Usurpation of Mongolia: My father-in-law is Genghis Khan

Chapter 289 The Demise of Fusang Makes Zhao Shuo a Fortune!

The Fusang people have occupied the three islands of Fusang, and now Zhao Shuo has conquered Kyushu Island, Shikoku Island, and the area south of Heian-kyo.

However, from the perspective of the economy and military of various regions, the Japanese divided the country into seven "regions": Kyushu, Shikoku, Chugoku, Kinki, Chubu, Kanto, and Tohoku.

Zhao Shuo's conquest of Kyoto and the surrounding area only meant he controlled four "regions": Kyushu, Shikoku, Chugoku, and Kinki—just over half of the territory.

The Northeast region is currently under fierce competition.

This region boasts the highest forest coverage in Japan, with its numerous mountains, forests, and rivers severely limiting the movement of Mongol cavalry. The Japanese utilized the terrain and various mountain fortresses to wage fierce battles against the Mongols and the Ainu people.

Both sides were furious.

The Japanese not only did not take prisoners, but also subjected all prisoners to the most cruel tortures.

The Mongols wanted young women, while the Emishi (Hokkaido) took no prisoners from the start. In order to win the war, the Emishi even mobilized all the remaining men, women, and even the elderly and children who remained in Hokkaido.

Even the Ainu men from Sakhalin Island and the Chiba Islands were mobilized to join the battle.

Because they understood that the war had progressed to this point, and the two sides were now deeply antagonistic, with no possibility of compromise.

Zhao Shuo's army won. They were able to avenge their ancestors' deep-seated hatred and obtain warm land, so that their descendants would no longer suffer from the cold and harsh conditions of Hokkaido and live a life of eating raw meat and drinking blood.

However, if the Zhao Shuo Khanate is defeated in this battle, the Mongol army can return to the mainland, but what about them?

They will inevitably suffer the most brutal retaliation from the Japanese. They will not be able to stay in Hokkaido, the Chiba Islands, or Sakhalin Island any longer. The Ezo people will surely be exterminated!
Therefore, although the Han army continuously attacked and captured cities and territories during Zhao Shuo's war against Fusang, and even massacred the capital of Heian, the intensity of the war itself was not very high.

The most brutal fighting took place in the "Northeast region" of Japan.

Of course, that won't be the case for long.

After a two-week rest, Zhao Shuo gave the order, and nearly 300,000 troops invaded the "central region" of Japan.

The Japanese adopted a scorched-earth policy, and the Japanese in the "Chubu region" mainly concentrated in five castles: Tsushima, Ichinomiya, Kanazawa, Toyama, and Nagano.

Among them, Kanazawa, Toyama, and Nagano were weak and chose to surrender when the Han army pressed in.

However, Tsushima and Ichinomiya Castle resolutely refused to surrender.

Then let's fight!

Zhao Shuo conscripted all the men who had surrendered from Kanazawa, Toyama, and Nagano into the army, and together with other Japanese conscripts, launched the first attack on Ichinomiya Castle.

The Han army only provided support with catapults, and did not even use their precious triple-bow crossbows, thunderbolts, or shock bombs.

Under Zhao Shuo's command, the Japanese were also divided into different classes.

Generally, the earlier one surrendered to Zhao Shuo, the higher their status. Those who sacrificed an entire village as "traitors" had even higher status, and the Japanese who cut off the most heads during the war had the highest status.

The pressure was applied down the chain of command, making them firmly believe that serving the Zhao Shuo Khanate was the right choice, and that fame and fortune would follow.

Given their ability to exert strong suppression, the Japanese can be considered the most subservient people.

When they learned that Zhao Shuo's army was not infected with the "pustular" disease, their fear of this "Sixth Heaven Demon King" turned into profound admiration.

After using the weapons provided by the Han army and eating rice for a few days, they unleashed astonishing fighting power.

In less than half a month, they breached a palace, slaughtering everyone except for the young women offered to the Han army. The cruelty these conscripts displayed towards their own people was astonishing even to the Han soldiers.

Then, it took another half month to capture Tsushima Castle, the largest castle in the central region.

With the fall of the Chubu region, Hojo Yasutoki panicked completely and withdrew all resistance forces from the Tohoku region, along with all the men in the Kanto region, to defend Kamakura Castle to the death.

Kamakura Castle was the largest castle in Japan at that time, with a permanent population of 250,000.

Now, with the influx of a large population, the number has reached 1.5 million.

To guard against the Sixth Demon King's methods, any suspected cases of plague are immediately killed and then burned.

Moreover, Kamakura Castle was the most fortified castle in Japan during that era.

This city is surrounded by mountains on three sides and borders the sea on the other.

On the seaside, after so much preparation, a three-zhang-high stone wall has been built using stones from the mountains.

Taking the beachhead is by no means an easy task.

The side with the mountain behind it is even more difficult to attack.

The passageways connecting Kamakura Castle to the outside world were narrow tunnel-like roads carved out of the mountain ridge. These were both vital transportation routes and easily defensible military strongholds, known to the Japanese as "Kiri-tsu".

When Kamakura is attacked, only a small number of troops are needed to block or defend these narrow passages, putting the enemy in a situation where "one man can hold the pass against ten thousand".

Kamakura Castle mainly includes Jufukurozaka Kiritoshi, Susakazaka Kiritō, Asaina Kiritō, Nagotsu Kiritō, Daito Kiritō, Gokurakuji Kiritō, and Kametanizaka Kiritō, a total of seven major "kiritōs".

Zhao Shuo's overall attitude toward Kamakura Castle was that he was not in a hurry.

In any case, the entire territory of Japan, except for Kamakura Castle, was under Zhao Shuo's control. Because of the large number of people he had killed, there was a surplus of food, so why was Zhao Shuo in such a hurry?
Furthermore, Zhao Shuo still felt that there were too many Japanese people now, and he planned to eliminate another batch.

To boost the morale of these recruits, Zhao Shuo formulated a strict system of rewards and punishments.

Needless to say, the punishments were that anyone who showed cowardice or fled would have their entire family wiped out.

The incentives are very generous.

Firstly, for the first seven days before the war, there was an unlimited supply of rice, half a catty of strong liquor transported from China, three ounces of meat, and a female slave was also provided for their enjoyment.

Secondly, after joining the war, one could apply to return home after having one's head cut off.

Cut off two heads, and the land grant will be doubled. Zhao Shuo has decided to implement an equal-field system in Fusang, granting each Fusang man twenty-five mu of land. With the productivity level of this era, that's just enough to ensure they neither starve nor have enough to eat.

If you cut off two heads, you'll be given fifty acres of land, enough to eat your fill.

After cutting off three heads and adding twenty-five acres, there was a surplus.

Cut off four heads and give them to a young female slave.

Five heads were cut off, and the individuals were granted Han citizenship, placing them on par with Han immigrants. These were the low-level officials selected by the Zhao Shuo Khanate to control Japan and manage the Japanese people.

Six heads were chopped off, and the land was exempt from taxes for the first five years.

Cut off seven heads and you'll be directly promoted to the Han Chinese Eight Banners Army, and you won't have to participate in the later attack on Kamakura Castle.

Fighting a war is different from playing a game. Why should you be the one killing others instead of others killing you? The martial arts skills of the Japanese samurai are not to be underestimated.

To actually survive after having seven heads chopped off, one must not only possess exceptional combat skills but also have a great deal of luck.

The Japanese have a legend of "serving the country with seven lives," right? Zhao Shuo will make them "serve the country with seven heads"!
The only difference is that the "country" mentioned is the Zhao Shuo Khanate, not Fusang.

And so, the most brutal "civil war" in the history of Japan began.

Outside, Zhao Shuo's conscripted soldiers, emboldened by the heavy rewards and punishments, were in high spirits. Inside Kamakura Castle, the Japanese army was fighting for their own lives and the lives of their families. Who would dare not fight to the death?
Who can back down?
Among Zhao Shuo's conscripted soldiers, only a very small number applied to return to their hometowns after having one head chopped off.

About half of them died on the battlefield without having any heads cut off.

He slew an enemy soldier's head while still alive. Didn't he want to try harder to double the size of his own territory?
After doubling the land area, don't you want to double it again?
There were women behind them!
There was still hope of becoming a Han Chinese and joining the Eight Banners Army!

Because the fighting took place entirely within the "cutting channels," the Han army only provided archery support, resulting in relatively small-scale battles each day. However, every engagement was a life-or-death melee, reaching the peak of the war's brutality.

The number of conscripts under Zhao Shuo's command was slowly decreasing at a rate of about five hundred per day.

To compensate for the shortage of conscripted soldiers, Zhao Shuo even issued an edict to recruit soldiers from the rear of Japan to join the battle for Kamakura Castle and maintain logistics.

The battle outside Kamakura lasted for 237 days, and more than 100,000 conscripts died in these seven "cutting channels".

Then, Zhao Shuo's army besieged Kamakura Castle.

Having fought to this point, the people of Kamakura knew that surrender would not end well, and they continued to resist resolutely.

Zhao Shuo continued to order the conscripted troops to attack, with the Han army providing long-range support.

A month later, after Zhao Shuo suffered more than 50,000 casualties among his conscripted soldiers, Kamakura Castle fell.

Hojo Yasutoki deliberately set fire to the castle.

Some of the Kamakura garrison died in the war, some died in the fire, and some, filled with despair, threw themselves into the sea.

The entire Kamakura was burned to the ground.

Zhao Shuo ordered his men to collect all the remains of the Japanese and build a huge mound of corpses on the site of Kamakura.

Thus, in the south of Honshu, the corpse of Emperor Go-Saga, mutilated into a human pig, sat alone on the ruins of the Heian-kyo shrine. Meanwhile, the Jingguan (a mound of corpses) built from the bones of a million Japanese in Kamakura stood majestically in the north of Honshu, proclaiming the fall of Japan and the glorious military achievements of the Zhao Shuo Khanate.

Afterwards, Zhao Shuo did not return to China, but instead seized the opportunity to take control of the entire Japan.

First, regardless of their original duties, all Japanese were demoted to commoners. Then, based on their merits in establishing the Zhao Shuo Khanate, some were granted low-level official positions.

Secondly, laws were enacted to enforce a strict monogamous system among the Japanese.

Not only that, all Japanese men who had not rendered meritorious service to the Zhao Shuo Khanate had another task: to participate in the slave-hunting teams of the Chinese. Only by killing a Southeast Asian monkey or capturing a Southeast Asian monkey as a slave were they allowed to marry and have children.

This will further reduce the population of Japanese people and decrease their numbers.

Now, there are probably only about 200,000 men left in Japan. There are, however, many young women, numbering 1.09 million.

Zhao Shuo decided to distribute the Japanese women uniformly.

The Ainu people also suffered heavy losses in the fierce battle in the Tohoku region of Fusang. They had about 30,000 men left, and the rest of the elderly, women and children numbered about 200,000.

Thirdly, the Japanese changed their clothing and adopted the style of the Han Chinese.

While modern Japanese clothing incorporates elements of the Tang and Song dynasties, it also possesses its own unique characteristics.

For example, the "twelve-layered kimono" worn by noblewomen in Japan, while originating from the layered style of the Tang Dynasty, developed into a more complex, fixed, and stylized form. By layering different colored "kimonos" (袿), a overlapping color effect was created, a style that the Chinese had never used before, which was so fixed and exaggerated.

Samurai attire, with its wide sleeves tied up with sashes for ease of movement, topped with a tall eboshi hat and hakama, also has a strong Japanese style.

Zhao Shuo issued an edict that no one was allowed to continue wearing them.

There's no need to change the script; the Japanese have always used Chinese characters. However, all books and stone tablets recording Japanese history should be destroyed.

Fourth, while the iron was hot, all land in Japan was surveyed, and an equal-field system was implemented. The land was allocated roughly as follows: 25 mu for Japanese farmers, 50 mu for Ezo farmers, and 100 mu for Han Chinese immigrants. The remaining land was confiscated as government land and would be redistributed later depending on the situation.

Fifth, excavate all the tombs of Japanese nobles, and take all the gold, silver and treasures inside as spoils of war for the Han army. Destroy all items inside that record the history of Japan.

In recent centuries, the most common way for Japanese nobles to be buried was to be cremated and have their remains placed in a temple, with few burial goods.

However, the burial goods of Japanese nobles from hundreds of years ago were already very rich.

The Japanese even had a "Kofun Era" that lasted for nearly a thousand years, during which all Japanese nobles went to great lengths to build enormous and luxurious tombs.

Digging up these graves would not only yield rich burial goods, but also further destroy the history of Japan. Why not do it?

Sixth, destroy all temples and shrines in Japan.

Didn't they call Zhao Shuo the "Sixth Heaven Demon King"? It would be a disservice to their ingenious ideas not to destroy these temples and shrines.

Moreover, these temples contain countless Buddha statues cast in gold, silver, and bronze. Why not melt them down and exchange them for gold, silver, and bronze instead of keeping them for the New Year?

For example, the Vairocana Buddha statue at Todai-ji Temple is made primarily of bronze, with a large amount of gold plating on its surface.

Not to mention now, even in future generations, this Buddha statue will be one of the most important Buddha statues in Japan and even the world.

The construction of this Buddha statue exhausted almost all of Japan's copper reserves at the time, reaching a terrifying 800,000 catties, and used more than 4,000 taels of gold.

While the Buddha statues and deity statues in other temples may not be as valuable as this one, the total value is still quite considerable.

Seventh, they sent out craftsmen to search for various mineral deposits in Fusang.

Japan currently has a very low level of technology in both mineral exploration and smelting.

Take the famous Iwami Silver Mine, for example. At its peak, it accounted for one-third of the world's silver production. However, even now, the Japanese have not discovered it.

In fact, even if the Iwami Silver Mine had been discovered, the Japanese would not have been able to smelt it.

The "ash-blowing method" for smelting this silver ore was used by the Chinese before the Han Dynasty. However, it was not until three hundred years later that it was transmitted from China to Japan, first used in silver mines on Kyushu Island, and later in the Iwami silver mine.

Besides gold and silver mines, copper mines are the most important resource in Japan.

The copper mines of the Shikoku region are not only famous in Japan, but have also left a significant mark on world history.

Although the Japanese had very low levels of technology in mining and smelting copper, copper was still one of the most important commodities that Japan exported to China during this era. They exported metallic copper in exchange for exquisite copper coins from China.

From the 17th to the 19th centuries, copper, along with silver and gold, became the most important source of revenue and export commodity for the Japanese. "Sado gold, Iwami silver, and Bessuke copper" were known as the three major sources of revenue for the shogunate.

Besides copper mines, there are also sulfur mines.

Japan, with its numerous volcanoes, was the primary sulfur-producing region of that era. China, on the other hand, was the most important nitrate-producing region of that time.

Charcoal can be found everywhere.

Sulfur saltpeter and charcoal together make gunpowder.

Now, the gunpowder of the Zhao Shuo Khanate, in terms of quality, quantity, and even potential, is not only number one in the world, but also far ahead.

In any case, Zhao Shuo's war against Japan yielded a million Japanese women, thousands of years' worth of gold, silver, and copper, as well as countless precious mineral deposits—a truly fruitful haul.

Four months later, most of the Han army that had set out on the expedition gathered at the Dazaifu in Kyushu.

The day to return home has arrived!
The day has come to summarize the battle against Japan and distribute money and women!
(End of this chapter)