Mori Motonari was the god of the Mori family. Seeing that he had made up his mind, everyone stopped trying to persuade him and instead began to discuss the details of the withdrawal.
The Mori family had an army of 50,000 in northern Kyushu, plus nearly 100,000 civilian servants and various baggage. It was not easy to withdraw them all at once.
First of all, the time of retreat. Since the decision has been made, the sooner the better. If the Ming Dynasty fleet seizes the Kanmon Strait one day, the Mori army will have to stay in northern Kyushu for the New Year. At that time, there will be a strong enemy outside, no way to retreat, and no way to send supplies. The army will have no choice but to surrender.
But they could not retreat hastily. If they failed to plan carefully and leaked their itinerary, they would be pursued by the Otomo army and attacked by both land and sea. The Mori army, which had no desire to fight, would also suffer heavy losses.
After much discussion, it was clear that the most important thing was to defend the Kanmon Strait. Mori Motonari gave the order in a deep voice: "Send a message to Murakami Yoshimitsu, order him to lead the Injima navy to contain the Ming fleet and make sure to keep track of their whereabouts at all times."
"Hi." The retainer responded hurriedly in a deep voice.
"Send a message to Jinglong, have him hand over all command of the land forces to Yuanchun, and return to Moji Castle immediately to take full command of all naval forces. Make sure to stop the enemy ships outside the Kanmon Strait and organize our army's safe retreat."
"Hi."
"Send a message to Yuanchun, and ask him to organize our army to retreat. We must be cautious and fast, and try to retreat to the Kanmon Strait before the enemy notices." Maori Motonari coughed twice and said, "I feel that the weather will change in the next few days. Let him find a rainy day to retreat."
Although this would make the Mori family's muskets and even the Murakami navy's katana unusable, the Ming Dynasty's terrifying firearms advantage would also disappear. Once their guns and cannons misfired, they would be like a tiger without teeth, and there would be nothing to fear.
"At that time, if the Ming fleet dares to show up, let the Mishima navy attack them from both sides and make them pay a heavy price!" Mori Motonari slammed the low table heavily, and in an instant he regained the majestic and domineering aura of his youth.
"Tell them not to meddle in my Maori family's affairs again!"
"Hi!" All the retainers became excited and immediately went down to pass on the order.
When no one else was in the room, Maori Motonari was like a deflated ball, and he collapsed all of a sudden. With the help of his eldest grandson Huiyuan, he slowly lay back on the mattress. When he turned around, he saw the dead leaves of the maple tree in the yard being blown away by the west wind, and Maori Motonari shed turbid tears again.
This time it's for myself.
He knew that he didn't have much time left, and no matter what the outcome of this battle was, he would never have the hope of getting his hands on Kyushu again in this lifetime.
"Alas..." Maori Motonari sighed deeply.
The sixteen-year-old Hui Yuan asked in confusion: "Oh Ji Yijiang, why are you crying again?"
"Grandfather, I feel sad that I was born too early. I can't fight with heroes all over the world, and I have to retire first." Maori Motonari laughed at himself, held Takamoto's hand, and said expectantly: "You must learn from your two uncles, take on important responsibilities as soon as possible, and one day you must lead the Maori family back to Kyushu!"
"Hi, Oh Ji Yi Jiang." Hui Yuan responded hurriedly, his eyes full of eager longing. He believed that he would definitely be better than his teacher!
Unfortunately, there is an old Chinese saying, "An eagle gives birth to a night owl - each generation is inferior to the previous one."
~~
Lord Motonari's order was quickly transmitted through the Kanmon Strait to the Mori army camp on Tachibanayama in Hakata.
After receiving the report, Yoshikawa Motoharu was frowning and thinking hard when his younger brother Kobayakawa Takakage came.
Although neither of them had the surname Mori, they were both genuine sons of Mori Motonari. Just like Arima Harujun adopted his son to the Omura family in order to integrate the Omura family. In order to strengthen the power of the main family, Mori Motonari also adopted his second son to his eldest brother-in-law, the Yoshikawa family, as an adopted son. He adopted his third son to his niece-in-law, the Kobayakawa family, as an adopted son.
When the two became heads of the two families, the strength of the Mori family increased suddenly. Moreover, the two brothers were both wise and brave, and good at fighting. They were the two brightest flags of the Mori army, known as the "Mori Ryokawa"!
What is even more rare is that under Motonari's teaching, the two brothers had a harmonious relationship and were united. The famous "Three Arrows Training" is about the story of how Motonari taught his brothers.
"Ani, have you received your father's order?" asked Kobayakawa.
"Yes, Oudoudou." Yuanchun nodded and said gloomily, "Although I know it is inevitable, it is a pity to withdraw the troops like this. And I can't explain to Jianzhongsan and Shizhongsan."
"I can only apologize to them." Kobayakawa was not as emotional as his second brother. He said in a deep voice: "I am here to say goodbye to you. I will be retreating to Moji Castle soon. Please take good care of my subordinates."
"Don't worry, I will arrange for them to withdraw first, and I will lead my troops to cover the rear." Yuanchun nodded, adjusted a smile and said, "Ou Doudou, don't be so serious, as if it's a farewell of life and death."
"I want to annihilate the Ming Dynasty's fleet." Kobayakawa suddenly said, "They have gone too far this time. If we don't teach them a painful lesson, they will become even more arrogant and rampant along the coast in the future."
"What?" Yuanchun was stunned for a moment and said, "Father meant that if the Ming Dynasty attacked us, we should teach them a lesson. He didn't ask you to take the initiative to attack."
"I'm not going to take the initiative." Kobayakawa shook his head slowly and said, "I'm going to show off my weakness and lure you into a trap. This way, it won't be considered disobeying my father's orders."
"What are you going to do?" Yuanchun hesitated and asked in a low voice.
"I'm planning to build a floating bridge on the west side of Moji Castle. Such a big commotion will definitely not be hidden from the Otomo family's ninjas." Kobayakawa and Motoharu walked to the map and drew a short line on it with a charcoal stick.
"The Otomo clan will definitely ask the Ming Dynasty's fleet to help them destroy the floating bridge." Kobayakawa continued, "When the Ming Dynasty people attack, I will first let the Kobayakawa navy and the Kurushima navy form a formation at the entrance of Dan-no-Ura to block them. In the morning, I will order the Kobayakawa navy to meet the enemy, pretend to be defeated, and then retreat while fighting to lure them into Dan-no-Ura."
"The Ming Dynasty fleet must have had concerns when they saw the narrowing of the fjord ahead, but at noon the turbulent tide would change from east to west, sucking their ships into the altar..." Kobayakawa lowered his voice and said, "I heard that the Ming Dynasty people did not use oars to sail, but relied entirely on wind and waves. The sudden change in the tide would definitely leave them helpless and throw them into disarray!"
As he said this, he used a charcoal stick to touch Kanjujima Island at the tail of Dan-no-ura and said, "Then I will have the Inoshima navy ambush here. Once the tide changes, they will rush out immediately and attack the Ming Dynasty fleet from both sides. At all costs, we will annihilate them all in Dan-no-ura!"
Kobayakawa laughed grimly and said, "It's a pity that they don't know the story of 'Tai Chimori carrying an anchor and throwing himself into the sea'. It's a little less interesting when they tie their leader to an anchor and throw him into the sea."
"How sure are you?" Yoshikawa asked.
"The Ming Dynasty has only a few dozen ships, and my military force is ten times theirs. The advantage is mine!" Kobayakawa said confidently, "If we cannot defeat this mere Ming Dynasty fleet even though we have the advantage of time, place, and people, then what's the point of our struggle for hegemony? It's just a joke."
"Hmm..." Yuanchun was somewhat convinced by him and asked, "What about the west side of the strait?"
"I will arrange for the Noshima navy to guard the west side. In any case, it will not affect the safe retreat of your army." Kobayakawa nodded at the bottom of the 'V' and said, "Besides, I have confirmed through the Uku family that the Ming Dynasty fleet is all in the east. They can't fly back to the west even if they have wings."
After a pause, he looked at his second brother apologetically and said, "The only problem is that if I make a big show to lure the enemy, it will create trouble for you to retreat quietly."
"It doesn't matter." Yuanchun smiled generously, "With nearly 100,000 people retreating, it's impossible to hide it from the enemy. I'll just leave a few more troops here to cover the retreat."
"Thank you, Oudoudou. I won't bring shame to the Mori family!" Kobayakawa finally smiled, hugged his brother goodbye, and whispered, "Always remember to protect yourself. I can't bear to lose another brother."
"You selfish fellow." Yuanchun patted his shoulder vigorously and said with a smile: "I wish you long-lasting martial arts luck, Ou Doudou!"
"I wish you good luck in fighting, Ani."
~~
The Mori family's army had been fighting for years and was well-trained. It took only three days for them to be ready to go. They had quietly withdrawn part of the army from the front line of Tachibana Mountain, and had them transport baggage, disguised as a team transporting food and grass, and quietly retreated to Moji Castle.
On the first day of the winter month, misty sleet floated in the sky. The visibility became very poor in the hazy wind and snow.
This was the best opportunity to retreat. That night, Yoshikawa Motoharu ordered the army to march out, lighting up the camp with bright lights and placing many straw men in armor on the watchtowers so that the ninjas of the Otomo army would not dare to get too close to avoid noticing any unusual movements in the camp.
Teams of foot soldiers silently withdrew from the camp they had defended for half a year. In order to reduce the noise, they held their mouths shut and their horses' hooves were bound. Only the leading samurai led the way with a lantern. The people behind could only look at the white cloth sewn on the back of the person in front and follow closely behind to avoid falling behind.
In fact, Yuanchun knew that this would be of little use, because his brother had been building a pontoon bridge with great fanfare in the past few days, and the Otomo army might have guessed that they were going to retreat.
However, necessary deception cannot be neglected - the Otomo army will not know the exact day they will withdraw, and as long as they can deceive the enemy for one night, a lot of unnecessary losses can be avoided.
Yoshikawa Motoharu really kept his word and left at the rear. Most of the generals had already led their troops away, which made him seem a little lonely. The Kitakyushu daimyo who flattered him to the sky, such as Akizuki Fumitane and Takahashi Kanetane, all stayed in Tachibanayama Castle and did not come out to see him off.
Although Yoshikawa ordered his retainers to lead thousands of volunteer soldiers to stay and help them defend the city as an apology, everyone knew that they were abandoned by the Mori family...
"My lord, it's time for us to set off." The samurai of the Yoshikawa family brought his warhorse. Yoshikawa Motoharu sighed, jumped on the horse, followed the main force behind him, and silently left the brightly lit camp.
p.s. My wife is having dinner with us tonight, and I will be taking care of two kids by myself, so I will write another chapter.