The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

Kuroda Castle, belonging to the Kuroda family of the Fukuoka Domain, is only an hour's journey from the coast.

It was just past dawn, and the city gates had just opened. Farmers carrying loads of vegetables into the city were queuing up inside the gate to pay their entry tax.

The gatekeeper is Kuroda Sanzaemon, a member of the Kuroda clan. He drank with several retainers until midnight last night and still has a headache this morning. He is sitting in the gate tower with a bowl of porridge, trying to sober up.

A foot soldier ran in and knelt on one knee: "Sir, there's a situation on the coast. None of the fishing boats that were supposed to return this morning have come back."

Kuroda Sanzaemon slowly took a sip of his porridge: "The wind was strong yesterday, and the fish escaped. Fishing boats don't have legs or tails, where could they go? They'll definitely be back this afternoon."

"But—" the foot soldier wanted to say something more.

"But what but? The fishing boat being half a day late has scared you like this? Should I ask the lord to send an Onmyoji to tell your fortune?" Kuroda Sanzaemon put down his bowl impatiently. "You're making a fuss over nothing."

The foot soldier dared not say anything more and withdrew.

After a short while, another foot soldier came running in, breathless: "Sir! In the mountains! Smoke is rising from the mountains! In several places!"

Kuroda Sanzaemon stood up and walked to the top of the castle gate to look into the distance. Sure enough, several plumes of black smoke were rising from the western mountains, the smoke columns frighteningly thick, drifting southward in the morning breeze. Before he could make out which mountain it was, more foot soldiers tumbled and scrambled up the castle gate.

"Report! Inazuma Village! The entire village is on fire! Everyone has been killed! Only three people escaped, and they said—they said—"

"What did you say?" Kuroda Sanzaemon grabbed his collar.

"They say there are mountain spirits in the mountains, carrying axes, speaking human language that you can't understand, and with a small braid at the back of their heads. They trample all the crops outside the village!"

"And they also threw dead pigs, dead chickens, and even human heads into the well—it's horrific!!"

Kuroda Sanzaemon dropped the bowl he was holding, spilling porridge all over the floor. "How many of them are there?"

"I don't know! The people who escaped say they're everywhere on the mountainside! They're all howling and screaming!"

Kuroda Sanzaemon's lips trembled slightly. "Order the entire castle to be on high alert. Send someone to Fukuoka Castle to report to the lord. Tell him—tell him that an unknown enemy force has entered the territory, and their strength is unknown."

He paused, then added, "Tell them to run faster on the road."

As evening approached, dozens of plumes of black smoke rose one after another from the fields outside Kuroda Castle, stretching from east to west, from the foot of the mountain to the sea. The thick smoke seemed to be emerging from cracks in the ground at the same time, turning half the sky a grayish-yellow.

The townspeople crowded at the entrance, looking towards the mountains. Women holding children huddled against the wall, too afraid to utter a sound. An old man leaned on his cane, muttering something incessantly.

The next morning, a samurai with an arrow in his leg rode a horse that was exhausted and foaming at the mouth into Fukuoka Castle.

When he was carried into the city gate tower, the arrow in his leg was still in place, his lips were cracked like tree bark, and his clothes and face were covered in dried blood and mud.

"Saga! Saga Domain!" He grabbed the sleeve of the domain lord's chief retainer, his voice hoarse and almost inaudible. "Our lord sent us to deliver a message! Last night, a group of savages came down from the northern mountains, burned down the grain warehouse outside Saga Castle, and looted an entire warehouse of grain! The domain lord's stables were burned down, and sixteen warhorses died!"

The old man's face turned pale. He asked, "Who exactly are they? Where did these savages come from?"

The messenger shook his head: "The patriarch said they could be Han soldiers, Koreans, or even mountain demons. But the patriarch said that whatever they are, these people run incredibly fast and are impossible to catch. They hide deep in the mountains during the day, making them impossible to find. Therefore, the patriarch requested the Fukuoka Domain to send troops to support them, so that we can attack them from both sides before they can establish a foothold!"

The old retainer remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "I will report to the lord. You go and treat your wounds." He neither agreed nor disagreed. The Fukuoka Domain itself didn't have many soldiers, and he had a vague premonition—the bandits who had come were no ordinary raiders.

Fukuoka Castle's main tower sits on a small hill in the northern part of the Fukuoka Plain. Its base is made of solid granite blocks, with seams between the stones so thick that even a knife blade cannot be inserted.

The castle tower itself has five levels and six tiers. The top level has a hipped roof covered with gray-black tiles, and the roof tiles are engraved with the Kuroda family's wisteria crest.

At this time, the new moon was just beginning to set in the west, and the cherry trees around the castle tower had just finished blooming, with petals scattered all over the ground, creating a beautiful scene.

At this moment, in the main room on the top floor of the castle tower, Kuroda Mitsuyuki, the third lord of the Fukuoka Domain, was sitting cross-legged in the upper room, holding a teacup in his hand.

He was in his early fifties, with a long, thin face. He wore a light blue haori and had a small dachi tucked into his lap. The scabbard was painted with the Kuroda family's Fuji Tomoe crest in gold maki-e.

"Report!"

A foot soldier scrambled into the main room, knelt on the threshold, and slammed his forehead against the wooden floor: "My lord! My retainer just sent word that there's an urgent report from Black Mountain Castle! Two more villages were burned down last night!"

"According to the villagers who escaped, those people set up a makeshift camp on the mountain, numbering at least several hundred, and were so audacious that they dared to come down the mountain even during the day. Lord Matsuura asked if reinforcements could be sent?"

Kuroda Mitsuyuki didn't answer immediately. He put down his teacup and looked at the foot soldier: "Did the villagers who escaped get a clear look at what those people looked like?"

The foot soldier raised his head, his lips trembling slightly: "I saw it clearly. The villagers said those people had shaved heads in the front and wore a small braid in the back. They wore green cloth armor, their knives were wider than ours, they liked to chop heads with axes, and we couldn't understand a word they said."

The large room was quiet for three breaths. Just as Kuroda Hachizaemon was about to speak, Kuroda Mitsuyuki suddenly slammed the teacup down on the tatami mat, spilling tea onto the back of his hand, which he didn't even wipe away.

"Jurchens, it's the Jurchens!"

Kuroda Hachizaemon was taken aback: "Lord, what did you say?"

"With a braid at the back of their heads and their heads shaved, they're not some mountain demons, they're Jurchens." Kuroda Mitsuyuki stood up and walked to the sword rack. "The Jurchens previously ruled the Central Plains, but were destroyed by the new Han Dynasty. Their sudden appearance on Kyushu Island can only mean one thing."

He turned around, his gaze sweeping from Kuroda Hachizaemon's face to the faces of his retainers present. "It was the Han army that transported them here by ship. Now, Tsushima Island is probably doomed."

The palace was in an uproar. The retainers looked at each other in dismay. Some gasped in shock, while others gripped their sword hilts and were about to stand up and volunteer for battle.

Kuroda Mitsuyuki ignored them, walked straight to the sword rack, picked up the tachi and inserted it into his waistband, and then took the wakizashi from the sword rack and inserted it into the other side of his belt.

Kuroda Matabei was the first to react: "Uncle, are you saying that the Han army has already reached Kyushu Island?"