Chapter 964: Submerging Japan (Please Subscribe)

"What? What did you say?" Nejime Kiyoo was stunned. "Who is attacking? Is it the shogunate?"

Because the Kingdom of Ryukyu had for several years now become a gathering place for the so-called loyal remnants of the Toyotomi, Nejime Kiyoo had always worried that a great shogunate army would come. So when he heard today that someone was attacking, his first instinct was to think that Tokugawa shogunate troops had arrived.

"It's not the shogunate. It's the Spanish. A Spanish fleet has come — more than twenty great sailing ships — and they're bombarding the Ryukyuan batteries!"

"What? Have the Spanish gone mad?" Nejime Kiyoo was, after all, a Japanese devil from a country closed to the world, and had not yet opened his eyes to see it — otherwise he would never have asked such a stupid question. The Kingdom of Spain had always been quite mad!

That Philip IV still believed he was the king of the earth, favored by the Heavenly Father! If a man like that isn't mad, is there anyone left in the madhouse?

"Bugyo, whether they're mad or not I don't know. I only know that the Ryukyu Kingdom's coastal defense battery is completely useless and will soon fall. And the Great Ming has no real military force in Ryukyu — only a trade supervisor. Just now, when this subordinate was hurrying to the jinya, I saw the Ming trade supervisor's convoy heading toward Tomigusuku in the south of the island. It looks like they're preparing to flee. We'd be better off fleeing too!"

The main island of the Ryukyu Kingdom was divided into three parts: Kunigami in the north, Nakagami in the center, and Shimajiri in the south. The royal capital of Shuri and the port of Naha were both in Nakagami. The Great Ming's commercial supervisory office and the Satsuma Domain's jinya were also both established in Nakagami. But the Ming also had a foothold in the south — Tomigusuku. It was no bastion, just a small earthen fort by the sea, with a little fishing harbor nearby where a small bird-boat was moored year-round, presumably kept for the evacuation of the Great Ming's commercial supervisor and merchants.

"Baka!" When Nejime Kiyoo heard his subordinate say this, he flew into a rage on the spot. "We are proper samurai, ordered by our lord to defend Ryukyu. How can we fear death in the face of the enemy? Besides, the domain's ships only come once every two months, and there is still a month before the next one arrives!"

Even if they wanted to leave, they couldn't.

"Bugyo, our numbers are too few, and we have no cannon. How are we supposed to defend Ryukyu?"

"By holding the castle, of course!" Nejime Kiyoo sprang to his feet. "Summon everyone — we will all withdraw to Shuri Castle!"

"Hai!" Togo Jisshu answered loudly, his face miserable.

He too knew that Shuri Castle could not be held, because his mission in Ryukyu was to keep the royal castle under strict surveillance and forbid the Ryukyuan royal family from fortifying it. He had never imagined that in the end it would not be the Sho royal family holding the castle at Shuri, but himself and the Satsuma samurai defending Ryukyu.

This really did have a whiff of digging one's own grave!

But a grave you dug yourself — even weeping, you still have to crawl into it!

Togo Jisshu hurriedly bowed to Nejime Kiyoo, then turned and dashed out to summon the men. The moment he was gone, Nejime Kiyoo slapped the tatami and muttered: "Baka, what madness has gotten into the Spanish? What does Ryukyu have? Nothing at all — not even enough rice to eat. What are they coming here for?"

What the Spanish had come for, Nejime Kiyoo could never have guessed. The actions of madmen are, of course, not so easy to guess.

And Nejime Kiyoo, who had spent his whole life looking at Kagoshima and at the Satsuma Domain's Edo residence, had never once imagined that Japan had already, without his noticing, been drawn into the Celestial Empire's orbit.

The Japan that stood apart as a world unto itself ceased to exist the moment the Celestial Empire turned toward the sea. Faced with a China charging step by step toward the ocean, Japan had no choice but to merge into it!

Japan's gates were not blasted open by some Chinese black ships with cannon — that was what the Westerners did to Japan. They were far away and could only frighten people with cannon. But China was close enough to Japan that the moment it charged into the sea, it was bound to submerge Japan!

And the well-traveled Spanish madmen saw very clearly what effect the rise of the Celestial Empire would have on Japan!

And once the Celestial Empire submerged Japan, no power would be able to stop them from charging across the Pacific to the opposite shore.

Because the homeland of the Spanish world empire, which held the west coast of the New World, had a population of only a little over 5.6 million — while the population of the Celestial Empire was nearly thirty times that of Spain proper!

Once they moved east in force, sooner or later they could rely on their advantage in numbers to seize part of the New World from Spain's hands!

Therefore, in order to defend their New World, the Spanish Empire had to make every effort to prevent the Celestial Empire from submerging Japan.

The man charged with this task was Caballero, the ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain to the Great Ming. Although he was ambassador to the Great Ming, for the past several months he had been active in Edo. Besides meeting with figures from the Sendai Domain to discuss the possibility of Japan-Spain diplomatic relations, he had also secretly met with samurai from the Satsuma, Choshu, and Kumamoto domains stationed in Edo, working hard to sell them "cheap and excellent" Spanish cannon and the theory of the Celestial threat.

But these so-called powerful domains were all extremely cautious about strengthening their armaments, for fear of offending the mighty and inviolable Tokugawa shogunate.

The lingering prestige of the previous shogun's authoritarian rule remained, and even the powerful southwestern domains trembled before the shogun's might.

And the rising Celestial Empire had once touched the shogun family's dignity, but now word had come that Matsudaira Takako of the Aizu Domain would become the adopted daughter of the previous shogun Iemitsu, take the name Tokugawa Takako, and be sent to the Celestial Empire for a marriage alliance.

Although this meant the Tokugawa family was presenting a beauty to the Celestial Emperor, with the implication of substantive submission, the great Ming sovereign of today had never before accepted a tribute beauty from a foreign vassal. If the Tokugawa family's Takako could successfully enter the harem of the Great Ming Emperor, she would be the first to win that honor no matter what.

If the mighty Tokugawa family also gained the support of the Celestial Emperor, how would the upper ranks of the southwestern domains dare to resist?

So Caballero's activities in Edo had not been successful. By the time de Velasco hurried to Edo aboard a galleon of more than two hundred tons, he had not sold a single Spanish cannon.

"What did you say? The Chinese have a reliable explosive shell?" When Caballero learned the outcome of the Battle of Dinghai, he was stunned. "How can this be? What exactly happened?"

De Velasco, who had survived the Battle of Dinghai Anchorage by the skin of his teeth, gave a bitter smile. "Ambassador, I'll tell you on the road. We have to go!"

"Go? Where?"

"Leave Edo, go to Kagoshima." De Velasco said, "Admiral Garcia has decided to attack the Ryukyu Kingdom! By now he must have succeeded. So we must leave immediately — if we delay, I fear the Tokugawa shogunate will detain us."

"Attack Ryukyu? Why?"

De Velasco said: "To demonstrate the might of Spain's Invincible Armada of the East, of course!"

"Might? But the Battle of Dinghai Anchorage..."

De Velasco sighed. "We won, of course! Our fleet charged into their anchorage, burned more than ten ships, and lost four of our own. A complete victory, naturally!"

Of course — twelve to four, so Spain had naturally won!

"Then what does the admiral intend?" Caballero asked.

"The admiral hopes we can support powerful Japanese lords in resisting the shogun who has yielded to the Great Ming's might," de Velasco said. "Once Japan falls into civil war, we can recruit mercenaries from Japan and use arms to support pro-Spanish and Catholic lords. Most important of all, of course, is to use Japan's civil war to block the Great Ming's eastward advance."

"I understand!" Caballero nodded. "These are exactly what I have wanted to do as well. But no matter how much Japan descends into civil war, it cannot draw too much of the Great Ming's energy — unless the Tokugawa shogunate faces the fate of defeat. But judging from the balance of power within Japan, such a thing is unlikely to happen. If we are determined to defend the New World, then we must prepare for the worst!"

"The worst?"

Caballero fell silent for a moment. "Perhaps we should prepare to meet the world empire of the East on the soil of the New World! This is something that will happen sooner or later. All our present efforts are merely delaying the arrival of that day!"

(End of Chapter)