Chapter 1174 Please! Please don't become Ye Mingsheng's accomplice!

On March 15, the Hojo Army camp in Lujiao Town outside Bangtao City
In the central army tent, Hojo Kawa, who personally led the team to rescue Bangtao City, was concentrating on looking at the sand table in front of him, showing the enemy situation between the shogunate army and the coalition forces around Bangtao City...
Some time ago, Wang He not only brought him thousands of muskets, but also brought him hundreds of Fengwu Army instructors. While helping the Hojo Army foot soldiers to use the firearms of the Great Zhou, these Fengwu Army instructors also brought some cutting-edge combat methods and concepts. The use of sand table for combat is one of the new combat concepts that the Dongdao people learned from the Great Zhou instructors!

When Hojo Kawa saw the sand table for the first time from Wang He, his eyes lit up. Compared with traditional maps, the sand table showed the terrain more intuitively, allowing the generals commanding the operations to understand the terrain conditions of both sides more clearly, making it easier to make correct decisions!
Since then, Hojo Kawa has actively introduced sand tables into his own army, and learned from Da Zhou how to make the sand tables more vivid and specific. To this day, the sand table has become one of Hojo Kawa's indispensable tools for commanding operations!

More than half a month ago, Hojo Kawakawa, who was about to turn into a "husband-waiting stone", finally received military aid from the Great Zhou. With the support of thousands of Great Zhou muskets, the army of the Hojo family has been significantly improved, and this also strengthened Hojo Kawakawa's courage and determination to continue fighting the shogunate to the end!

Hojo Kawa decided to continue fighting. He first used a feint to the east and pretended to lead his troops to rescue Bangtao Castle, thus luring the troops sent by the shogunate to contain him out of Kaze.

And when this group of troops attacked Hakata Castle, Hojo Kawa suddenly led his men to strike back, and directly defeated this group of more than 10,000 shogunate troops with the firearms of the Great Zhou Dynasty...
The great victory of the Hojo River in this battle not only eliminated the shogunate troops, but also directly deterred the Aso family who were ready to make a move, forcing the Aso family to send someone to promise to remain neutral and not to participate in the fight between the shogunate and the coalition forces!
After resolving his worries, Hojo Kawa immediately led his troops to rush to Bangtao City for support, and arrived at Lujiao Town, which was only fifty miles away from Bangtao City, last night.

Just as Hojo Kawa was looking at the sand table and thinking about the next battle strategy, he heard a report from the guards.

"Your Excellency, Master! Mr. Wang is here!"

Hearing the three words "Mr. Wang", Beijo Chuan immediately stopped thinking and said loudly:
"Please invite Mr. Wang in!"

"Yes!"

A moment later, Wang He, with a calm expression, walked into Hojo Kawa's tent. After slightly bowing to Hojo Kawa, he sat down at Hojo Kawa's warm invitation.

As soon as he sat down, Beijo Kawa couldn't wait to say to Wang He happily:

"Mr. Wang, I have good news for you. Just now, the spies ahead reported that the shogunate army has lifted the siege on Bangtao City!"

After hearing this, Wang He, who had been calm at first, became a little surprised and asked:

"Are you serious, Hojo-sama?"

Facing Wang He's suspicious gaze, Beijo Chuan smiled and nodded and said:

"Mr. Wang, this news is absolutely true! Seven or eight spies have already come back to report. According to the latest news, the tens of thousands of shogunate troops that besieged Bangtao City have now all retreated to Hengtian in the north..."

"I have sent people to Bangtao City to contact Watanabe-kun. I believe we can reunite with Watanabe-kun's troops soon!"

Wang He nodded and said:

"Congratulations, Master Hojo!"

Although he congratulated Hojo Kawa, Wang He couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. He had been expecting a fierce battle to break out between the Bangtao City Shogunate and the Hojo Watanabe coalition!

Wang He was full of expectations for this possible fierce battle. He believed that both sides would fight with blood and flesh flying everywhere, and corpses would be scattered all over the ground. While greatly consuming the internal manpower of Dongdao, it would also intensify the conflicts between the local daimyo!
But what Wang He didn't expect was that the shogunate was so cowardly that it took the initiative to retreat before the war even started. This was really disappointing!

Just when Wang He was feeling a little down because the expected battle was cancelled, Beijo Kawa spoke again:
"I wonder what Mr. Wang thinks about the last incident?"

Hearing this, Wang He couldn't help but glance at Beijo Chuan. Feeling the seriousness in the old man's expression, Wang He sighed and said:

"Lord Hojo, I'm telling you the truth. If you give me some more silver to arrange for the Weiyuan Gun, the Po Lu Gun, the Hu Dun Cannon and other things, I will still be able to get them back for you..."

"But when it comes to building a factory, it's different. Our commander attaches great importance to technology, and this is a very difficult task!"

"So there is something to discuss?" Beijo Chuan asked with interest:
Feeling the greed and desire in Beijo Chuan's eyes, Wang He sneered in his heart and said:
"Master Hojo, I know you are an expert in the Great Zhou Dynasty. I believe you must have heard of an old saying in the Great Zhou Dynasty: money makes the world go round!"

"So if you are really interested, then you should show your sincerity. I can help you make things happen, but I don't know if it will work out in the end!"

After pondering for a while, Hojo Chuan asked:

"In that case, I wonder how much sincerity I need to show, Mr. Wang?"

Wang He hesitated for a moment, then stretched out five fingers and said:

"It will take at least five boxes of gold, silver and jewelry like before, and this is just the initial activity fee. Excuse me for being frank, a firearms factory requires steelmaking technology, casting technology, and craftsmen also need to be trained. All these things added up are silver. Lord Hojo, you have to think about it carefully!"

“Let me tell you that back then, Lu Jianchao of Jiangnan spent nearly two million taels of silver to buy the firearms technology of our Fengwu Army. So, Lord Hojo, you should have an idea of ​​this!” Hojo Kawa fell into silence after hearing Wang He’s “big mouth”. Although the current military success made Hojo Kawa very happy, he also felt some hidden worries under the victory·····························

Just like at the beginning of the war, the coalition forces formed by the Hojo family and the Watanabe family were unstoppable and advanced very quickly, even reaching the vicinity of Heian-kyo at one point. However, as time went on, these second-hand Fengmu army firearms were gradually damaged in the high-intensity combat!

However, these firearms lacked effective replenishment, which resulted in the loss of one musket as soon as it broke down. This situation over time, coupled with some other reasons, eventually led to the decline and ultimate collapse of the coalition forces!
After realizing this situation, Hojo Kawa had the idea to introduce the production technology of the Great Zhou to manufacture muskets by himself. For this purpose, he specially organized craftsmen to disassemble the Weiyuan gun and the Pulu gun. The craftsmen of Dongdao were indeed very powerful. After studying the Weiyuan gun and the Pulu gun, they did make some imitations!
However, although it is indeed possible to imitate, the imitations from Dongdao are only 60% to 70% of the originals from Da Zhou in terms of some important parameters such as accuracy, stability, and safety!

If that were all, Hojo Kawa would have just accepted it, after all, a 60% to 70% standard was already pretty good. But what Hojo Kawa could not accept was that due to the immature production technology, the Tojima craftsmen were unable to produce on a large scale, and even if everyone worked overtime for a month, they could only make a dozen or twenty at most!

Therefore, there was no other way, Beijo Chuan could only think of a way from Da Zhou to see if he could introduce Da Zhou's advanced firearms production technology to Dongdao·························
However, although Hojo Kawa had this intention, he did not expect that Wang He would ask for such a high price. A box of gold, silver and jewelry like the one before was worth at least 60,000 or 70,000 taels of silver, and five boxes would be more than 300,000 taels of silver. This was only the initial cost, and there was no guarantee of success!

Honestly speaking, Wang He’s attitude really made Hojo Kawa unable to figure out whether Wang He didn’t want to hand over the technology of producing muskets to him, so he wanted to ask for an exorbitant price to scare him, or whether he wanted to take this opportunity to make a fortune from him!
Just as Hojo Kawa was thinking and hesitating, a guard came over and whispered something in his ear. Although Wang He did not hear clearly what the guard and Hojo Kawa said, he could feel that Hojo Kawa's expression changed obviously after hearing what the guard said.

Beijo Chuan hesitated for a moment and instructed the guards:
"Let them wait for a moment. Mr. Wang and I have something to talk about!"

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this news, Wang He narrowed his eyes, then smiled and said to Beijo Chuan:

"Master Hojo, how about this? I'll help you find out about this first, and I'll tell you if I have any specific information!"

"Since you have other things to do here, I'll take my leave first and not disturb you..."

After hearing this, Hojo Chuan followed suit, and in order to show his closeness, he personally escorted Wang He out of the tent. When Wang He was far away, Hojo Chuan immediately ordered:

"Bring him in!"

"Yes!"

A moment later, an elegant and handsome middle-aged man appeared in front of Hojo Kawa.

Looking at the familiar face of the visitor, Beijo Chuan couldn't help but speak with some emotion:

"Muto-kun! You are truly courageous! Those Zhou people spent so much to get your head, and you still dare to show up here. Aren't you afraid that I will hand you over to those Zhou people for punishment?"

Without Hojo Kawa's instructions, Muto Masaaki sat down on his own and said calmly:

"Bai Tiaochuan, you old man, don't tell me you really believe the nonsense that these Zhou people came because of me?"

After hearing this, Beijo Chuan said leisurely:
"But your biological daughter is indeed the most beloved woman of Marshal Ye of the Great Zhou Dynasty!"

Hearing the words "biological daughter", Muto Masaaki's expression also showed a hint of anger and he said coldly:

“Don’t mention that evil creature to me! I, Mutou Masaaki, never had this daughter. If I had known she would be like this now, I should not have let her live. It was me who was too soft-hearted back then…”

Hojo Chuan laughed somewhat mockingly upon hearing this. Seeing this, Muto Masaaki said in a deep voice:
"Hojo Chuan, I'm right here now! If you really think that I lured these Zhou people here, you can just kill me now and give my head to Marshal Ye. Then you can see if these Zhou people will leave!"

After hearing Muto Masaaki's decisive words, the smile on Hojo Kawa's face gradually disappeared and he said:
"So this is why Ishihara Nobuyuki asked you, Muto-kun, to come here and die?"

"Don't worry. If you really kill me, the Zhou people will not stop helping you. Instead, they will increase their support. You and I both know that these Zhou people have no intention of helping you win this battle. They just want us Dongdao people to shed our last drop of blood in the civil war!"

"If they really want you to win, when you reach the vicinity of Heian-kyō, these Great Zhou fire guns should be handed over to you. If so, you and Watanabe Yutake would have been having a celebration banquet in Heian-kyō now!"

“These Zhou people don’t want to see you win, but they also don’t want to see you lose. They just hope that you and the shogunate will continue to fight and let the war on East Island continue. When we are completely exhausted, that’s when the Great Zhou army will land on East Island…”

Mutou Mazaaki's words were like a heavy hammer, hitting Hojo Kawa's heart hard. He was no fool after all these years. Although he believed at first that these Zhou people were coming for Mutou Mazaaki, after so many things happened, he gradually suspected that the motives of Wang He and others were not just to target Mutou Mazaaki!
Although he had such doubts, facing the strong pressure from the shogunate, Hojo Kawa could only hide his doubts in his heart. For him, with the shogunate's troops approaching, no matter what Wang He's purpose was, as long as Wang He could give him military assistance, he could only let it go!
Seeing that Hojo River had fallen into silence, Muto Masaaki was immediately delighted and said:
"Hojo Chuan, I came here for peace this time. As long as you hand over Wang He and other Zhou thieves, the shogunate will forgive you for what happened. You and Watanabe Yumu can continue to stay in your territory, and everything can return to the way it was before!"

"I believe you have heard that the shogunate has withdrawn its troops to Hengtian. This is the sincerity I showed in persuading Ishihara Nobuyuki!"

“Please! Hojo-kun! Please don’t become a running dog and accomplice of Da Zhou and Ye Mingsheng! If you continue doing this, you will become a sinner in the history of Dongdao, and the entire Dongdao will be doomed...”

(End of this chapter)