New Shun 1730

The reality that Japan had been closed to the outside world for a hundred years and the Dashun Navy had been secretly built for ten years made it difficult for Mantou to say desperate slogans such as "The rise and fall of the imperial country depends on this one move" to boost morale.

The naval officers were not interested in the possible naval battle with Japan, because one hand cannot clap.

If they wanted to boost morale, they could only talk about the significance of the navy in the war against Japan from a strategic perspective. In short, it was for the future of the navy.

The officers who could hold a closed-door meeting here were all influenced by Liu Yu's exaggeration, and they naturally heard the weight of Mantou's words.

After the chaos in the late Ming Dynasty, there was the precedent of the disaster of the Eastern Tartars, the improvement of productivity, the large-scale use of firearms and actual combat experience.

In this case, no matter who became the emperor, as long as he was not at the level of Emperor Hui of Jin and Emperor Gaozong of Song, he would follow an almost inevitable route.

The assimilation ability of the Orthodox Church, the large number of Tungus and Mongolians among the Cossacks, and the reality that the Torghuts followed the Russian Empire as soldiers would force any emperor to take down the Khalkha Mongols and ensure the safety of the north.

After the Khalkha Mongols were conquered, it was necessary to fight the Dzungars to prevent the reunification of the Mongolian tribes.

While fighting the Dzungars, it was necessary to take down the holy land of the Yellow Sect, the Snow Mountain, in order to control and completely solve the troubles in the north.

This is what everyone who becomes emperor must do. Even if Zhang Xianzhong succeeds, his descendants will also complete this journey.

It is not based on the so-called blood relationship, nor the so-called blood relationship, but on the muskets, cannons, population, taxes, wealth, and logistics that gradually matured in the war at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

And the traditional memory of the threat to the north that has been engraved in the bones since the First Emperor.

Before the expedition to Japan, everything that Dashun did can be said to be almost inevitable, and it is inevitable that anyone would do it.

From the beginning of the expedition to the South Seas, which the navy has always wanted, it has jumped out of the category of inevitability, which requires efforts to promote and strive for it.

All of this must be won in the war against Japan.

Liu Yu is trying to let the court see that everything Japan has experienced will also happen to Dashun in the future if Dashun does not have a navy.

The navy is trying to let the court see that the vast blue waves are not a natural barrier. The emergence of the navy can make those previously unreachable places no more difficult to fight than the reform of the southwest.

The sea merchants are trying to let the court see that money does not necessarily have to be made from the land. The monopoly fees paid by foreign trade in a year can compete with the per mu tax of one or two provinces.

This is the course of history, and personal struggle is reflected in the personal future of naval officers if the navy is strong.

When personal interests are closely related to the country's strategy, it can be said that a new group with its own strategic goals has emerged.

The spokespersons of the upper class are Liu Yu, a group of nobles who have shares in maritime trade, and a group of nobles who need war to maintain their status.

The gun barrels are a group of officers who are eager for military exploits and pursue a future, including those of the army.

The money bags are a group of sea merchants who are beginning to think about making money as middlemen.

The reserve force is a group of students in the new school of practical learning who are not qualified for the imperial examination and can only go to sea or become officers.

At this time, this interest group can feel the weakness of its own strength deep in their hearts. Therefore, the people in this group intentionally or unintentionally enhance the power and voice of this group.

Everything the navy does at this time is intentional.

Being in this group, you can only go with the flow with this wave.

…………

Hokkaido, Matsumae Fukuyama Castle.

Du Feng sat in the position of the former lord of Matsumae Domain, with a pile of gold, silver, whale oil, dried fish, etc. in front of him. Several accountants who can do abacus are quickly picking up the abacus and preparing to divide the spoils.

Many years ago, he tried to rob Liu Yu of Yongning Temple. Now he is asked to lead troops alone for the first time, and he will never forget this skill.

In addition to the Marines who came here from Weihai, there were also a group of soldiers from the Songhua River, islanders on Sakhalin who accepted the title granted by Dashun, and some tribesmen at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River who participated in the battle to capture Fushan Castle in Hokkaido.

Some people on Sakhalin have exchanges with the Ainu people and understand the local dialect.

There are a total of six tribes on the island, and the surnames are transliterated, which are about Tao, Duwaha, Yadan, etc.

There are also hundreds of people in a tribe, and five people were selected from each tribe, a total of thirty people.

There are not many people, but on the one hand, it is convenient for translation and contact with Ainu people; on the other hand, this matter is an attitude of the people of Dashun, and they have to obey the conscription of Jinghai Jiedushi.

This time, it is not the private relationship between Liu Yu and them when they fought against Tsarist Russia, but the official face of Jinghai Jiedushi.

Many of these people have contacts with Ainu people in Hokkaido. Historically, this kind of trade is called "Shandan trade".

The Central Plains court gave rewards to the islanders at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River and Sakhalin Island, which was the return gift of sable fur and a symbol of tribute and submission.

The islanders on the island then sold the rewarded silk, cloth, etc. to Hokkaido. The Ainu people in Hokkaido then sold them to Japanese merchants.

Because the rewards from the court could not be too low-quality goods, "Ainu brocade" was very popular among the upper class in Japan.

As for why brocade was produced in a place as cold and bitter as Ainu, no one investigated.

At the beginning, the Matsumae clan agreed to let some navy people stay on the island temporarily, and its purpose was to pretend to be confused and hope to expand the trade of "Ainu brocade" without informing the shogunate.

Now I regret it, but it's too late.

Du Feng was one of the recruited soldiers, so he knew exactly what kind of people they were.

If he went out to fight and returned empty-handed, he would be laughed at by his fellow villagers in Zhechongfu as "waste" and "incompetent".

However, Du Feng also knew that Liu Yu did not want the Marines to get accustomed to robbery, so he wisely did not choose robbery, but extortion.

Robbery and extortion are not the same thing.

The former does not have technical content, while the latter must be guaranteed by discipline.

Liu Yu set a time of August for him to take action and let him capture Fukuyama Castle.

When the time came, he could not wait to surround Fukuyama Castle and let the tribesmen from Sakhalin Island contact the Ainu people in Hokkaido in the local language.

After conquering Fukuyama Castle, he imitated the method of Wuwei County King, who was later conferred the title after Emperor Taizu entered the capital, to plunder the capital and squeeze out about 70,000 to 80,000 taels of silver.

The reason was also justified.

The Matsumae clan adopted a contracting system, contracting out land, fisheries, trade, etc. to merchants and collecting contracting fees.

This is similar to the tax farming system, so naturally these merchants are particularly ruthless. Anyway, they don't have to pay too much to use the Ainu people, so they squeeze them hard.

The money obtained from torture is naturally the people's blood and sweat, and it is natural to take it back.

After getting the money, Du Feng is a trustworthy person. After torturing, he released all of them and told them that they might be able to do business in the future.

Seven or eight people who claimed to be familiar with the nearby sea conditions and terrain were left, but they were not tortured and kept as guides.

The reason why he had to extort and rob instead of disorderly robbery was because he knew very well that the Marines trained in the Weihai Xiaozhan Camp would not rob at all.

If they followed the brothers of the Fubing who came to help in the war, they would know everything, and that was not allowed by Liu Yu.

Torture and extortion are orderly robbery, which Du Feng thinks is acceptable, at least the discipline is guaranteed.

The soldiers came from far away and risked their lives to fight, just to make a fortune. The soldiers promised Du Feng not to rob, and Du Feng promised to share the money with the soldiers afterwards.

After breaking into the city, the lord of the Matsumae domain was captured, and several of his sons were arrested. The mission was accomplished, and now it was time to share the money.

The accountant was clacking his abacus, and several officers looked at the piles of gold, silver, whale oil and other scarce goods, and couldn't help saying: "If it were you, I would go to Sendai Domain to rob it. Back when I was in Weihai, I ate Sendai's treasures, such as dried abalone and sea cucumber. It is said that many of Nagasaki's treasures are from Sendai."

"I often hear adults say that this place also built galleons to cross the Pacific Ocean. Those merchants also said that Sendai Domain has copper and mints its own coins, so it must be a place where you can extort more money."

Although it is also known that the Date family of Sendai Domain is a large family and a large domain, it is said that there are 6,000 direct samurai and nearly 20,000 subordinate samurai, which can be converted into a field force of more than 10,000 people.

In name, it is a lord of 600,000 stones, but in fact, it was very powerful at the time. It was considered the kind of person who obeyed orders but not orders among the outer daimyo. In fact, it was the strongest domain at that time.

But Sendai Domain and Mutsu Province also have local characteristics.

Unlike other small fiefdoms, where the samurai all lived in the castle town. A city could control a hundred miles of land.

The Sendai domain was much larger, and the samurai lived in various places, not all of them lived in the castle town of Sendai.

One country and one city, of course, but the towns and villages outside the city, as well as the copper mines in Sendai, were all scattered.

Imitating the Japanese pirates of the past, they gave them back in their own way, went ashore when they had a chance, extorted some samurai and merchants and left.

They ran away when the army came, anyway, they had control of the sea. If the army didn't come, they would continue to extort in an organized manner.

Du Feng sneered at this idea, thinking that his vision was too low.

He was determined to seek a title and wanted to do something big. Extorting money was just a way to share the profits with his brothers so that they could support him in the future. In addition, he knew the morals of the group of government soldiers too well. Since they were going to rob anyway, it would be better to extort in an organized manner.

Now he was sent out to take charge of a region, with warships, more than 1,500 marines, more than 500 prefectural soldiers, 400 to 500 miscellaneous soldiers from various places, and some civilians who had military foundations.

With such a force, it is impossible to fight a field battle with Sendai, which claims to have 7,000 direct and 20,000 subordinate samurai.

But what if the soldiers of Sendai were mobilized?

After crossing the Tsugaru Strait, there is Hirosaki Domain, a weak chicken, which is surrounded but not attacked, to induce Sendai Domain to send troops to rescue.

Or go forward to Mutsu Province, occupy some towns in the north, and use them as forward bases to force Sendai Domain to attack.

Take advantage of the naval advantage and troop transport speed while they are sending troops, and go straight to Sendai!

He has asked the merchants who have taken refuge, and Sendai Domain has a "rice monopoly system" that is transported from Ishinomaki Port in Sendai to Edo. Almost half of the rice used by non-samurai in Edo City comes from Sendai.

Sendai is equivalent to Huguang in the Celestial Empire.

The sea route from Ishinomaki Port to Edo is equivalent to the Grand Canal.

Ishinomaki Port is roughly equivalent to Huai'an or Zhenjiang of the Grand Canal.

Mobilizing the troops of Sendai Domain, finding the right opportunity, and taking down Ishinomaki Port in one wave, burning grain and threatening Sendai, this is also a major contribution to the entire war against Japan.

Even if Sendai Castle cannot be taken, it is enough to make the Japanese feel lingering fear and have to gather heavy troops nearby to ensure the supply of rice.

If you can win the bet, regardless of the reward in the future, you have at least proved that you have the judgment to advocate the war. The generals and officers are not the best, but they may have the talent of a commander.

While he was thinking about it, someone hurriedly ran in from outside and whispered, "Master Du, there's a letter from the navy."

Du Feng opened the letter and glanced at it, then took out a white phosphorus match made in Weihai, burned the letter to ashes, and threw his idea of ​​"making great contributions" behind his mind.

"Send an order, hurry up to build defenses, and just stay here. Send someone to Vladivostok immediately and tell them to transfer some trained civilians, keep the money, and the navy will provide support here."