Chapter 117: Decisive Battle (Part 2)
The news given by the Chinese side greatly angered the shogunate and caused unimaginable resentment. The overwhelming rockets on the first day were certainly terrifying, but the spies outside Edo Castle quickly found out the details and knew that there were only a dozen or so "black ships" knocking on the gate this time, and there were no other reserve troops. The fleet, isolated overseas and cut off from any support, dared to be so arrogant. It really violated all the taboos in the art of war. Even with sophisticated firearms, it would surely suffer a disastrous defeat.
"Japan is a blessed land. Didn't the Mongols come here with their hordes and end up in disgrace?" The general encouraged his loyal retainers in private: "The Emperor Gaozu of the Da'an court in the Central Plains once promised that our country would not be invaded. They violated the ancestral system and will be punished by heaven. The end is already determined."
The elders echoed in unison, knowing clearly what was going on in each other's minds. It doesn't really matter whether it is the ancestral system or not. The key is that the shogunate must get back this advantage. In the past few days, many nobles have gathered in Edo City. After the daimyo who were invited to discuss maritime trade witnessed the black ships' arrogant and unscrupulous behavior, the authority of the shogunate has been greatly undermined. Today's Japan is far from completing centralization, and the daimyo entrenched in various places still have the ability to resist the shogunate. Now the troops are being deployed and the army is gathering. A small part of the effort is to deal with the black ships with ill intentions, but a large part of the effort is to intimidate the overbearing local princes.
Therefore, the shogunate tried its best to collect all the available elite troops near Edo, preparing to march quickly inland, deploy troops under the city, and show off its military power. The general thought very clearly and believed that the so-called "rocket" of the fleet could not threaten the towering walls of Edo in any way; as long as they could control the key points and ensure the safety of the nobles, things could still be controlled.
In order to fully demonstrate his majesty, the personal soldiers stationed outside Jiangwai even took a day off, and only formed a battle formation on the outskirts of the city when the elite troops transferred from all directions arrived one after another. Armed marches are the most challenging test of the army's quality. In order to flex his muscles and suppress all parties, the general even sent out his most trusted confidants to lead the troops. He increased the speed at all costs and tried to reach the city wall within a day. He also quickly built defenses against artillery fire. Such high-speed marches and combats, such strict military qualities can only be achieved by the world's best soldiers. The powerful daimyo only need to take a look at the order of the army to immediately understand the huge gap in strength between themselves and the shogunate, and they will bow their heads and respect the general's dignity.
Theoretically, there is nothing wrong with this arrangement. Building a large number of fortifications and transferring troops at a high speed are indeed the only way to deal with firearms bombing, and at least they can greatly reduce the losses. But unfortunately, unfortunately, perhaps Emperor Gaozu of Da'an and Emperor Taizong felt happy because of the sacrifice, or perhaps there really is such a mysterious thing as national destiny in the world; on the day when the shogunate mobilized the army with all its strength, there was a subtle change in the celestial phenomenon.
At 2:15 a.m. on that day, a strong east wind suddenly blew off the Kanagawa River, which had been calm for a long time since the winter solstice. Taking advantage of the strong east wind, the Empress Koken, which was stationed outside Kanagawa, set sail with its escort ships, winding up along the coast, disappearing into the vast clouds overseas, and became nowhere to be found.
Late at night, the general stationed in Edo finally learned the whereabouts of the black ships. At that time, he was sitting in the castle tower discussing important war affairs with the family elders, when he suddenly heard loud noises outside the window, as if a thunderstorm was rolling overhead. The horrified nobles opened the windows and saw dazzling flames falling from the sky in the distance, as if a seductive and gorgeous red lotus had bloomed in the dark clouds.
It turns out that this is what the sailors call "hellfire"!
Although tens or hundreds of kilometers away, the shining fireworks were still brightly visible, even illuminating the general's pale face. He stared for a long time without saying a word. The elder who was watching from the sidelines spoke with concern:
"Are the black ships bombarding the coast again? What on earth are they trying to do?"
"They are showing off their military strength and trying to stop our troops." The monk Sakai said to comfort them, "But it doesn't matter. The general has already issued an order for the marching troops to pay attention to the 'rocket' at all times. Even if they are bombarded, there will not be much loss. They are just wasting their strength."
The general nodded slowly, sitting cross-legged, letting the jumping light outside the window cast colorful shadows on his face; although the change happened suddenly, there was panic and commotion in the city again. But the general remained motionless, just staring out the window.
This is the most highly respected quality in Japanese tradition. It is said that "the one who has thunder in his chest but a calm face can be appointed as the general." The more anxious and urgent the situation is, the more the superior must show this kind of calmness; whether it is to quell a rebellion or to provide protection, all major matters are under the full responsibility of his loyal subordinates; as the "man of the world" who is in charge of everything, the general's task at this time is to stand guard here without making a sound, like a nail nailing the castle tower, nailing the Edo Castle, and nailing all the fearful or sinister forces in the dark night - as long as the general is there, the shogunate is there; as long as the shogunate is there, what does a jumping clown matter?
Besides, the general was not just in a daze, he had his own deep plans.
"Wait, don't panic." The superior said calmly: "Once we have used up all the Chinese' rockets, it will be time for us to counterattack."
The Book of Changes says that an arrogant dragon will regret. Can such a powerful, vast and unrivaled force last forever? A powerful attack is bound to cause astonishing losses. How long can the losses last for the foreigners who have come from afar?
This insight was so profound and brilliant that it convinced all the nobles in the cabinet, and their panic and anxiety were relieved. In order to implement the general's strategy of remaining calm and reassuring people, and to show the high-level composure to the samurai who were accompanying him to convey orders, the monk Sakai even volunteered to take out the tea sets smuggled from China from the secret compartment, and demonstrated the tea ceremony for the nobles on the spot, so as to pass the long night full of roars.
This tea ceremony technique of brewing tea to entertain guests was inherited from Zen monks more than a hundred years ago. It is used to kill the dull and boring time in the mountains. Therefore, the process is tedious and complicated. The process of separating and brewing tea takes at least more than an hour. Because of this, when Sakai poured boiling tea into the teacups one by one, everyone in the pavilion realized that something was wrong:
Why hasn’t the shelling outside stopped yet? !
According to the rules of the tea ceremony, after the Zen monk distributes the tea, one should hold one's breath and concentrate on appreciating the stretching of the tea leaves in the water by the light of the fire. Talented people may even improvise a short poem. But no one had the mood to do so now. They could only kneel on the tatami, listening quietly to the almost endless cannon fire that came one after another. They felt that their hearts were beating and contracting with the rumbling of the cannons, and even jumped out of their throats. Not only that, some nobles with a keen sense of smell also smelled a strange odor coming in from the window - fishy, irritating, and extremely choking; this was a toxic substance volatilized after some highly flammable organic matter was decomposed at high temperature. Although no one present had the ability to distinguish, they still felt nauseous instinctively.
Suddenly, the dark and hazy night was illuminated by a bright and burning fire; everyone instinctively turned their heads and saw a fire outside the window that was as bright as the sun - the black shadow in the distance was completely ignited and became a blazing torch!
"That is..." the elder said in a hoarse voice: "That is the forest outside the city!"
No one spoke anymore. Everyone knows that Edo Castle is surrounded by mountains and rivers to the north and has a large number of dense forests. According to the original regulations, elite troops transferred from afar were about to march along the forest beside the river to resist the attack from the sky.
——But now, even those towering ancient trees were set on fire!
The palace fell into a silent terror. Everyone could only stare blankly at the raging fire in the distance. They saw twisted and towering black shadows struggling and collapsing in the flames, as if they were the various images of ghosts being tortured in hell in the murals, which was completely different from the bizarre scenes seen in the human world - but this shouldn't be the case. This shouldn't be the case! The forest in the north of the city is clearly protected by the river, so how could it not be able to withstand the burning flames? You know, this river is wide and clear, and is an important and inexhaustible source of water for the city...
--wrong!
The general's expression suddenly changed. The fear that suddenly arose was so intense that his ability to remain calm even when facing a mountain collapse was broken. He stood up quickly and spoke in a stern voice:
"Get a bowl of water!"
The castle tower had fresh water drawn from the river, so in less than a moment, the servants carried an iron vat full of clean water - oh, it couldn't be called clean water anymore, because under the blazing fire in the palace, the clean water in the iron vat was swaying constantly, and a layer of colorful oil gradually floated up.
Why does grease float up in freshly drawn river water? What kind of grease is this?
The general didn't say much. He just asked his servants to get a long spoon and fish repeatedly in the iron vat. After searching for a while, they fished out a wooden sign that was only half burned, and the red paint on it was still eye-catching. This is a nameplate issued by the shogunate to elite hatamoto samurai, who were supposed to lead the troops and indicate the direction of their garrison.
The nobles in the pavilion were pale and looked at each other. They saw that each other's faces were covered with cold sweat, their muscles were twisted and twitching, and they hardly looked like living beings. But at this point, the shogunate trapped in the city was completely helpless and could only let their servants continue to fetch water. Tanks of river water were carried upstairs one after another, and the things salvaged became more and more terrifying. According to Mr. Sakai's records, what was fished out included burnt hair, broken, blackened bones of unidentifiable origin, broken weapons, and some translucent rectangular shell-like fragments. The family elder asked the samurai to pick up the fragments and carefully identify them, but it was not until he smelled the smell of some kind of cooked protein on the fragments that he finally realized a horrible reality:
“Is this a human nail?”
How could a living person's nails fall off for no reason? The general could no longer bear it, and finally swayed and fell to the ground.
·
The seemingly minor commotion outside the city cannot deceive anyone. Although the shogunate had tried its best to control the situation, when it was dawn and time to boil water and cook, the people in the city quickly realized the true whereabouts of the so-called "one hundred thousand elite soldiers" dispatched by the general, and were immediately shocked - although the so-called "black ships" only came for more than half a month, but this short stay of more than half a month provided countless materials for the creation of ghost stories in Japan for hundreds of years thereafter.
Among them, some ghost stories are believed to have real historical value, or are adapted based on reliable observations. For example, in some ghost stories, local fishermen would occasionally catch strange fish that would not stop crying, and after cutting open their stomachs, they would find indigestible human fingernails in the fish's belly. Women washing clothes by the Edo River must never anger the vengeful ghosts, otherwise their clothes would become dirtier and dirtier, and even contain a black, smelly, and fishy liquid - the liquid remaining after a large amount of blood and fat was incompletely burned. These strange stories have been around for hundreds of years, and countless secondary creations have been derived from them; even though time has passed, we can still get a glimpse of the horrors that were experienced at the time.
But some strange stories that were created based on rumors were inevitably exaggerated. In some sects that later spread in Edo, the river water that was boiled by the fire was even regarded as water of resentment drawn from Yomi Hirasaka, a disaster manifested by the wrathful image of the devil. Therefore, the doctrines of the local sects changed accordingly, and they even held sacrifices to the black ship that brought down the fire of karma by the river every year in an effort to appease the devil's anger.
Direct terror is never as great as indirect terror. Facing the Rockets head-on might solve the problem once and for all, but the tip of the iceberg glimpsed from the details is enough to overwhelm one's nerves. When the first wave of civilians fetching water in the early morning fished out some strange parts from the river, the expected panic and commotion broke out immediately. A large number of civilians rushed out of the city and scrambled to escape to the mountains; the shogunate organized people to try to control order, but this effort soon failed - because the black ships anchored overseas fired again, and the rockets passed through the city walls. Although the damage was insignificant, it completely defeated the morale of the guards in the city. As a result, the little remaining order collapsed completely. The city was in an uproar like boiling porridge. Everyone was scrambling and trampling on others, and the city was in chaos in an instant.
Amidst such chaos, the eminent monk Sakai showed rare loyalty. He took a few samurai and avoided the crowd with difficulty, risked his life to board the black ship again, and managed to meet the young noble again.
Although the outside world was in an uproar, the young nobleman who was rumored to be the incarnation of the wrath of the devil remained calm, and there was even a hint of weariness and fatigue in his dark circles. He did not pay much attention to the servile Sakai clan, but just said quietly:
"Are you ready for the sacrifice?"
Sakai was dumbfounded, almost unable to react. After hesitating for a moment, he spoke:
"I am here to discuss the use of military force with the superior country..."
"That's not my business." The noble interrupted him. "Whether to use the army or not, please discuss it with General Qi. Of course, I am only concerned with the important matters of sacrifice. Have you prepared all the offerings for Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong?"
Where do the persimmons and grapes come from when they are thousands of miles away? But at this moment, Sakai had no power to refute:
"Not yet."
"Why haven't you done it yet?" The nobleman said in a gentle voice, almost talking to himself: "For such a big event as sacrifice, they can't even prepare the offerings. Whose fault is it? Whose fault is it?"
Sakai didn't dare to speak. But it didn't matter. He didn't dare to pursue the responsibility, but the nobleman had already found the culprit for him:
"I heard that the Hikone Domain and Satsuma Domain in Japan are keen on maritime trade and can buy all kinds of precious goods, but why can't they even produce some simple fruits?" The nobleman said a few words and panted slightly: "Such rudeness, is it contempt for Emperor Gaozu? How can this be tolerated!"
When the boy spoke the last sentence, his voice became a little heavier, his throat felt itchy, and he coughed repeatedly, his face turning red from choking. But it doesn’t matter. His meaning has been conveyed, and the Sakai clan also fully understood it. Whether the Hikone and Satsuma domains despised Emperor Gaozu or not is not the point at all. The point is that he was "keen on maritime trade." What does "keen on maritime trade" mean? According to the current practice, it is nothing more than condoning the Japanese pirates and allowing them to plunder everywhere!
Since they are so keen on supporting the Japanese pirates, these two feudal lords would be guilty of disrespect even if they just step out of their homes!
Sakai could only reply: "What about the upper country?"
"Disrespecting Emperor Gaozu, of course, can only be punished with the death penalty." The noble said calmly: "Originally, they should be punished severely, but it is too late, right? The guest should follow the host's wishes, let them commit seppuku."
The words were still soft and slow, almost indistinguishable. But Sakai no longer had the unyielding spirit of a few days ago; on the contrary, cold sweat oozed from his forehead inch by inch, and his back was almost cold - yes, the young nobleman now sitting cross-legged on the couch was so pale and weak, and he could not even sit steadily because he was too dizzy; he really could not connect it with the huge fire that broke out yesterday. But isn’t this also the image of the so-called demon king with all-powerful supernatural powers? Although the appearance is beautiful and graceful, enough to fascinate all living beings; but once the reverse scale is touched, the devil will show a terrifying and ferocious anger, burning the whole world with fire...
No one can refuse the Demon King's order, so Sakai could only humbly plead:
"Why don't you show some mercy? I've heard that the emperor of the upper country always respects the heavens and follows the ancestors, and governs the world with benevolence and filial piety. Why do you want to kill so many people?"
"Respect Heaven and follow the example of our ancestors." The noble interrupted him. "If we respect Heaven and follow the example of our ancestors, we must follow the behavior of Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong. Are you willing?"
Mr. Sakai was immediately speechless. Even in a remote country like Japan, people have heard of the great reputation of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Laosi in the past. Given the skills these two used to deal with foreign vassal states, the so-called "hara-kiri" can really be considered as a special leniency given by the current Master Feixuan out of benevolence and filial piety.
"My decision will not change. I will still go to the castle tower of Edo Castle to worship my ancestors on time." The noble said softly, "You still have five or six days to prepare... Of course, the sacrifice is very serious. Since we are sacrificing to our great ancestors, the entourage must have an official identity recognized by the court, otherwise it will be impossible to explain it in terms of etiquette and law."
Sakai's heart sank: "What does Shangguo mean?"
"My meaning is very simple." The nobleman coughed and said, "The only one who can participate in the sacrifice is the King of Japan who was personally canonized by Emperor Taizong. We cannot recognize other people... By the way, where is the King of Japan?"
——The King of Japan? If Sakai's memory is correct, the so-called "king" who was enthroned during the reign of Emperor Taizong Zhu Laosi was not actually from the imperial lineage, but from the Ashikaga shogunate at the time, right?
So, the question is: Does the Ashikaga shogunate still exist now?
Sakai's face suddenly changed color and he almost gasped!
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