I

   Chapter 634 631 [Military-civil Harmony]

  In the Ryukyu war, the casualties of the Datong Army were only single digits.

   And only wounded, no one killed.

   On Qijie Island (Xijie Island) around Amami Oshima Island, the Datong Army didn't even bother to send troops, and directly asked Shang Hong, Shang Kun, Yamamoto Hideo and other captives to persuade them to surrender. The Ryukyu royal family, clan and Japanese on the island were all taken away, and only the local aborigines were allowed to stay.

  The Datong navy and army rested for a whole day, and then continued to go northeast.

  I encountered a series of island chains along the way, and there was no population at all, so I ignored them for the time being.

   Further ahead are Yakushima and Tanegashima, which used to belong to the Osumi Kingdom of Japan, but were later annexed by the Satsuma Domain. Also ignored, the navy and army went straight to the lair of the Satsuma clan.

   Just arrived at the mouth of Kagoshima Bay, more than a dozen Japanese ships greeted them.

  Decades ago, when the Satsuma clan invaded Ryukyu, hundreds of ships were dispatched. But now there are not many left, not to mention the sudden attack of the Chinese navy, even if the Satsuma domain is given enough time to gather troops, at most twenty or thirty decent sea ships can be assembled.

  The reason for everything is that the shogunate closed the country and did not issue Zhuyin ship licenses to the feudal lords.

  The Satsuma clan could only do business secretly, and as Chinese and Dutch merchants sent their goods to Nagasaki for centralized sales, the Satsuma clan's smuggling business also declined day by day. Slowly, the old ships were too lazy to repair, and a large number of boatmen and sailors were unemployed.

  The dozen or so ships of the Satsuma clan in front of us are actually armed merchant ships, also known as the legendary Zhuyin ships. The largest one is more than 200 tons, and the smallest one is only about 100 tons. The overall size is one size smaller than that of the Datong Navy.

  Shi Daxuan and Hong Xu, each commanding a naval formation, planned to go around and surround the enemy ships.

  The fleet of the Satsuma domain felt that the momentum was not good, and retreated before firing a shot, and all retreated to the innermost part of Kagoshima Bay.

   "Boom boom boom!"

  The Datong Navy went to the narrowest part of the bay, and the Japanese forts on both sides suddenly fired.

   "Flag order, retreat!" Shi Daxuan shouted.

  Several naval warships were damaged by gunfire, but they successfully retreated to a safe place as a whole, and then put down the small boats on the warships, and the army and navy of the Datong Army landed in small boats.

  Thousands of people have landed on both sides of the strait. Let’s unplug those forts first.

   "What? It's not counted as Tang Bing occupied Ryukyu, but they came here?"

  Before the fight broke out at the fort, Mitsuhisa Shimadzu received the news and was beyond shocked by the situation.

  The old Shimadzu Hisami said: "Don't hesitate any longer, you should be prepared with both hands. On the one hand, send people to negotiate with the Tang people, and on the other hand, send people to Edo for help. You should also order the army to be summoned. If it doesn't work, fight the Tang soldiers to the end!"

  The Satsuma domain privately swallowed the eight islands of Ryukyu. Although this was done behind the back of the shogunate, the conquest of Ryukyu was approved by the shogunate.

   At this time, I don’t care about other things, so I will ask the shogunate for help first.

  Shimadzu Mitsuhisa said: "Go and negotiate with Tang Ren!"

   "Yes!" Shimadzu Hisatsutsu could only take on this drudgery.

   This fellow did not dare to go out on a warship, and approached the Datong Navy in a small offshore boat with trepidation.

   Came to Hong Xu's ship, but it was diplomat Liu Xiangke who met him.

  Hisunichi Shimadzu prostrated and knelt down: "Greetings, Mr. Kamiguchi!"

   Liu Xiangke turned his nostrils to the sky, and said dismissively, "Go back first, and wait until the battle is over."

   Shimadzu Hisaichi asked: "Dare to ask your country, why did you send troops to attack the Shimadzu family?"

Liu Xiangke sneered: "Wolf ambitions, Yin and Ryukyu are just one of them. In recent years, the warships of the Satsuma domain have plundered Chinese merchants many times, and hundreds of people have been killed and kidnapped. You are not allowed to continue to provoke. Is China sending troops?"

   Hisashi Shimadzu defended: "Your Excellency, it is just a misunderstanding to send troops to the Ryukyu Kingdom..."

"Don't talk nonsense," Liu Xiangke interrupted, "no matter how much you argue, you can't turn black and white. The soldiers and ships are here, and you can make our country retreat with a few nonsense words? What do you want to talk about? Talk on the boat, I will lead the troops to the city to talk!"

   Hisazu Shimadzu still wanted to explain something, but he didn't speak again after all.

  As Liu Xiangke said, the warships have all been killed in Japan, can they retreat with a few sophistry?

   After a moment of silence, Shimadzu Hisaichi asked: "Dare to ask my lord, how can we withdraw the troops?"

Liu Xiangke said: "First, this war was caused by the Satsuma clan, and the Satsuma clan must pay 200,000 taels of military expenses; secondly, for the Chinese merchant ships looted by the Satsuma clan, each deceased should pay 100 taels of compensation, and the lost goods and ships should be paid at the same price." Compensation; third, the Ryukyu Kingdom has been accepted as the Ryukyu County of Datong China, and the Satsuma domain is not allowed to send troops to harass; fourth, let the Satsuma domain lord or his eldest son go to Nanjing to plead guilty to the emperor in person."

   Hisazu Shimadzu was dumbfounded, the first request could not be fulfilled.

  The annual fiscal revenue of the Satsuma clan is just over one hundred thousand taels. The feudal lord and his family are all extravagant and happy, and they have to be exploited by merchants for a while. How can they get 200,000 taels of compensation?

   "My lord, I really don't have that much money." Hisashi Shimadzu cried poorly.

   Liu Xiangke said: "If you have no money, you can pay slowly. If you reopen the Nagano Gold Mine, you can pay it in ten years. But, the delayed compensation must be paid with annual interest."

  This Nagano is not that Nagano, but the Nagano area of ​​Kagoshima. Seven years ago, the Satsuma domain developed gold mines here, but gold mining was banned by the shogunate for only three years.

  The reason for the ban is very simple. Once Shimadzu has income from gold mines, can they support more troops? What if there is a rebellion someday?

  Shimadzu Hisaichi said: "The shogunate does not allow gold mining."

   Liu Xiangke sneered: "Is Satsuma so obedient?"

  Historically, as soon as Tokugawa Iemitsu died, the Satsuma Domain reopened the Nagano Gold Mine.

   Although Liu Xiangke likes to pretend to be aggressive, he likes to be an envoy and swear. But he did a lot of homework. Before going to sea, he asked Fujian maritime merchants about the Satsuma domain in detail.

  After losing profits from sea trade, Satsuma’s stable source of income was the brown sugar from Amami Oshima, and the Nagano gold mine. Of course, there is also the tribute income in the territory, which is all in kind such as food, which can only be exchanged for money by the merchants in Osaka.

  The current situation is okay. In a few decades, the Japanese feudal lords will be exhausted, and they will all work for big businessmen.

  When the Satsuma clan was at its worst, its annual fiscal revenue was only 150,000 taels, and the debt interest to be paid to merchants was only 250,000 taels. How did you solve it in the end? If you can renege on the debt, you will renege on it, if you can't, you will sell your samurai status, and finally sell the franchise of souvenirs.

  The brown sugar franchise of Amami Oshima is the key to Satsuma's debt relief.

   Now that Amami Oshima is recovered by China, it is estimated that the descendants of the Shimadzu family will be in debt.

  Seeing that the other party stopped talking, Liu Xiangke sneered and said, "It's best to give the money directly, or you can give it after a battle. But at that time, there will be more military expenses to be compensated. See off!"

   Shimadzu Jiutong went back in a daze, when he heard rumbling cannons on the way, but it was the Datong army attacking the forts on both sides of the strait.

  Meeting the Patriarch, Shimadzu Hisatsutsu told the conditions offered by China.

Shimadzu Mitsuhisa was so angry that he led things, and roared: "The Tang Dynasty is deceiving people too much. This is driving my Shimadzu family to death. Gather troops, summon the warriors of Satsuma, and all go to Tsurumaru Castle within half a month (Kagoshima City), I want to fight those Tang people to the death!"

  The Satsuma domain has not fought a naval battle for a long time, and even the Gulf Fort has been in disrepair for a long time, and even some of the gunpowder in the fort warehouse has been dampened and hardened together.

  The Datong Army killed two people and injured eleven people, and took down all the fortresses on both sides of the strait.

  The next step is to build the barracks. Sakurajima on the opposite bank of Kagoshima Castle became the barracks of the Datong Army, and piles of military supplies were moved from the ship.

   Don’t be in a hurry to attack the city. Kagoshima Castle is built on a mountain. The terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack. You have to prepare for a long-term siege and bombardment.

  Until the third day, the navy soldiers stayed in the barracks, and 10,000 troops came to the castle town of Kagoshima—the city outside the city.

  The Datong Army still has strict military discipline, and there is no wanton robbery. They even posted Anmin notices, fearing that Japanese civilians would not understand, and asked soldiers to **** translators and go door to door to explain the situation.

  Probably means that the Satsuma domain annexed Ryukyu without authorization and secretly robbed Chinese merchant ships, so the Chinese emperor sent troops to punish them. The civilians of the Satsuma domain are all innocent, and the Datong Army will not rob and kill. But the war is ruthless, and the houses that are too close to Tsurumaru Castle may be bombarded. I hope that the residents will move to a safe place in advance.

  The people living in the castle town have already fled less than half, and the rest are hiding at home and dare not come out.

  After several days of explaining to the people, and punishing a few ronin who took the opportunity to rob, the people here finally believed in the Datong Army.

  So a strange situation happened, the shops opened one after another, and the escaped residents returned after hearing the news. There were even farmers who tried to sell their local products to the Datong Army. After a few fair trades, the surrounding farmers flocked with food.

  This is about the agricultural policy of the Tokugawa shogunate, which prohibits land trading and random planting. What crops farmers plant is arranged by the government. And after paying taxes, the remaining crops must be sold to the corresponding merchants. If your family grows rice, it cannot be sold to merchants who specialize in beans.

  Such a system of monopoly collection and monopoly led to extremely serious exploitation of farmers by merchants.

  The surrounding farmers discovered that they could get more money by trading with the Datong Army. How could they sit still?

   Moreover, Japan has used Chinese copper coins on a large scale since the Tang Dynasty, and the copper coins of the Datong New Dynasty are very popular here.

  In Tsurumaru Castle, all the plants and trees are soldiers.

   Outside Tsurumaru City, it was a joyous experience.

  The people of the Satsuma clan began to complain about the Shimadzu family, thinking that the Shimadzu family should not anger the Chinese emperor.

   A few days later, Shimadzu Mitsuhisa learned of the situation outside the city, and was so angry that he cursed: "They are all traitors. After the war, we must investigate clearly, and all those who do business with the enemy will be arrested and questioned!"

   On the other hand, Li Dingguo was receiving several wild warriors.

   Said to be a samurai, but in fact he was almost like a beggar, only a knife in his waist can prove his identity.

  A samurai named Shiro Miyazaki is probably the leader of these people. He crouched in front of Li Dingguo and said respectfully: "The soldiers of the Celestial Dynasty are real warriors and will not use force against innocent civilians. After the Shimadzu family closed the country, they oppressed the people in the domain more and more. I am willing to serve the general as a dog and a horse." Please kill the Shimadzu family!"

  On the one hand, the country is closed to the outside world, the income of the feudal lords is declining, and the people are intensified to exploit the people; on the other hand, years of droughts have caused serious harvest failures for farmers. Now is the period of high incidence of Japanese uprisings.

  And every uprising is led by wild samurai in series.

  These wild warriors just want to live on their stomachs. I heard that China sent troops, and they took the initiative to take part in it, as long as they were given food.

  (end of this chapter)