Chapter 1621: Resistance

Zhao Song's order was quickly relayed ashore by the flagship's semaphore. The moment Ma Tongji heard that Li Huanghe's troops would also be landing, he immediately ordered his own men to form up and prepare to advance, while simultaneously expanding their occupied zone to make room for the newcomers to come ashore.

With Commander Zhao's new directive, the Great Han fleet bustled into motion once more. Ships maneuvered in all directions, and soon several transports surged out from the formation. Escorted by warships, they reached the shore, lowered boat after boat, and drifted toward the land.

The landing was somewhat chaotic, but because the coastal batteries had already been captured or destroyed, and the shogunate was unable to send its navy to harass them, everything proceeded smoothly enough.

Li Huanghe was modest and amiable with his men. Because they were close in age and had always been neck and neck in merit and seniority, Ma Tongji had previously harbored a somewhat competitive attitude toward him. But now, after spending so much time together, that competitive edge had faded considerably, and he regarded the other man as a confidant and a friend.

Even so, he had no intention of letting himself fall behind.

As the transports ferried troops ashore in fits and starts, Li Huanghe's forces finished assembling by the afternoon. The two regiment commanders gathered together and began discussing the next phase of their operational strategy.

As regiment commanders, each naturally had a retinue of staff officers. But after meeting, they set their staff officers aside and chose to confer alone in a secluded spot.

The distant outskirts here were extraordinarily beautiful. The golden headlands and beaches were dotted with patches of green. Between the blue sky and azure water, the sea breeze echoed ceaselessly, lifting the spirit and making one feel as if they were not fighting in a foreign land at all.

However, the two regiment commanders remained entirely solemn, paying no mind to the scenery.

"In short, Commander Zhao's intent is for us to search in separate directions. Your troops will go north, mine west. The objective is to sever Nagasaki's links to the outside world. If we encounter the shogunate's main force, we attack directly and scatter them, turning Nagasaki into an isolated city as quickly as possible."

"Does Commander Zhao still mean not to rush into attacking Nagasaki?" Ma Tongji asked in a low voice. He had always hoped to assault the city and take it.

"Yes. Commander Zhao feels that Nagasaki's streets crisscross and are narrow and cramped, unsuited for our army to exploit its strengths. To avoid casualties, we should not attack it first — isolating the garrison will suffice." Li Huanghe nodded. "In any case, we aren't in a hurry to use this port right now. Letting them hold it for the time being does no harm…"

"Fine. I understand Commander Zhao's intent. I'll brief my subordinates immediately and advance north shortly." Ma Tongji nodded crisply, then thrust his saber forcefully into the sea sand.

"Wait." Li Huanghe stopped him. "Regiment Commander Ma, there's something else I want to discuss with you."

"Go ahead?" Ma Tongji looked at him, slightly puzzled.

"Judging from our current situation, the shogunate forces over at Hakata Bay should have no way to break through our lines." Li Huanghe answered with a slight frown. "However… what I fear is that Regiment Commander Bi, seeing how weak the shogunate troops are, might grow arrogant and reckless and act on his own. If he advances on his own initiative, it would disrupt Commander Zhao's overall deployment…"

"Our Great Han has never had a precedent of timidity against an enemy. Even if Regiment Commander Bi advances aggressively and seeks to pursue the foe, that hardly counts as a mistake. Besides, as a regiment commander, he inherently holds the authority to make discretionary decisions on the spot. If he judges that an offensive pursuit is warranted, that is well within his duties." Ma Tongji, however, was somewhat dismissive of this concern. "We already have two regiments here. With the shogunate forces so timid right now, how could they possibly cause us trouble? Even if reinforcements can't be brought over from that side in a hurry, our forces here are more than enough to suppress the shogunate troops. Before we landed, they couldn't do anything to us. Now that we're already ashore, what can they possibly do to us?"

"That may be true, but even when we hold the advantage, we must not become overly arrogant. We should still treat the shogunate with caution. If Regiment Commander Bi at Hakata Bay launches an offensive, and you and I both advance in two directions simultaneously, Commander Zhao will have very few troops left directly under his command. If some unexpected event truly occurs, he might have difficulty maneuvering…"

"Then what do you propose we do?" Ma Tongji asked, somewhat baffled. "Didn't Commander Zhao himself order us to advance?"

"We must advance, but someone should still remain here with Commander Zhao…" Li Huanghe let out a long sigh. "Regiment Commander Ma, I think it's best if we do this: you lead the troops to sweep both directions, and I'll stay here with a small force to garrison this position, ready at any moment for new orders from Commander Zhao. That way, we won't all be caught too off guard. Having to rush back after receiving orders would be far too troublesome, and it might even cause us to miss a critical opportunity."

Ma Tongji was even more astonished upon hearing this. In his view, the first battle after landing was crucial to how everyone's future merits would be judged. He never expected Li Huanghe to be so magnanimous, willing to let him handle the sweep in both directions. That was truly… generous.

"That… wouldn't be quite right, would it? After all, Commander Zhao gave an order." He hesitated. "Even if we have our reasons, if we act on our own now, I'm afraid Commander Zhao might not be pleased…"

"Didn't Regiment Commander Ma just say it himself? As regiment commanders, we are supposed to exercise discretion when necessary. Now that we're ashore, many matters should be decided by us." Li Huanghe answered immediately. "Besides, I'm not saying I won't let my own men do any sweeping at all. I'll dispatch some men in both directions to follow Regiment Commander Ma's troops on the sweep. I only ask that the regiment commander lead them well in a few battles."

"Alright… alright…" Since the other man had put it that way, Ma Tongji decided not to decline further. He clapped Li Huanghe heavily on the shoulder. "Brother, you're a true friend! I never imagined you'd put the bigger picture first like this! Don't worry — your men, I'll put them in the vanguard. I absolutely won't shortchange them!"

"Some things simply have to be done by someone." Li Huanghe smiled faintly. "There's no time to lose. Regiment Commander, you'd best hurry, or Commander Zhao will be cracking the whip at us again."

"Right, we'll head out first. This place is in your hands!" Ma Tongji agreed readily, then immediately rejoined his subordinates.

Since the order to assemble had already been given earlier, once the two regiment commanders finished their discussion, Ma Tongji's troops were ready in no time. Ma Tongji wasted no time either, directly brandishing his saber and ordering his unit to advance.

Li Huanghe's men also detached three companies to accompany the main force advancing in both directions, while he himself remained at the landing site to hold the rear and await any further orders from Zhao Song.

After Ma Tongji issued his command, in the afternoon, the two columns of red-coated soldiers began leaving their original positions on the beachhead and advancing inland.

The shogunate troops who had been observing from the distant ridges immediately reported the Great Han army's latest movements to Elder Naitō Tadashige. He, in turn, was jolted awake from his exhausted slumber.

Ever since the Great Han began their attack the previous day, he had not slept a wink all night after arriving here — not only because of the Great Han navy's bombardment, but even more so because of the worry and terror in his heart.

By morning, when the Great Han troops began landing, his terror only intensified. Yet although he had harbored the thought of launching an assault while the Great Han forces were not yet firmly established, the Great Han naval gunfire was simply too devastating. He dared not throw his troops away in such a hopeless attack, and so could only stand by and watch.

At first, he had been constantly anxious that the Great Han army would push inland, but after waiting a long while and seeing that they still made no move, he breathed a sigh of relief. The immense exhaustion then finally became impossible to resist. After all, he was a man nearing fifty — considered an old man in this era — and his physical faculties had greatly declined. He truly could not hold out any longer.

After instructing his subordinates to notify him immediately if anything changed, Naitō Tadashige fell into a deep sleep. He did not sleep long, however, before his subordinates roused him again. Once he shook off the grogginess of being startled awake, Naitō Tadashige immediately questioned his men about the current situation, then promptly walked out of his quarters to observe the Great Han army's movements.

Under his gaze, two long red dragons emerged from the Great Han landing zone and proceeded northward and eastward respectively. Because of their uniforms, their marching columns were extremely conspicuous, as if they were utterly confident and feared no leak of intelligence whatsoever.

Watching the Great Han army's marching columns, Naitō Tadashige's hands unconsciously clenched tight. As a senior elder of the shogunate, he had had many opportunities in ordinary times to observe the performance of shogunate troops. In his view, the troops under the shogunate could not match this level of disciplined advance and retreat.

Even now, standing as an enemy, Naitō Tadashige still wanted to express admiration for the quality of these soldiers.

But admiration was one thing; how to respond was another entirely. Naitō Tadashige lowered his telescope and racked his brains over how to solve the current problem.

Their purpose in making such a show of force was obviously simple: to sweep both flanks and turn Nagasaki into an isolated city.

Logically, his best response right now would be to attack the Great Han landing zone directly — to take advantage of the fact that they had dispatched two detachments and their forces there were now depleted, and drive the remaining Great Han troops into the sea in one vigorous push. That way, the Han troops who had marched out would become rootless duckweed, easily wiped out at any time.

Yet Naitō Tadashige was still far too wary of the Great Han naval gunfire. After mulling it over repeatedly, he still felt he could not risk it. How many Great Han troops had actually landed was still an unknown. If he attacked rashly, he was very likely to suffer a severe defeat.

In that case, the best approach now seemed to be to mass his forces and join the troops inside Nagasaki to strike one of the detachments pushing inland. As long as they could crush or even annihilate a single Great Han detachment, it would surely deal a fierce blow to their arrogance, make them think twice, and buy more time for his own side and for the shogunate.

So, which detachment should he intercept and force into a decisive battle?

That required no deliberation. The northbound detachment was clearly aiming to sever the link between Nagasaki and his own position, but this also made it convenient for him and Soga Koyū's forces inside Nagasaki to unite in a pincer attack. As long as he and Soga Koyū struck with full force, even if the Great Han weapons were formidable, they should be able to overwhelm this Great Han force through sheer numbers and preserve the connection between Nagasaki and the outside.

At this moment, Naitō Tadashige still did not know that the army led by Fukuoka Domain Lord Kuroda Tadayuki had already failed to stop the Great Han forces at Hakata Bay — and even if he had known, he would likely have attributed it to the Fukuoka Domain troops being simply too weak.

Because Kyushu was a remote frontier and its land was largely parceled out among the various domain lords, the shogunate had not stationed many troops in Nagasaki — only one or two thousand in total. The shogunate primarily relied on a divide-and-rule strategy and the immense power it wielded on Honshu as a deterrent to maintain control.

Since he had long ago begun sending orders to the surrounding domains to muster and send troops, and had especially obtained the full support of the Arima family of Kurume Domain, Naitō Tadashige's forces had been greatly expanded, now numbering five to six thousand men. And as time passed and the various domains continued to dispatch reinforcements, their numbers would surely grow larger and larger.

The combat capability of domain troops varied. Fukuoka Domain had always been impoverished, and its lord was unpopular, so its military strength was extremely feeble — it was no surprise they could not defeat the Great Han army. But there were certain domains in which Naitō Tadashige placed high hopes, such as the Tachibana family of Yanagawa Domain.

The current head of the Tachibana family, Tachibana Muneshige, had been a very famous military commander during the Warring States period. Serving under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he had achieved illustrious battle merits and was praised by others as the foremost fierce general of the western provinces. Although he was now advanced in years, having led troops for so many years, the domain soldiers under him were surely extraordinary. What was even more heartening was that Tachibana Muneshige had once participated in the invasion of Goryeo led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and had repeatedly distinguished himself in battle there. He had not only routed the Goryeo forces but also inflicted heavy losses on the Ming army on multiple occasions — for instance, he had taken part in the Battle of Byeokjegwan, where Ming commanders suffered enormous casualties.

Of course, since Ming had been supplanted by Great Han, the Ming army certainly could not be mentioned in the same breath as the Great Han army. But they were, after all, a Central Plains army. Tachibana Muneshige's extensive experience fighting Central Plains forces, combined with his years of training his domain troops, would surely enable his men to display formidable combat power.

Likewise, there was Satsuma Domain. Its current lord, Shimazu Yoshihiro, had also been a valiant general in the Warring States era and had likewise participated in the invasion of Goryeo, earning multiple battle honors.

Although these men bore grudges, even deep enmity, toward the shogunate, now that Japan faced foreign humiliation and Great Han was wantonly invading Japanese territory, bringing the flames of war to their very doorsteps, these men could surely recognize the greater cause, set aside past grievances, and join him in resisting the Great Han army.

With this thought, his previously heavy mood finally eased considerably.

After pondering a while longer, mulling over the details of his plan, he finally made up his mind.

"Send more messengers to Yanagawa Domain and Satsuma Domain. Urge them to assemble their troops quickly and come support us in battle… Now that Great Han's wolf-and-tiger troops have struck, tell them not to worry about conserving their strength any longer. As long as we can drive Great Han back, the shogunate will surely reward them handsomely!" He first gave the order to one of his attendants, then turned his head back toward a trusted samurai retainer.

"Have the main force prepare immediately. We move to intercept the Great Han army!"

Before long, the majority of the soldiers under Naitō Tadashige had also assembled. Because they belonged to different command structures, the officers leading them did not know one another, and they merely gathered as separate blocs.

In the twilight of the evening, Naitō Tadashige looked upon the army assembled before him — an army largely without armor, with weapons in tatters, and without even unified clothing — and suddenly his heart grew heavy once more.

Relying on these men… can we truly win? he wondered silently.

This army stood in stark contrast to the Great Han troops he had seen earlier. Even as a commander who did not always lead troops personally, he could see the glaring disparity between the two sides.

Still… at this point, he had no choice but to take his chances.

"Takano, I will soon take four thousand men to intercept the Great Han detachment advancing north. You will remain here and hold the position." He suddenly turned to a warrior in armor beside him. "Watch for my signal. If I call for reinforcements, do not hesitate for an instant! And without my order, you are not to move from this place."

This Takano referred to Takano Yoshiki. He had been assigned to Naitō Tadashige as an attendant by the shogunate when Naitō Tadashige left Edo. Born into a shogunal hatamoto family, he had received considerable military training from childhood. When Naitō Tadashige began raising troops everywhere in preparation against a Great Han attack, Takano Yoshiki became an important officer at his side.

"Yes, my lord!" Takano Yoshiki, true to the way of the warrior, agreed at once without a single question. "May you ride to swift victory, my lord!"

"If only swift victory were so certain!" Naitō Tadashige gave a bitter laugh, then drew the sword from his waist and turned to face his officers and soldiers. "All officers and men, hear my command! I have come to Kyushu by order of the Shogun. I now hold full authority over all affairs in Kyushu! These Han brigands have broken faith and launched a cowardly surprise attack on our country. We must teach them a harsh lesson! We march now to strike those Han brigands. Should any man flinch or hold back, he shall be put to death without mercy!"

After delivering this fierce tirade with great ferocity, Naitō Tadashige mounted his horse and led his force onto the warpath, seeking battle with the Great Han detachment advancing north.

As his soldiers set out, he also dispatched a messenger to Nagasaki Castle, ordering him to notify Soga Koyū within the castle to quickly mobilize his troops and join him in a pincer attack against this Great Han detachment.

His plan was to maximize his own troop strength to encircle and annihilate this detachment, and to use the cover of night to neutralize the Great Han's devastatingly lethal firearms. Though night operations were also highly disadvantageous for his own side, Naitō Tadashige believed that against the Great Han army, chaotic melee offered the best chance.

The messenger swiftly departed to carry out his orders, and Naitō Tadashige's force began its march in the deepening twilight.