Two days later, the shogunate's reply arrived. Obviously, the shogun and the Daigosho were furious when they heard that Tadanaga had raised troops, especially when they heard that Tadacho had also captured Toshogu Palace and the treasury on Mt. Kuno, which was simply the greatest disrespect to the Gongenden and the shogunate.

Edo decided to use force to quell the farce as soon as possible, and the shogunate demanded that they immediately convey the shogunate's order to the defenders of Kai, Enoe, and Suruga, prohibiting them from responding to Tadashi's rebellion.

In addition, the shogunate had already requisitioned people from the Odawara, Numazu, and Owari domains to quell the rebellion, and the head of the Imperial Academy, Itakura Shigemasa, would serve as an envoy to control the armies. Edo asked Yagyu Muneki and Kindaiin Takaden to assist Itakura Shigemasa in quelling the chaos and bring Tadanaga and other rebels back to Edo.

Yagyu Soju and Kinjiin Takaden received the shogunate's order and immediately took action. In addition to the area around Sunfu Castle, the other garrisons in the Tadashi territory were also in a state of confusion.

Although these troops were nominally loyal subordinates, the most orders they received on weekdays were from Edo. In particular, Kai Province is a gold producing area, so it is especially wary of Edo.

Because of this, the loyal chief did not attract many of these nominal subordinates. In particular, the person in charge of winning over the local forces of Kai is none other than Yagyu Shibei, who is disguised as Muto Daisuke, that is, the son of Yagyu Soju.

Therefore, Kai Province almost immediately rejected the order from Sunpu Castle and declared that it would not obey his lord's orders, and the defenders of Suruga Province near the Fuji River also chose to obey the shogunate's orders under the threat of Yagyu Muneki.

In Sunpu Castle, Tadashi was stunned to find that although he had erected the banner of Fengtian Jingjing, not only did no one outside the domain respond to him, but even within his own Three Kingdoms territory, not many people responded to his call to oppose the shogunate, but many citizens began to flee Sunfu Castle with their families.

Although his retainers wrote a letter of closure, they expressed their willingness to follow him against the shogunate until Iemitsu abdicated. But the gloomy retainers did not give him much useful advice, and instead began to fight each other for power.

Now he has a total of 5,000 troops in his hands, 1,500 of Matsuno's Shigegen army, 1,000 men each of Asakura Nobumasa, Torii Seiji, and Naito Masayoshi, and Inaba Masatoshi manages 500 people directly under his side.

However, except for Matsuno Shigeyuan's army, two-thirds of the soldiers of the other troops are new recruits, and Matsuno Shigeyuan's soldiers, who have been trained in the Ming Kingdom for nearly two years, are not only well-equipped, but also far superior in combat effectiveness.

Matsuno Shigemoto, as a retainer who came halfway, chose him to go to the Ming Kingdom to lead the training troops, not because of how loyal he was to Tadacho, but because he had just defected to Tadanaga and was not yet concerned by the shogunate, so his disappearance would not arouse the shogunate's suspicion.

In the battle of Mt. Jiuneng, these 1,500 soldiers trained in the Ming Kingdom defeated the defenders with almost no strength, which really made the loyal chief's retainers a little stumbling. Although they believed that the night raids and the leaderless dragons were the biggest cause of the defenders' rout, the discipline and organization of Matsuno's Shigegen army in battle had already shocked the retainers.

As a foreign retainer, he has far more force than other retainers, and that's not all, there are still more than 3,000 trained troops in the Ming Kingdom who have not returned, and Matsuno Shigegen naturally caused hostility from other retainers.

Naito Masayoshi and other radical retainers openly demanded that Matsuno Shigemoto be disqualified from leading troops and be put in charge of logistics, and that his army should be placed in the hands of more reliable retainers.

As for moderates such as Asakura Nobuya, they also believed that Matsuno Shigemo's power was too strong and was not conducive to the balance of power among his retainers, and suggested that the troops in his hands be reduced and distributed among other retainers.

Tokugawa Tadanaga initially refuted the claims of his retainers, but with the rebellion of Kai and the troops far away from Sunpu Castle, he also became wary of those who defected to him halfway.

In addition, the shogunate mobilized the forces of the Odawara and Numazu domains and prepared to use force to quell the rebellion, so that Tokugawa Tadanaga finally began to prepare for his own way out.

On the fifth day of the Sunfu army, Tokugawa Tadanaga summoned Matsuno Shigegen for a private interview. Matsuno Shigegen was quite happy when he heard this summoning order, thinking that Tadashi was finally going to accept his suggestion and release the troops in Sunfu Castle to guard the key points of Suruga and Enoe, and no longer cower in Sunfu Castle.

However, after the two met, Matsuno Shigegen realized that he still overestimated the abilities of His Highness the Tadashi. Zhongchang did not intend to accept his suggestion, but to ask him to bring someone to escort his family to the Ming Kingdom.

“… I have made an agreement with the three Ming whaling ships to charter their ships at a rent of 1,000 taels each.

You take Mrs. Changzi and Shichiro and them, as well as the batch of gold and silver carried to the ship, to Daming and ask for the protection of the Ming Emperor.

If the Ming Emperor is willing to send reinforcements as agreed, it will naturally be the best. If we have already been defeated before this, then let Shoko and Shichiro live well in the Ming Kingdom..."

Matsuno Shigegen felt a little incredulous, and he couldn't help but persuade Tadacho: "Your Highness, we have just started our army here, and the military spirit is not yet stable. If Mrs. Changzi and His Royal Highness Shichiro are sent away at this time, I am afraid that the hearts of the people in the city will be even more chaotic, which is not the reason for using soldiers. ”

Tokugawa Tadanaga opened his bloodshot eyes and said, "If you don't send them away, won't the hearts of the people in the city be in turmoil?" Once the soldiers in the castle left the area of Sunpu Castle, they either fled in all directions or surrendered directly to the army loyal to the shogunate, where was there a trace of courage in the face of martyrdom?

The shogunate soldiers had not yet arrived at the castle, and these people were already thinking about how to exonerate themselves. Aside from you and the subordinates of the torii gate, the other armies are simply not enough to be trusted. If you want to save Junfu City, you can't count on them, only the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom can save me..."

Under the strict orders of Tokugawa Tadacho, Matsuno Shigegen finally accepted the task of escorting Tadacho's family away and asking for help from the Ming Kingdom.

While Tokugawa Tadanaga was busy carrying gold and silver to the ship, a meeting was also going on in the fortress outside Tanegashima Nishinomote Port.

On August 27, three galleons and two Chinese ships sent by Manila arrived at the port of Naha in the Ryukyus. On 29 August, seven armed merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company arrived in the Ryukyus, encountering a storm on the way to the Dutch fleet, missing one ship and one ship being severely damaged.

On the morning of September 2, the Spanish fleet first left the Ryukyus and headed for Tanegashima under the guidance of a Chinese ship. The next day, the Dutch fleet, having undergone some repairs, left behind the badly damaged Half Moon and arrived at Tanegashima at dusk.

The Dutch fleet was led by Fleet Commander Putmans and Taiwanese Governor Peter Natz, and although the Dutch ships were reduced by two on the way, the average number of ships was 600-800 tons, making the Dutch fleet still the most majestic fleet outside the port of Nishinomote.

Before the Dutch arrived, the Chinese, Spanish, British, Portuguese, and Koreans had already arrived at Tanegashima. As a result, the sea outside Nishinomote Port has become a forest of masts.

The tonnage of the fleet is not as good as that of the Dutch, but it far exceeds the fleets of other countries, and it is a super-large fleet of 29 ships of China and North Korea. This fleet is centered on five Ming-class warships of around 600 tons, and there are also five armed merchant ships led by Zheng Zhilong himself. The reason why Zheng Zhilong appeared here was to pick up his family in Hirato.

Under the combined fleet of China and North Korea were the Spanish and Portuguese fleets, each consisting of five ships, but only three large ships of more than 500 tons. Next came the three British merchant ships with small tonnage but fierce firepower.

In the end, the number of ships with artillery exceeded 450 tons, 23, and the size of the entire fleet exceeded 50. In Southeast Asia, such a huge sea power is enough to overturn any princely state.

The envoys of Choshu, Satsuma, and Kumamoto were both excited and terrified by the growing fleet outside the port.

Before the Dutch arrived at Tanegashima, the news that Li Chenfang led a small army to capture Osaka Castle had already been brought back to Tanegashima by Zheng Xiang. Although Ye Yuxuan and Xu Xinsu, who led the coalition forces, concealed the gold and silver that Zheng Xiang brought back, the Mingyong was quickly sent back to China to prevent the ship's crew from leaking the amount of gold and silver they had obtained in Osaka City.

However, this news was enough to cheer up the members of the coalition forces on the island, and the representatives of the Dutch, Spanish, British, and Portuguese were overjoyed by this, and felt that the Japanese were so vulnerable that the attack on Japan by the coalition forces was clearly in sight.

Although Choshu, Satsuma, and Kumamoto broke their fear of the shogunate's military force, they also began to worry about whether these allies would stay in Japan and refuse to leave after the war.

However, this concern did not spread widely, and the representatives of the Satsuma and Kumamoto feudal domains, which were closest to Tanegashima, were the first to be aroused.

Before the arrival of the Dutch and Spanish fleets, the representatives of Choshu, Satsuma, and Kumamoto, as well as the representatives of the four European countries, disagreed over the way in which the curtain would fall.

The main point of contention between the two sides was that the three feudatories wanted to fight mainly on land, first clearing Kyushu and Shikoku, and then landing on Joraku in Honshu, cooperating with the rebel forces in Osaka to take Kyoto, and then attacking Edo.

Naturally, the representatives of the four European countries opposed this proposal, and they had come to teach the shogunate a lesson and seize Treasure Island, not to help the three feudal feudatories in the southwest overthrow the shogunate. They advocated a maritime invasion and forced Edo to negotiate peace with them in order to gain as much benefit as possible from the negotiations.

The Tokai Patrol Office, which represents the Ming Kingdom, has been in a state of harmony except for sending a fleet of 2 Ming-class warships and 3 Fukubunes to support Osaka. When the fleets of the Spaniards and the Dutch arrived, the balance of power on both sides changed, and an important and intense meeting took place in the fortress of Nishiomote.