the protection of his personal guards.

The planned raid also ended in complete failure.

distance.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu put down the telescope he had been holding.

The telescope is a product of the Ming Dynasty and was previously classified for military use. However, due to its simple craftsmanship, the output is very high, so it is not difficult for Japan to get it by spending some money.

"The Ming army is really powerful. They were able to quickly organize a resistance under such circumstances. The young boy was already scared, but the Ming army was only in chaos for a short time before they were able to organize themselves spontaneously."

"No wonder the Ming army has always been invincible, conquering Mongolia, Zhenla, Champa, Siam and many other wars without fear."

"If we can't quickly retake Kyushu Island while the Ming army reacts, it will be the end of our country of Japan when the Ming army reacts."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu said with a sigh.

Although the Ming army was strong in previous wars, it was not as powerful as this one.

You have to know that when tens of thousands of troops were ambushed and in chaos, and had lost the command of their main general, all the troops would collapse completely, and they only needed to chase and kill them.

However, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu felt that the attack just now was perfect and should have caused huge losses to the Ming army.

But the final result did not meet even half of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's expectations.

Even not long after, if the main general had not fled first, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu felt that this Ming army could even launch an effective counterattack.

This is no longer a question of combat effectiveness. It shows that the middle-level officers of these armies are very strong. It is not the strength of one person, but almost most of the middle-level officers have the ability to fight independently.

In this day and age, this is almost unbelievable.

Even if it was said that these troops were the personal guards of the feudal lords, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu found it too impossible, but they appeared anyway.

At the same time, the characteristics of this regionalized warfare also made Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's eyes light up.

However, this kind of combat method requires a large number of highly qualified middle-level officers, which extinguished the light in Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's eyes.

Only then did he understand why the Ming Dynasty could wage war with almost all its neighboring countries at the same time.

You have to know that for a general, it is already very difficult to effectively command an army of 10,000 people to fight. In many cases, when the number of troops on both sides reaches tens of thousands, a good commander is already considered to be able to allow all soldiers to exert their combat effectiveness to 30%.

Why is Han Xin called the God of War?

As the saying goes, "Han Xin recruited soldiers, the more the better."

It is because he can effectively demonstrate the combat effectiveness of most soldiers whether it is 10,000, 100,000 or even several hundred thousand people.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has loved reading military books from the Central Plains since he was a child, so he knows very well how exaggerated the current situation in the Ming Dynasty is.

Therefore, it was decided immediately to take back Kyushu Island at a faster speed.

Only by taking back Kyushu Island would he have the possibility to negotiate terms with the Ming Dynasty.

The helpless thing is that even if Japan recovered Kyushu Island, it would never be a match for the Ming Dynasty.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's hope was to ensure that Kyushu Island returned to his hands, even if it meant paying a large amount of compensation.

In recent years, he has not only been training troops. As early as two years ago, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had already contacted Lee Seong-gye.

When Ashikaga Yoshimitsu heard that the imperial teacher who led the Goryeo army was from the Ming Dynasty, he sensed something was wrong and continued to send personnel to investigate the situation in Goryeo.

As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my ally. After Ashikaga Yoshimitsu learned about Lee Seong-gye's situation, he began to communicate with him quickly.

Hoping to gain a political and military ally.

Lee Seong-gye, who was severely suppressed in Goryeo, suddenly colluded with Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Even though the Japanese pirates had constantly invaded Goryeo, how did this conflict with their own interests?

How many people in power would understand the suffering of the people? Their own interests are everything.

It was after Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had communicated with Lee Seong-gye that he dared to launch this war.

Not long after, a warrior came to report about the ambush.

Because it was an ambush, the Japanese soldiers' losses this time were barely over a thousand, while the Ming Dynasty's losses reached as many as four thousand.

This is undoubtedly morale-boosting news for Japan.

You should know that in previous battles with the Ming army, it often took seven or eight soldiers to exchange for one Ming soldier, and sometimes it was not even possible to exchange ten for one.

This time it was a real big victory.

The most crucial thing is that this time the Ming army brought a lot of artillery, and it was obviously impossible for the Ming army to leave with the artillery if it suddenly withdrew, which completely gave Ashikaga Yoshimitsu an advantage.

More than two hundred artillery pieces, this is undoubtedly a windfall for Japan today.

Moreover, the armor left by the thousands of Ming army corpses greatly enhanced Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's strength.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu immediately decided to clean up the battlefield and then send troops to attack the Ming army in the south again.

He wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to plunder the Ming army's armaments as much as possible to strengthen himself, so that when the Ming Dynasty reacted, he would have stronger negotiating conditions.

War, in the end, serves politics.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was also secretly worried that the Ming Dynasty would send a large army to attack Japan regardless of the losses after learning the news.

Therefore, the situation in Goryeo is very critical.

"Immediately send an envoy to Goryeo to meet Lee Seong-gye in secret and tell him that I am willing to give him another 5,000 muskets, 100 cannons, 100,000 dan of grain, 200,000 taels of silver, and 50,000 taels of gold."

"If he starts the rebellion immediately upon receiving the news, our country of Japan will also send 100,000 warriors to help him."

After thinking for a while, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu gave instructions to the samurai next to him.

Upon hearing this, Takeuchi, the confidant standing nearby, couldn't help but exclaimed and asked, "Sir General, this... isn't giving Goryeo too much?"

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu said: "There is an old saying in the Central Plains that you can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child. If Lee Seong-gye of Goryeo does not rise up at this time, then we in Japan will have to face the wrath of the Ming Dynasty alone."

"We have damaged the Ming Emperor's reputation this time. If he forcibly dispatches a large army in anger without caring about casualties, not to mention Kyushu Island, I'm afraid Honshu Island will become Ming territory."

"The territory of the Ming Dynasty is too vast, and they have too many soldiers. Even a small part of them would be very fatal to our country of Japan."

"So no matter how much it costs, we must get Goryeo to rise up and fight against the Ming Dynasty. Only in this way can we have a chance, a chance to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty."

Seeing Takeuchi's unconvinced look, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu didn't say anything more.

Sometimes knowing too much can be a huge burden to oneself.

The more he understood the current Ming Dynasty, the more frightened Ashikaga Yoshimitsu became.

He had no way of telling his subordinates many real situations, as doing so would only weaken their will to fight and would be of no benefit at all.

The news of Japan's uprising reached the capital in just half a month.

Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely angry about Japan's uprising at this time, and immediately ordered another 200,000 troops to completely destroy Japan.

However, not long after, news came that the Ming army had been defeated.

Just when Zhu Yuanzhang was gathering his army to prepare for another attack on Japan, news came again that Lee Seong-gye of Goryeo had launched an uprising.

At this time, everyone could guess that Goryeo must have joined forces with Japan.

In this world, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.