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

Chapter 245 Occupying Kyoto (please subscribe for monthly tickets)

The emergence of the "collapse alliance" is exactly what Li Xianzhong hopes to see.

He ordered the Chinese army in Edo and Azig in Kawanakajima not to act rashly for the time being.

If the pressure on Tokugawa Iemitsu is too great and he turns around and compromises with the four major vassals, then his plan to provoke internal strife among them will come to nothing.

He wiped out 8000 shogunate troops on Zuodu Island and more than 3 main shogunate troops on Edo and Kawanaka Island. In fact, he only wiped out more than main Tokugawa troops.

Although these losses are not small, they are far from breaking the bones.

The reason why Tokugawa Iemitsu felt uncomfortable was that, on the one hand, he lost the gold mountain of Zuodu, which caused the shogunate's financial resources to begin to dry up.

More importantly, Edo Minato's Chinese army and the Chinese warships in Edo Bay were like a sharp sword hanging over his head, making him unable to move.

They had no choice but to hoard heavy troops in Edo City to defend against possible raids by the Chinese army.

On one side were the aggressive overthrown coalition forces, and on the other side were the Chinese people who were eyeing them with eagerness, which forced Tokugawa Iemitsu to make a choice.

It was obvious that the Tokugawa shogunate was not capable of fighting on two fronts.

At this time, Tokugawa Iemitsu's favorite Hota Masamori said: "Perhaps we can try to contact the Chinese to find out their true purpose of invading our country this time!"

Tokugawa Iemitsu was born without the favor of his father. His father, Tokugawa Hidetada, and his biological mother, Eyo, doted on their younger brother Kunimatsu, but did not care much about Iemitsu.

Iemitsu grew up under the care of his wet nurse, Kasuga Bureau, and witnessed countless ugly struggles for power between his biological mother and wet nurse.

Therefore, he gradually developed the habit of hating women and liking men.

Later, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo shogunate and Iemitsu's grandfather, announced that Iemitsu would succeed him as the third shogun.

Iemitsu married his wife, Takashi Takako, when he was nineteen, but he was not very interested in women.

Eight years have passed, and he and his filial son still have no heirs, and they don't even talk to their wives.

Therefore, Tokugawa Iemitsu's behavior did not arouse the resentment of his subordinates. What bothered them was that Tokugawa Iemitsu had no children.

Tokugawa Iemitsu naturally attached great importance to Hota Masamori's opinions.

Although the news came before that the Chinese Emperor Li Xianzhong wanted to mobilize an entire army to attack the Japanese country, it is obvious that the actions of the Chinese army in the past few months have been a bit loud and heavy.

And they have not further escalated the war with the shogunate recently.

Hota Masamori stepped forward and was willing to take on the important task of negotiating with the Chinese Army.

At this time, Tokugawa Iemitsu's most trusted younger brother, Masayuki Hoshina, was confronting the Chinese army on Kawanaka Island, and the most trusted person around him was Hota Masamori.

The important task of negotiating with an enemy country must be handed over to one's cronies. If the negotiators are bent on colluding with the enemy country, the consequences will be disastrous.

Although he was unwilling to risk his beloved, in order to find out China's bottom line, Hota Masamori finally came to Edo Minato.

The person who received him was Deng Gang, the admiral of the Liaodong Navy.

He knew that the Japanese came to inquire about the truth, so he did not choose to meet them at the port.

Instead, he invited Hota Masamori to board his flagship Jinzhou.

Although the 1800-ton Galen sailing ship is now outdated, it still does not affect its use to deter these Japanese.

Deng Gang said: "The main purpose of China's expedition against Japan is for gold and silver, that is, to cross the Jinshan Mountain and the Iwami Silver Mountain. As long as the shogunate cedes Tsushima Island, Sado Island, Iwami Country, and Echigo Country to China , they withdrew their troops from Edo.”

Except for Shi Jianguo, these places are actually already under China's actual control.

The Tokugawa shogunate was simply unable to recover.

Iwami Country is now in the hands of the Chosu Domain Mori family. Although it is not a territory directly under the shogunate, Iwami Gin Mountain produces a huge amount of silver.

It was a heavy blow to the shogunate who had lost Zuodu Jinshan.

Hota Masamori said he needed to ask Tokugawa Iemitsu for instructions.

Deng Gang released the other Japanese to Edo, but he detained Hota Masamori himself.

And asked them to send a message to Tokugawa Iemitsu. If he did not agree to China's conditions, then they would have to take Hota Masamori back to China's Forbidden City to be a eunuch.

If their lover is robbed, they will fight for it and even kill their love rival; if their lover is killed, even if they are determined to commit seppuku, they will find the murderer and take revenge.

At this time, Tokugawa Iemitsu was furious and ordered all 80,000 shogunate troops in Edo City to assemble and go out of the city to fight to the death with the Chinese army.

His move frightened many Tokugawa retainers, and they all stopped Tokugawa Iemitsu's crazy move.

Not to mention whether they can defeat the Chinese army, even if they are driven out of Edo Minato, Hota Masamori cannot be rescued from the Chinese warship.

In the end Tokugawa Iemitsu had to consider the conditions of the Chinese people,

The conditions proposed by Huaxia are indeed a bit harsh.

If it were just to cede the two outer islands of Tsushima Island and Zuodu Island, the shogunate would still be able to accept it.

Iwami Kingdom and Echigo Kingdom are the territories of Japan's main island. Once they are occupied by the Chinese army for a long time, they will definitely use this as a springboard to plot the entire Japan.

Just when Tokugawa Iemitsu was in a dilemma, there was news that the Allied Forces had formed a 7-strong army and were marching towards Kyoto in a mighty manner.

The Kyoto of Japan, also known as Heiankyo, was the residence of the Emperor of Japan.

Although the core of the shogunate had long been transferred to Edo Castle, Kyoto was still the nominal capital of Japan.

The move of the overthrown coalition forces was obviously to compete for the emperor, so as to threaten the status of the shogunate.

Although unwilling to do so, the Tokugawa shogunate had no choice but to reach a city-wide alliance with China.

On August 15, the third year of Qianxi, the Tokugawa shogunate and China signed the "Edo Treaty" on the Jinzhou outside Edo Port.

The treaty stipulated that Japan ceded Tsushima Island, Zuotado Island and Echigo Kingdom and Iwami Kingdom on Honshu Island to China.

The Japanese state paid an annual tribute of 20 taels of silver and 200 tons of copper ingots to China.

The Japanese state fully opened its ports to China, and Chinese merchant ships were not allowed to trade with the Japanese state.

China withdrew its troops from Edo and was not allowed to invade other parts of Japan.

After the Tokugawa shogunate delivered 20 taels of silver, the Chinese navy withdrew from Edo Bay, and Hota Masamori returned to the embrace of Tokugawa Iemitsu.

At this time, Tokugawa Iemitsu, who was extremely angry, naturally could only vent his anger on the overthrown coalition forces.

Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu personally led an army of 12 to Kyoto, preparing for a decisive battle with the overthrown allied forces.

Of course, he was not stupid. In order to prevent the Chinese army on Kawanaka Island from taking the opportunity to sneak attack from behind, 4 shogunate troops were stationed near Kawanaka Island to confront the Chinese army.

Although Iwami Ginzan was obtained, Iwami Country was under the control of Chosu Domain at this time.

In order to allow the fallen vassals to fight the shogunate army with peace of mind, Li Xianzhong generously stated that the Chinese army would not occupy Shijian country for the time being.

And sold some weapons, armor and other armaments and large quantities of food to various vassal states at preferential prices. The various vassals headed by the Satsuma Domain even recognized the "Treaty of Edo" signed by the Tokugawa family as a traitorous treaty, and called on all the vassal states to stand up and overthrow the Tokugawa family's rule.

For a time, the originally neutral vassal states came forward to support the overthrown coalition.

Soon the overthrown coalition army also grew to more than 100,000 people.

The two sides launched a decisive battle outside Kyoto.

Originally, the overthrown coalition forces were on the offensive side, and the Tokugawa family was on the defensive side, as long as they held Kyoto.

However, Kyoto City has not had a city wall for a long time. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified the Japanese kingdom, he built an earthen wall for Kyoto, which was really not suitable for defense.

Tokugawa Iemitsu believed that the coalition forces on the opposite side were just a ragtag group of people.

As an official army, the shogunate army should take the initiative to defeat the opponent in one fell swoop, so the shogunate army formed an array outside Kyoto.

At this time, the combined number of troops on both sides exceeded 25. It was another unprecedented large-scale battle in the history of Japan after the "Battle of Sekihara".

Under the cover of artillery, a vanguard battalion of 1 composed of Chosu Domain and Hizen Domain soon launched an attack on the shogunate army.

Just as the two sides were fighting a decisive battle outside Kyoto.

The eight thousand elite Satsuma clan on Shikoku Island are boarding the Chinese transport ship.

Their target this time is Osaka Castle, which is less than 100 miles away from Kyoto.

20 years ago, Tokugawa Ieyasu eliminated the Toyotomi family in Oita and formally established the Tokugawa shogunate.

Now Shimazu Iehisa will use the big board as the key to breaking the game.

Oita is not only the largest city in the Kansai region, but also the largest grain storage place for the Tokugawa Shogunate.

In such a big battle in Kyoto, it would be difficult to determine the winner without fighting for a year and a half.

At this time, food and grass became an important factor that determined the outcome.

Although the city wall of Daban is extremely tall, there are not many shogunate troops left behind at this time, only 3,000 people.

The Satsuma clan's army suddenly arrived at Osaka Castle, catching them off guard.

Moreover, the Satsuma Domain was equipped with Chinese cannons and 6-pound Franco machine guns, and the shogunate troops on the city were quickly suppressed by the artillery fire below the city.

An hour later, the Satsuma clan invaded Oita Castle.

The loss of Daban City severely damaged the morale of the shogunate army.

Not only did the shogunate army lose a large amount of baggage, it also meant that the enemy could penetrate into the hinterland of the shogunate through a large board, or even directly attack Edo Castle.

The Tokugawa shogunate also protested against the Chinese army's help in transporting the Satsuma domain.

Huaxia's explanation is simple. The Satsuma clan rented their transport ships, and the Huaxia army did not directly participate in the Japanese civil war.

If the Tokugawa Shogunate had similar needs, Chinese transport ships could also transport the Shogunate troops as long as the price was right.

Although he was angry, Tokugawa Iemitsu had no other words to say except calling the Chinese people "shameless".

The Chinese did not violate the Treaty of Edo.

With the help of China, the originally weak Allied Forces barely managed to draw a draw with the Shogunate Army.

The two sides fought hard for 4 months under the walls of Kyoto, and each suffered tens of thousands of deaths.

In the end, both sides had to temporarily withdraw their troops.

Although the overthrown coalition failed to take Kyoto, they got a big deal. Now all the territory west of Kyoto belongs to them.

Although the shogunate army did not admit it, they had to accept this reality.

When Li Xianzhong saw that they were almost done fighting, it was naturally time for him to collect the bill.

As soon as the two sides stopped fighting in Kyoto, Li Xianzhong sent Wu Sangui to lead his army to occupy Shijian State and control Shijian Yinshan.

After nearly half a year of construction, the road from the mine to the port on Zuodu Island has been repaired, greatly improving the efficiency of ore transfer.

The gold and silver produced by Zuodu caused a sensation in China.

The Chinese investor group is even more interested in Iwami Yinshan.

At this time, the collapse of the alliance relied entirely on the support of China. Although the Changzhou clan was not happy, it still had no choice but to hand over Ishigami.

However, the Tokugawa Shogunate was not so lucky.

Tokugawa Iemitsu quickly received an ultimatum from China, requiring them to deliver the 200 tons of copper ingots stipulated in the Treaty of Edo before January , the fourth year of Qianxi.

Throughout the second half of last year, the Tokugawa shogunate was busy with campaigns and recruited a large number of young men. Naturally, the output of various copper mines also dropped significantly.

So they only delivered 100 tons of copper ingots.

Tokugawa Iemitsu was still arguing with the Chinese envoys, trying to extend the date for the shogunate to deliver copper ingots.

On January 1, the Chinese Army declared that the "Edo Treaty" was invalidated with immediate effect on the grounds that the Tokugawa shogunate failed to complete the "Edo Treaty"!

The Chinese army suddenly increased its troops in Kawanakajima Castle, which frightened Tokugawa Iemitsu and immediately increased his troops in Kawanakajima.

In order to prevent the Chinese army from landing in Edo again, he had already withdrawn the main force from Kyoto to Edo Castle.

However, unexpectedly, the Chinese army did not attack Kawanaka Island, nor did it attack Edo.

Instead, they sent troops from Echigo Kingdom and went all the way west to capture Etchu, Kaga, Echizen and other places along the coast.

Then the Chinese army went directly south from Echizen and captured Omi.

At this time, even a fool can see that the Chinese army is trying to capture Kyoto.

Although the Tokugawa shogunate still deployed 3 troops around Kyoto, as long as they were dealing with the overthrown coalition forces to the west of Kyoto, they never thought that the Chinese army would suddenly come from the north of Kyoto.

After more than half a year of rest and training, the Chinese Army has completely adapted to Japan's terrain and climate.

Coupled with the fact that they are equipped with powerful firearms, capturing Kyoto is naturally a piece of cake.

The city wall of Kyoto is nothing more than an earthen wall, let alone a turret for city defense. There are not even soldiers on the earthen wall.

The Chinese army quickly killed people in Kyoto.

Although the Japanese troops in the city were not afraid of death, they tried to stop the Chinese army through street fighting.

However, the gap in equipment between the two sides cannot be made up by the bravery of the Japanese army.

Moreover, these Japanese troops like to launch group charges, making it easier for the Chinese army to hit them hard.

On January 1th, the fourth year of Qianxi reign, the Chinese Emperor Li Xianzhong entered Kyoto City surrounded by 15 Chinese troops!

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(End of this chapter)