***
Sakai Tadakatsu himself could not make the decision on leasing Yokosuka. Of course, even if he could, he would not make this decision.
How could he become a senior official in the Tokugawa Iemitsu era despite his mediocre military and political abilities? The reason was simple: Sakai Tadakatsu was not good at other things, but he was good at fighting for power and seeking benefits and avoiding harm.
Although Yokosuka is just a deserted fishing village, it guards the gateway to Edo. If the Qin State builds a port and garrisons troops in Yokosuka, it would be equivalent to strangling the throat of Edo Castle.
Whoever rents out Yokosuka will inevitably take on great political risks. Given Sakai Tadakatsu's character, he would not take on such political risks himself.
Now in the general's mansion, there is a person named Bao Ke Zhengzhi who is most suitable to be the scapegoat.
After leaving the Daqin Embassy, Sakai Tadakatsu hurried back to the general's mansion in a carriage.
Edo was a large city with a population of over 300,000 people. Low-rise bamboo and wood houses filled the streets, densely packed together. Because it was daytime, the city had stepped up patrols but could not impose martial law, otherwise more than 300,000 people in the city would starve to death.
Sakai Tadakatsu's carriage was led by more than fifty soldiers. Just as they left the intersection of Feng Street where the Qin Embassy was located, they encountered a sudden change. Suddenly, something flew out of the houses on both sides of the street. Amid the screams of the soldiers leading the way, several loud noises were heard.
boom!
boom!
boom!
The explosions blew the soldiers in front and behind them dizzy and chaotic. The horse in the carriage that Sakai Tadakatsu was riding was also injured. The horse rushed forward in pain, knocking down the soldiers in front of him. Screams and howls were heard. Finally, when the wheel of the carriage passed over a fallen wounded man, it suddenly turned to one side, the horse fell to the ground, and a shaft was broken.
Sakai Tadakatsu was hit so hard that his bones were broken and blood was flowing from his forehead. He groaned in pain and his vision was blurred.
"Capture Sakai Tadakatsu alive!"
At this time, from the houses on both sides, twenty or thirty ronin holding samurai swords, wearing black and white striped clothes, rushed out shouting and killing anyone they saw. In the dense smoke, the sharp Japanese swords chopped through, heads flew up one by one, and blood spurted like rain.
These people moved very quickly, but unfortunately, because Sakai Tadakatsu's carriage rushed forward for a while before it overturned, their ambush point was slightly deviated, and they had to rush forward again;
"Protect the elder!"
"Protect the elder!"
"... ... ... "
Sakai Tadakatsu's guards were very loyal. Those who were not injured immediately rushed forward shouting and fought to stop the enemy. Even those who were not too seriously injured, after coming to their senses, immediately joined the battle.
The twenty or thirty ronin came prepared and cooperated well, killing the guards who rushed to fight and forcing them to retreat step by step. The streets were bloody, and the shogunate soldiers who were patrolling nearby also rushed over, and the streets were in chaos; at this time, a fire suddenly broke out in the houses at both ends of the street, and the flames quickly spread and rushed up to the sky, making Feng's street even more chaotic.
"Boss. Boss, are you okay?" Sakai Tadakatsu's personal bodyguard Murakami Saburo pushed open the deformed door of the carriage and was shocked to see Sakai Tadakatsu lying in the carriage with blood all over his head.
"I... ....why am I still standing there? Help me out." Sakai Tadakatsu came to his senses at this time, feeling a sharp pain in his head and burning with anger.
Murakami Saburo hurriedly carried Sakai Katsu out, but before he could stand up, he heard a whoosh and felt a sharp pain in his butt. On the ridge next to him, a ninja wrapped in black cloth was holding a bow and arrow. As soon as one arrow was shot, another arrow was on the string. Murakami Saburo was so frightened that he rolled directly into the carriage and pressed Sakai Tadakatsu with his body, shouting: "There is an assassin on the roof, on the roof..."
More than 20 guards who were fighting fiercely behind the carriage discovered that there was another ninja attacking on the roof. "Banga Yalu!" The guards cursed and fought back with bows and arrows, but they were already retreating step by step due to the fierce attack of nearly 30 ronin. Now that the roof was attacked, the situation below became even more unfavorable. The ronin rushed up screaming, slashing with sharp samurai swords in both hands, and the guards who blocked the enemy were chopped to the ground one after another, and blood was spilled like rain.
Seeing that the assassins were about to reach the carriage, at this critical moment, Huang Zhiqiu led a dozen soldiers from the Qin Embassy, fully armed, and fired a volley of Type 69 rifles. With the sound of gunshots and bullets, the Ronin who were attacking the carriage were shot and fell to the ground one after another.
Huang Zhiqiu quickly glanced at the fires in the houses on both sides of the street. The heat was already overwhelming. He was anxious and shouted, "Quick, shoot and kill, hurry up and rescue Mr. Sakai."
The ronin were frightened out of their wits by the hail of bullets. Those who were lucky enough not to be hit rushed towards the houses on both sides. Huang Zhiqiu did not let any of them go. Under his command, two rockets that had been prepared were immediately fired.
Boom! The bamboo-and-wood structure next to it exploded with a loud bang, and then collapsed with a crash. Then two huge fires burst out, causing the house to burn fiercely.
Huang Zhiqiu led a dozen Qin soldiers and rushed to the carriage under the cover of fire. They dragged out the injured Sakai Tadakatsu and said, "Take the assassin's body with you." Huang Zhiqiu did not do this on impulse. The dozen or so Qin soldiers who followed him quickly withdrew with the bodies of several assassins.
Afterwards, a raging fire engulfed the entire street and spread everywhere. Thick smoke enveloped the entire Edo Castle. The shogunate sent 20,000 soldiers to knock down all the houses around the fire and create fire zones. Only then was the fire finally brought under control. The entire Feng Street was almost burned down. Only the Daqin Embassy survived the fire because there were no houses around it and the shogunate sent a large number of soldiers in time to guard it.
The embassy's medical clinic applied medicine and bandaged Sakai Tadakatsu's wound. His wound was not deep, just a cut on his head when the carriage overturned. After the bandage, he basically recovered as normal.
The wound was bandaged, but the fear in his mind and the anger in his heart were difficult to dispel. It was obvious in this incident that dozens of ronin were coming for him.
However, it seemed that God thought his anger was not strong enough. One of his guards, Ichiro Ibe, hurried in and reported a few words to him in Japanese. After listening, Tadakatsu Sakai stood up, walked quickly out of the house and came to the front yard.
In the front yard were several bodies of assassins brought out by Huang Zhiqiu and his men. The coat of one of the assassins had been turned open. Ichiro Jingbian held a wooden sign and handed it to Sakai Tadakatsu, saying, "Boss, this is what I found on the assassin, hidden inside his cotton coat..."
When Sakai Tadakatsu saw the wooden sign, he was so furious that he didn't care about what Ibe Ichiro said. He grabbed the wooden sign tightly and shouted, "Abe Tadaki!"
Huang Zhiqiu stood in the corridor of the embassy and looked at Sakai Tadakatsu like an angry lion. He even forgot to say hello to the embassy and asked the guards to take the bodies of the assassins and leave in a hurry.
Lu Zhi, who was standing beside him, watched Sakai Zhongqiu leave and said softly, "Huang Baihu, there won't be any problems, right?"
"Don't worry, Mr. Lu. Sakai Tadakatsu originally wanted to deal with Abe Chuqiu. Besides, for this kind of thing, anyone would rather believe it than not."
Huang Zhiqiu's guess was absolutely correct. As soon as Sakai Tadakatsu returned to the Shogun's Mansion, he immediately sent troops to attack Abe Tadaki's Mansion in the west of the city. He refused to listen to anyone's advice and even issued a statement that he would not care about life or death.
Abe Tadaki never expected that Sakai Tadakatsu would suddenly target him. Caught off guard, his mansion was quickly breached by Sakai Tadaki's troops. Abe Tadaki led his men to retreat to the backyard, and while fighting desperately, he tried to send people out of the mansion for help.
Sakai Tadakatsu then went to Abe Tadaki's residence in person to lead the battle. Seeing that there were heavy casualties in the bloody battle and the backyard could not be attacked, Sakai Tadakatsu was furious and ordered his men to use rockets to ignite a fire in the backyard.
When the fire broke out, the entire backyard was burned down and Abe Tadaki also died in the fire.
On this day, Edo Castle was in turmoil. A series of major events occurred. First, the shogunate elder Sakai Tadaki was attacked and narrowly escaped death; then Sakai Tadakatsu burned down Abe Tadaki's mansion. Everything happened so suddenly and so inexplicably. Even after the incident, many people still couldn't figure out why.
And what happens on this day will inevitably change the entire history of Japan!
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P.S.: Dear friends, today is the 1,000th chapter, which means I spent 500 days and nights writing this book. Alas, if I were to marry a wife, the child would be crawling all over the floor, but I am still lying here typing away. Tears well up in my eyes. Dear friends, I just want to ask for your monthly votes... (Want to know more exciting updates about "Ming Yang Tian Xia"? Open WeChat now, click the "+" sign in the upper right corner, select Add Friends to add a public account, search for "zhongwenwang", follow the public account, and you will never miss any updates!) (To be continued...)
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