The twin blades of class oppression and religious persecution were placed on the people of Shimabara, who had no way out and were forced to take risks.

On October 20, a massacre broke out in Shimabara Village, where angry peasants stormed the house of Hayashibei Uemon and killed them on the spot, and a mob of thousands of people seized the domain's arsenal and surrounded Shimabara Castle, the main castle of the Matsukura clan.

On October 27, under the leadership of Amakusa Tokisada, the Amakusa Islands also broke out in the Tsuchiichi, echoing the Shimabara rebels, and a large number of Catholic ronins and samurai began to join.

At this point, the vigorous Shimabara Rebellion began.

The Amakusa Islands were an enclave of the Daimyo Okubo clan of Karatsu in Hizen Province, and Miyake Shigetori, the acting official of the Karatsu domain, led troops to suppress the riots, but was defeated by Amakusa on November 14 with a different head. Amakusa then besieged Tomioka Castle.

Upon learning of the Shimabara rebellion, on December 10, the shogunate urgently dispatched 20,000 heavy troops to encircle and suppress it, and at this time the two rebel armies of Shimabara had been merged into one, and they killed the lord of the original castle, Kojima Gobei, and killed the old Matsukura family, who was full of evil, and retreated to the original castle.

The rebels took the original city as their base and erected a cross and a banner of "all things are one, and there is no difference between respect and inferiority" at the head of the city.

The original castle was originally a ruined city, but the city wall was still strong, and the rebels defended the city, successfully repelled the shogunate's two attacks, and the third siege of the city, the shogunate general Itakura Shigemasa was killed by a stray bullet, and the shogunate army was defeated.

Although the rebels achieved an early victory, the prospects were not optimistic.

The rebel army was all peasants, and two-thirds of them were women, children, and the elderly, and the Kitakyushu region was the center of the spread of Catholicism, and a large number of civilians and even samurai converted to Catholicism in the late Warring States period.

There were more than 37,000 Shimahara and Amakusa peasants who participated in the uprising, of which only more than 13,000 were combative, and their conditions were similar to those of the Ming Dynasty. Knowing that he could not stand alone, Amakusa Shiro wrote not only to the Dutch in Nagasaki for help, but also to the Vatican of the Roman Catholic Church, asking for help.

————————————————————————

Just when Tenkusushiro was actively preparing for a larger-scale attack by the shogunate.

On December 20, 1637, Amakusa Shiro welcomed a special guest, the one he had been looking forward to for a long time.

"Chen Sang, Amakusa is looking forward to you, please take a seat." Amakusa Shiro greeted warmly.

"Amakusa-kun, let me introduce you, this is my prefect, Mr. Gu Xiuquan, who is also a member of the church." Mr. Chen introduced Gu Xiuquan, director of the Military Investigation Bureau of the Tiance Army.

To say that Gu Xiuquan is a Catholic is completely blind, he just learned a little from John Tang because of his work.

This Mr. Chen, whose original name was Chen Yingzong, was indeed a Catholic, and he was a peripheral member of the Military Investigation Bureau in Hirado, who had come specifically for this special mission, so he was fluent in Japanese.

After more than half a year of special training, Chen Yingzong has visited Amakusa Shiro many times from July to September of the 11th year of Chongzhen, and witnessed the process of Amakusa Shiro from unknown to gradually famous.

Amazed by the foresight of the Military Investigation Bureau, Chan Ying-chung set his sights on a sixteen-year-old boy who had risen to the level of spiritual leader of the Rebels in just a few months.

The reason why Amakusa Shiro was so enthusiastically looking forward to Chen Yingzong's arrival was that Chen Yingzong, in accordance with the order of the Military Investigation Bureau, had already provided Amakusa Shiro with 100 Type 37 rifles and three Type 37 guns, as well as some ammunition, which played a role in the fight against the shogunate army.

In fact, these weapons only serve as samples, so that the rebels are familiar with the use, and the name of giving these weapons is a gift from the faithful, but these weapons are very valuable, and if there is still a need in the later stage, they must be purchased.

Now Amakusa Shiro has obtained a lot of gold and silver after several wars, so he has long been looking forward to Chen Yingzong's arrival.

Amakusa Shiro bowed solemnly to Gu Xiuquan and said, "Amakusa has seen Xiuquanjun. "Gu Xiuquan is younger than Chen Yingzong, so Amakusa Shiro calls him Jun.

"Amakusa-kun doesn't have to be polite, although I am from the Ming Dynasty, but everyone is a member of the church, and we should support each other in difficult times." Gu Xiu said with a smile in all respects.

Wang Yue sent Gu Xiuquan to come, on the one hand, to let him personally take charge of the work of supporting the Japanese rebels, and on the other hand, because of the spoof, who called him to have the word Xiuquan in his name?

Hearing the word support, Amakusa Shiro said with a look of hope: "Do you want to provide us with more weapons this time?" We now have more than 300,000 taels of silver, but we need a lot of muskets and artillery. ”

The shogunate army was far superior to the rebel army in terms of strength and combat effectiveness, and the weapons provided by the Tence army gave Amakusa Shiro the hope of winning more with less.

Gu Xiuquan nodded and said, "This time we brought five thousand muskets and eighteen cannons, as well as ten thousand war knives and sharp spears, as well as a large amount of armor and food, which can completely arm your army quickly and repel the attack of the shogunate army." ”

"It's wonderful! Thank you so much for your help! Amakusa Shiro almost jumped up with joy, and then he acted more like a teenager.

"But I have some suggestions, and I hope Amakusa-kun will accept them." Gu Xiuquan said again.

"Oh? Please say so. Amakusa Shiro said respectfully.

Gu Xiuquan said slowly: "First, reorganize the existing rebel army as soon as possible, form a regular army with combat effectiveness, and let the old and weak women and children do auxiliary and logistics. ”

"The second point is that the rebel army must have clear political propositions and slogans, so that more poor people will respond to and join the rebel army, so that the strength of the rebel army will continue to increase."

"I suggest that you should use 'thin taxes, equal wealth and poverty', 'all the people in the world plough together', and your uprising is to build an ideal society in which 'there is land and ploughing together, food and food are eaten, clothes are worn together, money is used together, and everywhere is uneven, and everywhere is kept warm'. With such a goal, the rebels will not blindly know the direction of struggle, and they will definitely fight to the end to achieve this goal. ”

Saying that, Gu Xiuquan took out two books and handed them to Amakusa Shiro and said, "These two books have detailed descriptions, I hope they can be helpful to Amakusa-kun." ”

Amakusa Shiro took the two books with both hands. He is talented and intelligent, of course he understands Gu Xiuquan's words, the combat effectiveness of the rebels with faith and without faith must be different.