I formed the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 969: Japan's Traditional Arts: The Lower Class Overthrows the Higher Class! [4200]

Even though Harada Sanosuke had spoken the cruel truth clearly, Qing Deng still couldn't believe his ears.

The expedition to Choshu ended in "failure"... This bad news directly destroyed the joy brought to him by the "resurrection of Chiba Eijiro".

Before launching the "Second Great Return to China", Qing Deng had led the Anti-Changzhou Corps to break through Yizhoukou and attack the heartland of Changzhou.

Next, as long as they make a detour to the north, they will be able to reach Hagi Castle (the headquarters of the Choshu domain).

The army of the enemy had an overwhelming advantage in military strength and the reputation of being able to "easily break through the border".

In contrast, Choshu experienced a series of setbacks, including the "August 18th Coup", the "Ikedaya Incident" and the "Kyoto Summer Campaign", resulting in the loss of many soldiers and talents.

Looking throughout Choshu, the only troops still capable of fighting were the Special Forces.

However, the special forces had already left Choshu and were heading for Edo with the Fazhuo gang.

In a nutshell, the defense of Choshu Domain was extremely empty! It was no different from an "empty domain"!
The gap in combat power between the two sides was so huge, why did they fail at the last moment?

In order to find out the truth, Qing Deng immediately sent a message to Otsu, asking Kondo Isami to compile a more detailed "actual situation of the expedition" and send it to Edo as soon as possible.

Six days later, a scroll with rich content, which recorded in detail "the whole process of the failure of the expedition", was presented to him.

This scroll... it would be better not to read it. As soon as Qing Deng saw it, his expression instantly became extremely terrifying, even more terrifying than when he first learned that "the expedition had failed."

Simply put, the reason why the "Choshu Expedition" failed was not because of lack of combat power or insufficient supplies, but because of the lack of unity among the people!
After taking over the actual command of the Tocho Corps from Aoto, the Lord of Aizu Domain, Matsudaira Yoshiyasu, was indeed full of confidence and vowed to repay Aoto's expectations.

He put in his utmost enthusiasm and marched north.

Under his orderly command, the Choshu-suppressing Corps advanced at full speed, headed straight for the heart of Choshu, and arrived at the foot of Hagi Castle as scheduled.

Matsudaira Yoshiyasu was not in a hurry to attack the city, but first sent a "letter of surrender", asking the defenders of Hagi Castle to open the city gates and surrender unconditionally.

If we can defeat the enemy without fighting, that would be the best.

Then he quickly received a reply from the Hagi Castle defenders: No need to persuade them anymore! If you want to fight, then fight!
Matsudaira Yoshiyasu was not surprised by this result, as he had already made the corresponding mental preparations.

When the Tocho's army marched towards Hagi Castle, all the villages along the way were emptied out.

The population, livestock, and supplies all disappeared, not even a piece of rice husk was left.

In order to resist the attack of the Choshu Army, they even went to such lengths... This shows the Choshu Army's determination to "defend Hagi Castle."

At this point, there was nothing we could do but to attack the city by force.

As the capital of the Choshu domain, Hagi Castle was certainly not a simple, easy-to-attack small city.

Just like other large cities of the time, the architects responsible for designing Hagi Castle displayed amazing creativity and designed the city's defense facilities to be extremely sophisticated and complex, determined to make the attackers feel as disgusted as eating shit.

If you want to capture such a strong city, you can only rely on the power of artillery.

Although the Tochou Corps had an army of 200,000 and was very powerful, the only unit with sufficient artillery was the Satsuma Army.

However... at this extremely critical moment when the great war was about to begin, the Satsuma army was lazy and procrastinated!

As soon as the battle began, the Satsuma army's artillery team frequently encountered "unexpected situations".

Either the gunpowder has become damp and cannot be used.

Either the barrel is damaged and needs repair.

In short, there are various situations that make it impossible to operate the artillery normally.

The war had already begun for several days, and the sound of the artillery rain fired by the Satsuma army's artillery was not even as loud as the drizzle in early spring!
Although the general of the Satsuma army, Yoshinosuke Saigo, made convincing arguments, anyone could see that these were just excuses, and very lame ones at that.

It hasn't rained in the past few days, so how come your gunpowder got damp?

Aren't you always diligent in maintaining your weapons and equipment? How come it just happened to break down?

This bad attitude, which was like teasing a child without even pretending, made Matsudaira Yoshiyasu furious.

Although he was furious, he could do nothing about it.

The Satsuma army was not his own, and no matter how loudly he shouted, he could not command a single soldier.

No matter how Matsudaira Yoshiyasu tried to persuade him, no matter how much good words and bad words he said, Saigo Yoshinosuke did not change his attitude: Whatever you say, it's impossible for us, the Satsuma army, to contribute in this battle!

Seeing that the Satsuma army was dawdling, Matsudaira Yoshinobu simply gritted his teeth and decided to launch a direct attack, using the flesh and blood of his soldiers to forcibly capture Hagi Castle!

Without the support of artillery, this would inevitably be an extremely brutal and bloody battle.

Since the Kamakura period, with the rapid development of city-building technology, siege warfare has become a typical example of "defense is greater than offense", and the defensive capabilities of the city far exceed the offensive capabilities of the army.

During the Warring States Period, it was common for a siege to last for several months, or even a year or two.

Without the help of artillery, the soldiers had to use cold weapons to attack the city... God knows how many lives would be lost.

But in order to destroy Choshu, Matsudaira Yoshiyasu could not care less.

In fact, even without the support of the Satsuma army, the Tocho Corps still had the ability to "destroy Hagi Castle."

The defenders of Hagi Castle numbered at most a thousand men, a huge gap in military strength.

Even if it was to be piled with human lives, Hagi Castle could be destroyed and Choshu could be wiped out.

It’s just that...Matsudaira Yoshiyasu’s willingness to sacrifice his life is one thing, but whether the generals and feudal lords under him are willing to obey his orders is another matter.

Regarding this "Choshu Expedition", the attitude of the various feudal domains has always been very clear: This is a conflict between your shogunate and Choshu, what does it have to do with us?
They only want to increase their momentum, are unwilling to make any sacrifices, and are only concerned about preserving their strength.

After learning that Matsudaira Yoshinobu was going to attack Hagi Castle, the generals from various feudal domains were shocked and panicked, as well as feeling inexplicably sad and angry.

It's already unpleasant to be forced to fight a war that we don't want to get involved in.

We have done our best, but why do we have to shed blood and sacrifice? In the end, the shogunate took all the benefits. Why?
The still young Matsudaira Yoshiyasu did not understand the true meaning of the saying "Politics is the art of compromise."

He didn't know that his order to "attack Hagi Castle by force" had already invisibly angered the public.

What's worse is that with the precedent of Saigo Yoshinosuke, the generals had less psychological burden when resisting Matsudaira Yoshinoyasu, so they followed suit and were no longer willing to obey Matsudaira Yoshinoyasu's orders.

In the end, Japan's traditional art of overthrowing its superiors was performed among the army of the upper class.

The so-called "the lower class overthrows the upper class" refers to the phenomenon in which the lower class replaces the upper class due to war, power seizure, etc.

As we all know, power comes from the bottom up.

You are a true leader when the "cadres" and "cornerstones" at the middle and lower levels obey you, recognize that you are a leader, and are willing to follow your orders.

Otherwise, no matter how famous you are, you are just a commander without troops.

Matsudaira Yoshiyasu is facing such a desperate situation at the moment.

If Qing Deng were here, even if these generals had a hundred guts, they would not dare to disobey King Ren's military orders.

What a pity... Whether in terms of strength or prestige, Matsudaira Yoshiyasu is far inferior to Aoto.

Although Aizu was one of the most powerful domains that the shogunate relied on, its national strength was not enough to dominate the world, and its total koku was only a little over 20 koku. Many of the domains in the anti-chou army, such as Owari and Echizen, were much higher in rank than Aizu.

No strength, no qualifications, no prestige... If Matsudaira Yoshiyasu could follow the wishes of the generals and not infringe on the core interests of the various feudal domains, then everyone would be willing to respect him as the "leader of the alliance."

But if Matsudaira Yoshiyasu goes against everyone... then "the lower class revolting against the upper class" is just a natural thing.

In any case, there is no "if" in reality.

On the eve of the general offensive, generals led by Saigo Yoshinosuke rushed into Matsudaira Yoshiyasu's tent and jointly demanded that Matsudaira Yoshiyasu stop the attack.

The reasons they gave were as follows: Choshu had been severely punished, there was no need to capture Hagi Castle, so they should just stop fighting.

Matsudaira Yoshiyasu would naturally not accept such an untenable reason.

Although he fought hard, but... unfortunately, he became a "lonely man" and could no longer support himself.

Just like that, overnight, Matsudaira Yoshiyasu was sidelined and lost control of the Choshinaga Corps.

The next day, under the leadership of Saigo Yoshinosuke, the generals bypassed Matsudaira Yoshiyasu and made peace with Choshu without authorization.

They put forward the following four conditions to Changzhou:

First, hand over the heads of the three family elders (Echigo Fukuhara, Shinano Kuniji, and Uemon Masuda) who advocated the attack on Kyoto and triggered the "Summer Campaign of Kyoto".

Second, Mao Lijingqin and his son apologized.

Third, demolish Yamaguchi Castle.

Fourth, hand over the five nobles living in Choshu.

Saigo Yoshinosuke assured the ruler and ministers of the Choshu domain that as long as these four conditions were met, they would withdraw their troops immediately and would never go back on their word.

The "five court nobles" mentioned in the last condition were the court nobles who were forced to leave Kyoto because of the "August 5th Coup".

There were a total of seven court nobles who fled Kyoto.

One of them, Reid Nishikikoji, died of illness several months ago.

Ze Xuanjia, also one of the "Seven Ministers", is missing.

Therefore, only five nobles, headed by Sanjo Sanetomi, remained.

Compared with destroying a country, such conditions are extremely relaxed.

After a brief discussion, the Choshu army generals stationed in Hagi Castle - all of whom were direct descendants of Katsura Kogoro and Takasugi Shinsaku - unanimously decided to accept these four conditions and end the war.

Of course, whether to cease fire or not has to be decided by the lord of Choshu domain himself.

Having said that, no one took the Choshu lord's opinion seriously. No matter what was said, he would nod in agreement.

As expected, the "Just Do It Marquis", who had changed his name from "Mori Yoshichika" to "Mori Takashichika" because he was deprived of his taboo, heard that everyone was urging him to accept the peace talks, and he lived up to everyone's expectations and answered:
"Well, let's do it!"

After obtaining the consent of Mori Yoshichika directly, the generals of the two armies inside and outside Hagi Castle tacitly promoted the peace talks.

The confidants of Katsura and Takasugi not only killed the three family elders swiftly, but also beheaded the four staff officers in prison (Shobei Takeuchi, Sakuma Sakubei, Kuro Nakamura, and Samasuke Shishido).

The Maori father and son respectfully submitted a letter of apology.

The first three conditions are easy to handle, but the last one is more troublesome.

At that time, the five ministers were protected by the court's loyalists, who were unwilling to hand them over.

Fortunately, after receiving the letter of apology from the Mori father and son and inspecting the progress of the capture of Yamaguchi, Saigo Yoshinosuke and others were very satisfied and withdrew their troops directly without waiting for the Mori family to hand over the five nobles.

In this way, the army was disbanded on the spot.

The 200,000-strong army fell apart and each army returned to its own fiefdom.

Matsudaira Yoshihide wanted to continue to persevere, but it was too late to change the situation.

After the disbanding of the Tocho Corps, the only troops he could command were the Aizu Army directly under his command, which numbered about 2,000 people.

With this amount of troops, let alone capturing Hagi Castle, they can't even keep the territory they have conquered.

So he had no choice but to withdraw his troops in disgrace.

The grand "Choshu Expedition" which mobilized an army of 200,000 men came to an end... with a disappointing ending.

Not only did they fail to capture Hagi Castle, but they also lost all the territory they had previously conquered.

In other words, they fought this battle in vain! They wasted their time and money but gained nothing!
After reading the contents of the scroll, Qing Deng remained silent for a long time...

He silently put away the scroll, then stared straight into the void in front of him, as if in deep thought, without moving...

At first glance, he seemed very calm.

But in fact, anyone who knows Qing Deng knows that this is a manifestation of his extreme anger!
At this moment, he relied entirely on his tenacity and excellent self-cultivation to suppress his anger.

He forced himself to calm down, and after his mind was settled a little, he began to recount all the details and mistakes of the battle.

Why did this battle, which should have been won, end in this way?

After a while, he summed up two reasons:
On the one hand, he overestimated Matsudaira Yoshiyasu's ability.

On the other hand, he underestimated Saigo Yoshinosuke's ambition.

In essence, the former is not a mistake.

Although there are many generals in the Tochou Corps, the only one who has sufficient status and can be trusted by Qingdeng is Matsudaira Yoshiyasu.

Apart from Matsudaira Yoshinobu, he had no one else he could trust or entrust with important tasks.

In other words, Qing Deng had no choice at all at the time and could only trust Matsudaira Yoshiyasu.

If someone else were to take charge of the Legion, it would definitely lead to more serious consequences.

It is true that Matsudaira Yoshiyasu made a mistake. He ignored the wishes of his generals and forcibly demanded an attack on the city, which directly led to the split of the legion.

The culprit that led to the failure of the operation was not Matsudaira Yoshiyasu, but Saigo Yoshinosuke!
Saigo Yoshinosuke's intention is obvious to everyone!
Damn the gunpowder got wet! Damn the equipment got damaged! What lame excuses!

It was obvious that he wanted to save Choshu and prevent it from being destroyed in this battle!
Qing Deng had reason to believe that the generals' "rebellion" was pushed behind the scenes by Saigo Yoshinosuke!

Yoshinosuke Saigo's "fence-sitting" is obvious to all.

Since the "Black Ship Incident", under the leadership of Saigo Yoshinosuke, Satsuma has been wavering between "Sonnojo" and "Supporting the Shogunate", bringing the "united front value" to the extreme.

"Sitting on the fence" is not a fault; rather, it is a very profound political wisdom.

It is rare to find someone as good at "fence sitting" as Yoshinosuke Saigo!
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PS: In historical facts, the "Choshu Expedition" ended in such a hasty manner. The frontline generals ignored Tokugawa Iemochi's wishes and signed a peace treaty with Choshu without authorization, which made Tokugawa Iemochi very angry. When Tokugawa Iemochi wanted to hold him accountable, the generals gave him a cold shoulder.