Chapter 852: Western Visitor
After the smaller meeting concluded, Qi Xuansu followed Gosaku and the others to attend the main assembly.
Ise Province’s current situation was too unusual. One could go dozens of kilometers without seeing a soul. Neither the Chancellor’s Office nor the Daoist Order had sent spies into this region. Qi Xuansu had initially refused many times before finally agreeing under pressure, which in Gosaku’s eyes made him seem all the more trustworthy. If Qi Xuansu had really been a spy, he would have eagerly seized the chance to climb upward.
The hall and courtyard instantly turned quiet.
Clearly, the location for this assembly had been carefully chosen.
Metropolitan White stood tall, performed a Western gesture of greeting, and then spoke in fluent Wa language. “I’ve come here on behalf of Cardinal Deacon Brown to offer our sincerest greetings to you all. To assist you in resisting foreign aggression, the Holy Court has brought 30 new cannons and 2,000 new-model rifles as a token of goodwill.”
Someone chuckled coldly and said, “Master Masao, cakes don’t just fall from the sky. These Westerners surely didn’t come here out of charity. Once it’s all over, how much land will they demand? Or what kinds of contracts will we be forced to sign?”
“Pft! Double-dealers! Trying to do business with the Daoist Order on one hand and preach support to us on the other... I reckon they can’t be trusted.”
Qi Xuansu could not help but sigh inwardly. This was invaluable intelligence. Even if he failed to persuade Suzuka Gozen to join their cause, this trip to Ise Province had not been in vain.
It turned out to be someone from the Western Holy Court. As expected, the West could not resist stepping in, taking advantage of the chaos to meddle in Eastern affairs.
This move would just be handing Fenglin over to the Daoist Order on a silver platter.
Excluding the Fenglin Court, the Tenmon Sect, the Buddhist Sect, and the regional daimyos, the Sonno-joi patriots were primarily composed of lower-ranking samurai and had 13 key leaders. Today, two of them appeared in the same place.
“Now, the Daoist army is pressing in, slaughtering the loyal, devastating the land, stopping at nothing. All present here today have either suffered the loss of their families or the murder of their kin. I need not elaborate on such pain.