I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 677 Sumitomo

The Osaka Castle built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi on the original site of Honganji Temple was destroyed in the Battle of Osaka.

The current castle was rebuilt by the Tokugawa shogunate. It is definitely not as strong as the original castle. In addition, in order to weaken the lords of the sects, the Tokugawa shogunate strictly limited the number of castles built by each lord.

The Osaka Castle is just a piece of shit, and the shogunate garrison inside it is... almost a thousand people.

After all the Ming troops landed at Osaka Castle, the shogunate garrison in Osaka responded, and they immediately returned to the castle to defend it.

Then, there was no more.

A total of just over a thousand troops were gathered to defend the fragile Osaka Castle with hammers!
As for the ronin samurai who were sent to the castle town, they did not dare to do so. In the Battle of Kagoshima last year, Shimazu Yoshiki committed seppuku because the ronin in the castle rebelled, which is a lesson for all Japanese nobles.

The shogunate's army did not trust the ronin, and those ronin also resented the shogunate. Don't ask why, these ronin lived in Osaka all day long.

Apart from the ancestral sword and surname, he has no property income, let alone a stable job. It is a luxury to have food every day.

When the Ming army began to land on a large scale, countless ronin who were hanging out in the castle towns came to seek refuge, just for a living.

Wang Zongtan had never been to Japan. When he saw the robbers who came to seek refuge, he immediately sneered: "Haha! Japan is really a small country. Tomorrow, the dynasty has sent troops here. Not only are they not hostile to the enemy, but they are also fighting for it one by one. Come and betray your country.”

Ding Qingwen, a merchant accompanying the army, said: "What the general doesn't know is that these are Japanese ronin. In our words, they are like those poor gentry whose family background is backward. Moreover, their family fortune is often downgraded because of the Edo shogunate. So there is no sense of belonging to the shogunate. Anyone who can feed them or hire them can make them die."

Wang Zongtan nodded: "Ronin, there was a imperial military ship that transported some immigrants to Heilongjiang. I heard they were some kind of ronin from Japan?"

Wang Zongtan did not drive them away, but took advantage of the situation and ordered the selection of strong men as auxiliary soldiers (cannon fodder), and the rest were scattered and used as guides for civilians.

Anyway, these people only need food rations, no military salary, and no pension when they die, so it is most appropriate to use them for battle.

The Ming army landed in Osaka port in large numbers. They did not attack Osaka Castle directly, but instead prioritized occupying the industrial and commercial district of the castle town.

The Japanese businessmen here were instantly frightened beyond recognition, fearing that the Ming army would rob and kill everywhere. After all, the Japanese businessmen were lowly. Although they were rich, they were often ripped off by daimyo lords, and even killed directly with knives.

Today's General Yoshimune has even introduced policies to encourage samurai groups to rely on merchants.

But soon, the Japanese businessmen in Osaka became confused. These Ming troops from China did not rob or kill at all. They just blocked all the streets and seemed to be in order to surround the partition castle.

The only ones that were really "robbed" were the granary rice stores in Osaka. The term robbery is not appropriate, because except for the granary, which was annexed by the Ming army, the rice stores sold by other merchants were only temporarily confiscated and given money according to the market price.

Although the Osaka rice merchants could have hoarded their goods and took the opportunity to ask for higher prices, these Japanese merchants were still moved. China was worthy of being a heavenly dynasty, and even the heavenly soldiers followed the etiquette of the country.

When the Ming army quickly took control of the industrial and commercial district of Osaka Castle Town, the Sumitomo family living in Osaka finally got the news.

The current head of the Sumitomo family is called Sumitomo Tomoyoshi. He is almost 60 years old this year, and power is gradually being transferred to his heirs.

Speaking of the Sumitomo family in Osaka, they are almost legendary. A legend in every sense of the word. They first contributed the brand-new "Nanban blowing" copper smelting technology, and then quickly became rich and powerful in Osaka Castle, almost controlling Japan's copper export trade. .

Later, the head of the family, Sumitomo Tomoyoshi, because his father, Sumitomo Tomoyoshi, was timid and not responsible enough. After several failures in running copper mines, he hurriedly promoted the 16-year-old Sumitomo Tomoyoshi to the top and then ran away.

Because he was only 16 years old, Sumitomo Tomoyoshi also knew that he knew nothing, so he simply left the job and did not interfere with the family's development of copper mines.

Then, they discovered Japan's largest copper mine, Besshi Copper Mountain, in Ehime Prefecture.

This copper mountain has been mined for 200 years and has not been completely mined. Moreover, the copper smelting output at its peak directly doubled the output of copper mines in Japan.

It was also with the support of such a super copper mountain that the Sumitomo family was able to soar into the sky (they were the Sumitomo Zaibatsu in later generations).

"You said you are from the Sumitomo family? What is the Sumitomo family? The lords of this city?" Wang Zongtan asked, looking at the messenger in front of him.

He did not understand Japanese, but there was an interpreter accompanying the army who acted as a translator. The messenger replied: "The Sumitomo family is not the lord of Osaka. Osaka Castle is under the direct jurisdiction of the shogunate, so there is no lord. The Sumitomo family was appointed by the shogunate to establish the copper blowing factory in Osaka, manage the national copper mine refining, and coordinate the Osaka-Nagasaki copper trade. . One-third of the copper and silver going to China comes from Sumitomo.”

Wang Zongtan's eyes lit up: "Are you the coin supervisor of this small country in Japan?"

The messenger hesitated for a moment: "Not entirely, we are still businessmen, we are just cooperating with the shogunate..."

Wang Zongtan waved his hands: "Then go down first! Since you have so much copper and silver, I will try not to hurt you, and you'd better not run around when we attack the city. Wait until Edo is defeated. Someone go talk to your family master in person.”

"Sir General, there is no hostility between Japan and the Ming Dynasty, so why should we use our weapons lightly? The Sumitomo family is willing to be envoys to resolve the war between the two countries..."

As soon as the messenger finished speaking, he was taken down by a group of soldiers and put under house arrest.

The next day, the siege began.

Sumitomo Tomoyoshi did not see the messenger return, so he sent someone to check the situation.

Immediately afterwards, I saw countless huge spheres flying into the sky, and there were people in the hanging baskets below the spheres. Because they were not too far away, I could see the opponent waving brightly colored... flags?
"Boom boom boom!"

The flag was waved, the gunner adjusted the muzzle distance and fired directly.

Osaka Castle is too easy to fight. The terrain is flat and the castle is not that tall and strong. It is not even as strong as the defense of a Chinese county.

The Ming army's heavy artillery fired volleys at the city wall, without even using ammunition. The shogunate troops could no longer be seen on the Osaka city wall.

The hot air balloon lookout observed the situation and immediately waved a flag, and the Ming army took advantage of the situation to launch an siege.

Without any effort and without even a serious battle, the outer city of Osaka was captured.

More than a thousand shogunate troops retreated to the inner city to defend, but it was completely useless. The defense here was not as good as the outer city. The Ming army actually used artillery shells to blast a gap in the city wall.

Such a big gap was opened in the city wall, and the samurai of the shogunate were so frightened that they couldn't care less about the samurai's spirit of death.

The Ming army launched a general offensive, and the samurai garrisoned in Osaka retreated again and again. The ronin samurai who were accepted by the Ming army, in order to show their value, charged forward one after another and fought extremely bravely.

There were only more than a hundred ronin, but they chased more than a thousand serious shogunate samurai. They abandoned their helmets and armor one by one. The Ming army behind them took the opportunity to block all the passages in the city.

Many Osaka businessmen, including the Sumitomo family, believe that the city of Osaka is so strong that even if it cannot survive a ten-year war in the face of the powerful Chinese army, it can at least survive a few months.

But now the city was destroyed in one day, and more than a thousand "elite soldiers" of the shogunate samurai were unable to fight back.

"The Chinese army is outmatched. I'm afraid there might be trouble over there at Edo Castle!"

Sumitomo Tomoyoshi sighed. From the time he succeeded as the head of the family until now, he has tried his best to prevent the family from worrying too much about politics, lest one wrong step would put the family in catastrophe.

It was also thanks to his prudence that the Sumitomo family developed rapidly, and he was later given the title of "Head of the Family Restoration".

Although from a practical perspective, this "ZTE" basically has nothing to do with him.

It has nothing to do with "Tongzhi ZTE" or Tongzhi who committed prostitution (dog head protection/doge).

In this battle, Sumitomo Tomoyoshi originally planned to ease and mediate the Sino-Japanese war for the benefit of the family, but now it seems that it is no longer necessary.

The Edo shogunate could not resist the Chinese emperor, so it could only take the opportunity to please the Chinese army, so as to preserve as much of the Sumitomo family's strength as possible after the war.

　Osaka should be called Osaka in this era. Because of the Meiji Restoration, Osaka means "rebel", so it was nicknamed Osaka.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)