1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 740 Chrysanthemum and Sword ([-])

April 1658, 4, Kyushu, Aira.

Many serious social contradictions arose during the establishment of the shogunate system, one of which was the ronin problem (referring to samurai who lost their lord, knowledge or salary, and separated from the feudal master-servant relationship).The root cause of Ronin was the implementation of the policy of separation of soldiers from peasants.Of course, factors such as war, change of daimyo title, and reduction of title are also directly related to the existence of the ronin problem.Especially after the Battle of Sekigahara, there were large-scale personnel changes in the daimyo, and the total number of ronin produced reached as many as 50.

Many samurai refused to give up their samurai ambitions, dreaming that one day they could become princes of a country and a city with military exploits.However, in order to strengthen its own rule, the Tokugawa shogunate strictly controlled and suppressed many ronin.In addition to forcibly expelling ronin in several major cities in the country, the "Samurai Laws" was promulgated in 1635, prohibiting ronin from serving as officials, and then implemented a registration system for ronin throughout the country to strengthen the management of ronin.Ronin were even banned from lodging in temples and samurai mansions.

These measures are fundamentally aimed at weeding out dangerous individuals who are outside the rank system of scholars, farmers, businessmen and commerce.In this way, among the ronin who lived in poverty, endured high pressure from the shogunate, and still hoped to revive Wumen, there would naturally be a dangerous atmosphere that was about to move.

In 1652, a group of ronin planned to set fire to the city when Mrs. Tokugawa Hidetada's funeral was held at Zojo-ji Temple, taking advantage of the chaos to assassinate the old man and rob gold and silver treasures.Such a blatant attempt to rebel shocked the shogunate, and even increased the control of ronin.

However, there are still some ronin who choose to take risks when they are in dire straits in the country, and avoid going overseas to seek a living security for themselves and their families.However, in Japan, under the strict lock-up order, except for members of the visiting delegation occasionally sent to Daming and North Korea, if the Japanese go out to areas other than the Ryukyu Islands, they will be executed after returning home.

It is for this reason that the recruited loyal soldiers of the Qi State express their loyalty and Chicheng to the Qi State so resolutely.Without him, because they have already stepped out of the country, there is no other way to go except to swear allegiance to the "patriarch" of Qi State to the death.Of course, you can also choose to go to sea to be a pirate, but in those precarious days, there is no comparable treatment for the loyal army with sufficient logistical support.

Sou Iwasawa and the others were lying on a mountain ridge, poking their heads out, staring at the Satsuma army passing by below, silently checking the number of people in their hearts.

"About 5000 people?" Ohashi Ichiro whispered.

"Well, about 5000 people." Sosuke Iwasawa nodded, then motioned to several companions, and slowly climbed out of the observation point.When they retreated to the dense mountain and forest, several people immediately ran wildly and quickly walked through the forest.

After running for more than 50 minutes, several people came to a slope, panting heavily.Within a few hundred meters of the hillside, there have been more than a dozen piles of firewood piled up, about [-] meters apart.

"Raise the fire!" Sou Iwasawa took out the fire fold from his arms, approached a fire, and lit it.

In a moment, five beacon fires rose up, emitting a thick column of smoke, straight into the sky.

"Order Ikemoto of the former army to slow down and march carefully, so as not to be ambushed by the enemy." The commander of the Satsuma army and the old Shimadzu Hisaichi watched the beacon fire suddenly rising from the mountains, and his heart suddenly became nervous.Immediately summoned a samurai messenger and asked him to rush to the position of the front army, and notified Kensuke Ikemoto's more than [-] forwards to carefully investigate the situation ahead, and be vigilant for the main army.

"My lord, we have found out two days ago that there are less than 2000 soldiers in the first part of the Qi army wandering in Aira, which is less than half of our army. For this reason, we should make a quick assault, kill the enemy army, and gather them together." And annihilate them." Shimadzu Hideyuki frowned and said: "Slowly advancing like this, isn't it enough time for the enemy to escape by boat!"

"How do you know that the Qi army has less than [-]?" Shimadzu Hisaichi glanced at the other party, "You know, the Qi army has the advantage of boats and ships, so they can choose a place to land on the coast, and they can Hide your whereabouts and sneak to Aira, waiting for our army to arrive."

"Even if the Qi army has tens of thousands of people, so what?" Shimadzu Hideyuki said proudly: "My Shimadzu clan's loyal and brave warriors are enough to fight against ten, plus this is fighting for the mainland of our Satsuma domain. With the same enemy, we should be able to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop."

"Since the Qi army dares to lead troops to attack and land on the territory of our Satsuma domain, we must hold it. We are entrusted by the lord, so we need to be cautious." Shimadzu Jiutong said solemnly: "Xiuxing is the one who is close to the lord. People, be even more careful, and don't have the attitude of underestimating the enemy."

"There is nothing wrong with being cautious, but if you walk slowly like this, I am afraid that you will not be able to reach Aira at night, so you are not afraid that the enemy will sneak attack our army at night?" Shimadzu Hideyuki shook his head and said.You know, Kagoshima is only more than [-] miles away from Aira, starting from dawn to noon now, it hasn't even covered a third of the way.

"It is said that the Qi army has a lot of firearms. If we fight at night, it will be to my advantage. What I am afraid of is that the Qi army will gather a large army to trap our Satsuma army in a desperate situation and wipe them out."

"If the Qi army really gathers a large army in Aira, is it possible that we have to withdraw to Kagoshima?"

"That's natural."

"This is cowardice!" Shimadzu Hideyuki stared at Hisazuki Shimadzu with fire in his eyes, "For a samurai, this is tantamount to running away on the battlefield, and it is a kind of tarnish to the samurai's reputation!"

"Hideyuki Shimadzu! I am the commander of the army appointed by my lord, and I have the right to arbitrarily decide the battle." Hisamichi Shimadzu tightly held the long knife under his ribs with his right hand, "Everyone, etc., must obey my orders. Battle On the battlefield, only by winning can you get the glory that a warrior deserves!"

Shimadzu Hideyuki stared fiercely at Hisazuki Shimadzu, bent down and bowed deeply to him for a moment, then walked towards the front of the team without saying a word.

"For hundreds of years, no foreign enemy has been able to invade our Japan. Today, it is a shame for us warriors to invade our territory of the Satsuma domain for a small remote southern country!" Looking at the several beacon fires burning on the mountains, his right hand was tightly clutching the handle of the knife, and a look of perseverance and anger flashed in his eyes.
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"At the speed of the Satsuma army, I am afraid they will not arrive here until tomorrow. Do we need to temporarily lift the combat alert?" A combat staff officer asked.

"Do you think that the Satsuma Army will deliberately dawdle during the day, but at night, they suddenly march here and catch us by surprise?" He Yunfeng, the commander of the coalition army and Lieutenant Zhaoxin (Colonel), pondered for a moment and asked leisurely .

"...Well, this possibility is not ruled out. After all, the Satsuma army is fighting in the local area, and they should be very familiar with the geographical conditions of this place. Maybe they will rush in from a certain path overnight and kill our army's garrison." Several combat staff officers exchanged opinions. After looking at it, he nodded and said, "Then we need to send more scouts to investigate ahead, so that we should be able to detect the nighttime actions of Satsuma."

"Let's make arrangements. If there are more than [-] troops marching in a hurry at night, there must be a lot of movement. Sprinkle more scouts on the mountains and highlands along the way and observe carefully."

"Yes, sir!"

"The two Ming armies at the rear also need to send someone to remind them that they must be careful at night. Although they are stationed on the other side of the river, they should also pay attention to their backs. Maybe there will be some unruly Japanese warriors. Yes. They attacked."

Aira Town is a town with more than 2000 people. It is close to the sea in the southeast, and two rivers are four or five miles apart. They surround the town and flow into the sea.In the other directions of the town, there are continuous mountains, making the area a relatively closed geographical unit, with only a few narrow valley roads leading to the outside.

Therefore, after the careful investigation and selection of more than a dozen intelligence and combat staff officers, the coalition forces decided to set this place as a predetermined battlefield, lure the Satsuma army to attack, and then encircle and annihilate them here, creating favorable conditions for the later attack on Kagoshima. condition.

As for whether the Satsuma clan will attack, the coalition forces are not worried at all. They can continue to divide their forces to raid towns and villages in the Satsuma clan, and continue to put more pressure on the Shimadzu clan who has gathered heavy troops in Kagoshima.

Previously, after breaking through several towns, towns and villages in a row, the officers and soldiers of the coalition forces found that the settlements of the residents in the Satsuma Domain had indeed "strictly" implemented the "One Country, One City Order" promulgated by the Tokugawa Shogunate, and none of the cities and towns in the territory had been built. , the outer defense is just a thin wooden fence, or a low earth wall.This point of defense, not to mention dealing with the Qi army armed to the teeth, even the officers and soldiers of the Ming army who came to help punches, are also happy to see it, this **** is completely undefended!

Therefore, for more than half a month, the officers and soldiers of the coalition forces have really experienced what it means to be in the land of no one, and have enjoyed the joy of easy looting.Although there were many brave warriors in the towns and villages that were attacked, they quickly turned into cold corpses under the fire of muskets, bows and arrows.

The Qi army has always been known for its proficiency in combat and strict military discipline in the territory of the Ming Dynasty. These Ming troops who came along with them were originally worried that they would be restrained and controlled by the Qi army during the looting process, but they did not expect that those Han men in gray uniforms The Xingdao township soldiers used even more brutal methods. They not only tortured the captured Satsuma soldiers in every possible way, but also wantonly massacred Japanese civilians, insulted women, and set fire to houses, just like a bandit army.On weekdays, the military police responsible for maintaining military discipline and order simply verbally reprimanded and kicked them, but did not forcefully stop them.

Later, the officers and soldiers of the Ming army learned that these Hanxing Island soldiers were angry at the atrocities committed by the Satsuma Army on Ryukyu Island and Yutou Island, so they took this act of revenge.Not to mention that during the war, more than 100 businessmen and guards from the Qi Kingdom on Ryukyu Island were slaughtered, and more than a thousand unarmed immigrants captured on Yutou Island were also massacred by the Satsuma army. Women were tortured and insulted in every possible way.This made the township soldiers, all of immigrant origin, deeply hate them, so they wanted to redouble their revenge.

Since the township soldiers under the Qi State were so unscrupulous, the Zheng Sen and Gu Rong Ming troops who came along with them naturally had no restraint, looting and slaughtering the people in the Satsuma domain.

Separately, coalition forces received fresh reinforcements a week earlier.Luzon General Administration District and Qi State's vassal Weiguo (formerly Luzon Yizhou Town Force) sent three warships and more than 700 musketeers to Hanxing Island. After a few days of rest, they rushed to mobilize The more than [-] township soldiers and the remaining loyal troops were all sent to the temporary camp of the coalition forces on Sakurajima.This brought the size of the coalition troops to more than [-] people, which made the Qi army more confident and prepared to annihilate part of the Satsuma army first, and then attack Kagoshima.

On April 4th, from 14:[-] am to [-]:[-] am, the coalition headquarters successively discovered several rocket flares fired from the southwest direction of Aira. The dazzling flames streaked across the night sky, indicating that the Satsuma army was indeed marching at night and preparing to raid the coalition defenses. station.The Qi army and the Ming army immediately began to mobilize. According to the pre-war plan, they set up defenses in the northwest and northeast of Aira respectively, and set up their nets to wait.

At [-] o'clock in the morning, the passionate assembly call sounded in the camp. More than [-] officers and soldiers of the Marine Corps and Hanxing Island township soldiers quickly assembled into a queue, and then stopped solemnly in a deserted rice field. A farm ox dragged the artillery, and began to arrange artillery positions on a high slope. The scouts kept reporting the location of the Satsuma army and the preparations of other units of the coalition army to the combat staff. Afterwards, the staff said one by one The small flag of the enemy's situation is inserted in a simple sand table.

Several Ming army liaison officers watched the busy Qi army staff set up the sand table in the tent and conveyed various combat commands, while watching the commander-in-chief of the coalition army and several battalion commanders drinking tea and chatting leisurely.These two very contrasting pictures made several Ming army liaison officers secretly slander.The leading general of the Qi army did not personally make battle deployments during the war, but relied on more than a dozen small staff officers to make the arrangements. Why do you think it is a bit unreliable!

Is it a little too big?

"Sir!" A combat staff officer walked to He Yunfeng's side.

"Everything is ready?"

"The ministries are in place, all ready."

"The [-]rd Battalion of the Marine Corps, the Jizi Battalion of the Self-Rescue Army, the Gengzi Battalion, the Shenzi Battalion, the [-]st Battalion of Weiguo, and the three squadrons of the Changshan Island Township Soldiers and the Zhongyi Army. After the battle started, quickly penetrate behind the Satsuma army and cut off their escape route back to Kagoshima. This is the key to completely annihilating the Satsuma army, and there must be no mistakes."

"The commander-in-chief of the blocking force and the commander of the third battalion reported that he was fully prepared and would not let the Satsuma army escape back to Kagoshima alone."

"How long will the guest arrive?"

"The hunters have already fought against the striker of the Satsuma domain, killing more than 3 people, and our army has no casualties....The guests estimate that they will arrive at my place in [-] to [-] minutes."

"After driving all night, the Satsuma army must be very tired." He Yunfeng smiled, "I guess they would have their breakfast casually on the road....Okay, everyone will go back and make final preparations to welcome us." The guests are coming."

"Yes, sir." Several battalion commanders saluted, then turned around and walked towards their respective combat areas.

(End of this chapter)