In fact, this was also a debt owed by both the Toyotomi clan and the Tokugawa clan.
At that time, in the face of Xiao Ruxun's great political and diplomatic pressure, the Toyotomi clan and the Tokugawa clan negotiated and decided to compromise, but the Mikado had not yet relented.
Therefore, Toyotomi Hidetsugu and Tokugawa Ieyasu acted together and threatened and tempted the Mikado. They said that as long as Qin agreed to this condition, they could get the opportunity to develop peacefully and take back the title of Mikado in the future.
However, the situation changed while the words were still in their ears.
Qin sent out his troops.
The Mikado gave up such honor and suffered such humiliation, but what did you do?
"The Mikado was forced by you to give up his right to be called Mikado to the outside world, but you can't even protect the capital? If the Toyotomi clan is so incompetent, is there any meaning in giving Guan Bai's position to you? Is there any value in giving it to you?
As a person who can't protect the capital and the Mikado, does Guan Bai still have the face to take on such a responsibility? Ask Toyotomi Hidetsugu to come see the Mikado immediately! "
A high-ranking official reprimanded him like this.
Maeda Toshinaga was furious, but he couldn't lose his appearance in front of the Mikado.
Therefore, he could only apologize and said, "It's not that Guan Bai doesn't want to come, but Guan Bai is leading the army to fight against the traitor Tokugawa. Now that the traitor Tokugawa has been defeated, Guan Bai is leading the army to help after hearing the news of Qin's treachery. Please rest assured, Your Majesty."
In order to appease this group of people who had become frightened and difficult to deal with, Maeda Toshinaga could only lie. Anyway, they didn't know the specific news, and he was in charge of the external communication in Kyoto.
Emperor Go-yōsei was relieved to hear this and asked hurriedly, "Are you sure? Is the news true? Has Guan Bai really come to protect me? "
"Yes, Your Majesty, Guan Bai is leading an army to help. Please be patient, Your Majesty. Guan Bai will soon lead a powerful army to defeat the treacherous Qin's army. He will definitely protect you."
Emperor Go-yōsei had no other choice but to comfort Maeda Toshinaga for a while before leaving. Maeda Toshinaga also left in a hurry. However, on his way back, he was stopped by a group of nobles. They asked him to send troops to protect them.
If necessary, he could even ensure that they could escape ahead of time.
Yes, they didn't really believe Maeda Toshinaga's nonsense. Unlike the Emperor who could only rely on the Toyotomi clan, their minds were much more flexible. If something really happened, they would be the first to run. After all, they still remembered how Xiao Ruxun led the Ming Army to beat the Toyotomi and Tokugawa factions.
Now that Xiao Ruxun had become the Emperor of the Qin Empire, his attitude towards Japan was very tough. Previously, it was a diplomatic condemnation, and now it was an undeclared war.
What was going on?
What was his purpose?
What did he want?
Some people had already begun to have some bad guesses.
In order to get rid of them, Maeda Toshinaga had to promise to send people to protect them. Then, he quickly returned to his own office to understand the situation with the refugees.
As a result, he realized that the situation was not good. There were too many refugees, and they were blocked at the north of Kyoto, unable to enter the city. It was a terrible situation. The nobles had repeatedly urged Maeda Toshinaga to express his stance. Otherwise, it would be difficult to control the emotions of the refugees.
This group of refugees was very irritable, as if they were being chased by demons. At first, they were still negotiating with the army, but now, they had begun to take the stance of forcing their way through. The situation was very urgent, and it was not looking good.
Maeda Toshinaga needed to make a decision immediately.
However, he was slow in making a decision. He could only call for a meeting of his nobles, and let the advisors help him discuss a strategy.
As a result, after a lot of discussion, they came up with a plan to immediately bring troops to protect the Emperor and the important personnel and leave Kyoto. This was because the nobles all agreed that this kind of 5,000 troops would definitely not be able to deal with the Qin Army. Even if 100,000 was just a name, under the current situation, a mere 5,000 troops would not be able to last until Toyotomi Hidetsugu came to help.
Not to mention, the most important thing was that they had not yet contacted Toyotomi Hidetsugu. They also did not know how many people the Qin Army had sent this time, whether it was just this one troop, or more troops. Everything was a mystery, and they did not know at all.
Looking at the current situation, once the Qin Army chased them to Kyoto and surrounded the city, everyone would not be able to absolve themselves of the blame even if they died ten thousand times.
It was better to bring the Emperor and the important personnel out of Kyoto. This was the safest and safest way.
As for how to leave, of course, it was to leave quietly in the night. Only then would it not incite the people in the city and those who did not know about the situation to riot. As for after that …
Who cares, his own survival was the most important thing.
This caused Maeda Toshinaga to sink into an even more tangled situation. His weakness of indecisiveness was exposed. Even though the nobles were urging him to make a decision, the nobles leading the troops kept urging him to make a decision, saying that the refugees were becoming more and more irritable and difficult to control.
There were already people trying to cross the defense line into Kyoto.
If it was not for the fact that it was now dark, the situation would probably be out of control. However, even if it was dark, there was no guarantee that there would not be refugees taking advantage of the night to cross the defense line and wait for daybreak outside Kyoto.
At a quarter past nine, Maeda Toshinaga made a decision. He immediately sent someone to let the Emperor know that he was leaving Kyoto, and secretly informed a high-ranking nobles, telling them to quickly pack their belongings and not to disturb others. Everyone was to escape through the night.
When Emperor Go-yōsei heard this news, he was shocked. However, he did not have the time to feel anger from being deceived. The thought of escaping took over his mind, and he immediately ordered the palace servants to pack their belongings and prepare to escape.
The size of the palace was not big, and Emperor Go-yōsei was not a rich emperor. His finances were very tight, so there was not much to pack. Instead, he was the first to pack.
After packing, he quickly brought his family and trusted palace servants and quietly left the palace.
However, it seemed that the secrecy was not done very well. Some palace servants who were about to be abandoned saw them. These palace servants thought it was very strange, so they followed them to take a look. They felt that something was wrong, so they began to move.
Emperor Go-yōsei led the team to the meeting point that Maeda Toshinaga had prepared. At this time, there were not many people there. Maeda Toshinaga was very anxious, so he sent someone to ask. In the end, the person who came said that the nobles were packing their belongings and said that they had a lot of things to take with them. They could not be fast, so they asked him to wait.
"Is your life more important or your belongings more important? If you lose your belongings, you can take them again. If you lose your life, everything is gone. Don't you understand?! "
Maeda Toshinaga's angry shout was meaningless. Soon, the nobles used their actions to tell him what they thought was more important.
In fact, to most people, when they were really on the brink of death, they always felt that money was more important than their lives, especially these nobles.
Maeda Toshinaga had to personally urge them. After two hours, most of the people had gathered. He did not care about the two or three who loved money as much as their lives. He immediately ordered the army to open a path and escort them out of the city.
As a result, when the convoy was about to arrive at the gate of the city, there was a sudden change. A group of palace people suddenly came out of nowhere and knelt in front of the convoy, begging Maeda Toshinaga to take them away, otherwise they would kneel here and never stand up.
"We are also palace servants, and we also serve the emperor. Why does the emperor want to abandon us?"
"Your majesty! Don't abandon us! "
"Your majesty! Take us with you! "
They were shouting, and it was especially loud in the dark. Their numbers were increasing, and soon there were more than a hundred of them. This made Maeda Toshinaga very angry. However, these people were palace servants of the emperor, so it was not up to him to decide how to deal with them.
"Go and ask the emperor what to do with these palace servants!"
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