Vol 2 Chapter 2329: Edo Alliance, Gambling on National War
Chapter 2329 Edo Alliance, Betting on National War
Chapter 2324: Edo Alliance, Betting on National War
All countries in Japan were in great awe of the Central Plains and believed that the Central Plains was the superior country of the Celestial Empire, but why did they dare to plunder the Celestial Empire?
The biggest reason is actually to counter the growing Oda family.
The Oda family's expansion was too fast, and after Oda Nobunaga occupied most of Honshu Island, he dared to directly proclaim himself emperor and called him "Emperor", as if he was the lord of Japan.
It is naturally difficult for the major Japanese forces to accept this, but if all their forces form an alliance, they can only barely compete with the Oda family.
After several wars, the major forces suffered extremely heavy casualties. However, the power of the Oda family was not weakened too much. On the contrary, it recovered faster than other countries.
The major Japanese forces can only quickly recover from battle damage and grow stronger through plunder, otherwise they will be annexed by the Oda family sooner or later.
All countries in Japan knew that those who plundered the Celestial Dynasty would inevitably be retaliated against, but they were already on the verge of national subjugation and annihilation, so how could they care about the Celestial Dynasty’s revenge?
Who will care about the flood after I die?
Besides, even if China wanted to retaliate, it would not be that easy.
The leaders of the major forces in Japan, like Uesugi Kenshin, believed that it was absolutely impossible for Qin to cross the sea to conquer Japan before it unified China. After all, this would delay the pace of Qin's unification.
It is precisely because of this that these forces dared to disguise themselves as pirates and send troops to plunder the coastal areas of the Celestial Dynasty.
The leaders of the major forces in Japan all thought very well. They believed that after plundering China, even if Great Qin would send troops to retaliate, it would be more than ten years later, and they might not even be able to survive until that time.
What they never expected was that in the second year after the robbery, Great Qin's revenge came.
It is not that the Japanese heads of state have never thought that this may be false news, but the source of the news is Uesugi Kenshin, the governor of the Uesugi family.
Uesugi Kenshin himself has a noble character and is a person that even his opponents admire greatly. There is no way he would release false news to deceive all the forces in Japan on such a big issue of right and wrong. This will not do any good to Uesugi Kenshin or the Uesugi family. .
So, this news must be true, and the Celestial Empire’s revenge has really come, so quickly and suddenly that people are caught off guard.
Uesugi Kenshin's message made the leaders of Japan realize that the Qin army would attack soon, but they knew nothing about the Qin army's specific strength, the direction of its main attack, or even the scale of the war.
This makes people very frightened. After all, enemies who know the depth are not scary, but unknown enemies are scary. What's more, unknown enemies like Da Qin are much more powerful than Japan?
Not long after Uesugi Kenshin's summons was sent out, the heads of Japan's various countries reached an agreement and decided to hold an alliance meeting in Edo City to discuss how to deal with the invasion of Great Qin.
Edo Castle, later known as Tokyo, is located in the Kanto Plain. It was formerly the territory of the Tokugawa family. Later, the Tokugawa family was defeated by the Oda family, and this land naturally fell into the hands of the Oda family.
The location of this alliance will be set in Edo. Obviously, the leaders of various countries also know in their hearts that if they want to repel the invasion of the giant Qin, they still have to rely on the strongest Oda family.
Of course, they also have the idea of making both the Oda family and Great Qin lose, so that Japan will still be theirs in the future.
Based on this consideration, the leaders of the major forces in Japan agreed to participate in the alliance and immediately boarded ships to Edo in person.
The Japanese daimyo who went to Edo this time:
Uesugi Kenshin, governor of the Uesugi family
Tokugawa Ieyasu, governor of the Tokugawa family
Takeda Shingen, governor of the Takeda family
Maori family governor Maori Takamoto
Date Masamune, the Governor of the Date family
Hojo House Governor Hojo Ujiyasu
Imagawa family governor Imagawa Yoshimoto
Shimazu family governor Shimazu Yoshihisa
Dayou family governor Dayou Zonglin
The governor of the Uyizaki family, Nobuhiro Uyizaki
The previous governors of the Mouri and Hojo families, Motonari Motonari and Tsunari Hojo, both died in the process of plundering the Celestial Dynasty, and were succeeded by Hojo Ujiyasu and Takamoto Mouri.
As for Hojo Ujiyasu, Imagawa Yoshimoto and others, they were all born from a foreign race.
The leaders of all the forces in Japan gathered in the small city of Edo. This was a unique event in Japan.
As the host, Oda Nobunaga wanted to kill all these people directly, but before repelling the threat of Qin, he naturally could not do such a stupid thing, so he still entertained everyone with the courtesy of a king.
In the second year of Shenwu, on March 9, the Edo League officially began.
After the meeting began, there was no direct discussion on the matter of resisting the Qin Dynasty. Nobuhiro Uizaki, the governor of the Uyizaki family in Hokkaido, took the lead in attacking Tokugawa, Takeda, Maori and other forces, asking them why they sent troops to plunder China? There was even a proposal to hand them over to appease Da Qin's anger.
In Nobuhiro Uizaki's view, if there is a wrongdoer and a debtor, then it is Tokugawa, Takeda and other forces who offended Great Qin, so let them bear the responsibility themselves, and let the whole of Japan bear the wrath of Great Qin for them. This is It doesn't make sense.
As soon as Nobuhiro Uyizaki said this, the expressions of all the daimyo present became extremely ugly. After all, most of the forces present had participated in sending troops. If they were all handed over, what would be the point of talking about this alliance?
Tokugawa Ieyasu, Takeda Genshin and others naturally knew that they were responsible for recruiting the Qin army, but they were obviously unwilling to bear this responsibility.
If you want to blame, I have to blame you, Oda Nobunaga, for not leaving us a way to survive. Otherwise, how could we take the risk and send troops to plunder the Celestial Empire?
Besides, it’s not like you, Oda Nobunaga, didn’t offend the Qin Dynasty. During the Youzhou War, you directly dispatched naval forces to help the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which also offended the Qin Dynasty to death.
The Qin Dynasty's expedition to Japan this time may not be because of you, Oda Nobunaga. Why should you put all the blame on us?
Tokugawa Ieyasu, Takeda Genshin and other daimyo who sent troops have all spoken out against Uyizaki Nobhiro and constantly made excuses for themselves.
The two sides started to argue with each other, and the argument even lasted for an hour without getting to the point.
At the end of the quarrel, even Oda Nobunaga stood up, scolded Nobuhiro Uyizaki for being short-sighted, and promised that he would never hand over anyone present, which ended the debate about who was right and who was wrong.
Oda Nobunaga personally participated in the Youzhou War and suffered losses at the hands of Zhou Yu, so he knew how powerful the country of Da Qin was.
Although Oda Nobunaga did not understand why Great Qin would retaliate against Japan before unification, if Great Qin really decided to conquer Japan, it would definitely be sure of victory, and Japan's local forces alone might not be able to resist.
So, for Japan today, the most important thing is unity. If there is still internal fighting at this time, Japan will definitely not be able to resist the invasion of Great Qin.
Oda Nobunaga's guarantee relieved Tokugawa Ieyasu and other daimyo who sent troops to China. After all, they had reached this moment, and they naturally did not want to engage in internal strife. Oda Nobunaga's attitude made them very satisfied.
Soon, halfway through the meeting, Oda Nobunaga saw everyone. He said nothing to everyone, but there was still no key point. He immediately raised his hand to interrupt everyone's words and said loudly:
“Everyone, Great Qin is an extremely powerful country, and Ying Hao is one of the rare wise kings in ancient times. Since he dares to cross the sea to conquer Japan, it means that he is sure of victory.
Japan has reached the point of national subjugation and genocide, and it is definitely not the time to be blindly optimistic. "
As soon as Oda Nobunaga said this, everyone present could not help but fall silent. After a long time, Uesugi Kenshin stood up and said: "Oda-sama is right. Although we had our differences before, now in terms of national justice, we should put aside our prejudices and deal with the outside world in unison."
Uesugi Kenshin did not call Oda Nobunaga emperor or emperor, and obviously did not recognize his status as emperor.
Not only Uesugi Kenshin, but all the forces in Japan except the Oda family do not recognize the identity of Emperor Oda Nobunaga, even if the Oda family is the overlord of Japan.
On the contrary, foreign powers such as the Manchu Qing Dynasty and Wang Mang recognized Oda Nobunaga's status.
Once Uesugi Kenshin spoke up, Takeda, Tokugawa and other forces that also supported the alliance all followed the trend and agreed to put aside their prejudices and hold an alliance to fight against Qin.
At this point, the Edo Alliance has officially entered into the main topic.
Although all major forces agree to the alliance, it is obviously not a matter of time to integrate so many forces and form a coalition to jointly resist Qin.
But the key point is that Da Qin's navy is about to attack, but they have no idea about the strength of Da Qin's troops or even the direction of the main attack.
There is not much time left for Japan. Even if the leaders of Japan want to deploy more defenses, it is already too late, and they still don’t know where to deploy their troops.
“So, for us in Japan, the top priority is to figure out the strength of Qin’s troops and where the Qin army will attack.” Oda Nobunaga said solemnly.
Takeda Shingen, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Imagawa Yoshimoto and other famous names also nodded in agreement. After all, they don't even know the main direction of Qin's attack. The area of the four Japanese islands is not small. They can't all be fortified like a headless fly, right?
“Although I don’t know the specific strength of the Qin Army, I think the Qin Army’s main attack direction should be Kyushu Island.” Uesugi Kenshin said thoughtfully.
As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the three major powers in Kyushu, Mouri, Otomo, and Shimazu, suddenly changed.
Mouri Takamoto quickly asked: "Why is Lord Uesugi so sure that Great Qin will use Kyushu as its main attack direction?"
Uesugi Kenshin replied: "If the Qin Dynasty is the candidate to lead the war against Japan, it must be Zhou Yu, the commander-in-chief of the Qingzhou Navy. I have been lurking next to Zhou Yu for two years, and I think I still know a little about Zhou Yu.
Zhou Yu was the first general in the water warfare of the Qin Dynasty, and his military tactics were good at combining right and wrong. "
Saying that, Uesugi Kenshin took out the portrait of Zhou Yu, pointed at the portrait and said to everyone: "Based on my understanding of Zhou Yu, if he wants to conquer Japan, he will definitely pick on the weak points first, use this as a breakthrough point, and build a first A stable base.
Honzhou is the essence of Japan and the place with the strongest power. As Zhou Yu is shrewd, he would not use this as a breakthrough, so the only choices available to Zhou Yu are Kyushu and Shikoku.
The Four Kingdoms are mostly mountainous, and the land is narrow and there are few people, which is not conducive to the deployment of large armies, and it is not conducive to logistics transportation. The possibility of the Qin Army's main attack on the Four Kingdoms is even less.
Hence, I conclude that Zhou Yu’s main attack direction must be Kyushu. "
After listening to Uesugi Kenshin’s analysis, the daimyo of Honshu Island and Shikoku Island secretly breathed a sigh of relief, while the faces of the daimyo of Kyushu Island were extremely ugly.
The Qin army is about to attack. The main attack direction is likely to be Kyushu, but they are not prepared at all. How can they resist it?
“This is just your personal speculation, what if it’s not?”
Otomo Sorin said with a look of reluctance. He also knew that what Uesugi Kenshin said was very likely, but he just had luck in his heart and did not want to believe that Da Qin would mainly attack Kyushu.
Seeing this, Uesugi Kenshin was about to refute, but was stopped by Oda Nobunaga.
“Although what Uesugi Daimyo said is just a personal guess, it is the only information we can rely on so far.
So, you all have the courage to gamble on the fate of the country and bet on whether the main direction of Qin's attack is Kyushu. "
Oda Nobunaga looked at everyone with stern eyes and said in a deep voice: "If the bet is right, in the face of the invasion of the Qin army, at least we, Japan, will not be passively beaten.
But if the bet is wrong..."
Oda Nobunaga did not say the next words, but everyone knew that the situation would definitely be worse by then.
Hearing this, the three local big names in Kyushu swallowed unconsciously. After pondering for a long time, they all decided to believe Uesugi Kenshin and decided to gamble with the fate of the country. After all, the most likely direction of the Qin army's main attack was Kyushu. .
“Since you have such courage, we should also accompany you.”
Tokugawa Ieyasu, Takeda Shingen and others all agreed.
Seeing this, Oda Nobunaga said: "In that case, let's use Kyushu as the first defense zone."
“However, even if we mobilize our troops now, I’m afraid it’s too late.”
Mao Lilongyuan said worriedly, after all, Great Qin will send troops soon. When reinforcements from various countries arrive in Kyushu, Great Qin may occupy Kyushu Island.
Oda Nobunaga said: "It is definitely too late to send infantry to help Kyushu, but we can concentrate the navy first, wait for work in Kyushu, and fight a naval battle with the Qin army.
If the battle is won by luck, the Qin army will naturally be unable to land from Kyushu, and the crisis will be resolved by then. "
“But what if we lose?” Tokugawa Ieyasu asked.
“Then after the Qin army lands, we will do our best to drive the Qin army into the sea.” Oda Nobunaga said firmly.
Everyone looked at each other, obviously agreeing with Oda Nobunaga's statement.
Let's start a water war with Da Qin. If we can't win, it's not too late to start a land war.
“Everyone, this battle with Da Qin is a national war. If we lose, the price will be unbearable for us.
Therefore, I hope that all of you here can put aside your past resentments, concentrate your efforts, and unite with the outside world to win the water battle with the Qin army first and complete the victory in one battle.
The warships of the Qin army are much more advanced than ours. We cannot win with quality, so we can only win with quantity.
Therefore, if you want to defeat the Qin navy, you must concentrate all the Japanese navy.
I, the Oda family, are willing to dispatch 30,000 naval troops to assist Kyushu. "
After hearing Oda Nobunaga's words, Uesugi Kenshin immediately said: "The Uesugi family is willing to dispatch four thousand naval troops to assist Kyushu."
“The Takeda family is willing to send four thousand naval troops.”
“The Tokugawa family is willing to send five thousand naval troops.”
“The Jinchuan family is willing to send five thousand naval troops.”
“The Hojo family wishes…”
…”
(End of this chapter)