Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 658 Trapped in an isolated city
After the shogunate received the news of the peasant rebellion in Shimabara and Amakusa, it urgently sent Itakura Shigemasa as the special envoy of the shogunate to Kyushu Island to suppress the rebels.After Itakura Shigemasa arrived in Kyushu Island, he launched two consecutive attacks against the rebels and failed.Then the shogunate sent Nobutsuna Matsudaira to Kyushu to supervise the battle.

When Itakura Shigemashi heard the news, he felt that the shogunate did not trust him.Before Matsudaira Nobuzuna reached Kyushu, an attack was launched against the Harajo rebels.

In fact, the strength of the shogunate army was far greater than that of the rebel army at that time, and the number of people was far larger than that of the rebel army. However, most of the people who participated in the rebellion were Catholics. In a hurry, instead of capturing Hara Castle, he was hit hard in the rebel counterattack. Shigemasa Itakura's troops lost more than [-] people, and Shigemasa Itakura himself died in this battle.

After Matsudaira Nobutsuna arrived in Kyushu, he learned the lesson of Itakura Shigesho's failure, changed his tactics, surrounded but did not attack, and tried to wait for the city to run out of food, so that the rebels would automatically disintegrate.

When Nobuzuna Matsudaira besieged Hara Castle, he also asked the Dutch for help, intending to use Dutch artillery to destroy the city defenses of Hara Castle.

(Note: The Netherlands is the only western country that maintains trade relations with Japan after Japan implemented the closed-door policy. Portugal and Spain were either killed or expelled because of their missionary work in Japan. They have already cut off trade.

The reason why this happens is because of religious reasons.Portugal and Spain belong to independent countries, but the Netherlands is not. The orders of the church are not easy to use in the Netherlands, which is why many scientists who disagree with the church's doctrines live in the Netherlands.

At that time, the Netherlands was at odds with Portugal and Spain. In order to monopolize the trade of the Japanese country, the Netherlands promised the Japanese country that it would not spread Christianity in the Japanese country. However, because Portugal and Spain were independent countries, it was impossible for them to agree to stop spreading Christianity in the Japanese country.So the Portuguese and the Spaniards were expelled from the Japanese country, leaving only the Netherlands to maintain trade with the Japanese country. )
In the country of Wa, there is a trade relationship between the Dutch and the country of Japan. It is just a matter of little effort to send out some artillery to help counter the rebellion. Annihilated by Zheng Zhilong's fleet, the Dutch are so overwhelmed at this time, how can they help the Japanese country suppress the rebellion?

Without the help of the Dutch's sharp guns, the Wa Kingdom could not take down the rebels in the original city for a while only by means of siege. During this period, the shogunate tried to attack the city several times, but were repelled by the rebels.

However, the Harajo rebels were trapped in the isolated city, surrounded by the shogunate army, and there was no hope of breaking through.

Li Jing had already known about the rebellion in Shimabara Castle. Originally, Li Jing wanted to take advantage of the rebellion in the Wa Kingdom to profit from it. Unfortunately, Daming was deploying troops in Luzon at that time, and there were a lot of things going on in the country. Li Jing really didn't He was so energetic, and he really had no money to send troops, so Li Jing considered again and again, and finally gave up this opportunity.

Due to the inconvenience of communication at this time, it took at least three or four months for the intelligence personnel to go back and forth between Daming and Wa with the merchant ships. A few months ago, the intelligence personnel analyzed that the rebels might not last long.

The last time the intelligence personnel sent back the information was last month. At that time, Li Jing was dealing with Kong Yinzhi's embezzlement and disaster relief food in Shandong, but he did not see the last piece of information.

After returning to Beijing, Li Jing didn't care about the information. After all, after so long, Li Jing thought that the rebels in Yuancheng had been wiped out by the shogunate army long ago. He didn't want Ai Julia to tell him that the rebels in Yuancheng were still there. resistance.

Li Jing couldn't believe that the shogunate army hadn't taken down the original city until now. After surrounding it for so long, they still haven't taken it down. How bad is the combat effectiveness of the shogunate army!
After thinking about it, Li Jing asked, "Mr. Ai Julius, I don't know when you received this news. If it takes too long, I'm afraid the original city has already been breached, and I can't help you even if I want to."

Ai Julius hurriedly said: "This news happened last month. Someone came back from Nagasaki last month and said that the shogunate army has begun to mobilize troops again, and is preparing to take down Hara Castle in one fell swoop."

Li Jingjing nodded. From the time point of view, it should be about the same time as the time when the intelligence personnel sent the letter back last time. However, the people from the Intelligence Bureau sent the letter back quickly, but Ai Julian got the news, but he did not know how many times. Come and ask yourself.

After pondering for a while, Li Jing said: "It's been more than a month, and I don't know if it's too late. But since Mr. Ai Julius is asking, I have to help you.

But I feel that I am afraid that writing a letter to Tokugawa Iemitsu, the shogun of the Wa Kingdom, will not help. Let me not say whether the Catholics in Harajo can persist until my letter reaches Tokugawa Iemitsu, even if it can be delivered in time, Tokugawa Chuan Jiaguang will not cancel the ban on religion just because of my letter, let alone let those rebels go.

Therefore, in order to save those Catholics, force must be used.But you know that the locust plague just broke out in Ming Dynasty, and the national strength was greatly damaged. It was impossible to mobilize a large army to fight in Japan, so I could only send a small army to go there.Moreover, troops cannot be sent in the name of Ming Dynasty, but troops must be sent in the name of Catholicism. "

Ai Julius hurriedly said: "What the Prime Minister said is very true, everything will be done according to the Prime Minister's words."

Li Jing smiled and said: "Well, I will send some Portuguese soldiers to go to Japan with our army, so it looks more like it."

"Portuguese soldiers? How can the Prime Minister command Portuguese soldiers?"

Li Jing smiled and said: "Hehe, these soldiers were captured by Zheng Zhilong, and later rescued by our Daming army. During this period of time, they ate, wore, and used Daming's clothes. It's time to help Daming do something. Speaking of which, this is also doing things for their own country.”

"Oh. So that's the case." Ai Julius nodded slightly.

After a pause, Li Jing suddenly said seriously: "But I have to remind you that you don't think that those Catholics have resisted the shogunate army for several months, so that their leaders know how to lead troops to fight. I can tell you that this People are military idiots, if our people can save them, let these people obey our people, otherwise everyone will die in the end."

"Why does the Prime Minister assert that the leader of the congregation is a military idiot?" Ai Julio asked in amazement.

Li Jing smiled and said: "The leader of the sect is called Amakusa Shiro. He is 16 years old this year. His real name is Masuda Tokisada. Amakusa Tokisada.

Amakusa Tokisada accepted Catholicism since she was a child, and preached among the people that heaven and earth have the same root, that all things are one, and that there is no distinction between superiority and inferiority.

The reason why Amakusa Tokisada was able to become the leader of the rebel army is because he has the reputation of Tendo.When it comes to fighting, he doesn't know anything at all.

If you understand military affairs, you should see that the shogunate army is far superior to the rebel army. After occupying the original city, you should plunder the supplies in the city and escape into the mountains, and then rely on the geographical advantages to deal with the shogunate army, even if you cannot defeat them. You can also hide in the mountains at any time.

But this kid is sitting in the original city and wants to rely on the strong city to defend it.What did he think of the shogunate army?But it's no wonder that the original commander of the shogunate army was also an idiot, and he personally led troops to attack Jiancheng, he thought he didn't die fast enough.

In fact, if the shogunate army had sufficient supplies and food, there was no need to attack the enemy army guarding the isolated city at all. They only needed to surround the city, and when the food in the city was eaten up, the people inside would starve to death, and there was no need to do anything at all.Obviously, this method was adopted by the later commander-in-chief of the Japanese shogunate army.Otherwise, the defenders of Yuancheng could not have persisted for so long.

Just blindly besieging the city is not the best policy, because it will cost a lot. After all, so many people need to eat, the longer the siege lasts, the more food will be consumed.And it also depends on whether the food in the city is sufficient. If the food in the city is sufficient, it is not sure who can consume more.

Presumably the shogunate army just couldn't hold on anymore, so they mobilized troops from other places, preparing to launch a strong attack on the original city.

Therefore, although the leader of the shogunate army had the right strategy, he only knew how to stick to the rules and didn't know how to adapt. This person is obviously a mediocrity. "

Ai Juliu couldn't help being dumbfounded when he heard the words, he really couldn't understand why Li Jing was so clear about the affairs of the Wa Kingdom, even the leaders of the congregation and the shogunate had such a detailed grasp of the situation.

As for the leader of the Japanese shogunate army and rebel army being demoted to nothing by Li Jing, Ai Julian didn't care.

After all, Ai Julius has been in Daming for many years, and he knows the situation of Da Ming quite well. Ai Julius knows that since Li Jing came to power, Da Ming has never suffered a single defeat in foreign wars. The supreme military commander, Li Jing must have a deep knowledge of military affairs, and every battle must be inseparable from Li Jing's shadow. He said that the leaders of the two armies of the Japanese country can't fight, and he must be right.

When Ai Julius was in doubt, he heard Li Jing say: "The troops I sent to the Japanese country to save people this time are all the most elite soldiers of Ming Dynasty. It is impossible for me to entrust such elite soldiers to a military idiot to command. So, if you want to keep these people alive, you have to find a way to make them obey my command."

Ayulio pondered for a while and said: "Master Prime Minister just said that the troops were sent in the name of the church, then let your troops tell those believers that they were sent by God to save the believers. In the name of God, these people will definitely obey Commanded by your subordinates."

"Hehe, you'd better arrange someone to go with my troops, so that we can contact them then." Li Jing laughed.

Ai Julius nodded quickly.

Li Jing smiled and said: "It's not too late, I'm going to arrange the manpower, and you have to prepare immediately."

"Okay, then I won't disturb the Prime Minister." Ai Julius hurriedly stood up and said.

Li Jing smiled and nodded.

Sending Ai Juliu out of the signing room, Li Jing ordered Xiao Jiu to find Xiao Wu immediately.

(End of this chapter)