,!
In September of the fourth year of Guangde, when the three major armies of the empire massacred people in Kyushu's Fukuoka Domain, Zheng Yishi led the North Route Army southward from Sakhalin Island and quickly occupied the Southern Kuril Islands.
On September 25, the North Route Corps landed at Cape Soya in Ezo (Hokkaido).
Zheng Yishi sent the Sakhalin aboriginals to serve as representatives of the Qi army to negotiate with the Ainnu indigenous people of Ezo.
During the Ice Age 40,000 years ago, the Ainnu people entered Ezo from Sakhalin Island.
The two islands are very close to each other. The indigenous people of the two places have the same origin, speak the same language, and both believe in the bear god.
They believe that the bear god lives in heaven but comes down to earth in the form of a bear. If people treat him well, he will never hurt them. But if people angered him, he would fly into a rage, attack the village food shacks, and harm the villagers.
So to this day, the Ainnu people in Hokkaido still preserve the tradition of bear sacrifices.
Time goes back to the Eastern Expedition in the fourth year of Guangde. When the Sakhalin envoys met their southern relatives, there was no unnecessary greeting between the two sides. The Sakhalin people said straight to the point:
"The Emperor of Daqi in the West is the God of all gods and possesses supreme power. The Immortal God, the Shaman God in the North, and the Bear God you believe in are all his servants and worship him. The Tatars (Mongolia) , Jurchens, Han people, and Koreans have all surrendered to the God of Gods. Why have you Ayinnu people, as servants of God, not surrendered yet? Aren't you afraid of the wrath of the God of Heaven?"
After the Sakhalin envoy finished speaking, he raised his flintlock musket and pulled the trigger toward the roof where they lived.
Peng!
The roof of the wooden house made of birch was punched with lead bullets, and the cold wind immediately poured in. Dried sardines used for wintering were hung on the beams and swayed in the wind, like hanging people.
Under the horrified gaze of the leaders, the relatives of Sakhalin put away the smoking blunderbuss and raised a scepter covered with inscriptions. Like a shaman, he muttered something and slammed the scepter on the ground. on the ground.
This iron rod forged by Qi Guo Industry made a heavy sound.
The faces of the Ayinnu leaders were as pale as the snow on the roofs of wooden houses.
Whether it is a flintlock blunderbuss or an iron scepter, to them, it is nothing more than an alien object.
The envoy of the Qi army tightly wrapped his bearskin cloak and continued to say to a group of Ayinnu people in the house:
"The He clan is the servant of the evil god and the source of evil. They bully you, just like the Rakshasa ghosts bullied us back then. The Rakshasa ghosts on Sakhalin Island have been eliminated. Now, the gods want to punish the He clan... ···God’s army will pass through the Ezo land, pass through your territory, cross the strait (Tsugaru Strait), and attack Edo Castle, the nest of the Wa clan. Before that, God said, the Matsumae clan must be destroyed first.”
"Now, you have two choices!"
Matsumae Domain was a colonial stronghold established by the Kazu clan in the southern part of Ezo Territory.
Since the middle of the Muromachi period, Japanese people have been conducting colonial activities in southern Hokkaido. The Matsumae clan, the ancestor of the Matsumae clan, is one of the best.
After the Uyizaki clan crossed north to Ezo, they continued to gain advantages in the war with the Ainnu people, and gradually established a foothold in southern Hokkaido.
During this period, the Oyizaki clan gradually conquered other small wealthy families and gradually gained the upper hand.
During the Warring States Period, the Uyizaki clan relied on the Dewa daimyo Anton clan, and relied on extensive political marriages with the Mutsu daimyo to establish their status as a Sengoku daimyo.
In the 18th year of Tensho (1590), Toyotomi Hideyoshi ended the Odawara conquest and began the Oshu Shizhi rule over the Northeast. The head of the Uyizaki clan, Keihiro Uyizaki, served as the acting magistrate of the Ezo Territory and accompanied his family, Anton Miki, to Raku, and exerted influence on the Toyotomi regime. Express surrender.
In the 19th year of Tensho, the Kunohe Masami Rebellion broke out in Oshu against the Toyotomi regime. Kehiro Uizaki, the daimyo of Ezo, received orders from Hideyoshi to mobilize a large number of Ainnu people to join the battle to suppress the rebellion. The status of daimyo within the Toyotomi regime was stabilized.
After the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Keihiro Uizaki quickly approached the powerful Tokugawa Ieyasu and changed the name of Miao from the Uyizaki clan to the Matsumae clan (a tribute to the Matsudaira and Maeda clan).
As Tokugawa Ieyasu later conquered the world and became the general to conquer barbarians and established the Edo shogunate, the Oyizaki clan who successfully joined forces retained their rule over the southern Ezo area and established the Matsumae Domain.
The above is the general process of the establishment of Matsumae Domain.
When the leaders of the Ainnu tribe from all over the Ezo region heard the words Matsumae Domain, their eyes immediately showed deep hatred.
Several Ayinnu leaders clenched their fists, pointed their fingers to the sky, and uttered vicious curses.
The Sakhalin envoy waited patiently for them to finish cursing before continuing:
"You have two options: one is to immediately summon the warriors of the Ayinnu tribe to serve as the vanguard of the Qi army, attack the Japanese pirates south, take back your home, and enter Edo City; or, accept the punishment of the gods together with the Japanese pirates. , I need to remind you that if you are an enemy of Daqi, the anger of the gods will burn the Ezo land to ashes, and the bear gods and shaman gods will not let go of your souls."
The Ainnu people were not interested in the evil god's base camp, whether it was Osaka Castle or Edo Castle. However, they hated the Matsumae Clan with gnashing teeth and wished they could skin the Matsumae Clan's Kazuto like a bear sacrifice.
Hezu is the feud of the Ayinnu people. Over the years, not only 800 but also a thousand Ayinnu people have died at the hands of the He clan.
Blood debt must be paid with blood.
"The God of Gods will give you half a day to think about it."
After saying these last words, the Sakhalin envoy stood up and returned to the military camp.
After weighing the pros and cons, the Ayinnu people decided to accept the "God of Gods" from the west, and followed the Qi army to attack Matsumae Domain and punish the servants of the evil god.
The original name of the Matsumae clan was the Uyizaki clan, and he claimed to be a commoner of the Kai Gen clan and the Takeda clan. However, it is also said that he was just a Mutsu rich man pretending to be a commoner of the famous Takeda clan.
But this doesn't matter now, because the Matsumae clan will soon disappear completely from history.
After the hard work of three generations of feudal lords, by the time Matsumae Ushihiro took over the position of feudal lord, the Matsumae Domain already occupied one-third of the land of Ezo, with a population of nearly 30,000 Japanese people and more than 800 samurai ronin, and they were still encroaching northward. Resident land.
Matsumae Domain was located in an alpine zone and could not grow rice (at that time), so it was impossible to determine the stone height according to the shogunate's system. The shogunate reluctantly determined the stone height of Matsumae Domain based on the lowest value of 10,000 stone.
The southern part of Ezo, where Matsumae Domain is located, is the largest production area of dried sardines (the main source of Honko meat) in Japan.
Whenever the daimyo of each domain wanted to buy sardines, they could only buy them from Matsumae Domain.
While the Matsumae family tried their best to exploit the Ainnu people, even grabbing sardines from the natives for zero yuan, they also monopolized the Japanese dry goods market and supplied limited supplies to each domain, thus making a lot of money.
According to the measurement of the Japanese country, one stone is about more than one hundred kilograms. 20 stone can support one samurai, and ten thousand stone can support about five hundred samurai. Adding the income from selling sardines, it is reasonable for Matsumae Domain to support eight hundred samurai.
However, if 800 samurai are now allowed to fight against 50,000 Qi troops, I wonder if Matsumae Ujihiro will have the courage to commit seppuku in the end.
~~~~
While the Northern Army united with the Ainnu people to annihilate the Matsumae Domain, Qin Jianxun led the Southern Army, and under the cover of the Seventh Corps Navy, began to approach the Kagoshima Domain.
Different from the commanders of the North Route Army and the Central Route Army who sang loudly and aggressively to attack, the Southern Army Corps commanded by Qin Jianxun did not fully implement the Supreme Emperor's edict on "I need a clean Japanese country", which means that they did not They burned, killed, looted, and treated the Japanese pirates as worms or cockroaches, but chose to convince others with reason.
On September 25, the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Corps, together with the Ryukyu Province vassal army, 3,000 warships, and 60,000 troops, threatened the waters outside Kagoshima with black clouds overwhelming the city.
Although it is a bit exaggerated to describe the war between the Southern Corps and the Satsuma Domain as a lion fighting a rabbit, anyone with a discerning eye can understand that regardless of the number of troops or the equipment of firearms, if nothing goes wrong, the Shimadzu family will undoubtedly lose this time, and You will lose miserably.
However, if nothing else, there was an accident.
The Satsuma clan had been trading with Nanyang and Britain all year round, and its wealth was astonishing. The commander-in-chief Qin Jianxun made an impromptu decision to convince people with reason first.
Ignoring the dissuasion of his lieutenants Wu Aheng and Pu Gang, he sent a team of Ryukyu envoys to Kagoshima and went to Tsurumaru Castle, the Satsuma Domain Hall. He planned to negotiate peace with the feudal lord Shimazu Mitsuhisa, and through peaceful means, let the southwestern feudal nation give up its illusions and voluntarily surrender. .
Qin Jianxun also had backup plans. While negotiating peace, he was actively mobilizing troops and generals to prepare for landing on Kagoshima.
Of course, his opponent Mitsuhisa Shimazu is not a fuel-efficient lamp either.
Satsuma Domain is also called "Kagoshima Domain" because its feudal hall is located in Kagoshima Castle.
Its territory includes all of Satsuma and Osumi Kingdoms and most of Hyuga Kingdom. The actual stone height is about 360,000 stones (36 times that of Matsumae Domain).
Satsuma Domain is known for its tough folk customs and is the second largest feudal state in Japan after Kaga Domain.
When they arrived at Qi Jundong Town, the population of the vassal exceeded 200,000, and the vassal army was close to 20,000. Kagoshima was fully equipped with artillery and tightly defended.
~~~~~~
"Nani, are the Tatars attacking?"
The second-generation feudal lord Shimazu Mitsuhisa, who was full of martial virtue, not only did not show a trace of panic when he heard that the Qi army was attacking, he also believed that this was a good opportunity to make contributions.
"We haven't attacked the city immediately yet. We have sent envoys off the ship first. They should be here to persuade them to surrender."
At the Tsurumaru Castle residence of the Kagoshima Domain, the elder Komatsu Omaru knelt in front of Shimazu Mitsuhisa and loudly reported the report.
Komatsu Huangmaru's real name was Ganfu Shogoro. His brother Kenrō succeeded him as the head of the Kanfu family. Because he was the third son, he was adopted early by the lucky lord Komatsu Seiyu who had just passed away the previous year and became his adopted son. He was later promoted by the Shimazu family and became the elder of the Satsuma clan.
Not only did Komatsu come from a distinguished family, but he was also famous for his tolerance, eloquence, and cheerfulness in terms of personal abilities. He was a close confidant of Mitsuhisa Shimazu.
"You didn't give the order to kill the messenger, did you?" Shimazu asked.
Mr. Xiaosong said calmly:
"No, I arranged for the samurai to take them around Kagoshima and duel with the enemy early before their armor was put on. This is not what a famous general would do."
Shimazu nodded with satisfaction.
Although the weather was already a bit cold, the feudal lord still waved his paper fan.
The elder of the family tightly wrapped his cloak and waited quietly for the feudal lord's order.
Shimazu, however, acted as if no one else was around, waving his paper fan, stepping on his wooden clogs, and sang Oda Nobunaga's haiku.
"Fifty years of life are like a dream or an illusion. Death comes only after life. What regrets does a strong man have?"
The singer suddenly stopped and sneezed.
Then he put down his paper fan engraved with the Satsuma clan's chrysanthemum family crest.
"This domain has the strength to fight and expel the Tatars. Today, we will order people to strengthen the city defenses, then ask for help from Edo, delaying the time, and negotiate peace with the Tatars."
Two days later, on September 27, when the Ryukyu envoy entered the Tsurumaru Hall, the feudal lords Narahara Kizaemon and Kaieda Nobuyoshi who were ambushing in the courtyard suddenly drew their swords and killed the envoy.
At the same time, Shimazu ordered the war to officially begin.
At noon that day, three hundred coastal defense guns from the Kagoshima Fort suddenly fired at the Qi fleet that was landing.
The Qi army, which had been prepared for a long time, formed a long snake formation and used 8,000 naval guns to attack the fort.
Soon, Kagoshima was blown into a sea of flames.
