New Shun 1730

In the Japanese royal palace, King Akihito of Japan was summoning Kaneka Ichijo. He had not received the news that the Dashun Army had landed in Obama.

The delayed news at this time was that the Dashun Army landed in Yonago and Osaka Castle Lord Ota Sukeharu led troops to attack.

Kaneka Ichijo was discussing the letter sent by the Shogun with the King of Japan.

Tokugawa Yoshimune explained that the cunning Tang people used the Ryukyu issue as an excuse to attack Japan. In his words, he mentioned that Dashun wanted many conditions, and the Shogun wanted Akihito to take the blame.

Although it was not so clear, Akihito understood it.

He had a good relationship with the Shogunate. After he succeeded to the throne, the Shogunate even allowed him to hold the Daijosai, which was a ceremony similar to the enthronement ceremony. Even this ceremony had been cancelled before.

The Shogunate allowed Akihito to hold a large Daijosai, which really gave Akihito enough face.

Even though Akihito was still young, he understood that he was just an "emperor" and had no real power.

If he really wanted to intervene in military and political affairs, he might be forced to abdicate.

Nijo Castle near the Imperial Palace and the Kyoto Shoshidai who guarded the castle could prevent his orders from leaving the palace.

So, when Tokugawa Yoshimune sent him the situation of the invasion of the Dashun Army and implicitly mentioned that Dashun wanted many unacceptable conditions, Akihito understood that he was going to take the blame.

Otherwise, the shogunate would not need to discuss any political affairs with him, but only need to report in a formality.

Whether it was Kanpaku Ichijo Kaneka or "Emperor" Akihito, they were actually all pro-shogunate.

The shogunate could at least maintain the stability of Japan. Anyway, it was like this. What difference would it make if someone else became the shogun?

It might not necessarily be better than the Tokugawa family.

They knew very well what the emperors who wanted to hold real power would end up like. Moreover, the daimyo were ambitious, and the emperor had no soldiers, so at most he would be used as an excuse by the other daimyo.

In the end, it was still a change of soup but not medicine. We are all tools of the shogunate, so it doesn't matter who we work for.

When you are a tool, you must have the awareness of being a tool. How to be a good tool is a compulsory course that the "emperor" has to learn when he is the "crown prince" in recent years.

It is obvious that the shogunate feels that it cannot defeat Dashun and wants to negotiate. But the shogunate wants to negotiate, but it cannot take the initiative to negotiate. It is best for the various outer daimyo to be unable to bear it first and ask the shogunate for peace.

However, Tokugawa Yoshimune waited and waited, and found that Dashun did not follow the routine at all. It did not attack the southwestern vassal states of Kyushu Island, nor did it attack the vassal states of Choshu and Chofu first.

Except for the Date family of Sendai Domain, these outer daimyo felt that they really could not defeat it and it was better to negotiate; the vassal states of Kyushu Island did not feel the threat directly, and no one wanted to take the lead.

Furthermore, although Dashun's purpose was not really for benevolence, righteousness, and courtesy, the reason for sending troops was indeed because Satsuma Domain invaded Ryukyu.

What if Dashun's peace negotiation conditions were to punish the Shimazu clan and withdraw Satsuma Domain?

If the shogunate agrees, it will directly offend all the outer daimyo.

So Tokugawa Yoshimune hopes that Dashun will send troops to hurt all the feudal domains on Kyushu Island.

Only in this way can they unanimously agree to sacrifice the Shimazu clan. At that time, he will protect the Shimazu clan to the death, and the feudal daimyo will not agree.

However, Dashun did not follow this routine, and waiting is not a solution.

Tokugawa Yoshimune also knows that the longer it drags on, the more unfavorable the negotiation conditions will be.

Now let's try another way, let Akihito take the blame, and order Tokugawa Yoshimune to send someone to contact Dashun.

Let's see what kind of conditions Dashun wants.

Akihito and Kanpaku have no right to control the content of the negotiations.

What the two want to discuss is how to give enough face to the shogunate so that the shogunate's authority will not lose too much.

Akihito does not think that the shogunate has done anything wrong, and has never thought of weird ideas such as overthrowing the shogunate. Moreover, the shogunate is now absolutely powerful. Those powerful vassals who have been suppressed for more than a hundred years have no ability to resist at this time.

He wants to support the shogunate and suppress all kinds of criticism. Although Tokugawa Yoshimune's meaning is obscure, it is also clear that if the war continues, it will only be worse.

Now is not the time for internal fighting. Japan needs a shogunate to maintain stability, so that it can sleep on straw and taste gall, and wait for the future.

However, if the conditions of Dashun are too harsh, the powerful vassals will inevitably denounce the shogunate for losing power and humiliating the country, and take this opportunity to rebel against the shogunate.

The key is that it is the Celestial Empire that started the war, not the Nanman. What if the Celestial Empire demands tribute? This is a problem that must be considered when dealing with China, but it is not necessary to consider this when dealing with the so-called Nanman Western countries.

Akihito and Kanpaku Ichijo Kaneka were discussing this issue.

While they were discussing, there were suddenly several violent explosions outside, followed by a chaotic shouting.

Akihito didn't know what happened, and Ichijo Kenka was also completely stunned. They had never experienced war, and even though they knew that the war with Dashun had begun, they were not mentally prepared for the possibility of war in Kyoto.

…………

Outside the palace, Wu Fangrui was riding on a horse, and the two grenadiers beside him were throwing grenades with lit fuses at a wooden building.

This place was very close to Nijo Castle, the residence of the Shogun in Kyoto, and also very close to the Japanese palace. The Japanese warriors who had no idea what was happening were completely unprepared.

More than 30 people attacked Kyoto, seven or eight of them set fire everywhere, and the rest gathered around him.

Wu Fangrui also knew that it was impossible to capture the royal palace or Nijo Castle with his limited number of men.

His purpose was very clear, which was to create chaos and wait for the arrival of more than 300 troops.

Once the Japanese royal city fell into chaos, the command was ineffective, and they didn't know what was going on, the best choice for the Japanese was to stay in the royal palace honestly and not move around, which was the safest.

He was not familiar with the Japanese royal city.

Even without the city wall, it was easy to break into this city that had not seen war for more than a hundred years since the 43rd year of Wanli.

Even if it was easy to find the royal palace and Nijo Castle, it was unknown where Kyoto Soshidai was.

If you know, it will be easy to rush in and behead him, or burn and block the door.

As long as Kyoto Soshidai was beheaded or Kyoto Soshidai fell into chaos, the Japanese royal city would not organize effective resistance at all.

Although he didn't know, he guessed that it should be somewhere between the royal palace and Nijo Castle, and he just needed to set fire everywhere in this area.

The interpreter who followed mixed into the crowd, shouting loudly, creating greater chaos.

"Osaka Castle Lord, Ota Sukeharu was beheaded. The Tang army attacked Sanzenin..."

The soldiers threw grenades or oil fires used by siege engineers everywhere, and the wooden buildings quickly burned into a large fire. With the help of the wind, the fire soon became difficult to control.

The city was completely in chaos. The people in the city ran around, thinking about returning to their homes to hide, or running out of the burning houses to find ways to put out the fire in their own wooden houses.

At this chaotic moment, the city completely lost its organization. The samurai in the city didn't know what happened. Several organized patrol and anti-theft teams were dispersed by Wu Fangrui and his men. The people running around and fighting the fire were mixed together, and the crying was deafening.

Kyoto Soshidai Toki Yoritoshi didn't know what was happening outside, so he could only call on the samurai followers to hold on to the courtyard first and then consider the next move.

He was capable and knew that the best way to deal with the situation was to hold on to the spot first, rather than running around like a headless fly.

The samurai in the city would naturally gather in this direction.

If he got confused first, then relying on the few samurai around him, he would not be able to do anything.

"Sir! Sir! There are some bandits in the city setting fire. They are riding big horses and wearing samurai costumes. They may have mixed in with the other samurai..."

The samurai who ran in from outside reported the news anxiously, and Toki Yoritoshi immediately thought of a possibility.

Most likely, the spies of Dashun got here, but how did they get here?

Soon, someone else came running.

"Sir! Someone in the city shouted that the Osaka Castle Lord was beheaded and the Tang army had already attacked Sanzenin!"

"Impossible!"

Toki Yoritoshi shouted to stop the samurai who reported the news. This was obviously nonsense. Before, the Dashun Army was in Tottori Domain. Even if Ota Sukeharu really fought with the Dashun Army and was beheaded, the Dashun Army could not fly, so how could it fly to Sanzenin? There was no news along the way?

I am afraid that the Dashun Army's spies landed near Osaka by boat, quietly invaded the defenseless Kyoto, and set fire everywhere.

Now that the city is so chaotic, I should take people to the Imperial Palace first and inform the Emperor to avoid panic in the Imperial Palace.

First climbed up to a high place with a ladder and observed the surrounding movements. Toki Yoritoshi found that things were a little beyond his control.

The city was in chaos, the people fled in all directions, there were fires and smoke everywhere, and explosions were heard from time to time.

The samurai rushing towards this side were engulfed by the people, and several samurai drew their swords and killed some of the people who were fleeing, making the people even more panicked.

The more chaotic it is, the more you can't panic, otherwise it will only get more and more chaotic.

Since it was only spies who entered the city to set fire, Toki Yoritoshi thought about it and ordered: "Raise the flags and go to the Imperial Palace to pay homage."

It was difficult to stabilize the situation at this time. We could only ensure that the emperor would not panic before dealing with the fire in the city.

Obviously, the spies set fire to create chaos, and it was easy for them to slip away with the help of chaos. It was impossible to catch them at this time.

Kyoto was not surrounded by city walls, unlike the Dashun side, where the city gates could be blocked if something happened, which would ensure that they could not escape and could be searched later.

Toki Yoritoshi was still very sober. The top priority was not to catch the spies who created chaos, but to stabilize the situation and gather the samurai. It was very likely that these spies had already escaped, and it was not wise to spend energy on meaningless things.

He guessed correctly. After Wu Fangrui commanded people to set fires everywhere, he led people to run away along the way they came.

It was necessary to meet the follow-up troops in the north and rely on the chaotic situation at this time to capture the Japanese royal palace first.

As long as they can capture the palace, they can protect themselves by threatening hostages or setting fire to it.

The main force that follows, no matter how slow it is, will arrive within seven or eight days. By then, this great achievement will be accomplished.