"Kido-kun, everything has been shipped. Now the shogunate has blocked the sea. The things were brought ashore from Nagasaki and transported by land, so there was a little delay. This time, a total of four British Minie rifles were shipped.
One thousand, three hundred, as well as three thousand Dutch Bell rifles and twelve six-pound cannons." Takasugi Shinsaku introduced.
He was proficient in orchid studies and was one of the many admirers of Kido Takayun in the Choshu Domain. Now Takasugi Shinsaku has become an important assistant around Kido Takayun.
"Takasugi-kun, how is your team forming?" Kido Takayun asked.
"Yes, Kido-kun, the surprise team is progressing very smoothly. Our members are not limited to status systems. Samurai, farmers, and town residents can all participate. Now there are more than 2,500 people." Takasugi Shinsaku said.
After the Kyoto Incident, Kido Takayun found that the number of stormtroopers in his hands was seriously insufficient.
Moreover, the stormtroopers are mostly composed of feudal lords and samurai, so every time one of these elites dies, there will be one less one.
So he instructed Takasugi Shinsaku to form a surprise troop. In fact, it served as an auxiliary force for the stormtroopers.
Takasugi Shinsaku believes that long-term peace has led to the degradation of samurai. In contrast, these civilians who came from humble backgrounds but are eager to get ahead are more capable of fighting.
The tactics and organizational form of the surprise team are completely modeled after Western-style drills, and are more modern.
Although many of the new armies within Japan now adopt Western-style drills, their organizational form is still the same as that of the original vassal soldiers.
"Let's do this. From this batch of equipment, you selected two thousand muskets and added them to your team of surprise troops. The insufficient part will be replenished from the captured weapons." With the joint support of several Western Yi countries, Mu
Hu Xiaoyun's hands are now very rich.
It feels so good.
The previous battle with the shogunate's army in Kyoto also made Kido Takayun realize that although the shogunate's army was not worse than them in terms of equipment, its training and organization were obviously not as good as those of the vassal soldiers who overthrew the shogunate.
Maybe it was because the life in the shogunate was so good. A trend of luxury developed from top to bottom.
Some shogunate officers even resold their muskets.
"Takasugi-kun, you need to take a bigger step. The team can speed up the recruitment. With feudal warriors and samurai as the skeleton, farmers and town people as flesh and blood, we must give those farmers and town people higher expectations, and draw a big picture.
Give them the bread, do you understand?”
"I hope you can stand out in the next battle." Kido Takayun said like a teacher encouraging his students.
"Yes, Kido Jun, I will work hard." Takasugi Shinsaku nodded and bowed.
In the past few days, the Tokugawa Army is attacking Osaka Castle. Osaka is on the edge of Kyoto. If this important port city is not captured, the Tokugawa Army will have no way to march towards Edo.
However, in the battle to attack Osaka, the overthrown troops suffered heavy casualties.
The shogunate army was well prepared for this time. Osaka has long been known as the "Jincheng Hot Spring", and it is also said that "Osaka is rich and powerful in the world".
The shogunate's maritime patrol had already arrived here first, which shocked the morale of the defenders outside the city. At least they didn't have to worry about losing their way out.
The overthrown army did not have much heavy firepower.
Under the long-range suppression of the artillery on top of the city, the overthrown troops who attacked Osaka Castle suffered heavy casualties.
In terms of tactics, the overthrown army did not make much progress. When attacking a city, they still relied on their numerical advantage.
They lined up in dense formations and pressed within the range of the muskets, trying to suppress the defenders on the city top, but the defenders' cannons continued to kill these ranks of infantry.
Even their European teachers had no better way to attack the city. At most, they could concentrate more artillery to bombard the city wall.
But what the overthrown army lacked was artillery.
Most of the skirmishers who were ordered to climb the city wall were shot before they could reach the bottom of the city wall.
Even under the city wall, the defenders would blow up the ladder with grenades.
After adopting the equipment of the Renaissance Army, the shogunate army at least had more flexible tactics for defending the city.
This makes the rebels very uncomfortable, because they don't have much time, and the shogunate has more resources after all. If they are given enough time, the situation will only become more unfavorable to the rebels.
"Now I appoint you as the governor of the surprise army, and let Yuto Yamagata be the military supervisor of the surprise army." Kido Takayoshi decided to give Takasugi Shin a formal position.
He urgently needs this army to participate in the battle. He does not want them to be the main force, but wants them to be cannon fodder for siege.
The Special Forces were an army gathered through slogans, and Kido Takayoshi gave these people only vain hopes. If they died, there would be no need to fulfill these hopes for them.
Of course, Kido Takayun cannot tell Yamaxian Yutomo these words.
The troops sent by the shogunate to support Osaka were only the newly established standing armies in recent years.
All the northern vassals were mobilized, and they had the obligation to send troops to fight for the shogunate.
When these feudal soldiers are gathered, the shogunate will have more than 100,000 troops at its disposal.
Although by that time, the number of overthrowing troops will also increase.
But the shogunate accumulated a lot of wealth after all.
And it is impossible for the Western Yi to support the overthrowing army without any restrictions.
Kido Takayoshi must come up with some wins to give these investors hope.
In Nagasaki, representatives of several British and foreign countries had already drafted treaties with the new Japanese government.
American Minister Harrison often traveled between Kyoto and Nagasaki as a middleman.
He sent a piece of good news to Nagasaki, making these representatives of the Western Yi think that victory was just around the corner.
At this time, Harris is like an investment manager, performing the duties of an investment intermediary.
"Mr. Wilson, Mr. Knowles, if there is a fleet that can go around Osaka at this time, the progress of the new Japanese government will undoubtedly be much faster." Harrison advised the British and French ministers.
Naturally, the Americans would not send their own fleet to attack. They had suffered losses here. This time, the Americans did not contribute more to the formation of the overthrow army except for Harrison's mouth.
The current President of the United States is James Buchanan of the Democratic Party. This is a president who supports slavery.
But he doesn't invest as much energy overseas as Pierce.
Since taking office, Buchanan has been trying to reconcile the conflicts between the North and the South.
With his efforts, the Civil War in Kansas eased a lot.
However, the armies of both sides are still facing each other.
Buchanan obviously still favors the south.
However, the British secretly raised the prices of raw materials such as cotton. The resources produced in the south continued to be exported to the United Kingdom, and none of them flowed into the factories in the north.
Under such circumstances, how can the contradiction between the North and the South be resolved?
Moreover, the North looks down on Southerners at all. The total output value of the North is three to four times that of the South, and its population is more than twice that of the South.
Buchanan's actions to reconcile the conflicts between the North and the South only addressed the symptoms but not the root cause. In the end, these conflicts would eventually break out.
This time, it was actually Britain, France, the Netherlands and other countries that came to support the overthrow movement in Japan.
If the British wanted to retaliate against the Renaissance Army for what happened in India, they could only cause trouble in these vassal countries.
Otherwise, if everyone is smart, it would be impossible to convince several countries to invest so much just by relying on Harris’s words.
You must know that the powerful vassals in the south don't have much money at all.
This time the investment from several countries has exceeded 5 million pounds.
Why Britain, France and the Netherlands were willing to invest so much in Japan? Even Harris didn't know the inside story.
After all, the United States is not a European country, and Britain and France would not tell it even if they had any plans.
The British war in India is still raging now.
In the south of India, General Robert was severely beaten by the guerrilla tactics of the Tamils.
Although there were no large-scale battles, the British army suffered casualties every day due to the disease and endless attacks by the Tamils.
In the north, with the addition of the Gurkhas, a battle against the eastern route of the Northern Front Army was about to begin.
Chen Yucheng's two legions have already made preparations.
Even the newly established Holy Army Cavalry Feilong Army and Navy Canglong Army were sent to Chen Yucheng by Shi Dakai.
Chen Yucheng fought in the Burnia area with dense water networks, and he always had to be wary of the British and Indian gunboats on the inland river.
And every time the enemy failed, they always fled or retreated toward the river to seek support from gunboats.
At this time, the Holy Army could only give up the pursuit of the enemy and watch the enemy retreat.
In this battle, Chen Yucheng had a big plan, preparing to defeat the British Brown Army on the Eastern Front in one fell swoop.
Push the front towards Calcutta.
It would be better if we could capture Calcutta.
That way, even if you can't defend it after defeating it, you can still make a lot of money.
Back in Japan, the British and French ministers heard Harris's suggestion and fell into deep thought.
They do have some gunboats and armed merchant ships here in Nagasaki, so dealing with those small Japanese gunboats should not be a big problem.
But will doing so allow the Renaissance Army to take action directly?
This is a problem, and we have to make plans in advance, at least to mobilize a fleet from Nanyang.
"Mr. Harris, go tell those Japanese people that they have to rely on themselves to fight the war. If we directly participate in the war, the Renaissance Army will also join in."
Through these two years of observation, these great powers gradually understood the tactics of the Renaissance Army, and the Renaissance Army did not want to fight.
The Renaissance Army once claimed that a war with its vassal states would be regarded as a war with the Renaissance Army.
However, they discovered that the vassal states of the Renaissance Army were also divided into different levels, with internal vassal states, and these countries had to accept the indirect leadership of the Renaissance Army.
There are also many vassal states that are only in name only, and their relationship with the Renaissance Army is not that close.
This time they also wanted to test whether the Renaissance Army would go to war directly.
The Western Yi also bullied and feared the weak. They all knew that the Renaissance Army had defeated the Mao Xiong, so they did not dare to start a war with the Renaissance Army rashly.
Relatively speaking, they are more dependent on trade with the East.
On the contrary, the Renaissance Army can now maintain economic operations by relying solely on its own vassal states even if it does not trade with the West.
This has the advantage of being large.
Anyway, both sides have concerns. There have been several opportunities for collision between the Renaissance Army and the British.
The two sides almost went to war directly, but in the end they did not fight.
This time can be regarded as a new trial.
Someone may ask, where is Qi Bin and where is the first fleet of the Renaissance Army?
Judging by the time, they should have arrived in Japan.
Ibusuki Castle is a newly built city. However, during the last Satsuma War, the city was ceded to the Renaissance Army by the Satsuma Domain. It served as the base of the Renaissance Army in the southern part of Japan.
The Renaissance Army has always stationed a battalion of Marines here.
The purpose of this army here is to monitor the Satsuma Domain, and also to monitor the southern feudal clans.
In addition, another purpose is to operate this base in southern Kyushu.
Ibusuki has a large number of hot springs and beautiful scenery. Dong Shuheng originally planned to turn this place into a resort.
I just never had time.
After it became a resort, members of the Renaissance Army often came and went here and were able to strengthen their control here.
At this time, the mouth of Kagoshima Bay has been completely blocked by the patrol boats of the Renaissance Army, and no entry or exit is allowed.
This is not the first time this has happened. Almost every year, the Beihai Navy conducts military exercises here when they return to Japan for the winter.
This will naturally affect the normal activities of Satsuma Domain.
But they dare not have any opinions.
The current Satsuma family is more like a vassal of the Renaissance Army. With the help of the Renaissance Army, Confucianism in the Satsuma Domain is now flourishing.
The Fuxing Army sent them several great Confucians as teachers and established a large academy, which only taught Confucian classics.
Satsuma Domain can also purchase cheap products from the Renaissance Army, and ordinary people can work as laborers for the Renaissance Army.
Now the land within the territory is enough for the remaining people to cultivate. The entire Satsuma is a quiet and peaceful scene.
So this time the three powerful feudal lords approached Shimazu Saikei to collapse together, but Shimazu Saikei refused.
Shimazu Qixing, who is obsessed with Confucianism, does not want to get involved in these things.
Now backed by the Renaissance Army, Satsuma Kingdom is like an independent country. The shogunate will not take care of them. All the famous people are also in the Renaissance Army. No one dares to provoke Satsuma Domain.
He also learned that his eldest son had gone to China. Not only was he not punished, he instead defected to his former enemies and became a high-ranking official in the Renaissance Army.
At first, Shimazu Qi Xing was a little worried that his eldest son would come back and take his seat back.
But later he learned that Qi Bin had given himself a Han surname, and understood that his eldest son had completely separated from his past.
Although the relationship between the two is not good, Shimazu Qihe knows his eldest son very well.
Just a few days ago, a fleet of the Renaissance Army suddenly launched
Entered Kagoshima Bay.
From the reports from his subordinates, Shimazu Qi Xing could feel the shock of his subordinates.
The shock brought by the eight destroyers was really great, especially to these Samoans who had not seen much of the world.
And following this fleet came a special person. This person was Shimazu Saiki's eldest son, Shimazu Saibin.
Now his name is Qi Bin. Strictly speaking, he has nothing to do with the Shimadzu family.
Qi Bin returned to this place again after three years, and was deeply moved.