MTL - I-Chapter 1037 1033【Choshu Clan and Sumitomo House】

  Chapter 1037 1033 [Changzhou Domain and Sumitomo House]

  In the twenty-fifth year of the Republic of China, there were two battles to be fought.

   One is to send troops to recover the Western Regions, and the other is to force Japan to found a country.

  For more than 20 years since the founding of the country, Datong China has sufficient money and food, and has been able to fight two major wars at the same time, and it has almost no impact on the economy and people's livelihood.

  The eastern plains of Taiwan, the coastal areas of Luzon, and the coastal plains of Java Island are highly developed. Coupled with the rice in Guangnan Province, it can continuously provide food for China.

  In the winter of that year, envoys from the Celestial Dynasty went to Edo and ordered the shogunate to establish the country immediately and return the confiscated property of Chinese merchants.

  “China will not go to war for businessmen.”

   This is the consensus of the ruling and opposition parties in Japan. They think they know China very well, and all the daimyos have learned Confucian culture.

  The spring breeze blows, and the ice and snow melt.

  A division stationed in Shenyang came to the beach along the Hun River in advance, and then took a sea boat to station in Lushun Port. In the middle of March in the lunar calendar, six warships, 20 troop carriers, and more than 20 grain carriers rushed towards Osaka.

  A division stationed in Nanjing came to Shanghai along the Yangtze River ahead of schedule. Also in the middle of March in the lunar calendar, eight warships, 20 troop carriers, and more than 20 grain carriers rushed towards Edo in a mighty manner.

   These two divisions have not fought for ten years.

  Especially the Nanjing army, which has not seen blood for almost 20 years, just took advantage of the opportunity to fight Japan to train troops.

   Those grain ships are all private merchant ships.

  When the imperial court collected grain ships, the Chinese maritime merchants expelled by Japan enthusiastically signed up to donate their own ships. They even suggested that they could not take the shipping fee, but that Japan must be hurt so that they could re-trade and get back their business name in Japan.

  The Shenyang troops set off from Lushun and did not go directly to Osaka, but stopped halfway to shell Shimonoseki.

  Shimonoseki, Japan is the only way to enter the Seto Inland Sea from the northwest. The fort here has long been in disrepair, and there are only dozens of soldiers stationed there, and they were successfully taken down in less than ten minutes.

   Two battleships and ten grain transport ships were left behind, and Xiaguan was used as a transit base for the North Route Army, and 1,000 Datong troops were stationed here.

  Maori Tsunahiro, the lord of the Choshu Domain, was living in Edo at this time. His son Mao Liji was in the domain, and when he learned that his port was occupied, Mao Liji yelled furiously: "Conscript all the troops, we must take Xiaguan back! Also, send someone to Edo to inform father and the shogunate!"

   What a fart to get back, the Changzhou Fan at this time is not the vanguard of respecting the king and fighting against the barbarians at the end of the Shogunate.

  Mori Terumoto was the general of the Western Army in the Battle of Sekigahara. After the defeat, he was reduced by the Tokugawa clan. Due to the reduction of fiefdoms, Changzhou Fan could only re-measure the land, and also counted miscellaneous taxes, mulberry trees, and salt fields into the village height, so as to increase its own stone height. It also monopolizes the commodities in the fief to supplement the financial shortage.

  According to the original history, in more than ten years, the Maori family will issue the "Frugality Order" to reduce the salaries of retainers and warriors. In the end, they are so poor that they can only be forced to carry out reforms.

  The old grievances between the Maori family and the Tokugawa shogunate were deep, and the Tokugawa family made financial distress. After finally earning some money by smuggling, the shogunate wants to close the country, what does the Maori family think?

  The entire Changzhou Domain, from the lord to the samurai, all have a heart for China. They wish that the Datong Army could bring down Edo as soon as possible!

  After the resumption of trade, the feudal lords could squander their money, and the samurai could not be owed their salaries.

   Mao Liji clamored to take back Xiaguan, but secretly sent his confidants to Xiaguan to contact the Datong army.

   "Maori family tree on behalf of Hiroshi Fukuhara, meeting the general of the Celestial Dynasty!" This retainer is estimated to have been in contact with Chinese businessmen for a long time, and he speaks Chinese very fluently, but the accent sounds uncomfortable.

  The head of the Datong Army stationed in Xiaguan was called Qian Hui. He asked with a smile, "What does your master want to say?"

Hiroshi Fukuhara said: "The governor of the family should live in Edo this year, but he was in the country (territory) last year. The governor of the family has instructions that if the celestial dynasty sends troops due to the shogunate's lock-up, the Changzhou domain must not block anything. Before the next visit Come here, just want to contact the Celestial Dynasty to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding."

   "Tell me what you have." Qian Hui said.

Fukuhara Hiroshi said: "First, the Heavenly Soldiers occupy Shimonoseki. Whether it is to explain to the shogunate or to be in the dignity of Changzhou Fan, we will send troops to take it back. But the speed of dispatching troops will be very slow. Even if the army arrives in Shimonoseki , General, please don’t really use force, we are just showing it. Second, if the heavenly soldiers need any supplies, they can buy them from the Changzhou Fan. The merchants of the Celestial Dynasty can also trade in Xiaguan, and we will let the merchants come to eat.”

  My good fellow, Changzhou Fan's sending troops is just acting, and they don't forget to continue to do business.

  Choshu Fan is so cooperative, but Osaka is just the opposite.

  Osaka merchants and handicraftsmen are extremely hostile to Chinese maritime merchants, and they can share a common hatred against the Datong Army.

  First of all, the merchants in Osaka belonged to one of the maritime trade monopoly groups, and the smuggling of Chinese merchants broke this monopoly.

  Secondly, Osaka is one of the centers of handicraft industry in Japan, with 300,000 to 400,000 handicraft workers. A large number of cheap imports of Chinese goods have wiped out the handicraft industry in Osaka, and there will be new unemployed handicraft industry every year.

  Osaka people hate China, and China must attack Osaka.

  Because Osaka is the grain transshipment center of Japan, the annual tribute grain from each domain is transported to Osaka by sea, and then transshipped from Osaka to various places. The grain transshipped through Osaka every year is 2 million shi.

  So, the Japanese call Osaka "the kitchen of the world".

  As long as Osaka is captured, Japan's grain can be controlled. Even if the shogunate organizes a large army, grain transportation is still a big problem.

   The Osaka Castle built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi was destroyed in the Battle of Osaka.

  Now the castle was rebuilt by the Tokugawa shogunate, and the garrison... just over a thousand.

  When the Datong army landed at the port, the Japanese defenders began to react. Their troops are weak, but they dare not recruit ronin temporarily. With the lessons learned from Tsurumaru Castle last year, the Japanese nobles now have great distrust of ronin.

   It is normal to distrust ronin. There are 100,000 ronin living in Osaka, many of whom make a living by doing odd jobs. They have long harbored resentment towards the shogunate.

  Seeing that the Datong Army came to kill them, hundreds of wanderers came to vote that day, just to make a living with the Datong Army.

   "Don't be in a hurry to attack the city, control the industrial and commercial districts of the castle town." Said the division commander Han Shouxin. He has a scar on his neck, which was left when he attacked the Tartar city. At that time, there were more than ten wounds all over his body, and he passed out due to excessive blood loss, and his tibia was broken by the Tatars.

  Thousands of Datong troops dispersed, each with 150 people in a team, blocking all streets in the industrial and commercial district.

  The industrial and commercial people in Osaka were first afraid, afraid that the Datong army would burn, kill and loot. Then I was puzzled, because the Datong Army only blocked the passage, and did not rush into the workshops and shops to rob.

  The next step is to post a notice, the content is very simple: During the war, no commercial activities are allowed.

   "Master, there are Japanese merchants asking to see you!"

   "Bring him here."

  A Japanese young man in his thirties cupped his hands and said, "Sumitomo Tomonobu, I pay my respects to the General."

  Han Shouxin asked: "What's the matter with you?"

  Sumitomo said: "General, please don't attack the city first, and I will go to Edo and ask the shogunate to open the sea."

  Han Shouxin smiled and said, "You don't need to go, there are also heavenly soldiers in Edo."

  Sumitomo Tomoshin was at a loss for words for a while, and then sighed: "At this time, fighting can be turned into jade, and there is really no need to fight each other."

   "What kind of business do you do?" Han Shouxin asked.

Sumitomo replied: "Copper, silver, cloth, silk, sugar, traditional Chinese medicine... I do all kinds of business. One-third of the copper ingots Japan sells to China come from my Sumitomo family. One-seventh of the silver shipped from Japan to China One came from my Sumitomo's house."

  This Sumitomo family is the predecessor of the Sumitomo Foundation and the main steel supplier for the Japanese invaders.

  The prosperity of the Sumitomo family stems from Mr. Baishui's teaching of silver extraction, which is the technology of extracting silver from copper and silver mines (before the Japanese only knew how to extract copper). This belongs to the mature technology of Ming Dynasty, and Mr. Baishui is Chinese.

  The Sumitomo family moved to Osaka. In order to gain a firm foothold, they directly disclosed the silver-drawing technique, which was accepted by Osaka businessmen.

   Today, the Sumitomo family is also supported by the shogunate, providing raw materials such as silver and copper for the shogunate coinage.

  Han Shouxin said: "You are a businessman, don't mess around with things. After Japan opens the sea, you businessmen can earn more."

   "That's how it is." Sumitomo Tomoshin immediately apologized, but in fact he was complaining incessantly.

  He has a good relationship with the shogunate, and the Sumitomo family is a monopoly. For them, opening the sea has only disadvantages and no benefits at all. They urged the shogunate to strictly investigate smuggling, and the Sumitomo family also put a lot of effort behind it.

  But I never thought that the shogunate locked the country last year, and the heavenly soldiers will arrive this year.

   To be honest, Sumitomo Shin has already regretted it. Monopolies hate invasion wars, unless they are attacking other countries.

   "Stay in the army and watch the battle." Han Shouxin didn't let him go because the opponent was a big copper and silver merchant.

  Sumitomo Yuxin slept in the barracks for one night, and followed Han Shouxin the next day and walked towards Osaka Castle.

   With a face full of doubts, he saw the Datong Army measure the wind direction and speed.

   While setting up the artillery positions, twelve hot air balloons lifted off.

  The hot air balloon dragged a long rope, slowly drifted across the moat, and arrived at the sky above Osaka Castle to adjust its position.

   "Boom boom boom!"

  Sumitomo Nobuo was stunned by the sound of the explosion. Those hot air balloons actually threw flower bombs into the city.

   Immediately afterwards, three artillery positions fired at Osaka Castle at the same time.

  For the Datong Army, Osaka Castle is better than Tsurumaru Castle in Kagoshima. The terrain here is relatively flat, and the artillery and hot air balloons are very well arranged.

  One thousand Osaka defenders faced the bombing of hot air balloons and the parallel shooting of artillery. The outer city walls on the southeast sides soon dared not stand anymore.

  The observation balloon played a semaphore, and Han Shouxin immediately ordered the infantry to attack the city.

   Without any effort, the Datong army occupied the outer city.

  The next step is still the same routine, first let the hot air balloon to bomb.

   There were already few defenders, and they hadn't fought for decades, and their morale had already collapsed at this moment.

  In Sumitomo's opinion, the sturdy Osaka Castle can last at least two or three months. But when he met the Datong Army, he only persisted for less than a day.

   "The people of Tang are really invincible!"

  Sumitomo Tomobu was scared out of his wits. He originally wanted to go to the shogunate, but now he plans to cooperate with the Chinese army.

  Don’t dare to cooperate publicly, but it is still possible to provide support in private. You must have a good relationship with the Chinese military. As for Kaihai, although it is not good for the Sumitomo family, it is obviously irreversible.

  (end of this chapter)