Chapter 3547
Chapter 3547
Chapter 3547
Limited by Kyushu's local population base and military budget, the reserve forces of several powerful feudal domains combined only have more than 3,000 but less than 4,000 troops, of which about one-third are from the navy. Therefore, the reserve forces that can be deployed to the land battlefield to carry out rotation at this time are only about 2,000 people.
Moreover, there are still many uncertainties regarding the combat effectiveness and morale of the reserve forces. The coalition generals dare not use them directly as fresh troops. They can only arrange for the reserve forces to be mixed with the main combat forces and be responsible for the defense of the hill positions.
The Hai Han military was also not optimistic about the strength of the reserve forces. In the report submitted by Amakusa Shiro before the war, he pointed out that this group of newly trained troops seriously lacked practical experience and were not suitable to be directly deployed to the front line.
The formation of these reserve forces was followed up throughout by the Sasebo base, and the training plan was personally formulated by Shiro Amakusa, who also attended the training completion assessment of relevant personnel, so the credibility of this report is extremely high.
The Hai Han military believed that the safest option was to first arrange for these new recruits to be responsible for the defense of the major cities in various vassal states, and then replace the local garrisoned armed forces and send experienced veterans to the front line to perform combat missions.
This is also the experience Hai Han has gained from fighting wars in the past few years using limited troops.
However, the Kyushu feudal lords had already exhausted all their efforts in this war, and it seemed that they did not even have the energy to spare. The armed personnel stationed in various places had basically been replaced by militia with weaker combat effectiveness, and the fatigue level of the front-line combat troops was so high that they had to rotate and rest, so they had to pull out the reserve troops to take over.
In comparison, the shogunate army was in a much better situation, with 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers available on the other side of the strait. Although the military quality of those logistics troops was also difficult to carry out combat missions, they had the advantage of having more people. The number of soldiers available for rotation alone exceeded the total strength of the Kyushu coalition.
The day after the great battle, Tokugawa Ietsugu crossed the sea and returned to the Mori Mansion. This was not because he was afraid of fighting, but because he wanted to give an explanation to the families of the three major families who had lost two lives and one injury, and to designate successors for each family as soon as possible to ensure that these branches of the Tokugawa family would not have internal strife as a result.
In addition, there was another very important thing, which was to meet with the envoys secretly sent by Portugal and the Netherlands.
The envoys of the two countries brought Tokugawa Ietsugu an unexpected good news, that is, Portugal and the Netherlands decided to provide a batch of arms to the shogunate for emergency support.
The two countries will each provide the shogunate with thirty cannons, five hundred matchlock rifles, two hundred flintlock rifles, three thousand kilograms of gunpowder, four armed sailing ships, and five military advisers.
However, because it is a temporary measure, these arms cannot be delivered all at once and will be delivered to the Tokugawa shogunate in batches within the next month.
In addition, the emergency aid from Portugal and the Netherlands was not a piece of cake. These arms were not donated to the shogunate free of charge, but were also priced and settled according to normal arms trade - the price was even 30% higher than previous transactions.
Of course, there is nothing to say about the price increase at this time. After all, it is already wartime. Even if the shogunate can still afford the money, there are only a few sellers who can sell arms to it.
Compared to Hai Han, whose delivery time was far from certain, the arms from Portugal and the Netherlands could be obtained within at least one month. For the shogunate army, which had just suffered serious losses in artillery and artillery, this was simply a timely help.
Of course, the shogunate's purse is not a cornucopia that can create something out of nothing. The arms order placed with Hai Han a few days ago has already used up all the taxes that the shogunate has just levied from the country. It is still uncertain where the next sum of money will come from. At this time, it is really a bit stretched to pay another large sum of money. The shogunate's financial difficulties seemed to be expected by the other party. The envoys of the two countries quickly stated that although the price of this batch of arms could not be bargained, if the shogunate had difficulty paying, it was not impossible to discuss delaying or paying in installments.
Of course, such "care" also has conditions in exchange, that is, the shogunate must open the trade markets in Osaka, Nagoya, Edo and other places to Portugal and the Netherlands after the war, and enjoy the same treatment as Hai Han in terms of tariffs.
This condition was obviously taking advantage of someone's misfortune. If it was proposed on normal days, Tokugawa Ietsuga would undoubtedly reject it without hesitation. But the current situation did not leave Tokugawa Ietsuga with more options.
After a month of fighting with the Kyushu coalition, the shogunate suffered heavy equipment losses, especially in the artillery battle that just ended yesterday, in which the shogunate lost almost two-thirds of its field artillery and nearly half of its artillery.
Every gun, every cannon, and every ship that can be purchased at this time is extremely important to the shogunate - especially those supplies from outside of Hai Han, which are particularly valuable.
Tokugawa Ietsugu had long noticed that the Kyushu coalition forces were also suffering from huge equipment losses, but the other side seemed to be able to replenish them continuously.
This was clearly demonstrated in yesterday's artillery battle. When the Kyushu coalition forces opened fire, they seemed to have no regard for the amount of ammunition used. The intensity of their firepower output far exceeded the normal level. It was obvious that they had plenty of ammunition to squander.
The only reasonable explanation is that Hai Han secretly provided them with additional supplies. Compared with the long delivery period for the shogunate to purchase arms, this made Tokugawa Ietsuga even more convinced that Hai Han's position was more inclined towards Kyushu.
Under such circumstances, the supply of arms from outside Hai Han became particularly important. Tokugawa Ietsuga could not refuse the additional requests made by the Portuguese and Dutch envoys. If the civil war could not be won, then it would make no difference to Tokugawa Ietsuga whether he agreed to their conditions or not.
All current decisions must be made with the goal of winning the civil war as a priority. As for whether the national policy on foreign trade should be changed in the future, we will have to wait until after the war to make plans.
So the two sides quickly reached an agreement, which finally made Tokugawa Ietsugu breathe a sigh of relief.
However, dealing with the three major families is more troublesome than external negotiations.
The injured head of the Owari Tokugawa family, Tokugawa Mitsutomo, is currently safe. He only needs to rest for a period of time, and it should not be a problem for him to regain his ability to govern.
What is more difficult is the Kishu and Mito branches. According to past rules, the current shogun should have designated a successor after the head of the family died. However, the head of the Kishu Tokugawa family has no children, and designating another successor may not be convincing.
The brothers of the head of the Mito Tokugawa family hold military power, but the retainers want to support the young master to succeed to the throne. This dispute between uncle and nephew may turn into a new civil war.
Tokugawa Iematsu also had his own ideas about the selection of the successor, which was that the successor must obey his orders, be loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate, and assist the shogunate in winning the current civil war at all costs.