Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 298 Japan Wants to Invade Korea (Part 2)
"When Hideyoshi crossed the sea to conquer Korea, there were many mistakes in the specific operations. However, I would like to say this fairly: conquering Korea was not wrong from the perspective of Japan's national strategy!"
In the current social structure of Japan, the samurai are the ruling class. Because of this, the samurai group is very exclusive: it is almost impossible for a commoner to join the samurai class. Even Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was talked about by many people in later generations, was not born into an ordinary peasant family.
Think about it, the entire country of Japan is so small, and the fiefdom is so limited. If one more commoner is absorbed into the samurai class, wouldn't the cake, which is already not big enough to share, become even more difficult to divide?
During the turbulent times of the Japanese Warring States Period in the 15th and 16th centuries, the samurai class expanded rapidly due to the war. By the end of the 16th century, the first problem Toyotomi Hideyoshi encountered after achieving nominal domestic unification was that a large number of samurai without fiefdoms became the root cause of social unrest!
Therefore, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea was not only due to his personal ambition, but also due to the realities of Japanese domestic society - without the support of a large group of people below, could a dictator really launch a foreign expedition based on his personal will?
Now, Tokugawa Yoshinao actually had this social foundation: Japan was at peace, and the samurai had basically no chance to make achievements. And the samurai had to reproduce, and the eldest son could inherit his father's territory, but what about the other sons? And what about the samurai who only received salaries but no territory? What should they do with so many sons?
In addition to the samurai, ordinary farmers have been struggling on the line between life and death for a long time. During the Warring States Period, ordinary farmers also loved to fight: following the daimyo to fight, first of all, the land tax for that year would be exempted. On the battlefield, if you win, you will rob the defeated soldiers of the other side, and if you lose, you will escape early. If you don’t escape? That doesn’t matter, anyway, you are living a life worse than death! There are also third-party farmers who nervously watch the battlefield when the other two sides are fighting, and then wait to "hunt the samurai of the defeated side"...
Therefore, Japan's 200-year-long war had an economic foundation. Now that peace has been achieved in the country, some samurai and some poor people still miss the war-torn era.
All Japanese people of insight saw this problem, and there were only two solutions. If they did not expand abroad, they could only implement a policy similar to the Han Dynasty's Enfeoffment Order at home: as time went on and the number of samurai classes naturally increased, everyone's territory and salary became less and less.
In the historical plane, the Tokugawa shogunate chose the latter. The result was the general impoverishment of middle and lower-level samurai! In order to protect their own interests, the upper-level samurai were more determined to draw a deep divide within the samurai class. So let alone civilians entering the samurai class, even middle and low-level samurai could never see the hope of rising - so during the Meiji Restoration, almost all middle and low-level samurai in the country supported the reform.
And now, Tokugawa Yoshinao chose the former.
There is no doubt that this national policy orientation is in line with the appetite of many young samurai and low- and middle-level samurai. The biggest obstacle is actually the daimyo.
Of course, the ruling structure of the Tokugawa shogunate was Shogun-Daimyo-Samurai-Commoners. The daimyo class was divided into the close vassal (Tokugawa or Matsudaira), hereditary (mainly samurai who had served the Tokugawa family for generations since the Mikawa period) and the outer vassal.
At this time, the relatives and hereditary lords basically followed the shogun's words. Therefore, the ones who really needed to do ideological work were the outer daimyo. And the ones sitting next to the shogun at this time were the most powerful outer daimyo in Japan at this time.
"Everyone, one of the biggest problems when Lord Hideyoshi conquered Korea was that he did not clearly explain the rewards before he set out."
"Ah? What does His Majesty mean?"
"Think about it, in the past when conquering Korea, the daimyo of the western kingdom led the vanguard, and the daimyo of the eastern kingdom were responsible for transporting food in the rear. So, who will be granted the conquered land in the future? The daimyo of the eastern kingdom thought that it would most likely not be them, so they were not careful when supplying food. And what about the daimyo of the western kingdom on the front line? On the one hand, the military rations were indeed insufficient, and on the other hand, it was not known who would own the land in the future. So they simply let the soldiers go out to rob the local people. In this way, the people of Korea would not do it! In fact, when Hideyoshi conquered Korea in the past, the Ming Dynasty's response was slow. If it were not for the untimely supply of food in the country and the fact that the people of Korea generally organized an army to resist. Before the Ming army entered Korea, we could have reached the Yalu River and occupied the Changbai Mountain to wait for the enemy to tire themselves out!"
"Your Highness, what you just said makes a lot of sense. I also think that even if we don't use the new army, we can easily defeat Korea alone. But... but it's Ming. And as a big shot in the shogunate, I must remind you. The crown prince who is in power in Ming today has a really bad temper."
"Ida Chunagon is right." Nodding sincerely, Tokugawa Yoshinao said, "That's why we have formed an alliance with Siam. Recently, we have signed an agreement with the Spaniards in Luzon. Starting next year, Spain will fully open Luzon Island to us and Siam as a place for the three parties to exchange intelligence, unify deployment, and support each other with materials."
"It's difficult, it's difficult. Your Highness, I am almost fifty years old this year, but I am not old at all. I am still full of hope to establish new achievements and military exploits under your leadership. Korea? That's nothing. However, Ming is a big country after all. Once Ming intervenes, we..."
"That's what I think." With a very gentle smile, Tokugawa Yoshinao said, "With Japan's size, even if we bring Siam with us, we can't swallow up the Ming Dynasty. Once a war starts, the biggest issue is how to end it. Therefore, Japan's goal is only to swallow up Korea. Of course, if we attack Korea, we will inevitably be interfered with by the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, whether the second expedition to Korea is successful or not depends on three key points. First, the speed of advancement must be fast. We must occupy Changbai Mountain and defend it before the Ming Dynasty has invested effective forces. Second, this time the logistics must keep up, and military discipline must be strictly enforced. We don't ask for the support of the Korean people, but we must not provoke a full-scale resistance from the country like we did 20 years ago. The third thing, of course, is that our navy must fight against the Ming fleet and win. After all, Japan is an island country and has no control over the sea. Let alone providing food and wages for the Korean expedition army, even self-preservation is a problem."
"Your Highness, what you said is very good, but how can we implement it specifically?"
"To solve these three problems, my plan is: First, divide the eight provinces of Korea among everyone in advance. Let me make it clear here that the shogunate only wants Seoul in Korea, and the many vassal states and hereditary successors, so only two provinces in total. The remaining six provinces will be distributed to all of you present."
"Hiss~" As soon as Tokugawa Yoshinao said this, Date Masamune, Fujido Takatora, Maeda Toshitsune and others all took a breath of cold air: This Shogun is really generous, if the Taiko had divided it in this way in the past, why worry that everyone would not work harder?
However, since two-thirds of the things are distributed to a foreign daimyo like us, then should we bear the bulk of the troops?
"Don't worry, everyone." As if he saw through the inner thoughts of these guys, Tokugawa Yoshinao continued: "If we form an army to conquer Korea, our new army can only deploy one division in the short term, which is 15,000 people. This amount of troops is definitely not enough, so you need to send troops from your own territories. And my initial plan is that the six families of Date, Maeda, Uesugi, Mori, Shimazu, and Fujido only need to send a total of 30,000 troops. And the Tokugawa Matsudaira clan, plus Honda, Ii, Kanhara, etc., will also send a total of 30,000 troops. In this way, the total number is 75,000 as the first batch of the Korean expedition."
Of the 75,000 troops, the direct vassal genealogy contributed 30,000, and finally took two. The outsiders also contributed 30,000, and finally took six. Although the two direct vassal genealogy were definitely the richer places, no matter how you counted, it was not a loss!
As a citizen of a small country, the Japanese have very distinct characteristics in their character: they are good at tactics but poor at strategy. They can do specific things very seriously and the results are very good. However, when it comes to big strategies and overall development, this nation is really not good at it.
In short: short-sighted, can only see the immediate benefits!
Therefore, when Tokugawa Yoshinao lured them with such obvious benefits, the eyes of many outer daimyo lit up.
"Your Highness is so generous, and I am grateful to you."
This is not a polite remark: each outer daimyo has a large group of retainers to support in their own territory. With the advent of peace, the number of samurai in each family is also increasing linearly. The problem faced by the Tokugawa family is more urgent for - many of the outer daimyo have been reduced in rank because of their stance in the Battle of Sekigahara! The family's economy has long been unable to maintain!
However, although the family does have an urgent need to expand its territory, but...
"Your Highness wants to conquer Korea again. As subjects of the shogunate, we support him. However, the rice fields in the territories have been poor for several years in a row. How about the food?"
"Don't worry about this. Our country has formed an alliance with Siam . And Siam has more than enough food. This year, 100,000 shi of fine rice will be imported into our country. The Siamese king also said that as long as this alliance continues, 100,000 shi will be imported into our country free of charge every year. In short, each family can mobilize soldiers from their territory to go to war, and the shogunate can at least bear half of the food and wages for everyone!"
"I see. Then, I, your subjects, have no more questions."
"Yoshi! Naotaka Ii!"
"Hi Yi!"
"Based on the content of this meeting, formulate a specific plan for sending troops as soon as possible."
"I obey your orders!"
