On the ninth day of November, Lee Sik was resting at the Lee Family Merchant House in Hirado Castle, pondering which Japanese city to attack next. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In fact, although the Wa Kingdom was small, it was a militarily powerful country. If the shogun were to recruit soldiers and horses from all over Japan, he could pull out more than 200,000 troops. Although these armies lacked heavy weapons such as artillery, they were armed with a large number of arquebuses.

Japan has a long tradition of arquebuses, familiar with tactics such as three-stage fire and fixed gunpowder, and even has a whole set of equipment for firing on rainy days, called rain iron cannons.

Li Zhi only had 10,000 soldiers on board this time, and if these 10,000 soldiers were surrounded and bombarded by tens of thousands of Japanese iron gunners, there might be a risk of defeat.

According to Zheng Kaida, 60,000 ashigaru soldiers were stationed outside Edo, the capital of Japan, and at least half of them were iron gunners. In the event of war in Edo, the Tokugawa clan could temporarily recruit the daimyo of the clan and the daimyo of the pedigree near the Kanto Plain to fight in Edo. In just a few days, the Tokugawa family was able to gather an army of 100,000 people in Edo.

Now that Li Zhi is bombarding Nagasaki, I am afraid that the Tokugawa shogunate has begun to recruit a large army and prepare for a decisive battle.

Li Zhi's 10,000 recruits have now completed their training and can participate in the battle, and Li Zhi has a total of 30,000 troops. But Li Zhi also had to suppress the dissenting gentry in Shandong, leaving behind a defensive force of 10,000 in Shandong and Tianjin. Li Zhi was able to mobilize only 20,000 men and horses to attack Japan.

But even if he immediately sailed back to transfer troops and sent 20,000 soldiers and horses to the Kanto Plain in batches, there was no certainty of victory. Edo gathered more than 100,000 Tokugawa troops, and 20,000 people may not be able to defeat them.

The advantage that Lee Sik has is mobility. Steamships can travel all over Japan in five days. Although Li Zhi could not storm Edo, he was able to bomb other cities in Japan. Li Zhi looked at the map of Japan and carefully considered where to go next.

Li Zhi was groaning, but saw Zheng Kaida running in.

"Grandpa Guo, Shimazu Mitsuhisa, the lord of the Satsuma Domain, asks to see you."

Li Zhi was stunned, but he didn't expect that there would be Japanese princes who would come to see him.

Who is this Mitsuhisa Shimazu? What to do? Li Zhi looked at Zheng Kaida.

Zheng Kaida said: "The Satsuma Domain is a prince in the southwest of Kyushu Island, and it is a relatively large feudal town in Japan. The feudal clan attached great importance to military equipment, and it is said that there were tens of thousands of lower-ranking samurai in the domain, or 'village warriors', and their combat effectiveness was very impressive. Seeing that the Ryukyu Kingdom was weak, the Satsuma clan sent troops to occupy the Ryukyus. ”

"However, this domain has always been at odds with the Tokugawa shogunate, and it has been suppressed by the Tokugawa family everywhere."

Li Zhi thought for a moment and said casually, "Let him come in." ”

After a while, a tall warrior about thirty years old, dressed in a silk feather woven costume and combing his head through the moon dynasty, walked into Li Zhi's hall.

As soon as he saw Li Zhi, Shimazu Mitsuhisa learned from the Han people and said something loudly in Japanese.

The translator next to him hurriedly said: "Shimazu Mitsujiu was able to meet the Duke of Damingjin, and Sansheng is lucky." ”

Li Zhi nodded, and did not let the Japanese prince sit down, but asked, "What are you doing with me?" ”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa stood up straight and said, "I will bring a message to His Excellency Kuniko, and propose a plan to defeat the Tokugawa shogunate. ”

Li Zhi smiled and looked Tokugawa Mitsuhisa up and down. After a closer look, Li Zhi found that the feather weaving on Shimazu Mitsuhisa was not printed and dyed with the family crest, which seemed to be to avoid people's eyes. Samurai of Japanese status have family crests printed on their clothes. Presumably, Shimazu Mitsuhisa entered Hirado secretly this time.

"Your Excellency Mitsuhisa Shimazu, you just want to see the Tokugawa shogunate decline?"

Shimazu Mitsuhisa Langlang said: "The Tokugawa family suppressed the Shimazu family everywhere because the Shimazu family was from the Western Army in the Battle of Sekigahara. Last month, the Tokugawa shogunate stopped the development of the Satsuma clan in Nagano in order to prevent my Satsuma clan from becoming bigger. Not only that, but the Tokugawa family had to arrange for the Satsuma clan to serve as the chief official every year, and they would not stop until our finances were destroyed. I, the Satsuma Domain, have run out of patience. ”

Within the Tokugawa shogunate system, the Tokugawa family often had other princes take on the work of large-scale construction projects, known as kokoto. This kind of work cost a lot of money, and the Tokugawa family did not pay a penny, and often bankrupted the feudal towns that served as general ministers. However, fearing the power of the Tokugawa family, the feudal towns did not dare to resist this arrangement.

"The Satsuma clan has been unable to make ends meet over the years and has incurred huge debts. In the long run, the Satsuma Domain will be in turmoil. ”

Li Zhi nodded and said, "What news do you want to give me?" ”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa raised his body and said loudly, "I want to tell His Excellency Kuniko that even if Kuniko does not attack Edo Castle, he will be able to severely defeat the Tokugawa family. Today, Osaka Castle is home to a huge amount of rice. ”

Li Zhi was stunned and asked, "How much rice is there?" ”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa looked up and said, "The Tokugawa family is hoarding food in Osaka Castle. According to the Ming Dynasty, there are at least 2 million stones of rice. However, in Osaka Castle, only 10,000 soldiers were stationed. ”

When Li Zhi heard this, he and Zheng Kaida glanced at each other.

Two million stone of grain is not a small number, and Li Zhi supported the people of Shandong Province in autumn sowing and summer harvest and building water conservancy in Shandong, so that the people could eat enough when they worked, but it only cost more than 2 million stone of grain.

Two million stone of grain is worth five million taels of silver, which can be described as a huge amount of money.

Zheng Kaida thought for a while, nodded and said, "Grandpa Guo, Osaka is the center of Japan's national rice trade and the direct territory of the Tokugawa family. It is indeed possible that the Tokugawa family was hoarding grain in Osaka Castle. ”

Li Zhi thought for a moment and asked, "You came to help me, what do you want?" ”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa bowed his hand to Li Zhi and said, "The Satsuma clan is willing to send 10,000 soldiers and horses to help Kuniko defeat the Tokugawa family. The Satsuma samurai were fierce and good at fighting, and Japan was famous. If, afterwards, the Kokuko was willing to give half of the Shimazu family a reward to the Shimazu family, the Shimazu family would be grateful. ”

It turned out that this Shimazu Mitsuhisa had come to seek refuge with Li Zhi. not only provided intelligence, but also was willing to send troops to help Li Zhi fight.

Li Zhi asked lightly: "I am a Ming person, you follow me to fight the Tokugawa family, are you not afraid of the mutiny of your soldiers?" ”

Li Zhi was talking about the rejection of foreign invaders by the Japanese.

In fact, the Japanese "Japanese" people have a strong sense of nationality.

In 1637, the Kyushu Christians raised their banners in rebellion, and the Tokugawa family simply asked the Dutch warships to bombard the rebels, and they were condemned by all of Japan, saying that the Tokugawa shogunate had asked for foreign aid to kill their own people. The Meiji Restoration in later generations was actually due to the inability of the Tokugawa shogunate to resist the "black ship" invaders, which stimulated Japan's national pride and caused the whole of Japan to stand up angrily and want to overthrow the shogunate. At that time, the reason for the shogunate was that the Tokugawa shogunate could not protect Japan.

In fact, Japan was not originally a "peaceful" nation. Japan was originally owned by the indigenous "Ainu people", and the "Japanese" people rose from central Japan, slaughtered the Ainu people, and drove them to Hokkaido, only to become the masters of Japan. In this national war, which lasted for thousands of years, Japan's Japanese people formed a clear sense of national identity.

If the Satsuma clan helped Li Zhi, a Ming man, to attack the Tokugawa family, it would obviously be greatly resisted in Japan.

Tokugawa Mitsuhisa arched his hand and said, "The Satsuma clan will not openly act under the command of the kokuko. However, as soon as Kokuko-sama occupied Osaka, the Shimazu family would raise the banner of rebellion in the name of the weakness of the Tokugawa shogunate, and liaise with the daimyo in various regions to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate. ”