The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 320: Niuguan Treaty

The armored spearmen at the front suffered heavy casualties.

More than 300 of the 4,000 spearmen were killed or wounded by artillery fire, and more than 500 were frightened by the artillery fire and trampled to death.

In addition, they were shot and hacked by the commander-in-chief behind them. In just a quarter of an hour, more than a thousand elite foot soldiers died on the battlefield.

The Ashigaru of the Warring States period were very different from those of the Kamakura period.

After Takeda Shingen implemented the "division of soldiers and farmers" system, daimyos from various domains followed suit. The training intensity and equipment supply of the foot soldiers were greatly improved, and their combat effectiveness was incomparable.

By the end of the Warring States period, Ashigaru were no longer synonymous with cannon fodder, but gradually became an important force influencing the overall situation of the war.

Asakura Kyokage has a famous saying:

"The price of a valuable samurai sword can make a hundred bamboo spears, but a fully armed samurai will never be able to defeat a hundred soldiers armed with bamboo spears."

The soldiers here refer to the Ashigaru who rose independently.

Long spear ashigaru mostly use bamboo spears.

The requirements for the handle of a qualified long gun are still very strict. The best long gun handle is a composite structure, with a hardwood such as oak as the core, wrapped with bamboo strips on the outside, and the handle is painted and waterproof.

Wars during the Warring States period were basically fought by conscription of all males, and most of the foot soldiers were poorly trained peasant soldiers.

In fact, even a wealthy daimyo like Takeda could not equip all his foot soldiers with long spears like the ones used by the Qi family army, so a large number of people had to use cheap bamboo spears or rattan spears.

Although the bamboo spear looks like a bamboo pole from the outside, it has a very hard wooden core inside. It is not a completely soft bamboo pole, nor is it the kind of suicide weapon distributed to civilians when 100 million people died in battle at the end of World War II.

Almost all guns cannot penetrate armor head-on, but they can avoid the armor and penetrate the gaps in the armor to severely injure the enemy.

This is the true meaning of a gun’s “armor-piercing” capability.

A long spear can penetrate armor, and of course a bamboo spear can do the same.

A common tactic of spearmen is to hit the spear.

The so-called gun-shooting is to suppress and seize the center line in exchange for a favorable offensive.

The opponent's gun is suppressed downwards, exposing his vital points, and the gun is almost unable to move because of being suppressed.

In the face of the absolute gap in strength, the chances of these long-lance foot soldiers fighting against the Kaihara army are very slim.

The ninjas and reconnaissance foot soldiers sent by the shogunate coalition forces were almost completely wiped out by the Kaihara Yabushou before the war, and the occasional ones that escaped were killed one by one by the Minoto guards around Osaka.

The generation gap in weapons and equipment, as well as the difference in their own strength, made it difficult for any Kaga or Iga jonin to escape the fate of being hunted as long as they appeared within the range of the Kaiyuan scouts' activities.

Until the vanguard of the Seventh Army reached the outskirts of Yao Castle and was less than ten miles away from the enemy, the daimyo of each domain still had no idea about the enemy's troop strength, weapons deployment, and troop composition.

The Type 22 light field gun further reduced the weight of the gun body and installed two wheels on the barrel, so that it can be pushed quickly by only two auxiliary soldiers.

The auxiliary troops of the Seventh Army first pulled the artillery to the outskirts of Yao Castle by horses for concealment. When the hollow square formation began to advance forward, the artillery followed forward and suddenly opened fire, catching the shogunate army off guard.

After three rounds of artillery bombardment, the temporary iron cannon foot soldiers, spear foot soldiers, and cavalry foot soldiers of more than 20,000 people formed by each feudal domain fell into chaos.

The musketeers immediately began firing in volleys, and the cavalry, divided into teams of ten, used wave-like charging tactics to invade the two wings of the ashigaru formation.

The tall and strong Kaiyuan cavalry caused great panic among the foot soldiers.

On the open plains, when the disorganized infantry encountered a dense charge of heavy cavalry that was much taller than them, they had almost no means of effective counterattack.

As the shogunate army's front was broken through by the musketeers and its wings were plundered by the Kaihara cavalry, the arquebusiers no longer waited for orders and began to fire freely.

However, they soon discovered that the range of the light matchlock guns in their hands was inferior to that of the Ming army on the opposite side.

These arquebus foot soldiers, who were supposed to provide fire cover for the spear foot soldiers, were now shot one by one by the opposing musketeers like targets.

The battlefield soon became a one-sided massacre.

After three rounds of volleys, more than half of the 3,000 arquebusiers that the various feudal domains had barely managed to gather suffered casualties, and the remaining people fled in panic. A few brave samurai were still fighting back with Japanese bows.

They were greeted by a barrage of flintlock fire.

In the end, only the armored foot soldiers holding bamboo spears were still holding on on the battlefield.

There were so many foot soldiers that it was difficult to kill them all at once. At the last moment, they waved their light bamboo spears and quickly approached the Kaiyuan army formation regardless of casualties.

After suffering heavy casualties, both sides finally came within the range of spear attack.

The flintlock muskets in the front row stopped firing and began to fight with bayonets and the last remaining thousand or so long-lanced foot soldiers.

It was not until this time that the Kaiyuan Army suffered casualties on a certain scale...
However, the collapse of the shogunate army was inevitable.

········
"How is the battle in Osaka going? I am now a man of faith and cannot kill people recklessly. It is necessary to send a treaty to Tokugawa Hidetada to discuss the signing of the Treaty of Niuguan."

On the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month of the first year of the Tianqi reign, only seven days before the New Year, Ping Liaohou was still in Sekigahara Gifu Castle anxiously awaiting the outcome of the Battle of Osaka.

Ever since she rejected the other party's sacrifice last time, the beautiful assassin from the Assassin Brotherhood has refused to give up.

She knocked on doors and windows several times in the middle of the night to discuss doctrine with the archbishop:
"Father Nicholas, in the New Testament, why did the Lord never finish the bread while on the run?"

"Because God always paints a rosy picture!" "It's so cold outside, and I'm only wearing one piece... Can I come in and discuss this with you in depth?"

"No, Sister, I'm going to sleep. See you tomorrow! Amen!"

Liu Zhaosun suspected that this woman was a pawn of the missionaries to control him.

He was uneasy, and finally ordered the sister to return to Kyushu to spread the gospel to the Japanese in his capacity as archbishop - in fact, he wanted Jin Yuji to deal with the female assassins of the Brotherhood.

The anticipated Battle of Sekigahara was postponed indefinitely.

Ping Liaohou lost the opportunity to inflict heavy damage on the shogunate army.

However, no matter what, the situation is developing more and more in our favor.

As long as Deng Changxiong does not suffer a major defeat, the shogunate will sooner or later accept the Treaty of Niuguan.

The Treaty of Niuguan, which was recently finalized by Ping Liaohou, is an upgraded treaty.

The terms of the new treaty were more stringent than the first version given to Tokugawa Hidetada.

The territory that the shogunate returned to the Ming Dynasty was not only Tsushima Island and Iki Island, but also the entire Kyushu Island.

In other words, Japan needed to cede a quarter of its territory.

According to Ping Liaohou, Jiuzhou is the homeland of the Ming Dynasty because it is closest to the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to territorial demands, adjustments to reparations were also made.

After the Battle of Osaka, the shogunate had to bear more war reparations.

It increased threefold from the original 30 million taels to 90 million taels.

This amount was not a decision made by Liu Zhaosun on a whim. He came up with a more reasonable figure after fully listening to the analysis of North Korean businessmen and professionals such as Li Sanguang.

There are many gold and silver mines in Honshu and Shikoku Island.

So the shogunate should not be short of money.

They are short of rice.

Considering that collecting rice is quite difficult and can easily lead to famine.

After all, Liu Zhaosun was not an Iron Cross, and he would not be so cruel as to commit genocide.

He did not ask for rice, but chose silver.

Japan is not short of silver, but the Ming Dynasty is, and very short of it.

With these 90 million taels of silver, the Ming Dynasty's finances, which were on the verge of collapse, might improve.

Zhang Juzheng's reforms reduced taxes in kind and increased monetary taxes, and many taxes and labor services were again linked to currency.

However, Zhang, lacking modern financial knowledge, easily linked state taxation to metal currency. When problems arose with silver production in South America, the Ming Dynasty's finances gradually became devastated by a silver shortage. This was one of the underlying reasons for the Ming's demise.

After the signing of the Treaty of Niuguan, Ping Liaohou will return to his country with the achievements of the Eastern Expedition.

This time when he returned to the country, he not only wanted the emperor to abdicate, but also wanted him to take control of power.

It is also necessary to launch a wave of reforms throughout the Ming Dynasty involving the official system, finance, taxation, administration and culture.

Given Liu Zhaosun's stubborn personality, whether the reform will ultimately succeed is not the point.

One thing is for sure, though.

This reform is destined to shock the world and make the gods and ghosts cry.

~~~~~~
The Shogun received the new version of the Treaty of Niuguan on the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month.

At this time, the Osaka Rebellion had already been suppressed. According to the report of the escaped Gunmotsuke (similar to a military supervisor), the 120,000-strong coalition army from the Kanto domains suffered more than 30,000 casualties, and the daimyo fled back to their respective domains.

They were frightened by the barbarians and had no strength to fight again. It was said that Lord Toriyama was really scared to death, but of course it was announced to the outside world that he died in battle.

The shogun, who was originally full of confidence and ready to roll up his sleeves to fight the barbarians, completely collapsed.

Tokugawa, the old turtle, fought all his life and painstakingly built up the foundation he left for Hidetada, but this unfilial son destroyed half of it in just three months.

Because Hidetada obeyed his wife Ae, he performed various outrageous actions during the "expelling the barbarians" campaign (including but not limited to "breaking his promise and not issuing reward silver, taking the opportunity to annex daimyo's land, etc.").

The last remaining daimyos became disunited and began to lose their loyalty to the shogunate.

Doi Toshikatsu, the family elder of Tokugawa Hidetada and a veteran of two dynasties.

This old man, who had always served Tokugawa Ieyasu, was seven years older than Tokugawa Hidetada, who inherited the position of shogun from Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The evil queen was seen wreaking havoc in Edo and manipulating the shogunate, causing the lord to gradually lose the support of the people and the invasion of barbarians.

The loyal minister decided to contact other old ministers and launch a "Tenjutsu" operation in the Honmaru Palace to save the shogunate.

(End of this chapter)