Emperor's Armed Forces in the Warring States

Chapter 4 - Imperial Guards Division Marches to Kyoto

This will be the beginning of a new chapter.

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4-1

It was not until January 20, 1542, that the soldiers of the Imperial Guards Division were assembled in the Satsuma Province. This was the result of several intertwined causes.

First of all, it was hard to ascertain where the Emperor was at this time. In Luzon, they learned that a Japan exists, and then in Ryukyu, the Imperial forces were able to confirm that Japan had an emperor, but Japan was large. Therefore, if the Imperial forces could not obtain proof of the location of the Emperor, they would not be able to rescue him.

Second, the problem was not so much the lack of fuel and other supplies for the Imperial forces, but rather the disappearing logistics. After all, it would not be wrong to say that the Imperial forces were suddenly transported to the past 400 years ago. Therefore, the Imperial forces (at least the leadership) had no choice but to prepare themselves and consider their actions, assuming that there would be no supply when the current supplies on hand were exhausted. Therefore, they had no choice but to carefully consider sending the Imperial Guards Division to the rescue and relief of the Emperor.

However, it was confirmed that the Seria oil field on Borneo (near Brunei) was producing crude oil (at this point, the details of the mass of crude oil from the Seria oil field were still unknown). Furthermore, it was determined by the words of Takahisa Shimazu that the Emperor would certainly be in Kyoto just like in history. Because of this, the Imperial Guards Division who was in Luzon rushed to Satsuma. Needless to say, they went to the capital of Kyoto to rescue and save the Emperor.

(It is needless to say that the Imperial forces only one-sidedly assume that the current Emperor (Go-Nara) does not even dream of such rescue and relief by the Imperial forces. Furthermore, the Imperial forces' insistence on the rule under the Emperor to the current Emperor, even considering the precedent set by Emperor Go-Daigo, was in reality nothing more than a ridiculous and outrageous theory, if one were to speak the truth.)

And as they headed for Kyoto, a controversial discussion was to take place centering the Imperial Guards Division, though. What route was proposed for them to break through the Seto Inland Sea on its way from Satsuma to Kyoto?

"As I thought, the Navy is against the idea of breaking through the Hoyo Straits to the Seto Inland Sea in a fair and square manner."

"I would have to disagree."

The chief of the Navy in Satsuma, Vice Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa, was unapologetic.

"The Navy decided that the best course of action would be to break through the Kitan Straits via the coast of Tosa and land the Imperial Guards Division on the Suma coast and nearby areas. This is reasonable considering that the topography of the seabed of this era was unknown."

Ozawa had no intention of changing his opinion.

After all, the Imperial forces had no choice but to plan the landing operation on the assumption that they were in Japan during the Warring States period. In view of this, it was too risky for the Navy to break through the Seto Inland Sea. The risk of running a naval vessel or transport ship aground on a reef, which existed in this period, was so great that it could not be denied.

In any case, during the Edo period, land reclamation projects were carried out extensively along the coast of the Seto Inland Sea. Because of this and other factors, nautical charts owned by the Navy, especially for the Seto Inland Sea coastline, have become completely unreliable, even for naval officers.