After destroying a large number of Japanese customs ships and small morning ships anchored in Uraga Port, the entire combined fleet, including Yang Zhen's men, finally saw clearly the strength of the Japanese navy.

Therefore, everyone is very relieved that the fleet is divided into two and moves separately.

Including the matter of Lemaia leading the East Route Squadron and heading straight into Edo Bay, no one thought there was anything wrong with doing so.

After all, as long as they don't easily go ashore to fight, they are considered invincible.

Correspondingly, the last Japanese samurai leader who was imprisoned in the bottom cabin of the Yingzhou, an Ashigaru head who reported his name as Rokkaku Genjiro, also witnessed the Japanese navy almost without firing a shot.

After the entire army was wiped out, he took the initiative to ask Yang Zhen to surrender.

It was from the mouth of this little Japanese ashigaru head named Rokkaku Genjiro, who was in his thirties, that Yang Zhen learned that the reason why the Japanese navy did not have large ships was because the Tokugawa shogunate himself ordered the ban.

In fact, just twenty or thirty years ago, the Japanese were able to build large ships, and the Anzhai ships built by the Japanese at that time were quite large.

Otherwise, how could the Japanese pirates from the southwestern vassals of Kyushu have crossed the sea and rampaged across the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty?

However, since the Tokugawa shogunate ruled, the shogunate specifically issued a decree prohibiting the construction of large ships in order to weaken the naval strength of daimyo from various places, especially the daimyo from outside Kyushu.

This ban on the construction of large ships not only prohibited the daimyo of each domain from building any ship with a load of more than 500 koku, but also stipulated that when the daimyo of the domain went to Edo to attend to any duties, they could only use the Kanbune ship.

Because of this, the feudal lords of the Japanese kingdom could no longer own the large-bodied Da'an house ships that were as huge as those of the past.

As a result, several Japanese powerful vassals that once had considerable naval strength, such as the Hirado Domain and Satsuma Domain on Kyushu Island, and the Tosa Domain on Shikoku Island, saw their naval strength decline rapidly.

Because in the final analysis, if a naval force is to be strong, it mainly depends on its warships, and whether a warship is strong or not depends first on its size.

If the warships are not large in size and are mainly small and medium-sized ships, then they will definitely have no chance of winning against giant ships and heavy artillery.

And this is exactly how the Japanese navy warships in Uraga Port performed so poorly when faced with the giant ships and heavy artillery of the Dutch fleet and the Ming Dynasty Kinkai navy that was rapidly transforming into giant ships and heavy artillery. They were unable to parry.

The root cause of the force.

Under the shogunate's order to seize the country, how could a bunch of cargo ships or fishing boats that mainly sailed inland seas and coastal waters, with a maximum load capacity of no more than 500 koku, be able to withstand a giant warship equipped with a large number of heavy artillery?

"Rokkaku Genjiro! Are you really willing to be loyal to me?"

On the evening of September 12, in order to bluff Le Maia's East Route Squadron into Edo Bay, Yang Zhen led the West Route Squadron to bombard Uraga Port for nearly an hour.

It was not until night fell and the lights lit up on the coast that Yang Zhen led the West Route Squadron to quietly evacuate from Uraga Port, turned around in the night, and sailed towards the Izu Islands.

Hearing that the Japanese Ashigaru leader who was imprisoned in a bottom cabin of the Yingzhou voluntarily asked to surrender, Yang Zhen was very happy and immediately asked someone to take him to the large cabin on the stern of the ship where he was staying.

In the large cabin on the stern of the Yingzhou ship, there was a lamp like a bean. Yang Zhen and Ma Jindao were sitting on a chair. He Tingbin and Guo Xiaowu were on the left and right.

The Japanese Ashigaru Rokkaku Genjiro, who took the initiative to ask for surrender, was a few steps away, kneeling on the wooden floor of the large cabin.

Just now, under He Tingbin's translation, Yang Zhen saw with his own eyes that this person answered all his questions, which eliminated his doubts about the vulnerability of the Japanese naval warships, and suddenly felt that he was indeed necessary

It's to win over this person.

If he can really be used for his own purposes and knows the road from Osaka to Kyoto City, then this person may not be unable to stay or be recruited and put to good use.

Yang Zhen didn't know the origin of Rokkaku Genjiro, but it was said that this man was wearing armor when he was captured on Izu Oshima, and there was a layer of Jinhaori with quite good texture outside the armor.

From this alone, Yang Zhen could tell that Rokkaku Genjiro might not have a low background, and he was not an ordinary Ashigaru leader.

At this time, Yang Zhen finished his question and stared at Genjiro Rokkaku, who was kneeling on the deck of the cabin, waiting for his answer.

"I have decided to surrender to you, please understand clearly!"

The above is the honorific title given to the general by the Japanese warriors.

At this time, Rokkaku Genjiro said this, which naturally reflected his attitude towards Yang Zhen.

However, after listening to He Tingbin's translation, Yang Zhen was still doubtful.

"Haha, yesterday on Izu Oshima, I personally asked you to surrender, but none of you were willing to bend the knee and serve me, so I ordered the killing of three people in a row. I ask you, why did you refuse to cooperate at that time?

Now you can answer all your questions?"

"Because at that time, I thought it was impossible to win because there were only a few ships loading samples. Moreover, I was not asked when loading samples."

"Didn't I ask you?"

After listening to Rokkaku Genjiro's answer translated by He Tingbin, Yang Zhen was a little stunned for a moment.

But after thinking about it, it seemed that several prisoners were brought to him at that time, but he refused to speak even after asking several people, so he immediately ordered the three people in front of him to be killed.

As for the remaining few, Yang Zhen asked people to interrogate two more, but the result was that they would rather die than surrender, and refused to cooperate, so they simply gave up the interrogation.

Now that I think about it, Genjiro Rokkaku was really the smallest among the prisoners at that time, and the one with the least conspicuous cat behind him.

"Then let me ask you, your colleagues would rather die than surrender, and would rather be beheaded on the spot, than surrender to me or be loyal to me. Why are you not like them?"

Although Yang Zhen was happy in his heart about Genjiro Rokkaku's initiative to pledge his allegiance, he did not dare to believe it easily.

After all, the other party is a Japanese, and Yang Zhen has a natural distrust of the Japanese.

"I would like to ask the superior, if I am like others and refuse to be loyal to the superior, will the superior release me?"

"Release? Haha, how is it possible? If you refuse to be loyal to me, I will just behead you like other Japanese people and throw your body into the sea to feed the fish!"

Facing this short but deep-faced Japanese Ashoka, Yang Zhen made no secret of his true thoughts.

"I have made up my mind to be loyal to Shangyang just to avoid the fate of being beheaded and executed by Shangyang!"

"oh?"

Rokkaku Genjiro's answer once again made Yang Zhen stunned.

"But, I heard that as warriors, you all respect the Bushido, which is the samurai laws promulgated by the shogunate. I heard that warriors regard honor as life, and defeated generals are only mortal. Why do you and others

different?"

Yang Zhen's words sounded a bit murderous and heart-wrenching.

But regardless of whether it was a heart-wrenching remark or not, what Yang Zhen wanted to find out most now was how sincere Rokkaku Genjiro was in surrendering his allegiance to him.

If he couldn't figure out why this person suddenly chose to surrender and pledge allegiance to him, Yang Zhen couldn't rest assured.

After all, Yang Zhen had heard of the so-called Bushido of the Japanese.

"If I were an ordinary warrior, then if I were defeated and captured, I would die without any hesitation, without scruples, and without hesitation."

Yang Zhen's heart-breaking words indeed had an effect. After hearing He Tingbin's translation, Rokkaku Genjiro raised his head, was stunned for a moment, and then said this.

"However, I am the remnant of the Rokkaku clan from the direct line of Sasaki in Omi Province. I shoulder the heavy responsibility of reviving the family name. I am only a guest under Matsudaira Izu Morimeo. How can I die easily, like ordinary samurai?"

"What is Sasaki's direct lineage from Omi Province?"

Although Yang Zhen can be regarded as a man of two generations, he had little interest in the history of the Japanese in later generations, and he did not know much about the so-called Warring States Period of the Japanese when novices pecking each other like village chiefs fighting.

Therefore, after listening to He Tingbin's translation of Rokkaku Genjiro's words, he couldn't figure out what Rokkaku Genjiro meant, so he could only ask He Tingbin instead.

After hearing Yang Zhen's inquiry, He Tingbin quickly started chatting in Japanese with Rokkaku Genjiro, who claimed to be a direct descendant of Sasaki from Omi Province.

After a while, He Tingbin bowed to Yang Zhen with a solemn expression and said:

"Captain, this Rokkaku Genjiro has an unusual background. He is the grandson of Rokkaku Yoshiken, the direct lineage of the Sasaki family, guardian of Omi Kingdom, and the governor of the Rokkaku clan.

"When the Sasaki family, the guardian of Omi Kingdom, was destroyed by Oda Nobunaga, the then governor of the family, Rokkaku Yoshihide, led his disciples to join Toyotomi Hideyoshi. One of his sons, Rokkaku Yoshiharu, became the archmaster of Toyotomi Hideyori, the heir to the Toyotomi family.

"And this Rokkaku Genjiro is the son of Toyotomi Hideyori's archery master Rokkaku Yoshiharu. His real name is Rokkaku Sadaharu, also known as Sasaki Sadaharu. He is the descendant of the Rokkaku clan, the direct lineage of the Sasaki family in Omi Province!"

"Oh? His father is Toyotomi Hideyori's archery master?!"

Yang Zhen was not interested in the many things that He Tingbin relayed about Chen Guzi and rotten sesame seeds, Omi Sasaki, and Oda Nobunaga. However, the Toyotomi Hideyori mentioned in He Tingbin's words successfully aroused Yang Zhen's interest.

of attention.

Although Yang Zhen did not understand the grievances and resentments between famous Japanese people such as Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, he also knew that the power of the Tokugawa family was obtained from the Toyotomi family.

It was precisely because of the defeat of the Toyotomi clan and the elimination of the Toyotomi family's power in Osaka that the Tokugawa family was able to successfully establish the shogunate and finally achieve control over the Japanese slave country.

From this point of view, the ancestors and fathers of Rokkaku Genjiro should be one of the forces that sided with the Toyotomi family and fought against the Tokugawa family.

So why is he now the ashigaru head under one of the most loyal lackeys of the Tokugawa family, Matsudaira Izu Morinobu Tsuna?

Yang Zhen raised his question to He Tingbin, and He Tingbin turned around and asked Rokkaku Genjiro again.

After a conversation, He Tingbin bowed to Yang Zhen again and said:

"Long before the Tokugawa family launched the Osaka Winter Battle, Rokkaku Yoshitsune had passed away, and Rokkaku Yoshinori's family lost the knowledge and salary given by the Toyotomi family.

"For this reason, during the Summer Battle of Osaka the following year, Toyotomi Hideyori committed suicide, and when Osaka was captured by the Tokugawa family, the survivors of the Rokkaku clan were not liquidated.

"Furthermore, because the Rokkaku family is a direct descendant of the Sasaki family, the daimyo of Omi Province, Rokkaku Yoshihide was once a famous general who fought against Oda Nobunaga, so he received certain preferential treatment and was included in the banner of Matsudaira Nobutsuna, an important minister of the Tokugawa family.

"

"oh."

After hearing what He Tingbin said, Yang Zhen seemed to understand a little.

But he still asked another more heart-wrenching question.

"Then, since the Rokkaku clan received preferential treatment from Matsudaira Nobutsuna, an important minister of the Tokugawa family, why did he refuse to die for him and switch to us?"

Yang Zhen said this while looking at He Tingbin, but he was still asking Rokkaku Genjiro, who claimed to be Sasaki Sadaharu.

He Tingbin translated the words and saw Genjiro Rokkaku taking a deep breath, then exhaling it, and then kowtowed heavily on the floor and muttered a lot of words.

"The Governor, he said that the Governor's army is far more powerful than Izu Mori Matsudaira Nobutsuna, the muskets, artillery, ships, everything is more powerful than Izu Mori Matsudaira Nobutsuna, and also more powerful than the shogunate.

"He hopes to follow the governor, serve the governor, and make contributions. He hopes that one day he can revive the Rokkaku family's reputation and restore the Sasaki family's ancestral business!"

"I see."

After hearing He Tingbin's translation, Yang Zhen suddenly felt enlightened. He nodded immediately, stood up from the armchair where he was sitting, walked forward, possessed Rokkaku Genjiro and pulled him up, and said to him:

"Since you have such ambitions and are a famous general, then follow me. As long as you can make meritorious deeds in the future, I will fulfill your wish."

Yang Zhen is not afraid that Rokkaku Genjiro wants anything. On the contrary, if he really wants nothing, Yang Zhen will be worried.

The most important thing is that Yang Zhen also heard that this Rokkaku Genjiro has lived in Osaka since he was a child, and he should be familiar with everything there. With him, he also has a guide.
Chapter completed!