I

Sakai Tadayoshi placed the shogun under house arrest and had to be secretive and not send too many soldiers to watch.

There were more than 300 daimyo and hatamoto led by Abe Tadaki. They rushed in with their sabers raised, and a group of daimyo ran in front. The samurai responsible for guarding the shogun suddenly didn't know what to do.

Are you going to shoot at a group of famous people?

After killing so many famous people, no matter what happened afterwards, the samurai who fired the gun must be charged and executed.

The samurai had no choice but to put down their weapons and get out of the way, allowing Abe Tadaki to lead people into the castle.

Tokugawa Ietsuna heard the commotion and shouted inside: "Sakai Tadaki is a traitor, please get me out quickly!"

A group of daimyo became even more excited. They ran in with their swords in hand and welcomed out the shogun, lords and nobles.

Tokugawa Ietsuna regained his freedom and was so aggrieved that he cried. He held Abe Tadaki's hands and said that he would reward his loyal minister.

Tokugawa Mitsuaki asked: "Did the Tang army attack the city?"

Abe Tadaki nodded and said: "The outermost wall has been breached."

Tokugawa Ietsuna was so frightened that he hurriedly said: "Hurry up and surrender, otherwise the Tang army will kill all the Tokugawa family and support the Emperor Taishou to regain power."

"The Supreme Emperor?" Abe Tadaki was stunned for a moment.

Tokugawa Mitsuaki explained: "The Emperor is in the hands of the Tang army. It is because of this that Sakai Tadakiyo wants to put the shogun under house arrest."

Everyone hurried out of the main castle and were about to send someone to sue for peace when they saw a warrior running towards them: "Another city wall has been lost!"

Abe Tadaki hurriedly asked and found out that the third wall was gone.

Tokugawa Ietsuna was so frightened that his legs were weak. He didn't care that the two inner city walls were stronger and more dangerous. He only knew that half of Edo City had been occupied by the Tang army. He hurriedly said: "Uncle, you know the generals of the Tang army. Hurry up and personally Go and ask for surrender.”

Tokugawa Mitsuki had no choice but to bite the bullet and accept the order.

Tokugawa Ietsuna added: "Also, arrest this traitor Sakai Tadaki!"

Although this shogun was frail and indifferent, his reputation was there after all.

He personally ordered it, and no one dared to disobey it.

Not long after, Sakai Tadakiyo and several of his confidants were escorted over and knelt on the ground.

At this moment, the two sides have temporarily ceased fighting. The shogunate defenders are setting up the defense of the second city wall, and the Datong Army is also preparing for the next attack.

Tokugawa Mitsuki hung down the rattan basket and walked towards the Datong Army alone.

Soon he was taken to see Huang Fei, who asked, "What are you doing here?"

Tokugawa Mitsuaki explained: "I brought a letter to the city that day. The shogun intended to offer the city for peace, but was placed under house arrest by the treacherous minister Tadaki Sakai. Now that the shogun has been rescued, the shogunate is willing to negotiate peace. Please suspend the attack."

Huang Fei sneered: "I'm halfway through attacking the city, and you actually asked me to stop? Who will do justice to my dead and wounded soldiers?"

When the Datong Army occupied the third city wall, they were bombarded by artillery shells from the commanding heights. Now the casualties have reached more than 110 people.

If we really want to storm the remaining two city walls, the final casualties are likely to be thousands, or even 2,000, because the difficulty of siege is also increasing exponentially. When Tokugawa Ieyasu built the city, he put a lot of effort into it. No one in Japan could break Edo Castle.

Huang Fei did not want to increase the fear of casualties, but the posture must be sufficient.

Tokugawa Mitsuaki said quickly: "The shogunate will definitely provide generous compensation to the Chinese warriors who died bravely in battle."

"Do I need that little pension? You can't live if you die!" Huang Fei became angrier as he spoke.

Tokugawa Mitsuaki could only bow his hands and say, "Please calm down, general."

Huang Fei also accepted it and said, "Peace talks are fine. Let the shogunate come out in person to ask for surrender. Otherwise, I will fight in today!"

"Please wait a moment." Tokugawa Mitsuaki went back to reply.

When he heard that he had to ask for surrender in person, Tokugawa Ietsuna never dared to do so and kept shaking his head.

Tokugawa Tsunashige advised: "Sir, even if you don't go out, the Tang army will come in after you surrender."

Tokugawa Ietsuna thought carefully and realized that this was indeed the case, so he took the daimyo out with fear.

Huang Fei also came to the scene in person, and when he saw Tokugawa Ietsuna just bowing, he immediately sneered: "I am a general, and you are a general too. I am the victorious general, and you are the defeated general. Why don't you kneel when you ask me to surrender? It's like asking for surrender. What does it look like?”

Tokugawa Ietsuna didn't understand Chinese and could only write Chinese characters, so Tokugawa Mitsuaki quickly translated.

Want to kneel down by yourself?

Tokugawa Ietsuna turned around and looked at the daimyo. Under the gaze of everyone, he couldn't help but feel ashamed.

Once you kneel down, not only will you lose your prestige, but the shogunate and his descendants will also lose face. From now on, the daimyo of each domain will be less easy to manage, and the daimyo will no longer take the shogun seriously.

But what if I don’t kneel?

Tokugawa Ietsuna went out of the city to ask for surrender, but he was surrounded by Chinese troops. How could he go back so arrogantly?

Tokugawa Ietsuna felt extremely humiliated, gritted his teeth, knelt down and kowtowed, saying: "Ietsuna, please surrender!"

When the daimyo behind him saw this, they all knelt down, and they all knelt on the ground.

"Get up." Huang Fei let out a bad breath and calmed down.

Before Tokugawa Ietsuna could stand up completely, he heard Huang Fei say: "I have occupied two city walls, and the terms of the peace talks are different from before."

Tokugawa Ietsuna's heart tightened, and he forced a smile and said, "General, feel free to bring it up."

Huang Fei said: "This is not my responsibility."

Hoopoe, the diplomat of Koroji Temple, stepped forward and said, "Let's go to the castle tower of Edo Castle to talk."

Edo Castle, Grand Castle, the center of power in Japan.

Huang Fei sat in the main seat, followed by Hoopoe. The defeated shogunate could only sit down and hold hands.

Dai Sheng said: "The shogunate stubbornly resisted, causing heavy casualties to our army. First, we must compensate the families of the dead and wounded soldiers; second, we must severely punish those who ordered to defend!"

Tokugawa Ietsuna quickly said: "Sakai Tadaki and his traitors will all commit seppuku and commit suicide!"

Dai Sheng continued: "Sixteen million dollars of military compensation must not be less than a penny. If the cash silver is not enough, it can be converted into gold. If the gold is not enough, it can be paid in installments, but interest must be paid on the delayed silver."

"Didn't you say 6 million guan before?" Tokugawa Ietsuna's heart was bleeding.

Hoopoe asked: "Can negotiating within the city be the same as negotiating outside the city?"

Sixteen million guan is equivalent to 4 million taels of silver. The shogunate is not enough to sell iron, so I am afraid that it will have to turn to the wealthy merchants of Sandu.

Tokugawa Ietsuna could not refuse, so he could only say with hatred: "Angel, please continue speaking."

Hoopoe said: "Before, only ten ports were required to be opened, but now Japan must fully open the sea!"

Tokugawa Ietsuna nodded: "Okay."

Hoopoe added: "The other terms remain unchanged."

Tokugawa Ietsuna breathed a long sigh of relief. He was afraid that the hoopoe would open his mouth again.

No matter how outrageous the terms were, Tokugawa Ietsuna could not refuse. Because the Datong Army controlled the two emperors, they could kill the Tokugawa clan in Edo City at any time, and then bring the emperor to control the power.

By then, a civil war will definitely break out.

Those daimyo who supported the Tokugawa family, as well as their direct vassals and descendants, were bound to fight with the daimyo who "supported the emperor."

After the two parties signed the contract, they watched the seppuku ceremony.

Tokugawa Ietsuna hated Sakai Tadaki to death and forbade him from using the wrong person in the ceremony.

He didn't even introduce the wrong person, and the whole process was cruel.

Sakai Tadaki held his ribs with trembling hands, rubbed it several times, and finally stabbed it into his lower abdomen. He wanted to pull the knife horizontally again to end the pain early, but his hands could not use the strength. He reluctantly pulled it to the side, already crying from the pain. After a while, I tried again, only to open a small opening, but the pain was so painful that I dared not move anymore.

Huang Fei looked very bored: "Stop messing with it, just chop it off with a knife."

Tokugawa Ietsuna quickly chose the wrong person to intervene and asked Sakai Tadaki, who was curled up on the ground, to kneel down again. A mouthful of sake was sprayed on the blade, and he gestured to his neck. The sword flashed and the head fell to the ground.

Sakai Tadakiyo's son and his confidants lined up to commit seppuku.

The Sakai family was completely liquidated afterwards, and the fiefdoms were assigned to the close vassals of the Tokugawa family, with a small part serving as direct jurisdiction of the shogunate.

Abe Tadaki was promoted to elder for his meritorious service in rescuing the enemy.

Abe Tadaki was a reformist. He did not think of drastic reforms, but believed that samurai and ronin should work. Especially for Ronin, he can no longer idle around, but it is also difficult to arrange the work specifically.

This man quickly issued a decree declaring that ronin could engage in any job. As long as ronin was determined to do serious things, no daimyo from anywhere could stop him.

To be honest, it means a lot but has little effect.

At the same time, Abe Tadaki began to investigate the wealthy businessmen of Sandu. Except for the wealthy businessmen who were protected by the shogun, other wealthy businessmen suffered heavy losses and were often labeled as colluding with Sakai Tadakiyoshi, forcing the wealthy businessmen to hand over enough gold and silver to atone for their sins.

Such a high-profile raid on merchants was all to pay war reparations.

Four million taels of silver, a hard-working merchant, the shogunate could still come up with.

However, after this battle, the prestige of the shogunate was greatly lost, and the local lords no longer took the shogunate seriously. Although he still complied on the surface and came to live in Edo every other year, and his family also lived in Edo for a long time, the secret violation was even more serious.

War compensation of four million taels was a huge amount for Japan at this time. The wealthy businessmen gave most of it, and the shogunate had to pay for the rest. It was already in financial distress, and now it had to step up its efforts to exploit the people.

The increasingly heavy taxes made Japan's knowledgeable people increasingly dissatisfied with the shogunate. At the same time, they felt that they should learn from China in an all-round way.

It’s interesting to say that the “culprit” for everything is China. But the Japanese do not hate China. Instead, they increasingly admire China's strength. Even those big names are more keen to buy Chinese goods and ask Chinese merchants about Nanjing fashion.

Abe Tadaki, a once progressive daimyo, became a daimyo but his butt determined his head. He had to maintain the stability of his rule. Instead, he became a representative of the backward daimyo. He frantically suppressed intellectuals and added dozens of banned books to the list. However, he also knew that Japan should learn from it, and he sent twenty envoys to the Tang Dynasty to send those young people to study in Nanjing.

What to study?

Of course, I am learning about steam engines and the like. I am only learning about technology, not politics.

Someone else was injured, and that was the feudal lord of Matsumae Domain.

He was eating and drinking in Hokkaido, but out of nowhere he saw a Chinese warship and said that Hokkaido had been incorporated into China. As for him, the lord of the domain, he was temporarily appointed as the magistrate of Ezo Prefecture, and he was to take a Chinese name immediately.