The Ming army broke into Kanto from Kanto and Kansai in conjunction with Nagano. This place was originally from Shinno during the Warring States Period. It produced good horses and was able to build powerful cavalry. Therefore, it has always been a place for many samurai to compete for.

However, during the Warring States Period, Shinno did not have any outstanding reputation, which caused the neighboring countries, Kafaki Takeda and Echigo Uesugi clan to compete for dominance.

The two forces had five "Kawanashima Joint Battle" in Nagano. The fourth battle was the most intense and one of the battles with the highest casualties between the two sides in the Warring States Period in Japan.

The winner of the battle was Takeda's family, but unfortunately the Takeno family suffered too much in several battles, which directly led to the decline of Takeda's family.

After the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate, an exclusive shogunate horse farm was set up in Nagano, and the cavalry and horses of the shogunate mainly came from the Nagano Horse Farm.

Unfortunately, Nagano and the entire Japanese war horses originated from Mongolian horses in the Tang Dynasty in China. At that time, due to backward navigation technology and ships were not suitable for ocean-going seafaring, Japan was betting on life every time it sent Tang envoys. Therefore, the number of Mongolian horses brought back to Japan was very rare, and inbreeding in the end, which caused the overall height of Japanese horses to drop and weight to shrink, which was at least one-third lower than their ancestors. In the words of Zhao Ming, the captain of the Imperial Army Cavalry Regiment, "What kind of war horses are they? They are obviously helping short mules."

Although the cavalry of the Imperial Army suffered serious losses from cross-sea horses and the number of available horses was less than two-thirds, they were not interested in using Japanese horses as military horses.

What's ridiculous is that before the war, the shogunate always thought that Nagano Horse Field was of great significance to the Ming army and was particularly attractive. Therefore, Tokugawa Hidetachi personally ordered his younger brother, Tokugawa Yoshinaga, the lord of Ohashi's vassal, to lead the troops to guard it. In order to enhance Yoshinaga's strength, Hidetachi also allocated more than 4,000 remaining soldiers under his command to Yoshinaga.

How could Tokugawa Yoshinaga fight any war? He was quite wise and handed over all the responsibility of Nagano's guard to his master, who was also one of the sixteen generals of his father when he was there.

After combining the lessons of the defeat of the Nara and Kyoto battle, Watanabe Motsutoshi made the Ming munitions sharp and the city blasting was quite powerful. Therefore, the military force should not be concentrated on the city, but should be placed outside, and the advantage of the numerous cavalry of this vassal to fight a mobile battle with the Ming army.

Watanabe's plan was undoubtedly correct. Since the Ming army attacked, there have been few cavalrymen. The cavalry of a regiment actually has only more than 2,000 soldiers with horses to ride, and the rest rely on their legs.

The number of cavalry that Watanabe can command is as many as 7,000, and unlike the previous Nara battle, which used the cavalry in dispersed manner, it can condense into a fist to attack, and its determination to win will greatly improve.

In mid-to-late May, Scout and Sesato sent a clear signal to Nagano that the final attack of the Ming army was about to begin.

Xiuzhong's strict military order was also issued soon.

Xiuzhong hopes that his younger brother can hold on for one to two months, so that he can gather all the soldiers in Kanto.

Although the Ming army had very strong combat power, they had too few soldiers after all. According to information, in order to make up for the lack of military strength, the commander of the Ming country vigorously won over the forces dissatisfied with the shogunate and the anti-shogunate army; on the other hand, he used propaganda strategies to recruit ronin who had lost his samurai status due to the "destruction of abolishing the military."

These forces, which were firmly called puppet troops in the shogunate, accounted for as much as half of the Ming army. Such a situation would definitely be extremely unfavorable to the shogunate.

In order to save the disadvantages, Xiuzhong could not allow the Ming army to break into Kanto, otherwise his plan to integrate Kanto would be ruined.

All hope is placed on Euyizhi.

The Battle of Nagano broke out. At first, the situation was as Watanabe judged. After breaking through the pass, the Ming army headed straight to the area where large-scale cavalry combat could be suitable for large-scale cavalry combat.

So Watanabe immediately left the cavalry army to fight, and both sides set off in the area east of the horse farm. Both sides had the advantage in terms of force scale and terrain.

The battle began quickly, but Watanabe did not expect that his plan to encircle the Ming army's action plan of the cavalry group's mobile operation warfare quickly went bankrupt.

The Ming army infantry used iron equipment to launch medicine bags, which made it difficult for the Japanese army to get to the Ming army's defense line. After the Japanese army's war horses hit the tall war horses of the Ming army, the battle was like a child playing house.

After more than a thousand casualties, Watanabe collapsed and the defeated soldiers fled everywhere.

The important town at the junction of Kanto Pass fell into the hands of the Ming army, and then the Ming army quickly advanced toward Kanto in two groups.

Along the way, Izumi, and the Qing Dynasty, we marched towards Edo;

The mountain was along the way, and most of them were moved forward to the Kanto vassals.

The unfavorable situation forced Hidetachi Tokugawa to lead the remaining main force of the army to fight north. On the 14th, Hidetachi Tokugawa set out from Nokicho in Edo and entered Kano six days later.

Hidetachi's army hesitated to wait for the arrival of reinforcements from the Kanto vassals. Given the heavy losses of the shogunate standing army in Nara and Kyoto, Hidetachi intends to let the Kanto vassals fight with the Ming army first, which can play a role in restraining the Ming army.

On the 19th, more than 20,000 soldiers from Kanto's vassals arrived in Xiaoluye one after another. The other vassals were either unable to raise troops due to threats from the Ming army and the rebel vassals, or they no longer supported the shogunate under the persuasion of the Ming spies.

The Interior Minister of the New Japan Kingdom, Heiyoshi personally wrote a letter to the vassal lords of Saka and other vassals, lobbying them not to join Hidetachi Tokugawa.

Under pressure from the cabinet, after Japan came to power, His Excellency Mizuo also wrote a letter to some former ministers, asking them to join in the pursuit of the charity.

At the same time, Edo is under increasing pressure.

Two days later, when it was confirmed that more reinforcements were not available, Hidetachi held a ceremony to fight against the Ming invasion at the shrine in Kokuno.

On the 24th, the shogunate coalition attacked the small orphan city where only more than 3,000 Ming troops were stationed. Because of the strong city built as a major city and the tenacious resistance of the Ming army in the city, the coalition attack failed to work for several days.

On the 27th, the Ming army launched a landing in the Edo Sea, and the war quickly burned to Edo, Hidetachi's nest.

After receiving an urgent report from Edo, Hidetachi Tokugawa had no choice but to give up attacking Xiaogucheng and lead the main force to Edo. Hidetachi's withdrawal order caused the coalition to collapse quickly. Under the persuasion of Tadaoshi Shimazu, the leader of the First Mixed Brigade of the Imperial Army of the Ming Army, the vassals successively abandoned Hidetachi and turned to the new Japanese country.

By July, Tokugawa Hidetachi who withdrew to Edo was already dead, with neither reinforcements nor a way out.

In the direction of the Ming army, affected by domestic rebellion, the pressure on the front line was increasing. Cao Wenyao, the commander of the First Army, ordered the fire attack plan to be implemented on Edo at the suggestion of monk Toritomoto.

This move put Edo Castle in a sea of ​​fire, and conservatively estimated that about two-thirds of the buildings were burned down.

On the 26th, the shogunate's knowledgeable people who responded to the call of the New Japan Kingdom and the Imperial Army launched a rebellion in the city. The knowledgeable people opened the city gate, and the Ming army rushed in, and Tokugawa Hidetaki died.

At this point, the Tokugawa shogunate declared its demise and Japan officially ushered in the "Meiji era".
Chapter completed!