HCB Chapter 1264 Just to Exchange for a Bone
Chapter 1264 Just to Exchange for a Bone
And as the instigator of all this.
Lin Zhen and Murong Yan, however, acted like two detached onlookers.
They returned to the entirely black "Black Pearl".
The sea breeze, carrying a salty, damp scent, swept across the deck and ruffled Murong Yan's hair.
She leaned lazily against Lin Zhen's chest, gazing at the brilliant lights of Anzu City in the distance, and further still at the land shrouded in the shadow of war.
"Do you think that monkey might actually believe it's destined for greatness?" she asked softly, a hint of amusement in her voice.
"Whether it is or not is not important."
Lin Zhen pulled the cloak up around her neck, his gaze as deep as the night.
"The important thing is that he must first become a mad dog that can bite through the tough bone of the Shimazu family."
"As for whether he wants to become a dragon or continue being a dog, that depends on his own fate and our feelings."
Murong Yan smiled, buried her head in his chest, and enjoyed the tranquility that belonged only to the two of them before the storm.
Kyushu Island, Satsuma Province, Inner City.
Inside the council hall, a deathly silence, heavy as lead, pressed down on everyone, making it hard to breathe.
Known as "Demon Shimazu," the war maniac Shimazu Yoshihiro sat alone in the main seat, his face as gloomy as the sky before a storm.
His gaze was fixed on an unsheathed sword, slowly sweeping across the steps below.
There, rows of important family officials knelt, each one looking like a wilted eggplant, their heads drooping so low they wished they could disappear into the ground.
for a long time.
Yoshihiro Shimazu finally spoke, his voice hoarse as if squeezed out of a rusty iron pipe.
"Tell me everything."
"What do you think of the 'Order to Conquer the Nine Provinces' issued by the Celestial Dynasty's prince?"
No one answered.
The only sound in the air was the heavy, labored breathing of the crowd, which they tried to suppress.
Look?
What do they think?
With your eyes, you see mountains of corpses and seas of blood; with your heart, you see only two words—despair!
Oda Nobunaga, who was once so arrogant, is dead.
His castle, Azuchi, which he claimed was the capital of the nation, was also destroyed.
The daimyo of the entire western and Kinki regions, like a pack of stray dogs whose dens had been kicked, rushed to their new masters, wagging their tails and begging for a bone in return.
Now, that high and mighty prince of the Celestial Empire has integrated 100,000 servant troops and equipped that army with the legendary Celestial Empire Divine Machine Battalion, which is said to be able to move mountains and fill seas, as well as an invincible fleet that covers the entire sea.
They split into two groups, one by land and one by sea, and charged straight towards the entire land with murderous intent!
What can we use to fight this war?
Are we going to use the flesh and blood that the Satsuma samurai are most proud of to fill those dark cannon muzzles?
This was not a war at all, but a massacre whose outcome was already predetermined!
In the suffocating silence, a young, spirited voice, trembling with resentment, broke the stillness.
"My lord! There's nothing to be afraid of!"
The speaker was Shimazu Yoshihiro's nephew, Shimazu Toyohisa. He raised his bloodshot eyes, stiffened his neck, and roared, "We Satsuma samurai only have ghosts who die in battle, not cowards who surrender! At worst, we'll just die! Let them see what a true Kyushu man is!"
"Stop! Toyohisa-sama!"
Before he could finish speaking, an elderly retainer with white hair and beard interrupted him sharply. It was none other than the family's chief scribe, Ijuin Tadatsun.
He scrambled to his knees in the center of the hall, tears streaming down his face.
"My lord! It's not that we're afraid to fight!"
"Lord Toyohisa speaks of the honor of the samurai! But honor can neither fill an empty stomach nor stop a cannonball!"
The old minister's voice was choked with sobs, filled with endless sorrow and trembling.
"That Toyotomi Hideyoshi is nothing but a lowly monkey, yet he now commands an army of 100,000! 100,000!"
"Not to mention, those who back him up are the godlike Heavenly Dynasty army, the fleet that can turn the sea black!"
"My tens of thousands of elite soldiers in Samo are each worth ten men, but can we each take on a hundred?!"
Ijuin Tadatsugu kowtowed heavily, his forehead hitting the cold ground with a dull thud.
"My lord! For the sake of the Shimazu clan's centuries-old legacy, for the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers in this city, and so that your bloodline may not be extinguished!"
He looked up, his wrinkled face full of pleading.
"Let's lower it!"
"Let's... surrender..."
These three words, like three poisoned needles tempered with ice, pierced Shimazu Yoshihiro's heart.
drop?
He was Yoshihiro Shimazu, a man who spent his life on the battlefield, with mountains of corpses beneath his feet and countless souls lost under his blade. The name "Oni Shimazu" could stop a child from crying.
This word has never existed in his dictionary.
I'd rather die standing!
I would never be born on my knees!
But reason, like a cold, venomous snake, coiled around his neck, hissing in his ear: what the old minister said was the truth.
To resist is to drag the entire Samoan nation, along with his ridiculous dignity, down to ashes.
An unprecedented sense of powerlessness instantly drained all the strength from his body.
The veins on his hand gripping the hilt of the sword bulged, yet he felt the famous sword "Muramasa," which had been with him for half his life, weigh as much as a thousand pounds at that moment.
Could it be that... the Shimazu family's centuries-old glory and heritage are really going to be destroyed in their own hands?
He slowly closed his eyes, and for the first time, his face, which was always filled with domineering and madness, showed a deathly pale color.
Inside the hall, the young warriors' resentment and the old ministers' grief intertwined to create a symphony of despair.
Everyone was convinced that the Shimazu family was finished.
Just when all hope seemed lost, a panicked shout, distorted in tone, shattered the deathly silence of the hall like a thunderclap!
"Report——!"
A samurai responsible for guarding the port stumbled and crawled into the main hall. His armor was askew, his face was bloodless, and his expression was one of extreme terror!
"My lord! Something terrible has happened!"
"Outside the port... an unidentified Western fleet has been discovered!"
The samurai's voice trembled.
"Its scale...is enormous! It's...it's heading towards us!"
"what?!"
In an instant, everyone in the hall froze, as if an invisible force had gripped their throats.
Western barbarian fleet?
At this juncture?
Who are they? Are they the remnants of the legendary, long-extinct East India Company, seeking revenge for their prince who was executed by slow slicing? Or are they another group of sharks who have smelled blood and want a piece of the pie?
Countless questions and fears surged into their hearts like a tide, making these already overburdened retainers feel as if their hearts were about to burst at any moment.
Upon hearing this news, Yoshihiro Shimazu suddenly opened his eyes!
Suddenly, a terrifyingly bright light burst forth from those eyes that had been dull and lifeless!
Is it poison?
Or is it the antidote?
Whatever it is, it's a variable!
It is the only piece in this deadlock that is not controlled by the prince of the Celestial Dynasty!
It was the last straw he could grasp, even if that straw itself was a poisonous snake!
“Take me to see it!”
He shoved aside the retainers blocking his way, no longer caring about the dignity and prestige of a family head, and rushed out with the "Muramasa" sword in his hand.
Like a wounded tiger enraged beyond measure, he used all his strength to race toward the port of Satsuma Bay, which would determine the fate of his family!
When Yoshihiro Shimazu climbed the highest observation tower in the harbor, panting, and leaned on the cold stone railing to look into the distance, he was so overwhelmed by the sight before him that he forgot to breathe.
Countless nautical miles away.
On that azure sea, a black fleet consisting of dozens of massive warships was silently approaching.
The warships were entirely black, with smooth and eerie lines, exuding an inhuman and evil power, as if they were not the creations of human craftsmen, but ghosts sailing out from the deep sea hell.
They are like a moving steel forest, casting the shadow of death slowly and steadily upon this coastline.
The sides of each warship were densely packed with layers of dark cannon muzzles, more numerous than any Western barbarian gunboat he had ever seen, so numerous it was terrifying!
At the center of the fleet stood a super flagship that could be described as a sea monster, its enormous size making the surrounding warships appear tiny.
Its mainmast soars into the clouds, like a black spear piercing the sky.
A huge black flag slowly unfurled and fluttered in the salty sea breeze.
Above the banner, beneath a huge, menacing white skull, are two scimitars gleaming with blood!
That's not the flag of any country!
That was a symbol! A symbol representing plunder, death, and absolute freedom!
That was a kind of lawless arrogance, a declaration to the whole world—
On this vast sea, the true uncrowned king.
coming!