Chapter 743 0738 [Osaka]

The Japanese pirates of the Heian period were mainly coastal fishermen, most of whom rowed small sampans to rob.

Going to the coast of Goryeo was already their limit, and they did not have the hard power to reach China.

The Seto Inland Sea was even more of a forbidden area for pirates. During the reign of Emperor Shirakawa, some pirates from the Western countries came here to stroll, and soon suffered a heavy blow from the official navy. Taira Tadamori was also ordered to lead the central navy to kill the pirates' nest on Kyushu Island.

As for the Japanese navy, the appearance of the main battleships was very similar to the Tang envoys. The longest one was about 30 meters, with a deck, equipped with sails, paddles on both sides, and a load of 150 people.

Moreover, the number of main battleships was not large, and the rest were all small ships, and there were even a large number of flat-bottomed boats.

When the Ming Navy entered the Seto Inland Sea, the people in Heian-kyo immediately became uneasy.

Because the Seto Inland Sea is Japan's "sea highway", let alone the arrival of the Chinese navy, even a few more pirates would affect the economy.

The Chinese navy ships killed to Osaka, and the Japanese navy fled after hearing the news, waiting for the order from Emperor Toba.

Five hundred soldiers were the first to disembark, followed by dozens of cavalrymen.

After all the infantrymen landed, some of the navy went ashore for alert, while others went to cruise nearby.

What appeared before everyone was Naniwa-kyo, Japan's former vice-capital, which was the political stage for Japan's Taika Reform.

The layout of the entire city imitated Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty.

Even some street names were directly copied from the streets in Chang'an.

The Naniwa Imperial Palace is located in the north of the city center.

It is the earliest formal continental palace in Japan, also imitating the Tang Dynasty Chang'an Imperial City. It has been destroyed by fire for hundreds of years. Japanese legend has it that the palace was cursed because it was built by cutting down trees around the shrine.

Although the palace was destroyed, the remains of the imperial city are still there.

When the Ming soldiers landed, many nobles, monks, and powerful people gathered towards the abandoned city wall with various weapons.

Because except for the abandoned city wall of Naniwa Palace, there is no other city wall to defend in the whole of Osaka.

It is a compliment to call it a city wall.

Only the wall at the city gate was regular, and the rest was similar to the wall of the landlord's house. Moreover, many foundation stones were dug up and stolen by monks to build temples.

There were two leaders of the garrison.

One was Fujiwara Tamefusa, the ancestor of the Uesugi family.

The other was Shinnen, the abbot of the Great Nenbutsu Temple.

With political corruption and social darkness, the original Buddhist sects in Japan gradually declined, and the "Nenbutsu sect" has become more and more prosperous in the past two hundred years.

The Nenbutsu sect is a pioneer of the Pure Land Sect in Japan. From the beginning, it was committed to sinking the market and gaining the support of the general public. Gradually, not only the wealthy and merchants believed in this thing, but also the low-level nobles and even the middle and high-level nobles began to believe.

At this moment, more than 2,000 people were guarding the abandoned imperial city, more than half of them were monks, and the rest were samurai at all levels.

As for the peasant soldiers, there was no time to summon them for the time being.

As the Ming army approached step by step, the monk Zhennian said: "In the end of the Dharma era, the devil will come to the world. This is a test for us."

The Tendai Sect of Japan in later generations was still called the Lotus Sect at this time.

The abbots of the Lotus Sect in Osaka were not happy to hear this. But they were not in the mood to argue. Who made the Buddhism in Osaka the strongest one, the Chan Fo Sect, which was clamoring for the end of the world every day?

It took only three years for the Great Chan Fo Temple to be built.

But before the temple was built, Chan Fo Sect had believers all over Osaka. The surrounding big and small masters, the big and small merchants in the city, and many middle and low-level nobles, everyone was afraid of the end of the world, as long as they chanted Buddha, they could escape the disaster.

…

After entering the city, Zhu Xiaozhong felt like he had returned to the Central Plains.

This place is completely different from Iwami National Castle. The city layout is similar to Chang'an and Luoyang.

The streets and houses are built like a chessboard, and the shop signs are all in Chinese characters. They are also divided into wing lanes, and the names of the wing lanes are the same as in China (directly copied).

There were wooden fences between each block, and even gates were erected.

Those civilians in the city who did not escape were hiding at this moment, peeking at the invaders through the cracks in the doors and windows.

Zhu Xiaozhong borrowed several naval cannons from Yingxuan, and the boatmen and gunners pushed them to Naniwa Palace.

Zhu Shouyi led the cavalry to gallop around the abandoned imperial city, and some arrows were shot from the wall from time to time.

He ran back and reported: "The city wall is very low, and it has collapsed in many places. The gaps have been temporarily blocked. Even if there are no gaps, such a low wall can be rushed straight in."

"Fire first." Zhu Xiaozhong said.

The cavalry led the naval artillery to the four gaps in the city wall, and the infantry was divided into four teams for protection.

The Japanese defenders were defending nervously, but they saw the Ming soldiers pushing out strange objects.

"Boom boom boom!"

A few cannons sounded, like a bolt from the blue.

The samurai and monk soldiers were startled and looked up at the sky in unison. They believed that it was really thundering.

Unfortunately, there was no thunder in the sky.

Instead, outside the city wall, the cannons were smoking.

Continue to reload and fire again.

This time, we can finally be sure that those Tang people can summon thunder and lightning!

"The Tang people are controlling thunder again!"

A large armored samurai shouted. This guy had obviously been to the battlefield of Iwami Province, and at this moment, the horrible memory has been evoked.

Fujiwara no Tamefusa was the first to flee with the samurai. He was more informed and knew how Taira no Tadamori was defeated.

As the nobles of the Fujiwara family fled, the samurai followed them. In a blink of an eye, only the monks were left to defend the city.

The abbots looked at each other, and then looked at the fleeing samurai.

Before the third round of shelling came, the monks also fled with the monk soldiers. They were invited by Fujiwara Maifang. The real master has run away, and the monks and soldiers are still guarding the temple. They should go home and guard the temple.

"Arrests!"

Zhu Xiaozhong gave an order, and the cavalry was already chasing along the abandoned city wall.

Fujiwara Weifang was wearing a large armor, so he couldn't run very fast on horseback. The guy reined in his horse and stopped, letting Lang Dang take off his armor. He discarded his gorgeous ancestral armor, then mounted his horse lightly and ran very fast.

He followed the river and fled straight towards Heianjing. Looking back from time to time, he found that the pursuers were arresting his gang.

"Da da da da!"

The sound of horse hoofbeats was getting closer and closer. When Fujiwara Maifang turned around again, he found that six cavalrymen were approaching.

call out!

An arrow was shot and flew past Fujiwara Tamabusa's head.

This guy was so scared that his scalp was numb, and he felt that he might not be able to escape, so he simply reined in his horse and shouted: "Surrender! I am a noble of the Fujiwara Kita family, and I can pay a high ransom!"

Not only did he know how Taira Tadamori was defeated, but he also knew that the captured noble warriors could be released safely as long as they paid a ransom.

Fujiwara was tied up, but the Ming cavalry was not used to it and directly pinned him to the ground and tied him up.

"I am a noble, you can't do this... Bah!" Fujiwara struggled and shouted, his face was pressed down and he ate a few mouthfuls of dirt.

Zhu Xiaozhong stood on the ruins of Namba Imperial City, looking at the ruined walls, and said with great disdain: "Is this the fucking deputy capital? There is only a low wall outside the palace."

In fact, there were not only low walls, but there used to be a moat.

It's just that it has been abandoned for hundreds of years, and the moat has not been cleared, and has been filled in with mud and various debris.

Even Ping'an Capital at this time had the same layout - it was built to imitate Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty, but the outer city was not protected by a city wall. The imperial city was surrounded by a moat, and a low wall was built on the inside of the moat to separate it.

In terms of its defensive properties, it is not even as good as the county seat of Ming Dynasty.

The Japanese capital in the Nara period actually had a mountain defense system, and it was really difficult to win it by force. But since then, the capital has been moved three times, each time imitating the city of Chang'an. Since there was no manpower and material resources to build the city, the most important city wall could only be abandoned.

In other words, if Emperor Toba wanted to defend Heiankyo, he would not even have a decent wall!

…

"What to do? The Tang Dynasty has captured Namba Kyo!" Emperor Toba asked anxiously.

He not only called his court officials and northern warriors, but also a bunch of officials from the court, as well as monks and onmyoji from the capital to discuss matters.

Peace lasted for hundreds of years, during which time the mob was suppressed, and even the Central Army was disbanded for two to three hundred years.

Even if a few monks committed evil acts, Emperor Shirakawa was afraid that he would not be able to defeat the monk soldiers, so he sent his confidant Taira Takaramori to arrest them.

With such a waste of military power, what can be done to resist the invasion of foreign enemies?

Ping Zhongsheng suggested: "Your Majesty can hunt east."

"Absolutely not!"

Minister of Security Fujiwara Tadamichi immediately objected.

The interests of the Fujiwara family are mainly in the Kinki area. Once Emperor Toba runs away, what will happen to the Fujiwara family's property?

What's even more frightening is that if the Kinki region is destroyed, Emperor Birdsong is very likely to move the capital. If Fujiwara Kitaie follows, he will have to lead others to start over. If he does not follow, he will be far away from the political center.

Although he disliked his eldest son, Fujiwara Tadashi, for the benefit of the family, Fujiwara Tadashi still agreed: "Your Majesty should not hunt eastward. You should send people to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty."

Emperor Toba looked at the monk and Onmyoji again: "Can't you defeat the Ming army?"

The mages were collectively silent.

Japan during the Heian period was superstitious to the point of being unreasonable.

Onmyojis have the strongest professional skills. They directly say that Heian Kyo is a devil's cave, and from time to time hundreds of ghosts will walk at night. Moreover, they did not kill animals, but only exorcised or sealed demons, so the nobles' homes were often haunted, and they had to repeatedly ask onmyojis to exorcise demons.

Two hundred years ago, Sugawara Michizane was falsely accused of rebellion and unfortunately died of illness in the exile.

Unexpectedly, the palace was suddenly struck by lightning, and the emperor quickly pardoned his children. He also believed that Sugawara Michizane's resentful spirit could already summon thunder and lightning, and directly made him the God of Learning.

Because the patron saint of the Fujiwara clan is the God of Thunder, the Fujiwara clan also began to worship this person and built Tenmangu Shrine specifically for Sugawara Michizane.

Now that the army couldn't handle it, Emperor Toba naturally thought of using magic.

Seeing that the mages had lost their control at the critical moment, Emperor Toba asked Taira Tadamori again: "Can you resist the Tang people?"

Ping Zhongmori replied: "I can only fight to the death."

He could only fight to the death, which meant that he would probably not be able to defeat him. Emperor Toba was speechless.

After a long time, Emperor Toba asked: "Is the Prince of Ming Kingdom just asking for Tsushima Kingdom, and then renting Iwami Kingdom Castle and Omori Mountain?"

Oe Weishun said: "There was news a few days ago that the Ming army occupied Sado Kingdom. Maybe they have a bigger appetite now. If we don't negotiate as soon as possible, I'm afraid the Ming Dynasty will ask for more."

"Then... then let's talk about it." Emperor Toba said.

He could only be grateful that his son was not yet in Yuanfu.

Otherwise, it would be even more dangerous to encounter such a thing. The Fujiwara family would most likely take the opportunity to control the emperor and force Emperor Toba to abolish the government immediately.

(There is so little detailed information about the Heian Era. It makes my head hurt to look up the information in this chapter. There is no more information today. I will update it tomorrow.)