Great time travel

Chapter 1, the end of Chongzhen's five years (continued)

Japan, Kyoto, the Nijo Imperial Palace where the lord of the Choshu feudal lord Mori Hideyoshi who proclaimed himself "Exploring the Problem of the Western Kingdom" resided
Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan located in the land of Kazuno in the Yamashiro country, has developed into a large city with a radius of nearly forty miles and a population of nearly 20 in the early Edo period. It is the second largest city among the cities of this island country In Edo, the cultural relics and scenic spots are a hundred times better.

From the beginning of the city's construction in the ninth century AD, the urban area of ​​Kyoto has undergone strict planning: a Suzaku Avenue running from north to south, with a width of [-] steps, divides the urban area into two, and leads directly to the main gate square of the Emperor's Imperial Palace.The checkerboard-shaped streets and alleys are vertical and horizontal, cutting the city into neat lifangs.On both sides of the street, there are rows of willows and cherry blossoms, and in the inner square, there are continuous houses... Make tourists intoxicated and forget to return.

Regrettably, as the political center of Japan, whenever troubled times come, Kyoto will always be devastated and destroyed by war, but even if it is burned to nothing, this ancient capital will soon be repaired again , without losing the unique elegance of the ancient capital of this island country.

At this moment, this ancient city with a long history has once again started the cycle of destruction and reconstruction...

Accompanied by the sound of horseshoes of "Dede", Hale, whose alias is Paul Okamoto, led his horse out of the Nijo Imperial Palace, the castle that once belonged to the shogun, and now the front headquarters of the fallen army, while looking at the surrounding Kyoto street view.

As far as the eye can see, it is a dilapidated and desolate scene of extreme decadence.

Dirty streets full of rubbish, crumbling dilapidated wooden houses, unkempt and sloppy citizens, and an empty market that is so quiet that it is almost dead.

——Tokugawa Iemitsu, the Edo shogunate, used scorched-earth tactics to deliberately set fire to the city before he coerced the royal family and ministers to withdraw from Kyoto.Although it rained heavily soon after, the ancient capital was saved, but about one-tenth of the houses in the city were burned down.

And with the chaos brought by the war, the severance of business travel that lasted for nearly half a year caused the city to lose all vitality and all businesses.

Therefore, even those well-preserved bustling streets and towns in the past have few pedestrians, no carriages and horses, almost all kinds of shops are closed and closed, and the remaining residents can't find work, all of them are pale and emaciated.In this gloomy atmosphere, those "Chezhidan" fallen warriors with crosses were quite eye-catching, each with a sword on his waist, a woman in his arms, and a flagon drunkenly swaggering through the city, attracting everyone's attention and trembling.

Although compared with the previous Yingren Rebellion and the Warring States Period, the Changzhou Maori family's attack on Luo by force is not cruel, but the destruction of various historical sites in Kyoto is far better than that of any prince in history—— Kinkakuji Temple, Cizhao Temple, Kiyomizu Temple, Daigo Temple... These ancient temples with a long history were all occupied by fanatical Christian crusaders and converted into churches in the cruel atmosphere of religious wars.

——Riding a horse through ancient temples that look like demolition sites, looking at the eye-catching cross that has just been erected on the top of the five-story wooden pagoda, and a Virgin Mary that was just remade from a stone statue of Guanyin or Buddha As for the sitting statue, Hale really had a feeling of dumbfounding.

What's more terrible is that these fanatical Christians destroyed the Buddhist temple, and then drove out the monks and nuns with knives and guns, forcing them to trample over the portrait of Buddha to show an insult to the Buddhist faith... In such an upside-down situation, of course there are many eminent monks and nuns who are quick-witted and lacking in integrity. They decisively took off their cassocks and Buddhist scriptures, put on robes and Bibles, and transformed themselves into devout servants of Christ Jesus.But there are also more stubborn people who refuse to obey this, and even secretly organize underground resistance organizations to assassinate and destroy.

Therefore, since the fallen shogunate army occupied Kyoto, in the name of "capturing the remnants of the shogunate", every day, dozens to hundreds of prisoners were escorted to Liujoheyuan in Kyoto for beheading.All kinds of fresh and rancid human heads are hung everywhere on the streets and bridges of Kyoto.

Although the atmosphere in Kyoto is already so terrifying, it is far from the worst place—after all, Kyoto is the capital of the emperor and the headquarters of the coalition forces. "In this place, there are usually some rules to be observed, at least they will not be slaughtered in the street at will.After all, Christianity is also a universal religion that persuades people to be good. It is not a cult. Facing the current troubled times, church organizations not only adopt orphans and orphans (who will become little monks and nuns in the future), but also give food to the poor to lure Let people come to listen to the missionaries' sermons...Under the threat of force from the "Japanese Crusaders" and the eloquence of the missionaries, at least tens of thousands of people in Kyoto have converted to Christ.

Outside of this city, many rural areas have become so desolate that there are no traces of people due to repeated attacks by the Crusaders and Buddhists.Countless once-prosperous villages were massacred into ghost villages during the brutal religious wars, and foul-smelling corpses can be seen everywhere in the fields.Most of the remaining villages and towns have also degenerated into chaos without any law and order.Whenever anyone walks out of the urban area of ​​Kyoto, he will step on a few fragments of armor and half-cut knives from time to time.If you're unlucky, you'll kick out a few rotten, smelly stumps in the grass...

Continue to expand the field of observation to the periphery. The area of ​​two to three hundred miles centered on the line from Kyoto to Osaka was originally the most densely populated, economically developed, and culturally prosperous essence of the country, but now it is like locusts. Transit-like appalling, and the flames of war have not been extinguished so far.

——In most turbulent times, the people at the bottom are innocent and helpless. The ambition and madness of those in power are the root causes of war disasters, but the final results are often not as originally expected So beautiful - for Buddhists and Christians alike.

Next, with the further expansion of the scale of the Fallen War and the War of Religion, the entire Japanese archipelago may become a piece of purgatory and scorched earth, and thousands of living beings will suffer from bloodshed and famine——Those princes and daimyos are hopeless in resisting , perhaps it is also possible to bow their heads and surrender, open the city without blood, so as to peacefully end the war.But in those Buddhist temples and shrines, it is difficult to convert easily without resistance, and hang crosses and statues of the Virgin...

While thinking wildly and pitifully, Halle watched a "feeling pattern" flipping back and forth in his hand.This is what he just received in Nijo Castle, and it has the signature of Changzhou feudal lord Mori Hideyuki on it.The main idea of ​​the content is to commend him for his achievements in the Kinki campaign, to praise him and his subordinates for killing monks, raping witches, burning temples and demolishing shrines. Soldiers, loyal believers of Jesus Christ: "...Today there is an overseas martyr named Okayama who led an army to help out in Los Angeles, to promote the holy religion, with unparalleled loyalty and righteousness. He was given a fief near Kinki, allowing him to rank among the ranks of princes and daimyos.

"... 20 shi in the mountain city of Yamato Prefecture? Tsk tsk, our Maori-sama is really 'generous' towards me..."

——Yamato Kingdom, also known as Hezhou, is roughly equivalent to modern Nara Prefecture.It is a veritable "Central Land" in Japan.To the northeast is the majestic Kasagi-sanchi, and to the south are the overlapping mountains of Yoshino-sanchi and Kii-sanchi.In the Nara Basin, where agriculture is developed in the southwestern part, there are ancient Japanese capitals before Heian-kyo, such as Asuka-kyo and Hei-jo-kyo.Ancient Japan was named after Yamato, so you can tell from the name alone that this is the birthplace of Japanese civilization and the place where the ancestral mausoleum of the Emperor's family is located.The total stone height in the country is 45 stone, and the county is governed by Junshan City.

From a geographical point of view, Yamato is located behind Kyoto, and most of the rest of Kinai is a plain area. Only Yamato has many mountains and is very close to Kyoto. It can be attacked and defended, and has an innate strategic geographical advantage.In the old days of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the single and weak Southern Dynasty was located on Mount Yoshino in the Yamato Kingdom. Relying on its geographical advantages and the long history of the royal family in the Yamato Kingdom, it was able to confront the Northern Dynasty with a large number of generals for a long time.

At first glance, the Maori family seemed to be generous this time, conferring to Hale a large piece of Fengshui treasure land with rich products and important geographical location.But the problem is that because of its long history, Yamato is also one of the places with the strongest Buddhist influence and the deepest heritage in Japan.

Nara, the ancient capital located in the Yamato Kingdom, is famous for its numerous temples.These monasteries own a large area of ​​land, support a huge group of monks and soldiers, hold an astonishing amount of wealth, and monopolize the religious discourse power in Japan, which can be called a country within a country.Moreover, these monasteries have often been standing for nearly a thousand years, and their influence follows the entire country like a shadow.Not to mention the emperor, even heroes like Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga are difficult to control, but they will be restrained everywhere.For the Fallen Crusaders under the banner of jihad, these Buddhist temples are the most stubborn enemies of faith, and they are also the main force of the resistance movement in various parts of Kinai.

Although in retaliation, the fallen army had just captured Nara not long ago, slaughtered and looted wantonly, beheaded monks and nuns, and burned several ancient temples with the longest history to white ground.However, instead of being suppressed, the resistance movement in Yamato has intensified.In the fields, among the mountains, in the cities and towns, and on the streets, there are stubborn Buddhists and monks waging guerrilla warfare everywhere...

Therefore, this time, the Maori family is not so much as generously cracking the soil and offering rewards, but as throwing a piece of hot potato to Hale to pacify—anyway, as Hale and his group of Catholics, even if they want to collude with the enemy is impossible...

In fact, apart from Hale's "Philippine Overseas Japanese Crusade", there are several other small-scale but extremely fanatical Christian armed groups that have also obtained fiefdoms in Yamato... The idea of ​​killing people with a knife Really don't be too obvious!
In addition, the Maori family is clearly aware of Hale's overseas background and connection with the Spaniards, but deliberately arranged for him an inland territory that is not close to the sea, and it seems that they also have restrictions on these "overseas nationals" and beware of intentions.

As for waiting until the situation stabilizes... the Tokugawa family will do such things as transferring the seal and changing the territory, but the Mori family will not understand it for no reason.

However, for a professional revolutionary like Hale, all the calculations mentioned above are trivial matters that are not worth mentioning.

"...Hmph, no matter what, the fief of 20 shi has already been obtained. So what if there are monks making trouble? A true revolutionary will never be afraid of a powerful enemy! Let me start from this Yamato nation Let’s start working on the birthplace of Japan and bring new hope to Japan!”

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At the same time, inside the Nijo Imperial Palace

"... Clap! Wall dong... Crack! Wall dong..."

White sand pavement, rockery creeks, and elegantly laid out courtyards, with the gurgling springs flowing, the small bamboo water wheel makes a pleasant light sound, and the soft breeze blows quietly, sending bursts of plum blossom fragrance.Although it has been winter for nine days, it is sunny today, so it is not too cold.The afternoon sun floods the stone road in the courtyard, and the tall fence effectively blocks the noisy street market not far away.

Hideyuki Mori, the feudal lord of Changzhou who had just finished a collective summons and rewards and sent out his officials, was enjoying a rare leisure time, holding a cup of tea in his hand, sitting on the floor of the corridor facing the courtyard. With a thoughtful look:

"...Is this the so-called 'people of the world'? It seems a bit unreal!"

Hideo Mori mumbled to himself in a daze like this—thinking back to the past, did Ashikaga Yoshiki, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who are famous in Japanese history, also sit in the Where is this place, ambitious to point out the country and imagine the world?

Alas, the reincarnation of the years, the changing colors of the world, now it seems that it is the turn of my Maori family to turn around, do I dominate?

However, why is there not much high-spirited pride in my heart, but is it full of troubles and melancholy?

He was thinking like this, and at the same time turned his head to look at the treasure on the floor of the house that he had just ordered someone to move out to play with - the largest fragrant wood in Japan, "No. 1 Fragrance in the World" Lan Shedai.This thing is a national treasure of Japan with a history of nearly a thousand years.In the past, the two overlords of the world, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and Oda Nobunaga, only cut off a small piece of a few inches for their own use or to reward heroes, and it was considered a matter of great face.

But now, the whole "Lanshedai" was placed in front of Mao Lixiu, and he was allowed to dispose of it at will.

——This is of course not because he has more face than Oda Nobunaga and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, but because the Changzhou New Army under his command has just invaded Nara Todaiji Temple, which houses the "Lan Shedai", just this month. It also burned most of the temple on fire, and the remaining Buddhist temples that escaped by chance are also being converted into churches.And the precious "Lan Shedai" naturally became a trophy and was presented to him.

In addition, none of the other temples in Nara, the "southern capital", escaped the fate of being destroyed. This ancient capital and famous Buddhist city in Japan, in the hands of Japanese Christians who were determined to counter-attack, was equivalent to being bloodbathed by massacres.As for Mount Hiei, another Buddhist holy place closer to Kyoto, it was burned to death by the "Japanese Crusaders" as early as October.

(The religious status of the two holy places in the "Southern Capital Beiling" in the Japanese Buddhist circle is probably similar to that of Lhasa and Shigatse in Tibetan areas.)
Thinking of this, Mao Lixiu couldn't help but smile bitterly—even the notorious "Sixth Heaven Demon King" Oda Nobunaga just burned down the temple on Mount Hiei, causing an uproar and uproar all over the world.Now it was my turn, but not only burned the "Southern Capital Beiling" together, but also converted all the ancient temples in Kyoto into churches. The people in the Kinki area must definitely regard themselves as a scourge.

Alas, when I was in the Changzhou Domain, I always thought about Shangluo, but now I really sat in the "city of generals" in the Nijo Imperial Palace in Kyoto, only to realize that this is actually a step into a big fire pit. I have been suppressing rebellions everywhere all night, and there is no moment of peace...

The excitement and joy of riding a horse into Beijing at the beginning disappeared without a trace within three months, and the current Kinki war situation is simply a mess!

Yes, the soldiers of the shogunate army and the vassals of the shogunate are still so corrupt and incompetent. They have been defeated in several confrontations.But then, under the instigation of Buddhist temples everywhere, those villagers who should have kept their own law and order and watched the city lord and the country lord change, they rebelled together, at least they maintained a non-cooperative attitude, which made the fallen army unexpected less than.

Although relying on the powerful fighting power of the new army, monasteries were burned and destroyed, and rebellions everywhere were in full swing.But after all, it turned Kinki into a big quagmire, forcing Mao Lixiu to disperse a large number of troops to various places to carry out security operations, and was unable to continue the Eastern Expedition in a short time.And while he was in a dilemma in Kyoto, fighting endlessly with Buddhist temples and believers in Kinai, Tokugawa Iemitsu was still in his old nest in Edo in the Kanto, accumulating strength, contacting the various feudal clans in the Kanto, and ready to make a comeback at any time... This is one of the Japanese overlords. I'm afraid it's hard to say what the position belongs to.

However, the matter has come to this point, the fallen army and the Buddhist monks have already forged a bloody feud, and the Maori family has no possibility of changing their course, so they have to go to the dark. At present, the entire western country's falling alliance, except for Changzhou Fan's Apart from the sturdy army, they are largely united by Christian beliefs.Those fanatical Christian missionaries were of great help in mobilizing the masses and boosting morale.

If the Maori family has completely defeated the Tokugawa family and won the world, then in order to stabilize people's hearts, he may be able to restrain the missionaries and try to reconcile with the Buddhist temple.But right now the outcome is uncertain, the Tokugawa family only lost one game first and withdrew to Edo, and they still have the power to turn the tables.Under such circumstances, hastily implementing a policy of religious tolerance is tantamount to committing suicide—not only is it difficult to win the understanding and support of the Buddhist community, but it also hurts the morale of one's own troops, and even be deterred by those local walls that are intimidating to one's own military might Cao regarded it as an act of weakness, but pushed them further to the side of the Tokugawa family!

Instead of wearing the title of Buddha Enemy and Demon King and dying under the curse of all the people in old Japan, it is better to wear the crown of "Holy Warrior" and enjoy the reputation of a sage in a new Japan that worships Christianity-although Mao Lixiu has converted to the religion so far It was only four or five years ago, and his belief in Christianity was far from pious, but the reality forced him to become a fanatic and use the cruelest means to destroy all "enemies of Christ"!
Even if the whole of Kinki is wiped out, the Mori family can only bite the bullet and carry the religious war to the end. One step back is the abyss!
Fortunately, despite the rotten situation in Kinki, the morale and combat effectiveness of the fallen army can still be maintained by relying on the huge amount of assistance provided by the "Chinese Alliance" - food, ordnance, gunpowder, cloth, herbs... those overseas The large iron ships of the Japanese army came and went to various ports in the Seto Inland Sea and the Sea of ​​Japan, and brought almost everything needed to maintain the war for the defeated army.From time to time, they even went to the field in person, bombarded the castles of the hostile feudal states near the sea, and sent the Japanese samurai army they recruited to land to help in the battle, which provided great help to the Maori family.

For example, at the same time that "Changzhou Sukuro" followed Nobuyoshi and commanded 55 fallen troops to besiege Osaka, those "overseas people" also ordered the ronin they recruited to send troops to cooperate and landed and attacked the Tokugawa family in the south of Osaka. The strong Wakayama Castle was broken in three days, cutting off the main foreign aid of the Osaka Castle Shogunate Army.Then it took less than a month to wipe out the [-] shi Tokugawa clan.

If there is no such strong cooperation, the battle of Osaka is already full of twists and turns, and I don't know what it will be like.

As the price for obtaining all these strategic materials and military aid, the Maori family does not need to spend too much real money, but only needs to provide some inedible and wearable antique calligraphy and paintings, rare books and ancient books-this kind of things are sold in those places in Kyoto. There are quite a few arty ministers in their homes, and many are hidden in shrines and Buddhist temples. The Maori family only needs to tell the soldiers to pay attention to confiscating them when they attack temples.

Then there is a large amount of human trafficking. It is said that men are used for mining and women are used for breeding rewards. This is not a problem.Japanese samurai have had the tradition of "random arrest" and "human hunting" (roughly similar to Latin men) since ancient times, and in the increasingly cruel religious wars, a large number of monks and Buddhist samurai are captured every day .For the Fallen Army, these guys are the most stubborn rocks, they can neither be recruited nor used, and they should all be killed in the first place.Now it can be sold to the merchants on the "Ausong" big iron ship, which is already a waste utilization.Not only can they exchange for supplies, but they can also reduce the burden—most of these monks and warriors who are more capable of fighting are physically strong, and going down the mine is a good destination.

After launching the Fallen War, the direct line troops of the Maori family of the Changzhou domain alone sold about 6 people to the Huameng side.Coupled with the population sold by other allies and the self-capture of the Japanese mercenaries of the "Chinese League" in Kii Fan and other places, it is estimated that at least 10 people were trafficked.For this reason, the Maori family alone obtained more than 200 million shi of rice and various grains, which effectively supported the huge expenditure of this war.

Without this strong support, the Christian army, which was almost completely isolated by the entire traditional Japanese society, would have already been stretched to the left and right, and even began to collapse in the face of the current chaotic situation in the Kinki theater.

Therefore, when Ping Qiusheng, the commercial commissioner of the "Chinese Alliance" stationed in Japan, suddenly came to the Nijo Imperial Palace to bid farewell to him, saying that he was about to bring their Japanese mercenaries back to China and asked the Mori family to send someone to take over Kii Fan, The first thing Mao Lixiu felt was not the joy of the new land and the departure of outsiders, but a certain fear of being abandoned-could it be the golden thigh he was holding now, who suddenly lost him?
Hey, he's already slowly getting used to the current status of the leg pendant, how can you just leave as soon as you say it?

"...I don't know why your Excellency left in such a hasty manner?" Mao Lixiu asked cautiously, "...but has my fan been negligent recently?"

"...Hehe, Maori-sama, don't worry. Our country has always spared no effort in its sincerity towards your vassals. You should have seen it these days."

Ping Qiusheng said with a smile, "...Let's be honest! Our army is about to launch an attack on the mainland of the Ming Kingdom, so there are no more troops to use in the Japanese archipelago... Please rest assured, although reinforcements will not be available. , but the supply of ordnance supplies to your ministry is still guaranteed..."

—— Facing such an explanation, Mao Lixiu could only sigh, and also wished His Excellency Ping Qiusheng a smooth journey and long-lasting martial arts.

But when he turned his head, he still couldn't help but feel guilty—couldn't he feel uneasy when his biggest backer left suddenly?
"... Almighty Lord, you are my strength, you are my salvation. Please hear my prayer, Amen."

In the sound of prayer, he drew the sign of the cross devoutly, praying to the Almighty Lord to grant him more victories, praying for the evil pagans to fall into the abyss as soon as possible without redemption, and praying for God to come to this troubled Japan and bless him This loyal warrior pushed the power of the Maori family to the top...

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At the end of December in the fifth year of Chongzhen, Ming Empire, Beizhili, Tianjin, Dagukou
"... Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"

Accompanied by a long whistle, the last [-]-ton steel giant ship on the pier slowly left the empty port and sailed across the cold sea covered with ice floes.And the originally bustling market on the shore has become empty at this time, no one can be seen, like a ghost town.

——As the Bohai Sea gradually freezes after winter, merchant ships that once visited Dagu Port have to leave one after another.And the abnormal bustling of the Dagu smuggling market due to the large-scale smuggling trade in the past few months, it disappeared in the blink of an eye, just like the short-lived epiphyllum.

Looking at this fleeting and whirling trade stronghold, Chen Xin, the former commander-in-chief of Dengzhou Town of Daming, couldn't help feeling a lot of emotion for a while.

But what he is more concerned about right now is what kind of follow-up military plan the organization will have after the Dagukou transaction is over.

"...Comrade Xiao Wang, General Huang Shi has now gone to Guangdong and is in charge of commanding the Lingnan Raiders. What are your plans for the future?"

"...The organization asked me to go to Nanjing." Wang Qiu replied, "...the Jiangnan Raiders are about to launch, and the investigation team over there in Nanjing must be withdrawn! Alas, these old and shameless guys, still They all claim to be some kind of university professors! They actually spent public funds to drink flower wine on the Qinhuai River!"