Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 340 Battle of Kyushu ([-])

The Shimadzu family acted quickly, and sent the armament as a ransom early the next morning.

According to the agreement, Shimadzu needs to pay 5 sets for the redemption of 2 BMWs, 2 collars, 2 sets of knives, and 2 swords for the high-level samurai, and 6 sets of 2 collars and 2 katana swords for the ashigaru general. A total of 438 iron cannons were converted from the discounts of the ashigaru and the ashigaru generals.

It's okay to say that the iron cannon is not much else in the Shimadzu family, and the configuration of the iron cannon can be said to be second to none in Kyushu.

But being able to gather so many horses and horses in such a short period of time is either due to the excellent logistics of the Shimadzu family, or because Yoshihiro Shimadzu used military funds to buy them directly from the samurai in the formation.

These are just ransoms to buy the lives of the captured soldiers of the Shimadzu Army. When they were captured, they had all their possessions and weapons already confiscated. When they were released, only the most meaningful thing was allowed to be taken away.

In addition to the redemption funds for the soldiers, in order to ensure that the Hide family would not chase after the Shimadzu family when they retreated, the Shimadzu family paid an additional 1 kan of military funds.

Xiujia wanted the Shimadzu family to directly discount the military rations, but Yoshihiro Shimadzu refused.At this critical time in the war, military rations must be more important than money. It is not easy for Shimadzu to redeem people with military equipment.

Xiujia was playing with an iron cannon sent by the Shimadzu family, and he touched the muzzle lightly and found that there was gunpowder residue. Xiujia knew very well that the gunpowder must be a weapon that had already been used.

This use does not include the test firing after the casting is completed, but the residue caused by many shootings on the battlefield and the lack of time to clean the barrel because the battlefield rhythm is too fast.

And perhaps in order not to show surrender to Shi, the Shimadzu family actually used straw ropes to weave these iron cannons in groups of 6 and handed them to the Hide family without the wooden boxes in which the iron cannons were placed.

Holding an iron cannon in his hand, Xiujia turned sideways and said to Xiaowa Jiuhu: "Zuo Majie, the iron cannons you sent over are different from what I expected. These iron cannons can even be said to be battle-hardened Already."

Yingwa Jiuhu followed behind the Xiu family, still maintaining his iconic smile and replied, "Your Highness is in a hurry, so you should think about the quality of these weapons, and isn't this what His Highness expected? This is to relieve the situation." The family's armed forces."

When Xiujia heard Yingwa Jiuhu's answer, he turned his head and glanced at him, with a slight smile on the corner of his mouth. He liked this guy more and more, and it was comfortable to talk to smart people.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi had the help of Takenaka Shigeharu and Kuroda Takataka in the history of his fortune. Tokugawa Ieyasu had the help of Honda Masanobu on his way to conquer the world. On the other hand, there is no think tank around Hideyoshi who can talk to him.

Whether it is Yu Xijia or Xiujia himself, when encountering problems, Xiujia can only think and solve them by himself. I don't know whether this method will be effective. Xiujia has had no brains around him for a long time.

Although this guy lost his face yesterday, Xiujia had already thought about it and wanted to recruit him from Shimadzu Yoshihiro.

The Xiu family shouted an order to the samurai who actually inspected the supplies, "Look carefully. Although the reusable iron cannons of the Shimadzu family are also acceptable, if there are obvious damage or unusable ones, they must be picked out for delivery." They make up again.

And those war horses, all pulled out for a run, carefully looked at all the weapons and guns, and returned all the wrong heads to let them re-deliver. "

After hearing the Xiu family's order, Jiwa Jiuhu said from the side, "Your Highness is really careful, but I think these are all His Highness's worries. Head of Hyogo is firm about the idea of ​​​​retiring the army and will definitely not do this again." Things make trouble."

But as soon as the words fell, I heard a warrior on the side holding an iron cannon and said to the Xiu family, "Your Highness, there seems to be an iron cannon here that has no firing mechanism, and it uses a lead wire."

Xiujia took over the iron cannon from him. This iron cannon was indeed a circle larger than ordinary iron cannons, and it was a bit heavy to hold in the hand. The muzzle and walls were thicker than ordinary iron cannons.

As the surveying samurai said, the rear firing of this iron gun did not use the fuse firing method used by the European-style Vulcan barrel, but the Ming-made fuse to ignite, and the fuse he used was also different. .

Holding the iron cannon, Xiujia turned back to Ying Wa Jiuhu and said, "What did Zuo Matou just say? Don't you think you're here now? I think you need to stay here for a few more days."

Yingwa Jiuhu took the iron cannon from Xiu's family, looked at it, and replied calmly, "I don't think so, Your Highness. This iron cannon is called a big iron cannon. It was made by my family with reference to the iron cannon of the Ming Dynasty, and it was fired." The projectile is larger and more powerful, and the iron cannon handed over by the family is actually a profit for His Royal Highness."

After listening to the answer of Nai Wa Jiuhu, Hideka observed it carefully for a while, and combined with the historical knowledge in his mind, he was sure that this was the enlarged version of the iron cannon officially called "Ishihiya" by the Kinki area and later generations of Japan.

In Xiu’s memory, this kind of iron cannon is a miniature version of the European cannon. It is a weapon made by the people of Kyushu on the basis of iron cannon casting. It is a compromise for the inability to manufacture European cannons.

This kind of small cannon could not have been made by the Shimadzu family. In the entire Kyushu, only the Otomo family, which is deeply bound to the Southern barbarians, has experience in making such things. It seems that it was seized from the Otomo family.

Regardless of whether this thing is an enlarged version of the iron cannon or a reduced version of the cannon, it is taken for granted that the power and shooting of this thing are somewhere in between.

In fact, due to the scarcity of copper mines in Kyushu, most of these stone fire arrows are cast with iron that is consistent with iron cannons, rather than bronze/brass for European artillery at this time.

I don’t know if Japan’s technology tree is a little early or a little crooked. Before the appearance of Krupp gun steel in 1860, in the past when the ductility of composite metal and iron metal could not be solved, the artillery made of iron was simply a disaster. .

Casting a cannon is not like making a flat iron weapon. The air bubbles in the metal and the unique hardness of steel will become the culprit of the cannon cracking when the cavity is under pressure. Once the cannon is broken from the inside, it will be Commonly known as bombed.

Due to the internal volume of the iron cannon (Vulcan gun), the chamber pressure it bears is not enough to make the gun body explode (except for rough manufacture), but it is hard to tell when it reaches the artillery level.

For hundreds of years after the invention of the musket, scientists in the East and Europe have been trying to use cheaper iron to cast the gun body, but they have not been able to solve this problem.

On this point, the soldiers have the most say. They even prefer to use knives to fight hand-to-hand, and they firmly refuse to use steel cannons to shoot.

Even in 1855, both the British Army and Navy refused to use the newly developed Armstrong cannon, preferring to use the old front-mounted bronze cannon, which is why Japan at the same time could use this epoch-making advanced weapon so quickly.

In the first few models of the Armstrong gun, not only was the airtightness not enough, the range was not as good as that of the front-loading gun, and even because of the steel gun, it also needed to face the risk of bombing.

In other words, Japanese lives were worthless at the same time, otherwise who would use this kind of artillery?
In Samurai Falls, the Armstrong Cannon is a higher-level artillery than the Palot Field Cannon, which needs to be upgraded to Artillery Battalion Level 3 to be recruited.

But in history, the price of the Parott field gun purchased by Japan in the same period was 1.5 times that of the Armstrong gun. The Parott field gun is stronger than the Armstrong gun in terms of range and power, and it does not have to face the risk of bombing.

That is to say, the Armstrong gun is faster than the Armstrong gun in terms of rate of fire because of the rear loading.

But how do you say that?It is easy to explode the chamber, the faster it shoots, the faster it explodes.

If it was in the past before the cannon was cast, the Xiu family might have obtained such a stone fire arrow as a treasure and used it as a temporary replacement.

But the Xiu family is now able to cast a 6-pound bronze cannon by itself, and has a stable source of copper, so they naturally look down on this "backward" weapon.

The Xiu family also knew in their hearts that if this thing was really so useful, the Shimadzu family would have hid it as a treasure long ago, so how could they throw it to themselves like garbage.

The Xiu family threw it on the ground casually, and said to the samurai under him, "Everyone, look carefully, pick out all these big iron cannons, and let the Shimadzu family take them back later, saying that the number is not enough to reassemble, and This time it will be a punitive new iron cannon."

Hideka's actions were beyond the expectation of Kuwajita, and now daimyos everywhere in Japan are setting off a wind of innovation, and they are curious about new things, especially about things like armaments.

When the Shimadzu family seized several stone fire arrows from Otomo's house, the whole family circled around it like looking at a diorama.And Xiujia happened to be at an age full of curiosity, how could he not be interested in this new iron cannon?
Could it be that this young daimyo, the hero who developed Yuxi family into a million stones, is actually a conservative samurai?
Who would want to say what the Xiu family said next, which shocked him even more.

Xiujia replied casually, "Iron cannons are not used by dogs."

Although he didn't understand what it meant, he knew from his contemptuous tone that he hadn't been fooled by him.

"Could it be that this daimyo has tried casting Shihuoya in private? Do you know his strengths and weaknesses?" Looking at the boy in front of him, Jiuhu became more curious about him, "How many secrets does this boy still have? I don't know?" He thought in his heart.

The samurai under him were counting the supplies sent by the Shimadzu's family, and the Hideka led his baby Jiuhu to the side, and asked him curiously, "Did you really see clearly what you said in the palace yesterday? "

"Your Highness is talking about the matter between you and His Highness Guan Bai?" Ying Wa Jiuhu asked back, and after seeing Xiujia nodding in response, he replied with a smile, "I didn't confirm it at first, but I saw His Highness was about to speak yesterday, but he didn't know what to say." Judging from the fact that he hastily agreed to negotiate a peace with our family, His Highness should have already encountered this situation."

Xiujia looked at the man in front of him in surprise. He didn't expect to be scammed by him yesterday. At the same time, he asked curiously, "Then when did you think of this relationship? If I firmly asked you to quit yesterday, Bungo, and not afraid of your threats, will you speak up?"

Hearing Xiujia's question, Jiwa Jiuhu looked away from his gaze and thought for a moment, then replied, "Actually, after receiving the mission from Head of Hyogo yesterday, I felt the arduousness of the mission. road.

After seeing His Highness's grade, I thought about His Highness's experience and identity, so I decided to take a risk, but I didn't expect to be caught in my arms.As for the situation His Highness mentioned, does His Highness think I will say it? "

The question was thrown back to Xiu's family. Xiu's family had actually recovered from yesterday's panic, and firmly gave the answer that she had thought about last night, "You will never."

"Oh? And why?"

"The first point, the reason why a secret is a secret is naturally that keeping him mysterious is the most deterrent.

The second point, since you said that these are all your speculations, it proves that you have no evidence, and your categorical statement will not bring any advantage to the military discussion.

On the contrary, I had to reject your conditions at that time, and I had to execute you to save the face of His Royal Highness Guan Bai and me, and even more so, I had to attack the Shimadzu family desperately to prove my innocence. "

Yingwa Jiuhu looked at Xiujia with admiring eyes, and praised Xiujia, "Your highness now is much smarter than the highness yesterday."

"It's just a fan of the authorities." Xiujia responded with a smile, "I didn't expect to practice eagles for a hundred days, but I was pecked by an eagle one day."

"Oh? Could it be that my choice at the time was not in the hands of His Highness? I'm afraid His Highness is also very anxious about how to let the family go. Isn't everyone happy now?"

Yingwa Jiuhu originally thought that his answer would be in line with what Xiujia thought in his heart. This was also a very confident answer he gave by summarizing what Xiujia said today. Negative.

"Not everyone is happy, because you are still under the command of the Shimadzu family, how can you make me feel at ease?"

The Xiu family's meaningful answer made Yan Wa Jiuhu's heart tighten. He was afraid that the Xiu family would repent and would not let him go back, but on the surface he still pretended to be calm and said, "Your Highness is so wise and mighty, and the army of Biqian is brave and fearless. Why should the Shimadzu family care about His Royal Highness?"

"The Shimadzu family still has some strength, especially after having a retainer like you." The Hide family looked straight at Yuwa Hisutora, and replied slowly, "Without you, the offensive against Shimadzu will definitely be successful." Much smoother."

Ying Wa Jiuhu laughed dryly, "I didn't expect that I have such a high status in His Highness's heart, it's really an honor for His Majesty.

But even if His Highness keeps me, it’s useless. The Shimadzu family has pillars like Hyogotou (Shimadzu Yoshihiro), and capable ministers like Sobesuke (Ijuin Tadato) and Uenosuke (Kawakami Tadakura) , the Shimadzu family still will not fall. "

Hearing Yingwa Jiuhu's answer, Xiujia's perception of him shifted again, and he began to mutter in his heart: "Does this person really have the wisdom he thinks? Why does he even answer such a simple question?" would be wrong."

So the Xiu family asked him again: "So you think the Shimadzu family will win this battle, and does His Highness Guan Bai's battle of Kyushu fail?"

Hearing Xiujia asked this question, Jiwa Jiuhu avoided Xiujia's eyes again, and the soldiers who were busy going down the city replied with a heavy heart, "On the contrary, I knew from the very beginning that this is a war. A losing war."

(End of this chapter)