Many people in Mongolia strongly feel the threat from Li Yongxuan and the Kingdom of Heaven. The problem is that they have encountered natural disasters and are divided internally, so there is no way to start a war.

In the past, the Mongolian cavalry would definitely have gone south to sweep through the Central Plains and plunder.

Looking around at the present moment, hundreds of thousands of troops in the northern part of the Kingdom of Heaven are waiting, with countless muskets and artillery. If it is a field battle, there is still hope; attacking a city is no different than surrendering to death.

Once the two countries go to full-scale war, the Kingdom of Heaven can also drag Mongolia to death.

Meng Ge, Kublai Khan and others can only think of ways to integrate Mongolia as soon as possible, look for opportunities, and fight against the Kingdom of Heaven.

Li Yongxuan learned that there was a natural disaster in Mongolia, but he did not stop trade.

It's not that he has sympathy for the Mongols, but he wants to boil the frog in warm water and consume it slowly.

If Mongolia is desperate, they will most likely unite and cooperate, or it will be easier to deal with them if they remain divided.

While trading with the Mongols, they continued to accumulate strength, and when the time was right, they would be annihilated in one fell swoop.

A few years ago, when Li Yongxuan did not want to go into full-scale war with Mongolia, he did not send a navy to attack the neighboring Japanese country.

At this time, war between the Kingdom of Heaven and Mongolia was already on the agenda, so naturally there was no need to worry about Mongolia letting the Japanese go.

Li Yongxuan selected 100,000 elite soldiers from Southeast Asia, commandeered thousands of large merchant ships to sail northward along the South China Sea, and at the same time led 200,000 naval troops on 500 warships to conquer the Japanese country.

Since he strengthened his forging skills, he has built armored warships and transformed the materials used to build ships in the Kingdom of Heaven from wood into steel.

Commerce and trade in the Song Dynasty was extremely developed. There were many merchant ships and they were very large. A large merchant ship could accommodate five to six hundred people.

Warships are much larger than merchant ships. A warship is not only equipped with eight cannons and numerous muskets, but can also accommodate thousands of people.

In terms of power, there has not been much change. The method of the Song Dynasty is still followed, which is to install paddles on both sides and stern of the ship. Many sailors on the ship step on the paddle wheels to drive the blades on the wheel circumference to continuously paddle, making the ship move forward;

Just step in the opposite direction and the ship will move backwards.

Li Yongxuan changed the paddles and pedals to iron, and combined with the sails, they became the power of the warship.

If you choose the right time, you can drive along the ocean current and get twice the result with half the effort.

Li Yongxuan was always uneasy about the soldiers from all over Southeast Asia, and naturally he would not give them control of the warships of the Kingdom of Heaven.

This time, more than half of the naval force of the Kingdom of Heaven was used in order to destroy the Japanese Kingdom.

In fact, in most kingdoms, Li Yongxuan would send envoys to attract surrender. If the kingdom refused to surrender, he would then send troops to attack.

Dealing with the Japanese country was an exception. Without any warning or prelude, they just led their troops and pushed over.

The navy of the Kingdom of Heaven attacked in large numbers, frightening the Japanese people out of their wits.

They reluctantly organized troops to go to the coast for defense. As soon as they met, the Japanese soldiers disappeared into thin air and turned into cannon fodder.

For a moment, drums and gongs were beaten, and the sound of killing shook the sky.

The Japanese war horses were frightened and jumped and spun around. When the warriors turned their horses' heads and charged towards the enemy, they were all shot by dense muskets.

Before the Japanese army could get close, they had already suffered heavy casualties.

The musket has been improved with enhanced forging skills, and its range has reached 500 steps. How could the Japanese army get close?

The Japanese samurai army implemented the system of guarding the land. Most of the warriors who were responsible for guarding the land were generals who had made contributions to the past dynasties or retainers who were in power.

The guardian is the highest official who has the power of military and horse power in a certain place, and the tutou is the official who manages the land and collects taxes. They maintain private soldiers according to the size of the land they manage.

This kind of private soldiers are called family members, who are guardians and servants of the land. When needed, they will become the backbone of the samurai team.

They are all proud to die in front of the king's horse, and they are extremely brave in fighting.

This kind of team has no unified command and fights independently. It also focuses on one-horse versus one-horse battles and has no tactics.

Unorganized, undisciplined, and very chaotic. Overall, they are weak and not as good as the well-disciplined regular army, let alone a head-on confrontation with the Heavenly Navy, which is armed to the teeth.

The navy of the Kingdom of Heaven captured all the islands in the southwestern periphery of the Japanese Kingdom with overwhelming force, approaching Kyushu Island.

The Japanese country is composed of four large islands, Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu, and Beihai, and thousands of surrounding small islands. It is called the Japanese country because of its short stature.

The average height of Japanese men is about 1.53 meters, while women are even shorter, more than ten centimeters shorter than Song people.

During the Tang Dynasty, the Japanese had already begun to pay tribute to our country.

They not only learned advanced experience in governing the country, but also imitated cultural etiquette. The most thorough and most enthusiastic thing they learned was kneeling.

Sitting on your knees for a long period of time is particularly damaging to your knees, as the entire weight of your body rests on your legs.

For the Japanese to learn this etiquette, not only adults are required to practice it, but also children must develop this habit from an early age, which seriously restricts the growth and evolution of the Japanese's height.

The Chinese people discovered the problem and had already changed their habit of kneeling and sitting, but some traditional Japanese people have continued it to this day.

A few days later, Li Yongxuan led the navy to Kyushu Island.

He was prepared to teach all Japanese people a lesson, an extremely profound and painful lesson.

News of the large-scale invasion of the Japanese navy by the Kingdom of Heaven quickly spread to Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu.

First it reached the Kamakura shogunate and then Kyoto.

In recent years, the Kamakura shogunate has taken over the actual rule of Japan, and samurai who originally had a low status in the aristocratic era have stepped onto the stage of history.

They despised the sluggish life of the court nobles and advocated the core ideas of "loyalty to the emperor, justice, integrity, bravery, and perseverance". They combined Confucianism, Zen Buddhism, and Shinto to form the spiritual pillar "Bushido" of the warriors.

After receiving the news, the Guardian of Kyushu quickly sent people to report to the shogunate while urgently deploying defenses.

He ordered samurai teams from all over Kyushu to assemble to the southwest coast and be ready for battle at any time.

The Tianguo navy captured a large number of outlying islands. Seeing that it was getting late, Li Yongxuan ordered everyone to go ashore to rest on the island and take turns to be on guard.

The next day, as soon as it became dark, the 300,000 Heavenly Kingdom troops began to launch a landing battle in three directions.

Li Yongxuan led a navy of 100,000 people to cut off the connection between Kyushu Island, Shikoku Island, and Honshu Island, and ordered 200,000 troops to surround them and land on the island to fight.

The 800 cavalry led by Kyushu Guardian did not intercept the Tianguo Navy while they were landing. Instead, they landed and reorganized their formation. According to the practice of Japanese battles at that time, the main attacking force fired "Ming Dy" to indicate the start of the attack. A warrior rode alone and drowned in the battle, relaxing in front. A large group of cavalry then charged and killed him.

When the Japanese samurai cavalry troops were approaching, they heard loud gunshots from the Heavenly Kingdom army, and the sound of killing shook the sky.

Before the two parties came into contact, the Japanese warriors were seriously injured.

Eight hundred cavalry rushed to the front of the battle, but only about two hundred cavalry were left to flee. The rest of the men and horses were all killed.

Not long after, warriors from all over Kyushu rushed to the battlefield to defend against the enemy, and their strength reached more than 30,000.

Unfortunately, facing the disparity in numbers and well-equipped heavenly army, they collapsed at the first touch.

Before they could get close, they were killed by a dense fire of musketry when they were still more than a mile away from the enemy.

The Japanese warriors could not resist the onslaught of the Heavenly Army, so they retreated one after another, trying to rely on the city to survive.

The army of the Kingdom of Heaven drove the Japanese into the city almost effortlessly and captured more than 25,000 old, weak, women and children who had no time to escape.

Li Yongxuan was not very interested in Japanese prisoners, especially the old, weak, women and children.

After receiving the news from the front line, he immediately issued an order: all prisoners, young and strong men and women, were temporarily detained, and all the old, weak, women and children were driven into the city.

Kyushu Island covers an area of ​​more than 36,700 square kilometers, of which two-thirds are forest.

Ninety percent of the total population, nearly one million, lives near cities or ports.

Knowing that the hundreds of thousands of Heavenly Kingdom troops were coming, the Japanese on Kyushu Island fled to the city or the forest to take shelter.

Li Yongxuan did not order the pursuit of Japanese deserters, but carried out an unhurried encirclement and suppression campaign, trying to drive the Japanese into the city as much as possible.

He wanted to treat the Japanese as leeks and cut them once. After a while, when they were almost done, he would cut them again...

After the news of the Celestial Army's raid on Kyushu Island reached the Kamakura shogunate and Kyoto, the shogunate, court, ministers, and samurai people all panicked.

In recent years, the heavenly army has conquered almost all of Southeast Asia, and it is said that Australia has not escaped.

As an island country, Japan has precious and scarce resources. If it wants to develop, it naturally cannot do without foreign trade.

They have trade relations with neighboring Mongolia and the Kingdom of Heaven, and they have some understanding of the situation in the surrounding areas.

The current nominal ruler of Japan is Emperor Go-Fukakusa. He is eight years old and has been on the throne for four years. His father, Go-saga, is in charge of the government.

Emperor Fukakusa donated coins to temples and shrines, practiced the Five Altar Methods, the Golden Wheel Method, the Buddha's Eye Method, the Four Heavenly Kings Method, etc. at Enryaku-ji Temple, and also went to Ishikimizu Hachimangu Shrine to pay homage to the wooden statue of Fudo Myooh.

While the emperor prayed, he also sent monks and famous monks to various parts of the country to hold prayer ceremonies and mobilize the people of the country to pray together.

The emperor's behavior of praying to gods seems extremely ridiculous to outsiders, but he is only an eight-year-old child, what can he do?

What's more, the Japanese army had nothing to do with the emperor, and preparations for war were entirely handled by the Kamakura shogunate.

The real power of the Kamakura shogunate is Hojo Tokiyori. Four years ago, his brother Hojo Susuki gave up the position of power to him due to illness.

After Hojo Tokiyori came to power, he smashed the Nagoro style Hojo Mitsutoki's conspiracy to covet the position of power, forced Mitsutoki to become a monk and exiled Yin Dou, and sent the former general Fujiwara Yorikune back to Kyoto, which was known as the "Palace Riot" in history.

Three years ago, Hojo Tokiyori, with the support of his cousin Adachi, eliminated the Miura Taimura clan and consolidated the Hojo clan's monopoly in the Kamakura shogunate.

He appointed his great-uncle Hojo Shigetoki as the co-signer to assist him in stabilizing the politics of power.

Hojo Tokiyori urgently mobilized troops from various places, while strengthening the defenses of Shikoku and Honshu, and at the same time mobilizing troops to rescue Kyushu.

In order to strengthen Kyushu's defense, the shogunate ordered that all members of the shogunate's family living in the west of the town be exempted from the burden of defending Kyoto and replaced by Kyoto samurai, so that they can concentrate on defending Hakata, Hakozaki, Imatsu and other places.

The samurai other than the imperial family of the Zhenxi shogunate should guard the coast of Kyushu together with the imperial family.

The annual tribute from Inaba, Izumo, Iwami and other countries affiliated to Zhenxi is temporarily stored in situ and not turned over to be used as military rations during the war.

Based on intelligence, Hojo Tokiyori learned that the Celestial Army had sharp guns and it was difficult to compete with them head-on, so he decided to build a stone dam along the coast to prevent the Celestial Army soldiers from landing to fight.
To be continued...