PS: I'm sorry, a clerical error, the previously mentioned Nabeshima Naoshige, hung up as early as the beginning of the pig's foot crossing. It should be Nabeshima Katsushige now. I'm sorry everyone.

Please smash me to death with a commuter pass!

Under the command of Matsudaira Nobutsuna, Tokugawa Yoshinao, and others, tens of thousands of shogunate troops conquered Shimabara Castle in one day, and the Amakusa Rebellion, which caused chaos in Kyushu for several months, was quelled.

There were still tens of thousands of people in the army who did not get off the ship to have such a success, which is also rare in the previous expeditions.

I couldn't help but write a document with the feudal lord Tokugawa Yoshinao, and reported the victory to the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu.

How to deal with the aftermath is a difficult thing.

The Matsukura family has fallen, and the shogunate can just add the Shimabara region to the shogunate's direct territory, but what should the Kuroda family and others of the Fukuoka domain not far away do?

Ordered people to hastily clean up the castle of Shimabara, examine the corpses scattered all over the castle, and throw the corpses of those rebellious believers into the sea. The fallen soldiers of the shogunate were compensated according to the regulations. Song Ping'an paused this qiē, and then went to Huayu's big tent to respectfully invite His Royal Highness to enter the city.

"Old man, the original bandits of Imajima have been pacified, shouldn't we attack the remnants of the Western Army such as Shimazu who committed the rebellion?"

As soon as he sat down, Li Huayu's question came.

"Your Highness, the Minister has come today for this purpose. As soon as the army is mobilized, our army will go south to Kagoshima to quell the rebellion of the Shimazu family! ”

In order to quell the rebellion this time, General Tokugawa Iemitsu also made a bloody investment and requisitioned an army of 150,000 people. Prepare to completely eradicate the Shimazu family, who intends to rebel against Japan!

In the past few days, the armies of the eastern princes have been continuously driven to Shimonoseki, preparing to cross the sea into Kyushu to crusade against the Shimazu rebels.

These daimyo all know very well that once the Shimazu traitors are defeated, then everyone will have to sit in one place and re-divide the bones. The Shimazu family turned Kyushu upside down, and when he fell, everyone was bound to hold a feast on his corpse, just like when Hideyori died, Ieyasu transferred the princes. Isn't everyone's stone height also more?

Based on the idea of taking advantage of fire and robbery to expand strength and territory. More than 100 daimyo watches scattered throughout Shikoku and Honshu were more active than the daimyo of the clan and the pedigree band, and almost brought their own dry food to the Shimonoseki area to assemble.

For these, the Nanzhong Army, which sailors traveled to and from the sea, was naturally clear.

"Old and middle-aged adults, I don't know if you have ever thought about the soldiers after the soldiers eradicated the Shimazu rebels. How do I clean up the mess? ”

Haruka raised his glass and gestured to Tokugawa Yoshinao. The two highnesses drank all the rice wine in the cup.

"It's going to be a big day."

Facing Li Huayu's questioning. Matsudaira Nobutsuna thought for a long time before these four words burst out from between his teeth.

According to the previous practice, after the destruction of the Shimazu family, it was inevitable that the land and people would be transferred to those who had contributed to the battle. Of course. The general and his close retainers were the ones who got the lion's share, but the rest of the princes had to share a few bones.

However, General Iemitsu had already decided that after the end of the war, he would accept the good intentions of the Nanchu Army and no longer carry out the transfer activities, and all the land of Kyushu would belong to the shogunate as the land directly under the shogunate. As a result, the shogunate had an overwhelming position in Japan. No daimyo dared to challenge the power of the shogunate.

However, if the daimyo did not get a bone in the family, it would inevitably be resentful of the shogunate. In order to calm the grievances, will General Yan know whether Jiaguang will follow Cao Cao's example and borrow his head to calm his grievances? And this human head of his own, it seems that the length, width, and weight are just right!

Several old middle school members of the shogunate, Sakai Tadakatsu, Abe Tadaaki, Hotta Masamori, and Inaba Masakatsu have seen themselves calling for wind and rain in front of the general in recent years, and they are not unaware of the small actions they have made behind their backs.

Tokugawa Yoshinao, whose eyes were red from alcohol and food, couldn't help but laugh when he saw Matsudaira's frown.

"Old and middle-aged adults! You don't worship the bodhisattva in front of you, but what are you thinking about there? ”

"What do you mean?"

Tokugawa Yoshinao held the wine glass and gestured with his oily mouth to Li Huayu, who was studying Yusheng with chopsticks on the side.

"Please also ask Your Highness to teach me!"

"That's what my father means."

Hua Yu ordered someone to take a letter, flipped through a few pages and handed it to Matsudaira Nobutsuna.

"My father ordered someone to send it by clipper. It talks about the restoration of order in your country after the pacification of Kyushu, and also mentions the problems faced by the inability to transfer the feudal seal and the solutions to them. The words of the family can be regarded as the offering of my father and son! ”

"Xian Qiaozi's idea must be to plan for my Tokugawa family for ten thousand years!"

Tokugawa Yoshinao and Matsudaira Nobutsuna left their seats and bowed respectfully to Hua Yu to express their gratitude, and then began to read the letter.

Shouhan's letter first praised his son a few words, such as the family's peace and quiet, and then went to the point, first saying that he had ordered Youji to organize ships to Japan to transport grain, cloth, meat, salted fish and other goods for military needs, and these ships could be used to transfer troops for rebellion after arriving in Japan. Prisoners can be brought back when the fighting slows down.

In the letter, the most crucial issue was the issue of post-war reconstruction.

Shouhan insightfully proposed a system that would restore the current stone high system into a parallel system of stone high and through-high in parallel!

During the Warring States period, the daimyo calculated the amount of annual tribute in two basic ways, namely the "Ishigao system" and the "Kangao system". The former takes grain as the standard, and the stone is read as "Dan", which is originally a unit of weight, one stone is one hundred and twenty catties, and later converted to a volume unit, one stone is also a hu, and it is ten buckets or one hundred liters or one thousand he; The latter was based on currency (at that time, Japan did not mint money, and copper coins were used in the past of China), which has always been 1,000 Wen, and later the concept of "Guan" was also converted into a weight unit in Japan, which has always been equal to 1,000 Wen, and the so-called weight unit of one Wen, refers to the weight of a Yongle Tongbao.

If we think about it roughly, it would be reasonable for the region, where the commodity economy is more developed, to adopt the Guangao system (because there is a lot of money in circulation). The main grain producing areas adopted the shigao system (to facilitate the collection of rice grain), but in fact the situation was the opposite. The daimyo were not so gentle and courteous, they needed not only rice to feed their vassals, but also coins to buy all kinds of goods that were not produced in their domains, such as iron cannons, horses, etc., so the more the peasants lacked something, the more they had to collect something.

However, the collection of coins as annual tribute, and even the mandatory requirement that farmers must hand over high-quality coins such as Yongle Tongbao as annual tribute, made the peasants overwhelmed and fled. Therefore, after the development of the high system for a period of time. The Sengoku daimyo were forced to gradually turn to the Ishitaka system. When the Toyotomi and Tokugawa families rose to unify Japan, the Ishitaka system was fixed throughout the country. Later generations often used the annual tribute amount to speculate and calculate the size of the territory and financial sources of the Sengoku Daimyo, and generally used the stone high system.

However, the stone high system is also divided into two types: table height and real height. The so-called table height. It refers to the annual tribute amount determined after the so-called Taiko land inspection. The real high refers to the amount of annual tribute that the feudal daimyo was actually able to collect. After the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, the flames of war gradually died out, and the daimyo shifted their main efforts from external expansion to internal development. The annual tribute in the territory is increasing day by day, but it is impossible for the central government to approve the land every year, so the difference between the real height and the table height is often 108,000 miles.

The more remote the area, the more it can be reclaimed and the stone height can be increased, and the development speed is very fast, but there is not much room for development in the Kinai area.

For example, Date Masamune received a large area of land in southern Michinoku, and the main castle was set at Sendai, plus 10,000 koku in Hitachi Province and 10,000 koku in Omi Province, and the height of the table in the 11th year of Kanei (1634) was 620,000 koku. However, in fact, in the 13th year of Kanei (1636), Masamune died, and after unremitting efforts to reclaim the wasteland, the real height of the Sendai banner was close to 1 million koku, and it was commonly known as "Sendai million koku" at the time.

If these seemingly barren remote places in Kyushu are allocated, it is inevitable that another daimyo will become another Sendai million stone after several years of lying on the salary.

"The meaning of the father is to combine the transfer of the seal after the war with the opening of the treaty ports by the shogunate. A portion of the tax revenue set at the port was given as an annuity to reward these meritorious lords. ”

The Shigao system and the Guangao system go hand in hand, which seems to be a good idea. Not only did he lose the bones to the daimyo, but he didn't let these white-eyed wolves eat too fat. Moreover, the hands and bones of this bone-throwing were in the hands of the shogunate, and if any daimyo had a different heart, he could be killed immediately!

Matsudaira Laona's mind spun around a few times, and he exchanged glances with Tokugawa Yoshinao, and they all felt that this method was feasible, but it needed to be more refined.

At the moment, everyone no longer mentions this matter, but just drinks and talks about some things that they like to see.

Within a few days, a large number of troops crossed the sea, and dozens of daimyo saw that the fortified Shimabara Castle was breached in one day, and the tens of thousands of rebellious parties of Amakusa Tokisadajiro and the people in the city became the spoils of the Nanchu army, and I couldn't help but smack my tongue for a while. This Shimahara Castle was built over several years by the Matsukura family, who were famous for building castles, and it would be finished in less than one day, and I don't know how long my castle would last?

For those who had come from afar to fight against the rebels, the shogunate had to come out to comfort them, praise them a few words, and then reiterate the military order.

Robbery is allowed, but murder is not allowed.

The people were to be sent to the Nanzhong Army in exchange for food, money, and cloth.

The hearts of the feudal lords who said this were as hot as coals, originally! Everyone came all the way to this Kyushu for the sake of money! Since people can also change things, then let's grab things first and then grab people.

The marching sequence was arranged, with Matsudaira Nobutsuna as the commander-in-chief, Kuroda as the first army, Tokugawa Yoshinao as the second army, Li Huayu and Matsudaira Nobutsuna as the middle army, and a mighty 150,000 people marched by land and water along the north Kyushu all the way south to attack the city and seize the land.

Fukuoka, Bunzen, Bungo, Saga, and Nagasaki all fell in one drum, and the Shimazu army retreated immediately after the slightest contact, leaving an empty castle for the expeditionary army.

However, it is this empty city that also makes the conquest army quarrel constantly.

The Kuroda family was extremely dissatisfied with the various units of the First Army rushing into Fukuoka City and looting it, and almost caught fire with several daimyos, but this is also Lao Tzu's territory, and it was not easy to grab it back, and he was about to clean up the family business again, but he was first robbed by the Shimazu family, and then he was robbed by you, what else can I stay?

You don't even let go of those farmers who farm the land?! Who else will pay me the annual tribute in the future?!

It was in this noisy manner that the army marched south towards Kumamoto.

Kumamoto. The border between Kitakyushu and Minami-Kyushu. For geographical reasons, Kumamoto has been the political center of the Kyushu region since ancient times. The 40,000 soldiers and horses of the Shimazu family defended here by relying on the mountainous terrain of Mt. Aso. Try to stop the expeditionary army going south here, and then play the old way, spit out the land obtained in the Kyushu trend, and return to Satsuma to continue to recuperate and wait for the opportunity.

"Kumamoto is poor, and the Shimazu family uses full food as bait to recruit peasants to serve as ashigaru, and in this battle, I am afraid that the casualties will be worse than Shimahara Castle!"

In the marching ranks of the Chinese army, Matsudaira Nobutsuna worriedly expressed his worries to Li Huayu.

To the northeast of Kumamoto is Mount Aso. In the southwest, there is the Sea of Shiranui (Yatsushiro Sea). Because there are these two land volcanoes and sea volcanoes. In ancient times, there was a saying of "fire country". Just as I said in China, the poor mountains and bad waters come out of the people, and the harsh natural environment of the Fire Country makes the local people have to be particularly fierce and savage in order to survive. During the Warring States Period, the slogan "Kyushu soldiers are the first in the world, Kyushu Kumamoto soldiers are the first" was spread in Japan. In the Amakusa Rebellion, which had just been pacified, there were many bears among the troops who held on to fighting to the death. And in history that we are familiar with. The 6th Division, composed of the beasts that stormed Nanjing to carry out the massacre, was the Kumamoto Division.

But this battle must still be fought. Otherwise. If the nail of Kumamoto Castle cannot be pulled out, it will be impossible for the 150,000-strong army to let go south to attack Kagoshima Castle of the Shimazu family!

The reason is simple, this Kumamoto Castle was originally blocked by the northbound passage of the Shimazu family. Now it has become the north gate of the Shimazu family, firmly nailed to the passage between Kitakyushu and Minami Kyushu.

Thinking of getting around? Impossible!

Kumamoto Castle was built in the hilly area of Mt. Chausu, southeast of Kumamoto, across the Tsubai River, while the Shirakawa River and the Ikogawa River in Higo became natural strongholds, making it one of the few castles in the history of Japanese castle building.

Even if a small number of troops can sneak around the past, how can a large group of people be able to pass? Even if they cross the road from the mountains to the mountains and climb the vines, how can the food and baggage of these 150,000 people be guaranteed?

The grain road is behind, and it may be cut off at any time by Naoshige Nabeshima, the defender of the Shimazu family in Kumamoto Castle, and when the time comes, these 150,000 people will have to jump into the sea if they don't starve to death!

I have to admire the builder of this castle, the more famous castle builder in Japanese history, Kiyomasa Kato, chose the location too tricky!

"The Japanese are upright, strong, and stern, and they are really famous generals among the chiefs." When he invaded Korea with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Kato Kiyomasa was remembered by the Ming army for his strength and resistance to war, but what should be remembered more by the Ming army is that the Japanese cities he presided over and built in Korea, especially the Ulsan Japanese fortress, made the Ming army bleed. In addition, I met Yang Ho again, such a wretched commander, alas! Don't mention it! It's a pity for those Ming soldiers. After that, the name of Kato Toranosuke Kiyomasa spread throughout Japan.

After returning to China, he devoted himself to building his own main castle, and Kiyomasa Kato devoted all his efforts to this Kumamoto Castle.

Kumamoto Castle is a flat mountain castle that uses the techniques of the Ulsan Waseong Castle. The entire castle is 5.3 kilometers long, and the southwest and northeast areas are the ancient city of Chiba Castle, known as Demaru. Kiyomasa was particularly good at building stone walls, and was famous for the first half of the building called "Warrior Anti". Concentrate the main defensive facilities in the south to deal with the invasion of the imaginary enemy Satsuma Domain.

The castle tower of Kumamoto Castle is unique to Japan. The castle tower is a connected watchtower type, and the main castle tower is a five-layered, six-story and one-story basement, and is called the "First Castle Tree". The small castle tower is a three-tiered, four-storey, and one-story basement called the "Niyo Mori" or "Gojo", and is the residence of the lord's wife. To the northeast of the city is the site of the Fengguo Temple (the middle of the Tachida Mountain) established by the Qing Dynasty, and the southwest of the city is connected to the two spiritual temples of the Hosokawa family.

In addition to the castle tower, there are also many castle towers called "turrets" in Japanese. The five-order turre, the Iidamaru three-order turret, the Uto turre, the warden turret (Nagaoka book pre-turret), the flat turret, the five turrets, the north eighteen turrets, the east eighteen turrets, the source of the nosho turrets, the four turrets, the fourteen turrets, the seven turrets, and the Tianzi turret each turret look around the castle wall, and the arrow eye hole on the top can not only be used by the archers and iron gunners to shoot at the attacking team under the castle, but also very humane to take into account the problem of shooting dead angles, the above-mentioned "warrior anti" is to have an anti-slope plane, providing the best shooting angle for the shooters facilities!

After listening to Matsudaira Nobutsuna's introduction about Kumamoto Castle, and looking at the geography and defense facilities around Kumamoto Castle that the officers with quick hands and feet used cups, plates, tea bowls, etc., I couldn't help but let the people of the Nanchu Army gasp.

Although Li Huayu was on the battlefield for the first time, Liang Kuan and the others were all old oilmen who had been rolling on the battlefield for more than ten years, looking at the map, and then looking at Kumamoto Castle, which was almost full of traps and Taoist organs in ambush, everyone scolded the eighteenth generation ancestor of Kato Kiyomasa who built the city.

"Since this city is so strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, why did the Shimazu family take it lightly?"

Li Huayu suddenly remembered a crucial question, and figured out that if the Shimazu family's practice could catch the medicine according to the prescription, wouldn't it be better to start again?

"Your Highness, the Shimazu family had already planned it, and when Itama-kun was in Shimabara to quell the rebellion, they sent spies to infiltrate Kumamoto Castle. After the death of Itama-kun, they sent a messenger pretending to be back to Kagoshima to urge reinforcements to raid Kumamoto, and they captured Kumamoto Castle! ”

"Now, it is Nabeshima Katsushige who is defending the city, and he has already defended Kumamoto Castle like an iron bucket, and these tricks are not available!"

It seems that the tricks of surprise attack and deception cannot be used. It can only be that the whole army marches in the direction of Kumamoto Castle and fights with Nabeshima Katsushige, who is known as a brave general, under the castle! (To be continued......)