After listening to Gao Pingshi's words, Liu Xin obviously understood, and by the way, her understanding of that period of history also deepened a lot. But after thinking about it, she suddenly had doubts and asked in a deep voice: "Of course what you said is correct, but if that's the case, shouldn't Toyotomi Hideyoshi be more wary of Tokugawa Ieyasu?
If you think about Ieyasu's strength and ability, it has been completely proven in the battle of Komaki Nagakute. He is the one who can beat Hideyoshi himself. Then didn't Hideyoshi think about it, if he died, who would be able to suppress Ieyasu in the future? Under such a situation, why did he just come up with a bad idea that the five elders and five followed? "
"I did say before that the Five Elders and Five Advocates system is a failed system, but after all, I said that from a 'historical level'. Hideyoshi is not a god, and he didn't know that Maeda Toshiie would follow him. If he died, the other three elders would not be able to restrain Ieyasu at all.
As for the Five Acts, this system is actually equivalent to our Ming Dynasty's cabinet to a certain extent - what is the key to whether the cabinet has power or not? It depends on how strong the emperor's support is, and how many people obey the officials. Among them, the emperor's support is the most important.
How did Wu Feng Xing fail? First of all, Hideyoshi himself died, and the support from the central power core was actually cut off. Secondly, are the 'hundred officials' obedient? Obviously disobedient! The conflict between the Omi Adherent Faction and the Owari Samurai Faction was extremely fierce. Tokugawa Ieyasu once again instigated it, and the Sekigahara War immediately broke out - is this called submission? "
Liu Xin shook her head and said: "Since this system is so unstable, can't Toyotomi Hideyoshi not see it at all and use other means?"
"Who says it's useless? He has used many methods." Gao pragmatically said: "For example, when he moved Feng Jiakang to Guan Bazhou, it was said that there were 2.5 million shi there, but in fact, there were only more than 1 million shi in the directly-governed area. , far less than the 2.2 million koku in Hideyoshi's direct jurisdiction. Even if Ieyasu can get all 2.5 million koku, Hideyoshi still has a "hiding place".
Not to mention that Hideyoshi also owned the highest proportion of the Iwami Silver Mine and the Sado Gold Mine, and also owned the largest trading centers Osaka, Sakai Tei, Kiyoshu Town, etc., and his financial resources completely overwhelmed Ieyasu. And Ieyasu's Kanhachishu tax rate is very low - I mean very low in Japan, it is four public and six citizens (that is, the tax rate is 40%, which is actually very low in Japan). In other words, from an agricultural or commercial perspective, the Toyotomi family had enough power to crush the Tokugawa family.
In addition to financial resources, Hideyoshi also used a lot of political means. For example, Hideyasu, who was Hideyoshi's adopted son, was given to the Yuki family to prevent Ieyasu from using him to interfere with the inheritance of the Toyotomi family governor.
Hideyoshi placed a pile of hundreds of thousands of koku of Hideyoshi's direct daimyo on Tokaido. This was a military encirclement of Ieyasu, so that Ieyasu did not dare to move at will.
He also sent powerful daimyo to supervise, first the Kamao clan from Omi, and then Uesugi Kagekatsu. Both of them had no friendship with Ieyasu, so they would not inexplicably turn to Ieyasu.
Besides, the move to seal the eight states was to kick Ieyasu from Tokaido, which is closer to Kyoto, to Kanto. Because Ieyasu is deeply rooted in Mikawa, and he was also very influential in Owari Mino during the Seizhou Alliance, so He must be kicked away to prevent him from making a move. Because he is too close to the center, the Toyotomi family may lack time to react.
The last point is that the Hojo clan has been ruling Kanto for a long time, and the local people are also convinced. Toyotomi Hideyoshi just pacified Kanto and immediately transferred Ieyasu to it. This approach has a strong implication of the death of Sasaki Narimasa. "
"Who is Sasaki Narimasa, and what's the problem with his death?" Liu Xin asked.
"Well... he is Nobunaga's confidant general. When the Battle of Komaki Nagakute was about to end, he risked crossing the snowy mountains to persuade Ieyasu not to negotiate peace and to fight Hideyoshi to the end. However, Hideyoshi did not pursue the matter on the spot afterwards. Instead, he brought him with him not long after. Together with him, he led the Kyushu Conquest, and then moved him to Fehou, with a stone height of 540,000 stone, and seemed to be quite popular.
But that was just Hideyoshi's conspiracy, because Hideyoshi immediately implemented the land inspection and offended a number of daimyo and powerful people in Kyushu. So not long after, the lord of Kumafu Castle, Kumabe Tajima Morinaga, launched an army to revolt. Although Sasanagi Masa quickly put down the rebellion, Hideyoshi still believed that he was the main person responsible for the incident and ordered him to commit hara-kiri. "
"So that's it." Liu Xin nodded: "You are talking about the matter of changing the title. Originally, Toyotomi Hideyoshi also planned to let Ieyasu be busy dealing with the opposition forces in the territory. It would be best if there was some trouble and he could take advantage of it. Punishing Ieyasu—not to mention committing hara-kiri, at least cutting off the seal or something like that, should be justifiable, right?"
Gao pragmatic smiled: "It's very possible, but he underestimated Ieyasu's methods. Ieyasu even used this excuse to not send troops to North Korea to open up new lands in Kanto and develop his strength. Haha, you really have a good plan, I There’s a wall ladder, let’s see who laughs last.”
Liu Xin finally affirmed Toyotomi Hideyoshi and said: "I just said that Toyotomi Hideyoshi should not be defenseless. It seems that he is still prepared, but people are not as good as God, and things did not develop as he imagined. Like."
After a pause, seeing that Gao Pragmatic had nothing to add, she couldn't help but ask: "But you have made these causes and consequences so clear, what is the practical significance?"
"Of course it makes sense." Gao Pragmatic crossed his legs and said: "I often say that the so-called "knowing things like a god" is ultimately about knowing people like a god. If you want to know what a person will do, you must first know what his needs are. , Secondly, we need to know how capable he is and what cards he has in his hand, and finally we can lay out and plan according to these."
Liu Xin tilted her head slightly and asked, "So what exactly are you planning and planning?"
Gao Pragmatic pondered for a moment and said slowly: "Not to mention the long-term situation, the short to medium term will naturally be the outcome after Bu Xiuji's death."
"You didn't pay attention to the war to aid Korea?" Liu Xin frowned and said, "I know you have maritime superiority and can control when this war ends, but I don't know why you insist on sitting back and watching this war break out... …What’s in it for you?”
"For me? Of course it's good for me, but that's not the main thing." Gao pragmatically replied lightly.
"Oh? Then who gets the main benefit, and what is it specifically?"
Gao pragmatic leaned back slightly and said comfortably: "The main benefit belongs to the Ming Dynasty. As for the specifics, there are two points: one is to train troops, and the other is to plot North Korea."
"Training troops?" Liu Xin asked in surprise: "Didn't you say that we might have to fight wars year after year in the next few years? This is not enough for military training, and we have to fight in North Korea?"
"It's possible to fight for several years in a row, but you have to know that fighting in North Korea and fighting in Mongolia are completely different." Gao Pragmatic's hand on the armrest began to become restless, and his fingers tapped the armrest rhythmically. : "I predict that the Ming Dynasty and the Mongols won't be able to fight many positional battles. After all, Burihatu has tested enough in the past few times.
Now Burihatu should already know that Ming Dynasty has a way to control cavalry with foot. If he still wants to try to save his Mongolia or Yuan Dynasty in this situation, he will definitely choose to fight mobile warfare.
He could even learn from how his ancestors dealt with Cheng Zu's Five Expeditions to Mobei, simply wandering around without attacking, retreating when the enemy advances, and if there is a chance, harassing the enemy when he is tired. "
Liu Xin frowned: "Do you have a way to deal with it?"
"Do you think I planned this battle so many years in advance and would wait until the war started to figure out a solution?" Gao Pragmatic shook his head and said: "You don't have to worry about the battle with Mongolia, but...our Ming infantry in that battle Maybe it won’t play a big role, and it won’t have any effect on training troops.”
"You emphasized that 'infantry may not play a big role, nor can it have any effect in training troops.' Do you mean that... you plan to send the infantry to Korea to practice with the Japanese?"
"That's right." Gao Pragmatic nodded calmly.
"Is it necessary?" Liu Xin still frowned: "I remember that you always didn't want the Han people to sacrifice in vain."
"Yes, but this military training is meaningful." Gao pragmatically said: "I will not allow this war to become a unilateral bloodletting of the Li family army. I will let the Ming army - at least the Imperial Guards And the main force of the Nine Sides - all went to North Korea to train for the war."
"Why?"
"Because..." Gao Pangshi frowned and suddenly asked a seemingly irrelevant question: "Did you know that in history, the so-called Qing army conquered the world, but in fact the later battles were basically fought by the Ming Dynasty surrendering their armies. In other words, the destruction of Nanming was not mainly caused by the Eight Banners of Manchu and Mongolia, but by the original Ming army. It was defeated by itself."
"I've heard of it, and it seems you said it, but so what? I mean, what does it have to do with North Korean military training?"
Gao pragmatically said: "The relationship is that there is no exact data to measure the impact of Xiao Glacier. I don't know how much loss my series of measures can save, so I must make more preparations." .
For example, let the main force of the imperial army conduct an actual combat training. Since the Japanese army does not have many cavalry units, the Korean battlefield must be dominated by infantry position warfare, which is similar to the possible uprising in the late Ming Dynasty.
If the main force of the imperial court had a higher combat effectiveness, the speed of suppressing the uprising would be accelerated, and there would be no need to resort to appeasement at every turn, then recruit rebels, and then recruit again... Such an approach would waste precious time. , attacking too slowly will increase the burden on the court. In the end, the more you suppress, the more you can't suppress it, and you will be dragged to death sooner or later. "
Liu Xin said in surprise: "Are you still afraid of peasant uprisings? Those troops had no combat effectiveness at all in the early days. I remember that in the early days of the suppression of bandits in the late Ming Dynasty, some famous generals often chased the peasant army with ten times the strength. Are you afraid of this?" Rogue bandit?"
"I may not be afraid myself, but the Little Ice Age lasted for nearly a hundred years. If you calculate just the so-called 'late Ming Dynasty', even if I was still alive at that time, I would be 60 or 70 years old. Besides, who knows how long I can live? Years old? What if I am dead by then and the direction of the court starts to go wrong again?
If the imperial court had more war experience before that, and maintained this experience gained from actual combat as a military tradition, would it be of great benefit to the future? I am not immortal, so I can only make as many preparations as possible while I am alive, but after all, there is only so much I can do. "
Liu Xin was silent for a moment and said with a wry smile: "You really put all your efforts into it... If you don't get a 'Wen Zheng' after your death, I will suspect that the emperor is blind."
Gao Pragmatic laughed, waved his hands and said, "I don't care much about my posthumous reputation. I do this purely because of an indescribable sense of responsibility - you may find it ridiculous."
"It's not ridiculous." Liu Xin shook her head and said, "To be honest, although I can't say I feel the same way, I can actually understand it. You men, you just always feel that the rise and fall of the world is related to you."
Gao pragmatic laughed heartily, and then said: "There are not many entertainment activities that I am interested in these days, so I have to find something to do."
Liu Xin shook her head, waved her hand and said, "Back to the topic, you haven't finished talking about the topic just now, keep talking."
"Uh, where did I say that?"
Liu Xin rolled her eyes at him and said, "We've finished talking about military training, now it's time to talk about plotting against North Korea."
"Oh, yes." Gao Pragmatic nodded: "But there's nothing to say about this. Spending such a huge price to rescue North Korea from the brink of death, only to get nothing?
What kind of internationalist spirit does he have... I don't have this kind of spirit. My attitude is very commercial: I will get back as much remuneration as I put in. I won't take a penny more, but they can't take a penny less from me either. Since North Korea was saved by the Ming Dynasty, its life belongs to the Ming Dynasty. "
Liu Xin said doubtfully: "Isn't this a bit difficult? Not to mention that there will definitely be many people in North Korea and China who are accustomed to generosity to others who will object, and North Korea itself will definitely resist."
"That's why I need a layout." Gao pragmatically raised his eyebrows: "Do you think I am doing things in Japan just for Japan? Ha, let me put it this way, make an assumption: If Toyotomi Hideyoshi died, Japan would not Completely withdraw its troops from North Korea... Do you think North Korea dares to oppose my Ming Dynasty’s garrison? If I station troops for a long time, will North Korea dare not to listen to my Ming Dynasty’s orders?”
Liu Xin was stunned when she heard this, and said in astonishment: "Are you...wait a minute, if Japan doesn't withdraw its troops after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death, will the Battle of Sekigahara still be fought?"
"Doesn't it depend on how I operate it?" Gao Pragmatic smiled and said: "How to keep the strength of the eastern and western armies close in Japan? This is where I, as an offshore balancing hand, will be tested.
Not only do I need the Japanese troops in North Korea to maintain pressure on North Korea, but I also need these Japanese troops to actually be used for me; I not only need Japan to maintain conflicts within Japan and a war between the East and West armies to break out, but I also need to keep their strength close to each other when it breaks out. After the war, both sides have to count on me to be their savior... If that's not the case, why bother? "
Liu Xin frowned, looked at Gao Jingshi carefully for a while, shook her head and said, "Are you a cat?"
"No, I'm a tiger."
Liu Xin rolled her eyes at him and said, "Let's talk about the big things first. Now there is a small thing. Do you want to listen?"
"What's up?"
Liu Xin raised the letter in her hand and said: "Tatsuzawa Sanyo reported that Toyotomi Hideyoshi has quietly ordered Kuki Yoshitaka to add iron armor to the gunless transport ship purchased from you."
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