Chapter 108: The End of the Five Years of Chongzhen The Shitennoji Temple in Osaka is the oldest government-run Buddhist temple in Japan and the headquarter of the Shotoku Sect in Japan.
It was founded by Prince Shotoku in 593 AD.
Therefore, it is large in scale and magnificent in architecture.
It has always been known for its long history and The respected status makes Osaka people proud.
But at this moment, this magnificent temple was burning in the flames of war, decorated with smoke and corpses like hell.
As the outer strongholds of Osaka Castle fell one after another, Shitennoji was finally exposed to the forces of the overthrown Tokugawa army.
What's even more regrettable is that Shitennoji is a temple built on flat ground, and there is no dangerous terrain to defend it.
Under the stormy onslaught of the Christian army, the monastery has withstood an extremely severe test.
From the mountain gate, the trench to the wall, everything was like the gaping mouth of a dying old man.
It was dilapidated and damaged.
Even the tall wooden five-story tower was burned in the chaos.
However, inspired by their devout faith, the Buddhists in Shitennoji Temple still resisted.
When human beings are forced into desperate situations of life and death, they can often burst out with terrifying fighting power that is beyond common sense.
For example, the armed monks and believers who were besieged in Shitennoji Temple, although their behavior was depraved in daily life, had often done scandalous things that tarnished the reputation of Buddhism.
However, when a large number of Christian "Crusaders" surrounded them from all directions, these rabble-rousers who had fled from various places around Osaka still managed to calm down, and under the guidance of the monks in the temple, they began to evacuate from the musty warehouses.
In the cellar, a number of rusty swords and guns, old firearms, moldy bamboo armor, and even the spears from the King Kong statue were removed.
Those who reacted a little slower couldn't find any decent weapons, so they tied kitchen knives, axes and sharpened spatulas to bamboo poles, and then put a few bricks in their arms to make up for it, even if they risked their lives.
Fight to the end.
Although this is not enough to make up for the huge differences in troops, equipment and morale between the two sides.
"Ready to release" A very tall Chechidan warrior wearing Spanish armor raised a gorgeous samurai sword and slashed hard.
The six bronze smoothbore cannons that had been loaded immediately spit out balls of orange-red flames and made loud roars one after another.
In an instant, rubble flew from the ancient walls of the temple, knocking down a large area of the believers and monks who were holding weapons and making noise behind the wall.
Then, a large number of ronin and wild warriors dressed in various costumes screamed and held high the Crusader flag, and rushed towards the gap in the courtyard wall.
These poor Christians, who come from the barren land of western Japan and have suffered discrimination and oppression for a long time, have looted temples and killed monks since they entered Kinki, the essence of Japan, under the banner of "holy war".
The gold and silver magical instruments, jade Buddha statues, silks and satins, and even beautiful wives and concubines found in various temples made the jihadists even more greedy, and they regarded the Shitennoji Temple in front of them as another big piece of land.
Fat meat.
Unfortunately, this piece of fat is not easy to chew.
The warriors of the "Japanese Crusaders" had just launched their charge.
Dozens of monk soldiers from Shitennoji Temple appeared in the gap in the courtyard wall carrying antique iron cannons left over from an unknown era. place, crackling fires were lit one after another, Fortunately, these old goods filled with iron sand and bulk black powder are really incapable of fighting.
They are neither accurate nor lethal.
They often explode or misfire.
Also, because the users lack relevant experience, they often shoot ahead of time outside the range.
Open fire, with all the momentum and no results.
At best, it can only scare people.
For the "Japanese Crusaders" who are accustomed to the world, such a small scene cannot scare them at all.
Therefore, before the monk soldiers could fire their second shot, a group of Japanese crusaders in Western-style clothes had already stepped forward skillfully, passed over the hesitating stragglers with swords raised, set up heavy muskets, and aimed at the people guarding the courtyard wall.
The monk soldier at the gap pulled the trigger.
After a burst of gunfire, a large group of monks in messy clothes fell down.
Dark red blood flowed gurglingly, and the lives gradually disappeared.
Immediately afterwards, the Japanese Crusaders, who had regained their morale, broke through the ruins that had collapsed in many places, stepped on the still warm corpses, and poured into the interior of Shitennoji Temple.
For a moment, various accents shouted for death.
The sound of the sound echoed one after another in the temple.
"Kill, kill, how can I allow such barbarian evildoers to desecrate the holy land of our Buddhist country?"
In a chaotic and bloody killing field, a luxuriously dressed monk's eyes were red and seemed to be bleeding.
He yelled with all his strength and waved the sword in his hand crazily.
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He used all his strength to kill a Japanese.
Christian was chopped down, and before he could take a breath, an ominous popping sound was heard one after another, and several spears were pierced from the chest and back at the same time.
The monk screamed in pain for a moment, barely freeing up one hand, and tried to pull out the spear head pierced into his body with trembling hands, but several Crusaders Ashigaru had already grabbed the barrel of the spear and used force at the same time.
Lifting him upwards, he was lifted high off the ground.
His hands and feet were struggling in the air with a shrill voice.
He was cursing, but before he could curse a few times, someone stopped his last struggle.
Another sharp spear was accurately pierced into his wide-open mouth.
The impact was so strong that the spear tip even Faintly exposed from the back of the head, white brain matter sputtered everywhere like a fountain.
However, before the crusader who thrust out the spear could laugh wildly, he saw a sharp blade coming towards him from the corner of his eye.
Although he immediately and subconsciously tried to avoid it, he still had no time to escape from this deliberate force.
One blow.
He only heard a scream, and a bearded monk with a sinewy face used a long-handled sword to split him in half from his left shoulder.
The smaller half of his body flew out, and the dirty blood "popped" like a column of water.
It spurted out like crazy, splashing all over the bearded monk's face.
Then, with the sound of a gunshot, a bullet penetrated the bearded monk between his eyebrows.
Although the attacking Japanese Crusaders' troops and combat effectiveness were much stronger than the mob in Shitennoji Temple, the temple was a narrow place with many buildings and deep and winding alleyways, which made it impossible for the troops to spread out.
As a result, the Crusaders made little progress. smoothly.
Therefore, after the setback in the first battle, the crusaders were aroused and ferocious, and soon launched a fire attack, forcing the believers and monks who were holding on to the temple out of the burning building, and then in the undefended open space.
A one-sided massacre unfolded.
Although these Buddhists who were seeking survival in the face of death still fought extremely well, and the cries of desperate counterattacks became louder and louder.
Unfortunately, although they had the momentum to regard death as home, they could not shake the enemy's overall advantage.
In the end, they gradually lost their strength.
It started to fall apart.
Under the billowing black smoke that covered the sky and the sun, flames were raging everywhere in the magnificent and exquisite temple.
Each of the gorgeous Buddhist temples and golden halls were on fire.
Thick black smoke rose and lingered in the air.
Clusters of blurry Figures swayed and entangled in the firelight.
In every square, palace and corridor, the desperate cries of the dying, the pop of knives and guns piercing the human body, and the hiss of blood spurting in the air were constantly heard.
In the billowing black smoke, people were stabbed to death by spears, killed by sharp knives, and knocked down by muskets from time to time.
Others were trampled to pieces by horse hooves after being hit by arrows, and some were burned with fire all over their bodies.
They danced a dance of death, and eventually turned into a ball of charcoal.
The unpleasant odor caused by burning corpses filled the small battlefield, and appalling screams came one after another.
There are also some injured people with tenacious vitality, even dragging their fragmented and mutilated bodies, crawling slowly and painfully, stubbornly pursuing the door of survival in the hallucination of near-death, their internal organs and intestines being mixed with mud.
The scene is really terrible.
Seeing that our own troops finally invaded the temple, Hale, a time traveler from the 21st century, or Evaristo, a Brazilian Japanese terrorist.
Okamoto, as well as the leader of the "overseas Japanese" crusaders in the Spanish colonies in the Philippines in this time and space, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But thinking about what he is doing now, this former internationally wanted criminal who calls himself a revolutionary can't help but laugh.
"Haha, are all my efforts since traveling through time and space just to make Japan a Christian country?"
At this moment, more than half a year has passed since he set foot on the Japanese islands.
In the first half of this year, after an extremely strenuous effort, Hale, who had been working hard in the Philippines as "Paul Okamoto, a devout Japanese Christian persecuted by the shogunate" since time travel, finally deceived the government-general and the strong support of the Catholic Church. , pulled up a "Philippine Overseas Japanese Crusade" composed of 900 Japanese expatriates, 400 Nanyang natives, more than 200 overseas Chinese and white Europeans.
Then, Hale or Okamoto led the expedition force of 1,500 people across the sea and headed north.
Relying on the artillery support of Spanish warships, they captured the shogunate's last stronghold in the Western Kingdom, Nagasaki Port.
At the same time, through Jesuit missionaries With his personal connections, he trumpeted that he was a "holy warrior" who came to protect Japanese believers, and tried his best to win the recognition and support of the Choshu clan and the "Kieshitan" forces.
Unfortunately, Hale arrived too late.
At this time, the Crusade "Holy War" on Kyushu Island was coming to an end, and the remnants of the shogunate in Nagasaki were waiting to surrender.
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In the eyes of the famous "Chichichitan" of the Western Kingdom headed by the Choshu clan, this "Filipino Japanese Christian Crusade", which is closely related to the Spanish, not only does not offer help in times of need, but is suspected of robbing monsters to take advantage of them.
I am very critical of Hale.
Fortunately, although the victory of the overthrown army in the Western Kingdom was determined at this time, the next larger-scale battle to enter Beijing and Shangluo was imminent.
Therefore, for the overthrowing forces, it is still a time to recruit troops.
In order to overthrow the powerful Tokugawa Shogunate, it is always good to have more strength.
Therefore, under the coordination of Jesuit missionaries, Hale's "Philippine Japanese Crusade" composed of Japanese ronin, Southeast Asian natives and a few European adventurers, finally gained the recognition of the Maori family and successfully joined the The sequence of overthrowing the Tokugawa army.
However, Hale's original plan of "occupying Nagasaki and peeking at Kyushu" was completely declared bankrupt.
In order to win the trust of his allies, he had to hand over the unwarm Nagasaki Port in his hands.
Next, during the brutal war against Kinki, Hale's team was led by Spanish veterans who had participated in the Thirty Years War.
The scum of various colors, who had extensive experience in eradicating the indigenous people in Luzon Island, dealt with The battlefield where flames of flames set a prairie fire and all lives are devastated can be called Although it is incomparable to the modern regular army of the Choshu clan, among the various miscellaneous troops, compared with those mud-legged men who have just put down their hoes, Hale's 1,500 expeditionary army can already be regarded as elite.
In addition, he is more professional in robbing homes and homes.
Therefore, in the past six months of the campaign, Hale and his men not only harvested a large amount of loot, but also expanded the team to more than 3,000 people by recruiting strong men along the way.
He also gained a great reputation among the Overthrown Army camp, which finally made people take a few glances at him.
However, the expansion of the strength of his subordinates did not make Hale feel much proud.
On the contrary, through this reverse war, he gained a deeper understanding of the modern Chinese people traveling through the group in this world.
Although what he saw was still It's just the tip of the iceberg of this huge organization called "Chinese Alliance", but just looking at the steam battleships wandering in the Seto Inland Sea, every Tons of American corn, salted fish and grains were unloaded on the pier in a day, a steady stream of ordnance and ammunition provided to the defeated Tokugawa army, the huge airships that occasionally appeared over the Choshu Domain, and the well-equipped and powerful military force on the Kinki battlefield.
The powerful Chinese League Task Force Japanese Volunteer Corps made Hale, a revolutionary who was bent on liberating the world, feel desperate and powerless.
In this changed time and space, how powerful are the powers of those Chinese travelers?
Are they really trying to conquer the world while everyone else is left to struggle within their blueprint for conquest?
Hale sighed helplessly, no longer insisting on his past delusions.
"It seems that it is basically impossible to liberate Japan, liberate Asia, and build a new society with my own strength, especially to defeat those incredibly powerful Chinese travelers.
The most important thing now is Or should I find a place to stand and give my troops a place to settle down?
I wonder if I can get a fiefdom from the Maori family with my military exploits during this period."
While he was thinking this, he gestured to the guards around him to follow him into the killing field of Shitennoji Temple.
At this moment, the Shitennoji Temple, which was founded by Prince Shotoku in the past, was already a tragic scene like Abi Hell.
The originally dazzling and magnificent Buddhist hall was first stained red with blood, and then scorched black by fire and smoke.
The shouts of death and wailing gradually stopped, and the pungent smell of blood and burnt stench filled the air, making it difficult to breathe.
The messy ground of every Buddhist hall and courtyard was littered with mutilated corpses.
Some of them are young adults, and more are old people, women and children.
Most of the dead were local believers and monks, but on the other hand, among the piles of corpses, there were also many Christians who died in battle, lying among them with broken bowels, or Burnt to ashes by the fire that still hasn't been extinguished.
And among the corpses and bloodstains on the ground, the newly victorious Japanese Christians, like their Western Crusaders predecessors who recaptured the Holy Land of Jerusalem in the past, were happily working together to knock down the bronze Buddha, smash the shrines, burn Buddhist scriptures, and then Place a cross and a statue of the Virgin, They bowed respectfully and sang tuneless hymns.
Even though the previous high-intensity fighting and the smoky ordeal had made them unkempt and their bodies were soaked with blood, they still could not hide their every move.
Joy and enthusiasm in one's eyes.
"Is this a religious war?
It's so stupid and cruel."
Amidst the noisy and hoarse hymns, Hale calmly and slightly mockingly looked at all the blood, fanaticism and piety with the rationality of a modern revolutionary.
At the same time, he also calculated how much loot revenue he could get from this temple.
At this moment, his Filipino personal servant, Marcos, who also came from the 21st century, hurriedly arrived and brought Hale a message: "Sir, the Commander-in-Chief has come to you immediately to tell you that he has good news."
After receiving the summons from General Mori Sui Nobuyoshi of the Osaka Battle, Hale ordered the troops to continue cleaning the battlefield, and at the same time he took the guards to see the commander.
After leaving the Shitennoji battlefield, walking along the way, there were piles of Japanese Crusaders "jihadists" everywhere, and maybe a few shogunate or Buddhist temple spies in makeup.
Their queues were loose and their tents were in disarray. , the weapons and equipment were also in a mess, some used spears, some used bows and arrows, and many simply used farm tools such as hoes and shovels, or even just a sharpened wooden stick or bamboo pole.
Among these miscellaneous troops, only a few "elites" wore uniforms obtained from unknown sources and wore their formations crookedly, giving them a slightly military look.
The samurai leader wore the captured armor and deliberately dressed up in a very gorgeous and ostentatious manner, which could make people mistakenly think that they were having a masquerade party.
In short, they were just a bunch of amateurs.
Fortunately, their opponents were even more aggressive, so they were able to win again and again.
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Then, he rode his horse through the burned-to-ruins Osaka Castle Town, and at the same time carefully bypassed the Osaka Castle where the shogunate army was still resisting.
What he saw along the way was unimaginable desolation and ruin.
The tragedy lasted for more than two months.
The tug-of-war has completely destroyed Osaka, Japan's largest commercial and trade hub.
Most of the houses and buildings were burned down in the battles between the various armies, and the remaining houses were demolished by the shogunate army, the shogunate army and the "Buddhist religious soldiers" to build military camps.
Window lattice and thresholds were smashed and burned as fuel for heating and building siege engines.
Therefore, the entire city has now been basically razed to the ground.
Even if peace is truly restored, I am afraid that we will never be able to regain our strength within three to five years.
Among the two to three hundred thousand Osaka citizens before the war, at least more than 100,000 died in the war or were exiled, and the remaining people had no livelihood.
In order to get a bite of food, they had to sharpen their heads and look for work in the military camp, or simply put a straw mark on their head, ask to be sold into slavery, and if they were lucky, they would be taken in by the second-level traffickers who accompanied the army.
Give them a few rough bites.
Among them, men are usually organized into handymen camps on the spot and serve as porters, coolies and cannon fodder for sieges.
The women were tied into a string with long straw ropes, waiting to be loaded onto large ships and sold to the merchant fleet of the "Chinese Alliance".
In the territories of various union republics controlled by modern Chinese travelers, there are varying degrees of population.
The problem of gender imbalance requires the import of a large number of young women.
However, although the once prosperous Osaka has become so dilapidated, the tens of thousands of rebel troops who participated in the Osaka Raiders did not experience any shortage of food supplies.
Looking at the ships on the Yodo River in the distance, spewing black smoke and hanging The small steamer with the star-ringed flag on the red background is said to be coming from Food, arms and clothing from America were transported to the Maori army's main camp set up on the river bank, and various trophies from the Battle of Osaka: antiques, spices, silks, gold, silver, jade, as well as the population captured during the war, A steady stream of money was being shipped away to pay the bill, and Hale couldn't help but sigh for a while.
No matter where in time and space, there are people like this who have become rich from war and destruction, and have become fat by sucking the blood of others.
I don’t know what kind of future is planned for Japan in the scripts written by these Chinese travelers.
Judging from the hatred between China and Japan in modern times, I am afraid the prospects are not very optimistic.
Hale thought this with worry, but in the face of the desperate comparison of strength, he felt so powerless.
As the journey to the main formation got closer and closer, the troops appearing along the way gradually became more organized.
At least they had uniform uniforms and muskets with bayonets, and the camps were also built in a more orderly manner.
It is located next to the pier on the south bank of the Yodogawa River.
For some unknown reason, Morsuyoshi did not follow the tradition of the Warring States Period in Japan and surrounded a square space with white cloth for the samurai to hold meetings in the open air.
Instead, he moved the entire headquarters to a ship parked by the river bank.
On the large Anzhai boat, it looks like it is ready to move at any time.
And when Hale went in to pay his respects, he discovered that this famous "Changzhou old man" was really going to move soon.
"This winter's Osaka strategy is over with preparations to withdraw the troops, so I am asked to take the troops to Kyoto to report my merits and receive rewards." oshow7: