In April of the 21st year, at the request of Xiang Nan, the Nanyang Navy and the Beiyang Navy were dispatched together to attack Japan.
Beiyang Navy currently has six ships, namely Anguo, Zhenguo, Dingguo, Huguo, Baoguo, and Weiguo, to distinguish them from the Yuanzihao and Haizihao ships of the Nanyang Navy.
Beiyang Navy's Guozihao ship has a larger displacement. The displacement of Yuanzihao is only 3,000 tons, the displacement of Haizihao is only 5,000 tons, and the displacement of Guozihao has reached 8,000 tons.
Floating on the sea, it really looks like a giant. As the tonnage increases, the ship's ability to ride on wind and waves will naturally be greatly enhanced. Even ten-meter-high winds and waves can be overcome, so this lays a safe foundation for ocean navigation.
As for why we want to attack Japan, first of all, it is because of old enmity. Not to mention the real world, how much harm Japan has caused to China. Even now Japan has new enmity with the Qing Dynasty.
For example, during the Qing Dynasty, although Jiangnan was no longer troubled by Japanese pirates, there were still many Japanese pirates on the sea. Especially in recent years, Xiang Nan has actively expanded foreign trade, resulting in frequent business exchanges in the South China Sea and the East China Sea.
This attracted the attention of many pirates. In addition to domestic pirates like Zheng Yisao and Zhang Baozai, there were also ships from Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, France, England and other countries committing robberies at sea.
Secondly, it is to reserve funds for the Rakshasa Kingdom. As far as Xiang Nan knows, starting from 1756, which is this year, the Alliance of England and Prussia will join forces with France, the Rakshasa Kingdom, and the Austrian Alliance to fight for European hegemony and colonies.
This war will last for seven years. In the end, England won a great victory and obtained Canada, Tianzhu and a large area of land on the east coast of the Mississippi from France.
The Rakshasa Kingdom rebelled midway and stabbed France in the back, so it was also considered a big winner. Not only established the status of a European power, but also obtained a large territory of Poland.
As a result, the strength of the Rakshasa Kingdom has been strengthened. If it is given another few decades, the Rakshasa Kingdom will be completely unstoppable.
Hence, Xiang Nan must take advantage of the Seven Years War and the good opportunity of the Rakshasa Kingdom to eliminate their strongholds in Northeast and Central Asia in one fell swoop, thereby driving the Rakshasa Kingdom's forces out of Asia.
And fighting a war costs money, especially a war with a big country like the Rakshasa Kingdom. Don’t even think about it if you don’t have tens of millions of taels of silver. The Qing treasury's current deposits have reached 1.2 billion taels of silver, but Xiang Nan does not want to use this money.
After all, it’s better to spend your own money than to spend other people’s money.
It just so happens that Japan has accumulated over thousands of years, and he should have a lot of wealth, which is enough for him to fight against the Rakshasa Kingdom.
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The Nanyang Navy and the Beiyang Navy were dispatched together, plus 100,000 new troops went to sea with the ships. Such a powerful military force was by no means comparable to Japan.
In fact, in real history, in 1853, the commander of the U.S. fleet only brought four warships. The largest of them, with a tonnage of less than 3,000 tons, had already scared the **** out of Japan.
Today, the total tonnage of the ships of the Beiyang Navy and the Nanyang Navy exceeds 100,000 tons, and they use more advanced artillery and long guns than the US ships at that time, which makes Japan even more difficult to resist.
After landing at Nagasaki in Japan in mid-April, the army marched straight in and headed north. The Yu family also sent a large army to support them.
Those feudal towns only respected the general as their leader in name, but in fact each had its own territory, its own army, and each had its own politics and economy. Therefore, when the Qing army invaded in a large scale, the Tokugawa shogunate was unable to organize a strong resistance. These feudal towns also had too much time to take care of themselves, and were quickly defeated one by one.
In addition, Japan at that time, like the Qing Dynasty, implemented a long-term strategy of isolation from the country, resulting in weapons and equipment that had not been updated for a long time and were far behind the times.
Although they are also equipped with firearms such as matchlocks and cannons, compared with the Qing army's automatic rifles, machine guns, howitzers, and giant steel ships, they are simply the difference between a sparrow and an eagle.
The Japanese soldiers lined up and charged at the Qing army. As a result, they all fell down like mowing grass under the fire of the Qing army's spears and cannons.
The attack began in mid-April, and two months later, the ruling General Tokugawa Ieshige surrendered to the Qing army. But Xiang Nan knew that the shogun was only the nominal leader. In fact, the various vassals only listened to his instructions but not his announcements.
So after the shogun surrendered, Xiang Nan did not let the Qing army stop, but continued to attack and kill.
In the end, the three hundred feudal towns under the Tokugawa Shogunate were wiped out, and all came under the newly established Zhentō Protectorate. The Qing court sent troops to station and officials to manage it.
Since Japan was founded thousands of years ago, Japan has almost never suffered an invasion from foreign enemies. Even when Japan was strong, it continued to invade the Korean Peninsula.
For example, in 232 AD, Japan invaded Goryeo and plundered countless people; it occupied Baekje in the mid-sixth century; it attacked Silla in the seventh century and was defeated by the Tang Dynasty and Silla coalition forces; during the Ming Dynasty, it harassed Goryeo many times and even invaded China. coastal…
It can be said that this country has basically never suffered a big loss for thousands of years, so its accumulated wealth made Xiang Nan laugh out loud.
In the end, 250 million taels of silver, nearly 10 million taels of gold, and more than 300,000 tons of copper coins were collected. It can be said that all the money spent on fighting the Rakshasa Kingdom was earned back.
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Therefore, in the 22nd year of Qianlong's reign, Xiang Nan once again led a personal expedition, leading his second elder brother Yong Cong, third elder brother Yong Qi, fifth elder brother Yong Heng, sixth elder brother Yong Lian, seventh elder brother Yong Xuan, and other generals. , personally led an army of 100,000 people, divided into two groups, to attack the Rakshasa Kingdom.
Going out of Shanhaiguan all the way, they attacked the Rakshasa army in the northeast. Set out all the way from the Western Region to attack the Rakshasa Army entrenched in the Western Region and cut off its retreat.
Xiang Nan led the West Route Army, with the three brothers Yongqi, Yonglian, and Yongxuan. The East Route Army was led by Agui and led by the two brothers Yongcong and Yongheng.
As for the fourth elder brother, Yong Cun, he has been weak since he was a child. In addition, Ruyi has not had high demands on him since he was a child. He only thinks that he can be a rich prince, so this has created Yong Cang to be cowardly and incompetent. , the character of muddling along.
Such a person is not suitable to go to the battlefield, and Xiang Nan does not want him to follow him to lose face. So on this expedition, even Yongxuan, who was just sixteen years old, was brought with him, but Yongcun was not taken with him.
As for the eldest brother Yonghuang, he still stayed in the court to supervise the country. In addition, Liu Tongxun, Fu Heng, Yu Minzhong, Wang Youdun, Yin Jishan, Prince Yunmi, etc. served as ministers to assist the government.
In addition, the Beiyang Navy responded all the way north along the coastline, while the Nanyang Navy defended the main roads in Southeast Asia to prevent the foreign powers from taking the opportunity to attack.
Of course, England and France are currently busy fighting wars in Europe, and they probably won’t be able to care about this for the time being. Xiang Nan happened to use offense as defense, and ordered the Annan Protectorate to march from Bagan to Bangge La and Tianzhu.