Japanese officials call this battle the "Battle of Kagoshima", but for the Ming Navy, it was not a war. The small artillery musket of the Kikumaru was the fiercest "resistance" encountered by the Ming Yellow Sea Fleet in the entire "conflict". After that, the ships were simply targeted by unilateral bombardment, and were slaughtered by the battleships of the Yellow Sea Fleet, and then pressed by a group of more than 30 fourth-class battleships that followed behind, and finally completely collapsed, like lost dogs, and fled towards the coast of Kagoshima.

According to the records of Japanese history, the Japanese army lost 326 warships, killed 3,463 people, and captured 217 people......

After that, Feng Xiang ordered the fleet to stop, not only because the water in the depths of Kagoshima was unfamiliar, but also because the threat of the Uraga battery had not been completely removed.

"You still have to land in Uraga and occupy their battery, land battles are inevitable, and the battle has just begun!"

Two days later, in the afternoon, there was no shogunate warship left in the sea near Uraga Chong, only wreckage remained, and Feng Xiang explained to his subordinates in an extremely dignified tone.

At this time, not only Feng Xiang and the Yellow Sea Fleet, but no one thought that the naval battle alone could make Japan bow its head, and that pressure must be exerted from the land. However, land warfare is risky, and the Yellow Sea Fleet is currently not equipped with formed infantry, only scattered troops accompanying ships, which add up to only 300 men.

As long as the range of activities does not exceed the range of naval guns, this amount of troops is enough, and it is not a big problem to occupy the fort, but everyone has read the historical materials of the Mongol attack on Japan in those years, and knows that the Japanese fought fiercely on land, and they did sweat when they sent 300 infantry ashore.

However, what was surprising was that this small force went ashore without any resistance, and the operation to occupy the fort was also very smooth, and more than 100 shogunate soldiers who were bombarded and bloodied were captured.

Later, it was learned from the captives that there were 70,000 shogunate troops on the line from Miura to Edo, and the Yellow Sea Fleet became nervous again, so it gathered 600 sailors, sent a few cannons ashore, and built fortifications overnight.

There was nothing to do all night, until the early hours of the morning, Feng Xiang and a few of his subordinates stayed up all night, their eyes were bloodshot, full of puzzlement, what about the Japanese? What about the people of the shogunate? All evaporated?

The Yellow Sea Fleet had a hard night, but Edo Castle was not safe to live in all night, and the city was noisy all night. Frightened by the tragic situation of the fleeing shogunate fleet, the families of the feudal lords stationed in the castle and the townspeople of Edo Town packed their bags and fled north into the mountains.

At this moment, the main force of the follow-up Ming army finally arrived in Kagoshima, and Feng Xiang and the officers and men of the fleet also breathed a sigh of relief.

A few days later, Zhang Xiaojun, the commander-in-chief of the Shandong Town, as the commander of the Ming army, landed on Kagoshima and immediately organized three generals and men of the Tiger Army, the Trap Army, and the Eagle Yang Army to attack the Japanese island.

At the same time, the follow-up 50,000 Ming new troops also arrived by land, and Zhang Xiaojun ordered all of them to be stationed in Kagoshima as a reserve force and enter the battle as appropriate.

At the same time, Zhang Xiaojun also discussed with Feng Xiang that the Yellow Sea Detachment of the Beiyang Fleet would be responsible for blockading the Japanese coast and blockading all Japanese forces on land.

A big battle ensues!

Although at this time Japan was shocked by the strong military power of the Ming Dynasty, but the fierceness in the bones of the Japanese did not let it go, and the 70,000 troops that had been assembled immediately pounced on the three soldiers of the Tiger Army, the Trap Army, and the Eagle Yang Army, and the armies of the two sides launched a decisive battle on the front line of Kyoto.

This is a decisive battle without the slightest suspense, 70,000 Japanese troops in the face of the onslaught of more than 50,000 soldiers of the Tiger Army, the Trap Army, and the Eagle Yang Army, in the face of the bombardment of all kinds of sophisticated firearms, the impact of tens of thousands of iron cavalry troops, can not hold on at all, the whole battle only lasted about an hour, and the 70,000 Japanese army collapsed!

Immediately, Sun Xu, the commander-in-chief of Pingyang Town, led the Tiger Army to capture the city of Kyoto, while the Trap Army and the Eagle Yang Army continued to divide into two routes, and began to sweep through the entire territory of Japan from south to north.

At this time, Zhang Xiaojun left 5,000 Ming New Army to garrison Kagoshima, and led the remaining 45,000 New Army to land on the island to support the three soldiers of the Tiger Army, the Trap Army, and the Eagle Yang Army in front.

However, when Zhang Xiaojun led his troops to advance in Japan, Liu Juntao frowned.

At this time, with the growing strength of the Ming Dynasty, especially with the establishment of the Anxi Protectorate and the Beiting Protectorate, the spread of Islam in the Western Regions was completely cut off, and all the ministries in the Western Regions began to be fully sinicized, which made Central Asian countries and ministries intolerable.

As a result, more than a dozen countries and tribes in Central Asia began to connect in series, and formed a coalition of 300,000 troops, preparing to march eastward to defeat the Ming Dynasty and restore the spread of Islam in the Western Regions and even the northwestern provinces of the Ming Dynasty!

This news made Liu Juntao a little entangled, which not only gave Liu Juntao an excuse to continue to march west of the Western Regions, but also made Liu Juntao realize that this matter might put the Ming Dynasty in a situation of fighting on two fronts, after all, the war on the Japanese side was far from over at this time.

These things are only the threat from outside the Ming Dynasty, at this time in the Ming Dynasty, with the promulgation of the "Association Preparation Law" by the imperial court, the Ming people suddenly boiled, not only the gentry and large households began to form trading companies, agricultural societies, and even political societies, even the local royal family, the former officials who returned to their hometowns also began to form associations, and the folk associations of the Ming Dynasty sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.

This means that now the consciousness of the people of the Ming Dynasty has begun to change, and the whole people have begun to attach importance to the development of commerce and industry.

The data received by Liu Juntao also proves this, this year, the commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty has increased fourfold, and at the same time, the circulation of silver money among the people of the Ming Dynasty has also increased dramatically, according to Tang Yu, now the Ming Dynasty has not only increased the income of the imperial court, but even the people are also rich, at least more than 70 million taels of silver are circulating in the people, which is not counting the silver stored by the people and put into the workshop and farming!

It stands to reason that this should be a good thing, why is Liu Juntao still worried?

Because there is more silver in the hands of the people and the imperial court, it means that the goods needed have increased accordingly, and if there is no corresponding goods in a short period of time, it means that the silver in the hands of the people will depreciate sharply!

At this moment, Daming urgently needs to expand the market and develop the origin of raw materials!

If you want to solve this problem in a short time, the only way Liu Juntao can think of is war!

Only by fighting a war can we seize enough land and population in a short period of time, can we stimulate domestic infrastructure and military industry, can we resolve some domestic contradictions, and can we plunder enough raw materials and trophies, all of which can perfectly resolve the silver crisis that is about to break out in Daming at this time!

"I really didn't expect that Daming would embark on the road of empire~ism so quickly!"

Liu Juntao smiled bitterly in his heart, and then began to deploy.

After careful deliberation, Liu Juntao, together with the ministers of various ministries and cabinet ministers, decided on the basic national policy of conducting a major war between the east and the west, and trade between the north and the south.

Specifically, the Ming Empire will deal with two major wars at the same time in the eastern front of Japan and the west of the Western Regions on the western front in the coming period, and will invest no less than 500,000 strong troops on both sides at the same time!

Liu Juntao's bottom line for these two wars is:

The Eastern Front wants to completely defeat Japan, occupy part of Japan's territory, and completely turn Japan into a vassal of the Ming Empire, a dumping ground for commodities and a source of raw materials, so that Japan will completely become a flood outlet for the Ming Empire to vent its internal contradictions!

The Western Front is more straightforward, the Ming army should give a fatal blow to those Central Asian countries and ministries, and demarcate a "warning area" in the west of the Western Regions, after this war, Central Asia is not allowed to exist as a regional power, and all countries and tribes must be attached to the Ming Empire, so as to ensure the smooth flow of the Silk Road.

The meaning of north-south trade is that Liu Juntao is ready to carry out large-scale trade with Vietnam and Burma in the south, and Korea in the north, and encourages private merchants to enter these countries with all their might, and through the strong economic strength of the Ming Dynasty, the economic strength of these countries will be defeated in a short time, so as to expand the market and source of goods of the Ming Empire, and resolve the economic danger faced by the Ming Empire at this time.

Moreover, the East-West War and the North-South trade, as the basic national policies of the Ming Dynasty, will continue for at least a few years, or even more than ten years, and the entire imperial court will also focus on this point.

When Liu Juntao submitted this proposal to Emperor Chenghua, Emperor Chenghua was stunned, he had never seen such a "reckless" proposal.

You must know that if you are not careful, North Korea in the north, Vietnam and Myanmar in the south will jump over the wall in a hurry, and the worst situation that Daming will face is that there are enemy countries on all sides!

"Have you ever thought about the consequences of doing this?"

Liu Juntao nodded and said, "Your Majesty, with the strength of the current dynasty, the feasibility of this national policy is very great, even if you meet the Ming sword soldiers in all aspects, there is no need to worry. ”

"Moreover, now that the national situation of the dynasty has reached a node, there must be a process of breaking the customs, and this national policy of the east-west war and the north-south trade is formulated to make the dynasty break through the customs smoothly, and without further ado!"

Emperor Chenghua frowned, pondered, and said: "The road west of the Western Regions is far away, and those Muslim coalition forces have more than 300,000 troops, isn't it too dangerous?" ”

"Your Majesty, the Silk Road, which has just been restored, is the economic lifeblood of the dynasty, and it must not be lost! Therefore, this battle must be fought, and it must be fought as soon as possible. ”

Emperor Chenghua also understood the importance of the Silk Road to the Ming Dynasty at this time, whether the Western Regions were in the hands of the Central Plains Dynasty and whether the Silk Road was unimpeded had become a key point to measure whether the Ming Empire was strong or not, and it must not be lost!

Thinking of this, Emperor Chenghua nodded and said, "Since that's the case, then Elder Ge will let it go!" I'm right! ”