The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 685: The Mystery of the Dark and the Dark
In early October, the Sixth Corps, which had disappeared for half a month, appeared on Amakusa Island on the west side of Kyushu, the site of the Shimabara Rebellion.

In mid-September, a strong wind blew off the waters of northern Kyushu, blowing Zhao Lujiao and his Sixth Corps westward from Iki Island. The fleet deviated by thousands of miles and completely missed the fierce battles in the early stages of the Kyushu campaign.

Perhaps thanks to the gods' blessing, the damage caused by the demon wind was minimal.

Amakusa Island is only a stone's throw away from Nagasaki. On October 18, the retired emperor ordered the Sixth Corps to take the lead in the attack, with the Southern Corps providing cover, and launched an attack on the Nagasaki Domain.

Before the Battle of Nagasaki began, the overall situation in Kyushu had been determined. After the powerful clans of Satsuma, Hizen and Shimabara were eliminated, the Japanese pirates were divided and surrounded in various parts of Kyushu, desperately waiting for the arrival of the Doomsday Judgment.

Doomsday is crude and simple.

The retired emperor said he needed a clean Japan.

Only water and fire can achieve the purity that the emperor wants.

Unfortunately, Liu Zhaosun is only a demigod (or a false god), so he cannot control the flood to cleanse the land for the time being.

Fortunately, there were enough incendiary bombs brought with them on this Eastern Expedition, so trial by fire can still be carried out.

In the past two months, fires as dense as torrential rain have fallen from the sky many times, burning more than a dozen city-states that were hostile to Da Qi to ashes.

As for those vassal states that voluntarily surrendered and paid the "ransom money" - usually one million taels of silver or the equivalent in grain - the Qi army would show leniency and make an exception to accept their surrender.

Since the number of captives from Satsuma, Hizen and other domains was already too high, and the factories and mines in Fujian and other places were already fully staffed, the captives from other domains had to be sent elsewhere for other purposes.

As the saying goes, Japan is a brick of the empire, and it can be moved wherever it is needed.

As for the final fate of these surrendered pirates, according to historical records, it is as follows:
The surrendered ronin warriors would be packed up on ships and sent to Korea and Ryukyu in batches.

There, trainee medical officers from various corps will give the prisoners a thorough "royal education" - including but not limited to performing brutal surgical operations such as castration and limb segmentation.

The captives who survived the operation needed to continue learning the official language of the Great Qi Dynasty. After passing the examination, they would have the opportunity to serve in the Nanjing Imperial Palace, which is what we usually call the examination.

These fathers-in-law who are concerned about toilet function will spend the rest of their lives doing jobs like cleaning toilets and washing clothes.

Of course, those who have accepted the kingly teachings and passed the examinations but still harbor hostility towards Da Qi will eventually be sent to workshops in various places to be used for power testing of new weapons and equipment.

In short, all the Japanese pirates were utilized to the fullest extent.

We should make the best use of things, and of course we should also make the best use of people. This may be the so-called spirit of craftsmanship.

It needs to be explained that such an operation was not a whim of the emperor or to satisfy some unknown psychological needs.

After repeated analysis and discussion, the imperial civil officials concluded that compared with occupying Japan, this method of recruiting people to teach the kingly way would ultimately achieve significantly higher and more satisfactory economic benefits.

As a not very qualified time traveler, the emperor has a very good grasp of the psychology of the island residents.

In Liu Zhaosun's view, the Bushido of the chrysanthemum and sword was all nonsense. In front of the strong, the Japanese samurai and ronin showed complete obedience.

Times are tough and people's hearts are no longer the same. For these Japanese pirates from Kyushu, being castrated or having their hands chopped off is better than being burned to ashes in a fire.

Maybe this is life.

By the end of October in the fourth year of Guangde, more than 120,000 samurai, ronin, and foot soldiers, as well as officials from various feudal domains, had readily accepted the teachings of the Great Qi Kingly Way.

However, due to the poor medical conditions on the battlefield (a chopping board and a pig-slaughtering knife), coupled with a shortage of medical officers and butchers, only less than 20,000 of the 120,000 survived and got the opportunity to serve the empire.

Of course, the wives, children and daughters of all the Japanese pirates who could hold out to the end were protected and sent to Fujian. As for those who did not hold out, they could only survive on the ruins, and what awaited them was the threat of wild beasts and hunger...

Among all the cities in Kyushu, only Nagasaki was still resisting stubbornly.

The reason why Baba Toshishige was still able to resist was not because the Nagasaki samurai were braver than the samurai of other domains, but because Nagasaki was of great value and would serve as an important port for the future empire in Japan, so the retired emperor had never ordered it to be burned down.

The retired emperor showed great interest in the current Nagasaki Bugyo.

During the Shimabara Rebellion, thousands of Christians around Nagasaki were tortured and killed by Baba Toshishige.

There is no doubt that the Nagasaki Bugyo was an accomplice of the evil god.

Francisco, a missionary, advised the retired emperor to punish the accomplice of the god of joy severely. He suggested killing the Nagasaki Bugyo by being torn apart by chariots or hanging him in a hole (steamed over a hot spring). The retired emperor, with a kind heart, could not bear to see bloodshed, so he handed the matter over to the high priest.

At the same time, he ordered Zhao Lujiao not to delay any longer and to capture Nagasaki as soon as possible, capture Baba Toshishige, and hand him over to Francisco.

~~~
After capturing Kyushu Island, the next step was Shikoku Island and Honshu (Hokkaido was already under the control of the Qi army). The Qi army was unstoppable, but the retired emperor was surprisingly calm.

He had already seen the road ahead clearly. When he killed the evil dragon in the East China Sea, it would be the day when he would ascend to heaven and become an immortal. Judging from the current war situation, he would undoubtedly be the seventh human goblin.

According to the theory of becoming an immortal explained by Zhang Yixing, those who kill the human goblins can ascend to heaven, while the killed human goblins will fall into eternal hell.

Then the question arises, if Liu Zhaosun degenerates into a human monster and kills himself, will he fall into hell after his death or ascend to heaven and become an immortal?

Since the Eastern Expedition, hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians have been slaughtered as the Qi army captured cities and territories. Such questions have lingered in the mind of the retired emperor like a curse, and cannot be shaken off.

Sometimes the emperor would comfort himself that perhaps only when divinity and animality were perfectly integrated could people find their original intention.

In any case, the urgent idea of becoming an immortal corroded people's hearts like poison, bewitching the emperor and leading him into unknown territory.

~~~~~
After fleeing Nagasaki, Tokugawa Iemitsu hid in Edo and rarely went out. The emperor had not heard from the shogun for a long time.

Since Iemitsu ascended the throne, he not only brazenly abolished the Treaty of Niuguan, but also supported the various feudal lords in Kyushu to continue burning, killing and looting the coast of Da Qi.

Not only that, this third generation Shogun had an almost obsessive desire to march westward to conquer Qi.

During the fifteen years that he was in charge of the shogunate, he spent ten years planning how to attack Korea and land in Qi.

Unfortunately, Amaterasu failed to protect his people this time, and the divine wind could not blow.

The final judgment is coming soon.

Blood debt must be repaid with blood.

In these years, the number of coastal civilians killed by Japanese pirates was at least 10,000, if not 8,000.

Late at night on the first day of November, a group of ninjas appeared out of nowhere and sneaked into the Saga Domain Office. While everyone was asleep, they attempted to assassinate the retired emperor.

Dense rain of shurikens poured down from the dark beams and landed on the dragon bed, turning a Japanese singing girl serving in the emperor's bed into a bloody gourd.

The sharp shuriken hit the emperor and was immediately bounced away, splashing sparks and making pleasant tinkling sounds.

The emperor waved his hand as if to shoo away a fly, turned over, and the snoring stopped.

The ninjas hanging from the beams looked at each other, then looked at the Tatar emperor lying on the bed unharmed, with incredible expressions on their faces.

Several ninjas exchanged glances with each other, and quickly hung down like spiders, suddenly drew out their ninja swords, and chopped at the target on the bed with all their might.

Liu Zhaosun slowly opened his eyes, looked up at the sharp blade that suddenly appeared above his head, his pupils slightly dilated.

The next second, the four ninjas who climbed down raised their ninja swords, turned the handles upside down, and stabbed themselves fiercely.

When the blood flowers fell, the emperor had already left the dragon bed and stood in the distance. He looked at the messy corpse in front of him and muttered:
"You killed so many of my people and fled back to Edo without a word. Now you want to kill me again. I'm afraid it's not appropriate. I think Iemitsu should leave something behind."

The next morning, in the Saga Domain Hall, the retired emperor carefully played with the wine vessel made of the head of the lord of Hizen Domain while glancing at everyone.

Zhang Dong and Liu Xingzuo stood on both sides, surrounded by Pei Dahu, Jiang Liuer, Li Zicheng, Wu Xiao and others.

Zhang Dong said stubbornly, "Your Majesty, please forgive me for letting the thieves sneak into the palace. I deserve death!"

Pei Dahu also knelt down.

The Emperor waved his hand and said disapprovingly:
"The only one who can kill me is myself. Those assassins gained the magical powers of a demon and sneaked into the mansion. It is understandable that you didn't notice them."

Zhang Dong wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, but heard the emperor say slowly:
"But we can't just let this go. As the saying goes, it's rude not to reciprocate. If he comes to kill me, I will kill him too."

"Zhang Mazi, make the arrangements. Take Jiang Liu'er and the others to Edo and kill Tokugawa Iemitsu. The Shogun's head would be more suitable for making wine vessels."

(End of this chapter)