Chapter 2773
The last foreign-related war that broke out in the Japanese archipelago dates back to the battle between Kaihan and the Hirado clan in 1638. However, the Japanese shogunate did not participate in it at that time. It just watched the whole process and allowed the Kaihan army to wipe out Hirado Port in one fell swoop.
Of course, the reason why the shogunate did not participate in the war was not as simple as fear of Haihan's force. Hirado Island is located in a remote location, and the shogunate received the news at the time and had no time to mobilize troops to respond. And Hirado Port overlaps with the trade function of Nagasaki Port that the shogunate strongly promotes. The strength of the Hirado navy is even more powerful than that of the shogunate. It has already shown signs of being beyond the control of the shogunate. Therefore, the shogunate actually also used borrowed weapons to kill people to clear obstacles for itself. plan.
Haihan took it easy and did not expand the battlefield, so the impact of this war on Japan was not significant. In terms of the scale of the war, it was actually far inferior to Tokugawa Ieyasu's war against the Toyotomi family in 1615. The number of combatants on both sides reached 200,000. It was also the last battle for the Tokugawa shogunate to unify Japan.
Now a full forty years have passed since the war commanded by Tokugawa Ieyasu. During this period, the shogunate did not organize or participate in any large-scale combat operations, and its military strength declined greatly. So much so that when Wang Tom stormed into Edo Bay with his armed fleet, the shogunate failed to organize timely and effective resistance measures, which was almost the same as the Korean King Li Zhu who was attacked by the Haihan fleet.
Even if Kaihan later occupied Sasebo Bay to set up a military base and stationed an armed fleet, the shogunate still pretended to be deaf and mute and turned a blind eye to Kaihan's actions. The reason is also very simple. At this time, the shogunate has neither an organized armed fleet nor senior generals with actual combat experience. Haihan has already dominated East Asia at this time. Even the Ming Dynasty can only retreat. How can Japan have the strength to go? Rather than launching a military confrontation, the wisest way to deal with it is to act as if nothing happened.
But what really made the shogunate feel that its defenses were broken was the Korean warship that entered Edo Bay with the Kaihan delegation this time. Although there were only a few ships in total, their regulations, equipment, and combat systems were all in the same vein as Haihan. If it hadn't been for the personal command of the North Korean imperial general Andoseok, the shogunate would have even thought that the Haihan army was pretending to be Koreans.
It is understandable that he cannot defeat Haihan. After all, it is a powerful existence that is about to replace the Ming Dynasty. However, the military strength is left behind by North Korea. This is definitely a situation that the shogunate cannot accept. Just a few decades ago, North Korea was almost destroyed by the Japanese army commanded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The rapid rise of such a neighbor would not be a good thing for Japan.
Fortunately, it's not too late to remedy the situation. Since the neighbor next door can quickly upgrade its armed forces by asking Haihan for help, Japan can certainly follow this approach, which is nothing more than spending money. Japan has been recuperating for several decades, and the shogunate's financial situation is actually pretty good, and it can find a certain amount of funds to try large-scale arms purchases.
But even if you have the confidence to spend money, you still have to carefully calculate how to spend it. Therefore, the shogunate did not rush to place an order. Instead, it sent a mission to Hangzhou, intending to draft the contents of the arms purchase while conducting inspections.
"The most common question asked by Masuyama Masato during the inspection was whether the equipment we displayed had ever been sold to North Koreans." Shi Chengwu said with a smile: "I think the Japanese shogunate's arms procurement standards should be based on North Korea's armament level. For reference, if the Koreans have it, they must have it too.”
Tao Hongfang responded: "But the North Koreans have been cooperating with our country in the military field since 20 years ago. If Japan wants to catch up with the gap of 20 years, it will be difficult to achieve its goal just by purchasing arms, right?"
Ha Jianyi said: "I also asked the other party about this issue when I was in Zhoushan. The shogunate's idea actually coincides with the plan we are preparing to provide. While purchasing arms, our country will provide corresponding military skills training. , to assist the shogunate in forming a new army.”
Ning Zijing asked: "Didn't the other party ask us to transfer the manufacturing technology of the equipment at the same time?"
Ha Jianyi said: "Of course I mentioned it, but this request is unlikely to be realized." Zhu Zian asked curiously: "Is it because the transfer price is too high for the other party to bear?"
Ha Jianyi said: "This is only one of them. The main reason is that our country does not intend to transfer relevant manufacturing technology to Japan."
Zhu Zian asked: "Then why was North Korea able to obtain some manufacturing technology concessions for weapons and equipment in the first place?"
Ha Jianyi explained: "First of all, North Korea has an alliance with our country, and the relationship between the two countries is different from that of Japan. Secondly, North Korea was able to obtain such an arrangement in exchange for its domestic mineral mining rights. If you just want to It’s also not feasible to buy these technologies with money.”
Zhu Zian suddenly said: "Given Japan's poor situation, it is probably impossible to offer any attractive exchange conditions."
For Haihan, promoting industrialization is the established development route, and minerals are the most valuable resources at this stage. Controlling other countries' important mineral resources such as heavy metals, coal, and oil can not only promote Haihan's industrial development, but also grasp the possibility of other countries catching up with Haihan in the industrial field in the future.
Compared with North Korea, which is rich in mineral resources, Japan's natural resource situation can only be described as "poor". Haihan is not even interested in conquering cities and territories in the Japanese archipelago. Coupled with the Executive Committee's consistent attitude towards Japan, the transfer of military technology is unlikely to be realized.
The road to self-manufacturing through technology transfer has basically been blocked by Haihan. At this stage, if the Japanese shogunate wants to obtain high-end equipment in batches, it can only honestly pay for it. Moreover, the arms market in East Asia has been basically monopolized by Haihan. Japan is unlikely to find other suppliers that can meet its needs to upgrade its military force, and it cannot provide any valuable exchange conditions, so there will be no problems in the negotiation process. Too much room for bargaining.
Shi Chengwu continued: "The shogunate's arms purchase direction mainly focuses on maritime weapons, which is consistent with Japan's special geographical environment. However, ordering warships from our country requires a long delivery period, which makes the other party hesitant. The shogunate obviously I hope to be able to form combat effectiveness as soon as possible, but the first step is to get the ship.”
Tao Hongfang asked: "Didn't we mention before that they should consider buying old ships? What do they want?"
Shi Chengwu shook his head and said: "The other party is still giving priority to new ships, and they propose that our country relaxes restrictions and sells warships with larger tonnage to them. If they must buy old ships, the other party hopes to buy the Majesty-class warship. ”
"The ambition is not small!" Tao Hongfang couldn't help being surprised after hearing this.
(End of chapter)