When Yang Zhen heard the gunshot, Rokkaku Genjiro and He Tingbin who were following him also heard the gunshot.

Seeing the sudden change in Yang Zhen's face, He Tingbin immediately asked Rokkaku Genjiro what was going on and why there was a Japanese ambush in the deserted hills of Fushimi Castle.

When Rokkaku Genjiro first heard the gunfire, he was certainly confused, but he reacted quickly. Faced with Yang Zhen's cold eyes and He Tingbin's shouting question, he immediately replied:

"Shangyang captured Osaka yesterday. The news may have reached Kyoto. It may be that there is already a guard in Kyoto and a patrol sent out to guard here!"

He Tingbin translated this to Yang Zhen, and Yang Zhen suddenly felt enlightened after hearing it.

The Japanese cities were different from the Ming Dynasty cities.

The cities of the Ming Dynasty were all square, and the people basically lived in the city.

As for the castles of the Japanese, it is more accurate to say that they were only the residences or manors of the feudal lord, or at best, they were small castles for the feudal lord and his family.

The feudal lord's subjects and a large number of townspeople from all walks of life lived under the castle or outside the castle.

The so-called castle town is not surrounded by a solid wall like the Ming Dynasty city.

Such a situation is certainly conducive to the success of Yang Zhen's raid on the castle town, but it is impossible to kill everyone in the castle town during the raid.

In this regard, it is a relatively closed city like the Ming Dynasty. Once the enemy breaks through, it can easily be wiped out.

Because the city is surrounded by tall walls, once the city gate is occupied by the enemy, the people in the city will have no way to escape.

Of course, everything has its advantages and disadvantages. At this moment, time is tight. Even though Yang Zhen realized the problem, he didn't have much time to think about anything else.

"Send an order to Thomas. There are Japanese patrols on the hillock ahead. Tell Thomas and the others to abandon the ship and go ashore and capture the barren hill on the spot!

"Send an order to Yan Shengsan, asking him to take the left wing gunners and grenadiers to continue on the small boat, move along the Kamogawa River, and attack Kyoto in a roundabout way from the east!

"Send an order to Zhang Guogan and ask him to lead the right-wing musketeers and grenadiers to land immediately on the shore. From here, attack directly to the north!

"Invite Sun Dengxuan and Wang Jun to command the remaining gunners and grenadiers to land ashore and follow me as the Chinese reserve force, under my direct command!"

In an instant, Yang Zhen made a decision, and his order was quickly conveyed.

The Dutch in the front were already fighting, so there was no need to remain silent in the rear.

In order to hide the whereabouts of his fleet in the night, Yang Zhen ordered a ban on making loud noises, but now the ban no longer exists.

Therefore, the sudden sound of gunshots and the sudden order issued by Yang Zhen caused the scene to be a bit chaotic for a while, but the chaos returned to chaos, and it was finally orderly in the chaos.

Because before setting off last night, Yang Zhen had already divided his troops from Jinhai Town into left-wing, right-wing and central armies.

On the left wing, the naval oarsmen under Yan Shengsan served as auxiliary troops, together with a team of musketeers, a team of grenadiers and a team of cannon gunners as the main combat force of the left wing. The naval general Yan Shengsan was responsible for the command.

.

The right wing was composed of all the remaining musketeers led by Zhang Guogan and a group of grenadiers, totaling more than a thousand people. They served as the backbone of the attack on Kyoto.

The Chinese Army, composed of the remaining artillery units led by Sun Dengxuan and the remaining grenadiers led by Wang Jun, followed Yang Zhen and served as the general reserve team for battlefield operations. Wherever there were difficulties in attacking fortifications, they were ordered to support them.

As for the forward of the entire army, although Yang Zhen did not explicitly say that the Dutch will serve as the forward, judging from the current situation, it is already a fait accompli that the Dutch will serve as the forward.

Just when Yang Zhen issued the order, and then all the generals in the entire fleet were shouting and ordering their troops, the Dutch musketeers led by Thomas Peder had already disembarked and went ashore in a dispersed formation, crouching and staring.

With crackling gunshots, they attacked the barren hill where the ruins of Fushimi Castle are located.

From time to time, someone would be shot and scream and fall on the grass, but more people would fire back with their guns and continue to run forward quickly.

When Yang Zhen had made arrangements, got off the boat, stepped onto the wet grass on the river bank, gathered his troops, and was about to give the order to move in, the Dutch flag had already been erected on the barren hill not far away.

At this time, He Tingbin, who had been arranged by Yang Zhen to contact Thomas Pedel as soon as he got off the boat, also rushed back to Yang Zhen out of breath.

"Captain, Governor, the Dutch have occupied that place! There are not many Japanese soldiers there, there are probably a few dozen iron cannon ashigaru. At present, more than a dozen have been killed by the Dutch, a few have been injured and captured, and the rest can run.

They all ran away!"

"Have you ever asked why Japanese soldiers appeared here?"

"After asking, the news that we burned Osaka Town last night reached Kyoto. The Kyoto temple community temporarily recruited some monk soldiers to guard the intersections outside Kyoto! The Kamogawa River and Katsura River here are the only waterway gateways in the south of Kyoto!"

"Temple community? Monk soldiers? What's going on?"

Yang Zhen understood most of what He Tingbin said, but the mention of temple worship and monk soldiers made Yang Zhen's heart sink.

Sure enough, when he asked this question, before He Tingbin had time to answer, Genjiro Rokkaku, who was right next to Yang Zhen, raised his eyebrows and immediately took over the conversation and said:

"It seems that Itakura Shigemune, the director of Kyoto, is not here. If Itakura Shigemune is in Nijo Castle, he will never allow the temple to recruit monk soldiers!"

When Rokkaku Genjiro said this, his expression was complicated, but he was obviously mostly happy.

When He Tingbin saw what he said, he thought for a moment and immediately translated for Yang Zhen with a face full of joy.

There are many temples around Kyoto. Before the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, many Buddhist temples or shrines recruited monk soldiers for self-protection.

Moreover, some temples are large in scale and have strong monk soldiers. Many Japanese even rely on temples to survive during wars.

However, after the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, in order to weaken the threat of temples from various places to the shogunate's rule, the shogunate not only vigorously reduced the number of monk soldiers in various temples, but also established temple officials in several important places where temples were densely populated to monitor and control various places.

The operation of the temple.

The same is true in Kyoto.

In addition to dispatching a Kyoto office to manage the military defense of Kyoto, a Kyoto temple shrine was also established to take charge of the densely populated temples and shrines around Kyoto. The main purpose was to prevent temples and shrines near Kyoto from colluding with the royal family.

Because of this, the main duty of Kyoto temples is to monitor, reduce or suppress the strength of temples near Kyoto.

Unless absolutely necessary, temple communities will not actively recruit monk soldiers from the temple communities under their jurisdiction for defense.

And this point just shows how empty Kyoto's defense is right now.

"Okay! Okay! Okay!"

When he thought of this, Yang Zhen no longer had any doubts and immediately ordered loudly:

"Immediately send an order to the entire army to march into Kyoto immediately. Whoever enters the Japanese palace first will be heavily rewarded!

"Send troops to temples near Kyoto to resist our army. If you encounter temples wherever you go, burn them! Go! Go!"

At this time, all the troops under Yang Zhen's command had already assembled on the shore. Yang Zhen gave the order and immediately led the soldiers, who followed the general, and set off towards the shadowy Kyoto City in the north.

As for the Dutch musketeers and their servants, the Upanu musketeers, who had occupied the barren hills of Fushimi Castle earlier, they stabbed to death the Japanese monk soldiers who were shot and captured before heading north first.

At this time, in the town of Kyoto, the Japanese monk soldiers who escaped from the deserted hills of Fushimi Castle also brought news of the attack by the Japanese red-haired ghost musketeers to the temple priest Yoshida who was in charge of the overall situation in the town.

Kyoto temple priest Yoshida Kaneko was horrified when he heard the news. He sent his ministers to various temples and ordered monk soldiers to be recruited again. At the same time, he took a few attendants and turned around and ran towards Ouchi, where the Imperial Palace is located.

Itakura Shigemune, the Kyoto governor in charge of the defense of Kyoto, was ordered to take 1,500 archers, 1,500 arquebusiers and 300 spearmen guarding the surrounding areas of Kyoto a few days ago to go to the river.

Went in the direction of Hucheng.

Although Kyoto is an important place where the shogunate's army is garrisoned, the standing army available to the shogunate in Kyoto is only 3,300 men.

Itakura Shigemune's departure was equivalent to taking away all the standing armies around Kyoto.

There was nothing wrong with Itakura Shigemune's doing this, because although Emperor Gomizuo had nothing to do with the Tokugawa family, Emperor Gomizuo had already given up the throne to Emperor Meisho, who was related to the Tokugawa family, and Emperor Meisho was a woman.

What other waves can be made?

Besides, it has happened before that Itakura Shigemune was sent to war. Every time, the Kyoto Temple Office was also in charge of the Kyoto town administration, and there were no mistakes every time.

However, no one expected that the situation would take such a turn for the worse this time.

Apparently I received news the day before yesterday that the foreign fleet that was harassing the coast was still causing trouble in Edo Bay. Why did it suddenly arrive at Osaka Bay, and even reach Kyoto City right before my eyes?

However, no matter how confused and confused Yoshida Kanomi was on the way to the Imperial Palace, how ashamed and self-blame he was, and how he felt that a disaster was imminent, it was already too late.

Just when Kaneko Yoshida led some attendants to the Ouchi area where the Imperial Palace is located, hurriedly entered the Suzaku Gate, and went straight to the Chotō Yard to report the news to Emperor Meisho and the ministers who had gathered in the Chotō Yard early in the morning, Thomas Pedel

As well as the musketeers led by Zhang Guogan and others, they had already rushed into Kyoto Town like wolves and tigers with joy.

What made all of them ecstatic was that although Kyoto City was called a city, the situation was the same as that of Osaka. It did not have an outer city wall, nor did it have three layers of inner and outer fortifications.

The castle and the town are connected together, and at the southern end of Suzaku Avenue, which leads directly from the outside of the castle to Ouchi, there is only a huge torii gate symbolizing the castle gate.

As for why it doesn’t have an outer city wall, it may be because the Imperial Palace already has a city wall, and the status of the minister’s family and the town people who depend on the royal family outside is not as important as the royal family.

It may also be that because the emperor's family or various princes and nobles had a high status, the feudal lords and daimyo in various parts of the Japanese country did not dare to attack with force, so there was no need to build an outer castle.

Of course, what is more likely is that from the Kamakura shogunate period to the Muromachi shogunate period, and now since the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, the imperial family has no authority and is just a decoration. Moreover, the shogunate does not want the imperial family to have the ability to protect itself, so it does not build buildings in Kyoto.

Outer city or other city fortifications.

But no matter what the real reason is, in short, when Thomas led the Dutch musketeers to first rush into Kyoto Town, Kyoto Town was almost an undefended place.

Of course, it is not entirely accurate to say that it is undefended, because when Kaneko Yoshida went to the Imperial Palace Ouchi-ri Courtyard to report the situation, he had already issued an order to recruit temple soldiers.

Therefore, the noble families who lived in the streets and alleys distributed like a chessboard in Kyoto Town and the abbots of temples in various places also urgently mobilized their servants to resist.

However, whether it was the small group of monk soldiers who came in an emergency or the minister's servants who poured out from all the streets, they either had various naginata or improvised wooden sticks in their hands.

Facing the Dutch musketeers, who were armed to the teeth in this era, as well as the Jinhai Town musketeers and grenadiers led by Zhang Guogan, they were not the same enemy at all.

Apart from death, it rarely caused any real casualties to the coalition musketeers.

Especially when Yang Zhen arrived with the Soaring Artillery Team commanded by Sun Dengxuan and several grenadier teams commanded by Wang Jun, the Allied Musketeers became even more powerful.

At the same time, although Yang Zhen's previous order to burn Kyoto temples was quickly implemented during the march, a large number of nearby temples not only could no longer send monk soldiers to intercept the coalition forces, but the monk soldiers who had already been sent had to rush.

Go back and put out the fire.

Just like that, fires broke out in all directions, explosions, shouts of death, and screams intertwined together, and the town of Kyoto was completely plunged into chaos.

Including the Dutch musketeers led by Thomas Peder, the total number of troops Yang Zhen brought to Kyoto this time was only more than 3,000.

However, in the face of the depleted troops, which was almost equivalent to an undefended Kyoto city, just like a wolf entering a flock of sheep, more than 3,000 people turned this ancient capital that had been peaceful for a long time upside down.

Before an hour had passed, when the morning sun rose in the east, the rays of rays dispelled the morning fog, and shone on the Suzaku Gate of Heian Palace in Kyoto, the various people led by Yang Zhen, Zhang Guogan, Thomas and Yan Shengsan almost did not encounter them.
Chapter completed!