Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 335 Japan’s New Strategy (I)
“Pah~!”
A whip with barbs drew a swift black shadow in the air, and then hit the already tattered cloth hard, making a loud hitting sound.
The potential energy of the whip quickly penetrated the thin single garment and came into close contact with the flesh underneath. Then the barbs of the whip fiercely tore off a piece of skin, and bright red blood gushed out all at once.
"Ugh!" The owner of the single-clothed clothes tried his best to suppress his mouth and didn't dare to scream loudly. But the pain was so severe that even though he tried his best to endure it, he still let out a muffled groan.
"Oh! You dare to make a sound?" The owner of the whip became more excited when he heard the muffled groan. He tried to pull up his sleeves with his left and right hands alternately. The flesh on his face became even more ferocious. Then he took a deep breath, gathered his strength, raised the whip high, and whipped it out again with all his strength.
“That’s enough!”
A voice in Japanese rang out, and the owner of the whip suddenly violated the laws of physical inertia and forced the whip to hover in the air.
Unfortunately, the whip had no consciousness. After being roughly pulled back by its owner, the inertia of the reverse action showed its power and directly whipped its owner.
"Ouch!" The whip's master bared his teeth and yelled, but quickly, with great willpower, he restrained his body's desire to jump up, and instead bent his head and bent over, making a flattering gesture: "Master Warrior, what can I do for you?"
"That worker just now was working seriously. Why did you whip him?"
"Ah? Hey, sir, these untouchables should be whipped from time to time to make them feel afraid so that they can work harder."
"You are wrong. If these workers are always worried about the whip falling on their heads, how can they concentrate on their work? I tell you, as a supervisor, you have the right to punish these workers. But you are absolutely not allowed to whip them without reason! If I see such a scene again, you will go to work like them!"
As soon as these words came out, the supervisor's whole body began to shake uncontrollably like a sieve. He quickly knelt down on the ground, and then kowtowed repeatedly: "Please rest assured, sir, I will never dare to do it again, I won't dare to do it again."
This is Korea in July 1617, on the south bank of the Yalu River, where the Japanese occupying forces drove Korean people to a construction site to build fortifications along the river.
Date Masamune, the de facto general commander of the Japanese invasion of Korea, was accompanying Tokugawa Yorinobu, the nominal general commander of the army, to inspect the construction site. It was the fifteen-year-old Tokugawa Yorinobu who spoke out to stop the supervisor from beating the workers.
"Hey, brother is right. The best way to make the Koreans work hard is to use Koreans to manage them... Even I can't stand these bastard supervisors."
" Haha , Mr. Councillor, it's not just the Koreans. In my opinion, all nations in the world, the more powerless a country is in foreign wars, the more cruel it is to its own people."
"Well, what you said, Mr. Chu-nagon, makes a lot of sense."
An old man and a young boy, surrounded by a group of warriors, moved slowly along the defense line, and finally climbed up a completed watchtower together.
“Whew~ Although this is not my first time here, seeing such a wide Yalu River still makes me feel in awe of this land. I wonder what the even more turbulent Yellow River and the vast Yangtze River look like.”
"Yes, in three months, we penetrated all of North Korea and arrived at the south bank of the Yalu River. Looking back now, it really seems like a dream."
"Hahaha, Mr. Chunagon, we haven't even been able to break through, right?"
"Yes, for the past three months, we have been close to a military parade."
After a few meaningless words, Tokugawa Yorinobu's face turned serious: "Mr. Chu-nagon, after I returned to Nagoya this time, my brother made specific arrangements for the distribution of the eight provinces of Korea. But my brother said that this plan must be approved by you before it can be made public."
"Your Majesty is too polite. It is because of his wise decision that Japan has obtained such a large piece of land. It is not excessive for him to distribute it in any way he wants."
Hehe, you old man, you are polite, but I don't know what you are thinking. Although I am only fifteen years old, I have been studying and living with my general brother since I was a child. Brother has taught me for more than ten years. If we really talk about knowledge, I am not necessarily worse than you.
Although he was annoyed in his heart, Tokugawa Yoshinobu still smiled and said, "No, you are the boss of the shogunate, in charge of government affairs. For such a large piece of land as Korea, we must listen to your opinions on how to allocate it."
"Well, then, please, Mr. Councillor, convey the instructions of His Highness the Lord to me."
It has to be said that from ancient times to the present, the Japanese are one of the most diligent people in the world.
For example, during the invasion of Korea, when the vanguard of the invading army arrived at the south bank of the Yalu River, the internal affairs officials sent by the shogunate had already completed a rough survey of the eight provinces of Korea.
"Mr. Chu-nagon, after this simple land inspection, it is now clear that the total land area of the entire Joseon Dynasty is at least 11 million koku. Your Majesty the Lord said that the shogunate only took Seoul and its surrounding areas as direct jurisdiction, and the total land area is 1.2 million koku."
Seeing Date Masamune nod slightly , Tokugawa Yorifusa continued: "The rest of Gyeonggi Province except Seoul, a total of 1.5 million koku, will be distributed to Matsudaira Sangi (Tadanao, the eldest son of Yuki Hideyasu), me, Yorifusa (youngest son of Ieyasu), and Iemitsu, the son of Hidetada's elder brother.
Next, Gyeongsang Province (Pusan), which faces Tsushima Island across the sea, has a total of 1 million koku, which will be distributed to the Sakakibara, Honda, and Ii families. Jeolla Province (Gwangju) west of Gyeongsang Province has a total of 950,000 koku, which will be given to the Maeda family. Chungcheong Province has 850,000 koku given to the Mori family, and Gangwon Province has 850,000 koku given to the Shimazu family. Hamgyong Province has 1.2 million koku, which will be given to the Uesugi family. Pyeongan Province has 2 million koku, which will be given to the Date family. The last one, Hwanghae Province, has about 1.45 million koku. My brother meant that this piece of land will be managed by the shogunate. After reaching a peace agreement with Ming, it will be used to reward the navy officers and soldiers. "
Although he had a smiling face the whole time, Date Masamune's heart was already in turmoil.
"Although I have been constantly reminding myself that the current Lord Kofuno was born from the guard of Susanoo and must not be underestimated. But now it seems that I still underestimated the Lord Kofuno."
Why did Date Masamune think this way?
Because in the distribution of land in Korea, Tokugawa Yoshinao made the most of the specific circumstances and needs of the Japanese daimyo.
First of all, it was natural for the shogunate to control Seoul and Gyeonggi, and no one could argue with that. But Tokugawa Yoshinao was great because he divided Gyeongsang Province among the hereditary lords such as Sakakibara and Ii: if the Japanese on the Korean Peninsula wanted to withdraw to the Japanese mainland, Busan and Ulju in Gyeongsang Province were the only way. In other words, the hereditary lords stayed here, and whether the outer daimyo could return to Japan, or whether the outer daimyo could travel between the fiefdoms in Japan and Korea, was all controlled by the shogunate.
But you still can't raise any objections. Why? This is determined by the topography of the Korean Peninsula.
The entire Korean Peninsula is dominated by mountains, and the mountains are high in the east and low in the west. In this era when everyone generally equates arable land with wealth, the fertile land on the peninsula is naturally the Taedong River Plain centered on Pyongyang and the Han River Plain centered on Seoul. When the shogunate took away the Han River Plain, who did they give the Taedong River Plain and Pyongyang to? Date Masamune!
Is Tokugawa Yoshinao so kind? Of course not. The fundamental reason is that Korea at this time was not divided like in later generations. The so-called eight provinces are all very large. The so-called Pyeongan Province covers from the north bank of the Taedong River to the south bank of the Yalu River!
