Chapter 3620
The plan proposed by Amakusa Hayabusa is very cruel, and the use of refugees has reached the extreme. In this way, it would be possible to put tremendous pressure on Tokugawa Ietsuna without the need for the royal family and resistance forces to come forward. No matter how he responded, this would be a dead end for the shogunate.
If Tokugawa Ietsuna is forced to temporarily raise supplies to appease the refugees in Kyoto, then the shogunate army's logistical supplies will inevitably be used. This will be a drastic move to the Kyushu front line where the war situation is tight. .
If Tokugawa Ietsuna ignores the demands of the refugees, the reputation of the shogunate will definitely be greatly affected, and more people will stand in support of the imperial family when they need to make a choice. And once the disappointment of the refugees is ignited, Tokugawa Ietsuna may have to dispatch the army to suppress the chaos.
If Tokugawa Ietsuna is forced to use force to suppress the refugees in the Kyoto area, it means that the situation is out of control. As long as he continues to fan the flames, more areas will fall into panic.
By then, if Haihan provides some military assistance to those careerists who are preparing to move in the dark, there is a high possibility of instigating a new round of civil war.
Of course, the Kyushu vassals are happy to see this possible chaos, and they have expressed their willingness to continue to cooperate with Haihan, letting their subordinates spread new rumors in the Kyoto area, and instigating refugees to surround Tokugawa. The palace where Ie Tsuna stayed.
Although doing so may expose their ronin warriors to the capture of the shogunate, several representatives said that these ronin warriors are loyal to their respective families and will never They shrink back from the danger of the mission, and if necessary, they may even sacrifice their lives to ensure that their mission is completed.
After a brief discussion between Amakusa Hayabusa and Yang Tianlei, they roughly made an action plan and handed it over to the Kyushu vassals for implementation.
Since we are going to make things big, of course we have to inform the royal family in advance to avoid confusion. Lin Qiu took over this job without hesitation.
The next day, Lin Qiu sent someone to the Kyoto Imperial Garden in the name of delivery to convey the request for a meeting to the royal family. I don’t know how many pairs of eyes were watching the Imperial Garden secretly. If he went directly to visit the Imperial Garden, it would inevitably draw the shogunate’s attention to Haihan. Therefore, even if you want to meet with members of the royal family, you must arrange it somewhere other than the imperial garden.
The person in the royal family who was responsible for liaising with Lin Qiu immediately disguised himself as a laborer and followed the delivery convoy back to Donghaixing's store.
The action led by Haihan and Jiuzhou does not actually require the direct participation of the royal family, but if the royal family can make good use of the chaos that will arise and come out at the right time to make remarks that can stimulate public opinion, then it will definitely It will help win more public support for the royal family.
For the royal family, this is simply a benefit that comes to their doorstep, and Haihan did not put forward any additional conditions. It seems that there is no need to pay any price, and there is really no reason to refuse.
In return, the royal family also provided Lin Qiu with a very important piece of information - Tokugawa Ietsuna arrived in Kyoto yesterday and is currently in Nijo Castle. The reason why the imperial family knew about this was because Tokugawa Ietsuna had notified the Imperial Garden to meet with the emperor today.
Now there is not much buffer time available on Haihan's side. Once Tokugawa Ietsuna finishes his work and leaves Kyoto, all plans will come to nothing and actions must be started immediately.
Amakusa Hayabusa immediately summoned several officials from Kyushu and informed them of Tokugawa Ietsuna's whereabouts. In addition, Amakusa Hayabusa has another good news to tell them: "We just received a call from Kyushu. The coalition fleet carried out a surprise attack in the Kanmon Strait and won a great victory, destroying many enemy ships. Now it has been removed from the shogunate." The army has regained control of the strait!"
This news naturally excited everyone in Kyushu. Kyoto was in chaos, and the news of the defeat on the front line came back two days later, which was enough to make the shogunate confused. By then, the effect of the public opinion they created to bring down the curtain in Kyoto will be greatly enhanced.
The ronin samurai under Kyushu were quickly dispatched to spread the latest news in the major refugee camps south of Kyoto - the shogunate army was defeated on the Kyushu front line, and tens of thousands of people were trapped in Kitakyushu, with their fate in danger.
However, regarding Tokugawa Ietsuna, Amakusa Hayabusa has made some minor adjustments compared to the original plan and no longer claims that Tokugawa Ietsuna’s purpose in coming to Kyoto is to distribute relief materials to refugees. But because the defeat on the front line resulted in a large loss of materials, he went back to Kyoto to raise money and food to support the front line to continue fighting.
As for the large amount of money and food that Tokugawa Ietsuna could immediately raise in Kyoto at this time, of course there was only one source, and that was to directly take away the materials originally intended to relieve refugees.
It is said that in Nijo Castle where he is staying, there are hundreds of thousands of kilograms of grain that will be transported away to be used as military rations.
After making such an adjustment, it will obviously be more able to arouse the anger of the refugees.
It’s okay if Tokugawa Ietsuna doesn’t distribute relief materials to the refugees. At least the royal family in Kyoto is currently trying to implement relief, so the refugees will not starve to death immediately. But if Tokugawa Ietsuna also took away the supplies used to relieve refugees, it would really cut off the lives of thousands of people.
Even if the vast majority of refugees are ordinary people who accept the situation, when their chances of survival are ruthlessly deprived, many people will have a strong desire to resist. Even if the opponent is a high-ranking shogun, it will probably be difficult to overwhelm those refugees who are bent on survival based on their status.
Although there are still many logical loopholes in these improvised rumors, ordinary people do not have the ability to identify the authenticity of these messages. They only knew that even if they left their homes and fled the war zone, they would still have difficulty surviving today because the shogunate ruthlessly took away their chance of survival.
At this time, the royal family issued a statement in a timely manner, saying that due to the recent shortage of supplies, the soup kitchen activities originally held in various refugee camps will be changed to once every three days. The emperor himself felt deeply guilty about this, so he would also reduce the daily meals of all members of the royal family to one meal a day to sympathize with the difficulties of survival for the refugees. All the rations saved by the royal family will be used for relief purposes.
Although there is not a single word in the royal family's statement that mentions the shogunate, in the eyes of the outside world, there is of course only one culprit responsible for the material shortage, and that is the Tokugawa Ietsuna who siphoned off a large amount of local money and food.
Some people who were still doubtful about the rumors now had to believe that the reason why Tokugawa Ietsuna quietly sneaked back to Kyoto was to take away those life-saving supplies from the royal family.
More gossip that is unfavorable to the shogunate is still coming out. For example, after the defeat on the Kyushu front line, the shogunate is in urgent need of additional troops and civilians, so the refugees in the Kyoto area will be cleared next. All young and strong men were recruited by the government to serve in the army.