The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 569: Fuxing Company, move out!
The Emperor of Japan at that time was called Emperor Kōkaku. He ascended the throne four years ago and was only twelve years old this year.

Among the emperors who already have little presence, this one currently has an extremely low presence, and can be described as perfectly invisible.

Other emperors could always do something, even if it was in the territory of Yamashiro Province, and they would pull together more than 40 court officials with the rank of councilor to pretend to govern the country.

At the age of twelve, when he was completely controlled by others, he did nothing except changing the reign title.

Of course, Emperor Kokaku did cause some trouble in history.

Since he became emperor through foster care and adoption, his father was still alive when he came of age.

So Emperor Kōkaku learned from the Wanshou Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and wanted to give his father the title of emperor, which led to a grand ceremonial event like that of Japan.

Coincidentally, the Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu at that time also inherited the throne of Shogun after being adopted, and his father was still alive.

As a result, these two equally matched rivals made a lot of jokes over the title issue and slapped each other in the face.

Kyoto, the Imperial Palace in Kyoto.

Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu had a sullen face and was reporting to the twelve-year-old emperor on the throne in a serious manner.

He really didn't want to come. He was in his forties, and it was so uncomfortable for him to give a fake report to a young man.

But he had to come, because the most important duty of the Shogun was to serve as the pillar of the military family and protect the world of the Land of the Rising Sun.

Now that the Tang invaders are attacking, it is the time for him, the great general, to play a role, so he must report to the emperor to make it clear that now is the stage to defend the world. All the people in the Land of the Rising Sun, whether they are nobles or samurai, and even the emperor, must entrust the affairs of the world to the Shogun.

In theory, this set of procedures must be completed before the Shogun can become the highest authority in Japan.

During the tedious and completely hypocritical audience, Tokugawa Ieharu even lost his mind for a moment. It would be great if the invaders were not the Great Yu of China, but the Qing Dynasty. Then, his title of Shogun would be more worthy of the title.

The currently used terms "Tang bandits are coming" or "Tang bandits are invading" have made the people of Japan very uncomfortable, because at that time "Tang" or "Wu" are very good words in Japan.

For example, there was no term for kimono at that time. The so-called kimono in later generations, which had a strong Jin Dynasty style and was mostly made of silk and brocade, was called Wufu at that time, and a small number was called Tangfu.

Tang and Wu are used to indicate that these clothes and fabrics are from China and are very high-end.

This makes the term "Tang bandits invade" or "Tang bandits attack" have a strange and incongruous feeling of "a noble master comes to beat up a lowly person like me", which makes the Japanese feel that they are inferior to me.

After the audience was over and the final granting of power was completed, Tokugawa Ieharu prepared to get up and leave.

Emperor Kokaku was probably still a little naive because he was a child, and like other children, he was quite interested in war. He actually asked in a low voice.

"Now that the Tang invaders have occupied the southwest, they seem to have no intention of continuing eastward. Will the general go to Hiroshima to resist them?"

Tokugawa Ieharu had a strange personality. He was unwilling to talk to people he looked down upon, so a look of disgust immediately appeared on his face.

He had a dark face and said nothing. He stood up and left surrounded by a group of young people. He did not even participate in the customary banquet and the process of entertaining officials. He threw Emperor Go-kaku directly on the throne.

The nobles of the imperial family and the so-called princes of various palaces and courts were so frightened that they were silent and did not dare to say anything.

Some people even looked at Emperor Kokaku with reproachful eyes, saying, "Just play your puppet well, why are you talking so much?"

However, although Tokugawa Ieharu left the Imperial Palace unhappily, he was soon stunned.

Yes, he has been in the Osaka Plain for more than three months. It seemed that the Tang invaders would soon capture Hiroshima and attack Kyoto and Osaka, but they have remained motionless.

Even the small number of troops that had been lurking around Hiroshima had withdrawn, and it looked as if they had no intention of advancing eastward.

What is this game about?

Hagi Castle, the former headquarters of the Choshu domain.

The location here is exactly at the junction of Japan's Kyushu region and China region. At the same time, the fleet departing from Hagi Castle can clear the western side of the Seto Inland Sea and completely cut off the communication between the Tosa clan and other clans on Shikoku Island and the core mainland of Japan.

Having control of such a place, Reinstein would certainly not rush to attack.

He kept in mind the emperor's sixteen-character policy of attacking the city first, attacking the heart first, dividing and disintegrating, and showing kindness to all.

After Ye Mingyue and Li Changgeng almost wiped out the entire Choshu clan and intimidated dozens of daimyos in Kyushu, Shikoku and other places, they immediately launched their second killing move.

Reinstein ordered the daimyo of Kyushu, Shikoku and western Chugoku to relax restrictions and allow samurai from each domain to come and serve in the Chinese Zhendong Army.

He also ordered the quartermaster to use Dayu silver dollars or other Chinese products to purchase food and other items from the people in various places.

This move made the southwestern daimyos very helpless. The Chinese Zhendong Army only occupied the three territories of Satsuma, Choshu and Nagasaki, and did not attack them, which made them easy to deal with.

If you still don't meet this requirement, then you are being tactless and are asking for a fight.

As a result, these daimyo either went to Osaka or even Edo in person, or sent their trusted family elders to frantically ask the shogunate for help.

At the same time, he accepted the request of the Dayu Zhendong Army and allowed the samurai to go to Hagi Castle and other places to observe the situation. In order to ease the financial pressure, he took the opportunity to sell a large amount of agricultural products from the domain to the Zhendong Army. Then things got out of control.

At this time, Japan was poor. In addition to the policies of the shogunate, the productivity was too low, especially the production relations were really backward, and the Ishigaki system was fully implemented.

The arrival of the Zhendong Army immediately brought them vitality. The originally poor farmers suddenly found that their chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep, vegetables and fruits could be exchanged for money.

The food specially brought by the Zhendong Army was much cheaper than the meat and fresh fruits and vegetables that were difficult to preserve.

Warriors from all over the country discovered that their martial arts could be exchanged for rewards in the Zhendong Army.

Even if you don't have any physical power, as long as you have some strength and can save face, you can quickly improve your life.

People's need for survival always comes first. In the favorable environment for the Japanese deliberately created by Reinstein, everyone from samurai to farmers quickly fell.

At first, some people said that the Tang bandits were coming to kill all the Japanese. Three months later, the farmers replaced the Tang bandits with the Tang masters. Although the warriors did not say it, they agreed in their hearts.

Then, Reinstein took the second step and immediately issued an order requiring the lords of each domain not to interfere with the samurai serving in the Zhendong Army.

The daimyo immediately realized that this was a typical salami-slicing tactic, and they were still very vigilant. Before the shogunate's reinforcements arrived, the southwestern domains elected Hizen domain lord Osamu Nabeshima as their leader and raised troops to resist in Saga Castle, the Hizen domain's headquarters.

There was nothing Osamu Nabeshima could do, because sixty-seven years ago, in 1716, two samurai from the Hizen domain, Yamamoto Tsunetomo and Tashiro Jinki, compiled a book called Hagakure by the Japanese samurai.

This is a book that laid the foundation of Bushido and can be called a Bible. The Japanese samurai class called it the Analects of Hagakure and compared it with the Analects of Confucianism.

The core idea of Hagakure is to emphasize loyalty. A subject should be infinitely loyal to his lord, even when the lord cannot see him. It advocates that samurai should be willing to sacrifice their lives without hesitation for loyalty and righteousness.

With such a samurai saint emerging from the domain, the atmosphere in Hizen Domain was naturally different from that in other domains. Samurai were particularly particular about loyalty, which was also appreciated by the shogunate. Successive shoguns had given many rewards and praises to Hizen Domain.

To put it bluntly, the lord of Hizen Domain, Osamu Nabeshima, was simply trapped by his false reputation and couldn't get down from it. Although he was worried and even afraid, he had to take the lead in causing trouble.

So when the Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu was preparing to set out from Edo to fight in the west, Nabeshima Osamu also raised a large flag in Saga Castle, the headquarters of the Hizen domain.

This was great news for Reinstein, who was worried that these scattered and dissatisfied warriors would not be able to gather together.

So he immediately mobilized a large army to encircle and suppress these people from the Hizen clan, and the attack was not carried out by the Chinzō Army alone, but also joined forces with the Satsuma clan of the Shimazu clan and the Kumamoto clan of the Hosokawa clan.

My goodness, this doesn't look like they are resisting an invasion, it looks like a big fight among the southwestern vassal states.

On April 27, the Chindō Army, in conjunction with the Satsuma and Kumamoto clans, sent out 6,000 troops. The Hizen clan, which was in a state of disarray, joined forces with the Fukuoka, Tottori, and Okada clans to form a total of 9,000 troops and fought a great battle in Saga, the Hizen clan's headquarters.

The Saga Alliance's soldiers were badly defeated. Under the heavy fire of large numbers of muskets, more than 400 people were killed in just two days. They almost had to use traditional skills and flood the outer city of Saga to defend against the enemy.

Therefore, on the fourth day of May, Osamu Nabeshima, who had never wanted to be the first to resist, announced the dissolution of the alliance, and surrendered to the Chindō Army by leading a sheep out of Saga Castle naked. More than ten people, including Saga clan elder Kensai Hakura, who were responsible for the coordination, were ordered to commit suicide by seppuku.

At this point, no one in the southwest of Japan dared to resist Dayu anymore. Reinstein directly began to order the conscription of southwestern warriors to serve in the Zhendong Army and expanded the recruitment of the volunteer team to the entire southwest.

It was under such circumstances that Heshen walked quickly into the General Zhendong's Mansion in Hagi City.

Reinstein naturally knew that although this person was of bannerman origin, he was also the emperor's confidant and was very capable.

"Mr. Rui, I have consolidated the wealthy merchants of Edo and Osaka under the name of the Fuxing Company, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce. They are now aggressively purchasing grain. They supply over 60% of the shogunate army's rations."

Heshen's greatest achievement was that after he took over the Fuxing Company's business in Japan, he strengthened the originally somewhat loose chamber of commerce into a semi-government office.

As for adults, he is really professional in making money, bullying people and forming small groups. In the thousands of years of Chinese history, there are no more than thirty people who have his ability in these areas.

"Tokugawa Ieharu must have been extremely happy, because he suddenly discovered that the wealthy merchants under him were very obedient, supplying military rations quickly and in good quality, without raising the price at all."

Reinstein felt a little sorry for Tokugawa Ieharu. The war hadn't even started yet, but the most crucial military rations had already been taken by the enemy.

"What a pity! It's at least millions of dan of grain. What a waste, what a waste!" Li Changgeng, the fleet's rear admiral and the admiral of the Zhendong Navy, said with some emotion.

He came from a poor family, and he felt a little bit sad when he thought about so much food being burned.

He Shen bowed to Li Changgeng and said with a smile: "General Li, a general's success is built on the sacrifice of thousands of soldiers. What is one million dan of grain? As long as we can conquer Japan and remove a threat to China, two million dan is worth it."

Heshen's face was calm because the plan to burn the Japanese military rations was proposed and designed by him.

Specifically, they first used wealthy merchants in Edo and Osaka to create the illusion that Tokugawa Ieharu had no worries about military food, and then at the right time, they set fire to 21 places and burned all the one million stones of grain.

This was truly cruel! It was truly something a man like Heshen could do. Even Mo Zibu, who was far away in Nanjing, could see the devastating scene.

After the unprecedented eruption of Mount Asama, Japan's grain production decreased, and people died of starvation everywhere. The military rations that were thought to be guaranteed were burned again. Was there any need to fight this war?
After learning about Heshen's arrangements, Reinstein quickly made the final deployment.

"Hold still, and first hold the shogunate army in Osaka until they have eaten up all the food on the Osaka and Ono plains.

My Lord, Kabayama Hisayoshi, you two should do a good job of intelligence work and keep a close eye on the shogunate army's every move. Unless they withdraw, we will never advance eastward!"

(End of this chapter)