From a highly pragmatic point of view, Sakai Town is too close to Osaka Castle, so it is naturally very convenient to do business in peacetime, but it is too difficult to hold it during war.
In terms of Jinghua's strength, if Sakai Town must be forcibly used as a fortress, it is not impossible, but first of all, it is not cost-effective, and secondly, it is not in line with the highly pragmatic planning steps for Japan.
Gao pragmatically does not want to solve Japan's problems in the Siamese way, which means that he cannot do it all by himself, otherwise the cost-effectiveness ratio will be too ugly.
In his opinion, the best way is to let Japan have a civil war first, and try to let them form a situation such as the Eastern and Western armies fighting in the original history - of course, the strength between the Eastern and Western armies may require his intervention to fine-tune , making their power balance more balanced.
At the same time, the process of the civil war may also require a certain degree of intervention, so that the war will not enter a decisive battle too quickly, and then the winner will be decided at once. It is best to fight a long-term tug-of-war consisting of many small and medium-sized battles. This can not only allow all parties to continue to bleed blood, reduce future governance costs, but also use the war to make a fortune...Eh?
Gao Pragmatic was suddenly startled as he thought about it, and thought to himself: Good guy, the imperialist is actually me.
However, Liu Xin didn't seem to agree with Gao Pragmatic's statement, and said thoughtfully: "You mean, Sakai Town will not be defended? I mean, let Toyotomi Hideyoshi take it away?"
Gao Pragmatic shook his head slightly and said: "I judge that there is a certain probability that Toyotomi Hideyoshi will not use force against Sakai Town, or that he will not personally take back Sakai Town at the current stage."
"Why?" Liu Xin frowned and said, "As the saying goes, be strict with the enemy. Is your idea too optimistic?"
Gao pragmatically said: "I look at it from this perspective: Toyotomi Hideyoshi insisted on setting up the Sea Trade Alliance's Japanese headquarters near Osaka in order to show that he was the master of Japan. But now, he is targeting Misaki Castle and The action of Tamora Castle is another one of killing people with a borrowed knife, forcing Tokugawa Ieyasu to be the leader. This shows that he actually does not want to fall out with the Sea Trade Alliance immediately, but rather hopes to use this to cut off the potential alliance between Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Sea Trade Alliance. possible."
"He is worried about us joining forces with Tokugawa Ieyasu?" Liu Xin wondered: "Why would he have such an idea?"
"There is no room for two tigers in a mountain, so it is one of the eternal truths in the law of the jungle that the strongest can attack the second strongest. Only by beating the second strongest or scaring the second strongest can the position of the boss be stable." Gao Pragmatic curled his lips and said: "De Kawa Ieyasu is undoubtedly the second most powerful force in Japan, and it would be damning if Toyotomi Hideyoshi didn't suppress him."
"But if there is a powerful third-party force at this time, shouldn't this third-party force be supposed to support the weak and eliminate the strong? But why do I feel that you have always been malicious towards Tokugawa Ieyasu? Even under the current situation, you Still want to use him to delay his plan to develop Kanto, and even..." Liu Xin considered the words and said: "Even now, are you trying to provoke a fight between him and Toyotomi Hideyoshi?"
Gao Pragmatic smiled: "Although Cao Cao is powerful, he is already dying after all, and Sima Yi is not only powerful, but also very able to survive. Since I know the original ending, why do I have to wait until things get too difficult to deal with before I deal with it?"
Liu Xin frowned: "To be honest, apart from being able to survive, I actually don't think Tokugawa Ieyasu is very powerful. Judging from the history you told me before, the battles Tokugawa Ieyasu commanded in his later period, Including the Battle of Sekihara, it can’t be said to be that exquisite.”
"My command can't be said to be exquisite, but it is still 'victorious in every battle' until now." Gao Pragmatic spread his hands: "So you see, the key to the problem is not here."
"It's not military, is it internal affairs?" Liu Xin was a little doubtful.
"Yes, the premise of all military affairs is politics, and the basis of politics is economics. Economy is naturally internal affairs." Gao Pragmatic smiled: "The fact that Ming Dynasty is victorious in every battle is not because Gao or someone like me is possessed by the God of War, nor may it be It was the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who were suddenly reborn. In the final analysis, it was nothing more than having money - they could ensure that there was no shortage of food and wages, that their firearms would not explode, that their clothes and armor were enough to keep out the cold, and that they had enough horses. As long as the commander in charge of this battle was not too stupid, It’s usually hard to lose.”
"That's not necessarily the case." Liu Xin shook his head and said: "You can command so many generals who are subordinates. This condition cannot be ignored. But since you said that internal affairs is the key, let's put it this way. So, Where is Tokugawa Ieyasu’s internal power?”
Gao pragmatically said: "When we look at historical figures, we must look at them from the era in which they lived. This is true for Tokugawa Ieyasu, and it is also true for Toyotomi Hideyoshi."
He smiled and said: "Looking back from the era of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, for him, a hundred years ago, Yamana Mochitoyo and Ouchi Masahiro led the troops of Sanin Sanyo to burn the capital into ruins; Then there was the Meiying coup, and Hosokawa Masamoto relied on the feudal states of Shikoku, Tanba, and Harima to abolish the generals; after the internal strife in the Hosokawa family, Miyoshi Nagakei used Awa and Settsu to take over the leadership and generals.
Do you see the common thread here? It can be said that more than a hundred years before Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the chaos in the Gyeonggi region of Japan originated from the Western Kingdom - until the rise of Nobunaga. "
Liu Xin frowned and said, "Yes, but so what?"
"Don't be impatient." Gao Pragmatic waved his hand and continued: "At the same time, what is Kanto doing? Kanto is going through the Rebellion, and it took the Hojo family a hundred years to completely resolve Kanto. Rich family.
You see, the problem lies here: in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's view, the problem of the Kanto wealthy family that the Hojo family could not solve for a hundred years can be solved quickly by a migrant from the Tokugawa family?
Therefore, if we look at history from a further perspective, we will naturally feel that Ieyasu's route replicated Minamoto Yoritomo, but what about looking at it from the eighteenth year of Wanli (the year of the Battle of Odawara)? The more tangible history is of course that of Kensei Uesugi and the Ashikaga Seiji.
There is no geographical reason to explain why Ieyasu did not become another Furukawa Kōkō, and why the powerful Kanto clan that Gohojo could not conquer for a hundred years could be solved by Ieyasu. So it can only be said that it all depends on human factors. Tokugawa Ieyasu's ability to handle internal affairs is so high. "
"So Toyotomi Hideyoshi lost in internal affairs? Oh, or maybe he lost in underestimating Tokugawa Ieyasu's internal affairs talents?" Liu Xin asked.
"It was not Toyotomi Hideyoshi who lost, but Chacha and Hideyori's mother and son." Gao Pingshi said seriously: "Hideyoshi did not lose in this aspect. What he lost to Ieyasu was actually heirs and lifespan."
"But I remember you said before that Hideyoshi's strength is Machiavellian tactics, such as diplomacy and maneuvering."
"That's right, but I didn't say that he was not good at domestic affairs. I have always said that Hideyoshi's weakness was his eagerness for quick success, and the generals under the Toyotomi family at that time were relatively inferior to the Tokugawa family. This did not affect his internal affairs. ability."
Gao pragmatic stood up to find the enfeoffment map in the Japanese map and hung it on the easel. He pointed at the picture and said: "If you carefully look at Hideyoshi's enfeoffment of domestic forces, you can clearly find that the Toyotomi family's territory is not rich in products, nor can it It is said that the area is extremely huge. In fact, Hideyoshi was not stingy with land not only for Ieyasu, but also for other daimyo who had great use value."
Liu Xin immediately responded: "Speaking of this, I have always had some doubts. In the feudal era, land was everything. Along with the enfeoffment of land, there were also population, taxes, soldiers, properties, etc. So I was confused, Toyotomi When Hideyoshi granted rewards so generously, wasn't he afraid that those who were granted the title would grow in strength and then rebel?"
"It's not that he's not worried, but he has better resources: trade routes." Gao pragmatically smiled, stretched out his finger to draw lines on the map, and said: "You see, because of Japan's Restricted by the shape of the land, from Kitakyushu to the Seto Inland Sea, from Sakai Port to Hokuriku and the Kanto Plain, and finally to the distant Northeast of Japan, a commercial route from southwest to northeast was formed. The closer to the Ming Dynasty, the more upstream the merchants were. The greater the profit.
Why is this happening? Because at this time the entire economic center of Asia was in the hands of the Ming Dynasty. Although Hideyoshi gave generous rewards to other daimyo, the trade route from Kitakyushu to Lake Biwa via the Seto Inland Sea was firmly in the hands of the Toyotomi family. Looking at Hideyoshi's rewards from this perspective, you can easily find that the other daimyo are basically at the downstream of the trade route, and only the Toyotomi family is firmly upstream and has become the core.
Hideyoshi accumulated a lot of wealth by controlling trade routes. Even after the failed war of aggression against Korea, when Tokugawa Ieyasu was preparing to attack Toyotomi Hideyori, the Toyotomi family still had a huge gold reserve. Therefore, by Hideyoshi's time, the balance of power among the various daimyo had shifted from competing for land output (Shigao) in the early Warring States Period to competing for control of trade lines. "
Liu Xin's heart moved, and she suddenly recalled Gao Pragmatic's judgment of Sakai Town just now. However, before she could think about it, Gao Pragmatic continued: "Looking at the Guandong Plain, although it has a flat terrain, abundant water resources, and rich products, it is located downstream of Japan's trade line.
If Ieyasu raises an army to resist Hideyoshi, he will cut off his trade lines and lead to a decline in his own economic strength. At the same time, Hideyoshi can use strong capital power, deploy a large number of weapons and logistics, and hire more soldiers. By then, the Tokugawa family will be captured like the Hojo family.
Therefore, Hideyoshi transferred the Tokugawa family from the Tokaido trade route to the wider Kanto Plain. Rather than rewarding Ieyasu and giving him a nominal one million koku, it was more about imprisoning him from the beginning. In Kanto. "
Liu Xin thought for a while, but seemed not to agree, and said: "In that case, even if Toyotomi Hideyoshi dies, these trade lines are still in the hands of the Toyotomi family, and the strength of the Toyotomi family should still surpass the Tokugawa family. Yes, but why did the Toyotomi family not seem to be very powerful later on, and even felt like it was just a medium-to-large force?"
"I have told you about the sharp contradiction between the general faction and the loyalist faction, so there is no need to say it again." Gao pragmatically said: "In addition, there is another crucial reason: the defeat in the invasion of Korea ”
Liu Xin was startled and hesitated: "Are you saying that because the invasion of Korea was defeated, the Toyotomi family's prestige has plummeted? But this is just a matter of appeal, and it has nothing to do with the strength of the Toyotomi family's direct control, right?"
"Of course, prestige is mainly related to appeal, but that's not what I want to talk about here. What I want to talk about is the issue of trade." Gao Pragmatic snorted: "The launch of the war of aggression against Korea cut off the maritime trade line from the Ming Dynasty to Japan. , and the failure of the war directly caused Japan to retreat from the era of competing for capital to the era of competing for land output.
Losing its advantageous position in the upper reaches of the trade line, the Toyotomi family's economic strength will naturally be greatly weakened, and the economy of the originally important trading port will be in decline. At the same time, due to the great losses suffered by the central and western daimyo of Japan in the war of aggression against Korea, the balance of power in Japan was reversed: the relative strength of the eastern daimyo who remained in Japan increased instantly, and the one who benefited the most was naturally Tokugawa Ieyasu. "
Liu Xin suddenly realized it and said: "No wonder you said before that Toyotomi Hideyoshi dreamed of moving to Ningbo to take charge after conquering the Ming Dynasty. It turns out that trade income is so important to the Toyotomi family. It's no wonder."
Gao Pragmatic was finally able to bring the topic back at this time, and chuckled: "So now if you think about it again, I just said that Toyotomi Hideyoshi is unlikely to personally attack our Japanese headquarters in Sakai Town. Isn't it a bit reason?"
"Well, yes." Liu Xin had to nod and admit that these political and economic issues were still pragmatic. However, she could also draw inferences and said: "You specifically added 'current' when you mentioned this before. This attributive, now that I think about it, you should mean...the day when our Maritime Trade Alliance took the initiative to cut off trade was the day when Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent troops to Sakai Town, right?"
"Absolutely correct." Gao Pragmatic laughed and said: "So, not only can we influence Tokugawa Ieyasu through negotiation, but we can actually influence Toyotomi Hideyoshi's actions. However, Toyotomi Hideyoshi must The contradiction between suppressing Tokugawa Ieyasu and being hostile to us is our starting point for intervening in Japan's internal structure."
Gao Pingshi's words seemed to be very clear, but there seemed to be some things he didn't understand. Liu Xin thought for a while and asked: "I can understand the intervention you mentioned. It's probably that one of them wants to fight but doesn't dare to fight openly. , a person who doesn’t want to fight but has to make a gesture of wanting to fight, and you are going to use their contradiction to control the time when they break out into a fight, right?”
"Yes." Gao Pragmatic nodded and confirmed.
"But what I don't understand is, when do you think is the most appropriate time? Now that the North Korean war has broken out, wouldn't it be good for them to fight now?" Liu Xin asked.
"Not good." Gao Pragmatic shook his head and said: "Firstly, Ming Dynasty still has several things to deal with first, and we can't mess up the order, otherwise it will overdraw the national power; secondly, Jinghua spent too much money in the past few years. , if we interrupt Japan's trade now, our resources will not be sufficient, and it will be difficult to concentrate enough efforts to obtain the greatest benefits.
Therefore, I still need them to slowly accumulate conflicts, while we quickly accumulate strength, and in the end we can easily steal heads. "
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