Chapter 2107

Very few people can resist the temptation of power, let alone the power that is at their fingertips, and Tagawasuke is no exception. He knows very well that the armed force he currently has far exceeds that of his superior Matsuura.

He had enough strength to replace him, and the reason why he had stayed put was mainly because he was worried that the Hizen Kingdom and the shogunate would take the opportunity to intervene when chaos broke out in Hirado, allowing these external forces to reap the benefits.

If the previous lord, Matsuura Jinnobu, had not destroyed Hirado Castle to eliminate Tokugawa Ieyasu's suspicion, the Matsuura clan's territory would have been taken over by the shogunate. However, the shogunate has never given up on including the Hirado clan in the area directly under its jurisdiction.

In recent years, they have been weakening the trade status of Hirado through the lock-down order and other methods, forcing foreign merchants to transfer their trading locations to Nagasaki Port under the control of the shogunate. Even if the shogunate does not take direct action against the Hirado clan, Hirado will be in a few years

The domain's main source of income will eventually be cut off by the shogunate.

The Matsuura clan did not have the confidence to resist the shogunate's deliberate suppression, but Tagawasuke did not want to sit still and wait for death. Once Hirado lost its trade privileges, it would quickly become a rural place with only agriculture and fishery, and it would be difficult to rely on these industries alone for a long time.

Maintain a strong armed force. If there is no armed force, what else can Hirado use to bargain with the shogunate?

Therefore, in order to end this vicious cycle, Tagawasuke must first let the shogunate understand that Hirado is no longer a weakling who can be manipulated, but a local powerhouse who is qualified to sit down and negotiate terms with the shogunate.

To achieve such an effect, the first step is to replace the Matsuura clan's rule over the Hirado clan. Since this process obviously cannot be completed through negotiation, Tagawasuke can only use his armed forces.

Of course, it is necessary to find a high-sounding excuse for this kind of subjugation. Asking for orders for the people is undoubtedly an excellent entry point. The Tagawa family originally had a relatively strong influence in Hirado, and in recent years, in addition to

It should be easier to achieve intentional management based on the advice of Han staff and obtain support from the people after the uprising.

These Han leaders under Tagawasuke were basically from Shibazhi, they were ruthless and decisive in their work, and they had been preparing for this day for a long time. Therefore, after receiving Tagawasuke's statement, they immediately began to act separately.

After his men left with their tasks, Tagawa Suke glanced at Tagawa Nanzaemon who was still sitting next to him, and was quite satisfied with his calm performance. Although he was not his biological heir, Tagawa Nanzaemon was

He does have the blood of the Tagawa family, and he is young and mature. He has a composure that belies his age at a young age. This also makes Tagawa Suke quite optimistic about his future growth.

"Nanizaemon, do you know what will happen next?" Tagawasuke decided to give his godson another test to see if he was sitting here listening to the meeting just now, was he in a state of mind, or was he listening carefully to all parties involved.

Express opinions in discussions.

Tagawa Nanizaemon lowered his body and responded: "If the child understands correctly, my father will become the leader of the Hirado clan!"

Tagawasuke showed an expression of relief on his face and nodded: "Your understanding is correct. Times have changed. It's time for us, the Tagawa clan, to rule the Hirado clan!"

Although the Hirado Domain was already in a situation where the master was weak and the servant was strong, for the sake of safety, Tagawasuke ordered to gather manpower before taking action and cut off the Matsuura family's escape and rescue channels to avoid unnecessary complications.

Although Tagawasuke is only a retainer of the Matsuura clan and a vassal of the Hirado clan, the number of armed personnel he actually controls has long exceeded that of the main lord. Some of these quasi-soldiers live in Hirado Port under various disguised identities, as sailors, farmers, and shops.

Guys, coachmen... these people are almost all old members of Shibazhi and have certain combat experience. The most important thing is that they are all willing to be loyal to Zheng Zhilong's descendants and do whatever it takes for revenge. The Tagawa family deploys

Among the personnel who go overseas, these people are basically the ones who play the main role.

In addition, there are a large number of armed personnel in the training stage on the Goto Islands west of Hirado Island. The origins of these people are very mixed, including not only Japanese and Han people, but also refugees from Korea, Ryukyu and other countries.

Fugitives and even mercenaries from Southeast Asia and Europe.

Although the personnel composition is relatively complex, Tagawasuke and his staff attach great importance to the role of this group of people. The musketeers, artillery units and armed fleets under preparation basically rely on this group of people.

Tagawasuke spent two days gathering these armed forces hidden everywhere to Hirado Port, and then launched a coup one evening at the end of March. At the same time, the Haihan fleet, which was on a reconnaissance mission, was conducting another reconnaissance on its way back.

Exploring the situation of the Goto Islands, I didn’t know that Hirado Port had been turned upside down at this time.

About 1,500 armed men appeared in Hirado Port at sunset, quickly implemented an organized blockade of the port area, and surrounded the Matsuura family's residence. There were also rumors in the port area that assassins had entered Hirado.

In an attempt to assassinate the feudal lord, the port area was sealed off to facilitate the capture of the assassin and to ensure that no one would take advantage of the situation and disrupt order.

Of course, this kind of rumor was deliberately released by the Tagawa family in order to appease the public so that ordinary people would not realize that this was an armed coup for the time being. The Matsuura family's residence, which was some distance away from the city, suffered at this time.

Violent attack.

Although there are still a group of samurai resisting desperately, it is difficult for these samurai armed with steel swords to show their true strength in the face of the attacker's muskets. They can only consume the opponent's ammunition. The armed personnel commanded by the Tagawa family only paid

At a very small cost, the defense line of the Matsuura family's residence was breached.

Tagawasuke did not personally direct the attack on the Matsuura clan, but handed this task over to his extremely trusted subordinate Tagawa Kojiro. This man was not a member of the Tagawa clan, but a foreigner adopted by Tagawasuke in his early years. Later, because of his outstanding performance

Then he was given a surname and brought into the Tagawa family.

This Tagawa Kojiro is also a loyal dog. As long as it is a task assigned to him by Tagawa Suke, he will not ask for the reason, but only want to complete it successfully. Tagawa Suke did not show up and handed over this difficult task to him, which is a full compliment to him.

Trust also requires someone to do some dirty work on your behalf.

After commanding the musketeers to carry out a bloody massacre of the samurai guarding the Matsuura clan, Tagawa Kojiro did not hesitate at all and ordered that anyone who tried to escape from the area should be killed. He was worried that the feudal lord Matsuura Kohei sent these samurai to die to delay time so that they could escape.

An encirclement under his own command.

However, it soon turned out that he was actually overly worried. Matsuura Kohei and his family were all trapped in the residence, and there was no sign of escape at all. At this time, the troops loyal to the Matsuura clan had not even received the warning and had already

It was too late to come here for rescue.

Although Matsuura Kohei had no ability in governing, he still had the style as a feudal lord. When he saw the samurai-looking Tagawa Kojiro coming in, he planned to take the lead: "Bold maniac, do you know what you are doing? My retainer.

They will come soon and kill you all!"

Tagawa Kojiro was naturally unmoved. He stared at Matsuura Kohei and responded coldly: "Lord, you don't have to expect any retainers to come to save you... I am your retainer!"

Matsuura Kohei did look familiar to him, but he couldn't remember which retainer he was. He said angrily: "Whose subordinate are you? It's so rude and hateful. Go and ask your master to come see me!"

Tagawa Kojiro sneered: "Today, a group of assassins from out of town entered Hirado and attacked the feudal lord's mansion. I received the order from Lord Tagawa and came here specially to rescue them."

"It's Tagawasuke! Why didn't he come to see me by himself!" Matsuura Kohei was not an idiot. As soon as the other party announced his home address, he had already guessed the whole story. At the moment, he could only hope to confront Tagawasuke in person and convince him.

Give up the irrational thoughts. As for the foreign assassin, this is obviously an excuse made up by the other party to use force.

But Tagawa Kojiro had already received Tagawasuke's instructions before, and of course he would not quarrel with Matsuura Kohei on this issue. He just shook his head coldly and said: "Tagawa-sama is arresting assassins elsewhere and cannot come here.

Meet with the feudal lord. In order to better protect the feudal lord, I suggest you immediately hand over the Hirado clan’s treasury account books, military amulets and the feudal lord’s official seal, so that we can all save ourselves less trouble.”

Tagawa Kojiro's words basically made it clear the actual nature of the current situation. Matsuura Kohei shouted: "What a coward! Do you think that by taking away these things, you can replace me as the lord of the Hirado clan? Kyoto's

Lord Tokugawa will never approve of the sinners like you below!"

Tagawa Kojiro responded calmly: "Whether Lord Tokugawa approves or not, that's our business, Lord Lord, you don't have to worry about it. I advise you to be more cooperative, so that we can end this matter decently without making it too complicated."

Ugly.”

"If I don't cooperate, what can you do!" Although Matsuura Kohei's voice has not decreased, it can't help but have a hint of lust. Of course he knows very well that the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, who is thousands of miles away, cannot be saved at all.

Even if he can save himself, the Tokugawa general may not take action. The outbreak of civil strife in the Hirado clan may be the situation that the other party wants.

As for who will ultimately be in charge of the Hirado Domain, it probably won’t make much difference to the shogunate. After all, in this era, let alone the feudal lord, even the local daimyo changed frequently. Being overthrown by force during his reign does not count at all.

Nothing strange, it's just that Matsuura Kohei didn't expect that this kind of thing would suddenly happen to him. Usually, the old man Tagawasuke seems to be very loyal when he kneels in front of him, but who would have thought that this guy would actually be a bold and reckless person?

careerist!

"Since the adults are unwilling to cooperate, then I have no choice but to use force." Tagawa Kojiro glanced at Matsuura Kohei's trembling family members expressionlessly, then pointed at one of them and said: "Drag them out and chop off their heads!"

Immediately, several warriors like wolves and tigers came up and dragged out the person pointed by Tagawa Kojiro. This person was Matsuura Nagamasa, the third brother of Matsuura Kohei. Although he struggled hard, he was no match for several people who worked together.

, was subdued in a few seconds, and then several samurai grabbed his hands and feet and lifted him out directly. Although Matsuura Kohei was shocked that Tagawa Kojiro gave such an order, he still believed that the other party would not really hurt anyone, so he did not

Just let go.

However, within a few moments, Matsuura Nagamasa's head was placed on the tray usually used to hold tea cups and presented to him. His eyes were still wide open, as if he could not believe what he had experienced until he died.

When the Matsuura family members, including Matsuura Kohei, saw this head, they finally understood that the other party was not joking with them, but a ruthless murderer, and they suddenly burst into tears. Even Matsuura Kohei lost his temper just now.

He was so strong that his face turned pale.

"Lord of the feudal lord, hand it over, don't make the scene too ugly." Tagawa Kojiro's voice sounded again: "I ask once, and if you don't agree, I will kill someone. Don't worry, I will keep you until the end and let you

Watch your family members being killed one by one!"

Matsuura Kohei was angry and scared, but he had no way to fight against Tagawa Kojiro at the moment, and he didn't even have the bargaining chips to negotiate terms. Seeing that Tagawa Kojiro's eyes had begun to wander around his family again, Matsuura Kohei had no choice but to

He compromised, but he wanted Tagawa Kojiro to promise that he could save the lives of the Matsuura clan members after he handed over these things.

"Of course." Tagawa Kojiro responded firmly: "As long as I get these things, I can let you leave Hirado. Then you can go wherever you want."

So Matsuura Kohei honestly told where these important items were hidden, and following his instructions, Tagawa Kojiro's men quickly found these items.

Tagawa Kojiro didn't dare to be careless at all, so he took it and inspected it himself to confirm that these things were genuine. Otherwise, if there was something fishy about it, if he took it later to claim credit from Tagawa, something big might happen.

"It's time for you to fulfill your promise and let us leave here!" Matsuura Kohei was worried that the other party would change his mind, so he quickly urged him again.

Tagawa Kojiro nodded and said: "Thank you for reminding me, sir. I will send you on your way."

Matsuura Kohei heard that something was wrong with his tone. Just as he was about to argue a few more words, Tagawa Kojiro was already giving an order: "Kill them all, and then set fire to the house and burn it down. Don't leave any evidence!"

That night, a raging fire broke out in the Matsuura family's residence, and the fire could be seen in the dark night throughout the Hirado Port area. The fire burned for a whole night before it was slowly extinguished. It was only at dawn that rescue workers arrived at the scene and began

Searching for the victims in the ruins. Of course, all they could find were a pile of charred corpses, including more than thirty members of the Matsuura clan, plus more than twenty guards and more than a dozen domestic servants.

They all died in this unknown fire.
Chapter completed!