A Japanese samurai ran over from outside the docks, whispered a few words to Kitai's side, and then left respectfully. Kitai thought for a moment, then turned around and said lightly to Kenji behind him: "There is new news that the naval army of the Tokugawa shogunate has moved, in addition to the soldiers and horses of the pro-feudal daimyo, other geneabolic daimyo are also mobilizing, and it seems that the war between the two sides will start this month." ”

Kenji took two steps, stood beside Kitai, and then pointed to the Sakai Port Pier and said, "Now there are many ships pulling food and other supplies out of the port every day, and they are all materials raised by the shogunate. I've estimated it these days, even if 50,000 troops eat for two months, it's enough. This is not counting the grain shipped out of the other shogunate's grain storage places, and the shogunate is going to fight hard! I don't know if the Satsuma clan can stop the shogunate's tiger and wolf division. ”

Beijing sneered, and then said: "The company will make arrangements, let's just do our own thing." Hum...... It is said that Tokugawa Iemitsu sent his retainers to Jeju Island last year, and then began to secretly prepare for war, and without the tacit consent of our Far East, Tokugawa Iemitsu would not dare to fight the Satsuma Domain with a few courageous words. ”

Kenji was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then smiled: "The company means to let them fight hard?" ”

Kitai nodded, and then said, "The company has come with the latest instructions, once the battle between the Shimazu family and the Tokugawa shogunate begins, we must pay close attention to the changes in the battlefield and report to the company at any time." By the way, we used to set up in various places, and now there is no problem, right? If I'm not sure, I'll ask the company for support. ”

Kenji smiled and said, "Please rest assured, I will do it myself, and I can act at any time." Let's give it a try, and if things change unexpectedly, it's not too late for us to call for help. The battle between the Shimazu family and the Tokugawa shogunate hasn't started yet, so we don't need to worry. ”

Listened to Kenji's words. Kitai said in a deep voice: "Then our Japanese intelligence station should also actively prepare." You go to various places to implement it, try to prepare as much as possible, and save time for mistakes. Let's do what we planned. ”

Kenji nodded, then turned around and left with a few samurai. Kitai looked at the Sakai Port Terminal, and couldn't help but get excited, it seemed that the company was going to attack Japan. He's been looking forward to this day.

Kitai exhaled deeply, tried to calm his excitement as much as possible, and then turned to leave.

In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu became the shogun of the Seiyi, and he was faced with a severe, divided country. Japan had been at war for a long time, and no one could remember how a centralized government could really work. For too long, the daimyo survived on their shrewdness as well as their armies, and could not be expected to obey all orders that were not in their immediate best interests.

Tokugawa Ieyasu's mission was made even more difficult by the long and unpredictable military alliances of history, as he himself was a master of fraud and pure duplicity. So Tokugawa Ieyasu had to come up with a solution. Contain possible political rivals.

First of all, he strengthened the country's political and economic control capabilities, established a relatively complete centralized power system, and borrowed from Chinese Confucianism to strengthen ideological control. Strive to improve foreign relations, such as the Ming Dynasty and North Korea. And he still respects the emperor on the surface, and some of Cao Cao's intentions of coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes are impossible to find fault with in the general righteousness.

Tokugawa Ieyasu's most loyal retainers formed his retainers. They managed a large area of the Tokugawa family and commanded tens of thousands of fiefdomed samurai. They serve as judges, quartermasters, ordnance keepers, inspectors, spies, and a variety of other professions that make any army run effectively.

Tokugawa Ieyasu divided daimyo into three types. The first belongs to his extended family. It is composed of more than 20 "kin-feudal clans" of directly related families. This daimyo controls about one-third of all of Japan's agriculture.

There were more than 200 daimyo who were not related to the Tokugawa family, and they were divided into two groups. Tokugawa Ieyasu's long-time allies were called "Kodai Daimyō". It is a person trusted by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Their fiefdoms are usually small in size but in strategic areas. Combined, the daimyo of the spectrum controlled slightly less than a third of the fields. Tokugawa Ieyasu's "new vassals" were called "waiki daimyō", and they were Tokugawa Ieyasu's former rivals, controlling nearly 40 percent of the land.

Tokugawa Ieyasu and his descendants forced each of the daimyo of the clan to live in the capital city of Edo for half of their lives, and the other half in their domains. This system of "attendance accounting" has other purposes. Pass guò this way. The general keeps everyone under surveillance. In addition, the daimyo had to bear the huge cost of maintaining their residence in Edo, as well as the high cost of traveling, which became an indirect tax and weakened their financial resources.

Tokugawa Ieyasu held their relatives hostage for life. Lives in Edo. Adoption, intermarriage, and political alliances between daimyo were also banned. He also used a comprehensive and ubiquitous spy network to keep a close eye on the daimyo.

Take advantage of the long-standing jealousy and suspicion between the daimyo to avoid them developing contacts. He placed his kinsin daimyo on the main road leading to Edo, and placed his allies in the Daimyo of Washiki. He often moved his daimyo around, and often placed his old enemies next to each other in order to restrain them.

Historically, the Tokugawa shogunate lasted for 265 years, and it has to be said that it was a certain success. The government is a mixture of military and non-military governments, and a combination of private and public governments, regional and national governments.

However, since the Far East came to this era, the history of Japan has changed slightly, and the rapid rise of the Satsuma Domain's dependence on the Far East has caused pressure and worry for the Tokugawa shogunate. Tokugawa Iemitsu did not issue a lockdown decree as in history, nor did he control the number of warlock ships, but rather increased year by year.

The Far East sacked Sado Kanayama and plundered Sakai Port, which made Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third shogun of the shogunate, realize the power of firearms, especially the heavy losses caused by Far Eastern artillery to the shogunate army, and also gave Tokugawa Iemitsu the idea of developing artillery. However, Japan did not have the capacity to produce artillery on its own, so Tokugawa Iemitsu had to trade with Guò, hoping to import artillery from Western colonists.

He used various means to purchase a batch from the Western colonists, purchased a lot of artillery for the shogunate army, and spent a lot of money to improve the iron cannons of the shogunate army. But since the Far East took control of the East Asian oceans, Western merchant ships north of Manila have become extinct, and the Tokugawa shogunate has lost its artillery sources. (To be continued......)

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