Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 77 The justice of the world

Mt. Aoba, Miyagi-gun, Mutsu Kingdom.

At dawn, a fast horse ran out of the gate of Aoba Castle (Sendai Castle), and hurried along the road outside the gate in the direction of Tokaido.

In the council chamber of the survey office in Ninomaru in the city, a group of retainers of the Sendai domain, after receiving a letter from the fast horse of Matsushima Town last night, entered the city collectively to hold a meeting to discuss how to deal with the sudden appearance of Matsushima Town. barbarian boat.

As the messengers kept adding news, everyone already knew the word "Thor" painted on the outside of the big ship.This made everyone more suspicious and dared not act rashly.

You have to ask the Edo side first, and it is best that the shogunate also send someone over, so that the Date family will not be caught by the shogun.

It is said that when Masamune the One-Eyed Dragon was building Aoba Castle, he considered that a war might break out with the Tokugawa family one day, so he chose the high ground of Aoba Mountain as the site for the construction of the castle.This fierce man also specially left a combat deduction map for future generations ("Sendai Imperial Array の Imperial Touch に Fu Imperial Trial").

However, although there is a castle tower in Sendai Castle, there is no castle tower.Mainly because the Date family didn't want to make excuses for the shogunate to fix themselves.

After years of carefulness, trouble is still coming.

At this time, Ishikawa Murabun frowned, and the fan in his hand kept beating his knees.At this moment, Ishikawa Murabu felt remorse in his heart, why don't I go to Edo with the head of the family?I don't care about this shit.

The 34-year-old Yida's reputation in the Date family is not good. Apart from making money, he is only greedy for comfort and enjoyment all day long.If he was expected to come up with some kind of decision, Date's house would have been cold by now.

In the meeting hall, the head of the Mizusawa Date family, Date Cun Yoshimura, was a 12-year-old child, and it was useless to ask; .

At this time, only one person was heard saying slowly: "It's not the way to drag it like this. If the boat belongs to the general, it's just a misunderstanding; but if it really is a barbarian boat, we have to guard against it."

Everyone heard the sound and looked, it turned out to be the old man Endo Shouxin.This guy is in his 60s, usually a ghostly person.Ishikawa Cunwen often consults his opinions when dealing with domestic affairs.

"Then what do you mean?" Ishikawa Murafumi leaned over and asked.

Endo Morinobu thought for a while and said: "Matsushima Town will send more people and weapons, so I will send them from this city. Then arrange the small early ships from Matsushima and Ishinomaki Port to prevent the large ships from docking. First, send people to negotiate and ask What happened to Qing, let's wait for the opinion of the shogunate."

"What should I do if the people on the big ship ask to go ashore?" A retainer asked a question.

Yes, if someone comes to the door, who will carry the blame?

"If they want to trade, they can't agree. Let them go to Nagasaki." Endo Morinobu said with a smile.

Ishikawa Murabu looked at a few members of the Date family around him, and seeing that there was no objection from everyone, he patted his thigh with a folding fan and said, "In this case, I will follow the old man's method."

In Matsushima Town, Katayama Kanbei's home.

Katayama Kanbei, who had eaten breakfast, looked at the three of Katsukaishu in front of him, shook his head and sighed: "Your battle is so big that even Aoba City is disturbed, this is not easy to handle."

Sheng Haizhou said: "This time, my lord is here to transport a large number of refugees. If the boat is too small, wouldn't it be a waste of time?"

Katayama Kanbei said: "Fortunately, you wrote the word 'Thor' on the bow of the boat, and Honmachi did not dare to act rashly. What I want to know is why that Lord Zhao named the boat such a name?"

Hearing the words, Katsumi looked back at Liji and the two behind him, smiled slightly, and then said, "My lord asked me to specifically inform Katayama-kun. The iron boat is equipped with two artillery pieces far exceeding the country's collapse, which can be installed within a few breaths. When the medicine fires, a single shot can hit dozens of miles, and it is as powerful as a thunder, and it is invincible. Hence the name 'Thunder God'."

Katayama Kanbei's eyes widened in disbelief: "Iron boat? You said that the big boat was made of iron?"

"From top to bottom, from the inside to the outside, it's all made of steel. And it can travel thousands of miles a day at sea." Sheng Kaizhou said with a smile.

This is simply unheard of!Katayama Kanbei couldn't believe it at all.It is said that the Yasakamaru, built by the Tokugawa family, is just using elongated copper plates to stabilize the hull inside; but it is difficult to start.

Kesheng Haizhou said that the big boat was made of steel from top to bottom, what a joke!Can you use it to make knives and guns to make iron cannons?It's too wasteful.

Thinking of this, Katayama couldn't help frowning, and asked word by word, "What are you doing?!"

Sheng Haizhou took a sip of tea, put it down, and said slowly: "Since the previous year, there have been famines all over the world. A large number of farmers have no land to grow, so they have left their homes and become untouchables. Countless victims were allowed to corpse in the wilderness; the vassals were even more aggressive and corrupt. Katayama-kun, you said it yourself, the rice shops in the town colluded with the elders of the vassal, wantonly raised prices, and complained everywhere.”

Katayama Kanbei looked at the young man in front of him in surprise. He found that his temperament had changed a lot from last year.From the tone to the eyes, sometimes it is as sharp as a knife.

At this time, Sheng Haizhou and other islanders had completely different vision and confidence after experiencing the First Battle of Bear Island and testing guns in person.

Under the endless variety of new firearms and tyrannical means of his lord, he fully believes that Zhao Xin can lead them to go all over the world like searching for things.

Even the Tokugawa shogunate was infected by Zhao Xin's contemptuous tone countless times, not to mention the 62 stone high Date family.

"Katayama-kun, I know you are an upright samurai. So, do you want to be loyal to the justice of the world, or do you want to be loyal to one family and let countless victims die in agony?"

"I" Katayama Kanbei was speechless, lost in thought.

After a long time, Katayama Kanbei asked, "Dare to ask where that Lord Zhao is taking the refugees?"

Sheng Haizhou pointed to the north and replied, "This is a thousand miles to the north. The lord of my family has a seaport, and the city name is 'Beihai'. The land is fertile and wild, and the products are abundant, the animals in the forest are plump, and the rivers are full of fish and shrimp. You can cultivate the fields, fish and hunt as much as you can. If you stay in the island country, you have to wait until you die!”

"Since it's such a good place, no one will grab it from you?" Katayama is not an idiot, and Sheng Haizhou's few words can't make him completely at ease.This is not as simple as taking away more than 100 people last year. Sheng Haizhou said at the beginning that at least 5000 people will be taken away this time.

"To tell you the truth, after Zhengdan, my lord led 11 of us to wipe out more than a hundred elite soldiers of the Qing Dynasty, and we didn't lose a single person." Sheng Haizhou said confidently.

And Li Ji, who was behind him, heard this, and unconsciously reached out and touched his butt.Hu Ji, who was on the side, saw Li Ji's appearance, lowered his head and suppressed a smile, and coughed pretendingly.

"Hey!" Katayama Kanbei couldn't help gasping for air.

In this era, although the people of the island nation believed that the rulers of the Qing Kingdom were barbarians, they also recognized that the other party was powerful.Back then, even North Korea was beaten and wiped by the Qing army, and the shogunate was nervous to death, for fear that the Qing army would send troops to attack.

In the following years, various news from the Qing Dynasty came from Nagasaki Fengxing; not to mention, in the past few decades, Qianlong attacked Jinchuan in the southwest and Huojizhan in the northwest. The scale of the war amazed the island nation, which has been in peace for nearly 200 years.

(The pacification of Jinchuan, big and small, took place twice before and after the Qing court, which lasted seven years. More than 60 soldiers were killed in battle, and more than 7000 disobedient Miao Fan were killed. A total of nearly 12 people were invested successively, and [-] million taels of silver were spent; In the Guangdong war, troops were used for [-] years, and more than [-] million taels of money were spent; for the pacification of the Northwest, troops were used for five years, more than [-] million taels of money were spent, and more than [-] kilometers of land were opened.)
After hesitating for a while, Katayama Kanbei said, "How do you want me to help?"

Before Sheng Haizhou came, Zhao Xin had already explained to him carefully. This time, he didn't care about the population in the town, but only aimed at those refugees outside the town.

"Katayama-kun, we won't get off the boat and enter Matsushima Town to grab people. My lord is interested in those disaster victims outside the town, you just need to find a way to drive these people to the beach in the south, and don't care about the rest. , we will take care of ourselves."

"Do you know how many people there are outside the town? Nearly [-] people! Are you sure that Mr. Zhao will take all these people away?" Katayama Kanbei asked in disbelief.

"We won't take them away. Do you think the adults in the clan will save them? The Thunder God is the only huge warship in the world. It can't hold 1 people."

"So, I have something to ask for."

"That's right, Katayama-kun, please don't be polite." Katsu Kaishu heard the words and bowed to Katayama Kanbei.

"If something happens to me, I would trouble Katsu-kun Zhou to help my family. Please." Katayama Kanbei also gave Katsumi a deep salute.

"Please don't worry Katayama-kun, Katsu Kaishu will live up to his trust!"

After talking about the matter, Katsu Kaishu said "offends" to Katayama, and took out a box the size of a black palm from his arms, and at one end of the box there was a cylindrical thing the size of a little finger.

Katayama Kanbei saw Katsu Kaishu turn a few knobs on the black box, and a rustling sound began to come from the black box.

"My lord, I am Sheng Haizhou. It's over."

After a while, Zhao Xin's voice came from the black box: "How is the situation? It's over."

Under the surprised eyes of Katayama Kanbei, Katsu Kaishu reported the situation to Zhao Xin on the boat, and relayed Katayama's request.The noise of the electric current attracted Katayama's wife, Duo He and two daughters, who were also attracted to come over.

Duo He, who was across the door, only heard a man in the room saying to his husband: "Katayama-kun, don't worry, I will protect your family. It's a big deal, I can send them all to the boat."

"Ah?! What happened? Where do you want to take yourself and your daughter?" Duo He was shocked.Since the husband entered the door in the morning, he and Katsu Kaishu have stayed in the room to talk about things.What is this all about? !
With a "swoosh" sound, the barrier door was opened.Katayama looked at his wife and two children and said softly, "You all come in. I just have something to tell you."

In the afternoon, several of Katayama's subordinates received a strange order.Katayama Kanbei asked them to go outside the town, select men with families among the refugees waiting to die, no matter how many people there are, and drive these people to the beach two miles away to the south. Ming reward one or two, if the number reaches five thousand, add another one or two.

What?Is the sun coming out of the west?Several Mu Ming got together and discussed inconceivably.When did Katayama-sama become so rich?

Could it be that he figured it out, and is also going to engage in rice smuggling?But it doesn't take so many people to move the rice.

It doesn't matter, as long as you can get money this year, it's fine.A few eyes and a dozen dog legs, pinching their noses and busy all afternoon, more than 3000 selected refugees were like walking corpses, and were driven to the beach by these officials with ten hands and sticks.

Not long after these officials left, a patrol boat and two assault boats rolled up white waves and rushed towards this beach.

(End of this chapter)