The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 572: Completely Beaten
The north wind is howling and snowflakes are flying. It is already the third month of the lunar calendar, but it is still too cold.

It is said that auspicious snow indicates a good harvest, but Mao Xiangsheng shook his head, he didn't think so.

Because last winter and this spring were so cold, the river has not thawed yet. And I heard from the Japanese that the river hardly froze in winter here before.

If this kind of weather continues, we will soon miss the spring plowing season. By then, let alone a good harvest, it would be a blessing from God if the grain production does not drop significantly.

However, all this has nothing to do with Mao Xiangsheng, or rather, it has something to do with him, but he hopes that the disaster will be bigger, so that more Japanese will not be able to bear it and sell themselves as pigs to go to Southeast Asia.

When this thought arose in his mind, Mao Xiangsheng felt that he was too cruel.

Later at night, I will burn some more paper money for my ancestors so that they can go to the King of Hell to take care of them, so that they won’t go to hell in the future.

"Mr. Mao, I'm sorry, I'm late today." A gentle voice sounded softly in Mao Xiangsheng's ears.

A petite girl, who was pregnant but still quite pretty, came over very obediently.

Mao Xiangsheng hurried over to help her, fearing that the young woman would fall in the snow, as she was pregnant with his child.

As for why Mao Xiangsheng was so sure, it was because the woman was still a virgin when she was with him. Even though they got married a few months ago, she still lived separately from her husband.

You know what, these women have very high professional ethics.

Moreover, this power to enjoy someone else's wife gave Mao Xiangsheng a perverted sense of excitement, so he was quite fond of this woman named Xingzi.

"Mr. Mao, Taro is here too. He wants to see you." Xingzi said softly, with a hint of uneasiness and request in her eyes.

Xingzi was very clear about the Tang officer's desire to possess her, so she was a little afraid that the Tang officer would not tolerate Taro or would not let her leave.

Mao Xiangsheng took a breath and felt a little uncomfortable, but only a little, because he was actually occupying someone else's wife.

"It's time to meet. The army is about to set off." Mao Xiangsheng nodded in agreement.

Not long after, a short but sturdy Japanese man dressed a little lightly came over.

He knelt down skillfully with a plop to pay his respects to Mao Xiangsheng, using the attitude of an ordinary Japanese farmer facing a middle or high-level samurai.

"Mr. Mao, we want to use your surname. When the child is born, he will immediately become a Chinese. That way, when we go to Southeast Asia, we won't have to work as a farmhand. Instead, we can get a large piece of land per head."

Xingzi was very frank, and Mao Xiangsheng knew what was going on.

The reason why Xingzi was willing to give birth to a child for him was that the Japanese man was willing to give his virgin fiancée to him.

This is because according to regulations, when the Japanese went to Southeast Asia or other places to settle and cultivate, they had to be certified as members of the Chinese samurai class in order to be granted land normally. Otherwise, they could only sign long-term contracts to work as long-term laborers, which were actually serfs.

However, there is a bug in this regulation, or it can be said that it is a benefit reserved by the emperor specifically for the soldiers of the Zhendong Army.

That is, if a Japanese family has one direct relative who is a Chinese, then his entire family can go abroad and receive the same treatment as Chinese.

"I will stay in Kagoshima to give birth to the child and breastfeed him until he is three years old." Xingzi whispered.

At this time, when going to Southeast Asia, although the Dayu court had already supplied Hexianshisan (montmorillonite powder) at a reasonable cost, the method of extracting allicin had already been made public.

Even tonic water was available in larger towns, but the mortality rate was still around 15%, and the annual mortality rate was as high as 20%.

So Anzi would not gamble with the baby in her belly, but would let Yamataro take her parents to Southeast Asia first, and only go with them after they have established themselves and the baby is older.

Upon hearing this, Mao Xiangsheng took out a small purse from his pocket. He shook it twice, and there was a jingling sound. There were twenty silver dollars in it, which was definitely a huge sum of money in Japan.

"I will go with you to the provincial government office to register this child as a Chinese. This way, your whole family will also be Chinese.

You can save these twenty silver dollars and use them to send your child to school."

Mao Xiangsheng sighed. Once he joined the army, he would be a soldier and earn a living. Needless to say, his treatment and status were naturally good. However, it was difficult to solve his personal problems before he retired.

He still has no descendants. If he dies one day, the baby in the woman's belly, whose gender is unknown, will be his only child.

Mao Xiangsheng's situation is not uncommon in Japan. If this loophole is not opened, it will not be easy to maintain the strategic weakness for a full fifteen months.

. . . .

In early April, Japan was still very cold, with snowflakes flying from time to time. Everyone could see that the weather was abnormal, and coach Reinstein also knew that he could not wait until the weather warmed up before advancing.

So on the fifth day of April, when Zheng Jinshui arrived at Hagi Castle, the former headquarters of the Choshu clan, from Nanjing Yingtian Prefecture with the emperor's edict, the Zhendong Army immediately set out and headed towards Osaka.

This time, the Zhendong Army included a battalion of 800 people from the Yulin Guards, 8,000 people from the Beijing Camp Liwei Army, and more than 4,000 people from the Jiangsu Town Susong Town, a total of about 13,000 people.

In addition, there is a squadron of the East China Sea Fleet, the Fuxing Company's Development Fleet, with a total of more than 6,000 sailors. Adding up, it is almost 20,000 people.

The rest of the volunteer team was composed entirely of Japanese who had defected, mainly soldiers from the Satsuma, Hizen, Kurume, Kumamoto, and Fukuoka domains, totaling 15,000 people.

Including civilians, there were about 70,000 people in the army. They were divided into two armies by water and headed directly towards Osaka along the coast of the Seto Inland Sea.

After fifteen months of building momentum, almost all of Japan knew what the Dayu Zhendong Army was going to do. So even though many people didn't dare to bet on it right away, there wasn't much resistance. Even a big city like Hiroshima was taken without a fight.

In early June, the Chinese Zhendong Army arrived at the outskirts of Hyogozu, near Kobe, only about 80 kilometers away from Osaka. Scouts and even vanguards of both sides had begun sporadic exchanges of fire.

Unlike the Winter Campaign of Osaka in Japanese history, the Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu and the daimyo who followed him in Osaka at this time were not divided into those who defended the city and those who fought in the field. Except for a few, most of them were in favor of defending the city.

Because Osaka Castle was very strong, the shogunate army also built a large number of forts around Osaka and Kyoto in the past six or seven months, and the defense system has become quite complete.

Most importantly, despite the bad weather, the supply of food and fodder has been very stable over the past six months. Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu even publicly commended officials at all levels responsible for transporting food and the merchants who assisted on many occasions.

On the other hand, for the Zhonghua Zhendong Army and its vassal army, food had to be shipped from the distant Kyushu region. Not only was the journey long, but the attitudes of the daimyo along the way were also ambiguous.

If the goods are transported by sea, the trade winds have not started yet and the shipping capacity is quite worrying, so the situation is actually a little more difficult.

However, Tokugawa Ieharu's decision to hold on to Osaka brought great trouble to the Aizu clan, which had to retreat in a hurry from Hiroshima and was ordered to garrison in Hyogozu.

Although the city of Hyogozu was built with huge stone slabs and the terrain was quite dangerous, it was impossible for it to withstand the attack of tens of thousands of Zhendong Army on its own.

Fortunately, the Aizu clan's soldiers had always been quite capable, and the clan lord Matsudaira Yoshinori was also quite capable. The more than 2,000 Aizu clan soldiers at least withstood the first wave of attacks.

However, when the Zhendong Army fleet arrived in mid-July, Reinstein ordered his men to drag the navy's large-caliber naval guns ashore, and problems began to arise in the defense of Hyogozu.

When Tokugawa Ieharu saw the 36-pound naval guns of the Chindō Army raining huge shells down on Hyōgo-zu, he was at a loss what to do.

This poor shogun had never fought a war and had almost no military means. What was more serious was that the entire Edo shogunate was the same, and even the samurai began to become corrupt.

"Please send troops to rescue our prince. The Aizu clan is a loyal vassal of the shogunate!" The retainers of the Aizu clan who risked their lives to rush out also shouted loudly in the ears of Tokugawa Ieharu.

So in this situation, Tokugawa Ieharu made a wrong decision. He said to Matsudaira Sadanobu beside him:
"The Aizu clan is a powerful vassal state closely connected to the shogunate, and Matsudaira Yoshinori is a brave and courageous minister. I cannot but save him."

Matsudaira Sadanobu was originally one of the few people who supported advancing from Hyogo-zu and fighting a decisive battle with Oyu around Arima-no-Tsuyama.

So he immediately suggested to dispatch the shogunate's only cavalry, the Ma Hui group, to create a strong momentum, first to scare the Zhendong Army's offensive rhythm, and also to give confidence to Matsudaira Yoshinori in Hyogo Tsu Castle.

After listening to this, Tokugawa Ieharu thought it made sense, so he asked Matsudaira Sadanobu to make the arrangements.

However, as soon as Matsudaira Sadanobu left, Tokugawa Ieharu summoned the lords of each domain and the shogunate military generals to announce this decision, which immediately aroused a lot of dissatisfaction among the people.

The shogunate army had been in Osaka for six or seven months. Although the military rations and supplies were sufficient after such a long period of stationing, their allocation was a mess, and most of the allocation work was done by Matsudaira Sadanobu, which caused a lot of dissatisfaction.

When they heard that the idea was proposed by Matsudaira Sadanobu, those who were dissatisfied immediately came out to instigate.

Because his mother was of humble origin, the lord of the Kuroba Domain, Ozeki Masusuke, had been looked down upon by Matsudaira Sadanobu. When distributing military rations, he also felt targeted, so he led the charge and said:

"The Tang invaders are powerful, and Hyogo-Tsu Castle is very small, making it impossible to defend. In the previous military meeting, we all suggested that we defeat the enemy in Osaka Castle, but Matsudaira Sadanobu refused.

This time he deceived Shangyang, he must have just wanted to prove that his vision and command ability were better than ours, or even better than Shangyang's.

I predict this will be a failure. Therefore, please do not send out a large force to support us, lest we be taken advantage of by the Tang invaders. Furthermore, I have already arranged a hundred thousand elite troops, and they cannot be mobilized in an instant."

After listening to this, Tokugawa Ieharu felt that what Ozeki Masusuke said made sense, because Matsudaira Sadanobu was indeed too arrogant and conceited, and it didn't seem like something he could do.

Moreover, when Tokugawa Ieharu thought about it carefully, he had already decided on the strategy of holding on to Osaka first, and it seemed that this strategy could not be easily changed.

So he was persuaded again, and while ordering a halt to the mobilization, he sent people to chase Matsudaira Sadanobu who was leading the cavalry ahead.

Matsudaira Sadanobu was afraid that Hyogozu would fall too quickly, especially if the lord of Aizu, Matsudaira Yoshinori, made any mistake, which would seriously undermine the morale of the clan, so he acted particularly quickly.

By the time Tokugawa Ieharu's trusted young man, who had delivered the message, caught up with Matsudaira Sadanobu, the 2,000-strong army of generals and cavalry was only about 20 miles away from Hyogo-gu.

When Matsudaira Sadanobu heard the order to recall him, he sighed deeply and then became extremely angry. "If Hyogozu is lost, the Aizu clan's palace will be lost before the decisive battle. Can we continue this war?"

Well, some insights, but not much.

Because Matsudaira Sadanobu didn't notice at all that when he led the cavalry out of Arima Touyama, he was discovered by the hot air balloon of the Dayu Zhendong Army in the distance.

Reinstein is an old fox on the battlefield and a cavalry general by birth. Naturally, he knows the importance of cavalry in an army like Japan, which is mostly composed of infantry.

So when Matsudaira Sadanobu went out to fight, cavalry were arranged to intercept him. While Matsudaira Sadanobu was still complaining about Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu's frequent changes of orders, the Black Flag Cavalry consisting of 600 flagmen rushed over with a roar.

At this time in Japan, war horses had not yet undergone the improvements of the Meiji period. Even the generals' horsemen rode short ponies with very weak explosive power and had not been in battle for a long time.

Therefore, the formation of more than 2,000 Japanese cavalrymen was immediately disrupted by the charge of 600 black cavalrymen.

On the side of the black cavalry, the leader Hadanga instantly found the feeling of defeating the remnants of the Dzungar in the past. He led hundreds of people to trample back and forth in the chaotic cavalry organization of the Japanese, and only stopped when his sabers were broken.

Only then did Matsudaira Sadanobu realize that the gap between the two sides was too huge. In just a quarter of an hour, only a few hundred of his more than 2,000 cavalrymen were left with him. They dared not organize any resistance and turned around and ran away faster than anyone else.

(End of this chapter)