Chapter 969 Japan's traditional art: inferior to superior! [4200]
Although Harada Zuosuke had already told the cruel truth in a serious manner, Aoden still couldn't believe his ears.
The Changzhou conquest ended in "failure"... This bad news directly destroyed the joy brought to him by the "resurrection of Chiba Eijiro".
Before launching the "Second China Return", Qingdeng had led the Changchang Army to break through Yizhoukou and invade the hinterland of Changzhou.
Next, as long as you detour northward, you can reach Hagi Castle (the vassal hall of the Changshu clan).
The Disaster Legion has an overwhelming military advantage and has the power to "easily break through the border".
In contrast, Changzhou has experienced the series of setbacks of "August 18th Coup", "Ikedaya Incident", and "Kyoto Xia Formation", which has caused losses to soldiers and generals and lost all talents.
Looking at the entire Changzhou area, the only troops that can still fight are left are surprise troops.
But the surprise troops had already left Changzhou and followed the law to attack Edo.
In a nutshell, the garrison of Changzhou Vanguard is extremely empty! It is no different from the "empty Vanguard"!
The difference in combat power between the two sides is so huge that it is so different, why did they fail?
In order to find out the truth, Aodo immediately sent an order to Otsu, asking Kondo to summarize the more detailed "State of the Marine Naga" and then send it to Edo quickly.
Six days later, a letter was filled with content, and a scroll that recorded in detail the "The beginning and end of the failure of the war" was presented to him.
This scroll... is not enough to read it. When you see Qingdeng's expression instantly becomes particularly terrifying, even more terrifying than when you first learned that "The Long March failed".
Simply put, the failure of the "Changzhou Conquest" is not because of insufficient combat power or insufficient materials, but because of uneven people's hearts!
After taking over the actual command of the ranks of the ranks from Aozu, Matsuhei Tomosaki was indeed full of confidence and vowed to repay Aoi's expectations.
He showed 120,000 energy and rushed north.
Under his orderly dispatch, the Challenge Army advanced at full speed, rushed straight to the heart of Changzhou, and arrived under Hagi City as scheduled.
Matsuhei Yoshiba was not in a hurry to attack the city, but sent a "letter of persuasion to surrender" first, requiring the Hagi Castle defenders to open the city gates and surrender unconditionally.
If you can defeat others without fighting, it would be better.
Then he soon received a reply from the Hagi City Guardian: No need to persuade him anymore! If you want to fight, just fight!
Matsuhira Yoshiba was not surprised by this result, and he had already made corresponding psychological preparations.
When the strife army marched towards Hagi Castle, all the villages along the way were emptied.
The population, livestock, and supplies disappeared, and even a piece of rice husk was left.
In order to resist the attack of the Changchang Army, they did not hesitate to do this... The Changzhou Army's determination to "swear to defend Hagi City" can be seen.
Now that things have come to this point, there is nothing we can do, so we can only force the city to attack.
As the vassal hall of the Changzhou vassal state, Hagi Castle is naturally not a simple and easy-to-attack small town.
Just like other big cities of the same era, the architects responsible for designing Hagi Castle have exerted amazing creativity and designed the city's defense facilities to be extremely exquisite and complex, which is to allow the siege to experience the disgusting feeling like eating shit.
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If you want to capture such a strong city, you can only rely on the power of artillery.
Although the Anti-Chief Army has a large army of 200,000 and is of great significance, the only one with sufficient artillery is the Satsuma Army.
However... just as this battle is approaching, the Satsuma Army is lazy and in an extremely critical juncture!
As soon as the battle began, the Satsuma artillery team frequently experienced "unexpected conditions".
Or the gunpowder is damp and cannot be used.
Either the gun barrel is damaged and needs maintenance.
In short, there are various situations that cannot be operated normally.
The war has been going on for several days, and the sound of artillery rain from the Satsuma artillery team is not even considered a drizzle in early spring!
Although the general of the Satsuma Army, namely Saigo Yoshinosuke, was a sensation, anyone could see that these were just excuses for them, and they were very bad excuses.
It has not rained these days, so why has your gunpowder been damp?
Haven’t you always been diligent in maintaining weapons and equipment? Why did it happen to be broken?
This bad attitude that didn't even fit the baby was like teasing a child made Matsuhira Kobaya angry.
Although he was furious, he was helpless.
The Satsuma Army was not his unit, and no matter how loud he shouted, he could not command one of his troops and one soldiers.
No matter how Matsuhei Etsubashi persuaded him, he would say all the good things, and Saigo Yoshinosuke did not change his attitude: Whatever you say, I want our Satsuma army to do its best in this battle, but there is no way to go!
Seeing the Satsuma Army's foreign workers, Matsuhira Tomosaki simply gritted his teeth and decided to launch a strong attack directly, using the flesh and blood of the soldiers to capture Hagi Castle!
Without the help of artillery, this will inevitably be an extremely tragic bloody battle.
Since the Kamakura era, with the rapid development of city-building technology, siege battles have become a typical example of "defense is greater than offense". The city's defense ability is far better than the army's offensive ability.
In the Warring States Period, a siege lasted for several months, or even a year or two, which was a common thing.
Without the help of artillery, the soldiers were allowed to use cold weapons to attack the city... God knows how many lives it will cost.
But in order to eliminate Changzhou, Matsuhei Rongbao didn't care about so much.
In fact, even without the support of the Satsuma Army, the Disaster Army still has the ability to "destroy Hagi City".
The defenders of Hagi Castle only had a thousand people to die, and the huge gap in strength was placed here.
Even if you use your lives to pile up, you can pile up Hagi City and destroy Changzhou.
But... it is one thing that Matsuhei Rongbao is willing to sacrifice his life for justice. Whether the vassal lords under him is willing to obey his orders is another matter.
Regarding this "Changzhou Conquest", the attitude of the vassals has always been very clear: This is the conflict between your shogunate and Changzhou. What does it have to do with us?
They just want to strengthen their momentum, not to make any sacrifices, and they are full of their hearts to preserve their strength.
After learning that Matsuhei Yukio was going to attack Hagi Castle, the generals from the various vassals were shocked and panicked, and all felt sad and angry.
Being forced to fight a war that we don’t want to get involved is already very unhappy.
We have done our best and righteousness, and we still want us to bleed and sacrifice. In the end, the benefits will be taken away by the shogunate. Why?
The youngest person, Liu Pingrong Bao, still does not understand the true meaning of the saying "politics is the art of compromise".
He didn't know that his order to "attack Hagi City" had already invisibly infuriated public anger.
What's bad is that with the precedent of Saigo Yoshinosuke, the generals lost a lot of psychological burden when they resisted Matsuhira Tomori, so they followed suit and were unwilling to obey Matsuhira Tomori.
In the end, Japan's traditional art - low-minded and upper-level - was staged in the Discipline Army.
The so-called "lower defeats the upper class" refers to the phenomenon that the lower class replaces the upper class due to war, power seizure, etc.
As we all know, power is bottom-up.
When the "cadres" and "cornerstones" of the middle and lower levels all accept you, agree that you are the leader, and are willing to obey your orders, you are the real leader.
Otherwise, no matter how famous your name is, you will be just a commander who is barely a commander.
Matsuhira Toru is facing such a desperate situation now.
If Qing Deng was here and gave these generals a hundred courage, they would not dare to disobey the military orders of King Ni.
What a pity... Whether it is strength or prestige, Matsuhei Tomosaki is too bad for Aoden.
Although the Aizu family was one of the most relied on by the shogunate, its national strength did not reach the level of overwhelming over the world, and the total stone height was only over 200,000 stones.
The levels of many vassal states in the Disaster Army - such as Ozawa and Echizen's Echizen's vassal - were much higher than those of the Aizu family.
Without strength, lack of qualifications, no prestige... If Matsuheri Toru can follow the wishes of the generals and not violate the core interests of the vassals, then everyone is willing to respect him as the "leader".
But if Matsuhira Tomosaki fights against everyone... Then the "lower defeats the upper part" will only be a natural thing.
In any case, there is no "if" in reality.
On the eve of the launch of the general attack, generals led by Yoshinosuke Saigo poured into Matsuhei Tomoka's camp and jointly asked Matsuhei Tomoka to stop the attack.
The reasons they gave were as follows: Changzhou has been severely punished and there is no need to capture Hagi City, so let's stop the army.
Matsuhira Toribasa would naturally not accept this reason that was simply untenable.
Although he fought hard,... Unfortunately, he was already alone and unable to support himself.
In this way, overnight, Matsuhira Yoshiba was undermined and lost control of the Death Army.
The next day, under the leadership of Yoshinosuke Saigo, the generals Raoka Matsuhei Toru and made peace with Changzhou without authorization.
They issued the following four conditions to Changzhou-
First, hand over the heads of the three family elders (Echigo Fukuhara, Shinoko Kiyoshi, and Yuemonsuke Masahisa) who originally advocated attacking Kyoto and triggered the "Kyoto Xia Formation".
Second, Maori Kei’s father and son apologized.
Third, demolish Yamaguchi Castle.
Fourth, he handed over the five ministers and ministers who lived in Changzhou.
Saigo Yoshinosuke assured the monarchshu vassals that as long as these four conditions are completed, they will withdraw their troops immediately and will never go back on their word.
The "five ministers" mentioned in the last condition are the ministers who were forced to leave Kyoto due to the "coup on August 18th".
There were 7 ministers who fled from Kyoto at that time.
One of them, Ryder, had died of illness several months ago.
Ze Xuanjia, one of the "Seven Lords", is missing.
Therefore, only five ministers and ministers led by Sanji Shimei remained.
Compared with the destruction of the country, such conditions are extremely relaxed.
The generals of the Nagashu Army who were in Hagi Castle - they were all direct descendants of Katsukogoro and Takasugi Shinsaku - after a brief discussion, they unanimously decided to accept these four conditions and end the war.
Of course, whether to make a ceasefire or not, the lord of the Changzhou vassal state must make the decision himself.
Having said that, no one took the opinions of the Changzhou vassal lord seriously. No matter what he said, he would nod in agreement.
As expected, because he was deprived of his side, he has now changed his name from "Maori Kishi" to "Maori Kishi". After hearing that everyone strongly advised him to accept the peace talks, he answered like this:
"Well, just do it!"
After receiving Maori's sincere reply, the two generals inside and outside Hagi Castle tacitly advanced the peace talks.
The confidants of Kane and Takasugi not only quickly killed three family members, but also beheaded the four staff officers in the prison (Taoi Takeuchi Masae, Sakuma Saiguchi, Nakamura Kyuro, and Nago Zuomasuke).
The Maori father and son respectfully submitted their apology.
The first three conditions are easy to handle, but the last condition is more troublesome.
At that time, the five ministers were protected by loyal officials from the court, and they were unwilling to hand over the five ministers.
Fortunately, Saigo Yoshinosuke and others received a letter of apology from the Mori father and son, and after inspecting the progress of the Yamaguchi breaking city, they were very satisfied. They withdrew their troops directly without waiting for the Mori family to hand over the five ministers.
In this way, the strife army was disbanded on the spot.
The 200,000 army fell apart, and the troops returned to their vassals.
Matsuhira-kun kept his mind to continue, but he was powerless to turn things around.
After the disbandment of the Chief Army, the only troops he could command was the Aijin Army, which he was directly under, with about 2,000 people.
With this little force, not to mention conquering Hagi City, it is impossible to even save the territory it has captured.
So he could only withdraw his troops in disgrace.
The huge "Changzhou Conquest" mobilized a total of 200,000 troops, ended with a huge ending...
Not only did he fail to capture Hagi Castle, but he even spit out all the territory he had previously captured.
In other words, their battle was in vain! They were useless to waste the people and money but gained nothing!
After reading the content on the scroll, Qingdeng didn't speak for a long time...
He silently put away the scroll, then stared at the void in front of him, making a meditative look, without moving...
At first glance, he seemed very calm.
But in essence, anyone who knows Qingdeng knows that this is his extreme anger!
At this moment, he suppressed his anger entirely by relying on his tenacity and excellent cultivation.
He forced himself to calm down, and when his mood stabilized, he began to count all the details and mistakes of the battle.
Why did this battle that should have won end in this way?
After a while, he concluded two reasons:
On the one hand, he overestimated Matsuhira Toruba's ability.
On the other hand, he underestimated Saigo Yoshinosuke's ambitions.
In essence, the former is not a mistake.
Although there are many generals in the Disaster Army, the only one who has enough status and can be trusted by Qingdeng is Matsuhira Rongbao.
Apart from Matsuheri Tomosa, he has no other object to trust and can entrust with important responsibilities.
In other words, Qingdeng had no choice at all at the time, so he could only believe in Matsuhira Yoshiba.
If others are allowed to take charge of the Legion of the Chiefs, it will definitely lead to more severe consequences.
Indeed, Matsuhei Tomokazu made a mistake and forced the siege against the wishes of the generals, which directly triggered the division of the legion.
The culprit that may lead to the failure of the battle is not Matsuhei Tomokazu, but Saigo Yoshinosuke!
The intention of Saigo Yoshinosuke is already Sima Zhao's heart - everyone knows it!
The bullshit gunpowder is damp! The bullshit equipment is damaged! It is all some clumsy excuses!
He clearly wanted to protect Changzhou and prevent Changzhou from perishing in this battle!
Qingdeng has reason to believe that the generals’ “lower defeat” was promoted by Saigo Yoshinosuke behind the scenes!
The "fence-riding" of Saigo Yoshinosuke is obvious to all.
Since the "Black Ship Incident", under the command of Saigo Yoshinosuke, Satsuma has been swaying between "Sunorang" and "Samama", bringing the "unified front value" to the extreme.
"Handling on the fence" is not a mistake, but rather a profound political wisdom.
It is really rare to be a good player like Saigo Yoshinosuke who plays "having a fence" and plays with flowers!
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PS: In historical facts, the "Changzhou Conquest" ended in such a hasty way. The front-line general ignored Tokugawa Ishimatsu's wishes and signed a peace agreement with Takashu without authorization, which made Tokugawa Ishimatsu die. When Tokugawa Ishimatsu wanted to hold people accountable,