Starting in Saarhu, it is a bit difficult to make a comeback.

Chapter 243 Crossing the Jinshan Mountain from the left (seeking monthly tickets)

Zuodu Island is located in the Sea of ​​Japan and was originally a penal colony for Japanese nobles.

However, in the 29th year of Wanli (1601), Jinshan was suddenly discovered on the island.

Its reserves are so rich that they exceed all the gold mountains in Japan.

Soon it became the "money bag" of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Li Xianzhong, who came from a later generation, knew that Zuodu Jinshan had provided a steady stream of funds to the Tokugawa shogunate for more than three hundred years.

Its gold output ranked first in the world in this era, even surpassing Manila's gold mines at the same time.

It was not until the end of the 400th century that the gold mines in Zuodu were completely mined, and mining took place for nearly years.

Before the massive gold deposits in South Africa were discovered, this was the largest gold mine in the world.

And compared to the tropical jungles of Manila, mining here is more convenient.

Therefore, before Li Xianzhong launched a massive attack on Japan's main island, he was determined to capture its two important outer islands, Tsushima and Zuodu Island!

Now that Tsushima Island has fallen into China's hands, the Tokugawa shogunate can easily determine China's next attack target, Kyushu Island.

After all, Mongolia also followed this route when it attacked Japan twice in history.

Pass through Tsushima Island as a transit, and then attack Kyushu Island, which is the closest direct distance.

Compared with the main island of Japan, attacking Kyushu Island was less difficult, at least that was what Kublai Khan thought at the time.

Tokugawa Iemitsu also thought so at this time.

There is another basis for his judgment, that is, the relationship between China and the Satsuma clan is extraordinary.

After Li Xianzhong captured Ryukyu, he did not have an enmity with the Satsuma clan.

Instead, he chose to trade with the Satsuma Domain to further support the Satsuma Domain in its fight against the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Originally, the Satsuma Domain was a large domain with a territory of 73 koku. With the support of China's large trade, it almost monopolized China's silk and earned a lot of money by being a second-tier dealer.

Then the Satsuma clan used its own funds to purchase a large number of new firearms from China.

Originally, the Tokugawa Shogunate saw that the Satsuma Domain had lost Ryukyu and thought they would be severely weakened. Unexpectedly, the Satsuma Domain became stronger and stronger.

Aware of the problem, the Tokugawa shogunate strictly prohibited other feudal states from sending grain to the Satsuma Domain in an attempt to use food to limit the Satsuma Domain's military strength.

It's a pity that the shogunate's order to seize the country was like a joke in front of Zheng Zhilong's East Ryukyu Company. Under the cover of warships, his merchant ships kept sailing into the Shimadzu family's Kagoshima.

All the weapons and food needed by the Satsuma Domain can be obtained through external channels.

The original purpose of the shogunate's seclusion was to prevent vassals from using external trade channels to obtain various strategic materials, so as to ensure the dominance of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Seeing that the blockade failed, the Tokugawa shogunate attempted to force the Satsuma domain to surrender through force.

Soon the shogunate attempted to send troops into Kagoshima on the pretext of strictly cracking down on smuggling.

Shimazu Iehisa is not a fool. Today, the Satsuma Domain relies on the import of food and weapons from China and has armed an elite force of 2 people.

Naturally, he refused to allow the shogunate army to enter Kagoshima.

Then the Tokugawa shogunate organized a 3 coalition force jointly sent by the shogunate and Kyushu Island's Hizen, Higo, Hyuga and other vassal states to launch an attack on the Shimazu family.

It is a pity that Kagoshima at this time has relied on Chinese cement to build a solid fortress.

In addition, the Shimazu family obtained Chinese guns and artillery.

The combat power of his subordinate vassal soldiers far exceeded that of the shogunate's coalition forces.

The shogunate's army suffered a heavy loss under Kagoshima Castle, with nearly tens of thousands of people killed in the battle.

Hizen, Hinata and other feudal lords who originally followed to join in the fun quickly withdrew their troops.

The shogunate coalition was defeated miserably!

The angry Tokugawa shogunate prepared to organize a stronger force to expedition to Satsuma.

However, the Maeda family, the Date family, and the Mori family, who were all powerful feudal lords, all opposed the shogunate's expansion of the war against the Shimazu family of the Satsuma domain.

They were afraid that after the Shimazu family fell, the Tokugawa shogunate would attack them.

Not only did he oppose the shogunate, he also secretly supported the Shimazu family.

When the Tokugawa shogunate took a look, it might turn into a situation where all the major vassal states would join forces to deal with themselves.

Moreover, the Shimadzu family was not easy to fight, and in the end it could only end hastily.

Of course, in order to give face to the shogun, Shimazu Iehisa also withdrew his troops from the occupied Hyuga and Higo domain.

It is precisely because there is an unstable factor such as Satsuma Domain on Kyushu Island that Tokugawa Iemitsu believes that the next target of the Chinese army must be Kyushu Island.

At this moment, the envoys from the shogunate and the envoys from China had arrived in Kagoshima at the same time.

This made the Satsuma clan leader Shimazu Iehisa quite proud.

Although China's massive invasion of Japan was an unprecedented crisis for the Tokugawa shogunate.

But for the Shimadzu family, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Without the intervention of external factors, the Shimazu family's territory of 73 koku alone would not be able to shake the Tokugawa family, which had more than 400 million koku in its directly administered territory.

If you include the territories indirectly controlled by the Tokugawa family, the Tokugawa family itself can reach more than 800 million koku and directly mobilize nearly 20 troops.

This kind of power cannot be resisted by any Japanese daimyo alone.

At this time, Zheng Zhibao said: "Master Shimazu, His Majesty said that his target this time is the Iwami Silver Mountain in the Chosu Domain and the Jinshan Mountain on Zuodu Island."

"As long as these mountains of gold and silver are obtained, Your Majesty is not very interested in the other territories of Japan!"

"Besides, the Tokugawa shogunate is not going to close itself off to the country. This is unacceptable. The Japanese country should open its ports and develop trade like China."

"Your Majesty intends to support the head of the Shimazu family to serve as the general to conquer the barbarians to replace Tokugawa Iemitsu!"

After hearing what Zheng Zhibao said, Shimazu was very excited.

The Japanese country was rich in silver and could produce 200 tons of silver every year, which is 2 million grams. The Ming Dynasty's one tael was 37.3 grams, which was about 536 million taels.

It accounts for almost one-third of the world's silver production.

Among them, Iwami Ginzan alone accounted for 3% of Japan's silver production.

Zuodu Jinshan was the money bag of the Tokugawa shogunate. It could produce 0.5 tons of gold and 40 tons of silver every year.

Li Xianzhong's vision was really vicious. Taking away these two places almost took away nearly half of Japan's gold and silver output.

Although it hurts, these two places are not under the control of Satsuma Domain.

Just like when Shi Jingtang ceded the Sixteenth Youyun Prefecture to the Khitan, the Sixteenth Youyun Prefecture was not under his jurisdiction at all, but the territory of Youzhou Jiedushi Zhao Dejun.

Shi Jingtang is using other people's territory to please the Khitan, which is equivalent to generosity to others!

Using the Tokugawa family's Zuodu Jinshan and the Chosu clan's Iwami Ginzan in exchange for the support of the Chinese state, the Shimadzu family became the generals of the conquest of barbarians and opened up the Shimadzu shogunate era. This deal is worth it!

Although the Tokugawa family's envoy also came to Kagoshima and offered generous conditions, promising that as long as the Chinese attack was repelled. Let the Shimazu family annex the surrounding Higo, Hyuga and other countries and become the lord of Kyushu.

But this empty promise seems too far away.

If the Shimazu family weakens its own strength when resisting the Chinese invasion, will the Tokugawa shogunate, which has survived the crisis, fulfill its promise? Relatively speaking, the conditions offered by Huaxia are more attractive. There is no need for the Shimadzu family to risk sending troops to fight a bloody battle with the Chinese. As long as they take the opportunity to expand their territory in Kyushu, they can have the effect of containing the Tokugawa shogunate.

Even if China turns its back and refuses to support the Satsuma clan in the future, the territory it has conquered is truly in its own hands.

Moreover, Shimazu Iehisa does not believe that China is preparing to directly conquer Japan this time by sending troops.

China supported the Li Dynasty in Annan, so there was no reason not to support itself in ascending to power.

A charging "cannon fodder" and a backstabbing "old six" are of course much less risky.

However, while the cunning Shimazu Iehisa agreed to Zheng Zhibao, he also agreed to Tokugawa Iemitsu.

In case the Chinese army is at a disadvantage in the contest with the Tokugawa family, they can still fight back.

The Tokugawa shogunate, which thought it had conquered the Satsuma domain, quickly assembled an army of 120,000 troops in the Hizen area of ​​Kyushu.

In addition to the 5 troops sent by the shogunate, there were 7 troops raised by the surrounding vassals, and the Satsuma clan also sent 5 troops.

They arranged the northern part of Kyushu Island on the line between Fukuoka and Nagasaki to prevent the Chinese army from landing on Kyushu Island from Tsushima Island.

However, Tokugawa Iemitsu did not expect that the Chinese navy would just make a false shot outside Kyushu Island.

They actually sailed directly to the farther Zuodu Island.

As the money bag of the shogunate, eight thousand elite shogunate troops were naturally deployed on the island.

However, Zuodu Island is isolated and helpless outside the main island of Japan.

The Chinese army chose to land at Liangjin Port, the largest port in Zuodu.

Japan's Liangjin Port only had a few earthen cannons, and they were instantly destroyed by the Liaodong Navy's giant cannons.

Not to mention China's sail battleships, even the 800-ton Galen sailing ship is equipped with a large number of 18-pound smoothbore guns.

It is enough to destroy all the defense facilities in the port.

Although the Japanese soldiers on the island were not afraid of death, they continued to charge towards the landing Imperial Army.

However, under the joint attack of the Imperial Army's artillery and naval guns, the charging Japanese soldiers fell in groups.

"Bang, bang, bang"

The Imperial Alliance Army relied on the range advantage of their Rumi guns to completely suppress the iron cannons in the hands of the Japanese soldiers.

The Japanese soldiers' impression of the Chinese army was still limited to the Battle of Korea 40 years ago.

Thinking that their iron cannons are more advanced than their firecrackers.

The result is naturally the same as death.

The Japanese soldiers finally retreated after paying the price of more than a thousand people.

The shape of Zuodu Island is similar to a "Z" shape. The Chinese Navy landed directly from Liangjin Port, the narrowest port in the middle of Zuodu Island.

It was equivalent to dividing the Japanese army on the island into two.

There are mountains on the north and south sides of Zuodu Island, with only a small amount of flat land in the central area.

Zuodu City, the largest city on the island, is located on this flat land.

The one attacking Zuodu Island this time was the 2 Imperial Alliance Army led by Azig.

After occupying Ryōtsu Port, they quickly headed west to Aikawa Castle, which was the largest city on Zuodu Island and also the base camp of Japanese soldiers.

Unexpectedly, they encountered Japanese cavalry on the island.

Azig was shocked when he heard that the opponent had cavalry. Although the Imperial Alliance Army were originally cavalry who were good at riding and shooting, they did not bring many horses with them this time, only 1 cavalry in total.

But when he saw the Japanese cavalry galloping in the distance, he almost stopped laughing.

Where are these Japanese soldiers riding war horses?

They are clearly a group of large native dogs.

At this time, the average height of Japanese soldiers was only about 1 meters.

Compared to them, the big men from Liaodong who were over 1.80 meters tall, they looked like children.

The Japanese horses on the island are even shorter, even smaller than the Yunnan horses in Yunnan.

In Azig's opinion, aren't these just a group of children riding dogs? Soon the cavalry of the Imperial Alliance Army rushed towards the group of Japanese cavalry.

As expected, there was not much suspense in the battle. In just one round, the cavalry of the Imperial Alliance Army directly broke through the formation of the Japanese soldiers.

Then they started their best hunting mode.

The spears of the Imperial Alliance Army kept piercing the chests of their opponents. In a short time, these Japanese cavalry were defeated.

But what they didn't expect was that two thousand Japanese spearmen appeared behind this group of Japanese cavalry.

These Japanese soldiers were not afraid of the cavalry of the Imperial Alliance Army. They clenched the spears in their hands and formed a spear formation.

The original impact of the Royal Association's cavalry has been greatly weakened. At this time, they should turn their horses around, distance themselves, and charge again.

However, the previous Japanese cavalry were too incompetent, and the Imperial Alliance Army was inevitably a little arrogant.

They simply attacked these Japanese soldiers directly.

Unexpectedly, although these Japanese soldiers were short in size, they were very powerful and did not flinch in the face of cavalry.

Although many people were killed by the Imperial Alliance Army, the spears in their hands also pierced the chest of the Imperial Alliance Army.

When Azig saw that something was wrong, he quickly offered money to withdraw his troops, but he still lost nearly 500 cavalry.

This was the biggest loss they had suffered since the attack on Japan. Angry Azig directly called in the Liaodong Navy's sail battleship to help, and using its 18-mile range, he almost razed Aikawa Castle to the ground.

Almost all the Japanese in the city were killed or injured.

A few days later, the Japanese troops on the island were finally eliminated by them.

Regarding the Japanese on the island, Li Xianzhong had a message first, leaving them a way out as long as they did not resist. After all, there were so many mines on the island, and it was very troublesome to transport the miners from outside.

The Japanese on the island, except children under ten years old and elderly people over sixty-five years old, all go to the mines.

Zuodu Jinshan under the control of the Japanese country produced half a ton of gold and 40 tons of silver every year. This was due to their lack of manpower and backward production methods.

After Huaxia takes over, production can definitely increase exponentially.

Today, China's annual gold production in Manila can exceed the total production during the Spanish colonial period.

The Chinese army suddenly attacked Zuodu Island, which greatly surprised Tokugawa Iemitsu.

At this time, part of the main force of the shogunate was concentrated on Kyushu Island to prevent the Chinese landing, and the rest was concentrated on Edo, the home base of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Echigo, the country closest to Zudo Island, has no military strength, and it is impossible to regain Zudo Island.

He could only watch as Zuodu Jinshan fell into the hands of Huaxia.

Just as Tokugawa Iemitsu and many bigwigs from the Japanese country gathered in Edo to discuss how to regain Zuodu Island.

Chinese warships actually sailed into Edo Bay.

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(End of this chapter)