New Shun 1730

If he escapes, it's still in time. But Mori Munehiro knew that it would be meaningless for him to escape with his elite hatamoto, and his prestige among the samurai of the Choshu clan would also fall to the bottom.

These samurai were the basis for his rule over the Choshu clan, and the reason why the shogunate was so wary of the Choshu clan and often turned a blind eye to it.

The cold winter wind blew on his face, sobering up Mori Munehiro, who had been a little hot-headed before.

Now he no longer paid attention to the battle situation at the foot of the mountain, because defeat was inevitable, and he had to quickly consider what to do after the defeat.

The Tang people had strong field combat capabilities and even stronger siege capabilities.

He believed that there was no contradiction between the Choshu clan and the Dashun. When the Dashun sea merchants came here to smuggle in the third year of Kyoho, it was not the Choshu clan who fired and sank the merchant ships.

In theory, this battle was nominally caused by the Satsuma clan, and the field combat capabilities of the Dashun army were enough to completely defeat the few troops of the Kyushu clans on Kyushu Island.

In theory, conquering Kagoshima was the best choice both emotionally and rationally.

For the sake of reason and justice, the Shimazu clan must give an explanation for their invasion of Ryukyu.

They can fight but they don't attack Kagoshima; it's even easier to capture Shimonoseki from this battle.

Or, is it because Dashun is worried that if they attack Shimonoseki, the Kyushu vassal states will send troops to support them, so it's inconvenient to have too many troops?

Or, Dashun's mind is not on Kyushu at all. After all, the first choice for ceding land is definitely Kyushu, and then it will be his turn for Choshu.

He turned his mind around quickly, and vaguely seemed to see the fog that shrouded this strange war of the Celestial Empire's attack on Japan.

He made a prompt decision and ordered: "Everyone retreat to this mountain!"

Saka Tokinori said in surprise: "Sir, if we retreat to this mountain, the Tang people will be surrounded and it will be difficult to escape. It's better to make a decision early and break out from the valley road on the south side."

Mori Munehiro thought that now there is only one way to go, which is to contact Dashun quietly.

The one who could save Choshu Domain was neither the shogunate nor his samurai, but Dashun.

If he escaped at this time, once Dashun did not want to cede land and occupied land, but only wanted money or the face of paying tribute to the Celestial Empire, the shogunate would definitely take back Choshu Domain in the future, or at least abolish the Mori clan.

Theoretically, if he died in battle, the shogunate would not be able to say anything. But if he died in battle, the samurai of Choshu Domain would basically be exterminated by Dashun, and Choshu Domain would still not exist.

Under the decision, the advice of others was meaningless.

With the order to retreat, the battle line that was almost collapsed quickly collapsed, and thousands of samurai retreated towards the hills.

While ordering the samurai to retreat, he called the lord of Chofu Domain, Mori Shigenori, to his side.

Under the samurai system, if a daimyo died without a son, the territory would be taken back by the shogunate. Mori Munehiro still has no children. Now he decided to retreat to the hill to negotiate with Dashun. The consequences are unpredictable. At this time, he still has to leave some blood for the Mori family and bet on both sides.

In the presence of his trusted retainers, he recognized Mori Shigenari as his adopted son and asked Mori Shigenari to lead some elite warriors to escape over the mountain on foot.

When the retreat horn sounded, it was really a landslide.

The warriors in the front could no longer be controlled, and they either fled backwards or surrendered on the spot. Dashun's infantry launched a charge and completely wiped out the remaining warriors at the foot of the mountain, but they did not attack the mountain immediately, but formed a battle line at the foot of the mountain.

The cavalry quickly attacked and guarded several gentle slopes of the mountain road down the mountain.

Li Li, who was watching the battlefield from a distance, said happily: "Congratulations to General Wu for another great achievement. The Japanese in Choshu retreated to Gushan and fell into our trap."

"This is all thanks to your highness's trust. I just did what a staff officer should do. Now the situation has been decided. If they are besieged for a few days, they will surely surrender due to lack of food. There is no need to sacrifice the lives of soldiers in vain."

Seeing that the main force of Choshu retreated to the hill, Wu Fangrui was not too excited. This battle was... he was embarrassed to brag in the circle: three times the muskets, twenty times the artillery, this is really a battle that anyone can win.

Now that Li Li praised him, he also knew that he could not escape the credit, so he patted Li Li first and said that he was just fulfilling the obligations of a staff officer.

Now the morale of the army in Hagi City is estimated to have collapsed. Watching their last hope being defeated less than ten miles away from Hagi City was a devastating blow to morale.

Wu Fangrui thought about the money and food in Hagi Castle and said, "Your Highness, since the lord of Choshu Domain has retreated to the hills, why not lure him to surrender? Choshu is a big domain, and there should be a lot of gold and silver. Even if there is not much gold and silver in Hagi Castle, I think there must be enough food and rice. If the Japanese defenders burn the city in despair, wouldn't it be a pity?"

"The order of the Privy Council is that we just need to defend Hagi Castle. We are not going to attack Shimonoseki. From what I see, they are worried about the dispersion of the troops."

"The Japanese defenders of Hagi Castle It can't be stopped, but if we come to defend it, the terrain is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and the mountain roads are surrounded by mountains. It can be said that even if all the 80,000 hatamoto of the Japanese shogunate come, they can only sigh at the city. "

"The Privy Council said that this is the last battle to kill the chicken to scare the monkey. I also think that the war to punish the Japanese is over. After that, it's just a peace talk. Whether the Choshu clan should be persuaded to surrender, please decide. "

Li Li has only been the head of the navy for a few days, and he already knows the importance of "money". Looking back at Hagi Castle, what he saw was the mountains of rice and the shining gold and silver.

If it was burned down, it would be painful.

The battle was indeed going well. But the war is for subsequent negotiations, and Li Han still doesn't know some of the bottom lines of the negotiations.

But he could guess that this time the court would probably let Liu Yu preside over the negotiations. It can be seen from the secret order given by the Privy Council that it seems that the Privy Council is preparing to leave the Kyushu vassals to check and balance the shogunate, but how to check and balance is a problem.

Should we allow the southwestern vassals to become independent countries and completely divide Japan?

Or should we let the southwestern vassals and the shogunate check and balance, and let the shogunate in turn check and balance the southwestern vassals, and continue to maintain Japan's current system?

This is related to the content of the negotiations with the Choshu Domain - it must be in line with the imperial court's future vision, otherwise it may be superfluous.

Now we need to find out, does the court want to draw a snake? Or a four-legged snake? gecko? Or a dragon? I don’t know what to draw, so it’s a little difficult when I start writing.

Li Huan thought for a while and asked someone to take a boat and go to the fleet to find the steamed buns. As we all know, this is Liu Yu's confidant and the one who has followed Liu Yu for the longest time. Since Liu Yu is most likely to be in charge of the negotiations with Japan, perhaps Mantou is the person who can best guess Liu Yu's thoughts.

After calling him, Li Huan told him not to be polite and asked with a smile: "Ziming has been following Ying Suobo for a long time, and he has learned from him every day. As the saying goes, those who are close to Zhu are red, and those who are close to ink are black. I want to learn from Ying Suo Bo's skills. The one who knows about the Japanese affairs now is none other than Ying Suobo; there is no other choice for subsequent negotiations."

"In Ziming's opinion, how should the affairs of Japan end?"

There were only two people in the tent, Li Huan and Steamed Bun, and there was no third person present. However, Steamed Bun still replied very tactfully: "I really dare not answer your Highness's question. I am just a general, Ying Suo Boyan, everyone performs his duties." . Killing the enemy in battle and plundering at sea, I can do it."

Li Han smiled and said: "You can't tell the truth. You just say it, whether you do it or not, that's my choice. You didn't even make any suggestions, I just asked you privately. Don't worry."

"Then let me ask this, when Ying Suobo teaches knowledge on weekdays, can he say that the war against the Japanese is to occupy territory? Or to divide his country? Or to retain the shogunate?"

The steamed buns are not from the Japanese style, and the person Li Yanxuan asked about is indeed good.

Seeing that Li Huan had endorsed the letter, Mantou said: "According to Ying Suo Bo's thinking, it does not occupy an area and does not divide the country, but it cannot unify it. It is best to retain the shogunate, retain the name, and control each vassal under the shogunate."

"In this way, there is a big benefit."

"The Japanese maintenance system allows them to have a stable and unified domestic market to facilitate the sale of goods. If the countries are divided, each country will either focus on squeezing money to buy firearms and warships; or they will set up roadblocks and levy lijin, which is really disadvantageous."

"If the shogunate is in chaos, the Japanese country will be in chaos for decades. After decades of war, if we can't harvest rice or sell goods, if a hero appears and overthrows the country and starts over, it will not be good for our dynasty in the future."

"If the shogunate wants to change, it must first abolish the shogunate and abolish the samurai. The shogunate cannot kill itself. Therefore, if the shogunate is in power, the Japanese country can only change but not reform. Change without reform will not succeed."

"The Japanese king is famous but powerless, and the vassals are powerful but less famous. If the Japanese king and shogunate are all there, the shogunate will be wary of the vassals, fearing that they will return the great power to the king."

"Therefore, the Japanese king must be there, the shogunate must be there, and the vassals must still be there. Only in this way can it be stable, and the heaven can intervene at any time: if the vassals are strong, then they will unite with the shogunate to suppress them; if the shogunate is strong, then they will unite with all the vassals to suppress them. Shogunate."

Li Han understood it carefully, compared it with the Privy Council's secret order, and got a feel for it. He nodded cautiously and said: "This is a great strategy. If Ying Suobo is here, how will he deal with the people of the Changzhou vassal?"

Mantou smiled and said: "Collect money, redeem people, and release them. Force the Choshu clan to sign a treaty and sign the name of the Mouri clan. Keep the Mouri clan as the lord of the clan, and let them give us money while thanking us for saving their lordship. As for the space, it’s really not necessary.”

"The reason why Choshu Domain was able to become a vassal was because of the thousands of warriors. If they are completely destroyed and the dynasty does not occupy any land, wouldn't it be helping the shogunate to reduce the vassalage?"

"Sell a favor and let them go. Your Highness has also seen that the fighting power of this group of warriors is really vulnerable. After this battle, they are frightened and let them go south so that they can promote the theory of 'fear of China'."

"I gained money, gained gratitude, and adopted a good dog. This dog also has the leader of the shogunate. If you want to bite the owner, you must bite the leader of the shogunate first. It's foolproof."

Hearing this sinister idea, Li Hao thought to himself that this was indeed Ying Suobo's style. This was to beat someone up, but also to make the person who was beaten feel grateful.