New Shun 1730

On the flagship outside the range of the fort, Li Han looked sadly at the smoke of the battle in the distance and was filled with emotion.

"Fortunately, our country has a navy. If not, the Westerners can do the same and use naval guns to coordinate the landing and cut off the water transportation. I'm afraid our country will be in danger."

After putting down the telescope and witnessing this scene with his own eyes, even if he had not heard the secret conversation between Liu Yu and the emperor, he could not help but have such an idea.

However, the officer on the side comforted him: "Don't worry, sir."

"We have already measured the water depth of the waterway at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Even if the Westerners wipe out our navy, they will not be able to cut off the canal with the support of naval guns."

"The waterway at the mouth of the river is narrow, and it is difficult to turn around. Even if our navy is completely destroyed, the Westerners can invade the Yangtze River. In such a narrow waterway, if the wind direction changes slightly, they will be like the Zheng family who used fire to attack ships and cut off the retreat. .The navy will be completely destroyed by the river."

"There is no ship in the world today that can sail without sails. As long as it relies on sails, it will not be as simple as our fight against Japan. Is it possible that Westerners can build a ship that does not rely on sails, but it requires a hundred thousand sailors to row the oars? Come here to attack?”

"However, if there is no navy, there will be no peace within a hundred miles of the coast. This is true. As for land warfare, after the military reform, there will be no worries."

The officer talked eloquently, and based on his experience at this time, what he said was absolutely correct.

As long as there is no ship in the world that can sail without sails, even if Dashun's navy is completely destroyed, it will not be enough to break the bones of the army after military reform.

Li Han smiled and said: "That's true. But you are afraid of being overheard by people who are interested in saying this, but you use this as an excuse to protect the canal transport. Won't Uncle Ying Suo want to give you a lesson?"

The officer just smiled and said nothing, thinking that the ideas of these people were really weird. After hearing this, shouldn't the conclusion he drew should be to build a large navy and ensure its invincibility?

If water transportation and forts are saved, the money will be more than enough to build a navy.

Besides, forts cost a lot of money. If they are properly repaired, they cost a lot of money. Just like the ones on Weihai and Liugong Island, they are enough to build several more large ships.

It would save money to repair something like this in Yonago, but it is of no use.

The navy should not shoot at shore artillery, which is the first lesson learned by captains in the Jinghai Palace. However, when faced with a gun with this kind of range, which is still the age of grandfathers 150 years ago, the navy can freely throw away these dogmas... ...The exchange of fire lasted for almost half an hour. The warship and the shore artillery exchanged fire, but the warship was actually unscathed.

In the distance, the artillery battle continued, and the landing troops were already spreading out in the open under the cover of naval guns.

Just as the cannon was being pulled toward the dead center of the fort, the old forts in Yonago fell in just an instant.

And Yonago is a subordinate of the Tottori Domain. Under the One Country, One City Order, the former Yonago City has been abandoned. Once the fort falls, the Yumigahama Peninsula where Yonago is located will be under control.

The news of Dashun's landing in Yonzi did not spread that quickly.

But the news that Dashun's warships were carrying out armed reconnaissance in Izumo, Etsu, Yonago and other places with great fanfare has long been spread.

The shogunate has fallen into chaos.

Edo Castle was too far away, and the news Tokugawa Yoshimune could get was delayed for more than half a month.

Dashun captured Tsushima, Dashun captured Ezo Fukuyama Castle, Dashun bombarded Sendai Ishinomaki Port, Sendai rice may not be able to supply Edo this year, Dashun navy showed off its power on the sea off Kyushu Island...

Faced with this news, Tokugawa Yoshimune was a little numb, but he still pretended to be frightened.

The reason why he pretended to be frightened was because Liu Yu had already warned him in the letter he sent him before.

Now it's just like confirming that I wasn't trying to scare him in the first place.

Japan's land is long and narrow, surrounded by the sea. After Japan was isolated from the country, it only had an army composed of samurai. It was not a sea power country at all, and it had no awareness of sea power.

Dashun has the cooperation of the navy. As long as he runs fast, a few thousand people can make a fool of tens of thousands of people.

With the thousands of Tosa-level troops at that time, except for Edo, the national cities everywhere may not be able to defend it. The Battle of Tosa has proved this.

Although Tokugawa Yoshimune hated Liu Yu with all his teeth, even though Tokugawa Yoshimune knew that Liu Yu's letter was a deliberate attempt to mobilize his troops.

But after much thought and brainstorming, it seemed that the strategy of "dividing multiple corps into multiple corps and stationing them along the line for easy mobilization" given by Liu Yu was the only available option.

China pays attention to learning from history, and Japan also learns from history. However, the history books of the past cannot be used as a reference at this time.

When the Meng Yuan invaded, they could only attack Hirado and other places from Tsushima, and the navy could not run too far.

Japan can just pile its main force on Kyushu Island.

However, this time Dashun traveled from Nagasaki to Hokkaido, and it was possible to land anywhere.

Even though not many people may have landed, the impact was devastating.

The most abominable thing is what Liu Yu did in Tosa.

If there is no such thing, we can "save people and lose ground", fight to the death without retreating, lure the enemy to penetrate deeper, and then encircle and annihilate them.

But after the Tosa incident, people and land were lost, which meant that both people and land were lost.

There is no need for equalization of land and grain exemption at all in Dashun, because in the Edo period when the feudal system had not yet been disintegrated and land trading had just begun, the word equalization of land was not needed; From six citizens and four citizens to two citizens and eight citizens, the people will also gain food and scenery.

The prerequisite for saving people and losing land is that everyone is a soldier.

Under the samurai system that separated farmers and soldiers, would a samurai who lost his land still be a samurai?

Regardless of reparations or switching, in Tokugawa Yoshimune's view, this is just bloodletting.

And these things like benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, and tax reduction are just digging the roots.

With 400,000 registered samurai, the mobile field forces that can be mobilized are only 70,000 to 80,000, and the quality is still mixed. He did organize eagle hunting once or twice, but the effect was so-so. He would oppress the people for a hundred years of peace.

When the Tosa incident happened, daimyo everywhere were worried that their territories would be taken by "benevolence" first.

Each feudal domain in Kyushu hoped to reserve enough troops to defend their own Honmaru, and the mobile field forces they assembled were only a little over 10,000.

Who knows where Dashun will land? What if their own main city is lost? If the people know what "benevolence" means, even if they just shout it, will it be easy to rule in the future?

The shogunate also knew that Kyushu Island was extremely important, and supported some hatamoto, but together, there were less than 20,000 mobile forces.

The various feudal domains on Shikoku Island are doing their best to suppress the uprising in Tosa, killing people and blood flowing like a river. The field troops that can be assembled are fighting with the peasants of Tosa.

This trend must not be allowed to continue, otherwise if Dashun sends people to Tosa again, it will really have a foothold.

As the main force of the Choshu domain, the first thing to protect is the Shimonoseki Strait. If it is breached, the navy of Dashun can directly threaten the Seto Inland Sea and Osaka.

Some hatamoto must be sent there to defend, and it must not be lost.

Moreover, when the navy of Dashun carried out armed reconnaissance in Izumo, Iwami and other places with great fanfare, the lord of the Choshu domain was about to cry: the main city of the Choshu domain, Hagi Castle, is right on the seaside and faces north, which is completely within the attack range of the Dashun navy.

In Sendai, Ishinomaki Port was bombarded by Dashun, and the main force was deceived by Dashun to garrison in the north of Tsugaru Strait. Sendai’s troops are afraid that it will be difficult to withstand the attack of thousands of people, and they are also requesting the shogunate to mobilize some hatamoto for support.

Liu Yu had already gone to Edo for a tour, and Tokugawa Yoshimune's mobilization had already begun. Edo Castle still had to keep some people, Kyushu Island had to send people, Choshu Prefecture had to send people, and Sendai had to send people... Not to mention being led by the nose and dispersed everywhere, just gathering the troops and spending a year like this would cause the finances of the shogunate to collapse.

In view of the letter Liu Yu sent him, Tokugawa Yoshimune was not overly nervous before. He still hoped that the conditions in Liu Yu's letter were sincere.

That would only cost a little blood, but it would not shake the shogunate system or hurt his bones.

At this point, he actually wanted to negotiate.

This war is simply impossible to fight.

It is impossible to tense up the nerves and gather all the samurai into mobile corps to compete with Dashun in patience and consumption.

Not to mention that Dashun's national strength and wealth are far superior to Japan, just talking about consumption, how much consumption can Dashun's "Japanese pirate"-like fighting method have?

After a year, Dashun may not only have no consumption, but also extort a lot of gold, silver, grain and rice, and its finances will collapse.

However, politically, he could not take the initiative to negotiate.

If he negotiated without fighting a war, he would definitely not be able to suppress those daimyo, and the legitimacy of the shogunate's rule would also be in jeopardy.

So the war had to be fought, and he had to borrow the military power of Dashun to make the territories of several daimyo "benevolent and righteous", so that the daimyo would wholeheartedly support the shogunate for peace talks.

Moreover, he could not say anything about the peace talks.

The daimyo had to write collectively and take the initiative to ask the shogunate and Dashun for peace talks.

Although he hated Liu Yu in his heart, he also felt that Liu Yu still cooperated well with him - fighting the daimyo on Kyushu Island was exactly what the shogunate wanted; doing benevolence and righteousness in Tosa was to make the daimyo more supportive of the shogunate; harassing everywhere was to make the daimyo take the initiative to ask for peace talks.

He has also been trying his best to cooperate with Liu Yu. When something happened in Sendai, he understood the tacit look Liu Yu gave him, and he had a legitimate reason not to station more hatamoto samurai under his direct jurisdiction to Kyushu Island.

In his opinion, both sides should cooperate tacitly.

When Dashun landed on Kyushu Island, the daimyo could not stand it and took the initiative to ask the shogunate for peace talks.

The steps were paved and done in one go, and that was it.

As a result, Dashun cooperated well at the beginning.

But now, they have gone to Izumo and Iwami, which made Tokugawa Yoshimune a little depressed.

He also felt that what Liu Yu said in the letter was pure fart.

Although he could only defend according to the method Liu Yu taught him whether he believed it or not, he would really have a headache if Dashun wanted more than just the things in Liu Yu's letter.

Iwami Silver Mine cannot be lost. If it is lost, the finances of the shogunate will be greatly affected. Iwami Province is a direct jurisdiction of the shogunate. How can the daimyo occupy the place where the silver mountain is located?

More importantly, the Tottori Domain where Yoneko was located was in the largest uprising in recent years. In history, this uprising was called the Genbun Uprising, and one-sixth of the farmers from all over Tottori participated.

At this moment, Tokugawa Yoshimune really couldn't figure out what Liu Yu wanted to do.

Was he preparing to bleed? Or was he really going to dig up the root?

He naturally didn't know that this involved the navy's desire to expand its influence, the game between the navy and the court, and Liu Yu's desire to kill the chicken to scare the monkey in various ways.

Since he couldn't think of these, Tokugawa Yoshimune could only curse in his heart, thinking: Liu Yu, Liu Yu, if you do this for a year, the silver you have accumulated for the coin reform will be spent, and there will be no money to compensate you.

There were no banks in this era, so Tokugawa Yoshimune could only think that the compensation Liu Yu wanted must be something he could afford.

…………

When Tokugawa Yoshimune was in a state of panic and didn't know what Liu Yu was up to, Osaka Castle Lord Ota Sukeharu was almost collapsed after hearing the news that the Dashun Navy bombarded and occupied Yonago.

The Osaka Castle Lord was a floating official. Edo Castle was far to the east, and the daimyo in the west were all ambitious, so they created an Osaka Castle Lord to monitor the western lords.

It was just that the Osaka Castle Lord was needed to monitor the western lords, and they were worried that the Osaka Castle Lord would do something big, so the chain around his neck was always pulled very tight.

In theory, the Osaka Castle Lord was the highest person in charge of the control of the western daimyo, and in theory he also had military command power.

However, the reality is that after the country was closed, Japan did not have any large-scale military operations beyond the closure of the country. Even if the peasants rebelled, they were against the feudal lords above their heads, and they could not spread across the country at all.

During the Shimabara Rebellion, Osaka Castle Lord Abe Masatsugu thought that by the time news came from Edo, the Catholics in Shimabara would have built a heaven on earth.

But his subordinates advised him that this was an act of usurpation and might arouse the suspicion of the shogun. It would be better to let them revolt, since they couldn't reach Osaka anyway, and wait for news from Edo before taking action.

He rejected all objections, reported to the shogunate, and asked Kyushu to act quickly and gather troops to quell the Shimabara Rebellion.

As a result, his order was issued, but the Kyushu Metsuke didn't move at all. They really didn't dare to move until they received the order from the shogunate.

If you suppress it in advance, and there is no reward, then the shogunate will think that you listen to the Osaka Castle Lord? Or listen to the Edo shogunate? Then you will be suspected again...

Therefore, they waited until the news came from Edo before they took action.

So the uprising that could have been easily suppressed was dragged into a large uprising of more than 40,000 people.

Since then, the chain around the neck of the Osaka Castle Lord has loosened.

This time, when the war with the Taishun broke out, the shogunate directly authorized the Osaka Castle Lord to coordinate the defense of the western domains, and thus assumed the responsibility for the safety of the western domains.

With the responsibility on his shoulders, Ota Sukeharu really didn't know what to do.