Prime Minister Bizen

Chapter 381
The reason why the Xiu family sought Kamei Tomoki was very simple, he was the next candidate for the Xiu family to train and bring in the elders.

He is a member of the Reform Party, and he has carefully observed the globe in Hideka's room with Shinya Shimizu and others, and has a basic understanding of world geography.

Other than that, it's just some bad fun.

Historically, when Hashiba Hideyoshi returned to China, he was awarded the official position of Izumo Shou because of his meritorious service in negotiating peace with the Mori family.But Kamei hoped that Hidejien would reward him with foreign territories, so Hashiba Hideyoshi granted him the official position of Ryukyu.

The official position of Ryukyu Shou is not included in the Japanese law system, and it is a new official position specially created by Hideyoshi.

Before conquering the dynasty, he was also granted the official position of Taizhou Shou (Taizhou, Zhejiang), intending to entrust him there after assessing the Ming Dynasty.

It was only later that the imperial conquest failed, and Kamei Tomoki's official position was changed back to Musashi Shou.

At this time, the Ryukyu Kingdom should be the most powerful time, but even so, it was still pacified by the Shimadzu family with 3000 soldiers, 600 iron cannons, and 100 ships. This shows that the military strength of the Ryukyu Kingdom is not strong.

However, the territory of Ryukyu itself is not small. In the 18th year of Keicho, the Shimadzu family reported a total of 12 koku, of which 89 koku belonged to the Ryukyu country, and 086 koku belonged to the territory of the Ryukyu country that Shimadzu invaded.

During the period of the Tokugawa Shogunate when the world was at peace, the Shimadzu family was much stronger than many daimyos at this time by virtue of being able to expand their territory southward.

12 shi, the Zhixing leader, seems to be rare, but even if it is placed in the ranking of Japanese daimyos, it is already a very small number of existences at the level of national holding daimyos.

However, Ryukyu is different from Hokkaido. The Northern Expedition to Ezo has basically stagnated since the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In the eyes of most Japanese, Ezo is a bitter and cold land where food cannot be grown and it is worthless land.

You must know that when Osaki Kihiro surrendered to Hideyoshi after the Battle of Odaenen, the territory of Hokkaido he claimed was not knowledgeable. For this reason, Hideyoshi generously gave him 5000 koku land in Olu, so that he could become a Some income, and granted him the privilege of taking all the land.

During the period of the Tokugawa shogunate, the family status of the Oysterzaki family also gradually increased from Hakchen-Banner-1 shige to 3 shige. It can be seen that the original Oysterzaki family was not even a big name, while Japan The rulers of Hokkaido despised Hokkaido to the bone.

But don't think about it, if Ezo really can't grow land, how did the Oysterzaki family survive there for 7 generations, how could they mobilize about 400/500 troops, and what would they eat?

Let's talk about Ryukyu.

This piece of land has long been recognized by Japan, which can be seen from the official position of the Ryukyu Shou that Kamei Tomoki asked Hideyoshi in history.

In addition, Satsuma and Osumi in Kyushu are not far from Ryukyu, and even Hideka’s fleet going to Ryukyu has to make a turnaround at Tanegashima in Osumi. It is impossible to hide Ryukyu.

So why does Xiujia want to take such painstaking efforts to attack Ryukyu?

Because Ryukyu is located in a subtropical maritime climate zone, it is warm like spring all year round.

This is the most suitable place in Japan to grow sugar cane. With the sugar cane show home, it can be used to boil sugar.I need not say much about what the economic status of sugar meant in the sixteenth century.

Although the Xiu family planted beets in Ezo, they were able to extract brown sugar from beets, but after all, the geographical environment was limited, and the sugar content of beets was not as high as that of sugar cane.

As a result, all the brown sugar produced in Ezo in the past year was sold to Nanban merchants and Ming merchants, only to make a profit of 3/4 guan.

But occupying Ryukyu is different. The Xiu family can plant sugar cane on a large scale to extract sucrose. The sugar industry alone has always been able to bring the Xiu family an income of [-] guan.

Now is the era of great voyages. How can it be done if, like the Japanese, they only focus on the grain output on the land?

"Taking advantage of the fact that Kyushu is currently being established and the local forces of Satsuma Osumi have no time to look south, you lead people to conquer the Ryukyu Kingdom and capture all the 36 islands in their three provinces.

This trip belongs to the ocean voyage, so it is meaningless to take Xiaozao out. You only need to take the 120 ships of Guan Ship, Anzhai Ship and Qianshi Ship to sail.

In addition to your own troops, I also allow you to bring Jingaobei, Jinshanbei and Huoqibei, a battalion of iron gun battalion and a battalion of artillery battalion, a total of about 4500 people to go out.

As far as I know, the Ryukyu Kingdom has about 5000 troops, but because it is separated on multiple islands, except for the slightly larger number of people on the main island, the other islands should not encounter much resistance.

Moreover, their own equipment is extremely backward, and they still use weapons such as stone spears. Even the iron swords are imported from the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that after you captured Shuri Castle, the capital of the Ryukyu King, you wiped out all the spoken words about the local nobles' reluctance to surrender, but you need to stay and entertain their royal family. "

Hearing such a strange request from Xiujia, Kamei Tomoki asked curiously: "Why?"

Hearing Kamei Tomoki ask the reason, Xiujia also confided his worries to him, "in order to control Ryukyu under the control of our family, and to prevent the Ming Dynasty on the other side from sending troops to intervene."

You must know that the Ming Dynasty at this time is still using the world's strongest navy. Although the battle has been sparse for a long time, and many water boats have not been repaired all year round, you should never underestimate the opponent's ability to make up his mind to do one thing.

Ryukyu is registered as a vassal state of daimyo. If the news that the Xiu family captured Ryukyu and slaughtered the Ryukyu royal family is sent back to the Ming Dynasty, this will give the Ming Dynasty a good excuse to send troops to intervene, and it may directly destroy the Ryukyu County. Countyized.

Even the fearsome Xiu family of the Ming army didn't want to get angry with the Ming army so early.

You must know that the Zhejiang-Fujian navy and the Qi family army alone are not something the Xiu family can deal with. After all, the Xiu family's territory is in the hinterland of Japan, and it is still far away from Ryukyu. The Xiu family does not have the confidence to defeat the Ming army.

The most important thing is that the Ming Dynasty has ample national strength and can afford it. Even if it loses once or twice, it can make a comeback. Every time the Xiu family supports Ryukyu, they need to go all out. If they lose the battle, they will be hurt.

And the second reason is to control Ryukyu under his own control.

Just imagine what would happen if the Xiu family sent troops to conquer Ryukyu by themselves, and then reported it to Hideyoshi in the name of the newly expanded Zhixing collar? (As I said before, it is absolutely impossible for the Xiu family to keep things about Ryukyu a secret.)
Hideyoshi will praise Hideka, and then ask Hideka why he attacked other countries at will.

You must know that it is the right of the people in the world to raise troops and conquer chaos. As Hideyoshi's vassal, why should Hideo attack other forces outside of Japan?
Then Hideyoshi can use this name to directly offset his merits and demerits, and he himself transferred the title of daimyo to go to Ryukyu, holding Ryukyu under his control, which became his Hideyoshi's merit.

The Xiu family occupied Ryukyu to make money, not to make wedding dresses for others at their own expense.

However, the Hide family can now only attack the Ryukyu Kingdom in the name of Ryukyu's support for Shimadzu's resistance to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. This is only a punishment for Ryukyu in name, and there is no legal basis for its annexation.

We must know that no matter what era, foreign aggression needs to declare its legitimacy internally in name, so as to facilitate the control of newly conquered territories later.

Even if the later generations are as strong as an ugly country, they have to hold up washing powder and declare that the tigers in the Middle East have weapons of mass destruction, and then wield the stick of "justice" to invade them.

It is also known that when the northern Mao Xiong attacked Ukraine, he didn't bother to find a reason, and actually made up to send troops in the name of protecting an independent country in Ukraine's own legal territory.

At the same time, if the Ryukyu royal family is retained, and then their royal family sends representatives to express tribute and surrender to Hideyoshi, this will give Hideyoshi the impression that the Ryukyu Kingdom is not easy to fight, and even the Hideka family was not defeated, but they were only forced to pay tribute.

In this way, Hideyoshi will never have the idea of ​​​​conquering Ryukyu under the premise that Japan has not yet settled down.

And Hideyoshi will inevitably accept the tribute from Ryukyu, and award him the official position of guardian of Ryukyu, so that he can guard Ryukyu in his time.

After all, for Hideyoshi, Ryukyu is a place with high mountains and far rivers, and whoever is appointed to guard it is not a guard, but just a foreign daimyo who surrendered.

At most, Xiujia will only let Ryukyu provide local specialties on a regular basis, and submit the inspection data according to the daimyo in Japan.

You must know that Ryukyu's geographical location is still some distance from the main island of Japan, and Hideyoshi will never send special personnel to inspect the territory like other countries.

The last possible operation is to follow the practice of Shimadzu and Date's family, let them inspect the land and report it themselves, and then send people to distant countries to check the actual situation of the acres in the sub-county, and reflect the real Shi Gao according to the results of the spot check.

In the case that Xiujia did not capture Ryukyu, Xiujia's war against Ryukyu only existed to the extent of expressing anger for Hideyoshi.

In Hideyoshi's eyes, not only is his son not at fault, but it is a manifestation of his true temperament, which will draw the relationship between the two of them.

In fact, the political ecology of Ryukyu was controlled by the Xiu family. In the name of the Ryukyu king, the Xiu family could recruit the samurai from the Okayama domain to cultivate, distribute their land, and make them local landlords.

There are so many samurai families in the Uki family, and many of the second and third sons have no territory. The knowledge and behavior in Japan is always limited. The Hide family sent some of the samurai descendants to Ezo and promised to give them land. It is a way to relieve pressure.

However, Ezo is bitterly cold after all, and there are not many samurai children who are willing to go there. The Xiu family can only specialize in promoting local servants and civilians to become samurai in Ezo, ruling the Koreans and Ainu instead of themselves.

But Ryukyu is different. This is the south, which is extremely warm and suitable for planting. It is the most suitable place for agricultural production in the hearts of Japanese people.

These samurai classes who have received traditional samurai education will become the most solid supporters of the Hide family in Ryukyu. They will be distributed to various parts of Ryukyu to rule the people of Ryukyu on their behalf.

You must know that Ryukyu is still slavery at this time. Not long after the abolition of human sacrifices, the people at the bottom are the wealth that the nobles can kill wantonly, and their lives are worse than death.

After the Xiu family arrives, they will bring in advanced civilization and productivity, and endow the people at the bottom with "human" rights. Although they still belong to serfs relatively speaking, they are much better than the original livestock.

And as long as the Xiu family has the knowledge of the bottom and middle class people, then the Ryukyu royal family is nothing more than a castle in the air, a canary kept in a cage by the Xiu family, and it will never be able to make waves again.

After control, the envoys sent to the Ming Dynasty and Japan could be directly replaced by Hideyoshi's retainers. Instead, Hideyoshi could give Hideyoshi a good image of changing clothes and crowns and spreading culture.

There is another purpose of controlling Ryukyu, and that is to trade with the Ming Dynasty. You must know that Japan and Ryukyu each have a seal of inspection and cooperation with the Ming Dynasty, and it is impossible for Japan, a showman, to get it.

After Toyotomi Hideyoshi took control of the world, Li Dan was also expelled from the Five Islands by him, which drove the "Ming Japanese pirates" who were stranded in Japan back to the Ming Dynasty, which escalated the banditry in the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty again.

At that time, the trade between Xiujia and Li Dan with the Ming Dynasty will be interrupted, and Japan's official survey and cooperation trade will also be cut off due to the conquest of the dynasty.

In this way, the Ryukyu country's prospecting and cooperation trade with Ming Dynasty is very precious, which means that the Xiu family can continue to trade with Ming Dynasty in the name of Ryukyu to earn income.

Under the premise that the official trade will be interrupted tomorrow, just imagine how popular the goods from the Ming Dynasty and North Korea will be in Japan, and how much profit Hideka will make by removing Li Dan, the middleman.

So to sum up, Ryukyu has long thought about attacking Xiujia, and for Xiujia, attacking Ryukyu is also a must.

"This time in the conquest of Ryukyu, you will bring all my bannermen and an additional 400 samurai children. You can ask them about their willingness to transfer Ryukyu along the way, and promise to give them land and let them become samurai.

Including Ashgaru who is directly under the Central Government, anyone who is willing to stay in Ryukyu will promise to help them transfer their family members.

The landless are allocated land, let them become land attendants, and each of them also assigns local serfs to help with farming.Those who have land can be directly promoted to become samurai and managers of the Ryukyu Kingdom.

After you get there, you must collect the knowledge and action pleadings of the Ryukyu islands as soon as possible, compile them all, and submit them to me, and then submit them to His Highness Guan Bai after I review them.

From my point of view, this matter of seizing the land will not be successful within a year or so, and the related sugar cane planting industry should be able to be laid down. You can directly offer brown sugar to His Highness Guan Bai. "

Originally, the Xiu family had basically finished giving orders here, and after answering a few questions from Kamei Tomoki, let him go down to prepare
"I will give you 2 months to prepare for the battle, including the recruitment of warriors and the preparation of supplies.

Don't wait for me to come back, once you're ready, take people away.

At that time, the arrangements for the lord of Osumi in Kyushu have already been made. If you hand it to him with my letter, I think he will be happy to help you conquer Ryukyu. After all, there is no reason to donate the credit. "

Naturally, the Xiu family couldn't tell Kamei Tomoki that the Osumi country had already ordered the news of Takakage Kobayakawa, so they played a sloppy eye and took it as a "new lord".

Just when Xiujia was about to see off the guests, he suddenly remembered something, and stopped Kamei Tomoki, who was resigning, "I calculated the time you need in Ryukyu.

At that time, the newly transferred samurai should have basically mastered the territory. You can choose a few Bizen people who can speak the local dialect, and wear their clothes to pay tribute. No matter how you say it, you can rest assured than the local nobles in Ryukyu. "

Unexpectedly, the Xiu family got the approval of Kamei Tomoki on this point, and he responded to the Xiu family: "Yes, Your Highness, I am also worried that they will gossip in front of Guan Bai."

Afterwards, the two exchanged the details again to ensure that there were no mistakes, Kamei Tomoki then resigned and left.

(End of this chapter)