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Chapter 1040 – 1036 [Emperor Wants Hokkaido]

Chapter 1040 1036【Emperor wants Hokkaido】

“I am the general who defends the enemy? Impossible. They would rather Edo Castle be breached than let me take power again.” Abe Tadaaki sneered.

The daimyo who can really fight will die and retreat. The shogunate has no generals.

Abe Tadaaki is the only one left, but because he opposed the expulsion of Chinese merchants, he was expelled from the court by the elder Sakai Tadaki.

When the Edo ronin rioted, only Tadaaki Abe opposed the expulsion. He believes that the reason why the ronin make trouble is because they have nothing to live for, and they should be allowed to work. Since then, he has been isolated by other daimyos, and at the same time offended the shogun who had just succeeded to the throne.

By the way, Abe Tadaaki is the lord of Musashi Kunin, but unfortunately he doesn’t know ninjutsu like in the anime.

The feudal lord of the Odawara clan, Masanori Inaba, was appointed general at this time. This man is a genealogical daimyo, equivalent to the Tokugawa family’s Conglong hero, and with the support of the power minister Sakai Tadaki, no one can object to him being the general.

As for military talent and command experience, it can only be said that he once went to the battlefield and suppressed the Amakusa Shiro uprising with the army.

The watchman got off the hot air balloon, took the castle floor plan he had just drawn, and went to meet Huang Fei, the coach of the Japanese War.

Huang Fei is the nephew of Huang Long, the commander-in-chief of Dongjiang Town. He served as the commander-in-chief of the Daming Navy, and was the first to lead his troops in Shandong to surrender to the Datong Army. He is not young anymore, and he will have to resign after the war this time, and he will be transferred from the army to take up a position in the Dudu Mansion.

Huang Fei looked at the plan of the castle for a while, and said: “This is a bit like a European bastion. There are sharp edges and corners everywhere on the city wall. There are mountains in the north, so it is not convenient to attack by artillery. It is better to go step by step from the south.”

Except for the different architectural styles in the city, Edo Castle is very similar to a European fortress in the 16th century.

It has the shadow of a bastion, but it only has the prototype of a bastion.

The southwest is the outermost city, and there is only one gate to enter. In the middle and southeast is the second city, which has two gates to enter. The east and center are the third city, and there are also two gates to enter. To the northeast is Sairi Castle, where the shogun lived.

That is to say, the entire castle has four areas, each of which is separated by a city wall. And with the ups and downs of the mountains, the city walls are higher and higher one by one, making it difficult to break through in the era of cold weapons.

“The artillery position has been measured, let’s demolish the house.” Huang Fei ordered.

The ronin who took the initiative to come to seek refuge took the temporarily employed Japanese people to demolish the houses closest to the city wall. Artillery positions need to be arranged there, and the dismantled wooden boards can also be used to make ladders and other equipment.

The demolished block is located in “Shitamachi”, where small traders and craftsmen mainly live.

Groups of Edo people were driven away. They were full of resentment towards the Datong Army, but they didn’t dare to show it. They just left silently with their heads down. Especially handicraft workers, cheap goods from China put these people in danger of losing their jobs. The textile industry in Edo is almost finished, and only some special fabrics are still marketable.

“Boom boom boom!”

The sound of guns suddenly sounded, but it was the city that was firing, aiming at the Japanese people who were demolishing their houses.

Those employed by the Datong Army as civilian husbands were all unemployed in Edo. They fled back after being beaten by shells, and they were unwilling to demolish the house again.

Huang Fei called a few wanderers and said to them: “Each of you leads ten people and decides which house you want to demolish. After the responsible target is demolished, that team can rest. The sooner the project is completed, the higher the reward.” The first team that has been demolished will be rewarded with one stone of rice per person. The second team that has been demolished will be rewarded with half a stone of rice per person. The third team that has been demolished will be rewarded with 20 catties of rice per person. After that, each team will be rewarded according to their ranking Decrement a catty.”

When the white rice was brought out, the Japanese wanderers and civilians immediately got motivated to demolish those houses under the gunfire.

Huang Fei is not afraid of wasting food. Anyway, after winning the battle, the shogunate will compensate for the lost military expenses.

Under heavy rewards, the house was demolished quickly.

There are also many Japanese carpenters who were also forcibly recruited to turn the newly removed wooden boards into various siege equipment.

After two or three days of lingering, a large block was finally demolished, and the moat had to be filled in next.

Masanori Inaba, the general of the Japanese city defenders, approached the power minister Sakai Zhongqing and said: “Your Excellency, the enemy has demolished the houses and is building siege vehicles and ladders. Those siege equipment are not far from the demolished streets. You can send some brave warriors to attack and burn it at night.”

“Night attack is a good strategy.” Tadaki Sakai praised.

The strategy was approved, and Inaba Masori acted immediately. He summoned 500 dead soldiers, gave them grease, and asked the death squads to set off after drinking.

Five hundred samurai tied their white cloth forehead belts, received some settling allowances, and waited for the night to fall.

They drank half a bowl of sake, set off with high morale, and crossed the bridge in the dark with jars. Everything seemed to be going well, and the Datong Army looked defenseless.

“Jinglingling~~~”

In the quiet night, a bell rang suddenly, and more than a hundred fellow soldiers who were dozing off with their eyes closed suddenly opened their eyes and picked up the muskets that had already been loaded.

Only a faint figure could be seen outside, and all the soldiers were shooting at the figure.

After firing a bullet, immediately install the bayonet and rush out.

The moment the five hundred warriors hit the bell, they knew they were furious. Some people subconsciously wanted to withdraw, while more people stopped hiding and rushed forward screaming. There were crackling gunshots, and not only a few fell to the ground, but the gunshots calmed down the fanatical warriors, and more and more warriors stopped charging.

It was pitch black, and they were retreating again. Hundreds of warriors were completely unorganized and only knew to flee in the direction of the castle.

Five hundred warriors, less than half fled back to the city.

“It’s better, let’s talk about peace.” Tsuchiya, who had just been promoted to senior middle school, said directly.

Hiroyuki Kuze echoed: “You can send someone to try it.”

Sakai Zhongqing looked at Lin Efeng: “You father and son have served as envoys to the Tang Dynasty several times. Your father has passed away from illness, and this time the important task of peace talks will be entrusted to you.”

“Obey!” Lin Efeng bit the bullet and agreed.

He is the son of Luo Shan, a great scholar in Japan. His name is Lin Shu, and Goose Peak is his nickname.

Lin Efeng came to the outside of the city in a basket, and after explaining his purpose, he was taken to see Dai Sheng, the military officer.

“The servant of the lower kingdom, Lin Shu, pays homage to the angel of the upper kingdom.” Lin Efeng bowed.

Dai Sheng cupped his hands and lifted slightly: “Honglu Temple Dai Sheng, please sit down, Your Excellency.”

After Lin Efeng sat down, he was very hard-spoken, and asked: “Dare to ask the angel, what is the purpose of the heavenly soldiers coming here? The teacher came out of no name, and it is not a righteous battle!”

Dai Sheng sneered: “The vassal state expelled the merchants of the Celestial Dynasty without authorization, and confiscated the property of the merchants of the Celestial Dynasty without authorization. This is Japan’s way of doing big things? Japan doesn’t care about big things, and China doesn’t need to make things small. If you are unrighteous, then China can be inhumane.” !”

Confucianism’s diplomatic philosophy can be summed up in four words: big things and small things.

Big countries should treat small countries with benevolence and righteousness, and should not bully them;

Dai Sheng casually stated the content of “Mencius”, and directly labeled the shogunate as “not a big deal”, which made Lin Efeng not know how to defend. Even if it can be justified, it is just sophistry, because Japan has violated the basic diplomatic philosophy of Confucianism.

In the verbal confrontation between the two, Hoopoe has already gained the upper hand.

Lin Efeng, who questioned the country as soon as he arrived, could only explain as much as possible at this time: “It is Japan’s internal affairs to close the country. There may be some profiteers in China who violated the shogunate’s order to smuggle and trade with local daimyo. The people expelled by the shogunate are not good Chinese citizens.” , but Chinese traitors. Just like the Japanese pirates who robbed the Ming Dynasty, they were also traitors expelled by our country. The Japanese will only applaud when the Ming Dynasty beheaded the Japanese pirates. Those criminals who participated in smuggling do not need to let the two We will meet each other in arms.”

“嗙!”

Dai Sheng slapped the table angrily: “The Japanese pirates burned, killed and looted in China, but did the Chinese maritime merchants plunder in Japan? How dare you confuse the good Chinese merchants with the heinous Japanese pirates! You and I don’t need to say anymore, Come, see off the guests!”

“The angel calms down, the angel calms down,” Lin Efeng finally panicked, “If His Majesty the Emperor has anything to say, please feel free to tell the angel, and I will tell the general exactly.”

Dai Sheng said: “First, Japan must bear the full amount of military expenses for this dispatch of troops. Second, return the property of Chinese merchants. Third, Japan must establish a country. Fourth, China’s gold, silver and copper coins can be used in Japan. , Japanese merchants must not refuse to accept. Fifth, Ezo Island (Hokkaido) originally belonged to the Nuer Gandusi of Ming Dynasty, and now it is the territory of our Datong China. I heard that Japan made maps, and actually painted Ezo Island as Japan’s territory. Immediately Change the map of Japan to recognize Ezo Island as Chinese territory!”

Lin Efeng took a pen to write down everything, and took it back to Sakai Zhongqing.

Shogun Tokugawa Iezuna, after reading the terms and conditions, finally said a few words: “Where is Ezo Island?”

Sakai Zhongqing replied: “That is the territory of the Matsumae Domain.”

Tokugawa Ietsuna asked doubtfully, “Why didn’t I know there was a Matsumae Domain?”

Sakai Zhongqing said: “The Matsumae clan is a daimyo without Shi Gao, and only has the banner treatment.”

The reason why Sakai Tadaki is so clear is because the banner treatment of the Matsumae clan was bought by bribing him.

Before this, Matsumae Fan didn’t even count as the banner. Its ancestor, Matsumae Yoshihiro, defeated the local Ainu people, led the Japanese immigrants to build a village, was recognized for joining Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and successfully became independent from the Andong family.

With a standard treatment, and without Shi Gao’s name, who will care about his life?

The old Naka Itakura Shigeko said: “It is rumored that Ezo Island is very cold and covered by ice and snow all year round. It is impossible to grow rice and can only hunt and fish. This kind of wild land is also the homeland of China. We don’t need to hold it in our hands. I suggest that the title of the Matsumae clan should be deprived, and the Matsumae family’s banner title should be revoked. From now on, the Matsumae family is the people of China, not my Japanese subjects.”

“It should be so.” Many old middlemen and councilors nodded.

No one takes Hokkaido seriously. What are the places where rice cannot be grown?

Among the five items in the contract, Hokkaido is the one that Zhao Han attaches the most importance to, but the Japanese shogunate pays the least attention to it.

(end of this chapter)