In fact, the Ryukyu Army still has nearly 2,000 defenders inside and outside Shuri Castle, including the elite remnants of Zheng Jiong's troops, while the Shimazu Army's siege force under Kawasama Gonzaemon Kutaka only has a total of more than 2,000 people. The Hirata Department is trapped in the northern part of Naha and is facing off against the Chunghwa Merchant House. The occupied areas in Kitayama also need to be stationed. The Kayama Department has no reserve team. If the Ryukyu Army is engaged in a battle between trapped beasts, it may have no chance of defeating it. However, King Shoning and After the defeat of Zheng Jiong's troops, the aristocrats and bureaucrats at all levels in Shuli had completely lost their fighting spirit and were only thinking about how to preserve their status and lives.

Due to the unbridled burning, killing and looting by the Japanese pirate army, countless Ryukyu refugees from areas around Shuri flocked to the relatively peaceful Naha area.

From the investigation report of the special battalion's rookie capture, Chen Zhongji and the leadership of the merchant house guards already knew about the surrender of the Ryukyu Kingdom.

However, the main force of Shimazu's army never appeared. It lasted seven or eight days. Early that morning, Chen Zhongji went up to the east gate tower and was startled by the sight in front of him. He saw people pouring in from the main road in the east direction. Countless people, women, children, old and young, supported each other, and men carried large and small parcels. They came in a chaotic manner. Tens of thousands of people rushed towards Naha Port. In a moment, the outside of the Chunghwa Commercial Building was completely occupied by these refugees. They were surrounded, their cries were loud, and everyone asked the Chinese to open the door so that they could come in and take refuge.

Chen Zhongji, Kuterei, Luo Aquan, Zhang Hai, Mai Yangtian and the Ryukyu Director of the Security Department Zeng Xiren gathered on the gate tower. Looking at each other, everyone had a consensus in their hearts: Never open the door to let anyone in.

Not to mention that there is no guarantee that there will be no Japanese pirates in disguise among these refugees. Even if these tens of thousands of people are all refugees, the Chinese Commercial Building does not have such a big place for them to live, nor does it have so much food to supply them.

The only option for everyone is to be stubborn and determined not to open the door.

At noon, the Shimazu army arrived from the direction of Shuri. The leading force was 500 iron gunners. After they crossed the Naha River, they saw so many people blocking the entrance of the business building. They opened fire regardless of whether they were there or not. Under the bullets flying, the refugees fell to the ground in pieces, and more people fled in all directions.

Subsequently, the main force of more than 1,500 Shimadzu troops led by Kumoto Ijuin, the deputy general of Kayama Hisaka, arrived. They took control of the area on the north bank of the Naha River and began to send scouts to roam around the Chunghwa Commercial Building.

An envoy carrying the Ryukyu royal family's Sanba pattern flag carefully walked within 200 steps of the east gate of the merchant house and shouted loudly in slightly modified Chinese: "I am the king's envoy, and I want to see your merchant shop manager. ,"

Chen Zhongji looked through the binoculars and found out that he was an acquaintance, the master of the Wang family temple, Imori. Chen Zhongji had visited him before the war and got some information about the Satsuma clan from him. Chen Zhongji waved his hand, and a small crack opened in the east gate. , ten soldiers from the special battalion quickly rushed out and surrounded Lord Yimoli.

"Master Abbot, what do you have to say?" Chen Zhongji met the middle-aged monk Yimo Lizhu under the east gate tower. He was not sure why this guy came: "Why are you with the Japanese pirates?"

Lord Yimoli clasped his hands together and said, "Donor Chen, where is my heir apparent?"

Chen Zhongji smiled: "He is very good, we have protected him,"

Lord Imori looked around at the situation inside the business building and saw that the main hall of the business building and the square in front of the warehouse were filled with cannons. People were coming and going, all of them were fully armed, carrying muskets, daggers and unknown strange weapons. The entire business hall was full of cannons. The museum was filled with an atmosphere of war, and he couldn't help but take a breath: "Donor Chen, do you really want to fight the Japanese pirates in this tiny place?"

Chen Zhongji nodded: "There are hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and countless silk brocades in the business hall, as well as sulfur and sucrose from Ryukyu. Our responsibility is to protect these company properties from loss until our big boss sends someone to take them over. "

"In that case, can you please release the crown prince of my family? My family has already negotiated peace with the Shimazu family,"

"The only way to make peace is to surrender," Chen Zhongji thought to himself: He didn't expect King Shangning to be so useless. He surrendered after only a few days of stalemate. It seems that the main force of Shimazu's army should have arrived in Naha.

Lord Yimoli sighed: "Our country is just a small country overseas. We have no soldiers at home. How can we defend against the enemy? Tomorrow is far away, and it is impossible to use weapons for our small vassal state. Let's negotiate peace with the Japanese pirates. , that is also a helpless move. The grievances between the Chunghwa Company and the Satsuma clan have nothing to do with us, a small country with few people. Please return the crown prince of my family," Lord Imori originally had the task of persuading the Chunghwa Company to surrender, but when he saw the inside Everyone was armed to the teeth and full of murderous intent. They knew that any words of persuasion to surrender would be nonsense, so they did not mention it at all.

Chen Zhongji shook his head: "His Royal Highness Prince Shangfeng is a friend of our company. We will never hand him over to the Japanese pirates. If you want him to leave, just ask His Majesty the King's army to pick him up." After that, he Waving their hands, the soldiers of the special battalion picked up Master Yimo without any explanation and dragged him out of the east gate. Before leaving the door, Master Yimo struggled and turned around and shouted: "Donor Chen, you must protect His Highness the Crown Prince..."

Chen Zhongji boarded the east gate tower and saw that 2,000 Shimazu troops had set up camp on the north bank of the Naha River. The Hirata Masubu Division in the direction of Obama also sent troops to join the main force.

Shimazu Army Deputy General Hisamoto Ijuin shook his head after hearing the report from Lord Imori and said: "The stubborn Chinese actually refused to surrender."

Lord Imori thought to himself: The Chinese didn't pay attention to the topic of surrender at all. He smiled bitterly and said: "I left on the order of the king, but they are not my Ryukyu countrymen, and there is nothing I can do about it."

Ijuin Kumoto nodded: "Then, you should go to Yaraza Mori Castle again. It's best if you can successfully persuade them to surrender, otherwise..."

In the evening, several members of the escort team sent by Chen Zhongji to teach how to use rockets at Yaraza Mori Castle took advantage of the darkness and came to the south gate. Accompanying them were Xie Yuanshui, the guard captain of the third commander of the Ryukyu Kingdom Zheng Jiong, and a dozen Ryukyu soldiers. Soldiers of the Royal Guard drove two carriages, carrying more than ten barrels of gunpowder and some bows and arrows.

It turned out that Lord Imori came to Uraza Mori Castle overnight to persuade him to surrender. When he took out the handwriting of King Shoning, he encountered almost no opposition. More than 100 Ryukyu Army soldiers in the castle surrendered. Only Xie Yuanshui refused to surrender. , secretly left Yaraza Mori Castle with a dozen trusted Chinese soldiers and came to the Chunghwa Commercial House. At this point, all the Naha Port area except the Chunghwa Commercial House had fallen.

After the Shimadzu Army's Kayama Kutaka Division defeated Zheng Jiong's last attack, they headed straight to the foot of Shuri Castle, entered the outskirts of the royal city from Ayamon Avenue, surrounded the inner stone base, and confronted the city guards at the main gate Huanhui Gate, and they held a stalemate. No less, with the successive fall of the fortresses outside Shuri Castle, the main island of Ryukyu is no longer safe to defend, and Shuri Castle cannot be relied on. The Satsuma soldiers outside the city may break through the city at any time. By then, not only will the Ryukyu Royal City be bleeding like a river, but also it will be lost. The final bargaining chip was in vain to increase casualties. For this reason, King Shanning decided to surrender the city. This played into Shimazu's wishes. In fact, Satsuma could not afford a long-term siege, and food and ammunition were no longer available.

The Ryukyu side sent Mego Yoshitoyo (Ma Liangbi, Kitayama surrendered without a fight at the battle of Nakijin Castle, and was a prisoner in the Satsuma army at this time), Naohiro, Ikejo Anrayi, Toyomijo Moritsugu, Kikugakure, Kian and others were the negotiators. On the Shimadzu side, Daijiji Ryunun, Ichika Masaru, and Murao Xiaosu were responsible for the negotiations. In fact, the negotiations were nothing more than the Ryukyu side's confirmation of surrender and the Shimadzu side's request for hostages. As a result, Shang Ning and his brother Asakura Prince Shang Feng left the city as hostages. On May 4th, after King Shang Ning offered sacrifices to the ancestral temple, he left the city in a sedan chair with the queen and officials, and went to Nago Yoshitoyo's house to stay temporarily. Transfer to Urasoe Palace.

Prince Shangfeng was not among them, because he was still taking refuge in the Chinese Merchant Hall.

The next day, Kaguyama Hisaka and others entered Shuri Castle and officially announced that they had conquered the Ryukyu Kingdom. All the Ryukyu Kingdom had fallen, and the Shimadzu Army's war of aggression had been a complete victory - except for the Chinese merchant house in Naha Port, which was not on the island. Under the control of the Jin army, the entire Ryukyu Zhongshan Kingdom was completely controlled by the Japanese pirates. In the next seven or eight days, Shuri Castle was looted by the Satsuma army, whether it was "seven treasures" or "documents for generations" , regardless of whether there are precious cultural relics in Japan, they are all numbered and packed one by one by the Satsuma soldiers, ready to be transported back to the country. Even the officials, big and small, who enter and leave the royal city are searched to prevent their belongings from being taken out. This crazy robbery The looting was an unprecedented disaster in the history of Ryukyu culture. The Chinese treasures in the Shuri Royal Castle that had been given as tributes and trade by successive kings were looted and no longer owned by the Ryukyus. Shortly thereafter, the outlying islands of Kume Island and the Miyako Islands also surrendered.

For the generals of the Shimadzu Army such as Kaguyama Hisaka, the war has come to an end, but Prince Naotoyo has not been caught yet, but there is a major crisis lurking. Once the prince is kidnapped by the Chinese, the legitimate Ryukyu royal family will If you make trouble in the name, you may be in big trouble.

While Kutaka Kawasama scolded the nosy Chinese (he had forgotten about Satsuma Domain's sneak attack on Taiwan), he had no choice but to send the main force to Naha Port to prepare to use force to deal with the Chinese merchant house. Because all his troops enthusiastically They threw themselves into the work of robbing, raping, burning, killing and plundering, and could not gather the troops for a while, so Chen Zhongji and others waited for seven or eight days before seeing the arrival of the main force of Shimadzu's army.

During this period, the Sea Spirit sent over 150 elite escort soldiers, as well as 5 field guns. The garrison in the museum has reached about 450 people, with eight 36-pound cannons and 11 light field guns. door, and two sky-blasting cannons.

On this day, Yan Siqi was organizing the troops he brought to dig trenches in front of the warehouse. Suddenly, a messenger came to deliver a message: "Commander Yan, Shopkeeper Chen, please go there."

Yan Siqi quickly rushed to the south gate tower, patted Chen Zhongji on the shoulder and said: "Ji Zai, how are you? Is the war starting?"

The two of them are similar in age. They both came from Yin Feng's personal guard. Yin Feng also taught them some war theory classes personally. Therefore, the two of them have the friendship of fellow disciples and are very close to each other. Chen Zhongji laughed and said: "The captain of the ship. You sent me here because you seem to be worried about me and are afraid that I won't be able to complete the task."

"That's natural. I have made military exploits under the city of Manila, but you just brought the indigenous auxiliary soldiers to help move things. Without me, how could you have accomplished anything," Yan Siqi said confidently.

Chen Zhongji smiled nonchalantly, pointed forward and said: "The entire Japanese pirate army is stationed north of the Naha River. Can you lead some people to conduct a sneak attack at night?"

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Chapter completed!