Great time travel

Chapter 1, the end of Chongzhen's five years

When the Central Plains was full of disputes and fighting endlessly, the Japanese archipelago facing each other across the sea was also caught in the flames of war.

In the summer of the ninth year of Kanyong, the new overlord of the Western Kingdom, the Maori family of the Changzhou domain who had just converted to Christianity a few years ago, in the new round of Kyushu offensive launched by the "Protestant Jihad", pulled out the shogunate. The last strongholds on the island of Kyushu.Afterwards, the feudal lord Mao Lixiu finally publicly put forward the slogan of the fall of the curtain, mobilizing the "Chezhidan" daimyo of the Western Kingdom to form a Christian coalition army for the fall of the curtain, and started the journey of "Shangluo" with a cross flag.

However, Tokugawa Iemitsu, the shogun who was sitting in Kinki and was preparing to face the battle, had a bad time - importing Western firearms, hiring Dutch consultants, and spending huge sums of money to prepare and train the 21 new shogunate army, who suddenly came to the [-]st century. The army was easily wiped out, which greatly weakened the strength of the shogunate army.Moreover, Tokugawa Iemitsu's most trusted minister Hoshina Masaoyuki (the future ancestor of the Aizu Domain) was also absent from the battle, causing General Tokugawa Iemitsu to lose his arm before the decisive battle, and the morale of the whole army of the shogunate camp was even more depressed. Depressed fighting spirit.

Therefore, when the fallen shogunate army gradually wiped out the vassal states loyal to the shogunate along the way, and finally invaded Kinki on a large scale, the resistance of the shogunate army was quite weak. The two joint battles organized at Himeji Castle and Yodogawa were all equipped with modern The Maori army with firearms was defeated miserably.And the shogunate navy that is still using the Ataka boat and Kohaya boat is not the opponent of the Maori navy that has been equipped with Western sailing ships.

At the beginning of October, General Tokugawa Iemitsu saw that the Kinki battlefield was in disintegration, and his own situation was gone. He simply ordered the capital to be burned and fled to Edo with Emperor Meizheng and other members of the royal family. Banner samurai and [-] miscellaneous soldiers stood firm at Osaka Castle, using this famous fortified castle to try their best to hold back the footsteps of the fallen shogunate, buying time for the Edo shogunate to raise money and recruit soldiers in the Kanto.

On October [-]th, Mori Hideo led an army into the burned-out Kyoto.So far, the Battle of Shangluo by the Maori family of the Changzhou Domain has initially declared a success.But the war in the Kinki area is far from over. It didn’t take long for the Changzhou Fan to be proud, and they discovered that their seemingly successful Shangluo this time did not mean that the dust of the Kinai war had settled: it was completely different from what was imagined in advance. , after the fall of the shogunate army captured the capital, there was no news about the various places in Kinai. On the contrary, civil upheavals and wars ignited the prairie fire, which made the Maori family step into the quagmire of "people's war"...

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1632 AD, the fifth year of Chongzhen in Ming Dynasty, December in the ninth year of Kanei, Japan, Kinki, Osaka Castle

The sound of cannons rumbled, and black smoke rose everywhere; drums and horns blared, and the sound of killing shook the sky; corpses were scattered all over the field, and blood flowed like rivers.

Thick smoke blackened the clear sky, and blood stained the white snow.

After another 17 years from the "Osaka Summer War" that led to the destruction of Toyotomi's family, this huge city built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi with all of Japan's financial resources has once again turned into a war. A prairie fire, a bloody battlefield full of killing sounds.

This protracted offensive and defensive battle in Osaka has entered its third month.

Although after a series of contests, the fallen army has pulled out the outlying strongholds of Osaka Castle one by one, and set fire to burn the castle town of Osaka into a blackened ruin.But the tall and majestic Osaka Castle was still unable to attack for a long time, as if laughing at the futility of defeating the army.

As we all know, the so-called siege since ancient times means that people in the city want to go out, while people outside the city want to come in.

Accompanied by the roar of conch shells, taiko drums and chaotic shouts, there are colorful crowds of creeping people, carrying rough ladders and wooden bumpers made in a hurry, holding bows and arrows, bamboo spears and few ancient "iron cannons" (Japanese style) Guns), ran out of the messy and crude camp outside the city again, and hit the walls of Osaka City in waves like a tsunami.

But the crowd didn't reach the moat at all, and they were already defeated in despair. There was a flash of fire at the top of the city, and a series of loud noises from more than a dozen black bronze cannons, shooting out many watermelon-sized circles. Shaped projectiles pierced straight into this dense crowd. Wherever they passed, the soldiers who failed to avoid it were all broken bones, blood and brains splashed, plowing out terrifying long furrows in an instant.

As a result, the siege team that was rushing forward aggressively a moment ago quickly changed from high tide to low tide in the blink of an eye, and disappeared from the foot of the castle at a much faster speed than when they were attacking.It's just that on the land around the Osaka Castle, there are dozens of mutilated corpses left here and there, as well as a few grumbling abandoned and seriously injured, showing how "tragic" sacrifices they have made.

Next, as if in response, the artillery positions of the defeated army also opened fire and bombarded Osaka Castle. Countless bright orange-red flames spewed out from the dark muzzles. The kinetic energy was sent out of the muzzle, and it slammed into the towering giant city in the distance... As the shell was released, the diffuse smoke slowly flowed on the ground, almost covering the entire position.

Regrettably, although the momentum of this bombardment was spectacular, due to the range and terrain, most of the shells failed to hit Osaka Castle at all, but fell into the mud or moat outside the city, splashing A string of tall water columns.The few shells that hit Osaka Castle just smashed a layer of skin on the solid boulder wall foundation, leaving a few shallow marks, and the damage caused was negligible.

Facing the pungent gunpowder smoke, the general of the front line of the defeated army in Osaka, the famous "Changzhou old man" guarding Nobuyoshi, was standing on the artillery position of the defeated army, leaning on a samurai sword, watching with a tired expression. The defeated army failed to attack the city again, and from time to time they lowered their heads and coughed twice.

Since the outbreak of the endless offensive and defensive battle in Osaka, he couldn't remember how many times the trapped shogunate army was beaten back. He only felt that his chest was stuffed with balls of cotton, I was so aggrieved that I couldn't even breathe.

——How long will it take to pull out the last stronghold of the shogunate army in Kinai?
In fact, in the early days of the Battle of Osaka, with the high spirit that had just planted the military flag in Kyoto, the progress of defeating the army was quite rapid.Commanding the Changzhou new army, which was trained by the famous Ming general Huangshi in the past, with skilled combat skills and sharp guns, it took less than a week to follow Xinji to destroy the outer fortresses of Osaka one after another. Breaking into the castle town of Osaka can be described as overwhelming.

However, just as victory in the Osaka battle was in sight, the front in Kyoto was once again in crisis.

Facing the endless flood of enemies from all walks of life, the commander-in-chief of the defeated army, the self-proclaimed "Explorer of the Western Kingdom", the lord of Changzhou, Mori Hideyuki, was forced to transfer away the elite troops guarding Nobuyoshi at this critical moment. It is used to suppress the successive rebellions and civil uprisings in Kinai... So, with the sharp weakening of the siege force, the shogunate army trapped in Osaka gained a respite, relieved from the initial defeat and began to adjust Deployment and tactics, as well as offensive and defensive with the defeated army, have caused the war to be delayed until now...

But Shou Sui Xinji is also very clear that the feudal lord is not at all to blame for this matter, because Mao Lixiu is under far greater pressure than himself in Kyoto:

"... Sigh, the great cause of my Maori family's hegemony was promoted because of Christianity before, but now it is also in a dilemma because of Christianity!"

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Unlike any of the princes who commanded Shangluo in the Warring States Period, Changzhou Fan, which was limped by Huangshi and other traversers, has gradually converted to Christianity a few years ago, since the lord Mao Lixiu and his entire retainer group. Officially became "Kirichitan daimyo" (the nickname given to Christians in medieval Japan), and the merchants and commoners of the Changzhou domain followed suit and joined the religion one after another... Next, those princes and daimyos who surrendered to the Changzhou domain, in order to please The Maori family were also baptized and converted one after another.In this way, the fallen army of the Maori family became the Christian coalition army.

This religious overtone brought great help to the Maori family in the Kyushu Island Raiders—the local Japanese Christians, encouraged by the missionaries, enthusiastically participated in the "Holy War", which made the Changzhou Army in Kyushu Island Invincible.But it was a catastrophe for other religions: in the process of the Christian "jihad" march, countless temples and shrines were converted into churches, ordinary people converted one after another in order to survive and pay less poll tax, monks and priests turned into priests, The witches and nuns became nuns, and those devout Buddhist warriors either cut their stomachs or fled to Kinki and Shikoku.

Therefore, after the end of the Kyushu Raiders of the "Crusaders" of the Maori family, the entire Kyushu Island has formally become a Christian territory.

But the problem is that such a simple and crude strategy of exterminating Buddhism can be barely implemented in remote places like Kyushu, but the closer it is to Kyoto and the core area of ​​traditional Japanese civilization, the stronger the power of Buddhism will be. The backlash has also intensified.As a result, the anti-Christian army with the banner of the cross encountered desperate resistance from the traditional Buddhist forces in the Kinki area, and has since fallen into the quagmire of a civil war...

How big is Buddhism in Japan?In theory, in traditional Japanese society, every Japanese should be considered a Buddhist!

Because in Japan, even in modern society, funerals and cemeteries are still exclusively monopolized by Buddhist temples, so no matter what people believed in during their lifetime, ordinary people have to spend a lot of money after death to give themselves a dharma name and force them to change jobs. Be a Buddhist, otherwise the Buddha will reject this unruly soul, causing it to wander in the world and become a lonely ghost... To put it simply, whatever you believe in during life, you have to believe in Buddha after death!

As for ancient Japan, Buddhist temples were even more powerful.Many Buddhist temples have large expanses of land, well-equipped monks and soldiers, and prosperous markets. As early as the Heian period, they were no different from princes of one side, and their image in the hearts of the people was much better than that of officials and warriors.

——Compared with the army of warrior monks equipped with infantry, cavalry and guns in ancient Japan, the stick monks of Shaolin Temple in China are just like children playing house...

On the other hand, the samurai, the royal family, and the ministers, who are the upper-level dignitaries, often send their youngest sons who have no inheritance rights to become monks in monasteries to learn knowledge from eminent monks in order to find a way out for themselves.In addition, when samurai and ministers retired in old age, they still had the custom of becoming a monk and waiting for death—that is to say, a considerable number of famous monasteries often served as education schools for the children of senior cadres and nursing homes for senior retired officials.

Therefore, after thousands of years of tossing, the influence of Buddhism in the entire Japanese society has long been deeply rooted. Whether in the court of the emperor or the shogunate of the samurai, monks of all colors are indispensable.And monks and officials of various ranks have become an important part of the state machine.As for the lower class of society, there are believers in almost every city and village, and there are temples almost everywhere in the mountains and plains.

Especially in the Kinki area with Kyoto as the center, there are many Buddhist temples and the sound of Sanskrit. At least [-]% of the local people believe in Buddhism (while also worshiping many other miscellaneous gods). Among them, the truly devout Buddhists also It can account for more than [-]% - among them, the largest armed force, the most territory, and the most well-known Buddhist force in later generations is naturally the Ichiko sect of Honganji Temple in the Warring States Period of Japan.The power of other temples in Kinki is not inferior.In particular, the Buddhist temples in Nara and Mount Hiei, the two holy places, not only have a long history, but are often closely related to the royal family. Since ancient times, many princes and emperors have become monks there, and they have had a huge influence on Japanese politics as early as the Heian period. Interference ability.

With such a large and profound power in the court and in opposition, even those in power in Japan who have mastered the state apparatus in the past dynasties generally have nothing to do with the Buddhist circle.Fortunately, there are many sects of Buddhism in Japan, each with its own teachings and programs. They are very divided and opposed to each other. There is usually no clear affiliation between temples, and it has been difficult to form a joint force. Become a "Buddha Kingdom on Earth".

——In the Warring States Period, the Honganji Ichiko sect tried so hard, and once challenged the samurai society, but failed in the end.

In short, although the Buddhists in Japan are scattered and unable to pose a strong challenge to the state power, if anyone dares to be an enemy of the entire Buddhist community, the resulting result is simply a nightmare, similar to the difficulty of opposing Christianity in medieval Europe Not too much difference.

In the troubled times that have come many times in ancient Japanese history, if a local warlord is designated as an "enemy" by the imperial court, it is not a big deal, as long as he wins a battle, he can become a loyal minister.But if you are unfortunate enough to be labeled as an "enemy of Buddha", you will be tormented by waves of Buddhist uprisings like maggots attached to your bones.For example, the well-known "Sixth Heaven Demon Lord" Oda Nobunaga, caused the general uprising of the Honganji Temple to be tossed miserably, and was finally made into hell barbecue dishes by a big fire...

——Oda Nobunaga is just not devout enough to Buddhism, and his subordinates are still basically Buddhists, and the experience in Kinki is still so depressing.Then, when the genuine Qiezhitan daimyos of Xiguo and Kyushu entered Kyoto, one can imagine the attitude of the Buddhist circle!

In fact, before the Maori family sent troops, they had already considered the strong power of Buddhism in Kyoto, so they ordered the army to be restrained and temporarily prohibited the destruction of Buddhist temples. Instead, they planned to follow the example of Ottoman Turkey on religious issues and implement a "moderate policy". While believing in Christianity, heavy taxes are imposed on them, while for Christians, land is distributed according to population, and there are various preferential measures.At the same time, the funeral and tomb industry, which was originally monopolized by Buddhist temples, is also shared by churches, and is no longer monopolized by Buddhism alone—just like in the West, churches in Japan also have cemeteries attached to them.

But the problem is that even such a "moderate" policy is simply unacceptable to the Japanese monks who are over the top-in the Kinki region with a long history, these Buddhist monks have always been an important part of the Japanese ruling class Part of it belongs to the existence of a master, not much different from the monks and officials who serve the Living Buddha on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau!Where can I stand such discriminatory treatment?

In addition, many monks who escaped from Kyushu and Western countries are crying about the atrocities of "Chezhidan" who demolished temples and destroyed Buddhas, which aroused the disgust of these Christians in Kinki Buddhist circles, thinking that they are all different from themselves. The Buddha's enemies who are sworn to the sky - you must know that the Japanese monks are not as cautious and aloof from the world as the Chinese monks, but they are real professional rebels!How many years have I fought with the warriors all the way!
As early as the end of the Heian period, Emperor Goshirakawa had mobilized monks from Nara and Mount Hiei to fight fiercely with Kiyomori's army. Afterwards, from the Kamakura shogunate to the Ashikaga shogunate, the Kinki monks have always been an important armed force that determines the future and destiny of Japan. It was not until the end of the Tokugawa period that the power of Buddhist temples finally declined... In the seventeenth century, not long after the end of the Warring States Period, the military power of Japanese Buddhist circles was obviously still very strong.

In this way, when the Maori army invaded Kyoto, they ended up stepping into a fire pit, or in other words, a switch of a big explosion was activated-although the fallen army with the cross flag made a comprehensive victory on the battlefield. Victory, but under the overall hostility of the Buddhist circle, most of the court ministers and the entire Japanese royal family refused to cooperate with the Maori family, preferring to retreat to Edo with the Tokugawa family, so that the defeated army could never get a righteous name.

What's more terrible is that several leaders of the Buddhist circles in Japan's two major Buddhist holy places, Mt. Hiei and Nara, and of course including the Ichiko sect of Honganji Temple who has the most experience in military struggles, also openly declared that the Maori family who believed in the Western Fan religion was the only one in all the temples in the world. The Buddha's enemies called on monks and believers from all over the world to fight to the end, setting off a vigorous national religious war in Kinki!

As a result, the entire army of the Fallen Sect was in a state of frustration—with the conflict between the Buddhist forces in Kinki and the Qiezhidan army in the Western Kingdom broke out, not only a few small feudal clans in Kinai who were originally vacillating, but also under the interference and influence of various Buddhist temples. Don't fight to the end with the fallen army.Even in the camp of the defeated army, there were many samurai forces who were not firm enough to shake their attitudes and began to work less, which made the battle situation more and more difficult.

Although the rebels organized by various Buddhist temples in Kinki are all unorganized and undisciplined mobs, there is not even a commander in charge of coordinating various troops, and the military equipment is extremely simple, not to mention foreign guns and artillery. There are not many pine guns.But in the face of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of instigated mobs and rebellious parties, even if they only hold stones and sticks, it is enough to make people's scalp numb.

For a while, the fallen army almost became rats crossing the street in Kinki, their luggage was often looted, and small groups of troops were frequently ambushed.Facing the turbulent and full-scale turmoil, even though Mao Lixiu, the feudal lord, quickly brought back the most effective modernization army from the front line of Osaka to crusade against Buddhist temples and suppress Buddhist rebellions, but he was still devastated and stretched. I just can't take care of the other side... I was beaten several times to the point of death.

As for the battle on the front line in Osaka, it fell into a stalemate all of a sudden—although Nobukichi Shousui received a lot of reinforcements later, with a total force of up to [-] at one point, he still firmly held the command of the sea, and there was a steady stream of food and ammunition supplies.But the problem is that most of his soldiers and horses are now mobs gathered by various feudal clans, as well as the "jihad" groups spontaneously formed by fanatical Christians, and their combat effectiveness and discipline are completely incomparable to before.

In addition, although Osaka is a port, the Osaka Castle is still a long way from the coastline, and the artillery of the battleship cannot directly bombard the castle.On the other hand, the camps of the fallen army on land were constantly attacked by monk soldiers and local party warriors, making it difficult for the fallen army to concentrate on attacking the city.

To make matters worse, the weather has already entered winter, Kinki has started to snow heavily, the ground has become muddy, and the siege of the city has become more and more difficult... When the fallen soldiers from all walks of life lay down thousands of dead bodies before and after the Osaka Castle, there was still no one left. After any progress, morale started to get lower and lower every time.At the beginning, the desperate false fire gradually subsided, allowing them to basically restore the cunning nature of bullying and fearing toughness in their bones.

In the recent sieges, all the soldiers and horses have become more and more fictional, purely pretending... It seems that this battle may be delayed until next year!

Looking at the majestic castle in front of him that could not be attacked for a long time, "Changzhou Su Lao" Shou Sui Xinji sighed gloomyly, turned around and rode away from the forward position, passed through the camp of the besieging soldiers and horses, and returned to his own camp .In the camp at this time, tens of thousands of people have been clamoring and busy outside Osaka City for a long time. The soldiers of the Fallen Army, who are already hungry, have already built the stove and started a fire. The air is filled with the aroma of rice and miso soup. .Some of the guys who had already eaten were lying on oilcloth or straw mats in twos and threes, taking the time to rest.

Among them, the barracks of the regular troops of the various vassals in the downfall camp, no matter how large or small they are, still look somewhat serious.And those Christian "jihadist" groups, the crude camps that have been built hastily, are completely out of order, just like mushrooms or dog urine moss after a rainy day, scattered here and there in piles yes.Those who are more particular, even use the cloth they snatched from somewhere to build a tent; those who are not so particular, just cut some branches and dismantle a few door panels to build a shack; some lazy people even spread a mat on the ground next to the fire. Even a pile of straw, not afraid of the cold weather, just wrapped in a blanket and directly slept in the open... Then in their messy camps, there were piles of food, money, chickens and ducks looted from nowhere, and there was nothing at all. Minimal precautionary measures.

But this is also normal.After all, they were not trained professional soldiers, and lack of relevant professional experience is inevitable.

Although today's siege operation is over, sporadic gunshots and shouts are still heard from time to time on the periphery of the battlefield - under the instigation of the shogunate and Buddhist monks, there are many ronin of all sizes near the Osaka battlefield Gangs and monks and soldiers from Buddhist temples are running around, sneaking up on small groups of troops who have fallen alone from time to time.Naturally, the defeated army also responded unceremoniously and launched a bloody slaughter against them.

Due to the huge differences in equipment, discipline, and military strength, as well as the lack of the most basic coordination and tacit understanding among each other, the number of these people per share is no more than a dozen or dozens of people. It is not difficult to wipe out the hot hand.However, those "hard nails" with more people and strong strongholds are not so easy to deal with...

Shou Sui Nobukichi was thinking this way, and asked the attendant beside him, "...Has the Shitennoji Temple in the south of the city been captured?"