The spring review was linked to the SPO Fed meeting and made big news.
The saint of the Shiba family accepted the canonization of the Celestial Empire, and began to restrict Ichijo Hideyoshi's war mobilization ability by calling for peace.
The provisional shogunate took various measures to block arms exports, and Shiba Tokura tightened loans and increased interest rates in accordance with the decision of the Shiba Federal Reserve Bank.
If this combination of punches continues, it will greatly limit the ability of the samurai family under Ichijo Hideyoshi to finance repayments, making their mobilization costs continue to increase.
The local government is overwhelmed and resentment is growing.
At this time, another attempted assassination of Oda's envelope broke out in Minami Ise. The local samurai even began to take up arms to resist the tax, which made other samurai under their command from various places ready to take action.
The rope around Hideyoshi's neck became tighter and tighter, and the relationship between Shiba's family became increasingly tense.
———
The weather is getting warmer in early summer, but the temperature in the Nara Basin is still suitable.
On a small hill not far from Tawen Mountain Castle, Yiyin was looking at the ground target outlined in the distance, which was filled with debris ready to be shot.
Behind him, Christina said a few words, and a Ji warrior quickly ran down the mountain and went to the artillery position on the side of the mountain to deliver the order.
Soon, three roars sounded one after another, and the artillery shell accurately hit the target on the ground, smashing the target placed above into pieces.
Yiyin nodded with satisfaction and said.
"good."
Kristina whispered with the rigor of a soldier.
"For this exercise, the artillery crew began measuring and testing the artillery three days in advance, so the accuracy was very high, but it was not so accurate on the battlefield."
Yiyin shook his head and said.
"Your demands are too high. In this island country that is still dominated by feudal mobilization, the power of artillery fire is enough to collapse and disperse most of the mobilized peasants and soldiers, and disintegrate the organizational strength of the army."
Yiyin is not belittling himself, the island nation's military in this era is indeed not very good.
Although a hundred years of troubled times have trained a group of middle- and lower-class warriors who are not afraid of death, the military has never been a place where individual prowess is judged, organizational strength is the most important.
According to the mobilization power of the feudal system of the island country, every 10,000 dan can probably mobilize 250 people to participate in the war, including about 50 Ji warriors and 200 peasant soldiers, which is a ratio of four to one.
Peasants and soldiers who have not been separated from agricultural production have extremely low organizational skills. Most of the time they are just a ragtag group. Whichever side has Ji warriors who can fight, and the peasants and soldiers follow them in a swarm, whichever side will win.
Why was Oda Nobunaga able to sweep across the island country and defeat all forces? Just because the Nobi Plain is a food production area, she can train more off-duty soldiers.
The rise of the Zong clan, the application of iron cannons, and the corresponding spear formations weakened the decisive role of Ji warriors in the war.
In other words, although the Oda family's army was still half peasants and half soldiers, its organizational power was already much stronger than that of the samurai army at the same time.
But even so, the Oda Army was still just a feudal army with weak organizational strength. It can only be said that other samurai armies were weaker.
Ichijo Hideyoshi inherited most of Oda Nobunaga's legacy, including her military system.
Although Ichijo Hideyoshi announced that he would not expand the scope of the zodiac clan in order to please the samurai family and safeguard the military privileges of the samurai family, the negative impact at this time was not big enough, and the original zodiac clan was still sufficient.
A legion that inherited the combat power of the iron artillery and the mobilization power of the Zong clan swept across the four countries and nine states, and even invaded the peninsula, causing great trouble for the Celestial Empire.
The hundreds of thousands of soldiers who have gone through troubled times, even if it is just a feudal army, are enough to defend the four southern roads of the peninsula and consume the treasury of the Celestial Empire.
The iron cannon formation that Hideyoshi inherited from the Oda Corps had a huge weakness, that is, it was afraid of artillery.
In the Battle of Shiba Oda, Yoshigan used several artillery pieces to disrupt the Oda army until Sanada Nobushige broke through on the flank.
A dense formation of iron cannons and spears can make up for the lack of organization, making a legion seem invincible, but a dense formation can also be easily bombarded by artillery.
Although the artillery of this era was still solid bullets and did not have the ability to bloom and explode, a big solid ball rolling in the iron cannon array was enough to collapse the morale of semi-professional peasants and soldiers.
Therefore, artillery became a trump card in Yiyin's hands.
He looked at Christina beside him and asked.
"How many cannons does the Nanman artillery team have now? Is Lilu's purchase in Southeast Asia going smoothly?"
Christina replied.
"Although Lilu tried her best to purchase artillery at high prices from Westerners, Portuguese, British, Dutch and other parties in Southeast Asia, the actual results were very bad.
Because artillery is a strategic weapon used by all parties to colonize Southeast Asia and establish port forts, they are unwilling to sell it.
After all, they are also afraid that the island army will appear in Luzon and attack their ports and fortresses with the artillery they sold.
Most of the artillery we can purchase comes from maritime merchants, and they are three- or four-pound eagle cannons that they use to scare pirates."
Yiyin nodded, expressing understanding.
At this time in Southeast Asia, Nanman colonists were still new to the area.
The people who occupy the main position are the Portuguese and Westerners, the Dutch who will be the future carriage drivers on the sea, and the British who will be the empire on which the sun never sets. At this time, they have not yet risen, and they are still picking up the leftovers that the Portuguese and Westerners do not want.
Firearms in the sixteenth century were not mature enough, and the Southeast Asian colonists had not yet established a crushing force on the local indigenous people, but only established trading ports.
At this time, the West had gradually become tired of the weird artillery of various sizes and had embarked on the road of standardization.
Among them, the light French cannon that fired one-pound shells and the eagle cannon that fired three-pound and four-pound shells became the main weapons of maritime merchants.
The lighter gun means that merchant ship warehouses can accumulate more goods, and it will not threaten the fortresses set up by the colonists in various ports. It is not taboo, but its power...
Yiyin nodded and said.
"I have no idea of conquering Southeast Asia. Even if I have heavy artillery, the island country lacks ocean-going technology, and it is impossible to invade Southeast Asia.
The three- to four-pound eagle cannon is enough to defeat Ichijo Hideyoshi's elite regiment in the field, and I am very satisfied."
When Yiyin said she was satisfied, Christina finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After living in this island country in the Far East for several years and becoming a noble here, Christina gradually adapted to the customs and concepts here.
She bowed and said.
"The artillery team now has twelve eagle cannons.
It's not that Lilu can't buy more artillery, but because we lack gunpowder and shells, it makes no sense to acquire more artillery.
The colonists in Southeast Asia relied on steel cannons smuggled from China, and most of the gunpowder materials came from China.
The power of the three- to four-pound eagle cannon is too small. In the past few years, I have tried to use local trees in the island country to make the barrel, and have found a suitable tree species.
After experiments, the hollowed tree barrel can withstand two to three shots without exploding the barrel. Depending on the size of the tree hole and the gunpowder filling, it can shoot one to ten pounds of projectiles.
Therefore, in addition to the twelve standing eagle cannons, disposable wooden cannon barrels can also be used for large-scale shelling.
It’s just that the cost is a bit expensive. The wooden cannon cannot be stored for a long time. It will be discarded after two shots to avoid exploding the chamber. The consumption of wood, gunpowder, projectiles, and craftsmen is too expensive.”
Yiyin nodded. At this time, the second round of shelling had been fired. After three roars, the projectiles hit the target surface at a speed visible to the naked eye, causing a gust of wind and waves.
He looked at the dust scattered in the distance and said lightly.
"I will allocate enough carpenters to you. The gunpowder pellets can make a carpenter. If you don't have time, go to Sakai Port to find the Nanman people. Buy as many as you can and prepare them before the autumn harvest."
Christina's eyes flashed.
"Does the saint mean that a decisive battle is imminent?"
Yiyin smiled and said nothing, and touched Kristina's face. The skin of this red-haired Nanban girl was much more delicate than that of ordinary Nanban women. She had not gone to sea in the island country in these years, so her skin was not old and tender.
Confused, he changed the subject.
"Do your job and don't think about anything else.
I am very satisfied with today's artillery drill. You did a good job. I want to reward you. Come to my dormitory tonight."
Kristina didn't expect that Yiyin's conversation would change to the issue of men and women. She couldn't help but blush on her face and whispered.
"Lilu was busy trading in Sakai Port, so she didn't come with her..."
Yiyin smiled bitterly.
"You are a good sister who is willing to share.
Woman, you have successfully aroused my curiosity. Wouldn't it be impossible for you to show off without her presence?
Yukino always complained to me that one child was not enough and that the Takada family needed more heirs.
Whether it's Lihua Zuo or you... only if you have children, you will have a future.
Come over here tonight, it's all yours."
Christina blushed and lowered her head.
"As you wish, my handsome master, but... Lilu also hopes to be pregnant with your child."
Yiyin smiled slightly.
"I will give her a chance, I promise you, my beautiful slave."
The two sides looked at each other and smiled, their eyes seemed to be connected with each other, and they were so sticky that they couldn't pull away.
At this moment, Yoshigan saw Ii Naomasa running hurriedly from the foot of the hill and asked with a solemn expression.
"What happened?"
Ii Naomasa said in a low voice.
"The Oda envelope is dead."
Yiyin narrowed his eyes.
"Didn't you say before that the assassination failed?"
Naomasa Ii shook his head and said.
"I was seriously injured in an assassination, but I kept it a secret. As a result, I didn't make it through, but I still died, so I had to make it public."
Yiyin sighed, looked at Kristina, and said
"Please work harder on the wooden cannon. I'm afraid I won't be able to survive the autumn harvest and will have to use it."