Chapter 1646: Suppression

Tokugawa Iemitsu's roar within the hall naturally could not reach the ears of the "Han bandits" he spoke of, and of course, they would not have cared in the slightest what Tokugawa Iemitsu thought of them anyway.

They had far more important matters to attend to.

After occupying Kyushu, although the Great Han court had previously promised to gift the entire island of Kyushu to the Shimazu clan, in order to maintain order in the occupied territories, Zhao Song still ordered that the current state of Kyushu remain unchanged for the time being. The various domain lords who had submitted to Great Han continued to uphold their previous ruling order within their territories, so order remained relatively strict in these areas.

However, in the territories of those domain lords who were loyal to the shogunate and had raised troops to resist, because the domain lords and their retainers had mostly either been killed or wounded under the Great Han army's advance, or had fled into the wilderness to live in constant fear, the original ruling order had essentially been suddenly destroyed.

In a few places, order was barely maintained due to the stationing of Great Han troops, but the Great Han army was limited after all. In areas the Great Han army could not reach, the sudden collapse of the original ruling system led to unrest that was difficult to quell.

The most severe disturbances occurred in the domains of western and southern Kyushu. First, because the Great Han army had landed and advanced from the west, a large number of domain lords and their armies were killed or fled during the war, causing a sudden collapse of social order that gave them space to riot. Second, the Catholics who had previously been harshly suppressed by the shogunate and various domains finally waited for the moment when the suppressing force weakened, and then they seized the opportunity to rise up and launch a rebellion.

These riots erupted concentratedly from the Hinoe Domain and other areas of western Kyushu, and because no one stopped them, they quickly became a raging inferno.

During the Warring States period, local magnates everywhere fought and warred incessantly, while the Spanish and Portuguese of this era had already begun their global maritime expansion, seeking commercial benefits for their respective nations. Soon, these Westerners discovered Japan and established commercial ties with many daimyo, importing their firearms into Japan.

It was precisely because of the large influx of Western firearms that Japan's military underwent rapid and dramatic changes, and Oda Nobunaga also rose to power through the force of this military revolution, swiftly unifying Japan.

At the same time, with the influx of merchants, a large number of Western missionaries also came to Japan and began proselytizing to all levels of Japanese society. Because these Western missionaries possessed knowledge and technology, they quickly gained the respect of many daimyo and rapidly became honored guests. Some daimyo even abandoned their original faiths because of their preaching, receiving baptism and becoming Catholics.

In Kyushu, which had more trade with Westerners, the spread of Catholicism among the lower commoners was also very rapid. This was because during the chaotic Warring States period, the various daimyo and magnates, either harboring ambitions to expand their power or seeking to defend themselves, frantically expanded their armies. To maintain these armies, the domain lords and their retainer corps invariably exploited the peasants within their domains by every means possible to meet their needs.

Compared to Buddhism, which had by then become a ruling tool of the high nobility and monks, Catholicism's idea of universal equality resonated deeply with these brutally exploited peasants, offering them some spiritual solace amidst their painful reality. Under the guidance of the missionaries, they quickly threw themselves into the embrace of Catholicism, and a large Catholic population emerged in Kyushu.

Moreover, under brutal exploitation, the vast majority of commoners lacked food and clothing, and their resentment accumulated day by day. Under these circumstances, Catholicism could provide them both a tool to connect with one another and an alternative identity, making them feel no inferiority to their lords' status.

Under such conditions, Catholic communities developed everywhere across the Japanese archipelago, even spreading to the upper classes, which soon aroused the vigilance of Japan's supreme rulers, who decided to restrict the spread of Catholicism and simultaneously subdue these discontented commoners.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued an edict banning the religion, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who inherited Toyotomi Hideyoshi's enterprise, also issued several decrees declaring the need to purge the Catholics. Under the shogunate's heavy-handed oppression, a large number of Catholics were forced to convert, and the few commoners unwilling to convert were killed.

At the same time, the harsh oppression and exorbitant taxes of the Warring States period did not cease with the arrival of peace. Although the military forces of each domain were severely reduced under the shogunate's orders, whether in Hinoe Domain, Fukuoka Domain, or the domains elsewhere in Kyushu, the taxes were not reduced in the slightest. Some lords even deliberately imposed additional levies on the peasants beyond the exorbitant taxes, on the grounds that "sesame seeds and peasants both yield more oil the more they are pressed."

The first Catholic uprising erupted in Shimabara Domain, where the oppression stemming from both faith and exploitation was particularly severe. The previous lord of Hinoe Domain was Arima Naozumi. Arima Naozumi had grown up at Tokugawa Ieyasu's side and had married Tokugawa Ieyasu's great-granddaughter, so he was deeply trusted by the shogunate.

After his father's death, Arima Naozumi succeeded his father as the lord of Shimabara. Overwhelmed by the favor and weeping with gratitude, Arima Naozumi, though he had once been baptized and was a Catholic, had long since resolutely renounced the faith in order to repay Tokugawa Ieyasu's great kindness. He swore to uphold the shogun's sacred will and eradicate Catholicism and Christianity from the domain root and branch. As soon as Arima Naozumi arrived in the domain, he began a massacre, burning those unwilling to abandon their faith alive and forcing other believers to watch.

Later, because Arima Naozumi had won the shogunate's favor, he was transferred to Nobeoka Domain in Hyuga Province (which was also the first domain destroyed when the Shimazu clan advanced north, and he was killed under the Shimazu army's advance). His subordinate retainers and samurai almost all remained in the original domain, with only a very few accompanying him.

At this time, the new lord who came to take office in Hinoe Domain was Matsukura Shigemasa. He had previously been the lord of Gojo Domain in Yamato Province and was transferred to this 10,000-koku domain because he had rendered meritorious service in the shogunate's campaign against Osaka.

He was also an extremely cruel lord to his subjects. After arriving in the domain to assume his post, dissatisfied with the shabbiness of the domain castle, he launched massive construction projects, demanding money and labor to build a new domain castle, Shimabara Castle.

Consequently, the domain's subjects near Shimabara Castle suffered an even more unbearable double hardship — forbidden to believe in Catholicism, and forced to endlessly contribute money and labor. Those unwilling to renounce their faith were not only scalded with boiling water, burned, and thrown into the sea, but also cast into the sulfurous volcanic vent of Unzen Hot Spring to be smoked to death alive. Moreover, to maintain the domain's finances, Matsukura Shigemasa imposed extremely harsh taxes. If a peasant planted tobacco, half of the harvested leaves had to be handed over; other crops were also largely confiscated, becoming the lord's property.

Furthermore, when he came here to take up his post, he also brought nearly all of his original subordinates. These retainers loyal to the domain lord immediately occupied all the positions within the domain.

The subordinates of the former lord Arima Naozumi thus lost their original stipends and were excluded from the ruling class. Forced by necessity, they could only support their wives and children by farming, becoming peasants within the domain. However, although these people were nominally peasants, they were in fact warriors skilled in martial arts, and they became dangerous seeds of unrest.

Amidst the bitter toil and bloodshed of the domain's subjects, the new domain castle, Shimabara Castle, was finally completed. From that time on, Hinoe Domain was renamed Shimabara Domain.

But after Matsukura Shigemasa's death, his son Matsukura Katsuie, who inherited the position of domain lord, was not satisfied with this. As cruel and heartless as his father, he repeatedly increased taxes on these new peasants and the rest of the peasantry, forcing them to hand over impossibly high tribute rice to sustain his own lifestyle and that of the domain castle, to the point that the peasants could only eat tree bark and grass roots to stave off hunger.

To facilitate the extortion of his subjects, he issued orders that peasants who failed to pay their grain levies be subjected to the "straw coat" punishment. The "straw coat" was woven from coarse grass with long, broad leaves, generally used by boatmen and peasants as raincoats.

During the punishment, the straw coat was tied around the peasant's neck and body, their hands were bound behind their back with rope, and then the straw coat was set alight. The victims not only suffered burns but were sometimes burned to death; some, while burning, ran wildly and crashed to the ground to die; others, while burning, jumped into the water and perished. This unbearable tragedy, which he called the "straw coat dance," greatly pleased him.

One can well imagine how much indignation and resentment such cruel oppression provoked. The domain's subjects had long endured this tyranny, but given any opportunity, they would seek to resist and escape these sunless days. They felt that rather than watch themselves be tortured to death, it was better to stake their lives in one desperate struggle.

Living on the brink of death, the peasants' long-dormant Catholic faith resurfaced, and more and more people secretly practiced the religion to escape the brutal reality. When Matsukura Katsuie discovered this, he carried out a great purge within the domain, arresting many believers and ordering them to perform the ritual of "fumi-e." "Fumi-e" referred to throwing a wooden plaque bearing the image of the crucified Christ onto the ground and having suspected believers step on it. Those who obediently complied were certainly not Catholics, or were Catholics willing to repent; otherwise, they would be sentenced to death by burning.

Under these circumstances, the already intense conflicts spiraled out of control. Sporadic disturbances began to appear within the domain, threatening to erupt into an ikki uprising reminiscent of the Warring States period.

Just as the conflicts within the domain had reached a boiling point and were about to erupt, the Great Han army arrived. Before the Great Han army's advance, domains like Fukuoka, Kurume, and Kokura were utterly unable to withstand a single blow and were quickly routed and scattered, ultimately being completely annihilated. Although Shimabara Domain was not in the direct path of the Great Han attack, it was still greatly shaken.

Although the domain lord Matsukura Katsuie, upon receiving the shogunate's orders, had summoned his domain troops to assemble at the domain castle, after witnessing how these great domains had sent troops to resist the Great Han army and collapsed at the first encounter, he was already terrified. How could he still have the courage to fight a great battle against Great Han?

However, because his family had received the shogunate's favor for generations and the situation was unclear, he also dared not surrender to Great Han. After much deliberation, feeling he had no way out, he simply decided to flee. While the Great Han army was advancing on all fronts and had surrounded the shogunate Elder Naito Tadashige within Kurume Domain's castle, he took a group of his retainers and fled directly, vanishing without a trace thereafter.

Almost before he fled the domain, the Catholic believers within the domain had already begun to rise up. Because the domain's retainers and samurai had fled in large numbers, there was no one left to stop them. These domain subjects quickly occupied nearly the entire Shimabara Domain and made Shimabara Castle their stronghold.

After the successful uprising of the believers in Shimabara Domain, the news quickly spread throughout western and southern Kyushu. Catholics everywhere rose up in response, and it soon became a raging inferno sweeping across the region. At that time, because the Great Han army was still busy attacking the shogunate forces to end the war as quickly as possible, and the other domain lords were also hurrying to pay homage to the Great Han general and bringing their own troops to join the campaign, no one suppressed them for a time, unexpectedly allowing this Christian ikki to show signs of a single spark setting the prairie ablaze.

However, after the Great Han army captured Kurume Domain's castle and the Elder Naito Tadashige and domain lord Arima Tadayori committed suicide for their country, Great Han and those domain lords loyal to Great Han could finally free their hands to resolve this problem.

Great Han initially did not wish to waste its own troops on this kind of small-scale, low-intensity war of suppressing civilian riots, so it merely ordered the various domains to send troops to suppress the Catholics. The domain lords, eager to curry favor with Great Han, also sent troops to join the campaign one after another, marching south or west to carry out the suppression.

Initially, the suppression campaign went relatively smoothly, but soon, when they reached the borders of Shimabara Domain, the suppressing forces encountered fierce resistance and ultimately found it difficult to advance an inch. The fighting became deadlocked.

Although among these rioting Catholics were some former samurai of Shimabara Domain, their military skills had long since deteriorated after years of living as commoners. Moreover, the weapons and equipment of these believers were extremely crude; most could only use hoes and spades to resist the enemy. Yet even so, they still managed to hold off the combined forces of the various domains.

This was, first, because these believers had long endured enough brutal religious and class oppression, leading to deep-seated hatred and high morale. Some had even killed their own families before rising up in rebellion, having long resolved to die. Second, the military strength of the various domain armies had long since degraded after decades of peace, and they had even less heart for a fight to the death. Third, the various domain armies refused to yield to one another, making effective unified command difficult, and each only sought to preserve its own strength.

Seeing that these domain armies were struggling so much even to suppress a civilian riot naturally caused great consternation among the Great Han expeditionary force's high command. Even Zhao Song and Yan Guang were infuriated by it — they had originally planned to use these domain armies to march north and attack Kyoto. Now, seeing their combat effectiveness so wretched, how could they not be angry?

However, just as they were about to sternly reprimand these domain lords and order them to intensify their attacks while preparing to send a large force to assist in the suppression, the Great Han envoy Zhou Pu volunteered to go to the Shimabara front line. He would use his authority to unify the command of these domain lords and their armies. At the same time, he believed it best that the Great Han army not waste its strength in such a place; only a small contingent of troops needed to follow him to maintain order, while the main effort should continue to drive these domain armies to carry out the suppression.

Zhou Pu planned to personally lead these domain armies north in the future. He wanted to use this opportunity to first establish a unified command system under himself within this coalition of various domains, and incidentally train the troops, so as to avoid being caught unprepared later.

His suggestion was quickly adopted. Under Zhao Song's personal orders, a small-scale force accompanied Zhou Pu to Shimabara Domain.

When Zhou Pu arrived at the front line, he immediately summoned the domain lords of the various domains. First, he sternly rebuked them and relayed the Great Han general's attitude, telling them that they now had to atone for their failures through meritorious service. If the coming battles still did not go smoothly, the Great Han general would come to punish them.

Upon hearing such words, these domain lords were naturally terrified and all expressed their wish for the Imperial Envoy to intercede on their behalf, and declared that they would henceforth fight with all their might to the death, determined to quickly suppress these Catholics.

After thoroughly intimidating them, Zhou Pu then ordered the reorganization and amalgamation of these domain armies, placing them directly under his own command. He also appointed the veteran general Tachibana Muneshige as his deputy to assist him in commanding these domain armies. At the same time, he ordered that all levels of the domain armies, regardless of which domain they came from, must obey the orders of himself and Tachibana Muneshige.

Zhou Pu was previously a civil official and had never fought in a war, so he did not intend to act clever and give reckless commands. He had requested several staff officers from Zhao Song to serve as his advisors, and Zhao Song was very generous, assigning his trusted confidant, staff officer Huang Guochang of the Liaodong Regiment, to serve under him.

With the assistance of Huang Guochang and Tachibana Muneshige, and with Zhou Pu's authority as the Great Han Imperial Envoy, coupled with the domain lords' deep fear of punishment by the Great Han general, his reorganization of the domain armies proceeded quite smoothly. Within just a few days, he had brought these domain armies under his command.

While he was reorganizing these domain armies, a rare temporary calm settled over the lands of Shimabara Domain.

During this brief calm, these Catholics also harbored hopes of a lucky escape.

They sent an envoy to the domain army's encampment and requested an audience with Zhou Pu, stating that they had no desire to fight Great Han and were only acting out of desperation to save their lives. The envoy's words were extremely sorrowful and earnest, repeatedly tearfully recounting the oppression they had suffered under the shogunate and the domain lord, declaring that their hatred for the shogunate and domain lord was deep as the sea, and that they would absolutely never oppose Great Han for the shogunate's sake.

Their conditions were also very simple: as long as Great Han was willing to spare the Catholics within Shimabara Domain and allow them self-governance, they were willing to surrender and submit to Great Han, and would absolutely not be its enemy.

However, Zhou Pu directly rejected their demands.

Although Great Han had been continuously importing Western technology and craftsmen, it was itself very wary of Catholicism and had always forbidden Western missionaries from proselytizing freely. If he agreed to these believers' terms here, how would he explain it to the court when word got back home?

Furthermore, when they had come, they had proclaimed that they were crusading against the shogunate for the sake of the court and the various domains; only thus could they gain the domains' submission and service. If they allowed Catholics to rebel and riot unchecked, how could the various domains, filled with suspicion and fear, possibly cooperate sincerely with Great Han?

Therefore, although the envoy spoke with tears and blood, his words sorrowful and earnest, Zhou Pu remained unmoved. He directly ordered the envoy to return and tell the leaders of the believers that they must surrender within three days and completely renounce their Catholic faith. Otherwise, they would all be crushed together, jade and stone alike!

His demand was rejected by the leaders of the believers within the domain, and thus a bloody suppression became inevitable.