In Nagasaki Port, a Kansai ship that had completed preparations for sailing last night turned into a huge fireball amidst the roar of artillery shells.
The rising seawater and the scattered shipwrecks splashed against the outer wall of the warehouse where the soldiers were hiding.
Zhao and Xin quickly adjusted their position and continued to aim at the next ship according to the planned shooting list.
Continuous huge explosions finally shattered the apparent calm of Nagasaki Castle.
"It's not good. The barbarians are shelling the port!"
In Manzai Town, the town closest to the pier, hundreds of townspeople fled in panic. These people hurriedly packed up their belongings from home and ran towards Kousizen Town and Katsuyama Town in the north of the city.
"Calm down! Don't be chaotic! This is His Majesty Izumomomo's forceful expulsion of a foreign ship! Everyone, go home and stay quiet!" a colleague in charge of the martial law in Manzai Town shouted loudly.
"Don't be fooled, we all saw that Kanfune was bombed! Run for your life!" a town citizen shouted angrily.
Several officials were pushed by the crowd and joined the fleeing ranks. Tongxin pulled the reins of the horses and shouted: "Come back, come back!"
While he was shouting, a group of officials from the Western Service Office, surrounded by several guards, hurried past him.
We couldn't do anything but run away. The Western Yard was right next to the Dutch Yashiki. The barbarians had fired at the port, and the next shot might fall on their heads. Fortunately, there were two Yakuza in Nagasaki, and these people headed north all the way.
When we rushed to the Tateyama Office in the north of the city out of breath, many people's hair buns were messed up and several shoes were missing.
"Boom! Boom!"
"Your Highness Izumomoru, what should we do?" A group of officials were crawling in the official hall, and finally waited for Toda Shimei who came from the mansion.
"Sir! The Yi people's cannons have destroyed four Kansai ships!" A samurai from the Saga Domain bowed his head and reported.
Accompanied by the shelling at the port, Nagasaki's head of the Toda clan was extremely angry at the moment. It was certain that he would have to have a caesarean section to apologize to the shogunate, but how to solve the current problem of the barbarian ships is the most urgent matter. This matter
If he can't solve it, he won't even be able to keep his fiefdom.
He hated the Saga Domain so much that a thousand-man garrison could not even muster half of its troops.
Toda Shimeng roared angrily: "The Yi people have no credibility! They clearly said it would take three days, and then they brazenly bombarded the port after two days! At that time, the big Yi leader said that they would attack the base twice with artillery.
Why are you bombarding our ships?"
All the officials below showed grief and anger, and some even began to cry softly.
What a shame! In the six hundred years since the "Battle of Bunyong" and "Battle of Hong'an", the island country has never been attacked by a foreign country; even in the "Battle of Bunroku Keichang" two hundred years ago, the Ming Dynasty
No ships were sent to attack the mainland. Now, as the direct territory of the shogunate, such an appalling thing has happened. Where will the majesty of the shogunate come from?
"Boom! Boom!"
A colleague suddenly said: "Your Highness, I find this very strange. We originally planned to march by land and water today to expel the barbarians. Why did the other party suddenly open fire?"
"What do you mean?"
"The barbarians' ship has been parked at the Tomachi military camp for the past two days, and they refused to accept the water, rice, wine and food we sent. They did not send a small boat to land. It stands to reason that they don't know what is going on in the city."
"You mean someone in the city reported to the Yi people? Could it be those Tang people from yesterday?"
"Your Highness, how could the Tang people know our plan?"
"Your Highness, most of the Tang people who boarded the ship yesterday refused to cooperate with the Tang people because they were afraid of being implicated. They all left quickly. Only two people stayed on the ship and had secret talks with the Yi people."
"Why didn't you report it?!"
"Your Highness, I sent detailed records to your house yesterday evening, but..."
Uh... Toda Shimeng remembered that he went to bed very early after drinking too much yesterday! Before he woke up this morning, the barbarian cannons came over.
Thinking of this, Meng Toda gritted his teeth and said, "Send someone to arrest those two Tang people immediately!"
As soon as he finished speaking, an armored warrior ran in again. "Sir! All the Guan ships we docked at the port were sunk by the barbarians!"
"What?!" Everyone in the meeting hall suddenly exclaimed. If all the ships are gone, how can we fight this battle? Are we letting the soldiers attack in small boats? There is no difference between this and death.
"Boom! Boom!" Two more explosions came, but this time the explosion sounded a little distant, not like the one at the port.
"Go quickly and find out where the barbarians are shelling."
After everyone waited anxiously and uneasily for a while, they finally got the exact news. After the Yi people sank all the ships, they began to bombard the two stations.
Toda's Meng's face was ashen as if he were mourning his heir, and his fan slipped from his hand and fell on the mat. After a long time, he calmly said to the people below: "Please step aside for now."
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. What does His Highness Izumomomo mean?
Meng Toda ignored everyone and stood up slowly. The person behind him was about to come up to tidy up his clothes, but he waved him off.
When he walked to the corridor, Meng Yangtian of the Toda family let out a long sigh, and staggered out of the Western Palace accompanied by Jin Xi and Xiao Xing.
At the same time, things were in chaos inside the Tang Dynasty's house.
When the first two cannons on the Thor were ejected from the chamber, the first reaction of many people in the "China Compound" was that it was thunder.
"Huh?" A few sailors slowly came out of the house and looked up. The sun was shining brightly and there were not many clouds in the sky.
"It doesn't matter, it's just a drought. Keep drinking." A bowman said to the people around him nonchalantly.
When several people were about to turn around and go back, two huge explosions sounded.
"No! Which warehouse is on fire and exploded!"
"Is it Hongmao's warehouse? I heard there's a lot of oil in there."
"Let's go and have a look at Tin Hau Temple."
With such a big commotion, many businessmen and sailors who had been watching idle all day long went back to their houses to get props to watch the excitement.
Some were carrying teapots and snacks, moving stools, and some were dragging wandering girls with them; those low-level sailors found a few long ladders and quickly climbed up to the roof of the longhouse.
When these people hurriedly got into position to watch the fun, the sight in front of them made everyone's jaws drop.
On the north pier, a Guan ship that had been blown into two pieces was sinking slowly, with a piece of debris floating on the sea; another ship was on fire.
While everyone was in shock, there were two more loud noises, a harsh roar in the air, and two more ships exploded and caught fire in the port.
"This is a cannon fire!" Everyone who had not noticed the movement of the Thor looked at each other in shock. Everyone could see clearly that these sunken ships were Japanese warships.
A group of people were stunned when a loud noise sounded again. Everyone in the Tin Hau Temple was so frightened that they squatted on the ground.
"It's the big ship that's firing!" a sailor who climbed to the roof of the longhouse suddenly shouted.
"Hey! With their strong ships and powerful guns, these Beihai people are so tyrannical!" Several businessmen who had boarded the Thor yesterday were speechless.
Several Qing businessmen beat their chests and said: "This is terrible! Those Japanese people knew yesterday that the people on the ship were descendants of the Tang Dynasty. They will not let it go with us this time. What should we do?!"
"Yes, I still have five hundred taels of goods that have not been delivered!"
"I haven't received my money yet!"
The thought of being imprisoned makes many people feel so cold. How could these North Sea barbarians be so tyrannical, and would bombard Nagasaki at the slightest sign of disagreement? They were trying to trick us people to death! If I had known yesterday, yesterday
No matter what, I won't get on that big ship.
There were two more loud noises, and everyone slowly looked out and saw that the top and bottom of the pier to the north was already a sea of fire.
From the New Jizo Warehouse, there was a sudden commotion.
"There are soldiers in our warehouse, look!"
Everyone looked in the direction of the man's finger and saw that in the new Jizo, the warehouse door was wide open, and two to three hundred Japanese soldiers rushed out of the warehouse, shouting and running into the city in a panic. Flags and weapons were thrown all over the floor.
At this time, a person suddenly said: "Boss Wang, you are the president of our Tangren Bank, and we are all in the same boat. If the Japanese government sends troops to retaliate against us, it will be a small fine to fine us a small amount of money. If the letter plate is taken back,
It’s going to kill you! You have to help us come up with an idea!”
As the cannons roared, everyone looked at an old man in his fifties. He was Wang Tongfeng, the Hangzhou businessman who accused Zhao Xin on the Thor yesterday.
Wang Tongfeng was also frightened by the sound of gunfire at this time. His legs kept shaking, and he leaned against the wall and said with a trembling voice: "Let's go find the official outside the second door first and see if we can help mediate."
"Let's go together." When everyone heard this, they had no choice but to do so. So a group of people came out of the Tin Hau Temple and walked towards the second door.
At this time, no one in the anxious crowd noticed that a middle-aged fat man who was at the end of the queue quietly left the crowd while no one was paying attention, and tiptoed to Shen Jingdan's residence.
"Brother Shen! Brother Shen! Something big has happened!"
Lao Huang slammed the door of Shen Jingdan's house hard and shouted.
Shen Jingdan stuck his head out from the entrance of the roof and whispered to Lao Huang: "Don't shout. I'm here."
"Brother, how dare you stay here? Our people are crazy."
Shen Jingdan carefully climbed down from the ladder, pulled Lao Huang into the room and sat down, then said with a smile: "I saw those Beihai people firing just now. Lao Huang, what do you think of these people?"
"What's the point? They're so reckless, and if they leave as soon as they're done, we'll be in dire straits. Brother Shen, I know you have a lot of ideas, do you have any good ideas?"
Shen Jingdan seemed confident at this time. He leaned over and whispered to Old Huang: "Old Huang, do you dare to take a gamble?"
"What to bet on?"
"If you win the bet, then you and I will be rich; as for if you lose the bet..."
When Lao Huang heard "millions of wealth", his heart moved and he quickly asked: "What if you lose the bet?"
Shen Jingdan smiled and shook his head and said: "With such a strong ship and powerful guns, I can't think of how we can lose."
"You mean...doing business with those people? But my goods haven't been sold yet. What if the Japanese take away my goods?"
"Brother Huang, how much is the value of the goods you shipped this time?"
"There are always five thousand taels."
"Pa!" Shen Jingdan slapped Lao Huang on the shoulder, startling him.