The distance between Nagasaki Port and Bungofu Inner Castle is very close, that is, 3780 miles. Although there is no rush hour of 600 miles, the Shimadzu family's spies can still arrive within two days. , sent the news to Fuuchi Castle that the Ming Navy's fleet had arrived off the coast of Nagasaki and that 1,000 Ming Army fusiliers had entered Nagasaki Port.
Mitsuhisa Shimazu, the eldest son of the revived Toyotomi family, was reading an oath of allegiance to the Toyotomi regime from the lord of the Choshu domain, Tsunahiro Mori.
Mouri Tsunahiro was the second generation lord of the Choshu Domain, and like Shimazu Mitsuhisa, he was a "second generation". But he is much younger. He is only 18 years old this year, which is when he is the most angry young man.
Moreover, the Choshu clan was slaughtered too harshly by the Tokugawa shogunate after the Battle of Sekigahara. From the 1.2 million koku before the war to 299,000 koku, three-quarters were cut off! Although the Maori family worked hard to inspect the land and raised the stone to 369,000 stone, and implemented a monopoly on domestic products to obtain industrial and commercial income, no matter how hard they tried, they could not balance the domain's finances.
This is because the Maori family was extremely wealthy before the Sekigahara War, because the Maori family’s wealth not only came from the 1.2 million stone they received, but also from the famous Iwami Ginzan! According to people's evaluation at the time: Terumoto had so much gold and silver that he could replace all the bridges from Sanin Sanyo to Kyoto with gold bridges and silver bridges.
Such a wealthy and famous person would naturally have a very large group of retainers. After losing the 900,000 koku territory and Iwami Ginzan, the Mori family's financial resources were reduced by 80% to 90%, and the originally huge retainer group could not be reduced accordingly. Therefore, the Choshu samurai were so poor that the Satsuma samurai were so poor. They were all surprised!
Therefore, the Choshu warriors hated the Tokugawa shogunate far more than the Satsuma warriors...
However, in the more than fifty years since the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Tokugawa family's world seemed to be impregnable, and it was not something that the mere 370,000 koku Maori family could shake.
Therefore, the Choshu warriors had no choice but to turn their resentment into verbal disputes. Every New Year, the lord of the Choshu domain would ask loudly like a fool: Can the curtain fall this year?
Then the important ministers in the vassal replied like a fool: The time is not yet ripe for the fall.
This is just like a child crying after being beaten and saying that he will beat him back when he grows up!
And the Tokugawa shogunate had good ears and eyes, and of course they knew that the fools and fools of the Mori family were acting like children. However, considering that there were too many "begging samurai" in Choshu, it would be difficult to deal with it after the Maori family was destroyed, so the Tokugawa shogunate pretended not to know about it for decades.
But now the Tokugawa family has reached the point where they have to seek the throne and usurp the throne. Before usurping the throne, of course, they must kill foreign powerful feudal lords with ulterior motives like Mouri and Shimazu as monkeys!
Therefore, the shogunate no longer pretended to be deaf and mute, but began to cause trouble for the Mori family. It sent people to the Mori family's mansion in Edo to question the Choshu clan about discussing the fall of the clan. If this is verified, the Choshu clan will be finished. !
The news reached Hagi Castle, where the Choshu Domain Hall was located, and immediately caused panic and commotion. The upper class of the Maori family are panicking. No matter how poor they are, they are still at the top of the samurai class!
The ones who started the commotion were the lower-class feudal lords and villagers of the Maori family who had suffered for decades... They had been waiting for decades, just waiting for a word: this year the curtain can fall!
Now that the shogunate has taken the initiative to come to the door, should the big shots of the Choshu clan still endure it?
Just when differences arose between the Choshu clan, even more exciting news came from Kyushu. The Shimazu family had taken the lead in raising the banner of overthrow, and they also fought all the way to Bungo Fuuchi Castle and supported them in Fuuchi Castle. Toyotomi elder Hidematsu is the leader, and Toyotomi will be reborn!
Subsequently, the envoy of the Shimazu family arrived at Hagi Castle with an order signed by Toyotomi Hidematsu (that is, Toyotomi Kunimatsu. Kunimatsu was the name before Yuanfu, so after the Toyotomi surname was officially restored, Kunimatsu changed his name to Hidematsu) and requested Tsunahiro Mouri declared himself a vassal to the Toyotomi family, sent an oath of allegiance, and agreed to serve as the second elder of the Toyotomi family.
Now Tsunahiro Mouri's affidavit has been delivered to Mitsuhisa Shimazu!
The Choshu Mori family also officially announced the collapse of the Toyotomi family!
"Okay, okay... great!" After reading Moori Tsunahiro's oath, Shimazu Mitsuhisa finally smiled and said to the retainers in front of him, "There are warriors from the Mouri family blocking the east side. With the traitors of the Tokugawa family, we can confidently and boldly deal with the Eight-Nation Allied Forces that invaded our country, Japan!"
"What? The Eight-Nation Allied Forces are coming?"
"Lord, you just said that the Eight-Nation Alliance..."
"When did this happen?"
"Lord..."
Upon hearing about the Eight-Nation Allied Forces, Shimazu's retainers, who were in high spirits just now, all showed panic expressions.
Shimazu Mitsuhisa took in all the changes in the expressions of these people, and his own expression also darkened. He snorted and said: "This is also the news I just got, from Nagasaki... The Eight-Nation Fleet has arrived. The Goto Domain also sent five Otori ships to transport 1,000 musketeers into Nagasaki Port."
"What? Already entered Nagasaki?"
"Is the Nabeshima family looking at you like this?"
"Did the Nabeshima family also defect to the shogunate?"
This doesn’t sound right! The Nabeshima family were originally subordinates of the Tokugawa shogunate. Although they looked like foreigners, they were still Tokugawa retainers. How could they seek refuge?
"The Hizen Clan will not change its neutral stance!" Shimazu Mitsuhisa said, "The Kuroda, Hosokawa, Tachibana, Arima and other families will not easily become enemies of the Toyotomi family. So what we have to face is just It’s just the Eight-Nation Alliance.”
In fact, there were no eight countries. Annan and Korea were just a make-up, and the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan did not send troops to join the coalition. The enemies of the Shimazu family are only the Ming Dynasty, France, England, the Netherlands, and Portugal...
Shimazu Mitsuhisa paused: "The countermeasures have been in place for a long time. Spanish Admiral Garcia has already determined that the coalition fleet and army will capture Sakurajima!
Sakurajima is the gateway to Kagoshima Bay. If Sakurajima is lost, Kagoshima Bay will be completely blocked, Satsuma Domain will lose foreign aid, and then it will be trapped in Kyushu! "
What he said was only half of what he said - once the Satsuma clan is trapped in Kyushu, its demise will be a matter of time.
Because Sakurajima, Tanegashima, and the Goto Islands are all controlled by the Eight-Power Allied Forces, the Spanish fleet will no longer be able to deliver weapons and equipment to the Satsuma Domain. Moreover, the Shimadzu family must face enemies from both sea and land at the same time!
At the same time, the Tokugawa shogunate continued to receive support from the Eight-Nation Allied Forces from the sea!
So after losing Sakurajima, the future of the Shimazu family is quite bleak.
Shimazu Mitsuhisa added: "So the preparations for the Battle of Sakurajima have already begun... Ni Nekiyo has led the Satsuma clan's new army to Sakurajima, and is waiting for the Ming army's infantry to arrive. Satsuma New The army is a samurai army, equipped with the latest Spanish muskets and artillery, and its strength is far superior to the peasant army of the Ming army.
Moreover, the Spanish Navy's Invincible Fleet will also enter Kagoshima Bay after the Battle of Sakurajima begins, dealing a fatal blow to the Eight-Nation Fleet!
So you don't have to worry, you just need to wait for the good news from Sakurajima in Fuuchi Castle with me.
As long as Sakurajima wins, Hosokawa, Kuroda, Nabeshima, Tachibana, Arima and other feudal clans will definitely join the Toyotomi family and overthrow the emperor together!
The rise and fall of the Japanese Empire depends on the Battle of Sakurajima! "
...
"Admiral Li, the landing was successful...it seems that there are not many Satsuma clan troops on Tanegashima!"
"After Tanegashima is captured, Sakurajima will be next... As long as Sakurajima is occupied by us, the War in Japan will basically be over."
At the same time, the navy and army commanded by Li Yuanyin and David Jones were attacking Tanegashima.
Now the coalition fleet and army have been divided into three, one part is in Nagasaki, and the other part is in the North Goto Bay among the Goto Islands. The main force followed Li Yuanyin and David Jones to Tanegashima. After capturing Tanegashima, they will also advance into Kagoshima Bay and capture Sakurajima - there is no need to capture the entire island, they only need to capture the western part of Sakurajima to block the channels in and out of the bay, then the mission is completed.
After that, the Toyotomi Tokugawa War in Japan had nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty and other countries...
