Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 285 The Emperor of Japan touches the world!
A fuse was lit.

Faint sparks and crackling sounds were like a fire snake, winding forward, leaving only traces of fire.

When Li Chengliang stepped onto the beach, he smelled a faint smell of gunpowder, which was immediately washed away by the salty wind blowing from the sea.

The farther away from rivers, lakes and seas, the less accustomed people are to the feeling of riding a boat. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty had more navy in the south and more infantry and cavalry in the north.

Li Chengliang's rebels were the original Liaodong Army, who were military households that had been born and raised near Liaodong Town for two hundred years. They rarely took boats, let alone went into the water.

After all, the long Little Ice Age made the northern places colder. During the Jiajing period, people in Liaodong Town did not feel very warm even in the summer, let alone the spring, autumn and winter.

Throughout the year, the time available for going into the water is very short, and even fewer people dare to go into the water.

Last year and this year, the weather changed suddenly. The weather in Liaodong Town gradually became four distinct seasons, and people finally felt the warmth of the sun.

However, due to long-standing habits, people in Liaodong cannot get into the water or the river immediately, and their swimming ability is still not very good.

Having never been on a ship before, yet sailing eastward by sea, seasickness naturally became an inevitable thing when Li Chengliang's rebels appeared on a large scale.

On the peninsula, the dozens-day-long carnival in Pyongyang and Seoul took a toll on the bodies of many of Li Chengliang's rebels, who had already been hollowed out. Under all kinds of negative conditions, Li Chengliang, included, suffered severe damage to his health and vitality.

This is why when they saw land, they immediately stopped their boats and rushed to the beach, unable to even maintain order.

This is human instinct.

After killing several "fishermen", the huge beach became quiet. Li Chengliang keenly felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what was wrong.

My feet stepped on the sand and stones on the beach, which felt soft yet hard. Wait, hard?

The beach is washed by sea water. Under the sand and mud, it is normal for one foot to be deep and the other shallow when you step on it. It is also normal for it to be tough, but these are two different things from hardness.

Li Chengliang subconsciously looked down at his feet, but it was already over.

The several-meter-long fuse burned out, eventually detonating all the gunpowder under the beach.

This is a newly made buried firearm made by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, which is ignited by the most traditional fuse. The reason why it is new is the gunpowder, which is extremely unstable but extremely powerful.

In an instant, a huge "mushroom cloud" formed between heaven and earth, and flames shot straight into the sky.

Under the explosion, the sea water connected to the beach surged backwards, forming waves that collided with the waves and created countless splashes of water.

The fish in the shallow water of the sea flipped over the surface of the sea one by one. Some were knocked unconscious by the impact of the waves, and some were stunned by the strong earthquake coming from the beach.

Even though he was prepared, Shen Yu still suffered from temporary hearing loss. After he could slowly regain his hearing, the tinnitus still persisted.

Those soldiers of the Amago clan who were closer to the beach even showed signs of bleeding from their ears and noses.

The beach sand and rocks that had turned into glass in the explosion were blown into the sky and then fell down again like huge hailstones. Some unlucky soldiers of the Amago clan were knocked unconscious by them.

Only then did Shen Yu understand the reason why the master craftsman who arranged the explosion reminded him that "the weight of gunpowder is power" and he should stay away from it.

Suppressing the discomfort, Shen Yu picked up the telescope and looked towards the beach. The mushroom cloud had not yet dissipated, and the gray stones inside blocked all prying eyes.

Shen Yu could only put down the telescope temporarily and said, "Be prepared. If anyone escapes from the beach, kill them all!"

However, Nizi Yoshihisa, who only saw Shen Yu's mouth moving but did not hear any sound, could not help but shout, "What?"

Only then did Shen Yu realize that the people of the Nizi clan had impaired hearing and could only repeat the orders loudly.

When Niwa Yoshihisa passed the order out again, everyone shouted and screamed like monkeys that had just been enlightened.

Orders were issued layer by layer, and the Niwa clan's army, led by their retainers, guarded the outskirts of the Bund.

The Jinyiwei on the Wa Island also got the news, picked up muskets and crossbows, and stood guard outside the Amago clan's army.

Although the loyalty of the Nizi clan had been tested, Shen Yu and the Jinyiwei were still deeply wary.

When arranging the explosion, Shen Xun was still worried that the explosion was not big enough and would cause limited casualties to Li Chengliang's rebels. After the explosion, Li Chengliang led the rebels to fight against the Niwa clan's army, and the Niwa clan's army was defeated.

However, reality verified the Jinyiwei commander's judgment on future wars. Firearms and gunpowder became the key to determining victory or defeat.

As long as the judgment is accurate, the intelligence is accurate, and there are sufficient firearms and gunpowder, it is not impossible to defeat one person against a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand enemies.

After the explosion, no Li Chengliang rebels escaped from the beach, and the mushroom cloud slowly dissipated, revealing a scene of purgatory.

There were broken limbs and arms everywhere, and the explosion tore people apart. The flames ignited the body parts of the dead, and the smell of burnt meat blew in the sea breeze, and the Amago clan army couldn't help but vomit.

Shen Yu and Nizi Yoshihisa were stronger in heart after all, but their faces turned pale uncontrollably when they were exposed to the smell of rotten meat. Looking through the telescope, the burning body parts made them unable to help but associate with it. The intense physical and mental discomfort was indescribable.

Someone is alive...

But it is not much different from death. Not to mention the actual harm that the explosion causes to people, the deprivation of hearing, smell and vision is enough to make a living person collapse.

I don’t know where he came from, and I don’t know where he is going. A madman is appearing.

As former compatriots and current enemies, Shen Yu was silent for a while and let the Niwa clan army give the remaining people a quick death.

A large number of arrows were shot from the Niwa clan's army, covering the surviving Li Chengliang rebels. The men who turned into hedgehogs showed a look of relief on their dark faces, closed their eyes, and fell into a deep sleep forever.

The matter of collecting corpses.

Originally, it was done by the Niwa clan's army, but several retainers who were recommended by Niwa Yoshihisa before the war also joined the people who collected the bodies of Li Chengliang's rebels.

Niwa Yoshihisa became even more awed. The tragic deaths of more than 20,000 Li Chengliang rebels made him realize that the entire Niwa clan was not worth a few explosions of the Ming Dynasty.

Not to mention becoming the overlord of the West, even if he became the overlord of Japan, it would be extremely easy for the Ming Dynasty to kill him.

How could a flesh and blood body withstand this divine punishment? The case of Li Chengliang, whose body was completely destroyed in the explosion, is a clear example of this.

After the corpse was collected, Shen Yu ordered the Nizi clan's people to bury it, and asked someone from the Jinyiwei to pass the news back to the country to inform them of everything that had happened.

An explosion and a few Jinyiwei positions made the Nizi clan completely surrender. Shen Yu, the Jinyiwei commander and plenipotentiary representative to Japan, became the emperor under the Nizi clan's worship. ...

Beijing.

The news that Li Chengliang's rebels had been resolved reached Yuxi Palace, the cabinet, and the ears of Hosokawa Fujitaka, the Japanese envoy to Shiyiguan, but no one chose to spread the news.

Controlling Japan was one of the strategies of the Ming Dynasty. It was not made public because the plan had not yet been completed.

And Hosokawa Fujitaka did it purely to trick people.

The hearts of the Japanese have always been dark. Their home island of Wo and their loyal shogunate became extremely bizarre with the involvement of the Ming court's Jinyiwei.

In the western country controlled by the puppet Amago clan who were controlled and supported by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, although everyone was deeply troubled by the mining of Iwami Silver Mine and Sado Gold Mine, the Ming court really provided food!
The gold and silver dug out from Wa Island were sent to the Ming court, and the Ming court gave Wa Island, or more precisely, the Amago clan, the "most advanced" weapons, sufficient food, and other supplies.

The Amago clan's army, armed with weapons given by the Ming court, won victory after victory in their wars against the eastern countries of Wa Island. They ate food given by the Ming court, and the people in the territories they controlled were finally freed from the suffering of hunger and cold.

This is an achievement that was not achieved even during the heyday of the Muromachi shogunate!

More and more Japanese became loyal to the Ming Dynasty and developed a heartfelt respect and admiration for the Jinyiwei, especially Shen Yu, who enslaved them to mine gold and silver.

Even though the main task of the Amago clan was mining and their secondary task was to attack the eastern country, the island of Wa was only so big, and under the influence of the people of the western country, people from the eastern country gradually fled to the rule of the Amago clan.

The two major families in the East, the Takeda clan and the Uesugi clan, had to deal with the attacks of the Amago clan on the one hand, and guard against the escape of the Japanese people under their rule on the other. From time to time, there were "little Fengxian" who wanted to overthrow the two daimyo and throw themselves into the arms of the Amago clan.

The two family heads, Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin, were exhausted from the attacks from both inside and outside.

However, these two were different from Amago Yoshihisa. They would rather be the tail of a phoenix than the head of a chicken. They hated the sinister intentions of the Ming court and the Japanese traitors who led the Amago clan.

In order to continue the Japanese regime, Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin sent people to kidnap the 15th Shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, in advance and transferred him to a safe place.

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is regarded as a sacred book on the Japanese islands. Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin read it countless times, which prevented the Jinyiwei and the Amago clan from "using the general to control the daimyo" from happening again.

However, the situation of the Takeda and Uesugi clans continued to deteriorate. Their armies were getting smaller and smaller, and their territories were getting smaller and smaller. It was only a matter of time before they were completely devoured by the Amago clan.

As an envoy, Hosokawa Fujitaka remained loyal to the Muromachi shogunate, and he had no ability to change when the country was about to fall into the hands of foreign organizations.

The counties and prefectures of the peninsula were directly related to the deaths of King Lee Hoe of Goryeo and Crown Prince Lee Hyo of Goryeo. Before the death of the father and son, the Ming court had never made up its mind about the counties and prefectures of the peninsula.

The death of Goryeo Crown Prince Yi Yang gave the pro-war and radical factions in the Ming court an opportunity to seize the peninsula.

But the death of Li Yang was closely related to Hosokawa Fujitaka. The quick learning of "two days and one class" in one month was his lie, and the assassination of Li Chengcai at night was also his instigation.

Hosokawa Fujitaka burned the letters sent from junior high school. Hosokawa Fujitaka looked at the fire. The fire reflected in his eyes, which was a look that wanted to destroy everything.

The tragedy of Wa Island could not be played out only on Wa Island. There were so many countries that the Ming court did not conquer, and Wa Island was even isolated overseas, but it suffered because of its silver and gold mines.

As for other unconquered countries, if nothing happens, how can their already dark psychology be balanced?

The paper ashes fell to the ground.

Yuxi Palace and the cabinet had no time to take care of Li Chengliang and the demise of the rebels for the time being because Portugal's "invasion" of Ming Dynasty land was discovered.

The Ming Dynasty had a long history of contact with other countries in the world, not to mention the eunuch Zheng He's voyages to the West.

However, the contacts between other countries in the world and the Ming Dynasty are worth mentioning, especially Portugal, which has become a maritime power since the last century.

With the discovery of the New World and the development of mercantilism in Europe, countries such as Spain and Portugal began to seek more overseas markets.

During this period, pirate-style colonial expansion became commonplace. The Ming Dynasty at that time knew very little about the West, and in order to distinguish them from the Japanese pirates from the Dongyi, it called them Fanyi.

In the sixth year of the Hongzhi reign, a group of barbarians invaded the territory of the Dongguan Garrison. Yuan Guang, the captain of the Dongguan Garrison, led his troops to encircle and suppress them. He encountered the barbarians at Cenzi'ao and was shot and killed in the battle.

After this, the Ming Dynasty's coasts and ships were increasingly invaded.

In the third year of Zhengde, Siquila of Portugal sailed eastward from Lisbon. One of his missions was to collect intelligence about the Ming Dynasty under the order of Emperor Manuel I of Portugal. However, when he arrived in Malacca, he was attacked by local people for his banditry and had to flee.

But in the sixth year of Zhengde, the returning Portuguese Afonso de Albuquerque invaded Malacca after encountering fierce resistance, and Malacca became a transit station for Portugal to the East.

Subsequently, Jorge Alvarez of Portugal led a Portuguese fleet to the coast of the Pearl River estuary of the Ming Dynasty and requested to land for trade, but was not approved by the Ming Dynasty. Later, he traded with Chaozhou merchants and other merchants on the water.

In the same year, Sequera once again led Portuguese pirate merchant ships to directly invade "Tuen Mun Bay", where he built fortifications, set up execution grounds, manufactured firearms, and carved stones and erected monuments to show his occupation.

Such actions can be said to be undisguised acts of aggression. After many fruitless negotiations, the Battle of Tuen Mun broke out in the 16th year of Zhengde. The Ming Dynasty successfully defeated the Portuguese fleet and recovered Tuen Mun Island.

The unwilling Portuguese launched another invasion the following year, the first year of Jiajing. The Battle of Xicaowan broke out and Portugal was defeated again.

The two failures calmed Portugal down, but the huge profits from the Eastern market have always been on the minds of the Portuguese.

Thus, in the 27th year of Jiajing, the Battle of Shuangyu between the Ming Dynasty and Portugal broke out. The Ming Dynasty dispatched an army of 160,000, annihilated more than 10,000 Portuguese, and cleared out the Shuangyu Port in Zhejiang.

Just like after the Battle of Xicaowan, the unwilling Portuguese joined forces with the Japanese pirates on the southeastern islands of the Ming Dynasty to engage in smuggling. In the following year, that is, the 28th year of Jiajing, the Battle of Zoumaxi broke out, and the Ming Dynasty won its fourth victory.

After the fourth war, the Portuguese were completely awakened and stopped all aggression. Instead, they used the excuse of "borrowing land to dry the flooded goods" to bribe Wang Bai, the then deputy envoy of the Guangdong Provincial Criminal Investigation Department who inspected the sea routes, and were allowed to temporarily reside in Wangxia Peninsula and occupied a large area of ​​Wangxia.

In the 36th year of Jiajing, the Portuguese bribed local officials with 500 taels of silver per year and bought the settlement in the southern part of Wangxia Peninsula.

In this year, the 41st year of Jiajing, when the Portuguese bribed Wang Fei, the deputy envoy of the sea route, with 500 taels of silver as per custom, Zhu Geng, the governor of Guangdong, was present and the conspiracy was exposed. The translator had to call the bribe "land rent silver" paid to the Ming Dynasty.

But how could such a trick be hidden from the public? Zhu Geng ordered his men to arrest Wang Fei, the deputy envoy of the sea route, and the Portuguese on the spot, and reported to the court the matter of invasion in the name of "trading".

Before they knew it, there were more than a thousand Portuguese in Wangxia. Zhu Geng sent a large army to capture them all and sent a message to the capital, asking for instructions on how to deal with them.

Yuxi Palace soon issued a clear order.

"Kill without mercy!"

(End of this chapter)