Chapter 336: City slaughter

"Uh?" Currod was delighted when he heard this and hurriedly said, "Dear Prince, are you all saying true?"

It is indeed good news for Europeans to be able to trade gold for silver. Although silver in Europe and the colonies is almost exhausted, they still have a large amount of gold. If they can trade gold for silver, it means that they can still obtain exquisite commodities such as silk and porcelain from the Ming Dynasty.

"Of course it's true." Wang Pu smiled, "But, are you really losing money?"

Currod was also a traitor and quickly denied: "Of course not, but this gold and silver exchange is more important than stealing..."

Wang Pu waved his hand and said, "As long as you obtain the official documents of the Dutch consul, you can go to the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Revenue to discuss this matter with the Minister of Revenue. I will say hello to him."

"Thank you, Prince." Kurod couldn't help but say, "In order to show his respect to the prince, the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty will be willing to provide 30 flat-bottomed merchant ships for free to transport troops and supplies during the next expedition across the sea."

Wang Pu smiled and said, "thank you."

As he was just talking, a general came to Wang Pu quickly, saluted the military salute, and said proudly: "Report to the prince, all personnel and supplies have been boarded!"

"Okay." Wang Pu ignored Currod and turned to Zhang Yanlin and Li Ang, "Go to the battle!"

"yes!"

Zhang Yanlin and Li Ang agreed.

In the first month of the seventh year of Longwu in the Ming Dynasty (1650), after more than a month of sailing, a transport fleet composed of hundreds of merchant ships arrived smoothly outside Osaka under the escort of the third and fourth fleets. The Central Army was about to land, and the Ming Dynasty intelligence personnel who had already infiltrated Osaka began to get busy and prepared to respond.

At this time, Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

The shogunate politics in Japan was somewhat like Cao Cao's wielding the emperor to command the princes during the Three Kingdoms period. The difference is that Cao Cao's wielding the emperor to command the princes only lasted for a generation. His son Cao Pi kicked the Han emperor and established himself, while the shogunate government of Japan received support from almost all the separatist princes and maintained it.

Although the emperor was the nominal supreme ruler of Japan, he was actually just a political puppet, and there were no vassals. Even the emperor's expenses had to be supported by the shogunate.

The Tokugawa Shogunate was founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu. After two generations of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Tokugawa Ietachi, the Tokugawa Ietachi reigned the vassal states equivalent to one-quarter of Japan's land area, becoming the largest separatist prince in Japan. The various institutions of the shogunate have gradually improved. If the Edo Shogunate is compared to a feudal dynasty, the Tokugawa Shogunate was at its peak at this time.

Although Japan's territory is small and its population is not large, it is necessary to take certain risks to go to war with a country that is in its heyday, because a country that is in its heyday has strong political, military, economic and national cohesion, and it is not easy to conquer such a country.

However, Wang Pu could not wait any longer. He could not wait until the Tokugawa Shogunate declined before sending troops to attack them. If he really had to wait until the Tokugawa Shogunate declined before sending troops, what year and month would it take? At that time, Wang Pu would have been dead for hundreds of years and was already so rotten that he had no bones.

In the combat command room of the third fleet's flagship "Yingxing", staff officers had already figured out the mountains, rivers and terrain in the central part of Honshu Island from Osaka to Kyoto in the sand table. Wang Pu, Li Dingguo, Zhang Yanlin, Li Ang and other generals, as well as Chief of Staff Liu Rushi, and Chief of Intelligence Liu Qingyan surrounded the sand table to discuss the advance.

In the past three years, Nanjing Army Officers University has trained a large number of military talents who are good at map operations. Many of them, Qiao Zhuangcheng merchants sneaked into Japan and secretly drew a standard topographic map of Honshu Island in Japan. The staff of the Central Command Department meshes the sand table based on this map. Wang Pu couldn't help but nodded after seeing it. The appearance of this sand table model is basically the same as the shape of the Japanese island he remembers.

Liu Qingyan pointed to the sand table with a bamboo pole in his hand and said, "Prince, generals, this is Osaka. From Osaka to the north is Kyoto. The head of the Japanese Emperor is in Kyoto. Then from Kyoto to the east is about 800 miles northeast, it is Edo, Tokugawa Shogunate Imperial Office. Of course, our prince has now changed Edo to Tokyo for the Japanese."

Li Dingguo suddenly asked, "What is the road from Osaka to Tokyo?"

"Not ideal," said Liu Qingyan. "From Osaka to Tokyo, we have to cross the Kiso Mountains, the Akashi Mountains and the Kanto Mountains. Our artillery battalion and baggage team will have to circumnavigate the canyon between the mountains. Therefore, although the straight-line distance from Osaka to Tokyo is only about 800 miles, the actual distance is more than 1,400 miles."

Liu Rushi added: "The roads on the way are difficult and dangerous, the terrain is complex, and it is very easy to get stuck."

Zhang Yanlin asked Wang Pu in confusion: "Prince, since it is so long to go from Osaka to Tokyo, and it is easy to get ambushed by the Japanese in the middle, why don't we take the sea route? It's not a humble brag. As long as the third fleet is here, the Japanese's broken sailboats are really afraid to show their eyes."

Liu Qingyan glanced at Wang Pu and continued: "If we go through the sea route, our Central Army will be able to pass through the Uraga waterway between the Fangsun Peninsula and the Miura Peninsula, directly into Yokohama, Kawasaki, and even land directly in Tokyo. With the gunfire of the Third and Fourth Fleets, the hasty shogunate force of the Shogun Army cannot prevent the Central Army from landing."

Faced with the confused eyes of the generals, Wang Pu suddenly turned to Li Dingguo and asked, "Dingguo, what do you think?"

Li Dingguodao: "If this battle is just to occupy Tokyo, of course we can land directly from Tokyo. However, this cross-sea expedition, the strategic goal of our Central Army is to destroy the Japanese's determination to resist or conquer Japan, rather than simply occupying Tokyo. Therefore, Huyi thought he should still land from Osaka."

"Why?" Li Ang asked in confusion, "Why can't the Japanese people's determination to resist by logging directly from Tokyo, and then landing from Osaka and then detouring a long way to attack Tokyo to conquer Japan? No matter what the process is, isn't it all the result of occupying Tokyo? Is there any difference?"

"Of course there is a difference." Li Dingguo responded calmly, "If our Central Army landed directly in Tokyo Bay, the shogunate army would be caught off guard and hasty to respond, and it would be certain that it would be defeated, but this would not affect the support and recognition of the Tokugawa Shogunate by the various Japanese princes, because they would think that the Tokugawa Shogunate was defeated because of lack of preparation, and they would still support the Tokugawa Shogunate as enemies of our Central Army. In other words, the Japanese would not give up resistance because of the fall of Tokyo."

Li Ang said: "What's the difference between landing from Osaka?"

Li Dingguo Highway: "If the Central Army lands from Osaka, it will take more than 1,400 miles from Osaka to Tokyo, and it will take almost half a month at the earliest. With nearly half a month, it will be enough for the Tokugawa Shogunate to mobilize troops from all over the country to prepare supplies. Moreover, our Central Army will cross the two mountains of Kiso, Akashi and Kanto Mountain on the way, giving the shogunate army a large number of opportunities for sneak attacks and harassment. This is like a dignified contest. Our Central Army has set its sights and blatantly attacked the door. If the Tokugawa Shogunate is still defeated and lost Tokyo City, what will the Japanese think then?"

Li Ang asked in a naughty way, "What would you think?"

Li Dingguo smiled calmly and said, "At that time, all the Japanese would think that the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty was invincible. With the defeat of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the fall of Tokyo City, the Japanese's determination to resist was destroyed. From then on, as long as they give a little favor, they can realize the second step of the commander's strategy and divide and disintegrate the princes in various parts of Japan."

Wang Pu wanted to applaud when he heard this, but Li Dingguo said everything he wanted to say.

The facts may not be exactly the same as Li Dingguo's analysis, but they will never be much different. As a time traveler, Wang Pu deeply knows how serious the advancement of an armed force, which is "open and blatant", "shows off his power" will destroy the self-confidence of a nation!

The Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China in the 19th century and the Japanese invaded China in the 20th century. Didn’t the national self-confidence of the Han people be completely destroyed with the decline of Beijing and Nanjing? From then on until the 21st century, although the Chinese achieved economic growth, their national self-confidence could not be restored as before.

Even the so-called national elites always believed that the Han people were second-rate in the world. After sucking the rich and rich people's fat, they willingly used them to feed Western powers.

Wang Pu said that there was no objection to logging in from Osaka, and it was time to discuss how to log in and fight.

However, the Osaka landing war was a completely asymmetric war. The Ming Central Army had strong support for the third fleet and the fourth fleet's naval gun fire. Although there were two turrets in the Osaka port, the dozens of red cannons mounted on the turrets could not be compared with the naval guns of the Imperial Navy in terms of range or power.

More importantly, the Japanese shogunate army is still in the era of alternating hot and cold weapons, and has no anti-logging combat experience in the era of firearms. Although the Ming Central Army was the first actual combat landing, they had practiced on the main island of Zhoushan before this.

The Ming Central Army had absolute firepower advantages and was unprepared. In addition, the secret support of a large number of intelligence personnel who infiltrated Osaka in advance, it was difficult to defeat this battle. The actual combat process was basically the same as expected by the Central Army Command. The shogunate troops stationed in Osaka were basically annihilated without any resistance.

However, the shogunate army composed of samurai and ronin still allowed the Central Army to see the bravery of the Japanese. Their fearlessness left a profound impact on the Central Army. Faced with the Central Army's dense firepower volley, they waved their samurai swords and rushed forward. The people in front were shot and fell down. The one behind them stepped on the bodies of the dead and continued to rush forward until the entire army was destroyed. No one surrendered or fled!

In the observation room of the "Yingxing" ironclad ship, Wang Puzheng and other generals held monoculars to observe the situation on the battlefield.

Until the landing army blew the flags and cleared the remaining enemies in Osaka Castle, Wang Pucai, the army and the generals of the Navy went ashore under the guards, stepped into Osaka Castle with the bodies of Japanese samurai and ronin. The smoke that filled the top of Osaka Castle had not yet dissipated, and the air was still filled with a strong smell of blood.

Wang Pu sniffed two mouthfuls of bloody air hard, and suddenly felt extremely relaxed and happy. He was a natural soldier. The smell of blood is the most wonderful smell in the world for him. This smell is even like a drug addiction to Wang Pu. If you don’t smell this smell for too long, you will feel uncomfortable all over.

Osaka has been martial law in the whole city, and all Japanese in the city are not allowed to go out or go out on the streets. Violators are killed.

The streets were full of silences, and sank corpses of lying on the shore.

Wang Pu pointed to the corpse of the ronin lying all over the ground on the street and said to Liu Konghe, Li Benshen, Zhang Yanlin, Li Ang and other army and naval generals behind him, "You all saw that the Japanese live on islands all year round, and their living environment is harsh, so they are fierce by nature. If they do not try to destroy their self-confidence, the entire Japanese nation will fight to the last one. Even if we conquer Japan, we will only have a scorched earth and countless old, young, women and children. If so, our cross-sea expedition will become meaningless, and this war will be defeated."

Amid the heavy footsteps, Li Dingguo came quickly with murderous aura surrounded by several officers.

When he arrived in front of Wang Pu, Li Ding kicked his right leg and saluted the military salute, saying proudly: "I am not good at the prince."

"Yeah, okay." Wang Pu replied and said happily, "Beautiful job."

"Prince." Li Dingguo said solemnly, "What should I do with the tens of thousands of Japanese in Osaka Castle?"

A faint hideous slight hideousness suddenly appeared in Wang Pu's eyes, and a cold sentence broke out from his teeth: "Kill! Let the brothers warm up first!"

"yes!"

Li Dingguo agreed with the promise.

"And..." Wang Pu added coldly with his eyes, "Don't fire, don't waste precious ammunition. It is best to use assassination, burial, and beheading."

"yes!"

Li Dingguo saluted Wang Puba again and turned around.

Behind Wang Pu, Liu Konghe, Li Benshen and others looked at each other. It was difficult for them to understand the deep hatred of Wang Pu towards the Japanese in his heart. Therefore, the Japanese in this era were not able to invade China in large quantities, so there was no deep hatred between the Japanese and the Han people. But Wang Pu was not. Wang Pu held a deep hatred for the Japanese. This time he wanted to settle the accounts on the ancestors of later generations.

Although Zhang Yanlin does not have the ability of Wang Pu, this guy is very similar to Wang Pu, that is, he is cruel and bloodthirsty.

Upon hearing Wang Pu's order, a trace of beastly light flashed through Zhang Yanlin's eyes and said with a grim voice: "Prince, can we let our brothers from the Third Fleet also participate in the massacre of the city? Speaking of which, although the Third Fleet has fought several naval battles and plundered several places in the past three years, many brothers have not seen blood yet."

Wang Pu said expressionlessly: "It is the power of every Han people to eliminate inferior nations, and I have no power to stop it."

"Yes!" Zhang Yanlin bowed the military salute and said sternly, "Thank you, Prince!"

Half an hour later, the bloody massacre officially began.

Osaka Castle South.

Zhang Yanlin led the 3,000 naval officers and soldiers of the Third Fleet to drive more than 30,000 Japanese to the beach. Then the massacre began. Teams of Japanese were taken from the brigade of armed naval officers and soldiers to the beach by fully armed naval officers and soldiers. The naval officers and soldiers responsible for the execution took turns to move forward with battle knives and beheaded the Japanese who were kneeling on the beach one by one.

The Japanese corpses filled the entire beach, and the blood shed almost dyed the entire bay red.

North of Osaka Castle, by the river.

More than 5,000 Japanese men were busy digging several large soil pits. From noon to evening, three huge soil pits were finally dug, and the doomsday of the Japanese came. More than 50,000 men, women, young and old were driven out of the city by the Central Army, forcing them to jump into two of the super-large soil pits, and then forced the Japanese men to fill the soil and bury people.

The Japanese man looked tumbling, and under the threat of the Central Army's bayonet, he began to fill the soil and buried his relatives alive with his own hands.

More than 50,000 men, women, young and old were buried alive. The Central Army forced the remaining more than 5,000 Japanese men to line up on the edge of the last big pit, then cut off their heads one by one, buried their bodies in the last big pit, and then used more than 5,000 heads to build a "human head tower" in the middle of the three big pits.

West of Osaka Castle, the wilderness.

More than 2,000 Japanese men, women, young and old were deliberately let go by the Central Army. When they rushed to escape, the ground under their feet suddenly began to tremble. Then the sound of iron hoofs like overwhelmingly destroyed the whole world. Two brigades of cavalry chased after them like lightning, chopping the men, women, young and old and old who were rushing to the ground one by one...

Three days later, the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty evacuated Osaka. A team of Dutch merchant ships who came to Japan to trade entered Osaka Port, but found that the sea water in the entire Osaka Bay was brown-red. After landing, it was discovered that Osaka had become a ghost town. The Netherlands only found a dying old man and a little girl over two years old from the ruins.
Chapter completed!