The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 718 Moore: How could a Korea where the tiller has his own land possibly unite with a samurai Japan?
"What, what? What did you say?" Lin Qirong was stunned for a while before he reacted. However, he still didn't dare to believe it and asked again.

Zheng Yongning raised his voice and said with a stern face: "Sir, the French warships have been driven out by us. The Pearl Harbor of the Kingdom of Hawaii now belongs to the Kingdom of Korea!"

"The French warships were driven out? Pearl Harbor belongs to the Korean Heavenly Kingdom?" Lin Qirong's face changed. "Who gave the order?"

"It's you, sir!" Zheng Yongning quickly took out the token of the Navy Department of the Eastern Palace, "Didn't you order the invasion of Pearl Harbor?"

"Invasion?" Lin Qirong stamped his feet. "It's entry, entry, not invasion!"

"What?" Zheng Yongning's eyes widened. "Sir, what are you talking about?"

This is bad, Lin Qirong thought: These navy are from Kyushu, they don't understand my Guangxi Hakka Mandarin, they heard "enter" as "invasion", what should I do? His Royal Highness Prince Gan and Master Friedrich are still on the ship? If they had fought just now, alarmed the king and provoked him without authorization, Lin Qirong would have had so many heads that the King of the East would have chopped them off!

"Lin Qirong, what's wrong?"

When Lin Qirong was getting anxious, Hong Rengan's voice came from the officer's lounge. His Royal Highness was also seasick, but not as bad as Lin Qirong, and he was not confused. He had just noticed that the whole ship had sounded the battle alarm and confronted the French ship and forced the other side to retreat. However, he did not come forward to stop it - the navy of the Kingdom of Korea was named Yang, and the future Kingdom of Hawaii was named Hong!
Luo Yaoguo had sent someone to inform him long ago that the Kingdom of Hawaii would be left to Hong Renzheng to do whatever he wanted, and as long as he could take it, it would belong to the Hong family! So just now Hong Rengan was confused there, watching Yang Xiuqing's Korean Heavenly Kingdom Navy "go it alone" for once.

"This..." Lin Qirong quickly turned around and bowed to Hong Rengan, "Your Majesty, just now our ironclad ship and a French cruiser had a little friction. Didn't it scare you, Your Majesty?"

Hong Rengan smiled and waved his hand: "It's okay." He looked around again and found that the "Dongfang" had entered the bay, so he smiled and said to Lin Qirong, "Finally entered a bay, it looks good, small mouth and big belly, there is an island inside, and there is a city on the island. On the top of the city there is the rice cross flag of our Zhenyue faction! Qirong, let's dock now!"

"Order!"

After hearing what Hong Rengan said, Lin Qirong could only accept it, so he saluted Hong Rengan and went to the bridge with Zheng Yongning. In the officer's lounge, Friedrich, who also witnessed the "Pearl Harbor Incident", wrote in German in his notebook: "The understanding of 'orders' by the naval officers of the Korean Heavenly Kingdom is intriguing - a slip of the tongue by a seasick general can actually lead to a bloodless 'conquest'. This just exposes the nature of this emerging force: it is not a real national navy, but a private army driven by religious fanaticism and the desire for expansion. The fleet built by Yang Xiuqing in Busan is more like a sharp knife of the Dongdian Group stabbing into the Pacific Ocean than defending Korea where 'those who till the land have their own land'!"

When the "Orient" blew its whistle and approached the dock of Pearl Harbor, Friedrich continued to write: "The land reform of the Kingdom of Korea did allow farmers to obtain land, but they had to pay high military grain taxes to support the ever-expanding navy and army that did not belong to them - this was the fatal weakness of the Kingdom of Korea's system! The army and navy of the Kingdom of Korea belonged to Yang Xiuqing and his Dongdian Group. The army officers and soldiers were all from China, and were actually a foreign military aristocratic group. The navy officers and soldiers of the Kingdom of Korea were all Japanese samurai! Now a Korea that has cleared out its own feudal forces, a Chinese military aristocratic group, a converted Japanese feudal samurai group, and a Japan with a very high feudal component are moving towards a union under the impetus of theocracy. There is no more strange situation in the world than this!"

When Friedrich pointed out the fatal weakness of the "Kingdom of Korea" and the absurdity of the "Joseon-Japan Union" in his notebook, dawn had already arrived in Osaka Bay, 6,000 nautical miles away. Yang Xiuqing stood on the bridge of the "Korea Maru" and looked at the glittering golden dome of the Osaka Shinyo Shrine.

"Your Highness the King of the East, please move."

Nanmu Inako's voice came from behind. She was wearing a special military uniform today - a dark purple military uniform with golden rice ears and a flintlock pistol on her waist, which was the latest product of the Pyongyang Ordnance Bureau of North Korea. Her hair was tied up high with a silver hairpin, and she wore a forehead band with red characters on a white background that read "May Amaterasu Omikami bless you".

Yang Xiuqing nodded slightly and walked down the gangway.

Nanmu Inako immediately waved her hand, and 2000 True Contract warriors immediately divided into two lines on the dock. These warriors, both men and women, all wore the same dark blue uniform, with a copper cross badge on their chests, and everyone carried a rifled rifle produced by the Busan Ordnance Bureau in the third year of the Tianli era.

"Have fun!"

At Inako's command, twelve musicians blew the conch shells, and the deep and rich sound echoed over Osaka Bay. There was a commotion among the people outside the dock who came to greet the "living god" from Korea, and many townspeople secretly looked up, wanting to see the true face of the "Eastern King".

Yang Xiuqing set foot on the land of Osaka. His boots stepped on the newly laid red carpet, on both sides of which were kneeling lords and samurai who had converted to the true covenant. Shimazu Hisamitsu, Yamauchi Dodo, Nabeshima Naomasa, Mori Takashika and others knelt in the front row, their foreheads pressed against the ground, and they even tried to breathe lightly.

"Welcome the long-lived King of the East!"

Daozi knelt on one knee, the sound was as clear as the sound of a sword. The warriors behind her knelt down in unison, the sound of metal colliding was uniform.

Yang Xiuqing's eyes swept through the crowd, and finally stopped at his concubine Daozi. He nodded with satisfaction and said, "Stand up."

Yang Xiuqing's voice was not loud, but it made everyone excited. Daozi was the first to stand up, turned to face the crowd, and suddenly drew the sword from his waist.

"Goddess Amaterasu!"

The tip of her sword pointed directly at Edo: "The Tokugawa traitor has wreaked havoc on Japan for more than 200 years! Today, the Holy King of the East has come in person to clear Japan of its evil influence!" As she shouted, the warriors of the Shinyoku faction raised their weapons and roared loudly. The crowd on the dock was frightened by the sudden momentum, and many townspeople subconsciously shrank back.

Yang Xiuqing nodded with satisfaction. He walked forward slowly and boarded the large sedan chair that Daozi had prepared for him, which was carried by 64 people. This was already on the same level as Hong Xiuquan!

Daozi stood on the platform of the large sedan chair with three bedrooms and one living room, with his hand on the hilt of the knife, looking loyal and protecting his master.

The team slowly moved towards Osaka Castle. All the shops on both sides of the street were closed, and prying eyes could be vaguely seen through the windows. Every fifty steps, there was a Shin-Yoku samurai standing guard, their backs straight, and the bayonets in their hands flashed coldly in the sun.

That night, the Osaka Castle tower was brightly lit with candles.

Yang Xiuqing sat on the throne, wearing a purple robe embroidered with a golden dragon and a cross of rice ears, and his eyes swept across the kneeling warriors of the True Promise Sect and the lords of various fiefs in the hall. Nanmu Inako stood on the right side of the throne, his hand on the hilt of his sword. The hall was completely silent, with only the flickering candlelight, reflecting the faces of some who were enthusiastic or nervous.

"The Tokugawa shogunate has gone against the will of Heaven and brought disaster to Japan for more than 200 years!" Yang Xiuqing's voice was deep and majestic, echoing in the hall. "Today, I, following the order of Heavenly Father, raise an army to suppress the rebellion!"

Daozi translated every sentence he said. Finally, Daozi knelt on one knee and said loudly: "I am willing to die for the King of the East!"

The warriors in the hall responded in unison: "We are willing to die for the King of the East!"

Yang Xiuqing nodded slightly and continued, "Anyone who follows me to attack the shogunate will be rewarded according to their merits after the war! Those who have made contributions will be granted land and their territories will be increased!"

As soon as these words came out, the breathing of the feudal lords in the hall became noticeably faster. What these Japanese feudal lords were most worried about was that Yang Xiuqing would implement the "land to the tiller" policy in Japan, and Yang Xiuqing's words now clearly indicated that Japan's land system would remain unchanged!

In the future, everyone can become samurai masters from generation to generation!

After Daozi translated Yang Xiuqing's words, he shouted: "The King of the East is benevolent!"

The warriors shouted again: "The King of the East is kind and virtuous!"

Yang Xiuqing glanced at the crowd and said slowly: "In addition, this king has decided that after the Tokugawa shogunate is overthrown, this king's son will marry Prince Kazumiya to establish friendship between the two countries!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the feudal lords in the hall looked at each other, some showed joy, while others frowned.

Inako immediately drew her sword from its sheath, pointing the tip of the sword towards the ceiling: "Amaterasu Omikami bears witness! The Sun and the Morning Sun will unite as fate would have it!"

"It is God's will!" The warriors of the True Promise Party shouted enthusiastically. Other lords and warriors who did not believe in the True Promise Party also cheered, although they were a little slow.

In a corner of the hall, Moore watched all this with a cold eye, and quickly wrote down the following in his "Journey to the East" with a pen in his hand:
"Yang Xiuqing used land and marriage to win people's hearts, but ignored the fundamental contradiction - Korea's land reform threatened the privileges of Japanese samurai, while the rule of Japanese samurai made it impossible for the peasant policy of the Korean Heavenly Kingdom to be implemented in Japan. Such a 'union' was nothing more than a forced splicing of two different worlds."

He paused and wrote:

"What's even more ironic is that these samurai who shouted 'the destiny is ours' actually wanted only Korean weapons and the land of the Tokugawa family. Once the shogunate was overthrown, would they still be loyal to Yang Xiuqing? And would the Japanese peasants continue to support these Japanese samurai after learning about the land policy of the Korean Heavenly Kingdom?"

In the hall, Daozi had raised his wine glass and led everyone to toast Yang Xiuqing: "Long live the Eastern King! Long live the Chaoyang United State!"

"Long live! Long live!" The cheers were deafening.

Yang Xiuqing raised his glass with satisfaction and drank it all.

But Moore's gaze passed over the revelry crowd and looked out the window - in the night of Osaka Castle, the lights of the townspeople's houses were faintly visible. The Japanese workers should be completely awakened after the dream of union was shattered, right?
(End of this chapter)