Chapter 1646: Suppression
Tokugawa Iemitsu's roar in the hall of course could not be transmitted to the mouths of the 'Han Kou' in his mouth, and of course in fact they didn't care what Tokugawa Iemitsu would think of them. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
They have more important things to do.
After the occupation of Kyushu, although the Han court had promised to give the entire island of Kyushu to the Shimazu clan, in order to maintain the current order of the occupied territory, Zhao Song still ordered the current pattern of Kyushu Island to remain unchanged for the time being, and the feudal lords who took refuge in the Han Dynasty continued to maintain the previous ruling order in the territory, so the order in these territories was still strict.
However, in the territories of the feudal lords who were close to the shogunate and raised troops to resist, most of the feudal lords and retainers were either killed or wounded under the Han army, or they hid in the mountains and wilderness in fear, and the original ruling order was basically destroyed suddenly.
In a small number of places, because of the stationing of the Han army, order was finally maintained, but the Han army was limited after all, and in places that the Han army could not reach, because of the sudden collapse of the original ruling system, there was turmoil that was difficult to stop.
Among them, the most violent were the feudal states in the west and south of Kyushu, because the Han army landed and marched from the west, and a large number of feudal lords and feudal troops were killed or fled in the war, and the social order suddenly collapsed, giving them room for riots; The second reason was that the Catholics, who had been severely suppressed by the shogunate and the feudal domains, finally waited for the time to weaken the suppression force, and then took advantage of the situation to rise up and launch a riot.
These riots broke out in concentrated areas in the western part of Kyushu, including the Hino River Domain, and soon turned into raging flames because no one stopped them.
During the Warring States period, when great powers fought against each other, the Spaniards and Portuguese had already begun to expand their seas around the globe in search of commercial benefits for their respective countries. Soon, these Westerners discovered Japan and established commercial contacts with many daimyos, importing their arms into Japan.
Because of the large number of arms imported from the West, Japan's military changed by leaps and bounds, and Oda Nobunaga also rose to power through military change and quickly ruled Japan.
At the same time, with the influx of merchants, a large number of Western missionaries also came to Japan and began to preach to all classes of the Japanese people. Because of their knowledge and skills, these Western missionaries quickly gained the respect of many daimyo and quickly became guests, some of whom even abandoned their faith and became Catholics because of their mission.
And in Kyushu, where there was a lot of trade with Westerners, Catholicism spread very quickly among the lower classes of civilians. This is because during the troubled Warring States period, the daimyo and powerful men either had the ambition to expand their power or to protect themselves, so they desperately expanded their armies, and in order to maintain their armies, each feudal lord and his retainers used various means to squeeze the peasants in their territories to meet their needs.
In contrast to Buddhism, which had become a tool for the high nobility and monks to rule, the idea of equality for all Catholics was very much in line with these brutally oppressed peasants, allowing them to find some spiritual solace in the painful reality. Under the guidance of the missionaries, they soon threw themselves into the arms of Catholicism, and a large number of Catholics appeared in Kyushu
Moreover, in the midst of brutal oppression, the lack of food and clothing for the common people, and the growing revolt, Catholicism can provide both a tool to connect them and an alternative identity that does not feel inferior to the lord.
Under these circumstances, the Catholic community spread throughout the Japanese archipelago, even to the upper echelons, and soon aroused the alarm of the supreme ruler of Japan, who decided to limit the spread of Catholicism and at the same time subdue these disgruntled common people.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued a ban on Christianity, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who inherited Toyotomi Hideyoshi's career, also issued several decrees announcing the purge of Catholics.
At the same time, the severe oppression and exorbitant taxes of the Warring States period did not stop with the arrival of the era of peace. Although the military power of each feudal domain was severely reduced by order of the shogunate, whether it was the Hinoe domain, the Fukuoka domain, or the feudal states in other parts of Kyushu, the taxes of the year were not reduced, and some lords even deliberately added some taxes to the peasants in addition to the excesses and miscellaneous taxes, on the grounds that "the sesame seeds and the peasants were squeezed more and more oil." ”
The first outbreak of Catholicism was the Shimabara Domain, where the oppression of faith and exploitation was particularly severe. The former lord of the Hinoe Domain, Naojun Arima, who grew up beside Tokugawa Ieyasu and married Tokugawa Ieyasu's great-granddaughter, won the trust of the shogunate.
After his father's death, Naojun Arima succeeded his father and became lord of Shimabara. Flattered and grateful, Naojun Arima, although he was once baptized and a Catholic, but in order to repay Tokugawa Ieyasu's kindness, he had already resolutely quit the religion, and vowed to uphold the holy will of the shogun and eradicate God and Christ in the domain. As soon as Naojun Arima came to the domain, he went on a killing spree, burned those who did not want to abandon the religion alive, and asked other believers to watch the scene.
Later, because of the favor of the shogunate, Naojun Arima was transferred to the Nobeoka domain of Hyuga Province (it was also the first domain to be destroyed when the Shimazu family marched north, and he was also killed under the troops of the Shimazu family), and almost all of his subordinate vassals and samurai remained in the main domain, and only a few followed.
At this time, the new lord who came to the Hinoe domain was Matsukura Shigemasa, who had previously been the lord of the Gojo domain of Yamato Province, and because of his contribution to the shogunate's attack on Osaka, he was transferred from the territory of 10,000 koku here.
He was also a lord who was very cruel to his people, and after he became a feudal lord, he was dissatisfied with the simplicity of the castle, so he built a new castle and asked for money and construction to build a new castle in the island.
As a result, the feudal lords in the vicinity of Shimabara Castle suffered even more unbearable double suffering—they were not allowed to practice Catholicism and had to pay for their work endlessly. Those who did not want to abandon the religion were not only doused in soup, burned, and thrown into the sea, but also thrown into the sulfur crater of Unzen Hot Springs and smoked alive. Not only that, but in order to maintain the finances of the domain, Matsukura Shigemasa was extremely strict in setting taxes and taxes, and farmers planted a tobacco plant, and half of the tobacco leaves were to be paid; Most of the other crops were to be expropriated and become the property of the lord.
In addition, when he came here to take up his post, he brought with him nearly all of his original subordinates. These vassals, who were attached to the lord of the domain, immediately occupied all the positions in the domain.
And the subordinates of the old lord Naojun Arima lost their original fortune and were excluded from the ruling class. They were forced to make a living, and they had to rely on farming to support their wives and children, and they became farmers in the domain. However, although these people are called farmers, they are actually warriors who are skilled in martial arts, and they have also become dangerous seeds.
In the midst of the hard work and tears of the feudal lords, the new castle of Shimabara Castle was finally built, and from that time on, the Hinoe Domain was named Shimabara Domain.
However, after the death of Matsukura Shigemasa, his son, Matsukura Katsuie, who had succeeded to the throne of the feudal lord, was not satisfied, and he was as cruel as his father, repeatedly increasing taxes on the new peasants and the rest of the peasants, and forcing the peasants to pay the high tribute of rice that they could not afford in order to sustain themselves and the feudal castle, so that the peasants had to eat bark and grass roots to satisfy their hunger.
In order to facilitate the persecution of the feudal people, he ordered those peasants who did not pay their money and grain to be put on "robes" and punished. The "Demoiselle" is made of coarse grass with long, broad leaves, and is commonly used as a raincoat by boatmen and farmers.
During the torture, the peasant's clothes were tied around his neck and body, and his hands were tied with ropes, and then a fire was lit on the clothes. Those who were tortured were not only burned, but also burned to death; Some people jumped wildly and hit the ground when they were burning, and some people jumped into the water and died when they were burning. This unbearable tragedy was called the Lady Dance by him, and it was very popular with him.
One can imagine how much indignation and dissatisfaction such a brutal oppression would cause, and the feudal lords have endured such tyranny, but at the first opportunity they will want to rebel and get rid of such a dark day. They felt that instead of being tortured to death, it was better to die desperately all at once.
As the peasants were on the verge of death, the long-dormant Catholic faith was rear-rising, and more and more people were secretly practicing religion to escape the harsh reality. Matsukura Katsuya found out about this matter, so he carried out a major purge in the territory, arrested many believers, and asked them to hold a ceremony of "stepping on painting". The so-called "stomping" refers to throwing a wooden plaque engraved with the crucifix on the ground and letting those suspected of being believers step on it with their feet, and those who are willing to obey their orders will be condemned to non-Catholics, or even believers who have the heart to repent, otherwise they will be burned at the stake.
Under such circumstances, the already fierce conflict became uncontrollable, and sporadic riots began to appear in the domain, which seemed to turn into a riot in the Warring States period.
Just when the contradictions within the domain were boiling and about to explode, the army of the Great Han also came over, and in front of the soldiers of the Great Han, the Fukuoka Domain, the Kurume Domain, the Ogura Domain and other large domains were vulnerable, and they were soon beaten to the ground, and finally they were all wiped out, and although the Shimabara Domain was not the direction of attack of the Great Han, the domain was also extremely shaken.
Although the feudal lord Matsukura Katsuya summoned the feudal army to assemble in the feudal castle after receiving the order of the shogunate, he was already frightened after seeing these feudal clans send troops to resist the Han army and collapse at the touch of a button, where did he still have the courage to fight the Han again?
However, because of the favor of the shogunate for generations and the uncertainty of the situation, he did not dare to surrender to the Han, and after thinking about it, he felt that he had no way out, so he simply made the decision to flee. When the Great Han marched in all directions and surrounded the shogunate elder Naito Tadashige in the Kurume Domain, he fled directly with a group of his vassals and disappeared from it.
Almost before he fled from the domain, the feudal lords had already begun to take action, as the vassals and samurai of the domain fled in large numbers, and no one could stop them, and these feudal lords soon occupied almost the entire Shimabara domain and made Shimabara Castle their stronghold.
After the success of the uprising of the Shimabara Domain, the news soon spread throughout the western and southern parts of Kyushu, and the Catholics in various places also rose up to respond, and soon it became a raging fire that swept one side, and at that time, because the Han army was still busy attacking the shogunate army to end the war as soon as possible, other feudal lords also joined the Han Shogun, and brought their own feudal soldiers into battle, and no one suppressed it for a while, so that this kind of religious people appeared in the atmosphere of a spark.
However, after the Han army defeated the Kurume Domain and the old Nakōnato Tadashige and the feudal lord Arima Tadayori committed suicide and martyrdom, the Great Han and these feudal lords who were attached to the Great Han were finally free to solve the problem.
At first, the Han did not want to waste their troops in this small-scale, low-intensity war to suppress civilian riots, so they only ordered the feudal domains to send troops to suppress the religious people, and the feudal lords also sent troops to the south or west to suppress them in order to curry favor with the Han.
At first, the suppression of the war was relatively smooth, but soon, when the battle reached the territory of the Shimabara Domain, the suppression army encountered fierce resistance, and in the end, it was difficult to advance an inch, and the war became stalemate.
Although some of these rioting Catholics were samurai from the old Hichishimahara Domain, their military skills had long since deteriorated after many years of civilian life, and the weapons of these Catholics were also very inferior, and most of them could only use hoes and shovels to defend against the enemy, but they still resisted the attacks of the coalition forces of the various domains.
This is because these parishioners have long been fed up with the cruel faith and class oppression, which has led to deep hatred in their hearts and high morale. secondly, because the armies of the various feudal domains have already degraded their combat strength after decades of peace, and they have no intention of fighting to the death; The third reason is that the armies of the various feudal domains are not subordinate to anyone, and it is difficult to achieve effective command, and they only think about preserving their own strength.
Seeing that these feudal armies were actually struggling to suppress civilian riots, the top brass of the Japanese army in the Han Dynasty was naturally very shocked, and even Zhao Song and Yan Guang were annoyed by it - they originally planned to borrow these feudal armies to go north to attack Kyoto, but now they saw that their combat effectiveness was so clumsy, how could they not be angry?
However, when they wanted to severely reprimand these feudal lords and order them to continue to intensify their attacks, and at the same time prepare to send a large army to coordinate the suppression, Zhou Pu, the envoy of the Han Dynasty, took the initiative to ask Ying to go to the front line of Shimahara and use his authority to unify the command of these feudal lords and the feudal army, and at the same time he thought that it was better for the Han army not to waste its forces in this kind of place, and only need to send a small part of the army to follow him to suppress the formation, and the main thing was to continue to drive these feudal armies to suppress.
Zhou Pu planned to personally lead these feudal armies to the north in the future, and he wanted to take this opportunity to establish a unified command system among the coalition forces of these feudal domains, and train the troops by the way, so as not to be at a loss at that time.
His suggestion was quickly adopted, and under Zhao Song's personal orders, a small army accompanied Zhou Pu to the Shimabara Domain.
When Zhou Pu came to the front line, he immediately gathered the lords of the various domains, first reprimanded them sternly, and relayed the attitude of the Han general, telling them that now they all have to make meritorious contributions, and if the next war is still not smooth, the Han general will come to punish the crime.
When these feudal lords heard this, they were naturally frightened, and they all said that they asked the angels to say something, and said that they would do their best to fight to the death in the future, and they must suppress these Catholics as soon as possible.
After scaring them, Zhou Pu ordered the reorganization of these feudal armies, and made these feudal armies directly under his own control, and at the same time he also took the veteran Tachibana Muneshige as his deputy to command these feudal armies with himself, and ordered the feudal armies at all levels, no matter which domain they came from, to obey his own orders and Tachibana Muneshige's.
Zhou Pu was a civilian official before and had never fought a war, so he didn't intend to be smart and indiscriminately commanded, he asked Zhao Song for a few senatorial officers as his think tank, and Zhao Song was also very generous, and transferred his cronies, Huang Guochang, a senatorial officer of the Liaodong Regiment, to his subordinates.
With the assistance of Huang Guochang and Tachibana Somao, Zhou Pu had the authority of the Han angels, and the feudal lords were deeply afraid of the Han generals' punishment, so his reorganization of the feudal army was also very smooth, and he let these feudal armies be under his own command in just a few days.
And when he reorganized these feudal armies, there was a rare temporary calm in the boundaries of the Shimabara Domain.
In the midst of this brief lull, these Catholics also had a sense of luck.
They sent an envoy to the front of the vassal army and asked to see Zhou Pu, saying that they were not willing to fight the Han and were only doing it as a last resort to save their lives. The envoy's words were very mournful, and he repeatedly cried about the oppression of the shogunate and the feudal lord before, declaring that they had a deep enmity with the shogunate and the feudal lord, and would never go to the shogunate and the Han dynasty as enemies.
The conditions they wanted were also very simple, as long as the Han were willing to spare the Catholics in the Shimabara domain and let them govern themselves, then they were willing to surrender and submit to the Han, and would never be an enemy of the Han.
However, Zhou Pu directly rejected their request.
Although he has been introducing Western techniques and craftsmen, the Han Dynasty has been very wary of Catholicism itself, and has never allowed Western missionaries to preach freely.
In addition, when they called, they advertised that they were crusading against the shogunate for the benefit of the imperial court and the feudal clans, so that they could get the submission and service of the feudal clans, and if the Catholics were allowed to rebel and riot, how could the feudal clans really cooperate with the Han under their suspicions?
Therefore, although the envoy spoke with tears in his eyes and his stern words, Zhou Pu remained unmoved, and he directly ordered the messenger to go back and tell the leaders of the parishioners that they must surrender within three days, and all of them give up their faith in Catholicism, otherwise they will be burned!
His request was rejected by the leaders of the faithful in the domain, and a bloody crackdown was inevitable.