Chapter 734: Bombarding Tokyo (Second update, please subscribe)

It’s over!

When Iwakura Tomomi, Okubo Toshimichi, and Ito Hirobumi heard about the shooting in the embassy district, their first reaction was that it was over!

Japan is finished.

Even an idiot knew what would happen if the British ambassador was assassinated.

"How is Minister Parkes doing now?"

Iwakura Tomomi asked hurriedly.

"Is he at the embassy? Prepare the car. I'll go to the embassy now."

"He and the American Minister had already taken a carriage to the port immediately after the shooting, and should be on board the ship now."

With a "click" sound, while he was shouting in his heart that something was wrong, Iwakura Tomomi suddenly sat down on the chair as if he had suffered a blow, and then looked into the distance with a dull expression.

"It's over. We're done."

It's not just them who are playing, Japan is also playing.

He looked at the other people in the office with despair. He opened his mouth but no words came out. He never thought that things would develop to this point.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Iwakura Tomomi stood up abruptly and asked loudly.

"Assassin, has the assassin been caught?"

"The scene was too chaotic at the time, and the assassin took advantage of the chaos to escape."

"Baga! The most urgent task now is to catch the assassin. As long as we catch the assassin, we still have a chance to apologize to the British."

Iwakura Tomomi shouted angrily. If it was still possible now, even chopping off a few heads would be no problem.

"We must find the murderer now at all costs, if we want to..."

Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound in the air. The thunder coming from a distance seemed to be unclear.

But listening to the real winter thunder, Iwakura Tomomi's already pale face became even paler.

The same was true for Okubo Toshimichi and Ito Hirobumi. They first looked at each other with despair in their eyes, but they knew the result just by hearing the sound of cannon fire.

The British really opened fire. Then they looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

"I never thought that the great cause of the Reform Movement would be ruined by such a small matter. What a damn bad luck."

"It's really damnable!"

Those who had been to the battlefield knew what the sound was. It was the sound of cannons coming from the sea.

The British and American joint fleet opened fire!

They are avenging Parkes! This is normal. For those great powers, they are very good at using the navy to do this kind of thing. Why can they be so domineering in the world? It is precisely because of this kind of revengeful character that other countries can be in awe of them.

This means that a few cannons are worse than thousands of volumes of public law.

Just as they were talking to themselves, a deafening explosion was heard from afar and the earth was shaking. However, the shells did not fall in Tokyo city at first, but on the artillery platforms. After all, the artillery platforms were the most deadly threat to the fleet.

The sudden sound of artillery fire shocked everyone. Amid the rumbling of the artillery fire, Zhao Teng in the Ming Consulate let out a long sigh.

"Alas, the Japanese are extremely arrogant, otherwise they would not have caused such a disaster!"

As he sighed, the office door was pushed open and his assistant came in and said.

"Consul, please go into the basement quickly. They will definitely bombard the city soon!"

"Um,"

Nodding, Zhao Teng said.

"I'll go right away. Everyone should go down now. By the way..."

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Zhao Teng asked again.

"Where is Chen Dekun? Where is he?"

That guy is a naval intelligence officer who just came to Tokyo a few days ago. The two met when he first arrived. Where is that guy now?

"He hasn't come back these few days. Maybe he's busy with something!"

Just as he finished his words, there was a sudden loud explosion in the distance, and even at the window, they could see the column of smoke rising into the air.

They started shelling the city!

"Blow them up, blow all those damn yellow monkeys to death!"

Standing on the bridge of the warship, with his arm suspended by white gauze, Parkes said angrily.

"We must let those damn yellow monkeys know how powerful we are. From now on, for another hundred years, whenever they mention the British, they must respect the British Empire from the bottom of their hearts!"

At the moment he fell down after being shot, Parkes's fearful memory resurfaced in his mind - more than a decade ago, during the negotiations with the Qing Dynasty, he was held hostage by the Qing Dynasty. Of the 39 hostages, only 18 survived, and the rest were returned as corpses, including seven or eight pieces of the body of the British Times reporter. He was lucky enough to survive, but he was also tortured.

That was the most horrifying memory of his life. In the past ten years or so, he has been trying to forget it. It was even the reason why he chose to support the anti-shogunate faction when he was appointed as the Chinese ambassador to Japan. For Parkes, the shogunate was as barbaric and uncivilized as the Qing Dynasty. Overthrowing the shogunate was a kind of revenge for him!

And today?

When the assassin's bullet hit him, the horrific memory once again devoured his sanity, and there was only one thought left in his mind - why was I always the one who got hurt?

Then, a voice in his heart told him—revenge! Revenge!

It seemed that at this moment, he once again remembered the torture he had suffered in the Qing prison and the dismembered body of the Times reporter. He wanted revenge!

Damn yellow monkey.

Now, let me show you the wrath of the British Empire!

Staring at Tokyo City, Parkes suddenly asked.

"General, do you know why those damn yellow monkeys are so arrogant?"

Without waiting for Major General Redel to answer, Parkes spoke.

"The Chinese have a saying, 'Barbarians fear power but not virtue.' Barbarians mean savages. If we only use language to communicate with them, these barbarians will never learn to fear power."

"So, now we need to speak with cannons! Use cannons to teach them to be respectful."

Holding the pipe in his hand, Major General Redel took a puff of the cigarette and then spoke.

"Mr. Minister, rest assured that the Royal Navy's guns will bring you justice."

When saying this, Major General Redel looked at Parkes with sympathy. He was such a poor fellow. Last time he almost died in China, and this time? He was almost killed by a Japanese assassin again.

"It's not important. What's important is to let those damn yellow monkeys know what attitude they should have when facing the British Empire! Respect and awe! They all fear us!"

As he finished speaking, the fleet's artillery fired at Tokyo again. While the American fleet was bombarding Tokyo's batteries with their ten-inch cannons, the British fleet was bombarding the city. In the violent explosion, many houses built of wood and paper were blown away by the blast. Standing on the deck, Bashar saw the flaming fire, the black smoke column, and the rising flames!

Seeing all this, Parkes looked at his pocket watch excitedly, and then he proudly wrote down the time - February 14, 1875, 11:35 noon Tokyo time...

(End of this chapter)