Father can be an enemy to the country

After breaking the city, the Ming army did not attack the city immediately because this was the icing on the cake. If there were serious casualties, it would be self-defeating.

At this moment, he was in the dark and couldn't figure out the situation inside, so Wang Bi ordered to continue bombarding the gap to prevent Japanese pirates from rushing to repair it. On the other hand, wheelbarrows were used to dump earth and rocks one by one and fill the moat.

The death squads also had a good meal and were ready to go into battle to clear the way for the army.

When daybreak came, they found that there was not a single Japanese soldier left on top of the city...

Wang Bi sent people across the river to check. When the scout carefully climbed over the ruins of the city wall, he saw that there was really no soldier left in the water city.

"Damn it." Wang Bi spat after hearing the report, and looked at Hu Quan and Hu Bo with a bitter smile. Why is it so difficult to win a big victory?

~~

In fact, when the city wall was blown down, Huai Liang still wanted to organize resistance. After Shao Er Laicheng and Otomo saw the gap in the city wall, they exchanged glances and went separately to gather their own troops.

Then he opened the east gate guarded by the second son's family and retreated towards Ono Castle, not forgetting to say hello to the Shimazu family before leaving. Shimazujiu was still in a coma, and the elders of several pen masters gathered together and ran away with him.

The three of them didn't say hello to Huai Liang when they left, making it clear that they would no longer obey Zheng Xi Mansion's orders. Upon seeing this, the rest of the local tycoons from Kyushu also withdrew their troops. Without the three men as the main force, who would stay and serve as cannon fodder for Huai Liang?

Prince Huai Liang's nose was so angry that he was crooked, but there was nothing he could do. He has a cooperative relationship with the local tycoons in Jiuzhou. If he dares to stop them, a fight will break out on the spot, and who may die.

He had no choice but to lead the Xifu troops to withdraw from Shuicheng, preparing to return to Ono Castle to complain to the emperor. But the three people who returned to Ono Castle first had already spent the whole night begging to see Emperor Chokei.

It was not yet five o'clock in the morning, but Nagakei had already woken up, so he summoned the second son, Raicheng, and Otomo Akashi, as well as the old Shimazu Yoshiguro, the pen master of the Shimazu family, to the imperial palace.

After the three people bowed and saluted, they first apologized for disturbing His Majesty's dream.

"If the military situation is so bad, how can we sleep?" Changqing shook his head and said, "You are withdrawing because Shuicheng cannot be defended?"

"Back to Your Majesty." Young Master Lai Cheng said respectfully: "A section of the west city wall was blown down by the Ming army's gunpowder. If I don't evacuate, I can only rely on the buildings in the city for street fighting."

"Then why did you withdraw early?" Changqing's courtiers asked.

"Because once the street fighting starts, we and the Ming army will be completely deadlocked." Dayou said in a deep voice.

"The Ming army invaded Kyushu, plundered the Zaifu, and disturbed His Majesty the Emperor. Both sides have been fighting to the death for a long time!" the courtier shouted.

"It is the Ming Dynasty and His Highness Huai Liang who are fighting to the death, not us!" Young Master Laicheng was angered by the attitude of the courtier, so he simply stopped hiding it.

"It was his frenzied actions that killed the Ming envoy first and then assassinated the Ming Emperor, which led to the Ming's revenge!"

"It was also him who ignored Ming's ultimatum and insisted on resisting, which led to today's defeat!" Otomo continued: "Not only is our army defeated again and again, but even the Northern Dynasty reinforcements led by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu are closing their doors. The Strait was completely destroyed!”

"Now it seems that the battle situation in Shuicheng is of no importance. Even if we stick to the end, we can't change the disparity in strength between the two countries... The final outcome is doomed." Young Master Laicheng sighed, and he finally became a surrender faction.

"In this case, we should reflect on what caused this failure." Dayou raised his voice angrily and said: "Han Feizi said: 'A small country does not feel humble, a small country does not fear the strong, and rudeness leads to insults Great neighbors, those who are greedy and ignorant will perish! 'How can we not be defeated if we take advantage of all four of them?"

"Elementary school, weak, rude, greedy..." Chang Qing chewed on these eight words, his mouth full of bitterness.

The courtier had no way to refute, so he could only say angrily: "Now that we are talking about this, do we have to surrender?"

"It's a peace negotiation, not a surrender." Otomo corrected him.

"Aren't they all the same?" The courtier snorted.

"We have tried our best, but the disparity in strength is too great. We have no choice now." Shimazu Yoshiguro said on behalf of the Shimadzu family.

"Besides, it's all Huai Liang's fault. The main responsibility should be borne by him. There is no need for your Majesty and his ministers to take the blame for him!" Young Master Laicheng said loudly: "My ministers and others sincerely request that your majesty capture Huai Liang immediately and hand it over to the Ming army. Only in this way can we eliminate weapons and retain our strength to protect ourselves, Your Majesty!"

"Yes, your majesty, the Ming army will retreat sooner or later, but the threat of the Northern Dynasty is always there. Losing too many troops to the Ming army will only give the Northern Dynasty an advantage!" Otomo said in a low voice: "The Ming army just wants us to surrender. Out of Huai Liang, the Northern Dynasty wants His Majesty to hand over three artifacts, which one is lighter and which one is more important, we must be clear about it!"

His Majesty the Emperor, who had always been aloof and silent, was finally moved when he heard this.

The so-called three divine weapons are the Tiancongyun Sword, the Eight-foot Qiong Magatama and the Eight-tatami Mirror. It is said that it was a treasure that was given to Qiongqiongchu by Amaterasu when the grandson of heaven came and was inherited by the Japanese emperors from generation to generation. These three artifacts have been used as tokens of the Japanese royal family for thousands of years, and they have almost the same meaning as the jade seal passed down from China.

When the Southern and Northern Dynasties split, Emperor Go-Daigo escaped from Kyoto with the three artifacts. Since then, the three artifacts have been inherited by the Southern Dynasties. The emperor established in the Northern Dynasties lacked legitimacy because he did not have the three sacred artifacts, which led many daimyo to believe that the emperor's legitimacy was in the Southern Dynasties.

Therefore, the Northern Dynasty has always been obsessed with regaining the three artifacts to establish orthodoxy. But for the Emperor of the Southern Dynasties, losing the three artifacts meant that he really had nothing...

"But the Ming Dynasty ordered that Your Majesty dethrone you and demote him to the king of Japan. This is unacceptable at any cost!" the courtier said with a dark face.

"That's actually not the case." Otomo shook his head and said, "Looking at the history books, from the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, when our country paid tribute to the Celestial Empire, His Majesty the Emperor always called himself the King of Japan. The Meng Yuan Dynasty was the Di Yi who stole China, so they refused to submit. This is actually Therefore, the Song Dynasty also observed festivals."

"Now that the Emperor of Heaven has expelled the Tartars and restored China, this is indeed the orthodoxy of the Celestial Dynasty. Our country will immediately resume paying tribute. Your Majesty should follow the ancient system and continue to call himself the King of Japan."

"But Huai Liang used clever words to deceive the emperor. On the grounds that it was not appropriate for His Majesty to surrender his status, he paid tribute in the name of conquering the Western Prefecture and deceived the Ming Dynasty into conferring him the title of King Huai Liang of Japan." Dayou's relatives went on to talk eloquently:

"How could that fellow Huai Liang accept it so calmly? How can I put His Majesty in the right place? His disobedience is clearly exposed. Now that the Ming Dynasty has seen through it and came to investigate, we can only put the blame on Huai Liang. It’s his responsibility to deceive the superiors and conceal the truth!”

"Indeed, Huai Liang has wronged the country and me a lot..." Changqing sighed, feeling that what he said made sense.