Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Japanese pirates during the Heian period were mainly coastal fishermen, and most of them used small sampans to rob.

Going to the coast of Korea is already their limit, and they do not have the hard power to reach China.

The Seto Inland Sea is a restricted area for pirates. During the reign of Emperor Shirakawa, pirates from the Western Kingdom came here to hang out, and they soon suffered a heavy blow from the official navy. Ping Zhongmori was also ordered to lead the Central Navy to kill the pirate lair on Kyushu Island.

As for the Japanese navy, the appearance of the main warships is very similar to the envoy ship sent to the Tang Dynasty. The longest one is about 30 meters, with one deck, equipped with sails, oars on both sides, and a load of 150 people.

Moreover, there are not many main battleships, and the rest are all small ships, and there are even a large number of flat-bottomed boats.

The Ming Dynasty navy sailed into the Seto Inland Sea, and the hearts of Heian Kyo immediately changed.

Because the Seto Inland Sea is Japan's "maritime highway", even a few more pirates will affect the economy, let alone the arrival of the Chinese navy.

The Chinese navy ships arrived in Osaka, and the Japanese navy fled after hearing the news, waiting for orders from Emperor Toba.

Five hundred soldiers disembarked first, followed by dozens of cavalry.

After all the infantry landed, some of the navy went to the shore to guard, and some went to cruise nearby.

What appears before everyone's eyes is Namba Kyo, Japan's former vice-capital, which was the political stage for Japan's reform and development.

The layout of the entire city is modeled after Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty.

Even some street names are directly copied from the streets in Chang'an City.

To the north of the city center is the Namba Imperial Palace.

It is the earliest formal continental-style palace in Japan and also imitates the imperial city of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty. Now destroyed by fire for hundreds of years, Japanese legend has it that the palace is cursed because it was built by cutting down trees surrounding the shrine.

Although the palace was destroyed, the remains of the imperial city remain.

When the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty landed, many nobles, monks and powerful men gathered towards the ruined city wall with various types of armed forces.

Because except for the ruined city wall of Namba Imperial Palace, there are no other walls in Osaka to defend.

Calling it a city wall would be an exaggeration.

Only the wall at the city gate is fairly formal, and the rest is similar to the walls of a landlord's house. Moreover, many foundation stones were dug out and stolen by monks to build temples.

There were two leaders of the garrison.

One is named Fujiwara Tomabusa, the ancestor of the Uesugi family.

One is monk Zhennian, the abbot of Dayanfo Temple.

Along with political corruption and social darkness, the original Buddhist school in Japan has gradually declined. In the past two hundred years, the "Nenbutsu School" has become more and more prosperous.

The Nianbutsu sect is a pioneer of Pure Land Buddhism in Japan. From the beginning, it was committed to sinking the market and gaining support from the general public. Gradually, not only wealthy families and merchants believed in this thing, but also low-level nobles and even middle- and high-level nobles began to believe in it.

At this moment, more than two thousand people were guarding the Abandoned Imperial City, more than half of them were monk soldiers, and the rest were warriors of all levels.

As for the peasants and soldiers, there is no time to gather them yet.

As the Ming army approached step by step, Monk Zhennian said: "In the end of the Dharma era, the devil comes to the world. This is a test for us."

The Japanese Tendai Sect of later generations was still called the Lotus Sect at this time.

The abbots of the Osaka Hokke Sect were not happy to hear this. But they are not in the mood to argue. Who makes Buddhism in Osaka the most powerful?

It only took three years for the Da Nian Buddhist Temple to be built.

But before the temple was built, the Nenbutsu sect had followers all over Osaka. The surrounding famous people, the large and small merchants in the city, and many middle and low-level nobles are all afraid of the end of the world, and they can avoid disasters as long as they recite the Buddha's name.

…

After entering the city, Zhu Xiaozhong felt like he had returned to the Central Plains.

This place is completely different from Shijian City. The urban layout is similar to Chang'an and Luoyang.

The streets and houses are neatly built like a chessboard, and the shop signs all use Chinese characters. They are also divided into compartments, and the names of the compartments are also the same as those in China (directly copied).

There are wooden fences and even gates between the various houses.

Those civilians in the city who had not fled were now hiding, peeking at the intruders through cracks in doors and windows.

Zhu Xiaozhong borrowed several naval artillery pieces from Yingxuan, and they were pushed by boatmen and gunners to Namba Palace.

Zhu Shouyi led the cavalry around the abandoned imperial city, shooting arrows from inside the wall from time to time.

He rushed back and reported: "The city wall is very low and has collapsed in many places. The gaps have been temporarily blocked. Even if there are no gaps, one can rush straight in with such a short wall."

"Should the bombardment first," Zhu Xiaozhong said.

The cavalry led the naval artillery to the four gaps in the city wall, and the infantry was also divided into four teams for protection.

The Japanese defenders were nervously defending when they saw Ming soldiers pushing out strange objects.

"Boom boom boom!"

The sound of several cannons was like a bolt from the blue.

The warriors and monk soldiers were startled and looked at the sky. They believed that it was really thundering.

Unfortunately, there was no thunder in the sky.

Instead, outside the city wall, the artillery was smoking.

Continue to reload and fire again.

This time I can finally be sure that those Tang people can summon thunder and lightning!

"The Tang people are guarding thunder again!"

A large-armored warrior shouted. This guy had obviously been to the battlefield of Ishigami Country, and at this moment, he had been reminded of the horrific memories.

Fujiwara Tamabusa took the lead in escaping with the samurai. He was better informed and knew how Taira Tadamori was completely defeated.

As soon as the nobles of the Fujiwara family ran away, the samurai followed suit, and in a blink of an eye only the monk soldiers were left defending the city.

The abbots looked at each other, and then looked at the fleeing warriors.

Before the third round of shelling came, the monks also fled with the monk soldiers. They were invited by Fujiwara Maifang. The real master has run away, and the monks and soldiers are still guarding the temple. They should go home and guard the temple.

"Arrests!"

Zhu Xiaozhong gave the order, and the cavalry was already pursuing along the ruined city wall.

Fujiwara Weifang was wearing a large armor, so he couldn't run very fast on horseback. The guy reined in his horse and stopped, letting Lang Dang take off his armor. He discarded his gorgeous ancestral armor, then mounted his horse lightly and ran very fast.

He followed the river and fled directly towards Heianjing. Looking back from time to time, he found that the pursuers were arresting his gang.

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

The sound of horse hooves was getting closer and closer. When Fujiwara Maifang turned around again, he found that six cavalrymen were approaching.

call out!

An arrow was shot and flew past Fujiwara Tamabusa's head.

This guy was so scared that his scalp was numb, and he felt that he might not be able to escape, so he simply reined in his horse and shouted: "Surrender! I am a noble of the Fujiwara Kita family, and I can pay a very high ransom!"

Not only did he know how Taira Tadamori was defeated, but he also knew that the captured noble warriors could be released safely as long as they paid a ransom.

Fujiwara tied up his hands, but the Ming cavalry didn't get used to it and directly pinned him to the ground and tied him up.

"I am a noble, you can't do this... Bah!" Fujiwara struggled and shouted, his face was pressed down and he ate a few mouthfuls of dirt.

Zhu Xiaozhong stood on the ruins of the Namba Imperial City, looking at the ruins, and said with great disdain: "This damn thing is also called the deputy capital? There is only a low wall outside the palace."

In fact, there were not only low walls, but there used to be a moat.

It's just that it has been abandoned for hundreds of years, and the moat has not been cleared, and has been filled in with mud and various debris.

Even Ping'an Capital at this time had the same layout - it was built to imitate Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty, but the outer city was not protected by a city wall. The imperial city was surrounded by a moat, and a low wall was built on the inside of the moat to separate it.

In terms of its defensive properties, it is not even as good as the county seat of Ming Dynasty.

The Japanese capital in the Nara period actually had a mountain defense system, and it was really difficult to win it by force. But since then, the capital has been moved three times, each time imitating Chang'an City. Since there was no manpower and material resources to build the city, the most important city wall could only be abandoned.

In other words, if Emperor Toba wants to defend Heiankyo, he doesn't even have a decent wall!

…

"What to do? The Tang Dynasty has captured Namba Kyo!" Emperor Toba asked anxiously.

He not only called his court officials and northern warriors, but also a bunch of officials from the court, as well as monks and onmyoji from the capital to discuss matters.

Peace lasted for hundreds of years, during which time the mob was suppressed, and even the Central Army was disbanded for two to three hundred years.

Even if a few monks committed evil acts, Emperor Shirakawa was afraid that he would not be able to defeat the monk soldiers, so he sent his confidant Taira Takaramori to arrest them.

With such a waste of military power, what can be done to resist the invasion of foreign enemies?

Ping Zhongsheng suggested: "Your Majesty can hunt east."

"Absolutely not!"

Minister of Security Fujiwara Tadamichi immediately objected.

The interests of the Fujiwara family mainly lie in the Kinki area. Once Emperor Toba runs away, what will happen to the Fujiwara family's property?

What's even more frightening is that if the Kinki region is destroyed, Emperor Birdsong is very likely to move the capital. If Fujiwara Kitaie follows, he will have to lead others to start over. If he does not follow, he will be far away from the political center.

Although he disliked the eldest son Fujiwara Tadashi, for the sake of the family interests, Fujiwara Tadashi still agreed: "Your Majesty should not hunt eastward. You should send people to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty."

Emperor Toba looked at the monk and Onmyoji again: "Can't you defeat the Ming army?"

The mages were collectively silent.

Japan during the Heian period was superstitious to the point of being unreasonable.

Onmyojis have the strongest professional skills. They directly say that Heian Kyo is a devil's cave, and from time to time hundreds of ghosts will walk at night. Moreover, they did not kill animals, but only exorcised or sealed demons. Therefore, the nobles' homes were often haunted by ghosts, and they had to repeatedly ask onmyojis to exorcise demons.

Two hundred years ago, Sugawara Michizane was falsely accused of rebellion and unfortunately died of illness in the exile.

Unexpectedly, the palace was suddenly struck by lightning, and the emperor quickly pardoned his children. He also believed that the resentful spirit of Sugawara Michizane could summon thunder and lightning, and directly made him the God of Learning.

Because the patron saint of the Fujiwara clan is the God of Thunder, the Fujiwara clan also began to worship this person and built Tenmangu Shrine specifically for Sugawara Michizane.

Now that the army couldn't handle it, Emperor Toba naturally thought of using magic.

Seeing that the magicians were losing their temper at the critical moment, Emperor Toba asked Taira Taira no more: "Can you resist the Tang Dynasty?"

Ping Zhongmori replied: "I can only fight to the death."

He could only fight to the death, which meant that he would probably not be able to defeat him. Emperor Toba was speechless.

After a long time, Emperor Toba asked: "Is the Prince of Ming Kingdom just asking for Tsushima Kingdom, and then renting Iwami Kingdom Castle and Omori Mountain?"

Oe Weishun said: "There was news a few days ago that the Ming army occupied Sado Country. Maybe they have a bigger appetite now. If we don't negotiate as soon as possible, I'm afraid the Ming Dynasty will ask for more."

"Then... then let's talk about it." Emperor Toba said.

He could only be thankful that his son was not yet in Yuanfu.

Otherwise, it would be even more dangerous to encounter such a thing. The Fujiwara family would most likely take the opportunity to control the emperor and force Emperor Toba to abolish the government immediately.

(There is so little detailed information about the Heian Era. It makes my head hurt to look up the information for this chapter. There is no more information today. I will update it tomorrow.)