Chapter 3610
At the same time, in Japan, thousands of miles north of Beimen Port, the battle between the two sides in the civil war over the Kanmon Strait continues.
The weapons and equipment ordered by both warring parties from Haihan during the Zhoushan Forum event have begun to be delivered one after another. This has also allowed the new armies of both parties to be quickly included in the order of combat troops.
After repeated battles in the past few months, the Kyushu vassals and the Tokugawa shogunate each suffered considerable losses. Especially the Kyushu Allied Forces, which was already at a disadvantage before the war, could not withstand the consumption of a long-term war.
As a last resort, in addition to bringing in Korean mercenaries to assist in the defense of their own base camps, each vassal also started recruiting new soldiers to replenish the troops lost in the war.
Fortunately, the training of musketeers is much simpler than that of traditional soldiers. It only takes thirty to fifty days to form an army and go into battle, and the requirements for the physical fitness of the soldiers are also greatly reduced. This is simply a life-saving straw for the Kyushu vassals whose population base is already weak.
However, the conscription targets are all young and strong, which will inevitably affect the normal production activities in each domain's jurisdiction. The most obvious one is the reduction of grain production, which will lead to a sharp rise in grain prices. In order to stabilize food prices, each vassal had to spend money to import food from Haihan and Korea, and the economy was further hollowed out.
Although the shogunate army had occupied some areas on the northern coast of Kyushu, with the strong help of Haihan, the Kyushu allied forces could barely withstand the shogunate's offensive and did not allow the enemy's control to further expand.
Fukuoka Castle, which is only a hundred miles away from the Kanmon Strait, has now become the frontline headquarters of the Kyushu Allied Forces, responsible for coordinating the combat operations of various vassals. The meeting held today is very important for each vassal, because Shi Diwen and Shi Chengxin, who are supervising operations in Kyushu on behalf of Haihan, will be present. Their attitudes will be directly related to the next combat deployment and what the coalition can get from Haihan. How much military aid.
Seeing the Shi family father and son entering the hall, all the famous figures from each family immediately stood up to show respect. The main seat in the middle of the hall was empty, waiting for the father and son to arrive.
After everyone sat down, the lord of Fukuoka Domain, Mitsuyuki Kuroda, as the landlord, took the lead in explaining the purpose of the meeting: "At present, the coalition forces and the shogunate army have been at a stalemate for several months. If this continues, each family will be unable to hold on sooner or later. I don't know Mr. Shi Is there any good strategy that can change the current situation? ”
Shi Diwen responded: "I know that the current situation of each family is very difficult, but at this stage of the war, it is not just the Kyushu Allied Forces that are struggling to support it. Your opponent, the Tokugawa Shogunate, is not in a better situation than you. Where to go. Cheng Xin, tell everyone the latest information we have obtained.”
Shi Chengxin said loudly: "Everyone, we received a secret letter from the Edo embassy yesterday, which mentioned information about the current situation of the Tokugawa shogunate. I would like to give you a brief summary."
The person in charge of Haihan's embassy in Edo is Ma Boran, the eldest son of Maliko, the governor of the two vast regions. He has been in Edo for several years as Haihan's ambassador to Japan. In addition to the work in the diplomatic field, Ma Boran was also responsible for the specific negotiations and operations in various secret transactions between Haihan and the Tokugawa shogunate.
The first-hand information obtained by Ma Boran in Edo and sent back via telegram would definitely be far more credible and timely than the informants deployed by the Kyushu vassals in Edo. According to the information collected by Ma Boran in Edo, although the Tokugawa shogunate temporarily has an advantage on the battlefield in Kyushu, the current situation is also very difficult.
Although the Tokugawa Army has several times more troops than the Kyushu Allied Forces, these troops are drawn from various vassals across the country. A considerable part of them are just a make-up and do not have very strong combat effectiveness. The troops that can really fight are actually only a few troops from the Tokugawa family.
But on the battlefield, Tokugawa Ietsuna would definitely not put his own elite at the forefront. It would be a wise tactic to preserve his strength first and use cannon fodder troops to consume the Kyushu Allied Forces.
However, after fighting for so many months, the expendable cannon fodder troops have long been exhausted, and even the Tokugawa family's own direct troops have suffered a lot. The current countermeasures of the Tokugawa shogunate are actually similar to those of Kyushu. They are also urgently recruiting troops and training new troops to make up for losses.
But for those smaller and weaker vassal states, the few armed forces have been exhausted on the Kyushu battlefield, and it will be difficult to reorganize new armies in the short term.
And these small and weak vassals who were the first to lose their armed forces were extremely dissatisfied with the shogunate's use of them as cannon fodder. Some daimyo believed that this was intentional by the shogunate. The purpose was to take advantage of the opportunity of sending troops to conquer Kyushu to take advantage of the shogunate's troops. Send it to the battlefield and consume it to weaken the power of each vassal.
In this way, after the Kyushu Allied Forces are eliminated, the shogunate will not have to worry about other places in the country following the example of Kyushu and revolting.
It is hard to say whether Tokugawa Ietsuna really had such a plan, but such conspiracy theories undoubtedly spread easily. There are already rumors in Edo that the Tokugawa shogunate is planning to annex those weak vassals after the war, cancel their original administrative establishment, and put them all under the direct jurisdiction of the shogunate.
Although the Tokugawa shogunate issued a statement to refute the rumors, the effect seemed not to be satisfactory. The battle situation on the Kyushu frontline was stalemate, and more and more local daimyo began to complain that their armies were being depleted without any sound, and the shogunate only gave some symbolic rewards and not much substantive compensation. This seems to be the opposite. The rumors that were unfavorable to the shogunate were confirmed.
For these vassal states whose troops were mobilized, even if the shogunate army defeated the Kyushu coalition and completed the crusade goal, they may not get much practical benefit from it. The land and wealth of Kyushu will also be included in the Tokugawa shogunate The pockets will not be taken out and shared equally with the various families who send troops to participate in the war.
So some daimyo began to find various reasons to recall their troops from the front line, hoping to preserve the military strength of the vassal as much as possible before the situation worsened. Even if this is not possible, they will often notify their own generals to refuse to carry out those highly dangerous combat missions.
"The shogunate army seems to be strong, but in fact it is a mess. They have been unable to attack Kyushu for a long time. They are also struggling to support themselves, hoping that the coalition forces will fall before them. But if the coalition forces continue to resist, there will probably be chaos within the shogunate. The predicament will be solved by then, and defeating the shogunate will not be an unattainable goal.”
Shi Chengxin's words rekindled hope in the hearts of all the famous figures present. If the Tokugawa shogunate loses the support from local daimyo, even just a part of it, its strength will be greatly reduced.