Mo Lie had lived in Japan for twenty to thirty years and knew well that these people could not be dissuaded by persuasion. Only by telling them that the mission was not yet complete and that they still had to fulfill their duties would they listen.
At this moment,
He saw Omura tremble all over when he heard, "The war is not over yet!" Immediately, he shouted loudly, "Lord Sumitada! So many samurai are still waiting for your command! We still have a hundred warships and three to four thousand samurai! The Ming have not pursued us to the bitter end!"
Huh?
Omura was stunned. He looked at his trusted retainers, Shiro, Jiro, and Uraunosuke, who all nodded. He then looked at Torres, who also had an encouraging expression.
Omura suddenly stood up and saw that there was no more cannon fire in the waters north of the strait, and Mount Tachibana had not attacked the fleet again. He asked strangely,
"Why have the Ming stopped attacking?"
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Mo Lie pondered for a moment and said, "Lord Sumitada, I think it might be because of the Franks... The Ming do not wish to offend General Souza?"
Mm-hmm,
All the samurai nodded.
Torres, who was a pirate by profession and had seen his share of victories and defeats, took the opportunity to persuade him,
"Lord Sumitada, there is a saying in the Ming: 'As long as the green hills remain, there will be wood to burn'... Your country also has a saying: 'Heaven does not favor Gou Jian in vain; time is not without Fan Li'... My lord, your Lord Sorin is a great strategist, your Ming Chancellor Yan Song has foresight, and our Governor Souza is a hero of his generation. My lord, we must persevere until the end. The end, do you understand? You fought very well in this battle! There were no mistakes! Truly, no mistakes! It was just that the enemy was too lucky! They were incredibly lucky!"
Mo Lie's words had reminded Omura Sumitada. He thought that the Franks carried significant weight, and the Ming army must have received instructions from their superiors not to attack the Franks, which was why the fighting had suddenly stopped. In that case, the war was indeed not over, and the men and horses he had were still capable of fighting?
Thinking of this,
His desire for revenge and vindication suddenly burned fiercely, and he angrily declared,
"Yes! I, Omura Sumitada, am a daimyo and must persevere until the very last moment!"
"Everyone! I, Omura Sumitada, implore you all to rally your spirits once more and not to shame the prestige of our Imperial Japan! Heaven does not favor Gou Jian in vain! We must have our revenge!"
Hoo!
Plop!
All the samurai knelt down and shouted,
"Revenge!"
"Revenge!"
...
Zhu Mo had no time to linger here. After making arrangements with Yu Dayou, he boarded a ship and departed.
Yu Dayou, following the strategy, coordinated with the artillery emplacements on the surrounding islands to form a naval encampment, encircling the entire sea area of the enemy stronghold. Another detachment detoured to the south and established a naval encampment at Mount Tachibana.
Thus, the entire port of Lixing was completely sealed off. According to the strategy, Zhenhai Guard would send a fleet for resupply every ten days, and the siege was expected to last at least half a year.
The Japanese pirate ships were trapped in the ruined stronghold, unable to move an inch. They attempted to break through several times but were met with a barrage of gunfire. After an hour or two, Omura suddenly issued a command to the entire force: "All hands ashore!" The Japanese pirates in the sea finally abandoned their illusions and boarded small boats, landing on the island.
Omura, Torres, Mo Lie, Wu Ping, Shiro, Jiro, and others each took stock of their forces. A total of over 3,500 were alive, and over 2,000 were wounded. Most of them were samurai from the Kyushu domains, with fewer ronin than before. The remaining were pirates. The Frankish mercenaries brought by Torres had lost about a thousand men, with over five hundred remaining, all vowing to annihilate Yu Dayou's entire army.
In the following days,
The Japanese pirates rebuilt makeshift shelters on the scorched port and procured provisions and supplies from the merchants and residents on the mountaintop platform. After four or five days of effort, they finally settled down. They re-established camps on both sides of the port, repaired the remaining cannons, and managed to maintain the semblance of a military harbor.
The next day,
Mo Lie sent a private letter to Yu Dayou, requesting an audience with Zhu Mo to inquire about how the Ming dynasty would deal with Lixing Port. Yu Dayou, following the agreed-upon strategy, refused to respond to any of it. Later, Omura, under the guise of the commander escorting various merchant groups, sent a note to Yu Dayou demanding an explanation from the Ming navy for the surprise attack. Otherwise, he threatened that the ten nations' merchant groups would urge their respective envoys to protest to the Ming. If there was still no response, the envoys of the ten nations would demand their countries declare war on the Ming, and so on.
If Zhu Mo had not given prior instructions, Yu Dayou would truly have been startled—
After all, it was ten nations' merchant groups, including Joseon, Japan, Liguo, Bianluo, Ryukyu, Majapahit, Java, Srivijaya, Brunei, and Benheng, which made his scalp tingle just looking at them. If such a diplomatic incident truly occurred, and Yan Song and his son exerted their influence, they would undoubtedly twist the facts and portray this battle as Yu Dayou's mistake! Then, he would immediately be demoted, either exiled to Xuan and Da, or banished to Yun and Gui. How could a military officer clarify such matters? Moreover, Yan Song and his son were colluding with these factions, so how could they speak out?
In the past twenty-odd years, he had suffered such losses too many times. Every time he fought a war, he was on edge. Losing a battle was actually fine; every time he won, it brought him trouble.
And this time, Zhu Mo had given instructions before leaving—
No matter what the Japanese pirates said, ignore it completely!
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As long as there were ten or more Japanese pirates, they were not allowed to leave the port. As for communications, supplies, and the like, they were also to be ignored.
If the Japanese pirates tried to use diplomatic channels, they were to adhere to the three principles: no attention, no contact, no explanation. All that was needed was to tightly blockade Lixing Port and await orders from Hangzhou.
Yu Dayou pondered for a moment, feeling that this was indeed a solution. Since the situation was so complicated, why not simply remain ignorant? The situation in Zhoushan was now obvious, and it would not be easy for Yan Song and his son to stir up any trouble in the imperial court.
Trapping and humiliating the pirates, as expected, was a good method. It effectively held the situation in limbo, neither advancing nor retreating, and any diplomatic maneuver would have to revolve around rescuing Lixing Port. On the surface, it seemed that Zhu Mo did not annihilate them due to some scruples, but in reality, he had turned the entire island of Japanese pirates into hostages, seizing control of all developments.
Upon realizing this, he finally let out a long sigh and thought, "Zhu Mo, Zhu Mo, you take after your mother in some ways, but this cunning mind is clearly from the Emperor..."
...
As night fell that day,
South of Dapukou, on the southern beach of Zhoushan Main Island, a small boat sailed out, catching the tailwind and bypassing the islands, heading north.
This was a message boat sent by Omura Sumitada, heading directly for Ryukyu. The person on board was Uraunosuke, a retainer of the domain. He was to first go to Ryukyu to sound out Souza's intentions, then switch to a larger ship and return to Kyushu to report all the details of the Battle of Zhoushan to Otomo Sorin, and to clarify the future of Lixing Port.
But they did not know that,
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At this time, the various countries of Kyushu were also in chaos.
Just the night after the Battle of Zhoushan, Oda Nobunaga landed with five hundred arquebusiers and three thousand of his own samurai.
Nobunaga was skilled in warfare. He first used his own samurai to feign an attack on Saga Castle. Otomo Sorin, in his fury, mobilized his entire army, but was ambushed by arquebusiers in a small valley. Otomo Sorin was captured, and his soldiers suffered over five thousand casualties.
With this single blow, coupled with the samurai previously dispatched to Zhoushan, Hizen Province had lost over ten thousand elite troops. The southern great domain, which commanded the six kingdoms of Kyushu, collapsed overnight.
Oda Nobunaga further reinforced his troops, bringing six thousand men from Owari. Within ten days, he defeated the allied forces of the six kingdoms of Kyushu again and occupied the vast port area of Nagasaki, Hirado, Matsuura, and Goto.