Japan's invitation to visit the Ming Dynasty fleet directly further confirmed the British judgment that the reform government had turned to the Ming Empire.
There is no reason why the British side should not make such a judgment. After all, after Iwakura and others returned from their visit, Japan not only sent a large number of international students to the Ming Dynasty, but almost all of Japan's top officials, including Iwakura, became fans.
It must be said that it is the Ming Dynasty.
Even Yukichi Fukuzawa, who advocated "Leaving Asia and Joining Europe", carefully studied the "Ming Dynasty" and highly praised the rising Western "Ming Dynasty", calling them "sub-humans" many times.
Light".
Now Japan's invitation has filled the British with a sense of crisis. All this has just verified their initial speculation that Ming Dynasty has extended their hands to Japan.
In order to stop the Ming Dynasty, and of course to prevent them from further threatening British interests in East Asia, the British official directly expressed support for the Tokugawa family. Even Minister Parkes publicly declared that "Britain is willing to cooperate with the Tokugawa family."
General develops new relationships”.
With British support, Tokugawa Shigemaru's army launched an attack on Kyoto.
The flames of war are once again burning in Japan.
Unlike the new government army of the Restoration government, which was mainly composed of farmers, the troops under Tokugawa Shigesagi were all from noble families. Compared with the under-trained government troops, Tokugawa Shigesagi's army had better combat effectiveness. After receiving assistance from the British,
, after they defeated government troops one after another, their troops were directed towards Tokyo.
For the reform government with insufficient military strength, they had no way to resist the Tokugawa army's attack.
"Now, we must consider establishing a behind-the-scenes attack force!"
In front of Yin Teng Bowen, Army Secretary Shanxian Youpeng said in a rather excited tone.
"Now the Tokugawa rebels have surrounded Nagoya. Once the Nagoya town is defeated, their frontline will soon be directed towards Tokyo. The government army, which is mainly composed of farmers, is not an opponent of the noble rebels at all, but the Germans
The military supplies of the Tokugawa Army come from the rear. We can dispatch two or three brigades by sea to land in the Tsu area, and take advantage of the empty situation in the rear to directly cut off their logistics. In this way, the Tokugawa Army will
No matter how brave the army is, what will happen if they have no ammunition? The rebel army will be defeated and collapsed!"
As the Army Secretary, Yamagata Aritomo does have his own unique way of using troops. Even in the past few years, he has tried his best to suppress the development of the navy, but it still does not prevent him from viewing the war from the perspective of overall warfare.
In one world, the biggest turning point of the Southwest War was when he established the "Back Shock Army" and landed in Hinagu, south of Kumamoto. Yatsushiro landed. As a result, the Satsuma Army fell into a situation of being attacked from both sides. The Satsuma Army retreated across the board, and the government troops tracked and pursued them, eventually defeating them.
Satsuma Army.
But this time, Shanxian Youpeng just "prepared it according to the law".
"Do we have any other troops we can mobilize?"
Yin Teng Bowen asked with a frown.
Although he is the Minister of Industry, he also knows that the government army is now stretched thin. As a small country, although the reform government tried its best to build a strong army in the past few years, it was limited by financial resources and other reasons.
The four towns of Tokyo, Osaka, Zhenxi and Northeast were established only three years ago. At that time, there were only 15,000 officers and soldiers. In January 1873, after a long period of deliberation, the War Department finally expanded the four towns to Tokyo, Sendai,
There are six towns in Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima and Kumamoto.
But after the death of the emperor last year, rebellions broke out all over the place, and the government forces had to attack everywhere. The Kumamoto town was surrounded by the Saigo army in Kumamoto, the Nagoya town was besieged in Nagoya by the Tokugawa army, and the Osaka town was simply surrounded by various towns.
After a fierce battle, they were so frightened by the attack of the nobles that they surrendered directly to the Tokugawa army.
The Hiroshima Town Tower is currently used to defend against the Saigo Army in the Kyushu direction, while the Sendai Town Tower is used to defend against the private soldiers of various feudal lords in the northeast. The Tokyo Town Tower... is the last armed force of the reform government to defend Tokyo, which means
Therefore, they can't mobilize any troops to form a "behind attack army". But
"The Hiroshima station can still be mobilized."
Youpeng from Shanxian County said directly.
"The navy's fleet is also in Hiroshima. They can get on board directly from Hiroshima and, under the escort of the navy, attack from behind, thus..."
Before Shanxian Youpeng could finish his words, Yin Teng Bowen refused directly.
"No, Hiroshima is the last obstacle between Honshu and Kyushu. In the past few months, the reason why we were able to prevent the Saigo rebels from invading Honshu was because of the naval fleet stationed at Shimonoseki and
Hiroshima Zhentai,."
Thanks to the withdrawal of the warships of each vassal and the return of the navy to the government, the rebels may have relied on laid-off gentry to build an army with greater combat effectiveness than the government army, but they did not have a naval fleet. It was for this reason that their rebellion was
Will be restricted to Kyushu.
"With Hiroshima's presence, we can prevent the Kyushu Saigo rebels from landing. Therefore, Hiroshima's presence must not be mobilized!"
"Your Excellency, Kumamoto Town is still holding back Saigo's main force. At least before Kumamoto is occupied, Saigo will never land on Honshu. With Saigo's habits, he will only consider attacking Honshu after he controls the entire Kyushu.
.”
I know Xixiang Longsheng and Shanxian Youpeng very well. Although that guy has a very high reputation, he is by no means a master of military use.
"And, I have another idea."
Looking at Yin Teng's blog, Shanxian Youpeng said.
"Since the government has decided to invite the Ming Dynasty fleet to visit Japan, let's invite them to visit Hiroshima!"
Yamagata Aritomo's suggestion made Yin Teng Hirofumi and Navy Daisuke Kawamura Junyoshi look at him in surprise and exclaimed.
"Invite the Ming Fleet to visit Hiroshima!"
"Yes, as long as the Ming fleet is in Hiroshima, even if Saigo has the idea of landing, he will never take that risk. After all, the Ming fleet is very powerful!"
Can't it be powerful?
Not to mention anything else, just one "Nanhua" battleship is enough to arrogantly dominate the entire East Asia. Since last June, after the Ming Dynasty's Far East Fleet headed by the "Nanhua" battleship arrived in Naha, this fleet has
Japan caused an unprecedented sensation.
That is the most powerful fleet in East Asia!
For Shanxian Youpeng, who was short of troops, he had been thinking about the Ming Dynasty fleet from the day he planned to establish the "behind assault army".
"Xingxi, you are using the Ming Dynasty's military strength to intimidate the Xixiang rebels!"
Yin Teng Bowen couldn't help but praise.
"With the Ming Dynasty fleet here, not only do we not need to worry about the possible attack of the Xixiang rebels, but the British fleet will also be restrained."
In the eyes of these people, the Ming Dynasty was so powerful that it would definitely be able to intimidate the British and prevent them from taking rash actions.
If we don't use their tiger skin to provide such strong support, wouldn't it be wasted?
Yin Teng Hirobumi, who originally opposed Yamagata Aritomo's transfer of the Hiroshima station, agreed almost without thinking.
Then, Yin Teng Hirofumi looked at Navy Chief Kawamura Junyoshi and asked.
"The navy can send Hiroshima to the Tsu area."
"Oh, don't you know the situation of the navy? Although we can't fight, we can still transport troops."
What Kawamura Junyoshi said is true. After all, the current Japanese navy does not have much combat effectiveness. Even in the Southwest War in another world, the Japanese navy only acted as a transport ship. As for combat, it was at best a reversal of the war.
I just had a few fights with my own family.
Of course, this does not prevent Japan from invading Taiwan in another world. It relied on such a navy that was unable to conduct naval battles to successfully force the Manchus to pay 500,000 taels of compensation and recognize Japan's sovereignty over Ryukyu.
Such a seemingly unbelievable thing is actually not difficult to understand when it comes to Tie Qing.