Ch.225Nagasaki (1)

# The Ulus troops that landed in Nagasaki sent a vanguard to scout the enemy.

After confirming the enemy’s size and commander, the vanguard returned to me and began their report.

“The enemy commander was carrying a flag with the name ‘Yuan’ written on it. And under his command were soldiers who appeared quite formidable.”

I nodded at the messenger’s report.

‘Yuan’ was the term used when referring to the Minamoto clan in Chinese characters.

The presence of such a flag meant the enemy commander was from the Minamoto family.

Since Yoritomo, who led the shogunate, wouldn’t come out himself, there were only two possible Genji commanders.

One was Minamoto Yoshitsune, the other was Minamoto Yorinori.

Among them, Yorinori was with the Imperial faction under Emperor Gotoba.

Therefore, the enemy commander must be Minamoto Yoshitsune, the legendary figure who reportedly jumped between ships during the Battle of Dannoura.

“He’ll be a formidable opponent.”

“Do you know who the enemy commander is?”

I was momentarily speechless at Elunka’s question, who led the Tamma.

Having made a slip of the tongue, I had no choice but to make an excuse.

“According to reports from the Tamma, the shogunate is led by Minamoto Yoritomo.”

“That’s correct.”

“He has several siblings, and among them, the youngest, Minamoto Yorinori, is with the Imperial faction. So among the remaining siblings, Minamoto Yoshitsune, known for his military talent, is most likely to be the commander. That’s why I said that.”

In truth, Minamoto Yoritomo had many family members with military talent.

That is, Minamoto Yoshitsune wasn’t necessarily the most talented.

However, this was just an excuse, and it was sufficient explanation to gloss over the matter.

Elunka’s eyes widened at my explanation.

Then, making a fuss, he expressed his admiration for my insight.

“As expected of Gur Kagan. To identify the enemy commander from such brief information…”

I gave an awkward smile at Elunka’s impressed gaze.

Since this wasn’t the important matter at hand, I immediately called for a tactical meeting to discuss how to attack the enemy.

The only participants in this expedition were myself, Munglig, and Elunka.

The reason I didn’t bring senior officials like Toghrul was to respond quickly to any sudden moves from the Song Dynasty, as I explained earlier.

Khasar was doing a good job leading the Ulus in my place.

Even so, if a full-scale war broke out with the Song Dynasty, Khasar’s discretion alone might not be sufficient.

In other words, it was beyond Khasar’s capabilities.

For this reason, I had no choice but to leave the senior officials behind.

“I’m calling a tactical meeting.”

Elunka and Munglig nodded at my words.

And we immediately got to the point.

“The enemy commander is Minamoto Yoshitsune, known as Yuan Yijing in Chinese. To avoid confusion in addressing him, we’ll use his Japanese name from now on.”

Using two different names for the enemy commander would cause confusion.

For this reason, I decided to standardize the nomenclature before the tactical meeting.

“Explain the size and composition of the forces led by the enemy commander.”

At my words, Elunka bowed.

Then, looking at Munglig and me, he explained.

“The total enemy force is about 7,000. Among them, there appear to be about 300 cavalry.”

“They must be a vanguard too.”

“Or they might have reduced their ground forces in consideration of naval warfare.”

Munglig and I each offered our opinions.

Elunka nodded at our responses.

“Both of your assessments are correct. However, regardless of the reason, the fact remains that they outnumber us.”

In ground warfare, a difference in troop numbers directly translated to a difference in combat power.

Therefore, we had to be wary of this aspect.

“First, we need to make contact with the locals in the occupied area of Nagasaki.”

When it came to gathering local intelligence, recruiting local residents was most important.

They had lived here their entire lives and knew the area better than anyone else.

For this reason, I had already issued orders to eliminate only the Japanese military stationed in Nagasaki and not to harm the local people.

“You don’t need to worry about that. I’ve already recruited merchants from Nagasaki who travel to and from the Song Dynasty.”

The capable Elunka had already prepared for this.

I commended his quick action.

“As expected of Elunka. Bring that merchant here immediately.”

The ger opened, and a Japanese merchant appeared.

Judging by his Song Dynasty attire rather than Japanese clothing, he appeared to be a Chinese merchant who traveled between Japan and China.

“It is an honor to meet the great Gur Kagan. I am Zhang Kaimu, a merchant from Nagasaki.”

He answered in fluent Mongolian.

“Mr. Zhang. Then you must originally be from the Song Dynasty.”

“No, sir. My hometown was in Northern China, but when it was devastated by the Jin Dynasty, I fled and settled here.”

When the Jin Dynasty occupied Northern China, many Han Chinese migrated south of the Yangtze River.

Some of them left the country and settled in Goryeo or Japan.

Zhang Kaimu seemed to be one of them.

“I see. Are you friendly with the local villagers?”

“Yes. Nagasaki is a small fishing village. I need the village chief’s support for trade, so we have a close relationship.”

Like a typical merchant, he seemed to maintain good relations with the village chief, who was a local authority.

I nodded and then addressed him.

“Can you bring the village chief here?”

“Of course. His house is nearby, so I’ll bring him right away.”

After the merchant left, an old man entered a short while later.

The merchant translated the old man’s words.

“My name is Watanabe Shinzo. Thank you very much for not harming our villagers.”

I nodded at the old man’s words.

Then I got straight to the point.

“We plan to station ourselves here and stop the approaching shogunate forces. For this, we need local information and supplies. Can you provide these?”

“If you promise to protect our property and lives, we will provide them.”

I nodded at the old man’s words.

“I will protect your property and lives. And I will make this area a territory of the Ulus and protect it. Accordingly, we will pay for the supplies you provide after the war.”

In other words, I was saying I would use now and pay later.

Usually, invading forces didn’t even say this and just plundered as a matter of course.

Perhaps because of this, the Nagasaki elder seemed to have received a positive impression from my promise to pay, and he took a friendly stance.

“I am grateful for your words alone. I will send my son as a guide right away.”

The village chief’s willingness to send his son meant that he was essentially offering his son as a hostage.

In other words, the chief had agreed to my terms and sent a token of trust.

After providing supplies and information about the Nagasaki area, the chief left.

As soon as he departed, the chief’s son arrived at the ger.

He had been managing the fishing village of Nagasaki on behalf of the chief, monitoring public sentiment—a kind of local administrator.

Because of this, he knew that there was a wide plain near Nagasaki.

“A wide plain…”

The size of the Kyushu region was comparable to the combined size of Jeolla and Chungcheong provinces in our country.

In other words, it was quite a large area, and most of this land seemed to consist of vast plains.

“This looks like an opportunity for us.”

“Indeed. It’s an ideal battlefield for cavalry.”

Elunka and Munglig made these suggestions as soon as they heard about the plains.

This was because cavalry exerted power comparable to tanks in plain areas.

This was due to the special nature of cavalry, which could exert destructive power far exceeding numerical disadvantages.

To be precise, cavalry could generate tremendous impact when accelerating, and without cumbersome terrain changes, they could achieve this destructive power.

To put it simply, cavalry were gods of plains warfare.

And the best at handling such cavalry was none other than us, the Ulus.

“Gather all cavalry here. The remaining forces will focus on fortifying this place in cooperation with the Nagasaki residents.”

After saying this, I looked at Elunka and Munglig.

One of them had to stay here to ensure the soldiers didn’t harm the Nagasaki people and to lead the fortification work.

So I had to leave either Elunka or Munglig here.

“Munglig.”

“I await your command, Gur Kagan.”

“You will stay here and proceed with the fortification.”

Munglig would certainly be a great help in cavalry combat.

However, this battle was not going to be a traditional cavalry battle but an irregular one.

Because mobility was more important, I had no choice but to choose Elunka, the leader of the Tamma.

“I accept your command.”

Munglig seemed disappointed.

But since one of them had to stay behind, he seemed to understand the situation.

“Carry out the orders given earlier, but if enemy forces approach, engage passively and do not pursue.”

If it was Yoshitsune, he might split his forces and use deception tactics against our troops stationed in Nagasaki.

This was because he knew that the Nagasaki area had been forcibly subjugated by our forces.

Although the village chief had sent his son, the possibility of betrayal hadn’t completely disappeared.

Therefore, Yoshitsune might exploit this gap and use deception to encourage the people of Nagasaki to betray our forces.

To prevent this, I instructed Munglig to respond passively.

There were also defensive, diplomatic, and political purposes mixed in.

However, since the military aspect was the most important right now, there was no need to explain the other aspects further.

And judging by Munglig’s gaze… he seemed to have already figured it out.

“Leave it to me, Gur Kagan.”

“I’m counting on you.”

After saying this, I looked at Elunka.

Elunka bowed and prepared to receive orders.

“Elunka.”

“I await your command.”

“Reorganize all cavalry forces, including the Tamma, into Ren units.”

A Ren was a unit composed of five Arbans.

That is, a Ren was a unit consisting of 50 people.

In the Ulus’s system of thousands, the Ren was the minimum unit for army movement.

Splitting multiple units into such minimum units wasn’t particularly good strategy.

“Then we might be surrounded by enemy forces.”

I nodded at Elunka’s words.

Yet the reason for this organization was simple.

Swarm tactics.

I planned to torment the enemy to the end with hit-and-run tactics.