Chapter 279 The honorable nobles of Pingbo (87) said: Follow!
The next day after the cabinet additions were completed, Nanning Hou Gao, a bachelor of Wenhuadian, a minister of household affairs and a Japanese war planner, pragmatically set out for North Korea, and traveled by sea within the North China Sea in an official capacity for the first time - it was not that he had not had the opportunity before.
, but the emperor was worried that the sea route was unsafe and had always refused to allow him to take the sea route for official business.
The reason why the emperor agreed this time was not that North Korea was in danger and Gao Pragmatic urgently needed to go there to ensure its survival, but that Gao Pragmatic wanted to start from Tianjin Port, go to Shandong first to swear an oath, and then lead a large-scale eastward march eastward to North Korea with the naval force aiding North Korea.
In recent years, Van Gogh has been pragmatic and personally led troops on expeditions. He always has an advantage that no one else can match. That is, he has never left the post of Minister of Household Affairs, so no one can block him in terms of military expenditures.
, you can spend the money however you want, as long as there is no problem with the court's finances in the end.
The dispatch of troops to aid Korea this time is no different from the last time. Last time, it was the end of the imperial court's ban on vassal rule, and it had just finished conquering Mongolia. There were still some financial constraints. The ability to insist on sending troops at that time largely relied on the previous ten years or so.
The accumulation and high pragmatism can be overcome by the Federal Reserve's monetary ability, and the scale of troop dispatch must be controlled even if all means are exhausted.
This time it was different. The land division dispatched 100,000 troops. Although it was far less than the battle against Chahar, the problem here was not money, but the expansion of the scope of military deployment. It was a lack of troops rather than a lack of financial resources.
Looking at the navy in turn, it’s really cool. Not only did the main force of the Ming Dynasty’s navy gather in Laizhou, but also since Gao Pragmatic personally took action, how could his own Beiyang fleet not move? Let’s not say that it was all out.
Nearly half of them were dispatched.
The dispatch of half of the Beiyang Fleet is scary enough, but that's not the end of it - the leader of the alliance is dispatched, and the brothers will not follow up personally, but the family's fleet must send out the main force to accompany the expedition, right? So when I heard that Gao Pragmatic was going to lead the navy
To aid the DPRK, the dignitaries of the Beijing-China Peace Troubles Department were immediately preceded by the three great princes, and more than twenty marquises and uncles came hand in hand, and generously provided support without saying a word.
How much support does it have? According to Zhu Yingzhen’s statement on behalf of all members of the Maritime Trade Alliance: "If Mr. Hou has any needs, the resources of the entire alliance will be allocated."
Naturally, these words can be regarded as mere rhetoric, but since people of their status have made a statement, they cannot easily break their words, which means that they indeed dare to give this level of support.
The truth is not complicated at all. Since Gao Pragmatic personally takes action, this battle cannot fail at least at sea - what is the strength of the North and South Ocean Fleets? Apart from Gao Pragmatic himself, they know best. What can they achieve by fighting a Japanese navy?
Surprise? Do you know how many times the strength gap between the two sides is?
Japan's invasion of Korea must rely on sea transportation to maintain frontline supplies. Once it is defeated at sea, what suspense will there be in this battle? Therefore, when the war has reached this point, it is a sure win in their eyes, and the risk of failure has been extremely low.
, what should be considered is actually where the profits will come from and whether it is worth the heavy bet.
Where are the benefits?
They already knew that Jinghua had taken over the mines in North Korea, and by analyzing Gao Pragmatic's past behavior, they discovered that only in areas directly controlled by Ming Dynasty or Jinghua directly controlled, Jinghua would go to mine on its own, otherwise it would only use
Proceed in partnership with local leaders.
An example of this kind of cooperation: the oral alkali produced in the Tumut Salt Lake is monopolized by Gao pragmatism in cooperation with Bhannaji. Bhannaji is responsible for the main production, and Jinghua is responsible for building a local factory for simple purification, and then in
Distribution within Daming and outside Tumut and Ordos is entirely handled by Jinghua.
The relationship between Tumut, Ming Dynasty and Jinghua has become so close. Jinghua has never set up a "sole proprietorship" in Tumut territory. So now Jinghua has actually set up a wholly-owned mine in North Korea. What does this mean? Explanation
In Gao Pragmatic's eyes, North Korea will definitely be controlled by Ming Dynasty or Jinghua in the future, even if it is not yet the case.
What is actual control? At least it must be to garrison troops and control government affairs!
Through a clue that many people ignored, the nobles who were not good at fighting but getting better and better at making money suddenly figured out that North Korea would soon become a piece of fat meat that could be cut into pieces. Who would be the first to seize it?
The share of a certain type of business may lead to the dominance of a certain type of business in the North Korean market in the future!
Considering that North Korea has been beaten to a pulp by the Japanese, post-war reconstruction will definitely be a major event in the next few decades. For the business giants from the Ming Dynasty, it is self-evident how many opportunities there are. Who is willing to miss it?
In addition, the nobles also vaguely felt that Gao Pragmatic might not be satisfied with just winning a mere North Korea. He might also consider the Japanese mainland, which would be a greater business opportunity! After all, although North Korea
It doesn't look much smaller than Japan, but in fact Japan's population is much larger than North Korea's. Population is the market!
However, the speculation that Gao Pragmatic may take action against Japan is also controversial within the Maritime Trade Alliance. Some people think that he will not do so, while others think that he will definitely do so.
People who think he will not do this mainly consider two points: first, Japan is a country without conquests, and the imperial court will not agree to send troops to Japan; second, although the Japanese navy is easy to bully, Japan still has a large army.
Even if the imperial court agrees to send troops, it currently seems that they cannot send enough troops to destroy the country to fight on the Japanese mainland. Since they cannot fight, they should simply not fight.
Those who think he will do this have different views: First of all, judging from the scope of application of Taizu's definition of "a country without conquest", Japan, which took the initiative to provoke and actually sent troops to invade Korea, would not do so after a large-scale battle with the Ming army.
The concept of "a country without conquest" is no longer applicable.
Why do you say this? You have to quote the golden words of Emperor Taizu: "If the barbarian countries abroad have troubles for China, they must not refuse to punish them; if they do not suffer from China, they must not raise their own troops at will."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The ancients said: A vast territory is not a plan for long-term peace, and the labor of the people is the source of chaos. For example, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty arbitrarily raised an army to conquer Ryukyu and killed the barbarians.
, burned their palaces, captured thousands of men and women, acquired insufficient land to support them, and acquired insufficient people to command them. They only sought a false reputation, and harmed the country. They were recorded in the annals of history and ridiculed by future generations.
I have used the small barbarian countries to block the mountains and seas, and isolate them in a corner. They are not a patient of China, and I will never attack them. However, the Hurong in the northwest (referring to Mobei Mongolia) have always been a danger to China, so we must be careful. Sir, etc.
You should remember what I said and know what I mean."
Look, Taizu did list the countries that should not be conquered, but he had a premise, and the premise was "not to be troubled by China." So what if it happened to be "in trouble"? The first sentence of Taizu's words said
It is clear: "Anyone from overseas barbarian countries who have done harm to China must not be punished."
It has been clearly stated that "it must be demanded", so how can it be said that Taizu's Holy Instructions hindered the dispatch of troops? This is totally unreasonable.
Now that the nominal problem has been solved, we can proceed to analyze the actual situation. It is true that the strength of the Japanese Army is indeed huge. At this point, the Maritime Trade Alliance understands: before the Korean War, Japan had about fifty
The standing army was nearly half of the Ming Dynasty, so it could be said that it had sufficient strength.
But just seeing this is far from enough, because the Korean War itself changed Japan's military power.
In order to conquer the dynasty, Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent out all the elite members of his direct lineage in the first wave of attacks, including allies and subordinates from Kinki, China, Shikoku and Kyushu regions. They were divided into nine legions. These alone participated in the front line.
The total combat strength was approximately 150,000.
How is the condition of these 150,000 troops? Although the nobles are not good at fighting, they have been in charge of military records for a long time and are good at doing statistics. They quickly sorted out the ugly Yin Mao.
Let’s talk about it one by one: The First Army has 18,000 people, and its leader is Yukinagako Konishi. Although he is a businessman, he fights fiercely and often deals with North Korea.
As the Higo daimyo of Kyushu, he also commands Mune Yoshitomo, Matsuura Masanobu and Arima Harunobu. These daimyo are basically the powerful daimyo who survived the melee in Kitakyushu. Therefore, Konishi Yukinacho's headquarters is the elite of Toyotomi's direct lineage.
The names of the various ministries he leads are also quite elite.
The Second Legion has 22,000 men. The commander of the legion, Kato Kiyomasa, is known as Onikato. He is one of the adopted sons of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the leader among the seven swordsmen of Shigatake. He is cruel and fierce in combat. As a Higo daimyo,
He led the second legion composed of Nabeshima Naoshige, a retainer from the Ryuzoji family, and formed the vanguard of the Japanese army with Konishi's first legion. They fought all the way to the Tumen River area within the Ming Dynasty's sphere of influence, and even fought with the Jurchen tribe.
, both sides win or lose each other.
In other words, Kato Kiyomasa's second army is the same as Konishi Yukinaga's first army. The core is Toyotomi's direct lineage, and the periphery is the Kyushu Hundred Battles soldiers who have been fighting all year round.
The Third Army has 12,000 men, and its commander is Kuroda Nagamasa. Although this man was famous for being a cheat in the original history, there are many famous generals who are good at fighting in Kuroda's Third Army.
For example, Otomo Yoshito and Mori Yoshinari, the former is the governor of the Otomo family, and his men are all elite soldiers of Kitakyushu. Except for Shimazu, which could not defeat Shimazu in Kyushu, it is not a big problem to suppress the other families; the latter is a direct lineage of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and his son Mori
Katsunaga was later one of the Seven Generals of Osaka. In general, although the general of the Third Army was not very good, the combat effectiveness of the army was not weak.
The Fourth Army has 14,500 people, and its commander is Shimazu Yoshihiro. As a daimyo who fought from the middle to the end of the Warring States Period, Shimazu Yoshihiro should be the most experienced in combat among the several army commanders. He has been introduced before.
Not much to say here.
However, due to the dual system of the Shimazu family, very few of the elite Satsuma soldiers under his command, who were known for their proficiency and fearlessness in fighting, were actually brought to Korea. However, this also resulted in the fact that most of the troops under his command were either direct descendants of Toyotomi or servants of Toyotomi.
, obviously it cannot be considered weak.
The Fifth Legion has 25,000 men. The commander of the legion is Fukushima Masanori. Fukushima is the leader of the seven guns of Shigatake. He even ranks before Kato Kiyomasa and is one of the adopted sons of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Because of Fukushima Masanori's strong leadership ability, Toyotomi Hideyoshi assigned the fifth legion, which has the largest number of direct legions, as a reserve force, and strengthened the elite troops of Hachisuka Kasei and Nagasogabu Motochin to the fifth legion.
Legion. In other words, the Fifth Legion was originally intended to be used as a fire brigade. There is no need to say more about whether it is strong or not.
The Sixth Army has 15,000 people. The commander of the army is Kobayakawa Takakage. He also has Kobayakawa Hidehiro and Tachibana Munesege, who is known as the "Unparalleled Western Country". The overall strength of Kobayakawa Takakage's army is relatively weak, but Tachibana Muneshige plays a great role.
The addition of the 6th Army has significantly improved the overall combat effectiveness of the Sixth Army.
It was precisely because Tachibana Muneshige's troops were very strong that Kobayakawa Takakage made him the main force during the Battle of Hokutokan - but in the end, he suffered the greatest losses.
The Seventh Legion has 30,000 people and is led by Terumoto Mori. This legion is exclusively a Maori army. Just how powerful the Maori army in the Sanin-Sanyo area is, you can ask the Ouchi and Nizi families back then.
This area has always been rich in strong soldiers, and even the fifth division of Japan's "Steel Army" later came from Hiroshima in this area - this is also the reason why Hiroshima later suffered from mushroom bombs.
However, Mouri Terumoto came to North Korea mainly to gain benefits and was not very willing to fight tough battles. As a result, the Seventh Army had no strength but average results. However, the converse benefit was that the damage was not particularly great.
The Eighth Legion has 10,000 people. The commander of the legion, Ukita Hideie, also serves as the general general. The legion is mainly composed of veterans brought by the Ukita Nao family. However, due to Hideie's special status, he is also a direct descendant of Toyotomi. Both training and equipment are very good.
He has fought in many battles and is also an elite.
As mentioned above, because Ukita Hideie wanted to make military exploits himself, he fought at least two tough battles, and the Eighth Army suffered considerable losses.
The Ninth Legion has 11,000 people. The legion is led by Toyotomi Hidekatsu. This legion is a bit special because it still represents Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s main formation. Therefore, it rarely went on the battlefield during the Conquest War. However, as a soldier who started his career following Toyotomi Hideyoshi,
The Guards were obviously no worse off, and the final losses were relatively small.
The nobles compiled and compared various battle reports with the intelligence collected by the Sea Trade Alliance, and were surprised to find that the 150,000 troops suffered losses of at least 60,000 to 70,000 in the previous battle!
As we have just analyzed, the 150,000-strong army in the first battle was the most elite force that the Toyotomi regime could produce. It lost about 40% of its force in one fell swoop. It is not an exaggeration to say that it was a crippling force, right?
However, this was not the end. This time Toyotomi Hideyoshi actually mobilized an additional 140,000 troops to come to the DPRK. Together with the original garrison stationed in Busan, the total strength continued to be maintained at more than 200,000 troops.
The nobles immediately began to hypothesize: If almost all of the 200,000 troops were lost in Korea, would the so-called rule of the Toyotomi family still have a foundation? I'm afraid it would be gone.
Therefore, these nobles who believe that Japan will be pragmatic in the use of troops insist that as long as the 200,000 direct descendants and reliable military strength of the Toyotomi family are lost in Korea, the military strength of central and western Japan will be reduced by at least 70%.
Eighty percent.
Considering that the Shimazu family is actually taking orders from Gao Pragmatic, it can even be considered that as long as the Shimazu family in the entire Kyushu region announces a change of flag, it will probably be a matter of public announcement. As for the remnants of Toyotomi in Kinki, the remnants of Toyotomi in Sanin and Sanyo.
After suffering huge losses, how strong can the resistance be?
Looking at it this way, everyone suddenly discovered that if Gao Pragmatic really wanted to send troops to Japan, Japan's real resistance seemed to be only in Kanto and Ou, because they were the only ones who suffered almost no losses.
However, the situation on their side is also interesting. Tokugawa is naturally the strongest, but he is surrounded by a circle of daimyo whom Toyotomi Hideyoshi has installed to monitor him, plus Date Masamune, who is known to be ambitious. This picture is really beautiful.
.
As a result, the nobles basically formed a unified opinion, that is, it is really possible for Gao Pragmatic to use troops against Japan, and as long as there is enough conspiracy, a huge army may not even be needed, as long as one can independently defeat 30,000 to 50,000 Japanese troops.
The elite Japanese army might be enough.
Therefore, the Jingnan nobles collectively bet on not only North Korea, but also Japan.
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