"Father, the Prince of Ming Dynasty's ship is about to dock at the dock. Do you want to order the Banshi to enter Tsuruga Port to suppress the Ronin immediately?"
"Oh, are you afraid that those rogues wielding swords will sink the Ming Prince's warship?"
"Father, you are joking, why did the sword slash the Shen Mingguo warship? My son is afraid that these ronin wielding the sword would scare the prince of the Ming Kingdom."
"Isn't this the purpose of my father letting these ronin gather at Tsuruga Port?"
"Father, why do you do this?"
"Zhongchao, do you really not understand the painstaking efforts of being a father?"
"Father..."
On the pedestal of the abandoned Kanazaki Castle next to Tsuruga Port Town, a father and son were having a conversation while looking at the approaching medium-sized sailing warship of the Sanjo Imperial Navy.
Among them, the father is an old man in his sixties. He is wearing a blue trousers embroidered with the family crest (a kind of pantsuit, which is the standard dress for ministers). He has a samurai sword and ribs on his belt. He is not tall, but There was an awe-inspiring aura standing there, and he was obviously a big shot who had lived in the world for a long time. This person is the lord of the Obama Domain, Sakai Tadakatsu, the elder of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
The middle-aged man in his thirties who was talking to him was his son. Their clothes were almost identical, but the middle-aged man's clothes lacked a lot of aura. This middle-aged man's name is Sakai Tadashi, the eldest son of Sakai Tadakatsu and the heir to the Obama clan.
"Father, you must agree with Mr. Yui's proposal and oppose His Majesty the Emperor's marriage, right?" Tadashi Sakai looked at this father who made him very afraid, and whispered his thoughts.
Sakai Tadakatsu shook his head, "Yuhi's proposition is simply untenable. His Majesty the Emperor is a young woman. Can't young women get married? What's the truth?"
"But she is the emperor!" Sakai Tadashi said.
"Is there any clause prohibiting the emperor from marrying in the "Regulations on Prohibition of Incorporation of Public Households" promulgated during the reign of Lord Hidetada?"
"No..." Tadashi Sakai reminded: "But the "Regulations on Forbidden and Incorporated Public Households" stipulates that the shogunate has the right to interfere with the marriage of the imperial family."
Sakai Tadakatsu asked: "Did His Highness Kōkata ever object to the Emperor's marriage?"
Sakai Tadashi shook his head: "No..."
Sakai Tadakatsu said: "Since there is no clause prohibiting the emperor from marrying in the "Prohibitions on Incorporating Public Laws", and His Majesty the Emperor himself is willing to marry, and His Highness Kōkata has no objection... then Yuhi Masayuki is like this What qualifications do the rogues have to interfere? Do they still want to be superior to His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Lord?"
Tadashi Sakai sounded a little confused, "Father, if that's the case, why do you acquiesce to the gathering of rogues in Tsuruga Port Town?"
Sakai Tadakatsu said: "Because I hope Prince Ming can understand that Japan does not welcome him! Maybe the Emperor likes him very much, but ordinary samurai and citizens hate him very much!
So in the end, he took the abdicated emperor and left immediately after getting married, never to return to Japan again! "
"Father," Tadayo Sakai felt confused again and reminded his father, "Although we fought two wars with the Ming Dynasty in Korea, ordinary samurai and citizens do not particularly hate the Ming Dynasty prince... .”
Sakai Tadakatsu glared at his son: "That's because ordinary samurai and citizens don't know that we have no reason to deprive His Majesty the Emperor's heirs of the right to inherit the throne!"
There have been many female emperors in Japanese history, but before Koiko, there was only one female emperor, Emperor Koken, who ascended the throne as an unmarried prince. Although several other female emperors are also princes-in-law, they are also queens. Emperor Koken, who ascended the throne as an unmarried prince, avoided the problem of the Queen giving birth because he never married.
However, this issue was actively avoided by Emperor Koken, who did not explicitly stipulate the inheritance of the son of the Queen after she married a man who was not from the Imperial family.
"That's right!" Sakai Tadashi suddenly realized, "Father... doesn't His Highness Kōkata know about this?"
"How could you not know?" Sakai Tadakatsu whispered, "It's just that His Highness Kōkata believes that the Emperor (Hosui Oin) is in his prime years and has many princes, and Prince Sogomiya who is about to ascend the throne is only 13 years old. 23 It will not be the heir of the current emperor who will take the throne within ten years.
In addition, His Highness Gongfang’s adopted daughter Tong Ji will enter the East Palace of the Ming Dynasty’s great nephew as a concubine..."
While the father and son were talking, the 600-ton Western-style warship Zhenbei, which Zhu Cijiong was riding, had slowly docked at the dock of Tsuruga Port.
When the long gangplank extended from the deck of the Zhenbei to the pier, a group of rogues wielding tachi almost boiled over, shouting loudly, and kept waving tachi with a murderous look.
Father and son Sakai Tadakatsu and Sakai Tadashi also stopped talking and both raised their eyes to look at the dock.
At this moment, a group of Ming soldiers wearing helmets, plate armor, and holding shields and knives suddenly appeared on the deck of the Zhenbei!
These soldiers were all tall and well-dressed, like iron towers. One after another they stepped off the gangplank from the Zhenbei, and then stood in a row on the pier, filled with murderous intent. The rogue who had been brandishing his sword and shouting just now suddenly became silent.
It is now 1646 in the Western calendar, 31 years have passed since the end of Japan's troubled times, and there are not many ronin left who have truly fought in the troubled times. The Japanese who participated in the Korean War are now either prisoners, surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, or directly involved in the shogunate, and it is basically impossible to become ronin. Therefore, the ronin gathered at Tsuruga Port today are all a group of ronin who have never been on the battlefield. No matter how good their swordsmanship is, that is, the level of fighting, they cannot be compared with the soldiers who came down from the battlefield.
So I was calmed down immediately!
Zhu Cijiong also got off the boat in a swaggering manner. He was also wearing plate armor, but he did not hold a shield and raise a sword. He just hung a long sword on his waist and pressed the hilt with his hand.
He looked at the crowd of rogues on the pier, strode forward, stepped out from the crowd, stood in front of them, and then opened his mouth in fluent Japanese.
"I am Cijiong, King Ning of the Ming Dynasty and the 2 million-stone vassal lord of the four states of Quan, Luo, Shang, and Qing. I have come to Japan to marry His Majesty the Emperor as his wife, so as to bring about the eternal friendship between the Qin and Jin Dynasties for the two countries of Ming and Japan! And the Emperor gave me The letter said that when the emperor marries far away, he should be accompanied by northern samurai to protect him in order not to lose his majesty. You are gathered here, but to serve as the northern samurai for His Majesty the Emperor?"
Nani? Warrior of the North? Can you really become a Northern Samurai?
The breathing of the gang of ronin became rapid.
Of course they know who the Northern Samurai is! That could only be achieved by famous samurai such as Minamoto Shigetoki, Taira Sadahiro, Fujiwara Nokiyo, Minamoto Mitsuki, Taira Masamori, Tachibana Sadataka, Minamoto no Yoshi, Minamoto no Takashi, Taira Tadamori, Taira Kiyomori, etc. When they stay at Goshirakawa-in, they are not even qualified to be dogs for the samurai from the north!
At this time, dozens or hundreds of suitcases had been lifted off the Zhenbei by strongmen and placed in several rows behind Zhu Cijiong. The boxes were opened one by one, and then there was a piece of silver light.
It was all full of silver coins, one or two weights of silver coins!
Zhu Cijiong spoke again. He said: "The emperor said in his letter that the Northern Samurai are directly subordinate to the Emperor. There should be 1,000 people, and each person's annual salary should be 1,000 taels! Are there any warriors who are willing to be loyal to the Emperor and apply to become the Northern Samurai?"
1,000 taels!
Is this too much?
Even if you serve as the Tokugawa family's flagship samurai, you may not be able to earn this amount!
"Your Majesty!" A samurai in his forties, with a dignified appearance, gorgeous clothes, and several students behind him suddenly came out of the crowd, came to Zhu Cijiong, and asked loudly, "Are you really recruiting northern samurai for His Majesty the Emperor? ?"
"Of course!" Zhu Cijiong said, "If it's not for the emperor, how can it be for myself? I have 18,000 warriors and there is no need to recruit more northern warriors."
The forty-year-old ronin immediately bowed to Zhu Cijiong solemnly and said: "After Kusunoki Masashige, Yuhi Masaki is willing to protect His Majesty the Emperor!"
