Japan already had the ability to produce Schneider rear-loading rifles and ammunition at this time, and this important arsenal was located on the island of Kyushu, but unfortunately the specific location of the arsenal was under Kagoshima Castle. Japan's vital arsenal was bombed into ruins during the first round of naval artillery bombardment by the Manchurian Navy, leaving not even a bit of scum left for the Japanese.

In addition to the Kagoshima Arsenal, Japan also has an Osaka Arsenal under construction. However, Osaka has just begun to plan for the start of construction, and the construction of the plant has not yet been completed, and the production equipment is not perfect. Even if you are reluctant to start production, there is no need to expect extravagant output. Osaka's monthly output is only enough for a day's battle on the Kumamoto front at most, and it is also very difficult to transport ammunition to Kumamoto.

Kumamoto Castle is home to more than 30,000 elites on the island of Kyushu, but these elites are also elites in a relative sense. Hasuike Domain, Ojo Domain, Kashima Domain, Uto Domain, Takase Domain and other children, although they are also elite, but their equipment is not enough at all, basically the previous * rifled gun as the main equipment, flintlock smoothbore gun is not completely absent. Let them participate in this kind of battle with bullets, and in one day they will exhaust a year's ammunition reserves. In the pre-loading era, a battle was at most a dozen shots, where would it be like the Manchurian Army to fight endlessly for more than ten hours. The troops of these small feudal clans, although they only fought back, almost ran out of ammunition, and even more than half of their rifles were damaged by the continuous firing.

Naturally, the Satsuma Domain, Kumamoto Domain, and Hizen Domain, all of which were very advanced single-shot breech-loading rifles. But they had no supplies at all, and after walking with the rhythm of the Manchurians for two days, they could not fight, and the average daily consumption of 150,000 rounds of ammunition consumed all their household funds. Nagasaki in the Hizen Domain was a trading port and an important port for the Japanese to supply arms, but now that the Manchurian Navy has completely blockaded the Japanese coast, no military supplies can be brought in.

The ammunition was seriously insufficient, but the offensive of the Manchurian army was fierce day by day, and the leaders of Kumamoto Castle could only seize the time to get together and study a solution. Although in practice the authority of each feudal domain has been shifted downward, the supremacy of the feudal lord is still on the surface. Therefore, Kuroda Kiyotaka, Yasuke Oyama and others, who were actually in charge of the overall situation, all sat in the old feudal clan under the hall, and the feudal lords sat in a large row like bodhisattvas.

The Hasuike, Kashima, Ojo, Uto, and Takase domains were all subordinate domains of the Satsuma, Kumamoto, and Hizen domains, so their lord was the emperor of the land behind closed doors, but in fact he was still a vassal of the great domain. After removing these small feudal domains, the hardest brands in Kumamoto Castle today are Shimazu Tadayoshi, the lord of the Satsuma Domain, Hosokawa Gohisa, the lord of the Kumamoto Domain, and Naodai Nabeshima, the lord of the Hizen Domain. The three feudal lords on face are actually a manifestation of strength, and in Kumamoto Castle at the moment, only the three of them can be convinced.

Although the Kumamoto Domain was not one of the four great feudal clans that fell to the curtain, it was also very strong, and it was not inferior to the so-called four strong feudal clans. The reform of the Kumamoto Domain began very early, as early as 1755, when the Tokugawa Shogunate was still in full swing, and the Kumamoto Domain opened the Tokishukan, setting a precedent for the reform of the feudal government. At the end of the Edo period, the Kumamoto Domain was also a region of talent, and seven of the people who were killed by the Shinsengumi raiding Ikedaya were from the Kumamoto Domain. It can be seen that although the Kumamoto Domain did not directly mobilize troops, it must be regarded as one of the important members of the Shogun Movement, and the family is the landlord of Kumamoto Castle, so they naturally have a respected status.

The Satsuma Domain has always been known as the strongest feudal domain in Japan, and whether it is the Restoration or the Fall, people have always been in the first place. In terms of fighting foreign enemies, he also defeated the glorious achievements of the British fleet, and even had the great martial arts of annexing the Ryukyus, so he was naturally a big man who was very recognized by everyone. Although the Manchurians this time must be provoked by the Satsuma Domain, but the Satsuma Domain is a strong soldier in the world, and everyone has to count on the Satsuma Domain to defeat the enemy! Naturally, it's hard to say anything. The current battle is also under the command of Kiyotaka Kuroda and Yasuke Oyama, who were born in the Satsuma domain, and Shimazu Tadayoshi, as a representative of the two actual commanders, naturally has weight in his words.

The Hizen Domain was a little embarrassed, he had a strong sense of making up the numbers in the top four domains, whether it was political, economic, military strength, or outstanding talents, the Hizen Domain was all lackluster. Not only is the Hizen domain not only less attractive than Satsuma, Nagasu, and Tosa, but it is even far inferior to Mito, Kumamoto, and other feudal domains. If it weren't for the hitchhiker between Nagasu and Satsuma, let alone against the shogunate, the big feudal clans that supported the shogunate, Aizu and Kuwana, would have been able to destroy the Hizen domain. In the Boshin War that fell, the Hizen Domain was a number, and this time the Battle of Kumamoto Castle was still a number. But whether it is a wise man who knows the inside story, or a samurai who fights with his eyes closed, everyone still respects the Hizen Domain, the samurai respect the name of the four strong domains, and the wise men only respect the luck of the Hizen Domain. The Hizen Domain, which is not very strong, can always stand on the side of the winner, so it is a waste not to rely on such luck.

Japanese people pay attention to the details of everything they do, not only the atmosphere should be solemn, but the process should also have a sense of ceremony. Therefore, this meeting of the feudal clans was very cumbersome, and the old feudal lords of each feudal clan entered the house, sat down, saluted the feudal lords, and so on, and it took more than an hour to toss and turn. Yasuke Oyama, who is well aware of the pressure of the front-line city defense, has the heart of disembowelment, and the adults have shaken it step by step, and there must be 500 people killed on the inner city defense line, to say the least.

"The enemy army is large, the veterans of our division are tired, and the ammunition is not enough, I don't know if you have a good plan?" Everyone sat down, Shimazu Tadayoshi started the meeting, several bigwigs didn't have any ideas, they were responsible for opening the scene, mainly listening to the people below.

"The war so far is nothing more than war and defense and three strategies. The Manchurian army is so strong that if we talk about war, our vassals will have nothing to do except to repay His Majesty the Emperor by breaking the jade into benevolence. Now there is a shortage of ammunition in the city, and the offensive of the Manchurian army is becoming more and more vigorous, and the outer city has been lost, the ditch is lost, and it is difficult to defend it. For the sake of today's plan, it may be possible to negotiate peace with the Manchurians, one is to suspend the pressure on the city defense, and the other is to delay waiting for reinforcements. "The people who could come out of the Hizen Domain were all in Tokyo, so no one came out to speak, and the Kumamoto Domain didn't have any outstanding people, so this meeting became a hall of words for the Satsuma Domain. However, opinions within the Satsuma Domain were not unanimous, and Shimazu Tadadayoshi's father, Shimazu Hisamitsu, took the lead in proposing a peace plan.

As soon as this statement came out, everyone was shocked, and the proposal for peace was too exciting. Kuroda Kiyotaka and Yasuke Oyama were also confused, Shimazu Hisamitsu had never told them about this idea, and they only knew that the master of the Satsuma Domain had the heart to make peace. The so-called "fraudulent peace" is just a fool's statement, if you don't pay some real money, the Manchurians will believe that you negotiate peace, and will stupidly wait for the whole army to fight, waiting for your reinforcements to arrive? To put it bluntly, this "deception" is a conditional surrender, and as long as the Manchurian army does not make things too difficult, the Shimazu family of the Satsuma domain will surrender.

However, Shimazu Hisamitsu's move has a bit of a taste of coercing friendly forces. The main forces of the feudal clans in Kumamoto Castle are one, and if the Satsuma clan negotiates peace, the other feudal clans will have to follow, and if Satsuma surrenders, they can only follow. This is also something that can't be helped, the Satsuma Domain Army has the strongest combat effectiveness, and without the Satsuma Domain Army, this Kumamoto Castle is estimated to be hopeless. If the feudal clans had to come and the Satsuma clan had opened an opening to let the Manchurian army in, they probably wouldn't even know how to die.

"Will the Manchurians make peace with us? What conditions will they offer! Naoda Naoshima, the lord of the Hizen Domain, is worthy of being a perennial hitchhiker, so he didn't hesitate at all, and simply agreed to Shimazu Hisamitsu's proposal, and he was very tempted.

"The Manchurians are now complacent and holding each other under Kumamoto Castle, and it is also in order to preserve their strength, not to stop their troops under the fortified city. Therefore, they will only accept surrender and categorically will not negotiate peace with us. Moreover, Kagoshima Castle was slaughtered by the Manchurian army, how could this Satsuma samurai forget this blood feud, even if the Manchurians had the intention to negotiate peace, the samurai would never accept it. Kuroda Kiyotaka saw that the feudal lords were quite tempted, and hurriedly came out and poured a basin of cold water, but he didn't dare to let them come again.

Kuroda's basin of cold water worked quite well, and all the feudal lords, including the initiator Shimazu Hisamitsu, calmed down. The Manchurian army is now dominating the battlefield, and Kumamoto Castle does not have any advantage, but is in a difficult situation, and the Manchurians will not negotiate terms with them in this environment. Besides, these Manchurians are not very good-minded, they have just killed the entire Kagoshima Castle, who can guarantee that they will not make a shameful move of killing and surrendering after accepting the surrender. Moreover, the feudal lords seem to have forgotten to consider the feelings of their subordinates, and the soldiers of the Satsuma Domain have just been killed by the Manchurians, and it is indeed a bit difficult for them to surrender to the Manchurians. Although the samurai are supposed to be obedient machines, there is still a saying that when their patience reaches the limit, they will also explode.

"Is there any hope for waiting for help?" Hosokawa Gohisa, the lord of the Kumamoto Domain, is not ready to give up, he wants to resist to the end, Kumamoto Castle is his home, and of course he wants to keep his homeland.

"Ammunition is scarce, and unless there is a supply channel, it will be difficult to hold the city. As for the reinforcements, don't think about it. The Manchurians officially declared war on Japan this time, and it was the Emperor Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty who directly issued an edict to ask His Majesty the Emperor of the Japanese Empire. Moreover, the allied forces of our vassal armies have been fighting with the Manchurian army for many days, and they have not even seen a single envoy to inquire about the situation, so where will there be any reinforcements, I am afraid that other places are also in the midst of fierce battles, and Tokyo is almost in danger of being insured. Kuroda poured another pot of cooler on several feudal lords.

"There is only one battle left for now, but it is already very difficult for us to defend the city, and it is even more difficult to fight out of the city!" Kuroda is also a little desperate, and there is nothing Kuroda can do about such a situation.

"We are Japanese, we are samurai, and Kumamoto Castle is the place where the sword saint Miyamoto Musashi wrote books, how can we not have the ability to fight back!" Yasuke Oyama, who had not spoken all this time, opened his mouth, but his eyes were full of feverish flames.