Chapter 1149: Even a Prince's Army Has Appeared

In the middle of the first month of the fourteenth year of Hongxing of the Great Ming, in Nagasaki, Japan.

The streets of Nagasaki had never been as bustling as they were now. The common people of China and Japan, each dressed in their own national attire, surged shoulder to shoulder through this port city of the Japanese realm. There were also quite a few samurai, two swords tucked at their waists, strolling about everywhere. They did not dare stir up trouble, and even less did they dare lay rough hands on commoners — this place was, after all, Her Highness the Princess's bath-fief. The "right to cut down for insolence" (the term kiri-sute gomen did not yet exist at this time) did not apply here. Anyone seized by the patrol samurai guarding the streets of Nagasaki would be beheaded!

Outside the Chinese Residence near Nagasaki harbor, on the newly opened Great China Street, the Ming naval infantry garrisoning Nagasaki had already set up a security cordon — a sentry every five paces, a picket every ten — all of them carrying bayonet-fixed flintlocks and standing ramrod straight as if they were stone pillars. Outside the ornamental archway gate of the Chinese Residence, a dozen or more "guards" in splendid robes, official hats on their heads and Xiuchun sabers at their waists, had been arrayed. The two heads — one civil, one military — whom the Great Ming had stationed in Nagasaki also stood there, all in full official dress, craning their necks toward the far end of China Street as if awaiting someone's arrival.

Both sides of China Street were already packed with common folk who had come to watch the excitement. Judging by their dress and stature, most of them were subjects of the Celestial Dynasty, and quite a few of them wore bitter expressions — no doubt unlucky stock refugees! Who knew whether any of the Prince of Chongqing's creditors were among them? These people, fallen on hard times in a foreign land, quickly began to strike up conversations and make inquiries of one another.

"Has a prince really come to Nagasaki?"

"It can't be wrong. Otherwise why would the Duke of Japan come all the way from distant Kokura to pay his respects?"

"What is the prince doing coming all this way to Nagasaki?"

"What else could he be doing? He must be on his way to the America Prefecture to lead troops in battle."

"There's a war in the America Prefecture?"

"That's right! If it weren't for the war in the America Prefecture, how would we have ended up in our present state?"

"What does our stock-market disaster have to do with the war in the America Prefecture?"

"You really don't know? Why did the stock market crash? Wasn't it because the United Company massively increased its stock issue and raked in tens of millions of taels at one go? And why did the United Company have to massively increase its stock issue? Wasn't it because the America Prefecture was about to go to war and needed to spend a huge amount of military funds!"

"Is that true?"

"Of course it's true. You didn't even know that — serves you right for trading stocks until you turned into an American!"

"If there's going to be a war, can one still go to America?"

"What else can we do if we don't go? A whole family here in Nagasaki, with expenses every single day."

"Ah! The stocks have truly ruined us!"

"Look, look — the Duke of Japan's cavalry is coming! Eh, why is every man carrying a big bundle on his back?"

"That must be their baggage, right?"

"Baggage? Why would they bring baggage?"

"To join the prince's army, of course. You don't know this, but the samurai of Japan live by war. With no more fighting to be had in their own country, naturally they have to go abroad to fight! Following our Great Ming's prince on campaign, they're sure to win victories!"

"Can they really win?"

"They certainly can! With tens of millions of taels in military funds already raised, how could they possibly not win?"

They really had quite the imagination — now there was even a "prince's army"! If Zhu Cihuan had heard their discussion, he would surely have been frightened out of his wits.

He was going to America to flee his debts, not to fight a war! What a joke. If you lose everything in stocks, you can still flee your debts; if you lose a battle, you lose your life!

But he could not tell the Kokura Kubo of Japan the truth, could he? A Commandery Prince of the Great Ming, ruined by stock trading, having even lost all of the Retired Emperor's retirement money, saddled with a mountain of debt, and forced to flee to America to escape his creditors — how utterly humiliating! And it would damage the dignity of the nation. If Zhu Cilang found out, he might well send the Prince of Lu, Zhu Yihai, to Nagasaki with poison.

So he had to fabricate some story to fool Xu Zhengzhi (Hoshina Masayuki). But what story could he fabricate? He was all alone, with no one to consult, so he could only turn to Yao Daqiao.

And Yao Daqiao was quick-witted enough to come up with a line at once.

"We have come to procure military supplies for the America Army."

In a great hall furnished in Japanese style, Zhu Cihuan used this vague formulation with the visiting Kokura Kubo.

Yet the claim was not entirely without basis. Zhu Cihuan had come to Nagasaki aboard Yao Daqiao's ship, and Yao Daqiao's ship was loaded with iron ingots, copper ingots, and lead ingots — were these not precisely the materials used to produce weapons and ammunition?

"Yoshi." Xu Zhengzhi thought to himself: This great prince is indeed going to attend to military affairs — military supply is also military affairs! When a great prince joins the army, he cannot very well shoulder a musket and play at being shot on the battlefield, can he? He should begin with military supply.

"Masateru!" Xu Zhengzhi called out.

"Hai!" From behind Xu Zhengzhi, a short, fine-featured young samurai answered at once, then shuffled forward on his knees to Xu Zhengzhi's side.

"Great Prince, this is my nephew Hoshina Masateru. He has just turned eighteen this year. He missed the campaign against the Toyotomi rebels and wishes to follow Your Highness to the American battlefield to prove himself!"

So the Kokura Kubo's gifts were not given for nothing — he was paving the way for his sons and nephews!

And who could blame him, with so many sons and nephews? The position of Kokura Kubo and the great fief of 1.1 million koku went to the legitimate heir, Shigenori. But what of his other sons? If the domain were divided, the main Kokura Kubo family's territory would shrink smaller and smaller, until at a certain point it would be powerless to control Kyushu and stand against the royal court.

So Masayuki wanted to send his sons and nephews abroad. Under Xu Zhengjing, now serving as the Great Ming's General Who Subdues the Barbarians, there were already several of Xu Masayuki's sons.

But the Kokura Kubo had not only sons, but also nominal brothers and nephews. Xu Masayuki was the illegitimate son of Tokugawa Hidetada, adopted by Hoshina Masamitsu, and had inherited the Hoshina family. But the Hoshina family had originally been a powerful clan of Shinano Province, with many descendants. Although Hoshina Masamitsu had no son, he had many brothers and cousins — all of them part of Xu Masayuki's extended family! One of those brothers, Hoshina Masasada, had even been a hatamoto of the Tokugawa house, and later, under Masayuki's promotion, had become a minor daimyo. By the time Hoshina Masayuki became Xu Masayuki, Masasada was already gone, but his sons and grandsons remained. This Masateru was the grandson of Hoshina Masasada. He had been transferred to Kyushu along with his father, whose family was lord of the 27,000-koku Omura domain, with its fief right near Nagasaki. But he was not the heir, and had no family estate to inherit, so he could only serve as one of Masayuki's retainers.

"I, Hoshina Masateru of the Omura Hoshina family, pay my respects to His Highness the Commandery Prince of Chongqing!" Hoshina Masateru spoke in fluent Chinese.

"Good!" Zhu Cihuan nodded and said with a smile, "Then you shall follow Us! We departed in haste and have not yet had time to recruit bodyguards. You shall be Our first bodyguard!"

Zhu Cihuan was lying. He did in fact have bodyguards — without them he would not have dared go strolling about Shanghai! But his bodyguards were not paid out of his own pocket; they belonged to the jurisdiction of the Xiaoling Guard New Army, and in fact also had the duty of keeping watch over him!

If the Prince of Lu, Zhu Yihai, truly came with an imperial order to arrest him, then his bodyguards would receive their orders in advance and place him under guard first.

But on the day Luo Zhichen came to cover his escape, his bodyguards had all vanished.

"What? You have no bodyguards?" Xu Zhengzhi was taken aback, then glanced at Xie Xun, who was attending Zhu Cihuan.

Xie Xun said with a smile, "According to the rules of the Ming imperial house, whenever a Prince or Commandery Prince is in the capital (this does not mean being physically in Yingtian Prefecture, but being administratively registered in the capital), he is always guarded by the Xiaoling Guard New Army. Only after leaving the capital for an outside post may he recruit bodyguards on his own. The Prince of Chongqing departed in haste, so he has not yet had time to recruit bodyguards."

"Then recruit them right here in Nagasaki!" Xu Zhengzhi laughed. "The specialty of Kyushu is samurai. If the Great Prince wishes to recruit, one or two thousand men can be raised in no time!"

That was certain!

The Xu family, the Hoshina family, the Kuroda family, the Hosokawa family, the Tachibana family, the Nabeshima family, the So family, the Takeda family (descended from Unno Nobuchika; because Hoshina Masayuki had been raised until the age of seven by Takeda Shingen's daughter, the Takeda family was revived after the transfer to Kyushu), the Otomo family, and a whole host of other Kyushu daimyo houses all had relatives and friends who needed to be placed somewhere.

"One or two thousand..." Zhu Cihuan's eyes suddenly lit up. He thought to himself: So now there's even a prince's army — this seems like Third Brother's way of doing things! With a prince's army, wouldn't I no longer have to pay back the money?

(End of Chapter)