Kai-machi is a small commercial town that emerged during the Warring States Period. The original meaning of a town is actually a field path and the dividing line between fields. However, in Japan, it gradually evolved into a gathering place for common people, merchants and craftsmen.
In the history of Japan, the concept of hierarchy was very prominent. The emperor lived in the palaces of Kyoto and Nara, where ministers and ministers were also concentrated, while the local daimyo lived in their own cities.
Japan's castles are actually European castles. They were built for military purposes from the beginning. There were too many sporadic wars in Japan. If military generals, their wives and children did not live in castles, they would be wiped out by the enemy at God knows when.
Therefore, the city that the Japanese talk about is a castle, not the city that the Chinese talk about. Cities where common people live are called towns in Japan.
Relying on the protection of the Daimyo Castle, a large number of people often gathered under the castle. During peacetime, they lived and worked in the castle town. In the event of a war, they could quickly flee to the Castle to avoid the flames of war.
Japan is a mountainous country, and most of the towns are built on the mountains to take advantage of the terrain, while the towns attached to the towns are naturally built on the hillsides and plains below the castle, so most of the towns are called castle towns.
Of course, there will be exceptions, and that is the famous Kaicho in Japan's Warring States Period. This purely commercial town is very different from ordinary castle towns. The closest castle to him is Ishiyama Honganji Temple, which was later renamed Osaka.
But the distance between them is still a full 40 kilometers. With this distance, Jucheng cannot control Kai Machi at all. Of course, there is no need to control it. The purpose of Kai Machi is to rely on the control of the daimyo. What they want is the freedom of merchants.
During the Warring States Period, Kai-machi merchants controlled almost all of Japan's musket and artillery trade, and was the most prosperous foreign trade port in the Gyeonggi region.
The businessmen who had huge sums of money and controlled the supply of foreign guns began to seek independence. They played both ways among the daimyo. Not only did they make money, but they also obtained a lot of political rights, such as their own army, and the promises of each daimyo not to attack. Gradually, The Jie Town has the flavor of an independent financial center.
It is no exaggeration to say that he was Japan's Switzerland during the Warring States Period, and the military equipment raised by Kai Machi's financial resources was very well-equipped, and even the daimyo did not dare to bully these businessmen easily.
The glory of Kai-machi started with the war, and gradually died with the war. When the Tokugawa shogunate unified the entire Japan, the arms trade suddenly dropped sharply, and the businessmen of Kai-machi no longer had the good days of making money every day.
Coupled with the transfer of the political and economic center to Edo, Kai-machi began to decline for more than 200 years. It was not until the Meiji Restoration that Kai-machi began to slowly integrate with urban Osaka. After World War II, this commercial city no longer existed, and it became It has become a part of Osaka, leaving only many monuments that are very touching.
Today, no one in Kai Town expected that dozens of merchant ships would come to the sea during the war. Look at the heavy waterline. Everyone knows that a big deal is coming. How much cargo must be loaded to make it possible? That's it.
Excited businessmen and stevedores all gathered at the dock in an attempt to grab more business. The clerks shouted the name of their own firm, loudly introduced their firm's reputation and strong financial strength, and kept bragging that they had goods worth one million silver coins. Can underwrite.
The competition among the stevedores has only increased. It was hard to find jobs for Kaimachi workers, but now how can they stand it? During this time, countless refugees from Osaka have come to grab business. The two groups have not said a word to each other. Then he moved his fists, and the whole dock was in chaos.
People who were leaning against the seaside were squeezed so hard that they fell straight down. There were constant curses and loud cries from women and children.
Just when there was chaos, the merchant ship at the front docked on the trestle. Before he could put down the pedal, a group of samurai carrying flags suddenly appeared on the deck of the ship. They turned over and jumped from the deck to the trestle without saying a word. Said that he thought about killing Kai Machi.
"Brother Duck... control all passages... whoever stands in the way will die!" The sword flashed and a huge head rolled down into the sea, and blood arrows sprayed out more than three feet high.
"A murderer..." The crowd collapsed immediately. Only then did they realize that what they were waiting for was not a business, but a murderous devil.
"Make way, make way... Those who make way will not be killed... We are the general's warriors, not pirates... we all kneel on the ground to avoid death!"
More and more merchant ships came to the trestle, and more and more samurai jumped off. Following them, groups of Japanese soldiers carrying the latest Remington rifles came down the steps neatly. walked down.
The eyes of the merchants in Kai Town suddenly lit up. They had been selling weapons since their ancestors, and they were more sensitive to muskets than ordinary people.
"My dear, this is for Osaka. Such a good musket... This, this, this, this is definitely the trump card of the General!"
The merchants who wanted to understand quickly spread the word to the left and right: "Don't resist, don't run away. As long as we stay there, there will be no danger. Kneel down and hurry up..."
The merchant still had prestige in Kai Town, and the crowd soon calmed down, and the samurai stopped killing people.
But there are always some people who don't listen to others' advice, especially the refugees who fled from Osaka. They had just experienced the war. They were the most cautious when they saw the army coming. Just run out the road.
How could the Tokugawa army let them leak the secret? With the execution order issued on the flagship, these samurai chased them wildly across the mountains and plains.
"Anyone who escapes from the trench in Kaicho will be killed without mercy!"
The warriors rushed out with helmets and armor in an attempt to kill the fleeing civilians, but the warriors wearing armor could not outrun the civilians wearing casual clothes or even crotchless trousers! As he watched, many civilians escaped from the army's sight.
At this time, the rifle team had just landed, and it was too late to pursue them. At the most chaotic moment, the Japanese commander-in-chief of the army appeared.
On the bow of a merchant ship, the lord of the Aizu clan, Matsudaira Yoshiho, appeared. The thirty-year-old Matsudaira Yoshiho was in his prime. He looked at the fleeing people with a sneer, and suddenly shouted, "Where are the Wakamatsu Castle Boys? Go and kill those people." Untouchables who don’t obey orders!”
Before he finished speaking, hundreds of samurai in casual clothes suddenly rushed out from the new army at the dock. The average age was only seventeen or eighteen years old. These young faces were the proud youth team of the Aizu clan.
In real history, during the Battle of Nihonmatsu in the Boshin War, these youth teams fought a decisive battle against the fallen army, and the youngest was only 12 years old. In that real war, not one of the boys surrendered and escaped, and all of them died in the battle.
This was the pride of the Aizu clan, and it was precisely because of this that Matsudaira Yōho gained the greatest trust from the Tokugawa family.
Historically, in the Boshin War, the Tokugawa family resisted the most tenaciously and caused the greatest casualties to the fallen army. It was the Aizu clan. Under the leadership of Matsudaira Yōho, the entire Aizu clan fought almost to the last man.
Because of this, the Aizu Domain received the most severe punishment after the war. After the victory of the new government forces, the Choshu Domain judged the Aizu Domain's war dead as "traitors" and were not allowed to be buried. Exposed to the wind and sun, or being pecked by birds and beasts, they become miserable. Throughout the Boshin War, the Aizu war was the most cruel to the remains of the dead. Some people were even imprisoned for several days for burying the dead. Half a year later, the burial of the dead was allowed in consideration of the epidemic, and the methods of burying the remains were also very extreme.
Due to the brutal handling of Aizu after the war, the people of Aizu had resentments against the Choshu clan for more than a hundred years. Even people in Fukushima Prefecture (where the Aizu domain was renamed), which has entered modern society, are still brooding about the Aizu War.
After the Boshin War, when the military and other government agencies were recruiting people, most of them would be admitted if they were from Yamaguchi Prefecture (Choshu Domain). On the contrary, during World War I, Aizu people were generally sent to battlefields where there was little hope of survival.
For the citizens of Aizuwakamatsu City, what the war reminds them of is not World War II, but the Boshin War. People from Fukushima Prefecture basically don’t interact with people from Yamaguchi and Kagoshima Prefectures. People in Aizuwakamatsu refused accommodation to people from Yamaguchi Prefecture, and even taxi drivers refused them rides.
In 1986, Hagi City, the former castle town of Choshu Domain, believed that the war had ended for nearly 120 years. In order to reconcile the people of the two places, it proposed to form a sister city with Aizuwakamatsu City, but was rejected by the people of Aizuwakamatsu City.
What kind of hatred is this! Being able to form enemies to this extent shows how brutal the war was back then.
Matsudaira Yongho gave an order, and the young military guards who had been brainwashed by the idea of loyalty rushed towards the forest. They had a small sword in their left hand, a large sword in their right hand, and some even had a rib in their mouths.
Traveling lightly, they have long been accustomed to shuttling in the mountains and forests. Their speed is comparable to that of famous long-distance runners, and their agility is comparable to that of apes. Soon these children surpassed the warriors restrained by heavy armor, and gradually approached the fleeing people.
"Kill!" With a loud shout, the Kodachi rolled forward and pierced the back of the heart with the knife. Then Ribashi's throat was cut with a light touch.
The young army did not hesitate and continued to charge forward. With a slight drag of the long sword, the escaper's back was dragged with a wound more than a foot long, and even the ribs were exposed.
This was a one-sided massacre. More than a hundred years ago, the army arrived first and actually surpassed all the refugees. They blocked several traffic intersections in advance, turned around and continued to massacre the refugees.
At this time, the armored warriors who were chasing behind also arrived. The two sides joined forces to attack and ended the battle in only twenty minutes. All the fleeing civilians were killed.
"Your Excellency, Minister Roshi, can you please see if my young army can be used?" Matsudaira Rongbo asked politely.
Roche's back was covered in cold sweat. Seeing a group of seventeen-year-old children killing people so calmly, it felt really bad, very bad.
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The most remarkable battle of the Boshin War during the Meiji Restoration in Japan was the Battle of Aizuwakamatsu Castle. Friends who are interested can go and take a look. Although Matsudaira Yoshiho failed in the end, the shogunate was not a completely just party. .
But the Japanese Bushido's idea of loyalty to the emperor is vividly displayed in the Aizu clan. It is a terrible spiritual power that is really shocking.
