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Edo is located at the mouth of the Sumida River, and is named after the gateway to the river. After Tokugawa Ieyasu established the shogunate here, he began to build a castle on a large scale, throwing a five-story and six-story castle tower.

The castle tower, the tallest and most important of the Japanese castles, has the function of lookout and command, and is also one of the symbols of the ruling power in the feudal era.

For decades, the Tokugawa shogunate developed Edo with the power of the whole of Japan, and built Edo Castle about 9 li from east to west and 8 li from north to south, surrounded by inner and outer moats, with a circumference of about 32 kilometers. There are two castles. There are 20 castle towers and 36 gates in the castle, as well as palaces such as Honmaru, Ninomaru, Sannomaru, and Nishinomaru

A large number of non-productive samurai families flourished here, and merchants, craftsmen, and envoys who served the samurai class also poured in, and Edo Castle has become one of the largest cities in Japan, with a population of more than 300,000.

Most of the houses in the city are made of bamboo and wood, which are lined up one after another, and because the streets are narrow, they are very easy to cause fires.

The ronin rebellion a few days ago burned down four streets at once, and if it hadn't happened to rain heavily, I'm afraid the entire Edo Castle would have been burned.

Since then, martial law has been imposed in the castle at dusk, with soldiers patrolling and people not allowed to go out. As soon as the night fell, there was a dead silence, except for the footsteps of soldiers patrolling and the barking of dogs.

But for a large city of more than 300,000 people, the impact of long-term martial law on the people's livelihood in the city is very large, and it is impossible to last for a long time, otherwise how can the people live?

The relaxation of martial law is a must.

However, in the past two days, the martial law has just been relaxed, and the ronin in the hidden city has been in chaos again, and at night, the granary in the south of the city suddenly caught fire, and the nearby houses were also involved, and there was a big chaos.

Go to the theater to enjoy the Kabuki performance of Daqin's ambassador to Japan, Wei Zhengdao. Passing nearby, the driver of the car was impacted, several members of his entourage were injured, and the ambassador himself was robbed of his belongings and suffered internal injuries.

The Tokugawa shogunate was shocked when they learned that the envoys of Great Qin were injured, and while dispatching tens of thousands of troops to quell the chaos and put out the fire, Masayuki Hoshina and Tadashi Sakai personally went to the embassy to offer condolences.

In front of the embassy, it looked like it was facing a great enemy, and not only did the shogunate further strengthen its defenses, but it also surrounded the embassy. Torches blazed brightly in the nearby streets.

The Great Qin military attache of the embassy also put sandbags in front of the door, and more than a dozen Qin soldiers were heavily armed and vigilantly patrolling.

Lu Zhi, who was in his twenties, wore the official robe of the Great Qin Seventh Rank and received the two as a counselor of the embassy.

After saluting each other, seeing Lu Zhi's solemn expression and gloomy face, Bao Ke Masayi hurriedly asked, "Counselor Lu." How is Ambassador Wei's injury? May we pay a visit? ”

Bao Ke Masayuki was about fourteen years old and short in stature, Lu Zhi looked at him and Sakai Tadakatsu, and said lukewarmly: "There are two people who come to visit at night. I really don't dare to take it. Our ambassador is seriously injured and is being treated by medical officers, so I am afraid it will be inconvenient to meet with the two of them. ”

Sakai Tadakatsu stepped forward to salute and said with a concerned face: "This time the traitors are in rebellion. Very suddenly, Ambassador Wei was injured, and we apologize on behalf of the General's Office. We have brought the best doctors in the General's Palace, hoping to do our best for Ambassador Wei, and we hope that Counselor Lu will allow me to visit Ambassador Wei. ”

"Wait, both of you." After Lu Zhi finished speaking, he turned around and entered.

When Masayuki Hoshina and Tadashi Sakai saw his attitude, the more they felt that the situation was serious.

When the exchange of envoys was reached with Great Qin, there was an agreement that the host country had the obligation to ensure the safety of the embassy of the other country. The ambassador himself has the right of immunity from justice, and if the ambassador is insulted and harmed, it will be regarded as humiliation and injury to his country.

Now that Wei Zhengdao was attacked in Edo and was seriously injured, once this matter is not handled well, it is very likely to provoke the wrath of Great Qin.

Today's Great Qin is not the original Ming Kingdom, they not only have a powerful army, but also a fearsome navy and advanced firearms. They defeated the combined fleet of the Netherlands, Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the wrestling countries, and wiped out many countries in the South Seas.

The North Sea Fleet, the East China Sea Fleet, the South China Sea Fleet, and the Ocean Fleet, as long as any fleet drove over, the Tokugawa shogunate, which was overwhelmed, could not eat and walk.

Considering this, Masayuki Hoshina and Tadashi Sakai are even more worried.

After a while, Lu Zhi came out and waved to the two of them, "Two of you, please." ”

"Thank you, Counselor Lu, for your attention."

Masayuki Baoshina and Tadashi Sakai said very politely, and followed Lu Zhi into the backyard of the embassy.

In Wei Zhengdao's bedroom, an embassy medical officer was treating Wei Zhengdao's injuries, Wei Zhengdao was lying on the bed naked, with several bruises on his body, just when Hoshina Masayuki and Sakai Tadashi entered the room, Wei Zhengdao coughed violently a few times, blood overflowed from his mouth, and the medical officer hurriedly caught it with a handkerchief, and the whole handkerchief was immediately dyed red, which was shocking.

"Ambassador Wei!"

"Ambassador Wei, go and treat Ambassador Wei"

Masayuki Baoshina and Tadashi Sakai were shocked, and hurriedly called, and the two Langzhong who came with them hurriedly stepped forward to check the injury, and Wei Zhengdao glanced at Masayuki Baoshina and Tadashi Sakai, and fainted.

"The two of you please go out first, let the medical officer give first aid, I hope the ambassador can auspicious celestial phenomena" Lu Zhiqing solemnly invited Masayuki Hoshina and Tadashi Sakai to the front hall.

He didn't even serve tea when he replied, and said directly: "The two of you have also seen it, Ambassador Wei is injured like this, it is really regrettable, Ambassador Wei represents the dignity of my Great Qin, and now the dignity of Great Qin has been severely insulted and harmed."

Last time, the goods of my Great Qin merchants suffered a great loss, and we can still regard it as an accident, but now that so many days have passed, not only has the shogunate failed to control the situation in Edo, but I have also heard that the shogunate intends to adopt a policy of appeasement and pardon the rebellious ronin, which finally caused such a tragedy.

The ambassador Edo was attacked, this is a challenge to my Great Qin Yan zhòng, the safety of the ambassador cannot be guaranteed, let alone an ordinary Great Qin businessman? This official has already rushed to Nanjing, and asked our Great Qin Navy Fleet to come to Edo to protect our Great Qin people from evacuating Japan."

"Counselor Lu!"

"We understand Counselor Lu's feelings, this time Ambassador Wei was attacked, the General's Mansion did have the responsibility of poor protection, we apologize for this, and Counselor Lu can understand one or two, we will order the expulsion of all the ronins in Edo, and strengthen the protection of the safety of the embassy and the merchants of Daqin."

Lu Zhi didn't wait for Masayuki Hoshina and Sakai Tadashi to finish speaking, and immediately interrupted them: "Everything is indispensable, for the first time we believed that the shogunate could quell the rebellion to ensure the safety of the people of Great Qin, but now, even the ambassador has been seriously injured and his life and death are uncertain, how can we trust the shogunate to guarantee our safety?"

The official has already sent someone to send it out, and I hope that the two of you will try their best to give the necessary protection to the people of Daqin and ensure the safety of their lives and property before our Great Qin Navy arrives.

At present, the rebellion has not been quelled, the fire in the city is still spreading, and the official wants to go to recruit the Great Qin merchants in the city to evacuate to the embassy for refuge, and there is really no time to entertain the two more. ”

Lu Zhi unceremoniously gave the order to evict the passengers, and then with a few heavily armed military attachés, he quickly left the embassy by car and headed for the port area where the merchants of Daqin liked to stay.

Along the way, the two of them traveled in the same car, urgently discussing countermeasures, and Baoke Masachi said with a worried face: "Elder, how do you think Daqin will react to this?" ”

Sakai Tadashi snorted coldly: "I have strongly advocated the expulsion of the ronin in the city before, if you listen to me, why not?" I heard that the Emperor of Great Qin once said: Those who offend my Great Qin will be punished even if they are far away. This time, the envoy of the Qin State was seriously injured in Edo, and the emperor of Great Qin must be furious, and it is inevitable that he will send a fleet. ”

Baoke Masayuki is usually addicted to Shinto and does not have much ability to deal with affairs, but after listening to Sakai Tadakatsu's words, he was a little panicked in his heart, and asked in a voice: "How should the elder deal with it, if the Great Qin Emperor is angry with the General's Mansion, how can this be good?" ”

"This incident is a big disaster caused by Abe Tadaaki, and he must take all the responsibility."

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PS: Ask for a monthly pass, it's the end of the month, the chasing soldiers behind are getting closer and closer, brothers and sisters, ask for monthly ticket support!.

(To be continued......)