In sharp visual contrast with the naked enemy, the soldiers of the Ming army on the picture scroll have bright armor and neat lineup.
Indeed, compared with the loyalist, the enemy's weapons and equipment are crude. Their main weapons are cold weapons, such as swords, guns, bows and arrows, among which the sharp Japanese knives left the deepest impression on China people. In terms of thermal weapons, large Japanese groups such as Wang Zhi have a small number of matchsticks, but small Japanese groups have not seen any records of thermal weapons in the battle. As for wearing, wannabe is basically the image of "enemy map". "A soldier has no armor, a floral shirt in winter and summer, and his shorts are as light as flying." At that time, many records said that Japanese pirates fought naked. "In every battle, you have to carry a three-foot knife naked." Armor can only be worn by leaders, such as "Pioneer with Red Coat and Golden Coat" and "A thief of two kings, stubborn suitcase." Wear a copper bag, a bronze armor and a pile of cowhide. "
Japanese pirates came from the sea. They boarded the ship and fled. Their ships are basically fast and flexible ships, not used for water wars. "Japan Map Compilation" describes the Japanese ship at that time: "Japanese shipbuilding is different from China ... its bottom tip can break the waves, and it is easy to move without fear of cross winds and fighting winds. It will arrive in a few days." The load capacity of a ship generally ranges from 20 to 60 people, and some large ships can carry one or two hundred people.
In terms of hardware, the enemy has no advantage in front of the Ming army.
Zheng Ruo once described the tactics of the Japanese pirates in "Bei Tu": "Japanese people are used to flying in a butterfly array. When they got cold feet, they waved fans, and everyone danced with knives and axes and squandered in the air. Our soldiers cut from below with their heads in panic. It is also a long snake array, with a hundred flags in front, running like a fish. The strongest is before the battle, and the strongest is the temple. All of them are brave and dare not participate. "
According to the description in the book, the "long snake array" is only a marching array, and the "butterfly array" is a fighting array.
At the same time, in Japan, the Warring States Period is in full swing, but after searching all the information, the Warring States Period array only includes fish scales, a front arrow, a crane wing, a crescent moon, a Fiona Fang, a wild goose, a long snake and a balance yoke, and there is no such thing as a "butterfly array". I guess this "butterfly array" was created by the Japanese, which is similar to the "crane wing", that is, the wings are caught between two wings, like the wings of a bird and a butterfly, so it is named (I wonder if this name was given by China literati).
But "one person wields a fan and everyone dances with knives" is not a clever array, only paying attention to orders and attacks. In fact, what bothers the Ming army most is by no means the so-called "butterfly array", but their flexible combat mode.
From Qi Jiguang's description in Ji Xiaoxin's book, we can see the general situation of the enemy's fighting: in the confrontation, one or two enemies took the lead, half-naked with knives, "jumped and squatted", tried their best to provoke the muskets and crossbows of the Ming army, and then took advantage of the decline of the Ming army's firepower, the Japanese leader blew the conch or waved the fan, and the Japanese attacked with knives and drove straight in. In addition, the enemy is good at ambush. "The war generals will rise from all sides, and after surprise, they will surprise our army."
Finally, I have to mention the individual ability of the enemy. The vanguard of the enemy dances with sharp double knives, while others use long guns and bows, which often surprises China people. "Double kuang and prey, so difficult. The palladium gun didn't show the pole, so it was thrown suddenly, suddenly, so it was unexpected. The bow is long and the arrow is huge, so the neighbors will send it, so one arrow hits. "
After talking about the enemy for a long time, let's look at the Ming army.
In terms of weapons, compared with the enemy's basic broadsword and spear, although the Ming army mainly used cold weapons, the hot weapons in the array were a bit embarrassing. Tubular firearms, single-barrel spears, female spears and nozzles are nothing, while matchlock and mechanical machine are the most terrible weapons of that era.
The matchlock gun, known as the bird spear in the Ming Dynasty, was first seized by the Ming army from the enemy in the battle of Shuangyu Island, and a small amount of imitation equipment was used in the army. The bird's gizzard looks like a modern rifle, with a slender barrel, an arc handrail, a sight and a trigger. It ignites gunpowder by burning matches and sprays lead pills. With long range (up to 300 meters), high precision and great lethality, shotgun is the latest and most effective individual weapon in the world in the15th century. Qi Jiguang spoke highly of this: "Among all the utensils, the bird gizzard is the first."
Franco machine from the west is equivalent to the original breech gun. Cannonballs can kill enemies from a long distance, and their shapes can be large or small, and they are as small as pistols, which is convenient to operate. Jiajing years have been widely equipped in the military. With regard to Franco's power, Ye Quan, a member of Amin Dynasty, made the most creative advertisement in his note "Debate on the Xianbo": "In the Three Kingdoms, fighting will make this thing, although it can kill ten Lyu3 bu4."
In terms of armor, the Ming army is fully ahead. Although different from the one-piece armor with amazing weight on the northern border guards, the Ming army in the south basically wears copper nails and light cotton armor and a tall iron helmet, but it is far better than the "naked lame" enemy.
In the history of China, no matter how powerful the dynasty was, no matter how powerful it was militarily in the founding period, it could not resist the erosion of political corruption and the decline of national strength, and gradually declined. So did the Ming army that defeated a generation of Tianjiao Mongols. However, compared with Han and Tang dynasties, the decline of military strength in Ming dynasty was really amazing.
After Judy's five northern expeditions to Mongolia, the military strength of the Ming Dynasty was not enough to support the active strategic attack. Zhu Qizhen's humiliation, defeat and capture in the civil fort set the military tone of "strategic defense" for the Ming court in the next 200 years. Jiajing once "conquered the north and conquered the south" and was even more strategically beaten.
The military system of the Ming Dynasty was the hereditary system of military households created by Zhu Yuanzhang, and the sergeants were stationed in the guard station, which was used to station fields on weekdays and protect places in wartime. During the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the total number of soldiers was as high as 6.5438+0.8 million. If such a huge army cannot be self-sufficient, it is unthinkable to rely entirely on the people to support it. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang once proudly declared: "I raise a million soldiers, and it takes the people a grain of rice."
There are no major shortcomings in the hereditary system of military households and the stationing of health centers. However, Zhu Yuanzhang never imagined that all emperors who were lazy to go to Jindian, bureaucrats who took land as their duty, and military officers who took the deduction of military pay as their mighty power would collapse.
By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, due to the unbearable land occupation, military salaries were deducted and military households fled in large numbers. In some counties and towns, military households all went to the city, preferring to be the servant of local officials rather than the regular army. Due to the high escape rate of military households, a large number of inland health centers exist in name only, once lively barracks have become deserted fox nests, and some health centers have only one person left! During the Jiajing period, there were more than 50 health centers in Liaodong, Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and other places, with only 30% of the troops. Some "one health center has less than 1,000 people and one has less than 100 people."
The naval division at sea is also seriously short of people. Many people in Shuicun went to the empty village, and there were no warships. "Ming History" said, "Zhejiang and Fujian have been defending the sea for a long time, with one or two warships and sentry ships." Most of the remaining warships were damaged and could not go to sea at all. As a result, when fighting against the Japanese pirates, there was an anecdote that naval officers and men spent money to hire fishing boats. This is recorded in the Biography of Japan in the Ming Dynasty: "In case of police, raise a fishing boat to keep watch. Soldiers are untrained and ships are unprofessional. When they see bandits coming, they need to run away, but they have no command and control. As the thief sail pointed out, it's all broken. "
The desolation of the garrison and the damage of the warships are all appearances. More deadly, because of the long-term peace, the quality of generals and soldiers is surprisingly poor. Some hereditary generals can't even ride a horse, and they can't even figure out the flag. They usually drink and brag with their colleagues, and occasionally they can lead a patrol, even if they are very conscientious. Tan Lun, a front-line official, sarcastically said: "The law and order will be lax, and the officers and men of health stations will be empty. Most of them are unruly and shameless. I drove to the Dijon Line and suddenly got lost. Being responsible for the city will turn a deaf ear. "
Soldiers have no fighting capacity at all. All the soldiers in the health care center have escaped, and the rest are weak people. Even if you barely fight, of course you will collapse.
From the accounts of front-line officials, we can generally see the battle scenes of front-line government forces: when they are afraid of the enemy, they will finish firing and firing arrows far away from the enemy, and as soon as the enemy rushes in, they will be in flight.
There are two ridiculous jokes about the fighting capacity of loyal subjects. There is a quote from Qi Jiguang: "(Ming army) The bow is soft and the arrow is light, and the one who wins is more deadly. The barbarian was shot and often patted his ass, thinking that I was humiliated. " In the battle, the enemy deliberately patted his ass and laughed at the loyalist. That's really a funny and helpless picture. One was written by Zheng Ruozeng: "Although our army has many birds and people, it cannot win. Why? The Japanese forgot their lives, and our soldiers watched them leave in fear, or the lead fell to the ground or the medicine thread was useless, and their hands turned over when they fainted. "
1555 (the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing), a rare event happened in the history of war in southern China.
A group of 53 Japanese pirates plundered Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces and attacked more than 20 counties such as Hangzhou, Yan, Hui, Ning and Taiping, with Nanjing as its capital. It took this enemy army more than 80 days to flee thousands of miles, killing four or five thousand officers and men, before it was surrounded by the Ming army with absolute superiority.
This event is very famous, which is a classic joke at that time and later generations: the speaker is very happy, the listener is dumbfounded, and finally he always asks: Is it true?
It's true. Let's go over it again.
In the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing (1555), the enemy landed from Shangyu County, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province on June 7th. After landing, they went on a rampage, attacking every small county and hitting every officer. A large number of verbs are used in the records of Biography of Japan in the History of Ming Dynasty: "Sudden invasion of Huiji County, robbing Hangzhou, sudden invasion of Shexian County in Huizhou, passing Jingxian County, going to Nanling and reaching Wuhu. Burn the south bank, go to Taiping House, commit Jiangning Town, and take Nanjing directly. "
The most impressive thing about this enemy is the fighting capacity of their special forces. "Chart Compilation" said: "Those who cover this 53 people are cunning and cunning, fierce and good at fighting, and even thieves!" In the battle of Nanling, Chen Cheng and his son in Wuhu County led the "Wuhu Xiao Jian" and fought alone, all of them died. At the battle of Jiangning Town, Zhu Xiang, commander of the Ming army, led the troops to meet them and refused. "Can't resist, Xiang died, Sheng was hit by a horse, and more than 300 officers and men died."
It is worth mentioning that in this Japanese attack on Nanling County, officers and men from one county and four counties surrounded it, and the loyalist army "led the bow and shot it, the thief knew how to attack the enemy, and the armies looked after each other, and one by one was defeated." This record comes from a record of Sejong in the Ming Dynasty, and all experts can catch the arrow. Except for the weak Ming army, the enemy's martial arts are undoubtedly strong. No wonder loyalist was startled and collapsed together.
After the enemy fled to Nanjing, the most jaw-dropping scene began: they began to attack the city!
"Ming History" records: "The thief went straight into Nanjing, and his leader was dressed in red and yellow, and many people attacked Da 'anmen. Our soldiers attacked him with spears from the outer city, and the thief went back and forth along the small Andemen and Jiagangmen of the outer city to inquire about Hui's city and found his position there. He sent spies, and the thief led people from the paved post to the mausoleum.
Nanjing is the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and its walls are very strong. Even if the troops guarding the city are removed, it will not be less than 10 thousand, regardless of the Ming army guarding around. However, only about 50 Japanese pirates dare to attack unscrupulously. Their leader, dressed in red, rode a yellow horse and took their rest to command back and forth. It's really shocking and funny.
The sudden attack made Nanjing full of excitement. Zhang, the minister of Nanjing Ministry of War, hastily ordered the closure of the city gate and ordered the citizens to take their own food and equipment to defend the city.
As for the details of the siege, the then Confucius scholar at Nanjing Hanlin Academy wrote in his notes: "A thief has only seventy-two ears. Nanjing soldiers engaged with them and killed two commanders. Eight or nine hundred soldiers were killed, and none of these seventy-two people were left behind. Thirteen doors in Nanjing are closed, and the whole city refers to the city. The elders in the class and the divisions guard the gate separately. Although the thieves retreat, they dare not lift martial law. It is no secret that the Beijing garrison is stationed. On weekdays, Zhu Xungui rode from Hao to Chi, and the soldiers paid 80,000 yuan for meals every month. Today is the day. Today, 72 Du Yuesheng's doors are closed, which is so arrogant. Why not be humiliated by the court? "
There are different records about the number of these bandits, some say "53", some say "60-70" and some say "72". Considering that Zheng Re, who said "fifty-three", was on the screen of Hu Zongxian, the governor of the Anti-Japanese War, the battle records were all from Junbao, which should be more correct.
On June 13, the enemy, pursued by officers and men, crossed the border of Wujin County and arrived at Huishan Temple in Wuxi. He ran 180 miles day and night. "The thief got tired of looking at the pavilion and went to Hushuguan the next day."
At this time, Hu Shu closed the line of defense, while Su Ge Governor Cao Bangfu and his deputy Wang Chonggu led Dong Bangzheng and Zhang Outline, and were in charge. And led thousands of officers and men to lay a tight encirclement on land and beside Taihu Lake. The reason why we kill the chicken with an ox knife is because the enemy is too noisy. Don't go out, don't report to the emperor, harm others and harm yourself. Cao Bangfu admonished his men before the war: "This thief has the potential to attack thousands of enemy troops and get a glimpse of my terrain and strength. Why should we support him when he invades on a large scale in the future? " Swear to destroy this and then go into town! "
Earlier and earlier loyalists finally fought with the exhausted enemy, and captured and beheaded 27 people among the loyalists in Wulin Temple. The rest of the enemy fled Jingqianmaqiao and hid in a private house.
People loyal to the government surrounded the houses and attacked them with fire. The enemy couldn't help but fight our way out. After a long run, they dispersed in Tianhe. The leader of the loyalist army saw the grass in the field and asked his men to shout in unison, "The thief is hiding in the field!" " Terrified, the enemy was captured and killed, and none escaped.
The final record of this enemy army is that it has been running across three provinces for more than 80 days, killing four or five thousand officers and men, including an imperial envoy, a county magistrate, two prefects and two Ming Dynasty commanders. Zheng Ruoceng was deeply touched by this: "He went through eight counties and fought for three thousand miles. All mortal materials, material resources and terrain were not clear in his mind;" Don't kill people, don't rob money, don't rape women, with a deep flow and a predictable will! "