Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 244: Winter Battle in Osaka (V)
At this time, Zhu Youdong had no intention of intervening in the domestic situation in Japan.
In terms of external environment, Ieyasu was still alive, and the various daimyo in Japan could be easily integrated to face the outside world in a unified manner. The Warring States period had just ended, and peace was the mainstream thought in the country. Therefore, large-scale intervention in Japan at this time would inevitably be met with fierce resistance.
Internally, the completion of the national census did not bring about any real change in income. Based on a more realistic population, he also needed to rebuild the Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Atlas. Zhu Yuanzhang spent ten years doing these things, and even if he, a time traveler, was so amazing, it would take him no less than five years.
The monetary system reform had just begun. Although the financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Revenue had increased from more than 5.2 million taels of silver to more than 8 million silver yuan in 1614, this amount of revenue was still not enough, and the national finances had not fundamentally improved.
Therefore, regardless of the internal or external environment, this is not a good time to intervene in Japan.
The real purpose of intervening in Japan at this time was: 1. To sell arms and earn some pocket money by selling some obsolete weapons. 2. Not to reverse the defeat of the Toyotomi family, but to withdraw the direct males of the Toyotomi family and some generals and soldiers to prepare for future intervention in Japan.
As for the future, not to mention that the night Lian Zhen and Po Jun got together made Zhu Youdong full of vigilance against these two guys . Even with the current situation of Japan, as long as Po Jun reaches the top, it will definitely think of invading Ming Dynasty: In this era, with both sides having time travelers, how dare Japan compete with Ming Dynasty in farming?
Even if this Pojun is a pig of Heisei, he was full of vigor and power before he traveled through time, but when it came to doing something concrete, he hesitated and lacked courage. But once peace truly came, as time went by, the middle and lower-level samurai and ordinary civilians in Japan would find that their classes were completely solidified and their upward channels were completely blocked. At that time, it would be a good time for the Ming Dynasty to intervene in Japan.
In short, the so-called support for the Toyotomi family at this time is just a preparation for the Ming Dynasty's intervention in Japan in the future and to rescue a group of future guides.
Send a large army to form an alliance with Toyotomi and defeat Tokugawa? There is no such option.
Yan Siqi, who followed Zhu Youdong's instructions, certainly didn't care about the defeat of the Toyotomi family. And as the situation developed, Yan Siqi's admiration for Zhu Youdong grew deeper and deeper.
Because, although His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was thousands of miles away, he could see the development of things here as if he had seen it with his own eyes.
"Yan Sang! We beg you to come forward and persuade the Right Minister not to negotiate!"
"Yan Sang, even if the shogunate has the trench siege method, we are all brave enough to fight in the open field. We dare to lead the army out to attack and destroy their progress every few days. Although the shogunate's defense is getting stricter and our casualties are getting higher and higher. However, we are not afraid of death! We are just afraid of dying in vain!"
"Uh... Hehe, generals, I am an official of the Ming Dynasty, not Japan. I am only a guest in Osaka Castle. What can a guest say about the decision made by the host?"
"Yan Sang, is there such a thing in Ming Dynasty?"
"Yes, quite a few. But most of them didn't turn out well."
On December 20, under Yodohime's strict order, Oono Harunaga had no choice but to send envoys to the shogunate army to ask for peace talks. Tokugawa Ieyasu was overjoyed when he received the news. In the meeting with the Osaka envoys, Ieyasu proposed that as long as the Toyotomi family allowed the shogunate army to fill up all the moats outside Osaka Castle, the shogunate army would withdraw completely. All the places in Settsu Province that had been captured were also returned to the Toyotomi family... Then Tokugawa and Toyotomi restored peace again. Tokugawa no longer asked Toyotomi to transfer his fiefdom, nor did he ask Yodohime to go to Edo as a hostage.
The purpose of these requests is so obvious that anyone with a little historical knowledge can understand what is going on. But unfortunately, Yodohime is one of those people who has no common sense at all.
Originally , Oono Harunaga followed Yan Siqi's idea and wanted to delay as much as possible, so he opposed Tokugawa's proposal that the shogunate army be responsible for filling up the Osaka moat. As a result, Yodohime got the news from somewhere and called Oono Harunaga to scold him. After that, the Tokugawa family began to send people to the Osaka castle wall to fill up the moat in the north and east of the city.
However, although the digging of the trenches of the Tokugawa family in the south of the city had stopped, there was no intention to fill in the trenches and water diversion channels that had been dug.
Someone reported this to Yodohime, so she naturally asked Oono Harunaga to inquire about it. The answer she got was: We will deal with the south side of the city after we have dealt with the east side of the city...
In short, "peace" had come again. With the exception of the 20,000 troops directly under the Tokugawa family who stayed behind to oversee the implementation of the agreement, all other daimyo led their troops back to their territories.
The Toyotomi clan also dismissed most of the 80,000 ordinary ronin they had temporarily recruited. Fortunately, Yodohime was not so stupid as to stay, and the main generals such as Sanada Yukimura stayed.
"Slurp~~" A thin line of wine poured into the glass at a constant speed, and Yan Siqi said happily: "Sanada-kun, please, drink to victory!"
Sanada Yukimura nodded slightly with a melancholy look on his face, then picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp: "Hmm~~ good wine! Elegant and delicate, mellow and long aftertaste, much better than the sake of my country!"
"Haha, this is 'Shao Mao' produced in Guizhou, Ming Dynasty. It is also a top-notch wine in Ming Dynasty. If you like it, Sanada-kun, you can take a few bottles back later."
"Thank you very much. Hey, this kind of wine should really be drunk while you are still alive. Drink as much as you can."
"What? Sanada-kun also thinks the situation is hopeless?"
"Yan Sang, isn't this obvious? Compared to offense, defense is naturally at a disadvantage. Because the defending side needs to defend at least a line, while the attacking side only needs to break through a point. Osaka Castle is so vast. How can it be defended everywhere with manpower? If it weren't for the power of mountains and rivers, even 300,000 people couldn't defend such a big city! But now, once the rivers outside the city are filled up, Osaka has become a naked city!"
"Hahaha, I don't think that Yodo-dono thinks so. Didn't she say a few days ago that there's a moat between Honmaru and Ninomaru?"
"Haha~~" Sanada Yukimura laughed contemptuously: "Where does the water for the moat come from? Isn't it the river outside the city? Besides, since the shogunate has filled up the outside of the city, isn't it the same to continue filling up the inside of the city?"
"Come on, Sanada-kun, have another drink. You are one of the few sensible people in Japan."
"I don't deserve it, Yan Sang. Speaking of wise men, even though I hate Ieyasu immensely, there is no doubt that he is the one who truly understands."
"Hmm...what about Ieyasu's successor, Tokugawa Yoshinao?"
"His Highness Yoshinao? It is said that the trench siege under Osaka Castle and the bombardment of the castle tower to force Yodo-dono to negotiate were all his ideas. Now, the daimyo of the shogunate are very convinced of him. He is a wise man, right?"
"Hey, why do I feel like Sanada-kun knows everything about the shogunate?"
"Hahaha, Yan Sang, I heard that the Ming Dynasty has been peaceful for more than two hundred years. It's hard for people like you, the people of the Celestial Empire, to understand the survival wisdom that we were forced to develop during the nearly two hundred years of the Warring States Period."
With a gulp, he drank another glass of wine, and then Yukimura Sanada said, "Japan has been in a warring period for nearly two hundred years, and many times we cannot ensure that everyone in the family survives. In order to continue the family name, when we are forced to make a choice, we often deliberately divide the family members into two factions, so that no matter which side wins later, the family name can continue.
Specifically speaking of the iteration of the Toyotomi and Tokugawa families, before the Battle of Sekigahara, my father and I joined the Western Army, while my brother Nobuyuki joined the Eastern Army. In this way, no matter who won, the Sanada family would not perish. In fact, if my brother had not interceded after the war and continued to secretly support my father and me who were imprisoned, I might not have lived to this day.
In short, in Japan, it is very common for my family, like my Sanada family, to deliberately arrange the members of the family in this way for the survival of the family. Therefore, on the battlefields of Japan, fathers, sons and brothers each occupy one side and fight to the death. After the war, it is normal for them to communicate with each other. Even the general cannot completely stop it. "
"I see... Sanada-kun, now that the Toyotomi family's fall is obvious, why don't you use your brother's connections at this time?"
"Hahaha, Yan Sang, you speak Japanese very well, but you still don't understand us Japanese. For a samurai, once you have chosen a path, you must go all the way! Even if you know there is a cliff ahead, you must jump down bravely!"
"Great!" After clapping his hands lightly, Yan Siqi rolled his eyes and said, "Sanada-kun, what if a direct descendant of the Toyotomi family goes overseas one day?"
