In the twenty-fifth year of the Republic of China, there were two battles to be fought.

The first is to send troops to recover the Western Regions, and the second is to force Japan to open the country.

In the more than 20 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, Datong China has sufficient money and food, and has been able to fight two major wars at the same time, and it has almost no impact on the economy and people's livelihood.

The eastern plains of Taiwan, the coastal areas of Luzon, and the coastal plains of the island of Java are highly developed. In addition, rice from Quang Nam Province can provide a steady stream of food for China.

In the winter of that year, envoys from the Celestial Empire went to Edo and ordered the shogunate to immediately open the country and return the confiscated property of Chinese merchants.

"China will not go to war for businessmen."

This is the consensus of the Japanese government and the opposition, who think that they know China very well, and all the daimyo have learned Confucian culture.

The spring breeze blows, and the snow melts.

A division stationed in Shenyang came to the sea on the Hunhe River in front of the front, and then took a sea boat to Port Arthur to station. In the middle of the third month of the lunar calendar, six warships, 20 troop carriers, and more than 20 grain carriers slaughtered Osaka.

A division stationed in Nanjing was stationed in Shanghai on the Yangtze River. Also in the middle of the third lunar month, eight warships, 20 troop carriers, and more than 20 grain ships slaughtered Edo.

These two divisions have not fought for ten years.

In particular, the Nanjing troops had not seen blood for almost 20 years, and they just took advantage of the opportunity to fight Japan to train their troops.

Those grain ships are all civilian merchant ships.

When the imperial court was soliciting grain ships, the Chinese maritime merchants expelled by Japan enthusiastically signed up to donate their ships. He even proposed that they could not take the freight, and that they must hurt Japan, so that they could re-trade and get back their business in Japan.

The Shenyang troops set out from Lushun and did not go directly to Osaka, but stopped halfway to shell Shimonoseki.

Shimonoseki in Japan is the only way to enter the Seto Inland Sea from the northwest. The fort here has long been in disrepair, and there are only a few dozen soldiers stationed there, and it was successfully taken in less than ten minutes.

Two warships and ten grain ships remained, and Xiaguan was used as a transit base for the Northern Route Army, and 1,000 Datong troops were stationed here.

Mori Tsunhiro, the lord of the Choshu Domain, was living in Edo at this time. His son, Moriki, was in the domain, and when he learned that his port had been occupied, Moriji shouted angrily: "Levy all the troops, and you must take back Xiaguan!" Also, send someone to Edo and inform my father and the shogunate! ”

Take back a fart, the Choshu Domain at this time is not the vanguard of the late shogunate.

Mori Terumoto was originally the general of the Western Army in the Battle of Sekigahara, but after the defeat, he was reduced by the Tokugawa clan. Due to the reduction of the fiefdom, the Choshu Domain could only re-measure the land, and also counted miscellaneous taxes, trees, and salt fields into the village height, so as to increase its stone height. It also monopolized the sale of goods in the fiefdom to supplement the financial shortfall.

According to the original history, after more than a decade, the Maori family would issue the "Thrift Order" to reduce the income of the retainers and samurai, and finally they were so poor that they were forced to implement reforms.

The Mori family had a deep old grudge with the Tokugawa shogunate, and the Tokugawa clan was in financial distress. It's hard to make some money by smuggling, but the shogunate wants to close off the country, what does this make the Maori family think?

The entire Choshu Domain, from the feudal lord to the samurai, all had their hearts set on China, and they wished that the Datong Army would defeat Edo as soon as possible!

After the resumption of trade, the feudal lords were able to squander their silver, so that the samurai could not be owed money.

Mao Liji shouted that he wanted to recapture Shimonoseki, but secretly sent his henchmen and retainers to quietly run to Shimonoseki to contact the Datong army.

"Maori genealogy Daifukuhara Hiroshi, meet the Celestial General!" The retainer estimated that he had been in contact with Chinese merchants for a long time, and he spoke Chinese very fluently, but his accent sounded very uncomfortable.

The commander of the Datong Army who stayed in Xiaguan was called Qian Hui, and he asked with a smile: "What does your master want to say?" ”

Hiroshi Fukuhara said, "The Governor should be living in Edo this year, but he was in the country (territory) last year. The Governor of the Clan instructed that if the Celestial Empire sent troops due to the shogunate's lockdown, the Choshu Domain should not be hindered in any way. I came here this time to contact the Celestial Empire and avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. ”

"Tell me what you want." Qian Hui said.

Fukuhara Hiroshi said: "First, the Heavenly Soldiers occupy Shimonoseki, whether it is to explain to the shogunate or the dignity of the Choshu Domain, we will send troops to recapture it." But the speed of sending troops will be very slow, and even if the army arrives at Shimonoseki, please don't really use force, we are just making a show. Second, what materials the Heavenly Soldiers need, they can be purchased from the Choshu Domain. Merchants of the Celestial Empire can also trade in Shimonoseki, and we will let the merchants come and eat them. ”

Good guy, the troops of the Choshu Domain are acting, and they don't forget to continue to do business.

The Choshu clan was so cooperative, but Osaka was the opposite.

The merchants and craftsmen of Osaka were extremely hostile to Chinese maritime merchants, and they were able to share the same hatred in the face of the Datong army.

First of all, the Osaka merchants belonged to one of the maritime trade monopolies, and the smuggling of Chinese merchants broke this monopoly.

Secondly, Osaka is one of the centers of Japanese handicrafts, with three or four hundred thousand handicraftsmen. The large number of cheap imports of Chinese goods has swept Osaka's handicraft industry to pieces, and every year there are new unemployed people in the handicraft industry.

The people of Osaka hate China, and China will attack Osaka.

Because Osaka was the center of grain transportation in Japan, the annual tribute grain of each feudal domain was transported to Osaka by sea, and then from Osaka to other places, and the grain transshipped through Osaka was 2 million koku every year.

For this reason, the Japanese call Osaka the "kitchen of the world".

As long as Osaka is taken, it will be able to control Japan's grain, and even if the shogunate organizes a large army, the transportation of grain and grass will be a big problem.

The Osaka Castle built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi had already been destroyed in the Battle of Osaka.

Today, the castle was rebuilt by the Tokugawa shogunate and garrisoned...... Just over a thousand.

It was only when the Datong Army landed at the port that the Japanese defenders began to react. They were weak in force, but they did not dare to recruit ronins temporarily, and there was a lesson from Tsurumaru Castle last year, and now the Japanese nobles are extremely distrustful of ronin.

It's normal to distrust ronin, Osaka is home to 100,000 ronin, many of whom make a living doing odd jobs, and they have long held a grudge against the shogunate.

Seeing that the Datong army was coming, hundreds of ronins came to vote that day, just begging to eat at the Datong army.

"Don't rush to attack the castle first, and control the industrial and commercial districts in the castle town." The division commander, Han Shouxin, said that he had a scar on his neck, which was left during the attack on the Tartar city. At that time, he had more than ten wounds all over his body, fainted due to excessive blood loss, and was trampled on by a tartar and broke his tibia.

Thousands of Datong troops dispersed, each in a team of 150 people, to block all the street entrances in the industrial and commercial districts.

The industrialists and merchants of Osaka were first afraid, afraid that the Datong army would burn and loot. Then he was puzzled, because the Datong army only blocked the passage, and did not rush into the workshops and shops to rob.

The next step was to put up a notice, which was simple: no commercial activity was allowed during the war.

"Division commander, there are Japanese businessmen asking to see you!"

"Bring him here."

A Japanese young man in his thirties, who was about 30 years old, bowed his hand and said, "Sumitomo Tomoshin, meet the general." ”

Han Shouxin asked, "What's the matter with you?" ”

Sumitomo Tomonobu said, "Please don't attack the castle first, go to Edo under the next wish, and ask the shogunate to open the sea." ”

Han Shouxin smiled: "You don't have to go, there are also heavenly soldiers on the Edo side." ”

Sumitomo Tomoshin was speechless for a while, and then sighed: "At this time, you can turn the war into a jade silk, there is really no need to meet each other." ”

"What kind of business do you have?" Han Shouxin asked.

Sumitomo Tomonobu replied, "Copper, silver, cloth, silk, sugar, Chinese medicine...... Do any business. One-third of the copper ingots sold from Japan to China come from my Sumitomo family. One-seventh of the silver shipped from Japan to China comes from my Sumitomo family. ”

This Sumitomo family is the predecessor of the Sumitomo Foundation, and it is also the main steel supplier of the Japanese invasion of China.

The Sumitomo family grew up because Mr. Shirasui taught him the art of silver extraction, which is the technique of extracting silver from copper-silver ore (previously only known to the Japanese). This belongs to Daming's mature technology, and that Mr. Baishui is Chinese.

The Sumitomo family moved to Osaka, and in order to gain a firm foothold, they directly made the silver drawing technique public, which was accepted by Osaka merchants.

Today, the Sumitomo family is also supported by the shogunate to provide silver, copper and other raw materials for the shogunate coinage.

Han Shouxin said: "You are a businessman, don't mess around." When Japan opens its seas, you merchants will be able to earn even more. ”

"That's right." Sumitomo Tomonobu immediately smiled, in fact, he was bitter in his heart.

He had a good relationship with the shogunate, and the Sumitomo family was a monopolist. For them, opening the sea is only disadvantageous, not the slightest benefit, and the Sumitomo family has also put a lot of effort behind the scenes to get the shogunate to strictly investigate smuggling.

But I never thought that the shogunate closed the country last year, and the heavenly soldiers will arrive this year.

Truth be told, Sumitomo Tomobu has already regretted it, and the monopolists hate invasion wars, unless they are attacking other countries.

"You just stay in the army and watch the battle." Han Shouxin didn't let this person go, just because the other party was a big copper and silver businessman.

Sumitomo Tomonobu slept in the barracks for the night, and the next day he followed Han Shoushin towards Osaka Castle.

In the midst of his doubts, he saw the Datong army measuring the direction and speed of the wind.

While laying out the artillery positions, twelve hot air balloons were lifted into the air.

The hot air balloon dragged a long rope and slowly floated across the moat to the sky over Osaka Castle to adjust its position.

"Boom, boom!"

Sumitomo Tomonobu was stunned by the sound of the explosion, those hot air balloons, actually threw flower bombs into the city.

Immediately afterwards, three artillery positions simultaneously fired at Osaka Castle.

For the Daido Army, Osaka Castle was better than Tsurumaru Castle in Kagoshima. The terrain is relatively flat, and the artillery and hot air balloons are very well arranged.

More than 1,000 Osaka defenders, in the face of hot air balloon bombardment, in the face of artillery parallel fire, on the outer city walls on the southeast side, soon did not dare to stand again.

Observing the balloon waving the flag, Han Shouxin immediately ordered the infantry to attack the city.

Without much effort, the Datong army occupied the outer city.

The next thing is the same routine, let the hot air balloon bomb first.

The defenders, who were already small and had not fought for decades, were now demoralized.

In Sumitomo Tomotobu's mind, the strong Osaka Castle can last at least two or three months. But when he encountered the Datong army, he only lasted less than a day.

"The Tang people are really invincible!"

Sumitomo Tomonobu was frightened, he had his heart set on the shogunate, but now he planned to cooperate with the Chinese army.

It is still possible to provide support privately, and it is necessary to have good relations with the Chinese military. As for the opening of the sea, although it is not good for the Sumitomo family, it is obviously irreversible.

82 Chinese Net