Chapter 133 Black Ship Incident

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-bundled bun 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 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's been so many years, so long, that no one has dared to offend me 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 give 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 those who were disobedient have become sacrifices to Hai Shen, and their corpses may not even 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 of unpaid taxes.

"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 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.

This time it was good, 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 warships, 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 one by one, 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 prepare 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 difficulty 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 sent a group of ashigaru out of the city. Those ashigaru people 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 rushed 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, Shinji saw a scene that he would 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 ejected from the side of the Wansheng ship. Yes, they were fire dragons, fire dragons that spewed flames and white smoke. The roar of the cannons and the sharp whistles of the shells were accompanied by strange whistling sounds. The fire dragon shells were basically heading straight for the fort.

Shinji's warrior instinct, which had been trained in the battlefield for a long time, saved his life. He jumped down from the high ground fort without hesitation and jumped into the sea.

In an instant, dozens of rockets had hit the fort and inserted into the ground around the fort. Then a huge explosion and flames rose into the sky, and thick smoke and flames submerged the fort.

At this moment, Qin Hao stood on the ship and watched the situation on the hill with a telescope. As expected, with only one round of shelling, more than 30 Kobe forts were blown up by artillery as easy as killing chickens.

The remaining artillery batteries had not yet launched a counterattack, as if they were all trapped in the sea of ​​fire just now. However, Qin Hao's navy would not wait for anyone, and the second round of artillery fire had already come overwhelmingly.

The explosion of ammunition from the artillery batteries was everywhere, and the blood and flesh of the Japanese gunners were splattered everywhere. Some gunners screamed and turned into running firemen.

However, after running a few steps, they fell to the ground, and the gunpowder of the artillery batteries was also detonated, triggering a series of secondary explosions. The huge explosion wave even blew the 5-pound cannon into the sky.

The thick barrel was pushed by the air wave, as light as a bamboo dragonfly in the hands of a child.

In just two rounds of artillery fire, the naval fleet completely shaved off the Kobe artillery batteries, neatly and orderly, as simple as reviewing and shooting.

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

"It's over, it's all over!" Sugimoto Ichiro kept muttering in a trance, and his empty eyes were 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 only two rounds of bombardment.

Thirty various shore guns were destroyed without firing a single shot. A team of 50 foot soldiers sent out were sent to the sky by the remaining shells of the "Black Ship" fleet before they had time to board the ship, along with several warships anchored in the port.

That 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.

And Kobe was bombarded, this matter must be a big deal!

Since its establishment, the Tokugawa Shogunate has always secretly promised that Japan has been peaceful and there is no war.

Stability is what the Shogunate needs most.

But now, there is actually a bombardment incident, which is simply questioning the ability of the Tokugawa Shogun. You must know that there are still many daimyos in the southwest. Although they are cunning in name, they still use small tricks behind the scenes. If they know about it, it is estimated that there will be chaos again.

Sugimoto Ichiro was dragged away from the shore by the samurai, stumbling along the way, not as majestic as when he came here before.

Now he is ready to commit suicide, but the sharp tip of the knife and the pain make him hesitate to do it.

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