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

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As the old hunter exclaimed that it was worth it, Yarha almost went mad. This was their tribe's best hunter.

Even though the Qing government repeatedly came to the tribe to conscript soldiers, they did not compromise, even if it meant the entire tribe had to migrate. Now, however, they are dying on this Japanese island.

Yarha picked up his longsword again, his face contorted with malice, and led three hundred Jurchen hunters into the main gate of the castle tower.

These samurai and members of the Kuroda family never expected that someone would launch a sneak attack from behind. Even the more than 500 people guarding the main gate, who were armed with arquebuses and longbows, were slaughtered by Yarha.

Soon, the main gate of the castle tower was smashed open, and the door panels crashed outwards. Gao Yi, who was still feigning an attack in the square outside the gate, immediately knew that Yarha had succeeded, and quickly led the puppet army to charge in.

Yarha stood in the doorway, covered in blood, a knife in his left hand and an axe in his right, his eyes as red as two burning charcoal lumps, his teeth clenched and expressionless.

"Give the order: kill them all! Leave no Japanese slaves alive!" Yarha's voice boomed from the main gate of the castle tower, hoarse and shrill. "Remember! Leave not a single one alive!"

Gao Yi was stunned for only a moment, then turned his head and shouted in Japanese at the puppet troops behind him.

"Kill! Leave no one alive!"

These Japanese laborers at the docks, having found a powerful patron, showed no mercy to the feudal lords who had oppressed them. When they stormed into the castle tower, screams of agony filled the air.

Even Gao Yi himself was a little surprised. This group of people from the lowest rungs of Japanese society, who were starving just yesterday, rushed into the castle tower with fierce eyes and ran much faster than usual.

They were short enough to fit perfectly through the narrow doors and low corridors inside the castle tower, while the Jurchens had to bend over and stoop to squeeze in.

The puppet troops ran rampant throughout the building, entering every room, pulling out cabinets, splitting open boxes, and searching out everyone who was hiding in closets, crouching behind niches, or huddled in dead corners of the corridor.

As dawn approached, the castle tower fell completely silent. A dozen or so Japanese women, bound by ropes, were dragged out from the main gate of the castle tower and lined up in the plaza below the stone steps.

They were dressed in brocade and silk, their clothes stained with blood and mud, their hair disheveled, and the white powder on their faces washed away by tears.

The two older women standing at the front, both in their early teens, were Kuroda Mitsuyuki's wife and concubine. Behind them followed several young women. There were also a few maids, who, because they were dressed in better clothes, were also bound and brought along by the puppet troops as women.

Yarha walked out of the main gate of the castle tower, blood dripping from the tip of his sword onto the stone steps. He glanced at the women, said nothing, and turned to look at the left side of the plaza.

There was a small mountain of firewood, which the puppet army had piled up overnight. The old hunter lay in the middle, covered with a Kuroda family flag with a wisteria pattern. He had changed into a clean leather robe, with a long sword at his chest, hilt up and tip down. He wore a sacrificial mask taken from the Kuroda family's shrine.

Yarha walked to the pile of firewood, stood for a moment, turned around, and pointed at the bound women.

"Throw them all up there."

Although the Japanese slaves couldn't understand, they could tell from the scene that they were going to be burned alive. The Japanese women reacted and lay on the ground, as if their bones had been removed.

The puppet troops didn't care about any of that. They dragged them towards the woodpile, then lifted them up and threw them into the woodpile.

Gao Yi stood to the side, holding the knife, watching for a while. Suddenly, he spat out a mouthful of saliva, wiped the blood splattered on the back of his hand onto his trouser leg, and then looked away.

A dozen or so women were scattered around the woodpile, their clothes trailing between the firewood. Yarha picked up a bucket of kerosene and poured it around the base of the pile. The oil seeped into the dry wood, absorbing along the grain of the planks, glistening wetly in the morning light. He tossed the empty bucket aside, took out a tinderbox from his pocket, opened the lid, and blew on it twice.

Flames leaped from the firewood tinderbox and licked the oiled, dry wood. The flames leaped up the base of the pile, spreading with astonishing speed, and within moments the entire pile had become a massive bonfire.

Yarha stood in front of the fire, the firelight reflecting on his face, watching the old hunter's body being swallowed by the flames bit by bit. His lips moved, his voice very soft, as if he were talking to himself, or as if he were talking to the man who had already turned to ashes.

"Now you've really got what you deserved. So many princesses and queens buried with you—you've got even more prestige than Nurhaci!"

……

With the fall of the castle tower, Yarha obtained a large amount of food. That same day, he summoned Gao Yi, disguised himself, and went to recruit low-ranking samurai and Japanese laborers willing to join the army.

As for the farmers in those villages, even if they were willing to come, Yarha wouldn't dare to take them, since he had killed many of them and destroyed their villages as soon as he arrived.

With Gao Yi, a local, there were three hundred more Japanese people recruited in just three days, including over a hundred low-ranking women, further strengthening the defenses of the Fukuoka Domain.

Whenever Tokugawa Ietsuna sent out a large army, these people would flee, and when they had nothing to eat, they would rob the people.

Xu Chuang, meanwhile, was constantly traveling back and forth from Geoje Island to deliver food to the Jurchen and Northern Sea Savages who were active in various places, while also replenishing various cold weapons.

Under such circumstances, the Jurchen and Northern Sea Barbarian groups became even more unscrupulous.

In particular, Aguda and his wife Jinge led a thousand Jurchen cavalrymen, each with three horses, into the Edo Plain, openly provoking the lords of the castles.

Of the three horses, one is a Mongolian horse known for its endurance, one is an Ili horse known for its explosive sprinting power, and the other is a Liaodong horse capable of carrying heavy loads. This combination is fast, and it only takes the time it takes to plunder a village.

The local horses of the shogunate simply couldn't keep up.

……

Edo Castle, the main tower, the large hall.

Tokugawa Ietsuna sat in the upper room, with a dozen or so newly opened military reports on the low table in front of him.

These military reports were all delivered to Edo from various places by imported fast horses. One of the reports read: "The Fukuoka Domain in Kyushu has been captured. More than 5,000 men, including Kuroda Mitsuyuki, have been wiped out. Moreover, these Jurchens have already recruited soldiers in the Fukuoka Domain and are poised to become bandits!"

More than twenty senior officials sat in the main hall: senior councilors, young officials, senior officials, temple officials, and temple officials—all the most important people in the shogunate. The candlelight flickered a few times, but no one spoke first.

Tokugawa Ietsuna finally spoke, his voice tinged with bitterness: "It's been almost a month, and the mountains of Honshu are teeming with Jurchens. They attack and run, plunder and leave. Our troops haven't even reached the mountain pass yet, and Hiroshima is already engulfed in flames again."

"The troops we sent out are exhausted, and people everywhere are complaining and demanding that our pay be withheld to recruit more soldiers. We have called you all here today to discuss whether we can still fight this war."

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