Chapter 694: Destiny in Progress (Second update, please subscribe)

The world was shocked!

When the news of the British fleet attacking the Japanese navy and army reached Hiroshima, Zhao Yaozu was speechless for a long time. As for the Navy Minister Kawamura Junyi, he simply said, "Japan is finished!"

Indeed, Japan is screwed!

In a sense, Japan is finished.

It was not important that Yamagata Aritomo's "back-attack army" was destroyed by the British at sea. What was important was the attitude of the British. Before this, for the former feudal lords who tried to secede in the local area, they just saw the British fleet visiting Osaka. This kind of support was not direct, and indirect support was not enough to show the attitude of the British.

But what about now?

In order to help Tokugawa Shigemitsu, the British fleet went directly into battle and annihilated the Japanese army and navy fleets directly at sea.

It didn't matter that tens of thousands of soldiers and navy officers sank into the sea.

What is important?

They saw the British attitude. Not only did they see it, but the nearly 10,000 government officers and soldiers surrounded in Nagoya also saw it.

Faced with such a situation, what choices will they make?

If they surrendered, there would be no more reform government, and Tokyo would open its doors to Tokugawa Shigemitsu.

If this happens, Japan will be doomed.

Even more serious is whether the local separatist lords will recognize Tokugawa Shigenori's rule and acknowledge him as the new shogun?

If they do not agree, Japan’s civil war will continue.

Japan will usher in a new Warring States period. Whether the Japanese are willing to face this reality or not, they must face this terrible future.

However, Japan's future seemed to have nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty. Amidst this chaos, the dispatched fleet separated by the "Nanhua" was still carrying out their mission in Hiroshima - paying a friendly visit to Japan.

"Sir, what do we do now?"

Li Shengqi, the chief of staff of the dispatched fleet, looked at the fleet commander Zhao Yaozu and asked.

"It seems like things are going to change in Japan soon."

"Don't worry, the sky won't fall."

Zhao Yaozu said with a smile.

"Let's just stay in the port and stay the same. You know, we are here on a friendly visit. Since it's a friendly visit, we certainly can't interfere in these matters."

As he spoke, his eyes narrowed into slits, staring at the center of Hiroshima. There seemed to be some strange flashing in his brows, and then he asked again.

"What has Staff Officer Chen been busy with these past two days? When he comes back, ask him to come see me immediately."

The Staff Officer Chen he mentioned is Major Chen Dekun from the Naval Intelligence Department. He had come to Ryukyu a year ago and often traveled between Ryukyu and various parts of Japan. To put it bluntly, he was a spy.

Over the past year, he has been implementing a plan developed jointly by Naval Intelligence and the Imperial Investigation Department.

The plan was simple. It was nothing more than taking advantage of the discontent among the Japanese samurai and the general public to incite rebellion. However, his achievements were very effective. In the past year, his shadow could be seen behind all the so-called local separatist forces in Japan.

In the past year, he provided a large number of arms to those local forces through the so-called arms smugglers. It was under the covert support of the Ming Dynasty that they were able to successfully establish their own local regimes and even defeat the government forces of the reformist government.

As early as half a month ago, Chen Dekun had already used the pseudonym Akashi Motojiro in Hiroshima, and colluded with those down-and-out samurai to implement another plan of the Naval Intelligence Department.

"Yo, although the British are Western devils, after they destroyed all the shock troops behind the government army, the road to Tokyo has been opened. The Nagoya Garrison will soon surrender like the Osaka Garrison, and then the shogunate can regain power."

When many Hiroshima residents learned that the Hiroshima garrison was completely destroyed in an attack by a British fleet at sea, they cried differently.

Gao Teng Shizuka and his men all had happy expressions on their faces. In their minds, the so-called Hiroshima garrison was just a group of farmers. How could a group of mud-legged people be able to serve in the military? From ancient times to the present, only samurai were soldiers.

The high officials of the Meiji government used these samurai to overthrow the rule of the shogunate, and then quickly betrayed them. Starting with the sword ban order, they were abandoned as samurai. Then the Meiji government issued the "conscription order" and reformed the military service system, implementing a three-year compulsory military service system. All citizens were soldiers, and everyone became a samurai.

Everyone can become a warrior...are those peasants worthy?

At least in the eyes of Takato Seiichi and his people, those peasants were not worthy of being called soldiers, let alone samurai. They were the real samurai, but their lord after the "return of the land and nationality" - Emperor Meiji and his government betrayed them.

"It doesn't matter."

Akashi Motojiro said.

"The most important thing now is in Hiroshima. The government army is extremely weak. There are only a few hundred people. As long as we seize the opportunity, we can capture the city. In the future, even if the shogun is restored, they will fully consider our status."

"Mr. Akashi is right. As long as we have the sword in our hands and occupy Hiroshima, General Tokugawa will definitely consider our opinions."

How can we fully consider their opinions?

But they will definitely care about the resettlement of these former unemployed warriors. How will they be resettled? Of course, they will be given a certain status, and then it will not be as simple as just restoring their previous status.

They might even become feudal lords!

After all, heroes emerge in troubled times!

What if that possibility is possible? This kind of thing is uncertain. Just like those high-ranking officials of the Meiji government, they were ordinary samurai in the past. Didn't they rely on overthrowing the shogunate and establishing achievements, and then changed their own destiny and became high-ranking government officials?

For these warriors who were laid off, without food or clothing and without a lord, they knew very well what they should seize.

In troubled times, they must of course use their swords to regain their status and dignity.

"It's true that there aren't many government troops left in Hiroshima, but don't forget that there are Ming Dynasty warships anchored in the harbor. They are supporters of the reformist government. If we take action, will the Ming Dynasty fleet turn a blind eye?"

In response to other people's concerns, Akashi Motojiro spoke directly.

"This is totally groundless worry. The Ming people will never take advantage of the situation for the reform government. Anyone who understands the situation in Japan knows that. The failure of the Tokyo government is just a matter of time. Besides, the British are now on the side of the Tokugawa family. How could they risk supporting Tokyo? Those are Hiroshima, not Tokyo. Even if they take action here, what's the point? You too, if they want to support Tokyo, their fleet will definitely go to Tokyo first."

Everyone nodded in agreement with Akashihara Jiro's analysis. Gao Tengjing and the others thought for a while and then said.

"In that case, let's do it."

(End of this chapter)