The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 683 Crime and Punishment

The Satsuma lord, Shimazu Mitsuhisa, and his Kagoshima domain office sank into the ground together.

It remains to be seen whether the reborn Lord of Shimazu can emerge from the ground and continue to fight against the retired emperor in the near future.

This disaster actually determined the final fate of the Satsuma Domain.

On September 28, the fourth year of Guangde, the Southern Corps of the Qi Army joined forces with the Ryukyu Army to capture Kagoshima and break through Tsurumaru Castle in one fell swoop.

The battle went more smoothly than expected.

Faced with the Qi army's new siege tactics, the Shimazu army, whose equipment and morale were far behind, collapsed after only half an hour of resistance.

It’s not because the Japanese warriors were not brave enough, but because the Qi army’s offensive was too fierce and difficult to resist.

Taking the comparison of the two sides' artillery as an example, when the Qi army's artillery was generally equipped with shrapnel shells, the Shimazu army on Tsurumaru Castle was still using solid shells. Even so, the number of artillery on the defending side was far less than that of the attacking troops.

The Qi army's artillery had an overwhelming advantage over Tsurumaru Castle.

After losing artillery support, the Shimazu army's outer fortifications were quickly breached one by one.

Each corps set up shield carts and marched straight to the city wall.

There were few Japanese pirates left alive on the city wall - the Shimazu army was under artillery fire and could not gain a foothold on the city wall at all.

The sword and shield soldiers climbed the city wall unexpectedly smoothly. By the time the Japanese pirates who were hiding from the artillery shells in the city wall reacted and rushed to intercept them, it was too late.

The musketeers following behind climbed up the city wall along the ladder. The wall of Tsurumaru Castle was not high, so it was not difficult to climb it.

More and more musketeers climbed onto the city wall, pointing their guns towards the city wall and firing freely.

At this time, there were still more than 3,000 surviving foot soldiers and samurai in the Tsurumaru Castle moat. Most of them were holding muskets, and a small number of samurai were carrying Japanese bows.

Under the command of several hatamoto warriors, everyone mustered their remaining courage and launched a counterattack, attacking the city wall along the steps of the city wall, attempting to drive the Qi army off the city wall while they were still unstable.

Thinking that if Kagoshima fell, his own and his family's lives would be in danger, even the poorly equipped foot soldiers were like chicken blood, jumping up the stairs desperately, waving their long swords and slashing at the top of the city wall.

At this time, there were 300 musketeers and sword and shield soldiers gathered on the city wall. They formed two lines and concentrated their firepower to shoot at the city.

The sword and shield soldiers swung their swords to cut off the ladder leaning against the parapet. A Japanese pirate climbed up the ladder and just as he climbed up the city wall with his hands, his fingers were chopped off by the sharp sword and he fell to the ground with a scream.

At this time, the large-scale artillery bombardment had ended, and the sound of musket explosions resounded throughout the city. The Shimazu army knew that if they lost the city wall, they would have nowhere to retreat to, so they all rushed to the steps like a tide. The samurai tied white cloth on their heads with the Shimazu family emblem, the Maru cross, painted in the middle. They shouted "Board" and jumped onto the steps full of corpses without hesitation.

However, what greeted them were only lead bullets.

After the Qi army's musketeers fired two rounds, the steps were covered with hundreds of Japanese pirate corpses, so that those who rushed up from behind had no place to stand.

As more and more Japanese pirates attacked, the musketeers began to suffer losses.

Finally, the Qi army's artillery arrived to reinforce.

If the Japanese pirates encountered the Qi army's musketeers, they could still barely resist. However, in the face of rapid-fire field artillery, all physical resistance seemed so pale and powerless, even like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, which was absurd.

"The rise and fall of Satsuma depends on this battle. Get on board!"

"boom!"

A three-pound shrapnel bomb fell into the group of Japanese pirates. The violent explosion shook the city wall slightly. With the explosion point as the center, there was a bloody mist within a dozen steps around. Countless limbs and broken bodies flew into the sky and fell like raindrops.

The shock wave caused the Japanese pirates, who were more than ten steps away, to fall to the ground.

They fled into the city one after another, and the fleeing Japanese pirates once again became sitting ducks for the Qi army.

Some brave warriors turned around and found that their bows and muskets were completely suppressed by the Minié rifles. Whether in terms of range or firing rate, these equipments that were half a century behind were really unremarkable.

Ryukyu Governor Shangxian felt regretful for not being able to arrest the feudal lord Shimazu Mitsuhisa personally.

As the last king of Ryukyu and also the first governor of the Ryukyu Prefecture of Da Qi, Shangxian hated the Satsuma Domain to the core.

In the 37th year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty and the 14th year of the Keicho reign of Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate sent the Satsuma clan to lead an army to invade Korea, starting a long period of devastation on Ryukyu.

After the Satsuma army captured Shuri Castle, they burned, killed, and looted the city for six days. According to historical records, all movable property of the Ryukyu Kingdom was packed and shipped away by the Satsuma pirates.

The Shimazu family also captured the Ryukyu King Shang Ning (Shoken's father) and more than a hundred people to Kagoshima and placed them under house arrest.

On September 19, 1866, Prince Shōning was forced to sign the "Fifteen Articles of Okinawa" with the Satsuma Domain, recognizing the Satsuma Domain's control over Ryukyu.

In the second year of the Tianqi reign, Liu Zhaosun led a large army to the east to attack Japan. After the Ming army defeated the Satsuma clan in Kyushu, they rescued the King of Ryukyu from the control of the Satsuma clan.

However, the good times did not last long. Just two years later, with Yuan Chonghuan's defeat in Kyushu, the Ming army retreated across the board, Kyushu was re-occupied by the Tokugawa shogunate, and Ryukyu soon fell into the clutches of the Shimazu family again.

From the first year of Wuding to the fourth year of Guangde, a long period of fifteen years, the Satsuma Domain exploited the Ryukyu Islands to the bone. The wives and daughters of the Ryukyu King were all defiled by Shimazu Mitsuhisa, allegedly to avenge the Shogun (Liu Zhaosun had abducted Tokugawa Senhime).

For the Ryukyu King Shangxian, that period was a painful memory that he could not bear to mention.

"It's a pity that Shimazu Mitsuhisa escaped, otherwise, I would have torn him into pieces."

Shangxian gritted his teeth.

"Shimazu escaped, but his people are still here."

Qin Jianxun looked at the ruins of Tsurumaru Castle and spoke meaningfully to the Ryukyu people.

The retired emperor said that he needed a clean Japan. The clean here certainly does not mean spotless, but he just wants to find someone who is not obsessed with mysophobia.

The retired emperor ordered a planned cleanup of 10 million Japanese pirates.

It's like cleaning out worms in a dream.

Clearing out a country with a population of tens of millions is not an easy task.

However, it would not be a big problem for the Qi army to concentrate their forces and restore Jiuzhou to "cleanliness".

Qin Jianxun had no experience with large-scale massacres, nor did he want to have any experience.

"Leave some warriors and send them back to Fujian. Director Xie has opened several new iron mines there and is in urgent need of manpower. You can handle the rest on your own..."

Qin Jianxun did not clean up personally, nor did he give any order to clean up.

Whether out of conscience or for some other reason, he handed over the power of life and death to Shangxian.

"Thank you, General Qin!" Shangxian expressed his sincere gratitude. After the Ryukyu people saluted Qin Jianxun, they looked up at the Japanese pirate captives kneeling in the distance, tied up with ropes. His face suddenly darkened, and he said with grief and indignation:
"Fifteen years ago, when Shimazu Yoshihisa inherited the throne, King Sho Gen of the Ryukyu Kingdom passed away, and King Sho Ei, my father, ascended the throne. Due to the complexity of state affairs, he did not send an envoy to Satsuma to congratulate him in time. Satsuma, however, used this as an excuse to attack the Ryukyu Kingdom. The Shimazu army massacred the royal capital for six days... As the saying goes, it is impolite not to reciprocate. I have decided to also massacre the city in return for the Shimazu family."

"It's cleaning," Qin Jianxun corrected.

"Yes, clean up."

When the city was broken, more than 5,000 Shimazu troops who were defending the city were wiped out, and more than 500 survivors committed seppuku on the spot.

The soldiers did not kill these Shimazu soldiers who practiced Bushido.

This is certainly not because Shangxian was moved by "Bushido" - there was no pro-Japanese group in Da Qi more than 300 years ago - after committing seppuku, a person needs to spend a long time in extreme pain before finally dying.

In order to torture his enemies more thoroughly, Shangxian prohibited all soldiers from acting as kaishakunin. Instead, he stood beside the seppuku and watched the pirates die slowly one by one.

Except for women, children and some captives who were taken back to Fujian and survived, the rest of the captives were executed.

The execution took place on the coast of Kagoshima and lasted for twelve days, from October 9th to October 21st.

The executions were mainly carried out by Ryukyu people, and each camp sent officers and instructors to supervise.

The heads of tens of thousands of evil god's servants were chopped off and floated back to their nests along the ocean currents.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and the pirates return to their host.

The sea water was dyed red, which eventually attracted large schools of octopuses.

Like a pilgrimage, these creatures from the deep sea gathered in groups around the heads of the Japanese pirates, floating up and down with countless human heads, and finally disappeared into the dark deep sea.

(End of this chapter)