The conditions of the Shimadzu family are definitely unacceptable to both sides of the coalition.
Just kidding, what kind of idea is this in exchange for Ryukyu, which does not originally belong to Satsuma Domain? And from Zhao Xin's point of view, he wanted to make the island nation's vassals chaos, otherwise he would not be able to complete the secret plan formulated by Heping Tai. Only when there is chaos can we take advantage of it, right?
On the other side, when Shimazu Kyushu returned to Tsurunomaru Castle, Shimazu Sainobu, who learned that the negotiations had broken down, was left with two options: surrender the city to bind himself or fight to the death. Now that his father is still ill, all the ministers are waiting for him to make up his mind.
Shimazu Sainobu came to the back house and saw that his father Shimazu Shigehao had woken up, and finally felt relieved.
"How is the Chief Marshal doing?"
Facing the feudal lord's inquiry, several doctors from the Soshikan Medical Clinic said: "The Chief Shou is just temporarily depressed. He should be fine after resting for half a day."
"How did they reply?" Shimazu Shigehao, who was lying on the couch, saw his son coming, and immediately asked someone to help him up, and asked the question he was most concerned about.
Shimazu Sainobu shook his head sadly, Shimazu Shigehao suddenly laughed, and everyone present was surprised.
When Shimazu Shigehao stopped laughing, he first asked the maid and the doctor to retreat, leaving only one person nearby. After everyone left, he said to his son with a solemn face: "Gather the feudal lords from all over the mountain cities to prepare for the decisive battle!"
"This! Father, even the shogunate can't resist the Northern Navy. How can we, Satsuma, resist it?!"
Shimazu Shigehao grabbed his son's clothes, pulled him close to him, and whispered: "Don't fight to the death! Tsurunomaru Castle is too close to the sea, we can't hold it! When we retreat to Satsuma County, we must hold it back They wait until reinforcements from other vassals arrive!"
Shimazu said: "Father, can reinforcements from Kumamoto Domain, Fukuoka Domain and Saga Domain come?"
Shimazu Shigehao sneered: "I have promised to hand over Ryukyu's sugar trade to the three of them, and they will definitely be tempted."
Shimazu Sainobu was shocked. The Ryukyu sugar trade was the lifeblood of the Shimadzu family. If it was divided among those three families, the Satsuma clan would be able to survive this war. If so, what would be the way out?
"Masaburo, remember this!" Seeing his son's hopeless look, Shimazu Shigehao called him by his nickname and shouted in a low voice: "That Zhao Wangdian is determined to win the Thirty-Six Ryukyu Islands. We, Sama, can't win." Come on, none of the other three families can get it! Even if we win, we won’t be able to keep Ryukyu, but we can do business with Zhao Wangdian; but if we don’t win, the Shimazu family will perish!”
Shimazu Sai Xuan explained in confusion: "If Zhao Wangdian just wants Ryukyu, we have agreed to give it to him? Why are we still being aggressive?"
Shimazu Shigehao concentrated for a while and said: "This is also what puzzles me. There must be something else in this domain that has fallen into his eyes, and he will never give up until he gets it. But what is it?"
Shimazu Sai Xuanxin said that the only thing poor in the Satsuma Domain was the big radish. Could it be the gold mine in Linggao County? They dug it all up early!
Shimazu said: "Father, do you think reinforcements from Edo will come?"
Shimazu Shigehao sighed and said: "We can't count on you. Now that the Sendai Clan has the support of Zhao Wangdian, it has become an open rebellion. If the shogunate takes action, the Sendai Clan will be the first to deal with it. That Zhao Wangdian..., when the time comes he slaps his butt and leaves, and in the vast sea, no one can do anything to him!"
"Then what should we do now? Send the navy to fight?" Shimazu Sai Xuanxin said that the navy of this domain was just a dish in front of the big ship of the Northern Navy, and there was no return.
Shimazu Shigehao narrowed his eyes, slowly shook his head and said: "No! We must delay time! Send food, wine, and beauties, as long as you can delay it, it will be a day!"
"What if none of these work?"
"Then you send assassins! Remember, if it comes to that, everyone must first withdraw from Tsurunomaru and go to Satsuma County! We cannot withstand the cannons of the Northern Navy."
"I understand." Shimazu nodded, then bowed and left.
In the afternoon of that day, the Shimazu family began to send people to deliver rice, seafood, sake, and karaoke to the coalition forces. Even Yokoyama Town sent people to deliver a lot of pickled radish and satsuma tangerines. The coalition forces don't want any of these things. The reason is very simple. Date Shigemura was poisoned to death, so he would be crazy to eat food sent by the Shimadzu family! Beihai Navy’s compressed biscuits are so delicious.
However, tens of thousands of people staying at sea for one day would consume a lot of fresh water, not to mention that some people in the Sendai clan's army had already begun to fall ill. So the day after the negotiations, the North Navy began to move.
Among the four large ships, the Thor was at the head, the Hokkai No. 1 and 2 were in the middle, and the Thunder was at the end, slowly entering the strait between Kagoshima and Sakurajima.
Shimazu Sainobu in Tsurunomaru Castle received the news and understood that the previous plan had failed, so he started a city-wide retreat in a panic. However, some people were unwilling to leave without firing a single shot.
In fact, strictly speaking, during the Edo period, except for the Tokugawa shogunate, which had a naval force, the other vassals did not have a naval force; in other words, they only had water-borne armies. As far as the Satsuma Domain is concerned specifically, neither the "ship-reforming policy" nor the "ship-reforming policy" has anything to do with the navy (some books even include the bizarre position of general of the navy). ) Of course, if there really is a war, the royal ships will also be drafted into military ships.
Ships in the Edo period were divided into different models according to the number of sails on the deck, ranging from 1 sail to 23 sails; the small morning boats with one sail were the most used for maritime security.
They were unwilling to give in, but they didn't have many cannons. Even if they had cannons, they knew they couldn't hit them, so these people's method was to set fire to the ships to block the Northern Navy. Fortunately, the Satsuma Domain had already prepared, and the Satsuma Domain's shipyard was located at the mouth of the Kobutsu River. There were many ship owners, sailors and boatmen living nearby. Even river sailing boats could be used as fire ships.
When the Northern Navy's fleet was still a few miles away from the Kabutuchuan River, seventy or eighty fireships came towards the Northern Navy from the mouth of the Kabutuchuan River.
Even though the Satsuma clan's fireships were small, the Northern Navy was equally careless, because once the fragments of these ships damaged the stabilizer fins and balance wings below the waterline, the ship would swing from side to side, and everyone on board would have to carry it disgustingly. Can't live.
So the Thor began to slow down rapidly and turned the ship sideways; at the same time, the Thunderbolt also accelerated forward and turned sideways. Two ships blocked Beihai No. 1 and No. 2.
"fire!"
Following Zhao Xin's order, the two regiments' thirty-six mortars, five D30s, and the machine guns on the ship's side deck all opened fire on the Thor and Thunder. This formation, let alone how the Shimazu family reacted, the soldiers in the cargo holds of the two ships were in trouble.
Every time the five-seat D30 fired, the huge sound shook the Northern Navy and the Sendai Domain Ashigaru in the cargo hold. Everyone covered their ears and opened their mouths, squatting on the ground, praying to finish the fight and get ashore as soon as possible.
The .50 machine gun bullets tore the boats into pieces, turning them into debris on the water and floating with the waves. At the sterns of the Thor and Thunder, a group of sailors operated fire water cannons, flushing away all the approaching large shipwrecks and fireships that had slipped through the net.
On the hill outside Tsurunomaru Castle, all the warriors of the Shimazu family and local residents stood on the hillside to watch the battle. I saw countless exploding water columns rising and falling in the fleet of fireships heading towards the Northern Navy, and the ocean seemed to be boiling.
Everyone stared at the scene in front of them in stunned silence. Some people had already begun to kneel on the ground and cry loudly. The few guys who encouraged Shimazu Sainobu to launch the fire ship attack were now ashen-faced.
A samurai said sadly: "Let's go. Tsurunomaru Castle can't be defended!"
In the crowd, a warrior said bitterly: "If I see that Zhao thief, I will kill him with a knife!"
Everyone turned around and saw that it was the feudal lord Togo Minoru, a master of gengen-ryu.
Another samurai said: "Stop talking about those useless things. The Beihai navy uses rapid-fire muskets, and you can't even get close!"
Taito-ryu's Oyama Tsunaaki looked very frustrated and said: "Their bludgeons are so sharp, what's the use of our martial arts training!"
While they were talking, a feudal lord ran over and shouted: "The head of the family ordered everyone to evacuate immediately!"
Dongxiang Shiyi said: "Evacuate to where?"
"Junshan foothills!" The feudal lord shouted, then turned and left.
At 11 o'clock in the morning, the Northern Navy, which had cleared out the fireships, began to bombard Tsurunomaru Castle. Because no drone was sent to determine the coordinates and aim, the fire caused by the shelling immediately raged in Kagoshima Town. The feudal lords followed the Shimazu family's team away, but the remaining townspeople started frantically putting out fires and demolishing houses after the Northern Navy stopped shelling.
At noon, the residents of Kagoshima Town were surprised to find that the large ship of the Northern Navy did not anchor near the Kobutsu River at all, but went all the way north without missing a trace.
"It's broken! They are going to Kajiki Town!" Shimazu Shigehao was shocked when he got the news. "Shiluo County and Kuwahara County are in danger!"
From the time the Northern Navy arrived at Sendai Domain and began sending troops until the fall of Isu County, the Edo shogunate remained stationary. As the leader of the old army, Matsudaira Sadanobu knew that even if he sent reinforcements, the distant water would not be able to quench the near thirst.
Since taking over as the leader of Laos and China, the ambitious Matsudaira Sadanobu finally understood what kind of government he was inheriting, with a bottomless fiscal deficit, displaced victims, and constant voices from various places demanding a reduction in annual tribute. But now that they have to send out troops again, all localities can only forcefully collect annual tributes, and the rule of the shogunate is already in danger.
Before May last year, the world was shocked by the riots that spread to 35 places across the country because of an argument. In four days, 980 rice shops, 8,000 hotels and 8,000 pawn shops were destroyed in Edo Castle, which was unprecedented since the city was founded.
Matsudaira Sadanobu knew that his first task was to reduce the burden on farmers so that the people would not starve to death again. The first order he issued after taking office was "frugality", suppressing entertainment and commercial activities, trying to devote limited manpower and other resources to restoring agricultural production. A grain rationing system was promoted across the country, and grains were mixed with many grains and other ingredients that were not used for food in the past. And at the same time, he began to promote his hometown's crop, the cold-resistant Shirakawa buckwheat.
It is said that it was the promotion under this disaster that finally made buckwheat an important part of the island country's diet.
However, when Beihai Town transported another regiment of troops to Sendai Domain, Matsudaira Sadanobu could not sit still. He knew that if he didn't act, the world would be divided again. As a descendant of the Tokugawa family, he would never allow this to happen. Therefore, Matsudaira Sadanobu decided to send troops to attack Sendai Domain after consulting Tokugawa Ieki.
In the Edo period, the common name for Hatamoto was "Hatamoto 80,000 knights". This included the shogunate's Hatamoto, the imperial family, and the imperial family's attendants. Except for the early period of the Tokugawa III generation, the number in the middle and late period was probably more than 60,000 to 70,000 people. . By the seventh year of Tenmei, the number of shogunate bannermen was 5,000, and the number of direct retainers, including the imperial family members below Omami, totaled 22,400.
For such a huge team, the amount of military rations consumed every day alone is an astronomical figure. However, considering the Northern Navy's initial offensive in Uraga, Matsudaira Sadanobu gritted his teeth and ordered the shogunate Tenlords and various daimyo to collect the annual tribute.
As a representative who had negotiated face-to-face with Zhao Xin, Matsudaira Sadanobu knew very well how cunning and arrogant Zhao Xin was. He would never forget Zhao Xin's gaze at that time, which was domineering and contemptuous.
Yes, contempt. Although the guy always had a smile on his face, the contempt in his bones made Matsudaira Sadanobu feel on edge.
If we want to conquer Sendai Domain quickly, we must attack both land and water. Because they had received news that the three giant ships from Hokkai Town had all gone to Minami Kyushu, in order to reduce the consumption of military rations, a group of veterans finally decided to pretend to attack Jinshan, the key point in the southern part of the Sendai Domain, by land, and by sea directly into the mouth of the Hirose River.
After hearing the news that the shogunate was preparing to send troops, the Sendai clan immediately got busy. Now that they had food and money, and the help of a regiment of the Northern Navy and the Aoba Battalion, Ishikawa Murafumi was not worried at all.
Because Zhao Xin had made an agreement with him three times before, the Beihai Navy and Qingye Camp were unable to command them at all. Therefore, each family of the Sendai clan was very stupid and deployed their soldiers in Katata County, Igu County and Miyagi County. As for the feudal clans in northern Mutsu and Dewa, the Date family has sent lobbyists.
By the way, the shogunate is so poor that it is almost like underwear, how about it? Return to the embrace of Ida's family. If you want food, you will have food, and if you want money, you will have money. What? Are you afraid that the shogunate will send troops to attack us? What a joke, there are more than 2,000 Northern Navy troops stationed in this domain. You must know how powerful the Northern Navy is, right?
After some lobbying, all the northern vassals were said to be a little excited. However, if the rebellion fails, the whole family will lose their heads. At the moment, the Sendai clan is very angry, but whether it can survive this disaster, everyone is waiting to see. state.
In such a strange atmosphere, the curtain of the biggest war since the "Shimabara Rebellion" has slowly begun.
Except for the Satsuma Domain, which was unable to protect itself, all the vassals in the world were now focusing on every move of the shogunate and the Sendai Domain. For a time, Tokaido, which should have been sparsely populated due to the advent of war, actually became bustling, with spies in disguise coming and going.
At this moment, Pingtai, who had arrived in Kyoto, and his two companions from Beihai Town, started to attack the Takaji family according to the previous plan.
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