Kangxi, your Qing Dynasty is dead

Chapter 397 Is it time to carve up Japan? (Please vote for me, please subscribe)
Those who were beaten away by cavity bullets fired by the matchlock guns of the new Korean army that landed at Kuhara Beach in Hakata Bay were all the feudal soldiers of the Chizen Fukuoka Domain.The Fukuoka Domain is a large domain. If you include the two affiliated clans, the Akizuki Domain and the Torenji Domain, they have a total taxable income of more than 50 koku, occupying the entire Chikuzen Kingdom.

According to the standard of 160 stone to support 400-[-] standing troops during the Warring States Period, the three vassals of Fukuoka, Akizuki, and Torenji could support a maximum of [-] troops, and the lower limit should be [-] samurai troops.But isn’t this the Edo period of Taipei Island under Heaven?Unless they had no choice (there were too many retainers left over from the Warring States Period), who would be willing to raise so many soldiers?Don’t you have to spend money to raise soldiers?However, the income of each vassal was only a little, and they spent a lot of money to raise troops. How could the lords and high-ranking samurai be so extravagant and wasteful?

Besides, the Tokugawa Shogunate has been working hard over the past 70 years to weaken the financial and military strength of the feudal lords. Not only has it closed the country to prevent others from going abroad to plunder, but it has also created a system of explanation to allow the lords or heirs of each vassal to be in the country. There was a back and forth between the territory and Edo.Be it the lord of the feudal lord or the heir, don’t they all have to maintain their dignity?You can't just go on a long journey with just three or five followers, right?How unjust would it be to meet a rogue who is full of anger, and he might be killed if he disagrees with you?Therefore, the lords and heirs of each vassal always had to bring large groups of guards and servants to wander back and forth across the Japanese land. Of course, this cost was indispensable.

In addition, the feudal lord and heirs had to take turns to live in Edo, and the Edo side had to buy another mansion, and a team had to be raised in the Edo mansion, all of which cost a lot of money!

Not to mention that in the early days of the Tokugawa shogunate, they particularly liked to carry out large-scale projects. Instead of spending their own money to carry out the projects, they "generally invited" the feudal lords below to work as "domain laborers".In short, the financial situation of all the vassals in the Tokugawa world is not ideal, especially for those external daimyo and those "new generations" who are not very close to the Tokugawa family (Sekigahara's joining the clan can be counted as a generation), personally Everyone was brought to the brink of bankruptcy by the shogunate, so how could they still have the energy to build a powerful vassal army?
The Fukuoka Kuroda family belongs to the "New Generation", because they are the descendants of Kuroda Kanbei, and they dare not build a strong army in the Tokugawa world!Therefore, before the new leader Tokugawa Mitsukuni issued martial law in Kyushu in the name of the general, the Kuroda family had only three to four thousand standing feudal soldiers, of which two to three hundred were stationed at the Edo feudal residence, and four to five hundred had to serve as feudal lords. Or the heir's bodyguard when he goes on a long trip (for a pilgrimage), and there are hundreds of people who have to be stationed in Nagasaki regularly, and take turns serving as the bodyguard of Nagasaki with the Saga Domain next door.There are only more than 2000 people who can actually serve in the Fukuoka Domain.

Even the armament of these more than 2000 people is far behind the army that followed Kuroda Kanbei in all directions!First of all, the armaments were not good enough. It goes without saying that the Kuroda family's armaments at the end of the Warring States Period were musketeers accounting for [-] to [-]%, as well as many elite horseback samurai.However, in the Edo period, the Tokugawa family reduced the proportion of musketeers to [-]% in order to limit the armaments of the feudal lords.Moreover, the number of mounted warriors in the Kuroda family has also dropped significantly - how expensive is it to raise horses!How can the lower-middle-class samurai afford it?As for the senior samurai, they have no plans to go to the battlefield!

Secondly, the training level of the Kuroda Army is no longer good.They are usually responsible for putting on a show. They only need to look majestic when escorting the boss and heir to and from Edo and Fukuoka. They don't need any real skills at all and no well-fed ronin rushes to rob and kill the lord or heir of the 50 koku castle in front of the building!

Of course, there were still many samurai warriors in the Edo period who were good at martial arts.However, the martial arts of the Edo period are different from the martial arts of the Warring States period. The martial arts of the Edo period are fighting martial arts, while the martial arts of the Warring States period are battle formation techniques that do not emphasize martial ethics.

Therefore, although many warriors of the Kuroda family are good at wielding swords, they are not enough when they encounter the Korean heavenly soldiers trained by "Yang Datou".

The battle on the beach quickly turned into a one-sided massacre!

At this time, Mitsuyuki Kuroda, the head of the Kuroda family, was eating and waiting to die in the Edo domain's mansion. The person in charge of the Fukuoka domain was the one who won the "Second Kuroda Uprising" more than a year ago, replacing the rough and unrestrained Tsunamasa Kuroda, whose brother Tsunayuki Kuroda became the heir.

This Kuroda Tsunamasa is a typical "Taiping daimyo" who follows the rules, is cautious, and a bit stuck in the rules, not knowing and not daring to change.In addition, Tsunayuki Kuroda, who was defeated by him, still had many followers in the feudal clan, all of whom were waiting with wide-eyed eyes for him to make mistakes so as to bring him down.

Therefore, when he was awakened by the gunshots from Hakata Beach, he immediately followed the order given by his father, Mitsuyuki Kuroda, who was far away in Edo—to wipe out all the Korean troops who dared to invade Hakata Beach, and An order was issued for the entire army to attack!
As a result, more than 1000 samurai who could have been used to defend Fukuoka Castle followed the young master of the Kuroda family to fight with as many as [-] Koreans in the morning.

These warriors of the Fukuoka Domain all wore ancestral armor, carried katana swords and bows, and carried spears and muskets. Among them, there were only a pitiful 150 matchlocks and no artillery.Although there are dozens of horse-riding "Mothers" warriors following the young master of the Kuroda family, these warriors are not good at riding and shooting, and they are not very good at charging with guns. They just look very eye-catching.

Facing these Fukuoka samurai were two battalions of the Korean New Army commanded by Fucha Sabusu, a veteran of Manchuria with a yellow flag, and more than 2000 North Korean oarsmen and rattan soldiers commanded by Shi Lang.

Sabusu placed two thousand rattan soldiers on the left wing, and two battalions of the Korean New Army were deployed in the center and right wing. Among them, he personally led the New Army on the right. Before the Kuroda family's samurai completed the formation, he first led the right wing to attack The Japanese army advanced from the left, followed by the center, and finally the left wing commanded by Shi Lang advanced - another classic diagonal tactic.

But Kuroda Tsunamasa saw that the Koreans were relatively weak on the left - he could see it at a glance, and he didn't even know to doubt it!So he ordered the entire army to push forward, and at the same time he led dozens of horse-riding women's clothing to attack the sword and shield soldiers commanded by Shi Lang.

But he never expected that Shi Lang himself also brought some Fujian soldiers who were good at using muskets. Although the number was not large, they were all equipped with flintlock rifles and Mini bullets!Seeing the Kuroda family's glamorous women's clothing running towards them on horseback, Shi Lang's musketeers immediately rushed out of the slowly advancing sword formation, aiming their flintlocks at the Japanese who were carrying a heavy burden. The cavalry outputs for a while!
As a result, everyone in Kuroda Tsunamasa's position was hit by bullets fired from more than a hundred steps, screaming and falling off their horses. In the blink of an eye, one third of their power was lost!

This lethality is beyond Kuroda Tsunamasa's knowledge!

How could a musket shoot so far?And it’s so accurate?It’s different from the military strategy secrets left by our ancestors!

The other women who were not hit by the bullets also panicked. These people were all the children of high-ranking samurai of Fukuoka Domain, commonly known as lord brothers. They all cherished their lives very much. They were carrying samurai swords wherever they saw them, but they were not seen at all. Those who dare to cut down other samurai or ronin have no skills, and secondly, they have the control of "noisy success or failure" - no matter who is right, it is wrong for samurai to cut each other, and everyone must be punished, ranging from deprivation of family income to serious Apologize by committing seppuku!

So today they went out into battle with the young master, and this was the first time they were "fighting for life and death"!

The reason why they dared to go into battle and charge was because they heard the old people at home saying how weak the Korean soldiers were. One samurai could defeat ten Korean soldiers. Young Master Kuroda led more than 1000 samurai, which is equivalent to ten thousand Korean soldiers. , and there are only [-] Korean soldiers on the opposite side, so the "advantage lies in the dark"!

But it really doesn’t seem right to fight!

Why are the North Koreans arrayed so fast?Why is their formation so neat?How did their muskets shoot so far and accurately? How did they practice it?

A group of Japanese cavalry were so frightened on the battlefield that they became a living target!They are stupid, but the Fujian soldiers opposite Shi Lang are not stupid, they are all walking around!Hurry up and load the bullets before firing another wave!

Where can I find such meritorious service?

As the messy gunshots rang out again, another group of Japanese cavalrymen carrying "bundles" were knocked down.

But Kuroda Tsunamasa is still fine - he doesn't carry any "baggage"!

Shi Lang's soldiers are all veteran pirates, and they habitually regard enemies carrying "baggage" as their priority targets!
There must be a lot of things in such a big baggage, right?
But Kuroda Tsunamasa was still terrified by the scene in front of him and the screams of his subordinates!

Isn't this Korean soldier too powerful?Are there vulnerable soldiers there?They are simply heavenly soldiers!As the general of the entire army, I can't "wander" in front of the heavenly soldiers, I have to run away quickly!

Thinking of this, Kuroda Tsunamasa turned his horse around and ran away without saying a word!
As soon as he fled, the North Koreans on the opposite side didn't feel anything - no one knew that he was a young master, or else the first wave of random shooting just killed him!But the samurai of Fukuoka Domain were ashamed of him.The dignified young lord of the Fukuoka Clan, the descendants of Kuroda Kanbei and Kuroda Nagamasa, the famous general of the Warring States period, is this capable?A reckless attack, taking two sparse waves of musket fire from the enemy a hundred steps away, and then running away?
Isn't this too weak?

And this group of Japanese samurai who looked down on their young master soon learned that they themselves, like their young master, were extremely weak weaklings!
It was the samurai on the left wing of the Kuroda Army who first realized that they were weak, because they were "shot" by the enemy's right wing, that is, a battalion of Korean soldiers commanded by Sabusu himself!
Although these North Koreans are using North Korea's own matchlock guns, which cannot form very dense firepower, the quality of these matchlock guns is still excellent, and they are filled with hollow bullets that can greatly improve the air tightness of the muskets.This kind of bullet, if used by a well-trained musketeer, has a certain hit accuracy at a distance of a hundred steps.Sabusu, on the other hand, waited until his own musketeers were about forty steps closer to the enemy before ordering them to stop advancing and start firing in turns.

The so-called round firing means that the musketeers are arranged in several rows in front of the pike soldiers. After one row is beaten, they retreat and the second row comes on top to fight again.

Seeing that the Koreans on the other side were about to fire guns, and there were a lot of muskets, these Japanese were already a little panicked.A family boss who was in charge of commanding the left wing of the Kuroda Army shouted an order to organize dozens of muskets under his command to shoot at them!

This is a numerical disadvantage of one to ten!

Moreover, Japanese shotguns using ordinary round bullets have little accuracy at this distance.As the opponent's muskets fired round after round, blood splashed continuously in the Kuroda army, and screams could be heard from heaven to earth.

Seeing that his own firepower could not compare with the opponent's, the man in charge of the command had no choice but to let the spearmen charge and try to defeat the Koreans with melee combat.

But what greeted some Japanese pikemen was round after round of musket fire!

Bullets kept flying, and when they almost missed, all kinds of shouts were mixed together.

At this moment, a burst of rapid drumbeats sounded, followed by shouts like a roaring mountain and a tsunami, and the Korean spearmen launched an assault!
How could the Kuroda family's pikemen, who had already suffered heavy losses from the Korean muskets, stop the Koreans' dense gun array?These little Japanese samurai are not as big as their opponents, their spears are not as long as other people's spears, and their number is only a fraction of others. Moreover, after witnessing the general's defeat and being harvested by the enemy's muskets for several rounds, they are about to collapsed.

The North Koreans' spear assault was actually the final blow to destroy the Kuroda Army's left wing!
The collapse of the Kuroda Army's left wing was also the beginning of the collapse of their entire army, because their center was immediately exposed to the enemy's predicament. They did not last long before they were defeated by the two new battalions of the Korean New Army.

And when the center of Kuroda's army collapsed, their right wing and the North Korean army's left wing hadn't even begun to contact. What was waiting for them was completely crushed!

Yang Qilong and Yin Yin also witnessed the beach battle with binoculars on an old lock ship in Hakata Bay.

They originally thought that the Japanese samurai at the Wakan in Choryangpo should be relatively weak because they were just the guards of the store, while the Kuroda family in Fukuoka, which is said to be a famous family of 50 koku, should be relatively powerful.

I didn’t expect that the performance at Hakata Beach was not as good as the Japanese at Choryangpo Japanese Museum.
Yang Qilong put down the telescope, turned to look at the dumbfounded Yin Yin, and asked: "Inspector Yin, what do you think of the combat effectiveness of Japanese samurai?"

Yin Yin was asked by him and blurted out: "Is this really a Japanese pirate? Is it really a Japanese pirate who killed eight Koreans and left the fields full of corpses?"

Yang Qilong smiled: "It seems that Japanese pirates are nothing more than that." He raised his finger and pointed to Fukuoka Castle not far from the beach, "Inspector Yin, when you take down that castle, you will be stationed there, how about being an inspector of Kyushu? "

"Am I a member of the Kyushu Medical Examiner?" Yin Yin said as if in a dream, "I, can I really do it?"

"Okay!" Yang Qilong smiled, "You have seen the strength of the Japanese pirates. They are no match for the New Army. Now there are seven or eight battalions of the New Army being trained in North Korea. All of them can be transferred to Kyushu, plus the Beiyang Navy. The Crab Fleet is enough to capture all the cities and islands along the northern coast of Kyushu! With these cities and islands as strongholds, Yin Ticha allows you to advance to capture Kyushu and retreat to protect North Korea. You are already invincible. "

"But the Japanese pirates are a big country with a population of 2000 million!" Yin Kai was still a little scared.

After all, this Japanese pirate has such a bad reputation!

Yang Qilong snorted: "So what if there are too many people? No matter how many people there are, self-determination in China will be a dead end. They expect the foreign barbarians to come to help, but they don't know that the foreign barbarians are not of our race and their hearts must be different. They cannot help the Japanese pirates in vain. .Besides, our country is not just Korea, but also the Qing Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, Annan, Guangnan, and Ryukyu.

Moreover, not all the Western Barbarians are friends with the Japanese pirates. The Western Barbarian countries have been attacking each other, just like the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in ancient China!How many fathers can the Japanese pirates recognize?And 'between father and father' is not of one mind!You see, as long as the Japanese pirates' paper tigers are exposed, there will be many countries that want to get a share of the pie! "

"Really? But what's so good about Japan that everyone wants a piece of?"

Yang Qilong snorted and laughed: "Inspector Yin Ti, you probably don't know that before the Westerners discovered the New World, Japan was the country of gold in their legends!"

Japan is actually not an island country with poor resources. It is an island country rich in metal resources. It is rich in gold, silver, and brass, but it has relatively few ferrous metals and coal minerals, and there is no oil.

In the era of industrialization, Japan's resources were insufficient, but Japan's transportation was very convenient, there were natural ports everywhere, and its population was large enough, so the conditions were not bad.

Before the industrialization era, Japan was an "East Asian money printing machine". Now it looks so weak, it makes people look forward to it just thinking about it!

(End of this chapter)