Japanese pirates during the Heian period were mainly coastal fishermen, and most of them used small sampans to rob.
Going to the coast of Korea is already their limit, and they do not have the hard power to reach China.
The Seto Inland Sea is a restricted area for pirates. During the reign of Emperor Shirakawa, some pirates from the Western Kingdom came here to hang out, and they were soon hit hard by the official navy. Taira Takaramori was also ordered to lead the Central Navy to kill Kyushu Island.
Pirate lair on the edge.
As for the Japanese Navy, the appearance of the main battleship is very similar to the Tang Dynasty Envoy Ship. The longest one is about 30 meters, with one deck, equipped with sails, oars on both sides, and a load of 150 people.
Moreover, there are not many main battleships, and the rest are all small ships, and there are even a large number of flat-bottomed boats.
The Ming Dynasty's navy sailed into the Seto Inland Sea, and the hearts of Heian Kyo immediately changed.
Because the Seto Inland Sea is Japan's "maritime highway", even a few more pirates will affect the economy, let alone the arrival of the Chinese navy.
The Chinese navy ships arrived in Osaka, and the Japanese navy fled after hearing the news, waiting for orders from Emperor Toba.
Five hundred soldiers disembarked first, followed by dozens of cavalry.
After all the infantry landed, some of the navy came to the shore to guard, and some went to cruise nearby.
What appears before everyone's eyes is Namba Kyo, Japan's former vice-capital, which was the political stage for Japan's reform and development.
The layout of the entire city is modeled after Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty.
Even some street names are directly copied from the streets in Chang'an City.
To the north of the city center is the Namba Imperial Palace.
It is the earliest formal continental-style palace in Japan, and is also modeled after the Imperial City of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty. It has been destroyed by fire for hundreds of years. Japanese legend has it that the palace suffered a curse because it was built by cutting down trees around the shrine.
Although the imperial palace was destroyed, the remains of the imperial city remain.
When the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty landed, many nobles, monks and powerful men gathered towards the ruined city wall with various types of armed forces.
Because except for the ruined city wall of Namba Imperial Palace, there are no other walls in Osaka to defend.
Calling it a city wall would be an exaggeration.
Only the wall at the city gate is still regular, and the rest is similar to the fence of a landlord's house. Moreover, many foundation stones have been dug out and stolen by monks to build temples.
There were two leaders of the garrison.
One is named Fujiwara Tomabusa, the ancestor of the Uesugi family.
One is Monk Zhennian, the abbot of Da Nian Buddhist Temple.
Along with political corruption and social darkness, the original Buddhist school in Japan has gradually declined. In the past two hundred years, the "Nenbutsu School" has become more and more prosperous.
The Nianbutsu sect is a pioneer of the Pure Land Sect in Japan. From the beginning, it was committed to sinking into the market and gaining support from the general public. Gradually, not only wealthy families and businessmen believed in this thing, but also low-level nobles and even middle- and high-level nobles began to believe in it.
At this moment, more than two thousand people were guarding the Abandoned Imperial City, more than half of them were monk soldiers, and the rest were warriors of all levels.
As for the peasants and soldiers, we don’t have time to summon them yet.
As the Ming army approached step by step, Monk Zhennian said: "In the end of the Dharma era, the devil comes to the world. This is a test for us."
The Japanese Tendai Sect of later generations was still called the Lotus Sect at this time.
The abbots of the Osaka Hokke Sect were not happy when they heard this. But they were not in the mood to argue. Who makes the Buddhism in Osaka the strongest?
It only took three years for the Da Nian Buddhist Temple to be built.
But before the temple was built, the Nianbutsu sect had followers all over Osaka. The surrounding famous lords, big and small businessmen in the city, and many middle and low-level nobles were all afraid of the end of the world, and they could avoid disaster as long as they chanted the Buddha's name.
…
After entering the city, Zhu Xiaozhong felt like he had returned to the Central Plains.
This place is completely different from Shijian City. The urban layout is similar to Chang'an and Luoyang.
The streets and houses are neatly built like a chessboard, and the shop signs all use Chinese characters. They are also divided into compartments, and the names of the compartments are also the same as those in China (directly copied).
There are wooden fences and even gates between the various houses.
Those civilians in the city who had not fled were now hiding, peeking at the intruders through cracks in doors and windows.
Zhu Xiaozhong borrowed several naval artillery pieces from Yingxuan, and they were pushed by boatmen and gunners to Namba Palace.
Zhu Shouyi led the cavalry around the abandoned imperial city, shooting arrows from inside the wall from time to time.
He rushed back and reported: "The city wall is very low and has collapsed in many places. The gaps have been temporarily blocked. Even if there are no gaps, one can rush straight in with such a short wall."
"Artillery first." Zhu Xiaozhong said.
The cavalry led the naval artillery to the four gaps in the city wall, and the infantry was also divided into four teams for protection.
The Japanese defenders were nervously defending when they saw Ming soldiers pushing out strange objects.
"Boom boom boom!"
A few cannon shots were like a bolt from the blue.
The warriors and monks were startled and looked at the sky. They believed that it was really thundering.
Unfortunately, there was no thunder in the sky.
Instead, outside the city wall, the artillery was smoking.
Continue to reload and fire again.
This time I can finally be convinced that those Tang people can summon thunder and lightning!
"The Tang people are guarding thunder again!"
A large armored warrior shouted, this guy had obviously been to the battlefield of Ishigami Country, and at this moment, he had been reminded of those horrific memories.
Fujiwara Tamabusa took the lead in escaping with the samurai. He had better information and knew how Taira Takaramori was completely defeated.
As soon as the nobles of the Fujiwara family ran away, the samurai also fled, and in a blink of an eye only the monk soldiers were left defending the city.
The abbots looked at each other, and then looked at the fleeing warriors.
Before the third round of bombardment came, the great monks also ran away with the monk soldiers. They were invited by Fujiwara Tamabusa. The principal had fled, and the monk soldiers were still standing guard. They should go home and guard the temple.
"Arrests!"
Zhu Xiaozhong gave the order, and the cavalry was already chasing along the ruined city wall.
Fujiwara Tamabusa was wearing a large armor, so he couldn't run very fast on horseback. The guy stopped his horse and asked Lang Dang to take off his armor. He discarded his gorgeous ancestral armor and then mounted his horse lightly and ran very fast.
He followed the river and fled directly towards Heianjing. Looking back from time to time, he found that the pursuers were arresting his gang members.
"Da da da da!"
The sound of horse hoofbeats was getting closer and closer. When Fujiwara Maifou turned around again, he found that six cavalrymen were already approaching.
call out!
An arrow was shot and flew past Fujiwara Tamifusa's head.
This guy was so frightened that his scalp was numb, and he felt that he might not be able to escape, so he simply reined in his horse and shouted: "Surrender! I am a noble of the Fujiwara Kita family, and I can pay a very high ransom!"
Not only did he know how Taira Takaramori was defeated, but he also knew that the captured noble warriors could be released safely as long as they paid a ransom.
Fujiwara tied up his hands, but the Ming cavalry didn't get used to it and directly pinned him to the ground and tied him up.
"I am a noble, you can't do this... Bah!" Fujiwara struggled and shouted, his face was pressed down and he ate a few mouthfuls of dirt.
Zhu Xiaozhong stood on the ruins of the Namba Imperial City, looking at the ruined walls, and said with great disdain: "This damn thing is also called Fujing? There is a low wall outside the palace."
In fact, there was not only a low wall, there used to be a moat.
It's just that it has been abandoned for hundreds of years, and the moat has not been cleared and has been filled in with mud and various debris.
Even Ping'an Capital at this time had the same layout - it was built to imitate Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty, but the outer city was not protected by a city wall. The imperial city was surrounded by a moat, and a low wall was built on the inside of the moat to separate it.
In terms of its defensive properties, it is not even as good as the county seat of the Ming Dynasty.
The capital of Japan during the Nara period actually had a mountain defense system, and it was really difficult to win it by force. However, the capital was moved three times after that, and each time it was built in imitation of Chang'an City. There was no manpower and material resources to build the city, so we could only move the most important city.
The walls of the city were abandoned.
In other words, if Emperor Toba wanted to defend Heiankyo, he would not even have a decent wall!
…
"What should we do? The Tang Dynasty has captured Namba Kyo!" Emperor Toba asked anxiously.
He not only called his court officials and northern warriors, but also a bunch of officials from the court, as well as monks and onmyoji from the capital to discuss matters.
Peace lasted for hundreds of years, during which time the mob was suppressed, and even the Central Army was disbanded for two to three hundred years.
Even if a few monks committed evil acts, Emperor Shirakawa was afraid that he would not be able to defeat the monk soldiers, so he sent his trusted general Taira Takaramori to arrest them.
With such a waste of military power, what can be done to resist the invasion of foreign enemies?
Ping Zhongsheng suggested: "Your Majesty can hunt east."
"Absolutely not!"
Minister of Security Fujiwara Tadamichi immediately objected.
The interests of the Fujiwara family are mainly in the Kinki area. Once Emperor Toba runs away, what will happen to the Fujiwara family's property?
What's even more frightening is that if the Kinki region is destroyed, Emperor Noriyu is very likely to move the capital. If the Fujiwara Kita family follows, they will have to lead people to start over. If they don't follow, they will be far away from the political center.
Although he didn't like his eldest son, Fujiwara Tadashi, for the sake of the family's interests, Fujiwara Tadashi still agreed: "Your Majesty should not hunt eastward. You should send someone to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty."
Emperor Toba looked at the monk and Onmyoji again: "Can't you defeat the Ming army?"
The mages were collectively silent.
Japan during the Heian period was superstitious to the point of being unreasonable.
Onmyojis are the strongest in business. They directly say that Heian Kyo is a devil's cave, and from time to time hundreds of ghosts will walk at night. Moreover, they do not kill animals, but only drive away or seal the demons. Therefore, the nobles' homes are often haunted by ghosts, and they need to repeatedly ask onmyojis to exorcise them.
magic.
Two hundred years ago, Sugawara Michizane was falsely accused of rebellion and unfortunately died of illness in the exile.
Unexpectedly, the palace was suddenly struck by lightning, and the emperor quickly pardoned his children. He also believed that the resentful spirit of Sugawara Michizane could summon thunder and lightning, and directly named him the God of Learning.
Because the patron saint of the Fujiwara clan was the God of Thunder, the Fujiwara clan also began to worship this person and built Tenmangu Shrine specifically for Sugawara Michizane.
Now that the army couldn't handle it, Emperor Toba naturally thought of using magic.
Seeing that the magicians were losing their temper at the critical moment, Emperor Toba asked Taira Taira-mori again: "Can you resist the Tang Dynasty?"
Ping Zhongsheng replied: "I can only fight to the death."
He could only fight to the death, but he would probably not be able to defeat him. Emperor Toba was speechless.
After a long time, Emperor Toba asked: "Did the Prince of Ming Kingdom just ask for Tsushima Kingdom, and then rent Iwami Kingdom Castle and Omori Mountain?"
Oe Weishun said: "The news came a few days ago that the Ming army occupied Sado Country, and maybe it has a greater appetite now. If negotiations are not carried out as soon as possible, I am afraid that the Ming Dynasty will ask for more."
"Then... let's talk about it," Emperor Toba said.
He could only be thankful that his son had not yet entered the Yuan Dynasty.
Otherwise, it would be even more dangerous to encounter such a thing. The Fujiwara family would most likely take the opportunity to control the emperor and force Emperor Toba to abolish the government immediately.
(There is too little detailed information on the Heian period. It makes my head hurt to look up the information in this chapter. It is gone today and will be updated tomorrow.)