Chapter 3622
Chapter 3622
Chapter 3622
Although Tokugawa Ietsugu was furious about the current situation in Kyoto, he was unwilling to start a massacre here unless it was absolutely necessary. For the shogunate, killing people was not difficult, but cleaning up the mess afterwards, rectifying domestic public opinion, and eliminating the negative impact caused by the killings was not so easy.
Moreover, the war on the front line is at a critical moment, and we cannot tolerate major chaos in the rear to disrupt the stability of the areas under the jurisdiction of the shogunate.
So when he saw that the refugees were blocked outside Nijo Castle and no conflict had occurred for the time being, Tokugawa Ietsuga secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He still chose persuasion first and ordered people to go outside the city to speak to the refugees and try to disperse these troublemakers in a peaceful way.
The person who received this task was the shogunate elder councilor Sakai Tadamasa. He knew that this was a thankless job. He might not get any credit if he succeeded, but he would definitely be blamed if he failed. However, since he was named by Tokugawa Ietsugu, he had no choice but to do it.
Sakai Tadamasa denied all the rumors that were unfavorable to the shogunate, claiming that the battle situation on the front line was still under the control of the shogunate army, the supply of materials was smooth and sufficient, and there was no plan to draw relief materials from Kyoto or recruit refugees to serve in the army.
At the same time, the shogunate was collecting money and food from other regions and transporting them to Kyoto to help the refugees. It would only take some time for the people to distinguish the true from the false.
However, anyone who dares to openly rebel and use force against the shogunate at this time will be treated as a traitor, and their families will also be implicated.
For ordinary people, Sakai Tadamasa was a big shot that they had no chance to meet, and few people dared to question him in person. Some people were already afraid of the shogunate army, and after hearing Sakai Tadamasa's words, they backed off.
However, some people in the refugee group would not sit idly by and watch the situation being controlled by the shogunate. They shouted loudly: "Don't believe his lies! If the shogunate did not withdraw money and food from Kyoto, why did the relief distributed by the royal family suddenly decrease? If there are not hundreds of thousands of kilograms of food hidden in Nijo Castle, why not open the city and let everyone in to see for themselves?"
Hearing such doubts, the crowd began to make noise again. Some people responded loudly, saying that Sakai Tadakiro's clarification was just another lie of the shogunate. Since they couldn't survive anymore, why should they be afraid of the shogunate's suppression?
The refugees were not concerned about the war situation on the front line, but their immediate chance of survival. They just wanted to confirm whether the shogunate had transferred all the money and grain from Kyoto to Nijo Castle and hidden them there, as the rumors said.
This put Sakai Tadamyoshi in a difficult position. No matter whether there was the rumored money and grain in Nijo Castle, he could not open the city gates to let these people in to search, otherwise where would the dignity of the shogunate be.
Sakai Tadamasa wanted to find out the ringleaders among the refugees, but these people obviously knew that they could easily become targets of the shogunate, so after shouting, they immediately dived into the crowd and disappeared, and someone would continue to shout and cause trouble in other places.
Before Sakai Tadakisu could come up with a solution, the people shouting in the refugee crowd had already begun to accuse him of deliberately delaying time and having no intention of resolving the refugees' demands.
Then bricks and stones flew out of the crowd and hit Sakai Tadaki. Fortunately, he was prepared and had arranged several shield bearers beside him. They immediately raised their shields to protect him and avoided this round of long-range attacks.
In the current tense atmosphere, once someone takes the lead, it is inevitable that others will follow suit, and soon more debris will fly over the heads of the Shogunate army like raindrops.
The refugees did not dare to step forward and fight against the fully armed shogunate troops, and it seemed that they could only vent their dissatisfaction in this way.
Sakai Tadaki knew that taking action at this time would only lead to more serious consequences, so he immediately ordered that no counterattacks were allowed. However, the current situation could not be resolved by just one side being tolerant.
In the chaos, explosives were thrown at the feet of the shogunate army. With a loud bang, several soldiers were blown up. Then, several other roadblocks set up, the same explosion occurred. Although Sakai Tadaki was not directly affected, he was also frightened by the explosion and quickly ordered a counterattack against the perpetrators.
However, the shogunate army was facing a large number of refugees who were also in chaos, and it was impossible to identify who the culprit was.
In the panic, some people fired directly at the crowd on the opposite side who were still throwing bricks and stones.
But this firing immediately caused even greater chaos.
The shogunate army's barricades were only a few feet away from the refugee crowd. The other soldiers might not be able to distinguish the location of the gunshots in the chaos, and subconsciously thought that someone in the refugee crowd was firing, so they immediately opened fire to return fire.
The East Gate where Sakai Tadamayo was located was the first to open fire. Then, several other checkpoints at a distance heard that fighting had broken out at the East Gate, so they followed suit and opened fire to disperse the refugees gathered around.
The sounds of explosions and gunshots traveled far away through the air, reaching the Imperial Garden and the Donghai Trading Company's warehouse.
"It's really a fight!"
Hearing the intermittent gunshots coming from a distance, Yang Tianlei couldn't help but sigh.
The Kyushu samurai who went to carry out the mission were not equipped with firearms. Dongkai Xing only provided them with some limited-power throwing explosives. Now there were intensive gunshots, which showed that the plan previously formulated had been successfully implemented. The shogunate army must have opened fire at the refugees surrounding Nijo Castle.
Amakusa Hayabusa next to him continued, "The refugees have no weapons, so the shooting should soon disperse. The next step is to guide the second wave of public opinion and prove the shogunate's crime of massacring civilians."
Yang Tianlei asked: "Brother Amakusa, if the Japanese emperor in the Imperial Garden took the opportunity to revolt, would it be possible to directly capture Nijo Castle and control Tokugawa Ietsugu?"
Amakusa Hayabusa did not answer the question directly, but threw it to Lin Qiu who was standing silently behind them: "How many times have you met the Japanese emperor? Do you think he has such courage?"
Lin Qiu responded in a deep voice: "The Japanese emperor is extremely cautious. He will not take risks unless he is 100% sure. I think that even if the battle at Nijo Castle gets fiercer, the royal family will not send anyone to participate, but will continue to wait and see."
"Let's take a step back. Even if the Japanese emperor took Nijo Castle and captured Tokugawa Ietsugu, it doesn't mean he could overthrow the shogunate, because the shogunate is not his own property, but belongs to the entire Tokugawa clan. Once Tokugawa Ietsugu loses the ability to command the shogunate, the Tokugawa clan will immediately depose him."
“Even if Tokugawa Ietsugu’s line is wiped out immediately, there are still the Tokugawa Gosanke in Owari, Kii, and Mito, and the Tokugawa Gosanke in Hitotsubashi, Tayasu, and Shimizu. These are all collateral branches that are qualified to inherit the position of the shogun. We can just find someone to fill the position and replace Tokugawa Ietsugu as the next shogun.”
Amakusa Hayabusa nodded and said, "Your judgment is basically the same as mine. I also think that the Japanese emperor will not take risks at this time because he has a safer choice."
"After this brief conflict, the Japanese emperor could have stepped forward to act as a peacemaker between the shogunate and the refugees, and easily won over all public opinion. No matter what the shogunate said or did next, it would have to continue to play the role of the villain against the people."