The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 987 You and I are but two small boats in a giant wave

May 5, 1886, early morning, Osaka Bay. The massive steel hull of the "Taiping" ocean liner broke through the sea fog and slowly entered Sakai Port. This behemoth, displacing 5 tons, was painted with the bright yellow stripes distinctive to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, making it particularly conspicuous in the morning light.

Luo Yaoguo stood on the bridge deck, his hands behind his back. Today, he had specially changed into formal court attire—a bright yellow brocade robe with dragon patterns, and a jade belt inlaid with pearls around his waist. His face, which was over fifty years old, looked particularly dignified at this moment, even somewhat sacred.

On the dock, a dense, dark mass of people knelt like a surging tide. At the very front row stood three hundred priests in plain white hunting robes and shrine maidens in white robes and scarlet hakama, arranged in neat squares, their foreheads pressed to the ground. In front of them, a woman in a white ceremonial robe embroidered with golden rice ears and cross patterns stood alone, her head slightly bowed.

"Your subject, Kusunoki Shinjuku, the High Priest of the Shinto Shrine, respectfully welcomes His Highness King Wu!"

The woman's voice was clear yet steady, standing out sharply on the quiet dock. As she looked up, the morning light pierced through the mist, illuminating her face, a blend of Eastern and Western features—distinct features, especially her straight nose revealing a quarter European ancestry, yet her slender, almond-shaped eyes and porcelain-white skin possessed a distinctly Eastern charm. In her thirties, she also exuded a mature and alluring beauty.

Luo Yaoguo slowly descended the gangway, his military boots making a dull thud on the red-carpeted steps. He noticed the slightly trembling shoulders of the kneeling priests behind Gao Zi—whether from the morning chill or fear, he couldn't tell.

"Your Highness, please board the carriage."

Gao Zi respectfully turned to the side and pointed to a sandalwood palanquin carried on the shoulders of thirty-six young girls. These girls were all dressed in plain white shrine maiden robes, with sashes embroidered with rice ears in gold thread around their waists, and silver bells tied around each of their ankles, making a crisp sound as they moved slightly.

As Luo Yaoguo stepped into the sedan chair, he smelled a faint scent of sandalwood mixed with the fragrance of a young woman. The interior of the sedan chair was covered with a red Persian carpet, and the cushions were made of the finest Suzhou silk. He noticed that the armrests were carved with delicate rice stalk patterns, each grain of rice adorned with gold leaf.

As the palanquin moved slowly, Luo Yaoguo observed the streets of the Chinese concession in Sakai City through the thin gauze curtains. The townspeople kneeling on both sides wore tattered linen clothes, some even barefoot. But above the shop doors hung brand-new Chinese plaques with the words "German Trading Company" and "Jardine Matheson Co., Ltd.", the gilded characters gleaming in the sunlight.

A German businessman wearing a top hat hurried past, followed by two samurai guards with chonmage hairstyles. The businessman, with a leather briefcase tucked under his arm, spoke to the samurai in broken Japanese as he walked. Further away, a peculiar building caught Luo Yaoguo's eye—a Tang-style shrine with a "rice ear cross" on its roof, but a sign reading "Osaka Municipal Government" hung at the entrance—presumably the Osaka City Hall.

In modern Japan, Shin'yok Shinto Shrine holds absolute power, its status comparable to that of the Tokugawa Shogunate at its peak.
"The traitor's head is already hanging on the walls of Edo Castle," Kusunoki Takako whispered, kneeling at Luo Yaoguo's feet. She unfolded a silk map, her slender fingers tracing its surface. "Edo's castle tower has collapsed, and the wreckage of Western warships floats in Sasebo Bay."

Luo Yaoguo revealed a satisfied smile—in reality, he did not support the Shinto Shrine's unification of Japan—the perfectly good "Three Kingdoms period" was gone just like that!
"After the news of victory at Port Moresby last year," Takako continued, "the Shizu clan of Kyushu defected overnight and attacked the Western Army's main camp. Samurai in Kanto have also flocked to the Shin-yomi sect." Her voice trailed off, "Now only Ezo and Tsushima remain uncontested."

Luo Yaoguo nodded slightly. He knew perfectly well how the True Covenant Divine Palace had swept across the various vassal states by leveraging the power of the Taiping Army. Four hundred thousand "Divine Kingdom Volunteers" had been thrown into the meat grinder of the North American battlefield to achieve the unified situation they had today. But when his gaze swept over the vassal lords kneeling outside the palanquin, he clearly saw endless fear beneath their lowered eyelids.

Perhaps when that five-star emperor landed in Japan, the Japanese soldiers he encountered had the same attitude?
As the palanquin rounded a bend, a troop of soldiers in strange attire suddenly appeared ahead. They wore dark blue Western-style military uniforms, but carried traditional samurai swords, and wore pointed steel helmets inlaid with rice stalk cross emblems. This was the Shinto Shrine's elite force—the Shrine Guard—trained by Kusunoki Takako according to the Taiping Rebellion model.

“These are soldiers who have just returned from the battlefield in Panama,” Gao Zi explained, his voice tinged with pride. “They are familiar with tropical warfare and have made great contributions to the Kingdom of Heaven’s hegemony. Now they are all my retainers.”

The palanquin continued its journey, and the sound of bells echoed in the distance. Luo Yaoguo looked up and saw the newly built Osaka Station with its towering dome, reaching fifteen zhang (approximately 33 meters). It seemed that this semi-feudal, semi-colonial Japan had finally embarked on the path of modernization; at least it had built many railways, developed some industry, and would soon be allocated some overseas territories.
As soon as Luo Yaoguo stepped into the hall, his eyes were drawn to the huge painting hanging in the center of the dome.

The painting "Amaterasu Omikami Serving the Heavenly Father Emperor" is about three zhang square and employs a combination of ukiyo-e and Western oil painting techniques. In the painting, Amaterasu stands on auspicious clouds, wearing wooden clogs, and holds a golden lacquered cup filled with crimson liquid in her hands. The goddess's face bears a striking resemblance to that of Kusunoki Takako, especially her slightly upturned phoenix eyes. The Heavenly Father, seated on the ninth heaven, wears a bright yellow robe with dragon patterns and holds the "True Covenant" in his left hand; however, his face is strikingly similar to that of a young Luo Yaoguo.

"Absurd!" Luo Yaoguo muttered a low rebuke.

Nanmu Takako sensed Luo Yaoguo's displeasure, but still took his hand and said softly, "Your Highness, this is the sincere sentiment of eight million Japanese believers. In their hearts, you are the true god of Japan." On the platform, the feudal lords who were loyal to Shin'yok Shinto Shrine were kneeling in a long row, numbering two or three hundred. There was no longer any regime in Japan that opposed Shinto Shrine, and Shinto Shrine did not establish a centralized government like the Meiji government in history. Instead, it continued the feudal system of the Tokugawa Shogunate, only Shin'yok Shinto Shrine replaced the Tokugawa Shogunate. Under Shinto Shrine, there were still two or three hundred feudal domains, and all the feudal lords built their own residences in Osaka so that they and their successors could take turns paying homage to the emperor.

In order to welcome Luo Yaoguo's arrival, Gao Zi gave an order and summoned all the feudal lords to Osaka.

Luo Yaoguo's special train consisted of eight gilded carriages, with the rice stalk cross flag and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's yellow dragon flag hanging from the locomotive. He would be traveling on this train to Nanmu Valley, the territory of the Nanmu family—where the Warsaw Pact summit would be held this time.

As the train started moving, he saw through the window all the feudal lords on the platform bowing to the train that was spewing out coal smoke.

The sixth carriage of the special train was a specially designed council car, with soundproof wooden panels and silk covering the walls and a soft carpet on the floor. As the train sped away from Osaka, Takako Kusunoki, who had already removed her priestess robes, knelt on the ground wearing only a plain white undershirt.

"The North Korean navy stationed on Ezo Island fired on Japanese fishermen seven times last month," her voice trembling. "All the Japanese on Tsushima Island were driven away by North Korean soldiers."

Luo Yaoguo reached out and pinched Gao Zi's chin, looking at her intently: "Gao Zi, do you want to take back Tsushima Island and Ezo Island?"

Kusunoki Takako nodded slightly: "Japan is only two territories away from unification. Japan can use the territories it gained in North America to compensate Korea."

"Do you think Tsushima and Ezo are real estates that can be traded?" Luo Yaoguo's tone was icy. "They are a guarantee that Japan and North Korea will forever be hostile to each other!"

Luo Yaoguo pulled a roll of parchment from his pocket and threw it in her face. Gao Zi unfolded it with trembling hands and saw a map of Central America outlined in vermilion—from the western border of Nicaragua to the Panama Canal Zone, with six pieces of land along the Pacific Ocean circled in red, like six drops of blood.

“This is for you!” Luo Yaoguo said. “The blood of the True Covenant warriors will not be shed in vain. The entire territory of El Salvador, as well as Nicaragua, Ecuador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the western part of the Isthmus of Panama, are all yours!”

"The western part of the Isthmus of Panama?" Her eyes widened suddenly. The number marked at the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama was alarming: only thirty miles from the Atlantic Ocean. This meant that any future fleet from Europe would have to step over the corpses of Japanese samurai before it could threaten the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Pacific dominance.

The setting sun over Incheon Harbor bathed the rusty armor of the "Dong-don" in a crimson glow. On the deck of this old battleship, sailors were wiping the outdated 210mm main guns with tung oil. Yang Chengtian stood on the bridge, his obese body stretching his yellow robe taut. He looked at the cheering crowd on the dock, but a sullen smile played on his lips.

"Your Majesty, it's time to depart." Yang Fuqing's voice was old and weak. In the hands of this old minister in his sixties was the very sword that Yang Xiuqing had used many years ago—the Eastern Palace emblem on the scabbard was already blurred and indistinct.

Yang Chengtian touched the jade belt around his waist, which was almost bursting at the seams from his abdomen. This belt, a symbol of royal power, was a gift sent by Luo Yaoguo when he ascended the throne as the King of the Korean Heavenly Kingdom. "Korea and Japan need it," he murmured to himself, but only said half of it.

Korea and Japan need to form a union—only through union can they fight against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!
But that's impossible now!
Because the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had already dominated the Pacific Ocean, Japan had completely fallen into the hands of Kusunoki Takako, who was loyal to Luo Yaoguo!

As the "Dongdian" slowly departed the harbor, a Taiping Heavenly Kingdom armored cruiser passed by. The rapid-fire cannons mounted on its brand-new hull gleamed with a cold metallic sheen in the setting sun. Yang Chengtian suddenly recalled the words of Nanmu Gaozi in a letter he had written to him when he became King of Joseon: "You and I are but two small boats on a giant wave."

(End of this chapter)