Chapter 134 Landing in Kobe

After two rounds of artillery fire, the entire Kobe port was filled with black smoke. There were cries and roars from time to time in the town. Qin Hao heard it clearly on the Wansheng ship, but he had no time to care about it now. He was enjoying the fresh citrus sent from the Hsinchu plantation with his non-commissioned officers.

Not long ago, under Zhuge Xuan's policy, Hsinchu joined forces with Qin and Han merchants to open up an orchard. Grapes, tomatoes, peaches, watermelons, citrus, etc. As a tropical island, Taiwan is the most suitable place to grow fruits.

Moreover, in the Age of Navigation, seafarers lacked vitamins, and now there are no vitamin tablets to synthesize them. Fruits are a must-have on board. In early May, the first batch of citrus matured, so Zhuge Xuan sent people to deliver hundreds of citrus, which were received by the fleet just as it left Ryukyu.

Peel off the orange peel of the citrus to reveal the tender and juicy orange segments. Break open four or five segments and put them into your mouth. When the juicy flesh touches the dry mouth, the sweet juice bursts out instantly. The fragrance of the flesh and the sweet flesh make people forget that they are in the middle of a war.

"Lord! The threat from Kobe has basically been eliminated by us. Do you want to..."

Qin Hao was busy eating oranges and had no time to talk. He just waved his hand and asked the guards on duty to send a few oranges. "This is produced in Hsinchu. Try it!"

Duan Daxin took the orange after a sincere salute. He didn't care about the greasiness in his hands. He tore open the orange peel and ate it. While eating, he exclaimed "It's delicious!", without any sign of a fleet commander.

Many soldiers on duty laughed. It seems that the captain who we usually fear like a tiger is as docile as a kitten in front of Lord Qin Hao.

It seemed that he noticed the strange looks around him, but Duan Daxin did not stop chewing, but just sped up the speed. After all, he still had to save some face in front of his subordinates, otherwise it would be difficult to lead the troops in the future.

After quickly solving the reward of tangerines, Duan Daxin continued to ask: "Lord, when will we land in Kobe?"

Qin Hao looked up at Duan Daxin, then looked around and found that the soldiers around him were all impatient. They were not here to stroll around or do business. Their purpose has always been to conquer Japan and defeat Japan.

To build a career, to be rich and prosperous, just today, looking at the atmosphere in front of him, Qin Hao was secretly proud of himself. It seems that the last war with Zheng Zhilong has cultivated a large number of soldiers who are thirsty for blood.

This is not a bad thing, but it is worthy of praise.

"Okay!" Qin Hao would not let the soldiers' hopes go to waste. "Pass the order down. After one stick of incense, prepare to land. We will set up camp in Kobe City tonight."

The flag bearer who received the order immediately climbed up the ship's watchtower, and then waved two colorful flags. Not long after, the other six warships burst into joy and drums.

The soldiers of the Shuntian Camp on the main ship have prepared their weapon backpacks and are waiting to land and capture Kobe.

For this group of elite soldiers, the Japanese foot soldiers who wanted to attack just now were simply useless, otherwise they would not have been destroyed by artillery fire in an instant.

Many people began to silently calculate the benefits of this achievement in their hearts.

"An enemy soldier is worth one or two taels of silver. This time I have to kill at least ten of them. This money can buy a wife."

Everyone's face was full of desire. This was not just the idea of ​​a soldier. Almost all the young soldiers in the fleet had fantasized about it.

Now, Hsinchu, as a sub-city, has developed such an industry under the supervision of the government. Marriage agencies are a new thing. Soldiers who have received basic education generally understand that they can marry a wife as long as they pay money.

Faced with the situation that there are more men than women on Taiwan Island, such a product is bound to appear. In order to prevent someone from secretly damaging personal interests and personal danger, a marriage agency was established under the advocacy of Zhuge Xuan.

The girls are all from Nanyang, most of whom were sent by Zheng Zhilong. As for the girls from Daming, Qin Hao did not agree. This thing is not good, and naturally cannot be used to harm his own people.

As for other people, they are not in his care. After conquering Japan, there will probably be one more source of women.

With such a desire, all the soldiers are eager to cry out, competing to kill more enemies and use the blood of the enemies to forge their own blood.

"Land!"

With an order, the soldiers who were ready to go took up their weapons and boarded the assault boats one after another. Under the vigorous paddling of the oarsmen, more than a dozen wooden boats headed towards the shore of Kobe.

Since the shore artillery of Kobe was destroyed, the journey was unusually smooth. After landing, the soldiers did not immediately attack the city, which was necessary in the past.

However, the superiors did not make such a request this time. As for the reason, you can understand it by looking at the broken limbs and bodies on the beach.

"Let them be quiet!"

Zhang Hu, the landing commander, scolded, but he did not shout at the soldiers who were queuing, but at the Japanese samurai who were crying on the beach.

Several soldiers who saw the order immediately put on their flintlocks, took out bayonets from their waist pockets, "clicked" them into the slots at the front of the flintlocks, and then sent them off in the grateful eyes of the Japanese samurai.

"Enter the city!"

Following Zhang Hu's order, half of the 300 Shuntian soldiers rushed to Kobe City to prepare to conquer it, and the other half went straight to Kobe Port to receive it immediately.

Without too many words, Soldier Gate took steady steps toward his goal while sinking.

Compared with the destroyed and defenseless Kobe Port, it was still a bit difficult to defeat Kobe City, which had basically no losses, so Zhang Hu decided to lead his army there in person.

At this time, Kobe City had long been in chaos. It was supposed to be a place where samurai nobles lived, but now it has become half a hell.

From time to time, some warriors would rush into the houses of noble merchants and loot them. The warriors who were the original patron saints had turned into evil beasts that ate people without spitting out their bones.

And often they are familiar with the situation and can easily take away the valuables in the house before fleeing for their lives in a panic. If anyone dares to stop them, even the previous owner, they will kill them.

"Get out of here! You're looking for death!" Several warriors carrying gold and silver jewelry on their backs unexpectedly ran into Zhang Hu and his party who were preparing to enter the city.

There was almost no hesitation, "Bang! Bang! Bang!", a burst of white smoke, and after a burst of smoke, there were only a few dead people with wide-eyed eyes left on the road.

These gunshots also made the experience of half of Kobe City even worse. Many samurai stepped up their killing and robbery. They did not want to leave here empty.

It is this kind of greed that allows even one of them to succeed!

Seeing this situation, Zhang Hu immediately ordered his soldiers to block the four city gates. In his opinion, the entire Kobe City was now the property of the lord, how could he let a few petty thieves get their hands on it.

He took more than ten soldiers and began to eliminate these rebellious warriors.

"Bang bang bang!"

Neat gunshots burst out in Kobe Kamei. Zhang Hu basically cleaned up every household, trying to eliminate every troublemaker. As for those who could not be distinguished temporarily, they were all killed. He did not have the time to deal with them.

"Sir, there is a group of thieves gathered in the alley in front, and the rest of the city has been wiped out!"

Zhang Hu approvingly praised the soldiers who came to report, "Okay, destroy this group of guys, and I will give you credit when you get back."

The soldier was ecstatic, but did not forget his duty, and immediately took Chen Hu to the entrance of the alley.

Seeing the seven or eight Japanese samurai holding long knives in a defensive posture in the dark alley, Zhang Hu just thought of ordering the soldiers to shoot and kill them directly.

He simply took another look and saw a man in the crowd who was gorgeously dressed and wearing a silk mesh headdress.

Judging from his appearance, he is not an ordinary person. He seems to be a big official in Kobe City.

"Except for the last one, kill them all!"

For Zhang Hu, it was enough to leave one alive to find out the news. Following the order, the soldiers began to shoot.

One shot, two shots, three shots

With one sound after another, the Japanese samurai in the alley were disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Ah! I will fight with you!"

The remaining warriors simply couldn't stand such endless torture. Rather than sit back and wait for death, they might as well give it a try and maybe survive. With this hope, two of the last three warriors picked up their long swords and rushed towards the entrance of the alley. out.

In order not to hurt the last person, Zhang Hu asked the soldiers to stop shooting, then drew out the light steel waist knife and entered the alley.

In the narrow and dark alley, it was so dry and cold that people shivered, but Chen Hu was very relaxed at this time. He had not killed anyone for many days, and the long knife in his hand was already hungry and thirsty. It was time to eat meat, stretch his limbs, and take a stroll. go ahead.

There were almost no fancy moves. Zhang Hu saw the right moment and suddenly swung his long sword. The blade flashed blue and white in the dark corner. In the horrified eyes of the Japanese samurai, he cut off the long sword that they relied on to break through. knife.

Then the blade continued to move forward and successfully broke through the chest of the nearest warrior. Blood instantly flowed out and the warrior fell to the ground in pain.

Even so, the blade still moved forward, and finally landed in the center of another warrior's skull. The soft white road was suddenly exposed. Because the gap in the skull was stuck, Zhang Hu spent a lot of effort to pull it out. come out.

Such a blow directly overturned half of the skull, and a vomiting salty smell rushed straight to him.

Zhang Hu picked up his sleeves, covered his mouth and nose, and walked deeper into the alley.

In the end, only the executive and an unconscious samurai were left in the alley.

He murmured incoherently, raised his head and glanced at Zhang Hu, then picked up his long knife and slid it towards his neck.

Zhang Hu shook his head helplessly. He didn't think he was so terrible, but he felt ashamed of such a warrior.

If the Japanese soldiers are like what they encountered today, it is estimated that they will change their masters soon.

"Tell me, who are you?"

Zhang Hu raised his long knife, put it against the senior official's throat, and said viciously.

Then he stepped forward and half squatted, and stepped on the body of the suicidal warrior. Looking at the senior official hiding in the depths, seeing his panic and fearful pupils, he felt very accomplished.

"No, he doesn't seem to be able to speak Chinese!"

Zhang Hu slapped his forehead in annoyance. Only then did he realize that the guy opposite was Japanese and didn't seem to understand what he was saying.

"It's all a waste of time. It's really unlucky for him."

Just when he was about to solve this problem with a knife, the senior official spoke.

"Sir, don't kill me, don't kill me."

"You can speak Chinese!"

Zhang Hu was shocked. He had not expected this.

In fact, the entire Japanese aristocracy strongly advocated Han culture before the industrial revolution. Most of the upper-class aristocrats were educated since childhood. They could speak and write. If they were placed in the Ming Dynasty, if there were no other special features, Basically no one will recognize it.

As for those who say that they are short, it is nonsense. They are the Japanese civilian class. They cannot eat meat, and malnutrition will cause their short stature. The aristocracy has no such constraints. They have never missed a meal or a meal of meat. No matter which country the aristocracy is from, they are the ones with the best genes.

Sugimoto Ichiro never thought that learning Chinese could save his life. It was God who opened his eyes. When he became the Kobe magistrate, he was basically an aristocrat. Some of his officials advised him to learn more Chinese and write calligraphy.

At first, he didn't care until everyone spoke Chinese at a banquet. He basically couldn't understand it and lost face. Since that day, he has found many teachers and studied every day.

But later he fell into depravity and began to enjoy himself. He no longer wanted to climb up and play by himself, but he did not forget this skill.

"I am Sugimoto Ichiro, a relative of the Tokugawa family. My honorable lord, as long as you don't kill me, I will give you whatever you want. I have 30,000 taels of silver at home. What do you think?"

Sugimoto Ichiro looked at Zhang Hu in front of him and stated his conditions. He thought that no one could resist the temptation of money.

His words were indeed good, but to Zhang Hu, Sugimoto seemed childish.

Who would negotiate with a dying person, and the conditions were within their reach.

"Sorry, Lord Sugimoto, I have to send you to hell!"

Zhang Hu's cold words made Sugimoto stunned. The fear of death made every pore on his body expand, and the saliva in his mouth also accelerated the secretion.

Sugimoto kept swallowing his saliva until the sixth time, he could no longer swallow. He didn't know why at all, and thought that this time he was finished.

He closed his eyes and waited for his head to fall, but he could not feel the pain of the blade passing through his neck. The endless and empty waiting made him curiously open his eyes.

Zhang Hu was stroking his smooth chin, looking at himself carefully.

What's going on?

Sugimoto looked confused, not knowing why. Could it be that the officer was tempted and wanted money?

"Are you Ichiro Sugimoto?"

Zhang Hu stood up and looked down at Sugimoto and asked.

"Yes, sir, my money is here"

Before he could finish, he was locked tightly by Zhang Hu's strong arms.

"Sir, what are you doing? I'm not that kind of person." Sugimoto was panicked and at a loss, talking nonsense.

"Shut up, you idiot."

Zhang Hu scolded, the reason why he didn't kill him was that he knew his identity. This guy was the biggest contributor to their attack on Kobe.

You said such a "meritorious person", how could he be killed with a sword, and naturally he couldn't be so easy.

And before, he was so arrogant and domineering, which made many non-commissioned officers of the fleet gnashed their teeth. Now that he was caught, he had to be taken back and trained.

He handed Sugimoto Ichiro to his soldiers and said, "Take good care of this guy. This is a gift I will bring back to my lord."

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