Kitakyushu.

It is located opposite the Changfu.

At this moment, a large number of Japanese soldiers continued to sneak over and lurk here.

From a geographical point of view, this place should belong to the border of Zhu Gang's vassal state.

However, due to its special location, the four major feudal lords jointly stationed troops on Honshu Island to hedge against Japan.

The permanent garrison was not large, totaling less than 20,000 men, but the military city they had built had hundreds of artillery pieces and a large number of musketeers.

Not to mention 100,000 people, even if there were hundreds of thousands, it would not be possible to take them down in a short period of time.

The reason why Ashikaga Yoshimitsu wanted Prince Yan to station his troops and prepare to attack Nagafu was to prevent Prince Yan from guarding the city.

This is not the Kitakyushu of the past.

There is no possibility of taking down the tall city wall unless human lives are used to fill it.

The composition of the Japanese soldiers was generally that daimyos from various places led their own samurai to join the army.

In the past, the Japanese soldiers didn’t even have logistics; they were all samurai and farmers who brought their own food.

However, later on, a military ration rice system was introduced to separate the samurai and peasant groups. The samurai became professional soldiers, and only then did the peasants take charge of logistics.

However, wealthy samurai always brought a lot of food of their own, while poor samurai could only eat food provided by official logistics.

Thanks to the gradual popularization of Ming Dynasty's high-yield crops in Japan, Japanese soldiers now have much more food.

"Why is there a war again all of a sudden?"

Among the lurking Japanese soldiers, Akagi Yuzo said helplessly.

Just as his days were getting better, he was suddenly summoned by the daimyo again.

"What can we do? These are the orders of the big shots. We have no room to resist. We just have to obey their orders." Shuikou Zhou Er said casually.

The two were not from the same village, but were from nearby.

In order to better learn group military operations, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu integrated the neighboring local daimyo together.

Most Japanese soldiers are familiar faces to each other, which can further improve their combat effectiveness.

Akagi Yuzo carefully looked ahead, then tugged at the musket in his hand and said, "I heard that the muskets we made are very unreliable. When we tried them out a few days ago, many of them exploded and injured themselves."

"When you use the musket, you have to be careful. Just fire it. Don't injure your eyes. You'll go blind."

Mizuguchi nodded on Tuesday with lingering fear.

This matter had already spread in the army. After all, many people were from the same village, so it was impossible to keep it secret. However, the higher-ups did not allow the matter to be discussed, so the two men only dared to speak about it in secret.

Similar to Mizuguchi Shuichi and Akagi Yuzo, the Japanese soldiers are now very war-weary.

First of all, it was because of the Northern and Southern Dynasties War that lasted for sixty years and affected the entire Japan.

However, just as this war was over, the Ming Dynasty invaded.

Many Japanese people have been fighting almost all their lives and have little time to rest.

This is also one of the reasons why Japan shows low combat effectiveness when facing the Ming Dynasty's invasion.

In particular, it was not easy for Japan and the Ming Dynasty to reach a peace treaty.

The situation of the alliance has little to do with the lower-class Japanese people. They only know that they don’t have to fight anymore.

Good days have arrived again. The high-yield crops of the Ming Dynasty have enabled many Japanese people to have enough food to eat.

In the past few years, the Japanese people do not have any hatred towards the Ming Dynasty, which is said to have invaded them. Instead, they are very grateful.

This is determined by the most original demands.

Because Japan vigorously recruited soldiers and turned many farmers into the samurai class, many of the so-called samurai today have not actually received much military training.

But now that we have muskets, we don’t need too much technical training to become a qualified soldier.

"It is forbidden to talk about muskets."

The accompanying officer heard the discussion and immediately came over and scolded them.

On Tuesday of Mizuguchi, Akagi Yuzo immediately shut his mouth.

After the officer left, Shuikou Zhou Er said disdainfully: "It's just luck that I was appreciated by the daimyo. Bah, what a joke."

Akagi Yuzo said, "Forget it, let's keep quiet. If this gets to the daimyo, we will suffer the consequences."

Kyushu Island is the second largest island in Japan after Honshu Island, and its current total population is around 1.5 million.

This was after a large number of Japanese people who were fleeing the chaos migrated to Honshu Island.

The number of Ming people, including the Ming army, was less than 300,000.

A large number of Ming soldiers were generally concentrated near the main cities of the vassal states, such as Qincheng, Jincheng, Yancheng, and Qicheng.

Some of the Ming troops were stationed in important military locations like Kitakyushu Castle, or guarding large mines.

Most areas of Kyushu Island were governed by a small number of Ming people, or even autonomous Japanese people, who only needed to pay taxes and obey the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

It is obviously unrealistic to completely control the entire Kyushu Island.

It was in this regard that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu contacted the local Japanese in northern Kyushu and thus achieved this ambush.

Theoretically, there is no problem.

Even if the Japanese did not hate the Ming people, they would not refuse the orders from the Shogun of Honshu Island.

Moreover, after these Japanese soldiers arrived at the village, they strictly controlled the area and did not allow any information to be transmitted to the outside.

However, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu forgot that there was another branch of descendants from the Central Plains in northern Kyushu.

Mongol Yuan Dynasty.

Kublai Khan's two expeditions to Japan failed, leaving Ming soldiers captured by the Japanese.

Among these captives, the Mongols were killed directly, while the Koreans and Han people were taken as slaves.

In later generations, these people in Japan were also called "burakumin".

Even in the prosperous later generations, before Zhu Ying traveled through time, the tribe people were the lowest class in Japan. Even though Japan abolished the class system, they were still excluded from the four classes of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans. This was Japan's system of nobles and inferiors.

The cry of "good citizens" during the Japanese invasion originated from this.

Tribal people were forbidden to marry Japanese civilians. Even though this law was abolished in later generations, ordinary Japanese people would still hire private detectives to check each other's ancestry, surnames, and family trees when they got married.

There is a saying in Japan: Don't marry a low-class person. Once your bloodline is polluted, it will never be clean again. The children of Eta will always be Eta no matter what era they are.

Eta is the name for the tribal people.

In later times, Japan had a 330-page "General Guide to Tribal Place Names", which recorded the names and addresses of the tribesmen in Japan. Its purpose was to exclude the tribesmen from job hunting.

This book was published after secretly obtaining the household registration information of the tribal people, and more than ten versions have been discovered.

Since it cannot be printed in large quantities or sold publicly, the price of the book is very high, but many Japanese companies own this book so that they can exclude tribesmen when hiring new employees.

They have no dignity at all and can only do "unclean" work, such as carrying manure and slaughtering animals.

However, most of them are descendants of Han people.

Japan once regarded the Southern Song Dynasty as its suzerain state, but after capturing the people of the Southern Song Dynasty, it demoted them to tribal people.

From this we can see that even though Japan was constantly absorbing the culture of the Central Plains and claimed to be the most loyal vassal state of the Han, Tang and Song dynasties, in fact, this was just a slogan to gain more benefits.

Shimomura.

The people here are all called Xiamu.

This is a very strange thing, because generally speaking, only high-ranking officials and nobles have surnames among the Japanese. Those who have surnames are at least samurai. Ordinary people do not have surnames.

The reason why there were so many surnames in Japan in later generations was that the Japanese government forced the people to choose their own surnames. This is the origin of more than 100,000 surnames.

In Shimoki Village, the familiar Japanese people have no contact with it at all, and even when they want to pass by, they will take a detour.

Because this is the tribal people's village, the dirtiest place.

This village no longer existed in later generations, and many tribesmen changed their names to Japanese surnames in order to conceal their identities.

Xia Mu means decayed, dirty and rotten wood.

It is the title given by the Japanese government.

It is to distinguish them from ordinary people.

In the village.

"Father, they have taken all our food and it is clear that they will not give it back to us. Many of us will starve to death."

Shimoki Genji said to his father Shimoki Katsuto, with a strong anger on his rather childish face.

The ambush troops sent by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu directly robbed almost all the edible things in their village.

Anyone who disobeyed would be killed immediately.

According to Japanese law, a tribe member was only one-seventh the size of an ordinary citizen.

If a Japanese killed a tribesman, he would not be found guilty.

Only when seven tribesmen are killed will it be considered murder.

Upon hearing this, Shimoki Shengli just sighed and said, "Let's get everyone to fish more. They should be able to hold out until the next harvest, and then they can survive."

Xia Musheng's face was a little ferocious: "Now outside, it's the Ming Dynasty's world. My surname is not Xia Mu, my surname is Zhao!"

Bang!

Shimoki Katsuri slapped Shimoki Genji in the face.

Cursed: "Stupid, who told you that?"

After being beaten, Shimoki Genji covered his face with his hands, his eyes showing some anger, but he stood there without moving, and replied: "My grandfather told me before he died."

Shimoki Shengli's expression changed drastically and he looked at his eldest son in a daze.

After a moment, he said, "Did you tell other people about this?"

Shimoki Genji lowered his head and said nothing, his meaning was very clear.

Shimoki Katsuri growled, "You know this will kill everyone."

Shimoki Genji said unwillingly: "But now it is the Ming Dynasty. We are descendants of the Han people. Why should we be slaves to the Japanese?"

"As long as we tell the Ming army, they will definitely be willing to accept us. Then we can return to our roots and even go back to the place where our ancestors grew up."

"Father, this has always been Grandpa's wish!"

Faced with his son's resistance, Shimoki Katsuri was a little at a loss.

One hundred and thirty years have passed since the Mongol invasion of Japan.

After such a long time, the legend of Xiamu Village no longer exists.

It is true that their bloodline is relatively pure due to the relationship with the Japanese government, but in reality, what is the difference between them and the Japanese now?

One hundred and thirty years is too long, so long that the people of present-day Shimomura have long forgotten their ancestors.

Apart from the Xiamu Shengli lineage who knew that their surname was Zhao, there were only a few people who knew their own surnames.

This was a secret circulation. In fact, Shimoki Shengli was not prepared to pass it on any further, but he did not expect that his father would tell his son about this matter.

Perhaps, in my father's heart, he has always wanted the Zhao family to be able to trace their ancestral roots.

However, in Shimoki Village, more people have already accepted the reality that they are Eta.

"You are still too young. Even if you find the Ming army, what can you say? Tell them that we are descendants of the Han people, the Zhao family?"

"Do you have anything to prove? You can't even speak Chinese, how can you prove that you are a descendant of the Han people?"

"Look at what you look like now. If you appear in front of the Ming army, they will just arrest you as a spy."

Shimomura shook his head and said to his son.

One hundred and thirty years, five generations.

Shimoki Murari knows more than his son, after all, he belongs to the fourth generation.

When his grandfather was very young, he was the grandson of the first generation of expeditionary soldiers who were once enslaved.

So he had heard a lot about the past.

In fact, he was able to serve as the village chief because his ancestor was a general-level figure in the captured army.

He was even educated and literate, so he was not an ordinary soldier.

The grandfather in Xiamu Village can even write Chinese characters and speak Chinese.

Unfortunately, this was a restricted thing and was not inherited by his father.

Therefore, Xia Mucunli understood that even in the place of their ancestors, the distant Central Plains, the government was not a good group of people, and was even worse than that of Japan.

They don't care about the so-called descendants of the Han people at all. It is completely different from the beautiful imagination of their son.

In this regard, Shimoki Murasaki is actually not wrong.

After all, the Southern Song Dynasty had already perished at that time, and in the eyes of the Mongols, most Han people were just two-legged sheep, extremely lowly, and nothing more than slaves.

So from Xia Mucun's perspective, what's the difference between this and now?

The descendants of the Han people are nothing but a beautiful wish.

"Father, these warriors obviously came to Kitakyushu suddenly, and they must be planning to launch a surprise attack on the Ming army. If we tell the Ming army about this, we will definitely be able to gain merit."

"Even if we won't be recognized as Japanese, as father said, we can still make the village better."

Xia Muyuanji suddenly had an idea and spoke.

When Xia Mucun heard this, he was somewhat moved.

After all, Kyushu Island is now ruled by the Ming army, so they must have made contributions by delivering messages.

But after thinking about it, he shook his head and said, "The warriors have already guarded all the roads. We have no chance to report the news."

"Besides, this is no small matter. With so many warriors, this is obviously very important. If they are discovered, the whole village could be killed."

Xia Mucunli didn't want to gamble with the lives of all the villagers.

Shimoki Genji's eyes flashed with surprise as he whispered, "Father, there is a small path that those warriors definitely don't know about."