Chapter 3614
The Kyushu Allied Forces' troops for raid operations were limited in size, and they did not dare to fight. They always fought and ran wherever they went, so the damage to these ports was not actually too serious. However, the resulting public opinion impact quickly plunged the Seto Inland Sea region into panic.
There is news that the shogunate army has lost its battlefield advantage and can no longer form an effective blockade of the Kyushu region, so the armed fleet of the Kyushu Allied Forces once again broke into the Seto Inland Sea. Almost all the garrison troops in these areas were transferred to the front line. Facing the Kyushu Allied Forces, they were completely undefended and naturally unable to withstand the opponent's surprise attack.
Whether this kind of negative news spread spontaneously among the people, or whether spies from Kyushu deliberately spread rumors, it was impossible to find out the truth for a while. But the damage to the prestige of the shogunate was quickly apparent.
More than a dozen daimyo in the Shikoku region, represented by Tokushima Domain and Kochi Domain, jointly wrote to the shogunate after the attack, requesting Tokugawa Ietsuna to repatriate troops from the Shikoku region from the front lines to protect the region. Attacked by the Kyushu Allied Forces.
Before the shogunate had time to respond, the Hiroshima Domain, also located on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, also made the same statement. This is the most powerful clan in the region. All the participating troops of the dozen or so clans in the Shikoku region can be compared to the scale of the Hiroshima clan's troop dispatch.
The Asano clan daimyo of the Hiroshima clan actually had a deep connection with the Tokugawa shogunate. The former daimyo Asano Nagasaki married Tokugawa Shinki, the third daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate. The current daimyo is Asano. Nagasaki's second son Asano Mitsuaki, who is also the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, is one generation higher than the current shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna.
Because of this, the Hiroshima Domain provided 100% support to the shogunate in the early stages of the war. Not only did they provide money and effort, but Asano Mitsuaki also personally led the army to participate in the shogunate's crusade against Kyushu.
However, Hiroshima Domain was only more than 200 miles away from Kyushu, so such a performance naturally made him stand out. As a result, Hiroshima Domain became the main target in two long-distance raids by the Kyushu Allied Forces.
Although the Kyushu Allied Forces did not directly attack Hiroshima City, the two raids caused huge losses to the local area. This time, most of the port was burned down. It will take at least a year or two to slow down. Slow recovery.
By this time, Asano Mitsuaki also realized that it would be difficult for the shogunate to defeat the Kyushu Allied Forces in a short period of time, and could not even block the sea area and restrict their movements. Hiroshima Domain, which is very close to Kyushu, is an important logistics base for the shogunate army, and it is bound to become the target of repeated attacks by the opponent.
To keep his own safety, Asano Mitsusheng had no choice but to call back the troops that went on the expedition. Although this was suspected of causing trouble, he could not just watch the Kyushu Allied Forces move in and out of his own territory unscrupulously and do whatever they wanted.
When other daimyo make such a decision, they may also worry about whether they will offend Tokugawa Ietsuna, so they choose to express their demands by signing a joint letter.
Asano Mitsuaki had no such scruples. After all, he was also the elder of Tokugawa Ietsuna. After greeting him, he immediately transferred him back to Hiroshima Domain from the front line without waiting for the other party to nod in agreement. troops to stabilize the public opinion in the jurisdiction.
But the Hiroshima Domain removed troops from the front line, which was equivalent to setting a precedent for other clans. If the shogunate did not release troops from other clans, it would only cause more complaints and dissatisfaction. But if the requirements of the four vassals are met and their troops are allowed to go home, then the successive massive reductions in the number of frontline troops will definitely cause great damage to the overall morale and confidence. The momentum of the shogunate's army came largely from the large army assembled by the troops sent by each domain. If the troops were taken away one by one in the east and west, the collapse would not be too far away.
Tokugawa Ietsuna could only withstand internal and external pressure and announced that he would not allow the feudal clans that sent troops to transfer troops from the front line, but would arrange for each clan's troops to take turns to fight as appropriate. This also explained why Hiroshima The domain was able to move the troops back - that was because the Hiroshima domain had suffered heavy losses in previous battles and needed to return to its base to rest.
Although this explanation is far-fetched, it finally alleviated the internal conflicts temporarily and did not let the situation worsen.
In order to appease the emotions of these daimyo in the Shikoku region, Tokugawa Ietsuna had no choice but to reluctantly announce that the taxes paid to the shogunate by these vassals in the next few years would be reduced or exempted, so that they could have sufficient time to recuperate after the war.
But these methods are only emergency measures that treat the symptoms rather than the root cause. Tokugawa Ietsuna also understands the crux of the problem. He knows that only after the threat from Kyushu is resolved, the domestic situation will hopefully return to peace.
It's just that for the current stalemate, the shogunate has no good solution.
If it were just the Kyushu Alliance, then this crusade might have ended a few months ago. But the problem is that the Kyushu Allied Forces are backed by Haihan, and they even have mercenary troops from North Korea guarding their homes, so they can be spared to attack the shogunate's rear area.
With the strength of the shogunate and the family, it seems that it is an impossible task to defeat the Kyushu coalition forces jointly escorted by Haihan and North Korea. If this stalemate continues, the one that will be brought down first may not be the Kyushu Allied Forces, but the shogunate, which has assembled tens of thousands of troops on the front line and spent half a year unable to win.
The daily consumption of military expenditures and supplies is a huge burden for the shogunate. The entire logistics system has long been overwhelmed after struggling to support it for half a year. The reason why it did not collapse was firstly due to the many conveniences brought by local operations, and secondly because the opponent Kyushu Allied Forces had limited strength and was on the defensive for more than half of the time. The direct damage caused to the shogunate area was actually not great.
But after this raid, the logistics system had become shaky. In particular, the port of the Hiroshima Domain temporarily lost its function of transshipping supplies after the fire. This caused the shogunate army to find another port as a replacement. .
This port must not only have hardware facilities to berth a large fleet and store a large amount of supplies, but it must also not be too far away from the battlefield in Kyushu. However, there are not many ports that meet these conditions, and after this battle, such ports are actually within the attack range of the Kyushu Allied Forces. Taking on this mission is tantamount to turning one's own territory into a target for the Kyushu Allied Forces.
Not only will this transaction bring no real benefits, but it will most likely lead to trouble. Therefore, in several places that Tokugawa Ietsuna inquired about, they all found various excuses to shirk their duties and were unwilling to accept the tasks assigned by the shogunate.
Tokugawa Ietsuna was very angry about this, but he could not convict specific people. However, if the logistical problems were not properly resolved, the crusade would not be able to continue.