Chapter 3535
Chapter 3535
Chapter 3535
Tokugawa Ietsugu really couldn't understand how the daimyo in Kyushu, whose territories had no mountains of gold and silver, could raise such huge amounts of funds and secretly purchase more Hai Han weapons than the shogunate.
According to the battle reports sent back from the front line, the enemy's artillery was equipped with ten times as many times as our own. However, one Hai Han cannon started at more than a thousand taels of silver, and the larger the caliber, the higher the price. The guys in Jiuzhou bought so many artillery, I'm afraid they have emptied their family's savings.
In fact, his prediction was correct. In order to prepare for this war, the Kyushu clans had indeed dug deep into the ground, and had already scraped every place they could reach. Some of the small fiefs that were annexed by them last winter, and the people in their jurisdictions were immediately levied a tax in advance for ten years from now.
Even so, there was still a huge gap in military expenditures, and the only way was to purchase military equipment and supplies from Hai Han through special loans and credit. Although they were in debt, they could not care less at the moment, and had to repel the shogunate army before considering other things.
The shogunate, which had more financial resources, was subject to some invisible restrictions when purchasing Hai Han's armaments. Whether it was the quantity, model or delivery period, they were all controlled by Hai Han in either an overt or covert way.
It's just that the Kyushu feudal domains had done a good job of keeping secrets before, and the shogunate didn't notice the gap in the two sides' armament levels until just before the war broke out, so they naturally suffered a great loss after the fight.
Realizing that the breakthrough opened on the other side of the river had actually hit a steel plate, Tokugawa Ietsugu tried to adjust the combat deployment and look for other breakthrough directions.
"Although the Jiuzhou Army has many guns and cannons, their manpower is limited after all. It is impossible to deploy defenses everywhere according to this standard. As long as we find the right target, we will definitely be able to break through their defenses!"
As the commander-in-chief, Tokugawa Iematsu was well aware of the harm of low morale, and at the moment he could only try his best to find factors that were beneficial to his side to encourage his generals.
The shogunate army had hundreds of troops from all over the country under its command, and coordinating the interests of all parties was an extremely complicated task.
Although the authority of the shogunate can make each domain obey orders and send troops, if it intentionally arranges some of the weaker domains to be cannon fodder, or allows the Tokugawa clan's troops to grab military merits, it will definitely affect the morale of its own camp.
How to keep this balance is an extreme test of the ruler's political acumen, and may even be more troublesome than commanding a war itself.
But at this critical juncture, Masatoshi Masuyama brought another bad news to Tokugawa Ietsuga.
The shogunate's foreign arms purchases have always been in charge of Masuyama Masayoshi. Even though we are in the midst of a war, he has not cut off contact with Hai Han.
Given the intensity of the fighting after the war broke out, the Shogunate Army’s ammunition reserves would probably be difficult to support long-term combat, so continuing to purchase weapons and ammunition from Hai Han became a rigid need for the Shogunate Army.
Considering the delivery period after placing an order, Zengshan Masayoshi did not dare to wait until the inventory dropped significantly before renewing the contract. On the second day of the war, he had already talked to the liaison officer sent by Hai Han to the Maori mansion, hoping to replenish another batch of arms as soon as possible.
The reply from Hai Han made Zengshan Masayoshi very angry. Not only did they raise the price immediately, but they also demanded cash payment and could not guarantee the delivery date required by the shogunate.
“The Hai Han people said that even if their arsenal is running at full capacity, it is still difficult to meet the demand for export, so they can only give priority to buyers who offer high prices and settle accounts quickly... But the specific delivery date will depend on the production situation of the arsenal..."
Before Masuyama Masatoshi could finish his words, Tokugawa Ietsuga interrupted him angrily: "How despicable! Do you really think that without them, the shogunate army will not be able to conquer Kyushu?" The subordinates around him were dead silent and no one dared to respond to the conversation.
Judging from the battle situation in the first two days, the Kyushu coalition forces have already equipped themselves with a large number of Hai Han weapons. If the Shogunate army wants to win this war, it will not be able to rely on the previous cold weapons. It will also need a large number of muskets and artillery.
Hai Han is currently the shogunate’s most important supplier of weapons and equipment. Without Hai Han’s support, the shogunate army would most likely not be able to deal with the better-armed Kyushu coalition forces.
In the end, it was Sakai Tadamasa who spoke up to save Tokugawa Ietsuga’s life: “No matter what, we will defeat the Kyushu rebels, but the process will be easier if we can get Hai Han’s support. And since Hai Han claims that its production capacity is limited, if we buy more, Hai Han will have less to sell to them, which is actually a disguised way of weakening their strength.”
Tokugawa Ietsugu then calmed down and said, “Lord Sakai is right. If we turn against Hai Han and cut off trade, the happiest people will surely be the Kyushu rebels across the strait!”
Tokugawa Iematsu was well aware of the importance of Hai Han as an arms supplier, but he had to show his tough side in front of his subordinates and not let others think that the shogunate had been easily controlled by Hai Han.
As for military purchases, they must not be cut off. Even if Hai Han offered extremely harsh conditions, Tokugawa Iematsu could only endure them for the time being.
As for the polite words spoken by Sakai Tadaki, the people present could only listen and certainly would not take them seriously. They also knew that Hai Han's words were just excuses to manipulate themselves.
Moreover, these excuses are probably not just directed at the shogunate. I believe that the people in Kyushu will also be exploited by Hai Han.
Now that he had stepped down, Tokugawa Ietsugu was no longer reserved and instructed Masuyama Masatoshi: "Then Master Masuyama, please handle this matter as soon as possible and don't delay the opportunity to fight!"
Zengshan Masayoshi took the order and left, quickly finding Hai Han’s liaison officer, submitted the prepared order to him, and stated that the relevant funds would be delivered to Hai Han in the next few days.
The liaison officer probably didn't expect that Masuyama Masayoshi would persuade the shogunate to accept the various conditions offered by his side so quickly. It seems that the war situation in the past two days really made Tokugawa Ietsuga a little anxious.
"Master Zengshan is very quick and efficient. I will submit this order as soon as possible. Once the price is calculated, I will notify you to bring the money for settlement."
After hearing this reply, Zeng Shanzheng's heart was finally at ease. However, before he left, he did not forget to give the liaison officer a small gold bar, asking him to take good care of him.
The liaison officer did not refuse too much and accepted it with a smile. There seemed no need to refuse such a benefit that could be easily obtained while doing the job.
The shogunate's additional arms order was sent to the expedition team's camp across the strait via telegram later that day, taking money from others and helping them get rid of their troubles.
This order still needs to be reviewed by the Executive Committee and the military industry department to see whether the items the shogunate wants to purchase are within the scope of Hai Han's export permission, and whether it is necessary to limit the quantity it seeks to purchase.