Smuggling Daming

In the spring of the tenth year of Zhengde, the fleet led by Shenzhou left Edo Bay, which had just been occupied for a long time, leaving behind Li Anliang to lead [-] Korean troops and [-] Japanese servants to guard Edo. As for where did Shenzhou's fleet go? , but no one knew, until a month later, a Ming fleet suddenly appeared at the western end of Honshu Island, which is the area controlled by Yoshiko Ouchi.

Iwami country is one of the ancient kingdoms of the Wa Kingdom, belonging to the mountains, also known as Shizhou, probably the west of Shimane County in the future, famous for producing seafood, honey and ginseng, in fact, the most famous silver mine here, The largest Iwami Silver Mine in the Wa Kingdom is located here, but in the early Warring States period, the silver mines in Iwami Kingdom had not been mined on a large scale, but there were some sporadic small silver mines, so Iwami Kingdom has not attracted the surrounding big names for the time being. attention.

Now there are two main clans in Iwami, Masuda and Yoshin. These two clans are attached to Yoshiko Ouchi. It is one of the overlords at the western end of Kyushu. It was also stationed in Kyoto before, and jointly controlled the power of the shogunate with Hosokawa. It was only later that Ashikaga Yoshiki and Hosokawa Takakuni fought, and the treacherous Ouchi Yoshiko chose not to help each other and ran away He went back to his old nest and sat on the mountain to watch the tigers fight, and he was going to wait until the Ashikaga clan and the Hosokawa clan were both injured in the fight, and then he would come out to clean up the mess.

As the saying goes, "Sitting at home behind closed doors, disasters come from heaven", Ouchi Yoshihing stayed at home peacefully, but he didn't expect that he would not provoke others, but others ran to his door to provoke him.In the early morning of this day, the fleet led by Shenzhou suddenly appeared in the Omori area in the east of Iwami, which is within the sphere of influence of the Masuda clan.Raided Yitian City with lightning speed.In one fell swoop, the Masuda clan who had ruled the area for many years was wiped out.And began to rebuild Yitian City, it seems that they want to rule for a long time.

Regarding the sudden attack by the Ming army, Ouchi Yoshihing went from shock at the beginning to anger later on. He didn't think it was an independent action by the Ming army. After all, it was impossible for Daming to send troops against him for no reason.In addition, he also knew for a long time that Ashikaga Yoshiki was backed by Daming, and he and Hosokawa Takakuni suppressed Ashikaga Yoshiki before, so this time Daming's army suddenly attacked his own territory.There must be an inseparable relationship with Ashikaga Yoshiki, and it may even be a deal between Ashikaga Yoshiki and Daming, in order to weaken his own strength with the help of Daming.

Ouchi Yoshiko is worthy of being a hero in the early Warring States period. His guess is actually very close to reality. Before that, Ashikaga Kazuki went to Zhou Zhong to argue about Daming's unauthorized occupation of Edo Bay. As a result, the two parties finally reached an understanding. The material side acquiesces to the actual occupation of Edo Bay by Ming Dynasty, and Zhou Zhong provides the weapons and food that Ashikaga Yoshiki needs most.

In addition to the above conditions, Zhou Zhong also reached an additional deal with Ashikaga Yoshiki, that is, Daming sent troops to attack Ouchi Yoshiko's territory.Help Ashikaga Yoshiki to weaken or even eliminate the fisherman Ouchi Yoshiko, and Ashikaga Yoshiki must agree to Daming's actual occupation of Iwami Country.And Zhou Chong also promised Ashikaga Yoshiki on behalf of Daming that, except for Iwami and Edo Bay, Daming would never invade any piece of Wa country's land again.

Both Ashikaga Yoshiki and Ashikaga Kazuki couldn't figure out why Zhou Zhong was interested in the Iwami country. After all, in their view, Iwami country is rich in honey and ginseng, and only the paper industry is relatively developed. But this Development is only relative, and compared with Daming's paper industry, it is still far behind, so Shi Jianguo has no benefit at all for Zhou Zhong.

Ashikaga Yoshiki and Ashikaga Kakki are smart people. They know that Zhou Zhong will definitely not want Iwami Kuni for no reason. There must be some benefits that they cannot see. If it is normal, they will not He agreed to cede his country's territory to outsiders, but now Ashikaga Yoshiki is in the tug-of-war with the Hosokawa clan, and if he is not careful, he will fall into the abyss of eternal doom.

It is precisely because of the grim situation facing the Ashikaga family that they have no energy to consider the deep meaning of Zhou Zhong's occupation of Ishimi country, not to mention that Ishimi country is not under their rule at all, but is in a situation where they want to reap the benefits of a fisherman. In the hands of Ouchi Yoshiko, if Zhou Zhong wanted Ishi Jiankuni, he would definitely conflict with Ouchi Yoshiko. This is exactly what Ashikaga Yoshiki wanted to see, not to mention that Zhou Zhong also agreed to fund them with an additional batch of weapons And food, which gave Ashikaga Yoshiki no reason to refuse.

It's a pity that what Ashikaga Yoshiki doesn't know is how much impact his decision will have on the Wa country. Among them, Edo Bay is the most important port of the Wa country, and it bears the important task of communicating Asia and America. The mine is the most important mine in the country of Wa. During the period when the silver output was the highest, it even reached one-third of the silver output in the world. However, the Ming Dynasty used silver as its currency. These silvers will have an irresistible impact on the economy of the Ming Dynasty. Estimated driving force.

When the fleet led by Shenzhou wiped out the Masuda Clan and began to consolidate the defense of Masuda City, the furious Ouchi Yoshinaka knew that Daming's army was not easy to mess with, but as the overlord of the western part of Honshu Island, he naturally couldn't just sit back and watch. If their territory is invaded by others, otherwise it will deal a serious blow to their Ouchi clan's reputation.

So under such circumstances, Ouchi Yoshiko had no choice but to organize an army, taking the Yoshimi clan, another clan in the west of Iwami Kingdom, as the vanguard, and led an army of 2 people to attack Masuda City occupied by Daming.

However, just as Ouchi Yoshiko's army had just left the Zhoufang area, Shenzhou, who was supposed to guard Masuda Castle, suddenly appeared with his fleet in the Shimonoseki Strait behind Ouchi Yoshiko, and then bombarded Ouchi's foundation, Ouchi Castle, At the same time, some important cities and ports along the coast were also destroyed by Shenzhou's artillery fire. Although Ouchi's men also had a strong navy, they were wiped out by Shenzhou's fleet as soon as they went out, and they did not fight back at all. Power.

After the Ouchi clan's navy was wiped out, the fleet led by Shenzhou did not leave, but completely blocked the Shimonoseki Strait. This is the main communication route between Kyushu Island and Honshu Island, and has always been a battleground for military strategists. , and the Ouchi clan's rule spans Honshu Island and Kyushu Island, such as Buzen and Chikuzen on Kyushu Island, which belong to the Ouchi clan's territory.

The Japanese army and Xu can compete with the Ming army on land, but at sea, it is dominated by the Ming navy. After all, no matter whether it is warships or weapons and equipment, the Japanese navy cannot compete with Zhou Zhong's men. Therefore, after knowing that the Ming Fleet appeared in the Xiaguan Strait, Ouchi Yoshiko immediately knew that something was wrong.

The Xiatou Strait was cut off by Shenzhou's fleet, which is equivalent to dividing the Ouchi clan's territory into two. It may be fine in a short period of time, but if it takes a long time, chaos will definitely arise.Yoshiko Ouchi also knows this very well, but Daming's fleet is too tyrannical. Unless he fills up the entire Xiaguan Strait, it is impossible to defeat the opponent at sea.

What's even worse is that the people of Daming don't seem to care about Yitian City. Anyway, they can take down the first time, and they can take down the second time. As long as the Ming's fleet is still there, they can land from any place in Wa Kingdom Therefore, it is impossible for Ouchi Yoshihing to deploy military defenses on the coast of the territory.

It was also under such circumstances that Ouchi Yoshiko had no choice but to send someone to ask Shenzhou for peace in a small boat. After all, he also saw that this Ming fleet did not really want to destroy him, but He wanted to use this strategy of besieging Wei and saving Zhao to force himself to withdraw the army he sent to attack Yitian City.

Shen Zhou had also been waiting for Ouchi Yoshiko to send people to come to him to make peace. Don't look at them showing off their power at sea during this time, bombarding Ouchi's port city at every turn, but the supplies on their ship are not unlimited. Time has consumed a considerable amount of gunpowder and shells in Edo Castle, and now the supplies on the ship are running out. If they continue to fight like this, they can only return to Jeju Island to replenish supplies.

It is precisely because of this that when the envoy sent by Ouchi Yoshiko asked to board the ship for negotiations, Shenzhou quickly agreed, but the envoy sent by Ouchi Yoshiko could not make a big decision, so in the end Shen Zhou agreed. Zhou and Ouchi Yoshihing met and negotiated in person in the Shimonoseki Strait.

Although Shenzhou is a good general, he doesn't have much experience in negotiating such things. In contrast, that Ouchi Yoshihing is a generational hero of the Wa Kingdom. If Shenzhou negotiates with such a person normally, he will definitely be disappointed Big loss.Shenzhou was also very clear about this, so he listed his requirements at the beginning of the negotiation, and then told Ouchi Yoshinko that unless he agreed to his request, he would not withdraw from the Shimonoseki Strait.

Shenzhou's request is actually very simple, that is, to let Ouchi Yoshiko recognize Daming's rule over Ishimi Kingdom, and at the same time, Ouchi Yoshiko withdraws all his military forces in Ishimi Kingdom. Nei's forces entered the country of Shi Jian.

As for the condition proposed by Shenzhou, Yoshiko Ouchi, like Yoshiki Ashikaga, was a little confused. After all, in his opinion, Daming must have reached some agreement with Yoshiki Ashikaga, so he sent troops to attack him. But now the Ming army has shown that it is only interested in Ishi Jianguo, which is really unbelievable for Yoshin Ouchi.

Ouchi Yoshiko couldn't think of the reason. Like Ashikaga Yoshiaki, he guessed that Daming's request for Iwami must have an unknown purpose, which made him want to refuse, but he also thought of the terrifying strength of the Daming fleet. His navy has no power to fight back at all. If Daming can't get Ishijian and then blocks the Xiaguan Strait for a long time, then their Ouchi clan will not be able to contact the opposite Kyushu Island. In this way, the Ouchi clan The territory of the country is facing the danger of splitting, and this price is much more serious than losing a small Ishijian country. (To be continued..)