The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 874: The Three Kingdoms of Japan?
February 18, the 25th year of the Tianli calendar, morning.

The clock in the Capitol Hill meeting room struck ten. Luo Yaoguo pushed open the east glass window, and the February river breeze blew in with the fragrance of plum blossoms. Hong Rengan was stirring the coffee with a silver spoon, and the sugar cubes at the bottom of the cup made a tiny crunching sound.

"Please read this, Prince Nan." Luo Yaoguo suddenly threw a stack of telegrams on the sandalwood table, "The second Devastating-class ironclad ship ordered by Satsuma from Britain has passed the Strait of Malacca."

When Feng Yunshan picked up the telegram, his pupils behind his reading glasses suddenly shrank: "Another Destroyer-class ship of more than 9,000 tons. Its main guns and armor are more powerful than our Sea Dragon-class ships! What on earth do the British want to do?"

"Haha," Luo Yaoguo just smiled coldly, "It's good that you came. A few more thick-skinned turtles like this will show the British what 'fast ships and fast guns wash the decks' means."

"We are going to attack Japan?" Hong Rengan asked hurriedly, "Then what will happen after we defeat Japan?"

Luo Yaoguo took out a red pencil and drew three red lines on a map of Japan. "Japan must be divided into three parts!" He stabbed Kyoto, Osaka, and Edo three times with the pencil in his hand. "Let the powerful clans of Satsuma and Choshu be dogs of the British in the west. Let the Shinto shrines control Kinki and support the female emperor to continue to build the kingdom of God. As for the Kanto Plain."

Hong Rengan suddenly interrupted: "Kanto is the old territory of Tokugawa. Do you want to restore the shogunate?"

"Restoration?" Luo Yaoguo sneered, and the blade suddenly cut across Edo Castle. "It's a revolution!" He pulled out a mimeographed tabloid from his briefcase. "The Grassroots News of the Edo Four People's Association said it well - 'Three million samurai, three million starving people'!"

Feng Yunshan took the tabloid, and the yellowed paper was smeared with ink:

"Ronin Express" Saigo Raimo, a former retainer of Aizu, led a hundred samurai to attack the rice warehouse, but was suppressed by the artillery of the Shinyo Shrine. The last words of the deceased were: "As a samurai, I would rather die in battle and become a god than bow to the Shinyo Shrine!"

"The Shinyue Shinto Temple can't control Kanto at all." Luo Yaoguo said coldly, "When the East King was alive, they could barely suppress it with the residual power of the Second Battle of Sekigahara. Now that the East King has passed away, Inako and Takako can't even stabilize Kinki by dancing with their magic. Kanto can only let them go and cause chaos! Fortunately, the Shinyue Shinto Temple has been dancing with their magic in Japan for 20 years, and there are millions of believers, including no less than 300,000 firm believers. As long as we give them enough guns and cannons, we can still stabilize it."

Feng Yunshan's teacup clattered against the edge of the plate: "In my opinion, Japan in the future."

"The west belongs to the Satsuma and Choshu clans, Kinki belongs to the Shinyo Jingu shrine, and Kanto -" Luo Yaoguo pulled out a photo of Tokugawa Kamenosuke from a briefcase, "and gave it to this thirteen-year-old kid!" The boy in the painting was wearing an oversized military haori, and the katana at his waist almost dragged on the ground.

Feng Yunshan burst out laughing: "A little kid, who is he?"

"Kamenosuke, the orphan of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, is only thirteen years old this year."

"Thirteen years old? Can he be in charge?"

"I can't control them, so we need Sakuma Shozan of the Four People's Association to be the 'guardian'!" Luo Yaoguo took out another copy of the "Three Kingdoms Division Plan for Japan" and unfolded it. "If the British want a naval port, give it to Sasebo. If Chengtian wants revenge, take Tsushima and Ezo. As for the ronin in Kanto." He traced the word "divide the land" with his fingertips. "Give them land. They are the sharpest knives!"

Suddenly, a spring thunder exploded outside the window, and early spring showers came pouring down. Hong Rengan looked at the "Request for Aid from Korea" wet by raindrops, and suddenly said, "Yang Chengtian wants more than just Tsushima and Ezo."

"It's okay for him to seek revenge, but not for Japan!" Luo Yaoguo grabbed a copper paperweight to hold down the flying map. "If he wants to inherit the throne of Korea, he must give up Japan and the throne of the East King, and divorce that female emperor!"

"Divorce?" Feng Yunshan was stunned. "Can't Chengtian and that female emperor have a son together to become the Japanese emperor?"

"No!" Luo Yaoguo shook his head firmly. "The Asahi and the Sun must not unite. This is the bottom line! As long as Chengtian agrees, he can ask for guns and cannons. Even if he wants a fleet, I can lend it to him!"

The bronze crane-beak incense burner in the Kangning Hall of Gyeongbokgung Palace emitted green smoke. Yang Chengtian stared at the divorce edict on the table, rubbing his thumb over the four words "Hegong Nudi". There were sounds of smashing and destroying outside the hall - it was his Korean soldiers destroying all the objects with Japanese family crests.

“Prince!” Yang Fuqing pushed open the palace door and hurriedly said, “The governor of Gyeongsang Province has an urgent report: an ironclad ship flying the Hinomaru flag was spotted outside Busan Harbor!”

Yang Yiqing then threw in a scroll of documents: "Someone in Jeolla Province spread the rumor of 'the King of the East ascended to heaven', which led to a riot! The remnants of the Yangban clan joined forces with the Donghak Party to incite the ignorant people to attack the Farmers' Association!"

"Rebellion, rebellion"

Yang Chengtian slammed the table, then picked up a jade seal and pressed it hard on the "Japan-Korea Divorce Decree": "Send eight orders - quickly recruit the untouchables who have turned over a new leaf into the army, and tell them that if the remnants of the Yangban class are allowed to restore the monarchy, they will never be able to turn over a new leaf! And after they join the army, as long as they can establish meritorious services, they will become noble citizens of Korea in the future!" Noble citizens are roughly equivalent to the Yangban class!
The Joseon pariahs who had been trampled under the feet of the yangban for generations could now not only turn things around, but also have the opportunity to become the yangban they hated the most - the King of Dong had yet to repay them for their kindness!

Late at night on the same day, on the banks of the Taedong River in Pyongyang.

Kim Dae-sik, who worked at the Pyongyang Farmers' Association, stuffed the "Abolition Contract" given by the King of Dong into his son's chest pocket, and his calloused hands pressed the "Hanyang-made" (Hanyang-fu is Seoul) Cheonryeok 20th Year rifle tightly: "Remember! Without the King of Dong, our Kim family will always be pariahs!"

The young man knelt by the river in the cold wind, with three hundred new soldiers wearing the same attire behind him - blue coarse cloth clothes, with red scarves with the words "repay gratitude" on their foreheads. In the cold wind, they shouted out a vow from the bottom of their hearts: "The kindness of the King of the East will be repaid with blood!"

In Jeolla Province, more than 10,000 sons of the untouchables were mobilized under the leadership of hundreds of veterans of the Heavenly Kingdom. Although they had only been trained for less than a month, these sons of the untouchables were all "newcomers" who had undergone Yang Xiuqing's version of compulsory education in Korea. Everyone could read and recite scriptures, and they knew who they were fighting for. They had also received basic military training since they were young. On the battlefield, they were like tigers. How could the remnants of the Yangban class and the Donghak Party resist them?

In less than twenty days, the riot in Jeolla Province was suppressed!
"Did you see it?" Hong Rengan stood in the corner tower of Gyeongbokgung Palace, pointing at the bonfires that stretched for ten miles on both sides of the Han River. "Eighty thousand new troops? Now there are probably 180,000!" He turned and smiled at Yang Chengtian, "The great kindness of the Eastern King, these Koreans really remember it in their hearts."

Yang Chengtian clenched the "Letter to the People of the Korean Heavenly Kingdom" that he had just drafted - this was an edict announcing to the people of the Korean Heavenly Kingdom that the "former king" was assassinated by Japanese pirates, and calling on the people of the eight provinces of Korea who had received great kindness from the former king to avenge the former king!
However, Luo Yaoguo has already planned the extent of this revenge!

There will never be another sunrise paradise!

Thinking of this, he raised the "Book to the People of the Kingdom of Korea": ​​"Promulgate to the people, first hold a funeral for the late king, and then lead the army to the Japanese archipelago!"

In the early morning of Nihonbashi in Edo, the fish market was filled with a foul smell. Ronin Ono Jiro squatted on the river bank, scraping the scales of sea bream with a wakizashi - he was once a respected samurai who served directly under the shogun, but now he has become a lowly fishmonger!
It was so embarrassing! He wanted to commit seppuku every now and then. But as the Four People Association gradually grew in Kanto, he saw hope again!
Hope for troubled times to come again!
"Ono-kun, the opportunity has come." A short old man selling pancakes lowered his voice, "The Four People's Association has set up a 'Volunteer Recruitment Office' in Fukagawa. It's time to raise an army!"

"Really?" Ono Jiro looked back at the old man who used to be a hatamoto of the Tokugawa family.

"Really!" The old man's eyes filled with tears. "Yang Xiuqing is dead. The opportunity I've been waiting for has come."

"Great"

Ono dropped the fish and followed the crowd to the Fukagawa warehouse area. Most of the shops along the way were empty, and the former prosperity had long disappeared. Only the "Seishinso" of the Shinyo Shrine was still lit. He spat at the tax collector sent by the shrine - the man was surrounded by a dozen ronin and asked to "borrow money".

The warehouse area was packed with people. Sakuma Shozan stood on a platform made of rice bags, with the three-leaf sunflower flag fluttering behind him: "Restore the Tokugawa Kubo! Those who join the righteous army—" He kicked over a straw bag, and white rice poured down like a waterfall, "Three go of rice a day!"

"Liar!" The ronin roared, "Last year, the year before last, and the year before last, the Tokugawa shogunate raised troops, but they were all suppressed by the divine soldiers of the Shinyo Shrine!"

It turns out that in Kanto, the "Tokugawa Kubo" is just like Prince Zhu San, causing trouble every now and then. It's impossible to kill them all!

Kondo Isami suddenly unfurled a large banner with the six characters "Eastern King Dies, Morning and Sun Divide" written on it: "Eastern King Yang Xiuqing is dead, the time for the morning and sun to divide has come, the Tokugawa family will surely rise again!!"

Amid the commotion, Katsura Kogoro unfolded the "Land Reward Order": "Those who participate in the righteous army will be given land according to their military merits after the war!" The red seal on the paper was clearly the childish handwriting of Tokugawa Kamenosuke.

Jiro Ono suddenly found that his eyes were already filled with tears - he had really waited for this day, a day of chaos in the world! He heard the cry of the sea waves: "The Eastern King dies, and the morning sun is divided"

In the Osaka Castle Tower, Kusunoki Takako is writing the twelfth secret letter to Luo Yaoguo asking for help.
"Young Master!" The miko stumbled in, "The rebels from the Four People's Association have captured Edo and are raising the banner of restoring the Tokugawa shogunate!"

Nanmu Inako smashed the tea bowl: "The Four People's Association restored the shogunate? They are not"

Nanmu Gaozi stood up suddenly: "It's no use, I will go to Tianjing to ask His Royal Highness King Wu for help!"

(End of this chapter)