Chapter 604: The Depressed Xie Family

"This is troublesome. Read М" Sato Masahisa sighed.

When fighting, the most feared thing is that the army will be infected with plague, which will cause the army to collapse without fighting.

If the King of Yan really uses smallpox as a weapon, it will be very bad news for them.

"What does the King of Yan want to do?" Sato Masahisa asked.

If the King of Yan really intends to use smallpox as a weapon, he will not send officials to Lucheng.

Now he sent officials from Yanzhou to mention this matter, he must have his own purpose.

"The King of Yan said that as long as we do not prevent merchants from Qi from going to Yanzhou for trade, he will swear never to use smallpox in the war, and he will fight with us like a swordsman in a fair and just duel." Han Zheng smiled bitterly.

Sato Masahisa frowned, "The enemy's promise is nothing but a piece of waste paper. If he loses in the end and still uses smallpox as a weapon, wouldn't it be a waste of time for him to take advantage of it."

Han Zheng thought so too, he said: "But what other options are there at the moment?"

Sato Masahisa was also silent, he really didn't expect the King of Hell to use such a trick.

This King of Yan is really difficult to deal with.

Their general is really sharp-sighted, and he judged at a glance that this King of Yan would become a threat to Beidi.

After thinking about it, he said: "If so, we can only agree to him temporarily, but I believe that since the King of Yan has mastered this method, there must be such a method in other places. I will report this problem to the general and let him send someone to find this method."

He is not only for Qi, but also for Japan. He believes that Japan and the King of Yan will have a war sooner or later.

Han Zheng sighed. The current situation is that either he agrees to the King of Yan, or he will have to endure the ravages of smallpox in Qi, losing nearly half of the population and soldiers.

Compared to this, the loss caused by trade is still smaller.

"I hope Lord Sato can bring good news as soon as possible." Han Zheng was full of expectations.

Ever since he saw the flintlock rifles of Japan, he is now very superstitious about Japan, and even believes that Japan is several times stronger than the Northern Di.

With the support of the Japanese, Qi will be invincible.

Of course, it would be even better if the threat of smallpox could be solved.

Helplessly agreeing to this, he sent the eunuch out to bring the news to the officials coming from Yancheng and told him to go back to Yancheng.

He didn't want to meet the officials of Yanzhou.

After the eunuch disappeared, he turned his eyes and said to Sato Masahisa: "Sato-sama, you have seen it with your own eyes and heard it with your own ears. You should be able to understand how despicable this King of Yan is, right?"

"He is not only a threat to our Qi State, but also a threat to your Dongying in the future. After all, our Qi State does not have warships running rampant on the sea, but the King of Yan does."

Sato Masahisa was silent for a while and said, "I will send someone back to see the general and ask him to send another batch of flintlocks."

Now he is stationed in Qi State, but he travels between Qi State and Dongying through the Dongying people of Qingcheng Dongying Trading House and contacts the shogunate to reduce his own danger.

Han Zheng was overjoyed. Ten thousand flintlocks were far from satisfying his ambition. He wanted more.

He said this to make the Dongying people feel the danger of the King of Yan, so that the Dongying people would provide him with more support.

So he said, "In that case, I have to thank Lord Sato."

In front of Sato Masahisa, he never called himself "I", which was to win Sato Masahisa's favor.

Sato Masahisa nodded, "But the King of Yan said that he would fight the State of Qi fairly like a swordsman, so we can test whether he keeps his promise."

And they originally had a plan, which was to send a thousand-man team into Yanzhou to test the true strength of the Yanzhou soldiers.

This was also a task assigned to him by the shogunate.

Facing other powerful families in Dasong, they naturally don't have to worry, but facing the King of Yan directly, it is always good to be careful.

If they find that the situation is not right, they will adjust their tactics to deal with the King of Yan.

In short, their strategy in Dongying is very simple.

If they can eliminate the King of Yan, let the Han family take Yanzhou in one go.

Without the King of Yan, Dasong is just meat on the chopping board for Dongying, and they can cut it however they want.

If the attack was frustrated, they would provide continuous support to the Han family, so that Qi and King Yan would be in a stalemate, consume King Yan's strength, and give them time to build sailing warships in Japan.

After all, through the propaganda during this period, the Western countries basically believed that King Yan in the north of Dasong would pose a threat to their colonization of Dasong.

In order to let Japan act as a vanguard, it is natural to help Japan build sailing warships to fight against King Yan.

When it came to this, Han Zheng's eyes narrowed.

He knew very well that if he did so, it would be a provocation to King Yan, and they might face revenge from King Yan later.

But he also knew very well that Qi and King Yan would have a war sooner or later, so when Sato Masahisa proposed this plan, he did not object.

This test will consist of 900 Qi soldiers and 100 Japanese soldiers.

Thinking of this, he said to Sato Masahisa: "Everything will be done according to what Lord Zuo Teng said."

At the same time

The officials who set out from Yanzhou continued to travel southward. Seven days later, an official arrived in Jinling and also announced the King of Yan's advice to the Xie family.

"Hahaha, when did the King of Yan become so stupid? Yanzhou and Ningcheng are separated by Qi State, and they are the first to suffer. It's too early for the King of Yan to blackmail us now."

In the Jinling Palace, the eldest prince said to the Yanzhou official at the bottom of the stairs.

There was a chair next to him, and Xie Duan was sitting on it.

Since the eldest prince ascended the throne, Xie Duan has sat with the eldest prince to discuss politics.

As the eldest prince said this, a burst of laughter broke out in the Jinluan Palace.

There is no doubt that this is the Xie family officials mocking.

With a strange smile on his face, Xie Duan said to the Yanzhou official: "Compared to the plague, I would rather chop off your head and send it back to the King of Yan. This rebel dares to threaten the real Emperor Dasong."

The Yanzhou official looked calm, and he just said lightly: "Have you forgotten that Ningzhou is by the sea."

Xie Duan pondered this sentence for a while, and suddenly his face changed.

Yes, there is indeed Qi between Yanzhou and Ningzhou, but the King of Yan has an invincible fleet on the sea.

They can spread smallpox to Ningzhou through the sea.

Thinking of this, he was so depressed that he almost vomited blood.

Getting up from the chair, Xie Duan clenched his fists tightly.

His eyes rolled around, and finally he slowly loosened his hands, a smile crawling onto his face, "We used to have close contacts with His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan, so it shouldn't be so unpleasant. Isn't it just business? In the future, we will not stop merchants from going to Yanzhou."

The Yanzhou official smiled smugly and turned away.

Leaving behind the stunned Xie family officials, the depressed eldest prince and Xie Duan.