Late Ming Dynasty: Conquering the world starting from riding and cutting

Inside a magnificent izakaya on the commercial street of Kobe Port.

Sugimoto Ichiro, who is over fifty years old, is holding two young geishas with white flour on their faces, flirting and holding hands.

Just when Sugimoto wanted to further educate the next generation of singers on how to please their director, a follower wearing a ronin costume and a half-bun hairdo came in.

"Sir, Mr. Ueda Shinji is back."

"Oh, did those maritime merchants give you money?"

At this time, Sugimoto was half leaning on one of the singer's bodies, and his other hand was placed deep in the other singer's kimono.

As soon as he finished speaking, Ueda Shinji walked in from outside.

As soon as he entered the door, Ueda Shinji knelt on the wooden floor with a very panicked expression.

"Sir, those maritime merchants said that if the berth is not ready after a stick of incense, then they will bombard the Great Kobe Port!"

Nani!

Ichiro Sugimoto exclaimed, then kicked away the geisha who was being rubbed so ecstatically that he suddenly sat up straight, crossed his legs, straightened his posture, and stared at Shinji Ueda with a fierce look in his eyes.

"The other party said they were going to bombard Kobe City? I must have heard wrong!"

Ueda Shinji held the katana at his waist with one hand, put his right fist on the ground, lowered his head and replied: "Sir, yes, the other party is indeed prepared in this way."

Sugimoto slowly narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth and looking gloomy.

Hahaha! It has been many years, it has been a long time since anyone dared to offend him like this.

Sugimoto stood up immediately, puffing out his skinny little chest and shouting.

"The merchants of the Ming Dynasty, the southern barbarians, and even the pirate king Zheng Zhilong who roams the sea dare not provoke me. Now a few sea merchants dare to go against my face. It is really ungrateful. If you don't show them some color, my son-in-law will be here What future is there for those adults?"

The surrounding warriors and followers bowed their heads one by one, with extremely respectful expressions.

Thump thump!

Sugimoto picked up his pants and walked off the wooden floor in the izakaya, and put on his clogs sharply.

"Let's go! Let's go to the port and see who is so arrogant."

In short, anyone who wants to dock in Kobe has to pay.

As for how much to pay, it was Sugimoto's decision. In Kobe, Sugimoto was the Supreme Emperor, and what he said was the imperial edict, and no one dared to disobey it.

Because all the disobedient people have become sacrifices to Hai Shen, and it is estimated that even the corpses will not be found.

Sugimoto led a group of samurai ronin followers and arrived at the dock of the port in a menacing manner. The streets along the way were surrounded by chickens and dogs.

If you look at other places, this guy is a typical old dude over fifty years old. He will be beaten to death in the street, but in the eyes of the people of Kobe, it is normal. He supported many lower-level samurai and wandering swordsmen by embezzling money. .

Naturally, the samurai and ronin who were thugs had to eliminate the restless people in Kobe City, so every other month some merchants would hang themselves on the city gate tower because they did not pay their taxes in full.

"Where is the ship? Point it out to me. I would like to see it. Is it a merchant from that place who dares to brazenly say that he wants to bombard Kobe City?"

Following Sugimoto to the port, there was also a small group of ashigaru. Seeing the large number of people around him, Sugimoto was extremely proud. He held his head high and his chest high, with great momentum. He had great ideas to wipe out this unruly group in one fell swoop. .

"My lord, it's over there."

At this time, an Ashigaru subordinate pointed to the black fleet on the sea in the distance and said to Sugimoto.

Sugimoto glanced inadvertently in the direction of the other person's finger. His originally arrogant face instantly turned pale, and his head-high aura also faded away.

"How is it possible? Is it really a battleship?"

Looking in the direction of his hands, Ichiro Sugimoto finally saw Qin Hao's naval battleship.

Seven "black" warships across the entire sea were parked quietly on the sea. Although the number did not seem to be many, each one was huge as never seen before.

Even if Sugimoto looked out at the port dock, he could feel the terror of those battleships.

He originally thought that the new group of maritime merchants were a bunch of soft persimmons who could just use them to extort more money, but he didn't expect that they were in big trouble.

This group of merchants, no, this fleet must be here to attack Kobe!

Ichiro Sugimoto was making unreasonable guesses with fear. This was the only way he could find some comfort in his impetuous heart.

At this time, because of Qin Hao's order, the seven warships had all turned sideways, opened the muzzle baffles, and pushed the cannons out of the muzzle to reveal the position.

With the adjustment of the gunner, the muzzles of hundreds of huge black cannons were calibrated and aimed at Sugimoto and his party on the shore.

As soon as the time comes, the captain of each battleship will give the order to fire.

The Navy will not hesitate to execute Qin Hao's orders.

Sugimoto got the monocular telescope from his subordinates. He bought it from the Dutch at a high price, but it really cost him a lot of money.

In the past, he had nothing to do. He always stood on the wall of Kobe with his binoculars, secretly checking whether there were beauties on the streets in the town, and he almost never used them in the right place.

Fortunately this time, a crisis put the telescope on the right track.

Unfortunately, this time, the telescope did not bring any emotional happiness to Sugimoto, but instead brought him infinite fear and fear.

Through the telescope, Sugimoto could clearly see Qin Hao's battleship's artillery being pushed out of the muzzle, and the sailors on the deck were also in full alert.

And Sugimoto also saw clearly that the warships of these armies were very large and sophisticated.

Compared with Japan's own battleships, they are much stronger and have no comparability at all.

Even Sugimoto, who didn't know much about battleships, could tell that these battleships were more powerful than the Nanman battleships.

If those artillery fire were actually fired and the shells landed in Commercial Town, they would definitely bring a lot of death to Commercial Town.

After secretly glancing around, Sugimoto even spotted a vendor nearby. When he saw the battleship turn sideways and open a running hole to push out the cannon, the guy's legs were shaking.

Moreover, the merchant kept muttering, "Why is this happening? Are they pirates? Are these guys going to attack here? I want to leave here. If so many artillery fires are fired, this place will become a hell."

After muttering, the vendor didn't bother to pack his things and ran out of the town in a panic.

Seeing this, Sugimoto also broke out in cold sweat on his forehead, and he had the idea of ​​following him and escaping.

"No, it will never be like this." Ichiro Sugimoto suppressed the thought of running away and held his trembling fingers.

He knew the fate of any escaped official. Even if he was a relative, he would not be able to escape the punishment of beheading. For his own people, Japanese rules still made the best use of them.

Just when Sugimoto was in a trance, a flash of inspiration flashed through his mind, and suddenly, he thought of a question.

Even if the other party really dares to fire, they will have to face Kobe's revenge later.

Moreover, this is Japan. If a fight breaks out, it will be very detrimental to these outsiders.

The reason is very simple. Artillery shells need to be constantly docked at the port for supply. This is why they want to dock at the port. Not to mention these giant ships, the amount of supplies is an astronomical figure.

Thinking of this, Sugimoto gradually calmed down after the initial panic.

He judged that these warships were just bluffing and would never dare to fire.

"Don't be afraid, they don't dare to fire. If they fire, it will be a declaration of war against us. When the shogunate dispatches naval forces, these people will have no choice. Even though their warships look powerful, what about supplies?"

Sugimoto expressed his thoughts and judgment, and as expected, the men who followed him to the dock were moved. Their momentum suddenly increased, and they picked up their bamboo guns and screamed at the fleet on the sea.

Just as the ashigaru were roaring, Sugimoto Ichiro saw Ueda Shinji with a sullen face beside him, "Ueda, why are you still standing here?"

Sugimoto scolded, "Hurry up and go to the fort on the shore. If the enemy ships really dare to attack, you will sink them."

As the largest port in Honshu, Kobe naturally has a large number of forts, and these forts are where Sugimoto Ichiro's confidence lies.

He is shrewd and will not be as superficial as those ashigaru who can't even count.

Ueda Shinji took the order and reluctantly led several of his men to the fort to get ready. Looking at the sad faces of the gunners, he knew that this was definitely a life-or-death battle.

Standing on the shore, you can see the caliber of the artillery on the sea. Even if the shell misses, its aftermath can kill the gunner in the concealed slot.

Ueda Shinji could only pray that the gunner on the opposite side would not hit the concealed slot where he was. This was his only hope now.

"Sir, the fort at Kobe Port is aiming at us. Do you want to attack?!" a sentry reported after observing.

"Do you have a stick of incense?"

Duan Daxin looked at the candlestick, turned around and said, "My lord, the stick of incense has been burned!"

Qin Hao stood up fiercely, "In that case, send the signal and bombard Kobe!"

"promise!"

When Qin Hao ordered the entire ship to fire, Shinji Ueda of Kobe Port was urging the ashigaru to load ammunition for the thirty-odd 5-pound old shore defense guns and get ready to fire.

As a weapon of war during the Warring States Period for thirty years, it may not be able to keep up with the times now. Shinji Ueda clearly noticed the difficulties of loading shells and turning the muzzle.

"Hey, Master Fengxing, what are they doing?"

After loading, Ueda Shinji looked into the distance and discovered that Sugimoto Ichiro had actually sent a group of ashigaru out of the city. Those ashigaru ran like crazy to the beach outside the city, seeming to want to board the ship and attack the fleet on the sea.

"Looking for death!"

Ueda Shinji was very angry. He knew that charging like this without cover would be a living target for the opponent to practice.

Not long after, a rocket shot up into the air, exploded and scattered into beautiful fireworks!

"Samurai-sama! Look!" An ashigaru pointed at the white smoke that suddenly appeared on the sea.

Before he finished speaking, dozens of hot tracks appeared in Ueda Shinji's eyes.

In just a short moment, the trajectory turned into an angry dragon with teeth and claws, and with a deafening sharp and harsh sound, it headed straight towards the fort!

On the fort, Shinji Ueda was much more experienced than the ashigaru gunner. He immediately realized something was wrong and shouted loudly: "The enemy's shells are coming, be careful to hide!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Shenji saw a scene that he will never forget in this life or the next. In the blink of an eye, more than 3,000 meters away from the fort, dozens of fire dragons were sprayed out from the side of the Wansheng ship. Yes, they were fire dragons. The fire dragon's flames were filled with white smoke, the roar of the cannon and the sharp whistle of the shells, accompanied by a strange whistle, the fire dragon shells basically came straight towards the fort.

Shinji's samurai instincts, honed over time on the battlefield, saved his life. He jumped from the fort on the high ground without hesitation and jumped into the sea.

In an instant, dozens of rockets hit the fort and penetrated into the ground around the fort. Then huge explosions and flames rose into the sky, and thick smoke and flames flooded the fort.

At this moment, Qin Hao stood on the ship and watched the situation on the mountain with a telescope. As expected, more than 30 Kobe forts were blown up by artillery in just one round of artillery fire, as if they were killing chickens.

The remaining forts have not yet launched a counterattack, and they seem to have been caught in the sea of ​​​​fire. However, Qin Hao's navy will not wait for anyone, and the second round of artillery has already come overwhelmingly.

There were explosions of fort ammunition everywhere, and the remains of Japanese gunners' limbs and flesh were splashing everywhere. Some gunners screamed and turned into running burning men.

However, after running a few steps, he fell to the ground, and the gunpowder in the fort was detonated, triggering a series of explosions. The huge explosion air wave even blew the 5-pound cannon into the sky.

The thick barrel is driven by the air waves and is as light as a bamboo dragonfly in a child's hand.

In just two rounds of shelling, the naval fleet completely chipped away at the Kobe Fort, neatly and orderly, as simple as a target practice.

"Sir, run!" A samurai grabbed the stunned Sugimoto Ichiro and ran towards Kobe Castle.

"It's over, it's all over!" Sugimoto Ichiro kept mumbling in a trance, his empty eyes filled with despair.

He knew that the "Black Ship" fleet was powerful, but he never thought that his entire house would be completely destroyed after just two rounds of shelling.

Thirty shore guns of various types were destroyed without firing a single shot. A team of 50 ashigaru sent out were sent into the sky by the remaining shells of the "black ship" fleet before they had time to board the ship. Together with them, There are also several warships anchored in the port.

It was the biggest gift left by his son-in-law, and it was also Sugimoto's weapon to defend against sea attacks. He didn't expect it to be destroyed like this.

Moreover, Kobe was bombarded, this matter must not be trivial!

Since the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, it has been secretly promising that Japan would have peace and no war.

Stability is what the shogunate needs most.

But now, the shelling incident actually occurred, which simply questioned the ability of the Tokugawa shogunate. You must know that there are many famous names in the southwest. Although they are nominally the capital, they are still doing small tricks behind the scenes. If they find out, There is probably going to be trouble again.

Sugimoto Ichiro, who was pulled away from the port by the samurai, stumbled along the way and was not as majestic as when he came before.

Now he was ready to commit seppuku, but the sharp tip and pain kept him from taking action.

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