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After the Right Route Army reached Zhoufang and Nagato, because the terrain was too favorable for the Japanese army, the Right Route Army and the Japanese Army were temporarily stalemate and could not advance any further.

As for the Left Army, there was no news.

It wasn't until the end of November that Cai finally got the news that the Left Route Army, which had been silent for more than a month.

It's just that this news was not sent back by the flying slaves, but by a commander named "Zhu Neng" of the Amphibious Army.

It turns out -

The Left Army's initial march went very smoothly.

But just as the Left Route Army was about to land on the shore, a huge typhoon suddenly blew that lasted for two days and two nights.

The typhoon not only destroyed nearly 100 large ships of the Amphibious Army, but also disoriented the Amphibious Army.

At that time, among the nearly 100 large ships destroyed, there were several large ships carrying the Ministry of Communications, and the communication system of the Left Route Army was almost completely destroyed.

In the face of this unfavorable situation, some people suggested that Han Shizhong and Li Bao withdraw and then discuss it again.

But Han Shizhong disagreed, and he said to everyone: "Now there is no way to go forward and backward, and the king said that Japan is like a long belt erected in the east, so as long as we go to the east, we can always reach Japan." ”

After careful consideration, Li Bao supported Han Shizhong's idea.

Eventually, the Left Army continued its march eastward with the loss of its way.

Probably because of the wrong direction, it took seventeen days to drive before the Left Army finally landed.

But can you come to Jitai, when they were about to land, they actually hit a local fishing boat.

Led by the fishermen on the boat, the Left Army reached a port-like area, captured it, and landed from there.

After the landing, the Japanese samurai brought by the Left Route Army repeatedly confirmed with the locals, only to know that the place where they landed was Ezo, which later became Hokkaido.

Ezo was divided into small forces by the local natives, and there was a certain connection between them.

Seeing the Left Army invading their homeland, they quickly united in some and then organized an armed force of more than 30,000 men to resist the invasion of the Left Army.

There was no suspense at all in that battle - the Left Army wiped out the Ainu coalition with almost zero casualties, and then occupied several major areas of Ezo.

But—

The occupation of Ezo was not the strategic goal of the Left Army, which was to make a surprise attack on the Japanese capital of Kyoto.

According to the information heard by the Japanese samurai, Ezo is probably farther away from Kyoto than Kyushu Island, and there is the Ou region in between.

Han Shizhong and others repeatedly studied the map, but they didn't know what to do.

In the end, Han Shizhong gritted his teeth and decided to continue advancing towards Kyoto by land and water.

Han Shizhong said to the generals and civilian officials of the Left Route Army: "This battle is not a battle of the first army of our Left Route Army, there are also the Right Route Army and the Middle Route Army, and there are two or three hundred thousand troops in Liaodong, if we go south, we will inevitably be caught off guard by Japan, and Japan will inevitably send a large army back to block us, in that way, the pressure on the Right Route Army will be greatly reduced, and maybe we will be able to break through the defense of the Japanese army in the south, and then achieve the final victory in this battle." ”

Han Shizhong persuaded everyone, and then Han Shizhong left a battalion of men and horses to clean up the remnants of the Ezo land, and led the rest of the army south to attack the Ou area.

A few days later, the Left Army landed in Dewa Province.

At this time, the Ou region was also self-governing by the old natives before the conquest of the Yamato Imperial Court, similar to the colonies of later generations.

In terms of civilization, the Ou region is stronger than Ezo, but it is also very limited.

The Left Route Army completely appreciated the "simple customs" of the primitive society here, the land was vast and sparsely populated, slash-and-burn farming, and wild beasts were infested, and even a slightly decent city could not be found, and the living conditions of the common people were not as good as the Jurchens before the rise.

Actually, this is also a very normal thing.

The birth of Japanese civilization was already in the second century AD.

The Yamato Imperial Court did not take shape until the 6th century, and the Heian period began in the 9th century.

Therefore, even if the Central Plains Celestial Empire vigorously imported the Central Plains culture, it is really a bit difficult for the Japanese to go directly to the unified feudal state stage by rocket from the primitive tribes of slash-and-burn cultivation and blood-drinking.

What's more, although the country has not yet been truly unified, the aristocratic ministers who rule Japan have already decayed early.

They let go of the heavy responsibility of opening up the territory and expanding the territory, enriching the country and strengthening the army, and devoted themselves to the mountains and rivers, burning incense and worshiping the Buddha, reciting poetry, studying calligraphy, and cultivating sentiments.

What's more, at this time, the ministers and nobles still regarded the rest of Japan as "countryside" or even as "ghost land", thinking that going to those places would be tainted with bad luck, and they wanted to retreat into the beautiful scenery and Buddhist temples of Kyoto for the rest of their lives.

Occasionally, there are a few guys who leave Beijing, most of them are either exiled or degraded, or they run away to avoid **** - the people who leave and the people who send them are crying, and some even have to leave a suicide note, and as soon as they get to the ground, they look forward to coming back as soon as possible.

As a result, Japan at this time was a deformed society that was completely disconnected from top to bottom.

At this time, Kyoto was the only civilized city in Japan, and the rest of the country was a poor area.

In the future, the Kanto Plain, where the prosperous Tokyo is located, is similar to the Great Northwest in the impression of later generations of Chinese.

The first few famous samurai families that rose there were actually production and construction corps sent by the Kyoto ministers to consolidate the frontier.

These poor samurai had to work hard to resist the attacks of separatist terrorists while cultivating land to grow rice to support themselves, and the conditions were extremely difficult.

As for the ministers who were sent there to serve as state secretaries and other positions, they were basically equivalent to cadres who would assist the Great Northwest in later generations.

Of course, because the Ou region has begun to engage in ethnic integration and assimilation with the Yamato people, and this is the frontier of Japan, there were actually more than 100,000 Japanese samurai here.

However, some time ago, the Right Army captured Kyushu Island, and it was launching a fierce attack on Shubo, Nagato, and Shikoku Island, so that the samurai in the Ou region went south to Mutsu and were ready to support the battle in the south.

It is precisely because of this that the Left Route Army can easily enter the country of Dewa.

The Left Route Army soon occupied several key points in Dewa Province and then continued south to Mutsu Province.

When Zhu Neng led his fleet back to report the news, Han Shizhong was seeking a decisive battle with the samurai of the Ou region.

Therefore, the news after the Left Route Army, Zhu Neng did not know, and he could not know until the Right Route Army and the Left Route Army established contact again.

After listening to Zhu Neng's report, Cai still breathed a sigh of relief!

Although the Left Route Army lost nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses in that typhoon, and did not complete the battle plan formulated before, in any case, it was finally connected, and the main force did not suffer too many casualties, and it was still actively fighting.

This is the great blessing in misfortune.

The Left Route Army also knew that they had made extremely serious mistakes in this battle, and if Cai still pursued it, they would definitely not be able to escape the charge of "delaying the fighter plane."

Therefore, as soon as Han Shizhong, Li Bao and others combined, they sent a hundred Japanese beauties to Cai Yi to "bribe" Cai Zhen.

These 100 Japanese beauties are the daughters of Japanese nobles captured by Han Shizhong and Li Bao in Mutsu and Dewa countries, and several of them are Ezo beauties.

And when Zhu Neng came back to report the news this time, he sent these Japanese beauties to Cai Ying.

In Cai Ying's imagination, the Japanese beauty should be, a seven-foot green silk as black as ink, and a gorgeous twelve single women's clothes, reflecting red lips and a smile, just like the princess Lian Ji played by Yui Aragaki in "Bald Nameless Love Song".

But after looking forward to seeing the hundred Japanese beauties sent by Han Shizhong, Li Bao and others, Cai was still frightened at that time!

That's right!

Cai is still really scared by these Japanese beauties!

Bald eyebrows, big black teeth, white pink face, I'll go, this is simply one sadako after another!

As for the seven-foot green silk and twelve women's clothes that Cai still expected before?

Yes.

The green silk is all more than seven feet, and some can even reach one and a half zhang or even two zhang long.

The twelve women's clothes, in Cai Ying's imagination, should be to fold twelve embroidered singles of different colors and wear them, which look colorful and gorgeous, and have a solemn and generous classical beauty, just like the most luxurious, colorful and brilliant costumes in the anime works of "Young Onmyoji", "The Tale of Genji", and "In Distant Time and Space".

Which Cheng thought, these twelve women's clothes look bloated, not to mention, the key is that Cai still feels that these Japanese women are tired when they look at it.

The clothes they wore weighed at least 10 to 20 kilograms, not counting the jewelry or accessories they were wearing.

Moreover, in order to highlight themselves, some Japanese women not only wear 12 singles, 14 singles, 16 singles, and 18 chapters, but some of them even wear 26 singles, and the weight is definitely more than 40 kilograms!

To make a figurative comparison - the weight of the hoplite, that is, more than twenty kilograms, at most less than thirty kilograms.

And even those Japanese women who only wore 12 slips, plus all kinds of gold and silver jewelry and jade pendants other than clothes, as well as hairpins and ornaments on their heads, and fans and handkerchiefs in their hands, the total weight was more than 30 kilograms, which was already more than the weight of the hoplites.

Think about it, can a woman of about 1.5 meters wear such heavy clothes and accessories, and not feel tired when she looks at it?

Forget about the seven-foot green silk and the twelve singles, at least they haven't completely subverted Cai Yi's senses.

Cai still can't stand it the most is bald eyebrows, black teeth, white pink face, especially big black teeth, Cai still can't associate them with beauty!

Cai still pointed to these "Japanese beauties" and asked Zhu Neng: "This is the beauty you want to give to me?" ”

As soon as he saw Cai Ying's expression and heard Cai Zhen's tone, Zhu Neng's heart "chuckled", and he said in his heart: "The king doesn't like these ghost girls? ”

Zhu Neng hurriedly explained: "They are indeed Japanese beauties. ”

Afraid that Cai still didn't believe it, Zhu Neng added: "The Japanese are recognized." ”

Cai still frowned, and looked at those "Japanese beauties" again, as if he wanted to see where their beauty was?

At this time, Wang Shoucheng interjected: "They are indeed Japanese beauties. ”

Cai still looked at Wang Shoucheng and asked, "Where is the beauty of their ghosts?" ”

Wang Shoucheng said: "The signs used by Japanese aristocrats to distinguish whether they are adults and whether they are married or not are ink teeth, white faces, and bald eyebrows, which are also one of the criteria for Japanese people to judge beautiful women...... There are many reasons for this fashion, such as a symbol of noble status, a sign of loyalty to one's husband, and some people believe that it is a habit left over from primitive tribes. ”

Wang Shoucheng looked at those Japanese women again, and said: "They are actually quite not easy, the clothes they wear are so heavy that they can crush them, not to mention, the white powder on their bodies is lead white powder and light powder and the iron paste that he dyed with black teeth, all of which are poisonous, and many of them will be poisoned because of this, and most of them will not live to be thirty years old." ”

Can it not be poisoned?

Both lead and mercury are highly toxic.

In the former, it can lead to chronic lead poisoning, with symptoms such as anemia, vomiting, and nerve paralysis.

The latter, mercury poisoning, also known as tribute poisoning, usually acts directly on the nerves of the person, and the poisoned person first suddenly becomes impatient and violent, then becomes demented and forgetful, and finally cannot take care of himself, and even his movement is affected - the specific symptom of the late stage of mercury poisoning is the paralysis of the whole body.

In fact, there is also a type of rice flour in Japan that can also dye white noodles.

However, this white powder is too cheap, and its color is not as pure as lead white powder and light powder.

Therefore, those qualified ministers and nobles all choose more expensive lead white powder and light powder, and only lower-level ministers and commoners use rice noodles.

The black dye they applied to their teeth called "iron paste" is a viscous liquid made by mixing tea, wine, vinegar and other liquids, adding rusty iron filings, sealing and fermenting like sake brewing, and finally heating and boiling.

The liquid smells foul, is mildly toxic, and can cause severe damage to the gums and mouth infections.

In short, as Wang Shoucheng said, these Japanese women are not easy.

Although Cai still has felt the difficulty of these "Japanese beauties", Cai still can't accept these bald eyebrows, black teeth, and white pink faces.

Seeing that Cai was still frowning, Zhu Neng hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, there is still one behind." ”

Hearing Zhu Neng say this, Cai Ying looked back, and saw that there were indeed seventy or eighty girls kneeling behind more than twenty bald eyebrows, black teeth, and white pink faces—before, Cai Ying's eyes were all attracted by these bald eyebrows, black teeth, and white pink faces, so he didn't notice them.

Zhu Neng gave a look to a Japanese man kneeling beside him.

When the Japanese saw this, he hurriedly whispered to the Japanese girls in Japanese: "All raise your heads and let the king of Liaodong see what you look like!" ”

The seventy or eighty Japanese girls listened to the Japanese man's words and raised their heads at the same time.

Cai still looked at it and saw that these seventy or eighty Japanese girls were indeed relatively normal.

But despite this, Cai Ying's brows were still furrowed.

For no other reason, these girls are too young, the oldest of them is probably thirteen or fourteen years old, and some may be ten years old, or even less than ten years old.

Seeing this, Wang Shoucheng explained: "Japanese aristocratic women are very short-lived, many die before the age of twenty, and very few can live past the age of forty, so Japanese women generally marry at the age of eleven or twelve, so they should not be able to find older unmarried girls." ”

Zhu Neng hurriedly echoed Wang Shoucheng and said: "Lord Wang is very right, although we have also found a few older ones, but the appearance is really too bad, so several generals and adults asked the end to pick out all these beauties and present them to the king." ”

Either like ghosts, or just some young girls, Cai is still disappointed in these "Japanese beauties".

Seeing that Cai was still full of disappointment, Zhao Ding looked at those bald eyebrows, black teeth, and white pink faces, and persuaded Cai Ying: "After they wash off the lead flower, they should all be beautiful women." Then he looked at the girls and persuaded Cai Ying: "They will all be beauties in another three or two years." Finally, he lowered his voice and said: "And, no matter how you say it, they are also the hearts of the front-line soldiers." ”

Zhao Ding said it very reasonably.

Therefore, Cai still rushed to the United States and ordered: "Pick twenty and bring them back to the harem." ”

Cai still then instructed Xiao Luzi: "Inform the Ministry of Rites to draw up a list of rewards, and reward the remaining Japanese beauties to meritorious ministers and soldiers." ”。

After thinking about it, Cai still added: "Don't wear their heavy dresses in the future, don't get bald eyebrows, black teeth, and white pink faces, and your hair can be waisted, this unscrupulous custom must be ......eradicated from now on."

……