The water for making tea was boiling. Tengdo Takahu skillfully and elegantly operated the tea set. If someone who didn't know about his background saw this scene, they would definitely think that Tengdo Takahu was an elegant person from one of the five noble families.
"I heard that Yukito and Ishida sent people back to Japan to ask for a retreat?"
Kuki Yoshitaka looked at Tengdo Taka, who was making tea for him.
Tengdo Taka said with a mocking smile, "Yes, our people came back and said that many people in the 6th Army have secretly given them money, asking them to bring them back to Japan. They don't want to stay in Pusan any longer. They said that the Ming Army is too terrifying, and they can't defeat them at all. There is a possibility that the city will be destroyed at any time. Yukito and Ishida are really in a difficult position this time."
"Wouldn't it be better if they admitted defeat earlier? Now that things have become like this, they don't know how to clean up the mess, and we've been implicated as well. That guy Ukito is so favored, and he's not a commander with real power, so he definitely won't be punished. However, the others might not be so lucky, such as Ishida Sansei. "
Kuki Yoshitaka took a sip of tea.
"I also heard that President Konishi and Kato Kiyomasa are not dead. Their subordinates were killed, but they were captured alive by the Ming Army. They planned to return to Beijing and present them to the Ming Emperor. The Ming Emperor wanted to sacrifice them to the ancestral shrine, so he beheaded them in front of the shrine, and then spread the news of their deaths throughout the country. Just thinking about it makes me feel miserable! What kind of crime did they suffer? "
Tengdo Taka said meaningfully.
"Although these two people are like fire and water, they are both people that the Grand Pavilion trusts a lot. If the Grand Pavilion were to find out that these two people were captured alive, I reckon that with the Grand Pavilion's strong personality, they would not let this matter go so easily."
Kuki Yoshitaka sighed slightly. "I don't know if we can still live in peace."
"But the Taikaku didn't think about what the gap between us and the Ming Empire is now? The 40,000 Ming Army defeated our 150,000 soldiers from Pyongyang back to Pusan, and we lost no less than 100,000 soldiers! First, President Konishi, then Kato Kiyomasa, and Kuroda Nagamasa were all dead. Kato Mitsuyasu and Masuda Nagamori were also dead. No one knew how many of the generals and retainers under them had died. Under such circumstances, should they continue to fight? Isn't that courting death? "
Kuki Yoshitaka shook his head, "You can't say that. After all, judging from the strength of the North Korean Navy, it is impossible for them to threaten our mainland. They can't even threaten Horse Island. The Ming Army only has six armies and no navy, so we don't have to worry too much. The only thing we need to do now is to rescue the remaining tens of thousands of soldiers and negotiate with the Ming Kingdom. It would be best if we can end this war and not fight anymore!"
Fujido Taka smiled noncommittally and poured some tea into Kuki Yoshitaka's teacup. He raised his eyes to look at Kuki Yoshitaka's face and carefully spoke.
"But I also heard that the people in the Sixth Army are saying that the Taikaku's situation is not very good. It seems that the reason why they deliberately hid it from the Taikaku was because they didn't want Taikaku to know about this and be too agitated. I also heard that Taikaku wrote letters to the daimyo of the East, saying that they had been defeated by him and wanted to sign a peace treaty with the Ming Kingdom. And the content of the treaty is … hahaha … In your opinion, what should our navy do?"
Kuki Yoshitaka frowned slightly and looked at Fujido Taka.
In the history of Japan, Fujido Taka was regarded as a servant of eight families. He had served a total of eight masters, almost three times more than Lu Bu's record. In any case, he was definitely not a loyal person, but in the environment of Japan during the Warring States Period, as well as his natural instinct to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, it could only be said to be the "wisdom of survival."
He had indeed relied on this wisdom of survival to do very well, whether it was in the past or in the future. His masters were all dead, but he was still living well, and the more he did, the better.
However, this made Kuki Yoshitaka very unhappy. He thought that Fujido was not loyal to his master and could betray him at any time for his own interests. If not for the fact that Toyotomi Hideyoshi admired his ability, he would not have been willing to work with him, especially at this time.
"Where the navy goes, naturally the Supreme Pavilion will make the decision. We only need to listen to orders. As an official and receiving a salary, we must be loyal and not take our own matters too seriously. We must always think for the lord. Lord Tengtang-Jun, do you understand?"
Kuki Yoshitaka decided to teach Fujido Taka a lesson.
Fujido Taka was rebuffed, and he secretly despised this old man's stubbornness. On the surface, he still respectfully said, "I have learned my lesson." Kuki Yoshitaka saw that Fujido Taka behaved well, so he did not say anything more. He turned his gaze to the vast sea, worrying about the future of Japan and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. On the other hand, Fujido Taka was thinking about the matter of him pulling strings with Tokugawa Ieyasu.
This was his unique survival wisdom. When he was under the command of a lord, he had to be observant and alert. It would be foolish to follow the lord to the death. Only by following the lord and standing on the right side could he survive. This was the unchanging rule of ten thousand years.
A year ago, Fujido Taka had established a relationship with Tokugawa Ieyasu, the person who he believed was most likely to become the ruler of Japan after Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Especially after Tokugawa Ieyasu became one of the five elders of the Toyotomi regime, this kind of friendly gesture was even more obvious.
A lot of news from the frontline was gathered by Fujido Taka through his own intelligence network, and then passed on to Tokugawa Ieyasu. Unfortunately, the situation at the frontline was too tragic, and the Japanese had suffered too many losses. Many of the intelligence personnel had also died in the hands of the Ming Army. This made Fujido Taka tremble in fear.
He tried every possible way to avoid fighting with the Ming Army and even Yi Sun-sin. He tried every possible way to get himself back to Japan, but Toyotomi Hideyoshi's stubbornness made everything extremely difficult.
He was still living in the dream that everyone had made for him.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi was really old, muddle-headed, and even sick!
How could he not be depressed in his heart?
After lunch, Fujido Taka took his trusted retainers out to sea. It was called a patrol, but in reality, it was to relax. He also looked for an opportunity to pass on the information to Tokugawa Ieyasu. This was the method that he and Tokugawa Ieyasu had agreed on, so he only took his retainers and his personal troops out to sea on the same ship. Kuki Yoshitaka would not care about these things. As long as they were not seen by other navy generals, Fujido Taka was not afraid.
The sky was very blue, and the waves were rippling. Wave after wave, the hull of the ship swayed slightly. Fujido Taka successfully passed on the information this time and returned to the normal patrol route.
Because there was a problem with the supplies of the entire army, the supplies that were being transported within the country were getting lesser and lesser. Everyone was unable to eat their fill, so the retainers took the opportunity to find joy in the midst of suffering. A few soldiers who were originally fishermen even tried to fish in the sea, but to their surprise, they only managed to catch a few fresh fish. Tengdo Takahu became interested and ordered them to cook these fish and eat them on the ship.
He also took out a bottle of good wine that he had treasured and shared it with his retainers. He had always been generous in this regard, so he was very praised.
As they ate and drank, time slowly passed. Everyone on the ship was getting a little tipsy. A drunk retainer climbed to the top of the ship and looked around as usual. After looking around, he did not see anything, so he prepared to come down.
He did not know why, but after he turned around, he looked back and couldn't help but frown. He thought that he had drunk too much and was seeing things, so he rubbed his eyes and used all his strength to look into the distance. He seemed to have seen a few black dots, but he did not know what they were.
After pondering for a while, his alcohol-dulled brain could not come up with a reasonable explanation. He simply stopped thinking about it and staggered down the ship. He returned to the group that was drinking and eating, and continued to have fun. After waiting for a while, the retainer felt uncomfortable in his stomach. He excused himself and ran to the back of the ship to open the sluice to release the water.
Opening the sluice to release the water while blowing a little tune, enjoying the pleasure of taking revenge on the world, sweeping away all the pressure in his stomach. It was quite a joyful feeling. After releasing the water, the retainer stretched and breathed in the cold and damp air to calm himself down. He raised his head and looked at the horizon in the distance.
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