New Shun 1730

The charge of more than 80 people was killed by the Minié bullet skirmishers in a scattered formation when they were halfway through the charge. The rest wanted to flee, but they were completely eliminated by a volley of fire from the line-up musketeers.

I wanted to put on a show, but I didn't expect to see that it was only two o'clock in the afternoon and everything was about to end.

Liu Yu waved his hand, and the howitzers and mortars stopped bombarding. The Marines' shooters began to attack in a column, with bayonets fixed, and captured the destroyed section of the city wall.

The members of the 18-pound cannon crew, who were sitting there just now, smoking and watching their comrades' excitement, jumped off the cannon one by one, cursing, inserted the crossbar on the gun carriage, put on the carriage, and carried the cannon to the top of the mountain.

Anyway, there was plenty of time, so Liu Yu played it safe. After the soldiers on the mountain waved flags to indicate that they had occupied the western wall, the artillery also used all their strength to move the heavy 12-pound and 18-pound cannons up.

The artillerymen were not in a good mood. They simply built positions, threw the corpses aside, and began to bombard the two walls inside.

Before the sun set, the leader of the Sazhou samurai in Zhongcheng City committed suicide by disembowelment, and the rest surrendered.

More than 70 prisoners were captured, most of whom were private soldiers of the Ryukyu people, and the Sazhou samurai captured two. After counting the corpses and confirming that the leaders in the Fanbuxing were all dead, the Ryukyu King and all the officials were relieved.

Then there was endless fear.

In their opinion, the Sazhou people, who seemed to be invincible like heavenly soldiers and generals, did not even hold out for a day under Liu Yu's attack in Zhongcheng City, which occupied the advantageous terrain.

This was not a war at all, it was no different from an adult beating a child.

The hot air balloon flew into the air, and the defense and mobilization of the central city built on the mountain were in full view; the shrapnel bombs washed the ground, deliberately luring the manpower on the mountain to defend the west, but the warriors who had not been trained in volley guns could not stay calm under the bombardment, and rushed down the mountain, all died under the muzzle of the gun; the heavy artillery went up the mountain and deployed on the flat ground. Under the 18-pound iron ball, the city wall structure, whether it was the method of accumulation or the method of random accumulation, was equal.

Satsuma was so fragile, what if the Celestial Empire wanted to swallow Ryukyu?

Fortunately, the Celestial Empire had always had a good reputation, and for the vassal states, they would try their best to protect their ancestral temples and continue their worship. Shang Jing thought to himself that he must not say the wrong thing when he went to the capital this time, otherwise...

"The Japanese defending the city is really like selling their heads in the eyes of the angels. Please move to the palace and hold a banquet for the victory of the Heavenly Army."

He led Liu Yu and others back to the Zhongshan Palace and held a banquet for them.

During the banquet, everyone in the Zhongshan Palace knelt in front of Liu Yu, holding four hundred taels of gold.

Shang Jing said: "The Holy Son of Heaven has shown great favor to weak nations. The angels braved the wind and waves, and faced dangers and fears. Nothing is greater than this! Since the angels entered the country, they have pacified the sea nations and eliminated the troubles of the Japanese. The people of the whole country are all grateful."

"What I am deeply ashamed of is that the Ryukyu Kingdom is small and located in the wilderness of the sea. I have nothing to offer you. Please replace the goods with gold. Although I know that it is meager, even if it is ten times, it cannot match the angel's work, but the Ryukyu Kingdom is poor and produces little gold and silver. In the past, the tribute goods were all controlled by Satsuma. Please don't think it is too little."

Four hundred taels of gold is about 4,500 taels of silver in Dashun, and about 6,000 taels of silver sold in Europe.

Liu Yu did not take it, but glanced at Zhao Baiquan.

Zhao Baiquan said solemnly: "The Holy Emperor knows about Ryukyu, so he sent us here."

"Although your country is located in the sea, it has been passed down for three hundred years. Once the Japanese invaded, the royal city was not defended, bones were scattered in the fields, and the temples were in ruins. Why did it come to this? Don't you think carefully? The previous car has overturned, how can the following car not take it as a warning!"

"Today's matter is only for the sake of justice, not for the profit of gold and silver?"

The King of Ryukyu thought to himself, what should I think carefully about? How can Ryukyu, with its size, defeat the Japanese? Not to mention the Celestial Empire.

Even if I work hard to govern, what's the use? Is it true that Shang Tang could achieve the empire in three hundred miles? This is just talk. Besides, the reason why Ryukyu has fallen to this point is not because of the Celestial Empire's opening and closing of trade? If there was only tribute but no trade, how could Ryukyu be like this? With the trade privileges of tribute, one or two thousand more soldiers can be raised.

After muttering a few words in his heart, he smiled and said, "What the angel said is very true. We must work hard to govern in the future to defend ourselves. However, the heavenly soldiers have come here and have made great efforts. These gold and silver from our country are just a token of our gratitude. Please don't refuse it."

After repeatedly refusing, Zhao Baiquan took the opportunity to scold the King of Ryukyu, thinking that Liu Yu was just pretending to refuse.

But when he was about to accept it, Liu Yu said, "King Zhongshan, the politics of this dynasty is clear and bright, isn't it comparable to the old dynasty? In the future, there is no need to prepare gold and silver."

This was the final word, indicating that he really didn't want the money. The King of Ryukyu was shocked and thought to himself that the sun really rose from the west. Angels don't like money?

It's not that Liu Yu doesn't like money, but he doesn't want to take money from Ryukyu.

He can roughly summarize the life of the Ryukyu people.

The King of Ryukyu and the nobles racked their brains all day to figure out how to maintain the tributary relationship and cheat some money from the Celestial Empire. Satsuma eats meat and they drink soup, which is better than cutting off tribute.

The people of Ryukyu wanted to escape from this hell of cycads and sweet potatoes every day. Only nobles could not eat rice and could only collect cycad fruits during the day, which were not even as good as sweet potatoes.

There were no products, and the people were not afraid of living like this. In Liu Yu's eyes, this was simply an excellent source of soldiers.

And he also understood that after all this trouble, if he won the war against Japan and got Japan to open trade, Ryukyu would be finished.

The status of the transit port has disappeared, the tributary state re-export trade no longer exists, and the South Sea trade cannot be participated in. The life of the Ryukyu royal family and nobles is much more difficult than it is now.

The capital behind the trading company is cannibalistic. Once the monopoly is obtained, they will definitely not be polite to the Ryukyu. If they dare to smuggle, they will be sunk without even thinking about it.

The future of the Ryukyu can be imagined. If you find a way to get Zhongcheng Port as a naval base, you can make a little money by growing food, selling vegetables, and selling women for the naval base. After all, the military pay of the navy is sufficient, and you can also support a group of small vendors and procuresses.

On the one hand, you have to find a way to appease the Ryukyu royal family and nobles and let them be tied to the maritime policy of Dashun; on the other hand, you still have to recruit soldiers from the Ryukyu. It is best for the Ryukyu people to spend money and provide instructors themselves to train a Ryukyu army, and the command power should be in their own hands.

If you don't accept normal bribes, you naturally want more.

"King Zhongshan, the Celestial Empire has sent troops to suppress the Japanese this time, but what will happen in the future? Have you thought about it?"

Shang Jing no longer considered the distant and seemingly unattainable dream of paying tribute. Liu Yu's problem was right in front of him, and it was the top priority.

Since Liu Yu took the initiative to mention it, Shang Jing felt helpless.

At this point, there was really no way out.

If the Celestial Empire did not care about it in the future, the people of Satsuma would definitely come back to kill them.

Now that it has become like this, it is impossible for Ryukyu to pay tribute and eat both sides. The biggest vision is that the Celestial Empire will continue to keep him as the King of Ryukyu, send an army to station here, and help Ryukyu resist the invasion of Satsuma.

No matter what, the Celestial Empire still respects etiquette, and will not be as rude as Satsuma.

"Ryukyu is a small country, and it is difficult to defend itself. Please ask the Heavenly Kingdom to station a troop of soldiers here, and all expenses will be paid by the palace."

Liu Yu shook his head and said, "If there are too few soldiers, it will be useless. Besides, those who help themselves will be helped by God. Even if Your Majesty shows mercy and station troops, Ryukyu is poor and I am afraid that not many can be stationed. We still have to rely on self-reliance."

"You have also seen the ability of the soldiers to fight. If Ryukyu has more than a thousand such troops, it is not difficult to defend the ancestral temple. Moreover, if the Japanese come again in the future, the Heavenly Kingdom must send a navy. Naha merchant ships are OK, but warships are not suitable."

"How about this, you ask Your Majesty to show mercy and allow the Heavenly Kingdom to send officers to train the Ryukyu army. Build another military port and artillery fort, and the Heavenly Kingdom will station fewer troops."

"If the Japanese come again, we can defend if we can, and we can ask the Heavenly Kingdom to send troops if we can't."

Liu Yu knew that the Zhongshan Palace still had some assets.

But this asset was limited to this.

To put it bluntly, the trade in East Asia is that whoever can get goods from China can make money. There is a reason why everyone is happy to pay tribute.

But Ryukyu is finished now. Ryukyu is no longer eligible to participate in the trade with Japan, and the only thing that can be exploited is the labor force of Ryukyu.

The people of Ryukyu are so miserable, and Liu Yu can't recruit soldiers here in his own name: people are not worried about the lack of money but the inequality. If the same amount of military pay is paid, why not recruit soldiers in Weihai? Paying less is equivalent to stimulating the national consciousness of Ryukyu soldiers.

So this army must be recruited in the name of the Ryukyu King in name. How much military pay your Ryukyu King pays in a month has nothing to do with Dashun.

However, you can give some benefits to the Ryukyu soldiers at the right time: on the one hand, the Ryukyu soldiers see that the military pay paid by their king is too little than that of Weihai, and on the other hand, they see that Liu Yu is kind and gives them more money out of pity, so there is no need to mention what they want.

As long as the operation is done properly, these soldiers will probably be able to attack Shuri Castle with a cannon shot in the future, begging to be incorporated into the Celestial Empire, and the military pay and treatment will be in accordance with the Celestial Empire's rules.

As long as the tribute system in East Asia is not a fake Celestial Empire that is trying to cover up its own mistakes, the national consciousness awakened by the surrounding areas will not be the same as that in Europe. In the end, it should be "the vassal barbarians are proud of being the people of the Celestial Empire" rather than national independence.

Of course, most of the officials in the Celestial Empire are also corrupt, so this hatred cannot be borne by the Celestial Empire. The Ryukyu royal family must bear the resentment of these "combat-capable, gun-equipped, must speak Chinese in the future, and desire equal treatment" troops.

The geographical location and barrenness of the Ryukyu Islands determine that the Ryukyu Islands are more pitfalls than the Western Regions: politically and geographically, they must be obtained, but economically, they are basically a money-losing commodity. The Western Regions still have the south of the Tianshan Mountains and the Ili River Valley to reclaim wasteland, so what can the Ryukyu Islands do?

If the imperial court has too many troops stationed here, it will definitely cause conflicts with the locals, which will instead promote separatism. So the garrison must be stationed, but it must not be too many, that is, to build a port and a fortress.

Ryukyu has no money and no good goods, so the king of Ryukyu can only take on civilian labor.

Shang Jing did not know Liu Yu's true intention, and he did not expect that Liu Yu was already thinking about training a group of special Ryukyu people.

Seeing that Liu Yu refused to accept the gold, and hearing Liu Yu say that he took money instead of servants just to paralyze the Japanese, he already thought of Liu Yu as an upright and loyal person.

Thinking about Liu Yu's suggestion again, it seems to be really good. If you can train an army under Liu Yu, it should be enough to protect yourself. And if you choose to build a fort, build a city, and build a port, it doesn't cost money.

The people's labor is free, anyway, the palace doesn't have to spend money.

Liu Yu thought to himself, I will take the benefits of the military port, and you will take the blame. Who said Ryukyu is poor? Otherwise, I want you to pay for two warships and send people to command them, but unfortunately you can't afford it.