Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 321 The Battle of Sasha ([-])

Pan Xiucheng led his battalion commander into the already ruined Sataroku, and the Sendai feudal ashigaru who were resting on both sides of the road saw the senior officials of the Northern Navy coming, and quickly got up to salute.

At this time, the liaison officer of the Beihai Navy came over, and Pan Xiucheng asked, "How was the result of the battle?"

"Reporting to the head of the regiment, 230 prisoners were captured, and the death toll is still being counted. Some were buried in the rubble, some were buried in the sea of ​​fire, and some escaped. The Sendai Army has sent men to chase them."

Pan Xiucheng nodded, and then asked curiously, "Has anyone committed suicide by caesarean section?" He had heard from Wang Yuanfang before that Japanese warriors often committed suicide by caesarean section.

The liaison officer shook his head and said, "No."

There has been no war for more than 200 years, and the bravery of the island warriors has long since disappeared.Caesarean section?Those are things that ronin who can't get along do it to blackmail rich people; but anyone who is afraid of causing trouble will pay to send the ronin as far as he can.

These days, samurai caesarean sections are only forced to do it to themselves by the order of the feudal lord, and it is usually "fan cut".Take a fan and make gestures against your stomach, and then find someone with good knife skills to act as an intermediary.Nothing else, it hurts too much!

According to the information obtained after the interrogation of the captives by the Sendai Army, the local samurai was blown to pieces in the second round of shelling.This fellow was dressed so conspicuously that the drone could easily spot the group of guys in bright armor in the hut on the ground during reconnaissance.

As a result, after the first round of shelling, the warriors on the ground remained motionless despite their panic, so under the blow of the second round of shelling, all the warriors in the courtyard were killed.

In order to frighten the Satsuma clan, Date Village often beheaded most of the captive Satsuma warriors to show the public, and put their heads on iron spears and stood outside Zuo Duolu; it was like a hell on earth.

The Beihai Navy is very tired of this. They have surrendered, so why kill them?

That night, all the horses returned to the port and stationed.Early the next morning, Zhao Xin came to the shore. After hearing the results of the interrogation of the prisoners and learning about the situation of the stronghold in Dasumi County, he immediately ordered the coalition troops to march towards "Xiaogenzhan" immediately.

Jinglei will not wait for the troops to return at Zuo Duolu. In order to quickly take Osumi County, Zhao Xin asked Deng Fei to take Huji's fourth regiment to sail northward along the coastline to Dagenzhan.In order to save time, Zhao Xin is going to let Situan take it there alone.

According to the information obtained, there are five outer city strongholds in the entire Osumi County, Sata, One Zhan, One Zhan, Tashiro, and Niugen, and Niugen is still an enclave of Osumi County, separated by the liver county.

Zhao Xin's strategy is divided into three stages.The first stage is to take down the four counties of Osumi country; the second stage is to attack the opposite Isuku county across the sea, thus blocking the waterway of Satsuma Bay, and then capturing Sakurajima; in the third stage, it is estimated that the reinforcements from the Sendai domain are about to arrive. , and then went all the way north through Shiluo County and Sangwon County, and finally took Lingjia County.

As a result, the entire Satsuma domain was divided into two, and the troops of the Shimadzu family in Hyuga and Osumi were unable to effectively support Kagoshima Castle.As for whether the Shimadzu family will gather an army in the plains between Shira County and Kuwawon County, Zhao Xin is not worried at all, and it is better to handle things with more people.

Before the coalition forces set off, Zhao Xin invited Yida Village over.As soon as he entered the tent, Yida Village often saw Zhao Xin sitting there with a calm face, with only one guard beside him.

"Meet Zhao Wangdian."

"Please sit down. Watari, I heard that the battle went smoothly. How about your casualties?"

"Thanks to Bei Haijun's assistance, only a few people in this domain were slightly injured this time."

Zhao Xin nodded, frowned and said, "Is it necessary for your army to kill prisoners? There are more than 100 people!"

Seeing Zhao Xin's displeased expression, Yi Dacunchang quickly explained: "Zhao Wangdian, these people are all local villagers who were born and bred, and they have prestige among the common people. And they have been favored by the Shimadzu family for hundreds of years. , each family is entangled with each other, just like this clan. If these people are let go, it will be difficult for this clan to govern in the future."

Zhao Xin thought it was true that the peasants had the right to speak in the local area, and the peasants were used to obeying their orders.It would be fine if the Sendai Domain had an army of tens of thousands of people suppressing the territory, but the current coalition forces simply don't have the energy to send people to govern the area.If these people are not dealt with, they will rebel again as soon as the front foot is gone.

If the Sendai Domain can send Date Village out to lead the army, this guy will not be an idiot; although he has never been on the battlefield, he is a skilled veteran in how to govern the country.

Forget it, let them toss!Zhao Xin then asked Chen Jishan to hand Yida Village a beautiful wooden box.Date Village often opened it to see that there were two "Type 84" revolvers decorated with golden patterns.Zhao Xin said that this was a gift for the other party's self-defense; Yida Village Chang thanked him cheerfully and accepted it.

Next, Zhao Xin came up with an idea, which almost made Yida Cunchang jump up; because his proposal was to implement the annual tribute tax rate of "five public and five people" in the occupied areas.

Why did Zhao Xin do this?Here we will talk about the tax burden of the Satsuma clan, so that we can understand how miserable the lives of farmers and low-level samurai in this era are.

The so-called table height of the Satsuma clan is 77 shi, but the actual inspection area is only 72 shi. According to the calculation in the Edo period that every 9 dou and 6 liters are one shi, the annual harvest of the Satsuma clan is 69.12 shi.

Notice! 69.12 shi is still unhulled rice, and the rice yield after husking is a little over 50.00%, so the total is only 35 shi, which has shrunk by half.

According to the annual tribute of "Eight Dukes and Two People" of the Satsuma Domain, the public can get 28 shi, and the people only have 7 shi.From the 28 koku, the Shimadzu family's vassal office had to take 11.2%, or 16.8 koku; the vassals took [-]%, or [-] koku.

Seems like a lot, right?Don't worry, the vassal hall still has to tax the vassals, which is 13% of the annual harvest, so the vassals have 14.616 shi left in their hands.The Shimadzu family currently has 1.4 samurai, even if they are divided equally, each person is only 1.4 stone a year.Don't even encounter a disaster year, if there is a disaster or something, you won't be able to get [-] stones.

How can this be enough to eat!Therefore, lower-level warriors must borrow money, work, and do small businesses to support their families.

As for the Shimadzu family themselves, it costs 5000 taels of gold every year just for attendance. Thirty-three years ago, in the third year of Baoli, the shogunate asked the Shimadzu family to undertake the water conservancy project of the Kisogawa River, and they owed a debt of 33 taels of gold.

Since Shigego Shimadzu became the head of the family, he has dominated the sugar trade in Ryukyu through the invasion of Ryukyu, coupled with the trade in handicrafts such as lacquerware, which relieved the huge debt of the Satsuma clan; Said it was absolutely unacceptable.

(Do you understand how the debt of Satsuma's 500 million taels of gold came from? The Tokugawa shogunate attacked foreign daimyos very hard.)
Zhao Xin's suggestion is the same as his usual approach, that force opens the way, and economic means are the core.If the economic problem is not solved, it will be useless to win many battles.The purpose of war is often for economic interests.

Zhao Xin's purpose is the huge benefits of the Lingkari Gold Mine, and the same is true for the Sendai Fan.What kind of shit is taking revenge on the Lord, it's all about money!The Sendai Clan itself has a debt of 300 million taels of gold. If it weren't for the coveted Ryukyu trade, Ishikawa Murakami wouldn't have asked Beihai Town to send troops!
At present, Beihai Town has given the Sendai Fan 300 million ten-year interest-free loan. Taking Satsuma can at least solve half of the financial difficulties of the Sendai Fan. In addition, Zhao Xin allows the Sendai Fan to participate in the Ryukyu trade. Everyone was thinking about arm wrestling.

Is it true that the Sendai Fan is afraid of Beihai Town?Of course, I'm still a little scared.But if the big bosses of the Sendai clan have no ambitions, they can just pretend to be grandsons and let the shogunate carry them.The death of a Patriarch is nothing to worry about, there are a bunch of people waiting in line behind.

The above are the real reasons behind this "Sarca War".

After the coalition troops set off northward, the cavalry team of the Sendai Domain was responsible for opening the way; the horses these people rode were all war horses captured at Zuotalu, and there were only a dozen of them in total.Date Village often listened to Zhao Xin's suggestion. He asked many people in the cavalry and ashigaru teams who were in charge of opening the way to put a flag with "Five Lords and Five People" on their backs.

This move is of no use to the illiterate mountain people. They have to turn around and run away wherever they see the army.

But again, this trick has had a certain effect on the Zhuangtou (village chiefs) all along the road.As the grassroots managers who help the vassal hall and county officials collect taxes, this group of people can all read and write.When they saw the banner of "Five Lords and Five People" in Sendai Fan, they thought they were delusional, but they still maintained a cautious wait-and-see attitude.

In order to make it easier for the troops to advance lightly, Zhao Xin, the "mobile warehouse", led the guard platoon in the marching team of the third regiment.He smiled and greeted the soldiers around him all the way, which surprised several samurai of Sendai Fan.

One must know that in Ishijuan Port, Zhao Xin was the image of a great devil who could stop children from crying at night. Such a person didn't even ride a horse, but followed the soldiers all the way on foot. The samurai couldn't figure it out.

"My lord, who shall we fight next year?" A soldier walking on Zhao Xin's left suddenly asked Zhao Xin with a smile.

Zhao Xin scolded with a smile: "Stinky boy, you are addicted to bullying, aren't you?"

The soldier scratched his head in embarrassment, and said as he walked: "My family is from Shandong, and life there is quite hard. It's a pity to leave such a large wasteland outside the customs. I want to let those fellow villagers come to our Beihai to plant land."

Another short and stout soldier said: "That's not true! The emperor of the Tartars refused to allow the common people to plant such good land. There are six people in my family, and there were only eight parts of the land at the beginning, and I had to Zhang Ju's family in Dian village for three acres. That's not enough to eat."

As soon as these words came out, several soldiers also started talking.The platoon leader walking in front suddenly shouted: "Everyone is not allowed to speak! Watch your feet."

Zhao Xin thought for a while and said: "The Beihai Navy's fight against the world is not just to feed themselves. There are thousands of ordinary people like you in the pass. Besides, the place outside the pass is huge. In order to let more ordinary people come to plant The land, we not only need to hit it down, but also have to be able to hold that piece of land.”

At first, the Shandong soldier couldn't help but asked again: "My lord, what do you think we came all the way here to fight?"

Of course, Zhao Xin couldn't say that there was a golden mountain waiting for him to dig in front of him. He rolled his eyes and said to the Shandong soldier: "Many people in our army used to be farmers from this country. We fought this battle to let these Farmers have a way of life. Do you know how high the rent is here?"

The land rent in Daiqing next door is more complicated than that of the island country. The government collects money, and the landlords collect rent.Like tenants, they also need to bring their own seeds, bring their own cattle, etc. Generally, at least [-]% or [-]% of the price can be reduced.Of course, being exploited by subordinate staff when paying taxes is another matter.

After all the soldiers finished talking in a hurry, Zhao Xin said: "Here, [-]% of the rent must be paid to the government."

"My mother!" All the soldiers were taken aback, thinking that if the landlord who led the Qing Dynasty dared to charge such a heavy rent, he would have killed his mother long ago.

Only to hear Zhao Xin say again: "If you can't survive in your hometown, you can still come out to escape the famine. There are people giving porridge along the road. But the farmers here can't even escape, they can only cook. The rice they grow themselves can't eat for a year. A few mouthfuls."

No one in the team spoke anymore.

The people at the bottom of the East Asian countries do not have nationalist sentiments these days, and the pain of the peasants is empathetic.The soldiers who heard what Zhao Xin said in the marching team were all gritted their teeth secretly, they must deal with this Satsuma clan severely, so that the poor must be able to breathe a sigh of relief to live!
From Zuo Duolu to Xiaogenzhan, there is only one winding path through the mountains and forests. The team of thousands of people was pulled out for several miles. After walking for three days on the mountain road of tens of miles, the vanguard arrived at the periphery of Xiaogenzhan.

Xiaogenzhan’s stronghold is still backed by mountains and facing water, because the land of the land here is close to the Hamababa on the north bank of the Xiongchuan River, so it is also called "Ham no Yaya".

When the vanguard of the Sendai Clan appeared on the other side of the Xiongchuan River, the feudal lords of One Zhannai immediately began to prepare for the battle. While driving the ferry to the pier on the north bank, they moved the elderly, women and children to the Suwa Shrine at the foot of the mountain to the east. .

Relying on the cannons of the Northern Navy, the Sendai warriors on horseback swaggered on the west bank of the Xiongchuan River. When the Ashigaru team arrived, they began to cut trees and prepare to build a pontoon bridge.

At dusk, the Northern Navy and the Sendai Army camped at the foot of the mountain west of Xiongchuan.The Sendai army had been chopping wood for a long time, and felt that there was support from the Beihai Navy, so they just surrounded a small camp with the felled wooden stakes.However, the Beihai Navy is still building camp fortifications in a well-behaved manner and clearing the shooting area.At the same time, more than a dozen bonfires were lit on the bank of Xiongchuan as a warning.

At nightfall, several small boats carrying Xiao Genzhan's warriors quietly crossed the river, preparing to launch a night attack on the Beihai Navy.Unexpectedly, as soon as their boat reached the center of the river, it was violently fired by several machine guns from the North Navy.A dozen or so armored warriors and ashigaru had nowhere to hide, and they fell into the water before they could even shoot their arrows.The attackers on the other boats threw a few arrows towards the opposite bank hopelessly, and then fled back to Xiaogenzhan in the dark night.

At dawn the next day, the Sendai Army continued to build the pontoon bridge, while the Beihai Navy prepared to launch shelling according to established procedures.That is to say, Zhao Xin followed, otherwise it would be really difficult to travel with a large number of shells.

At 11 o'clock in the morning, the artillery company determined the azimuth and coordinates, and [-] mortars directed another bombardment at the Satsuma samurai and Hamanoyaya lined up in front of the Wakamiya Shrine on the opposite bank.Samurai Samurai and Ding Zhuang, who were preparing to fight, were completely stunned, looking at the scene in front of them, completely at a loss as to what to do.

When the Sendai Army built the pontoon bridge and the Ashgaru Team, Iron Artillery Team, and Archer Team rushed to the opposite bank, the only thing waiting for the Satsuma warriors was massacre.

"Aim~~shoot!"

"Bang Bang Bang!!!"

"Raise the bow~~ shoot!"

White smoke filled the front of the Wakamiya Shrine. Dozens of Satsuma warriors who knew they could not escape ran into the Iron Cannon Team of the Sendai Domain. They shouted and charged at the Iron Cannon Team with guns. Iron bullets and rain of arrows.

The Hama House has been completely blown up, and the collapsed stone walls and exposed limbs under the bricks and tiles show that many warriors gathered here before, and they died without even seeing the enemy's face.

The surviving horses galloped and neighed in terror, while more than a dozen Ashgaru from the Sendai clan rushed over to lead the horses without hesitation.This is a trophy, whoever grabs it belongs to him!

When several samurai leaders of the Sendai Domain led their men all the way to the Suwa Shrine on the east bank of the Xiongchuan River, they were faced with a yard full of women, children and old people.Perhaps the battle was fought so easily and smoothly. The samurai leaders at the head did not let their men kill. They just asked the old man and the woman to lay down their weapons. After searching again, they drove these people back to Xiaogenzhan Town.

The women were crying and looking for their relatives in the rubble, holding the dead bodies and crying loudly, while a group of Sendai Fan soldiers stood on the streets and watched silently.
(End of this chapter)