Chapter Eighty-Five: Plunder and Destruction

  This kind of organized looting is very efficient, especially since Yang had made sufficient preparations beforehand. The wealth map of Osaka was already being drawn up by his business employees from the moment he conceived this evil idea. Now, even Yang himself can't count how many companies he has; last year, the number of employees in these companies reached 50,000 people. Such a huge commercial empire is more efficient at doing things that big bosses like than any government agency.

  Osaka, Kobe, Tokyo, Yokohama... the wealth map of Japan's major cities has long been drawn, and even the latest fortresses have not escaped his clutches. The power system of the Yohei fortress was contracted by Edison Company, and Edison Company's generators had to be equipped with Yang-style small diesel engines or steam turbines, so several engineers from Yang-style Power participated in the project. This Japanese person would never know that the tragedy of this fortress was doomed from the moment it was built.

  Just like Osaka, from the day Yang Feng's gaze fell on it, its tragedy was doomed. Five thousand fully armed professional pirates held maps marked with all banks, shops, wealthy merchants and even temples in Osaka, and began to rush towards their respective targets according to the tasks assigned before disembarking.

  Apart from this, there is also a group of people who are specifically responsible for sabotage. All Japanese factories, regardless of what they produce, even if it's just toilet paper, will be destroyed. Machines will be loaded with explosives and blown up, and factory buildings will be doused in gasoline and set on fire. The goal is to make Japan's fragile industrial system regress by ten years overnight.

  There are also some people who set their sights on those schools, and their task is very simple, which is to go and loot. Of course, they will take advantage of the students, but this would have an impact on Boss Yang's reputation, after all, there are many foreigners in this city. Looting can be forgiven, it's what European soldiers do when they capture a city, destroying factories is also reasonable, Grant became President of the United States even though he burned down the South during the American Civil War.

  But to have an organized massacre of young children, this is absolutely heinous, even if it's Yang's wild ambition, it's not right to do so. So his target is those scholars and professors. In a chaotic war, killing a few hundred people like them wouldn't be a big deal. While destroying Japan now, he also wants to burn their future to ashes.

  Thus the invaders, each doing their part, began their roulade of the city.

  Yang stood on the deck of the Plunderer, gazing at the burning Osaka with a very satisfied look, finally having a sense of fulfillment.

  At this time, Tokyo had already been bombed, and when Ito Hirobumi received the news, he couldn't help but spit out another mouthful of blood. At this rate of bleeding, if it happened a few more times, Prime Minister Ito would likely die from blood loss.

  "Hurry, hurry, I want to enter the palace and pay respects." He said in a trembling voice to his secretary. The Imperial Guard Division is not something he has the authority to mobilize, this is the Emperor's personal guard, without the Emperor's orders it is absolutely impossible.

  Actually, Emperor Meiji had already received the news at this time, and he was more anxious than Ito Hirobumi! Osaka is the source of wealth in Japan, and the importance of this city to its own country cannot be overstated. Before Ito Hirobumi arrived, the imperial order had already been sent to Komatsu-no-Miya Akihito, the commander of the Imperial Guard Division.

  The entire Imperial Guard Division was immediately mobilized, and then met with Prime Minister Itō, to start boarding the train southbound at the fastest speed. Although this division was not fully manned, it had reached a scale of four infantry regiments plus one artillery regiment, with more than 10,000 people in the division completing boarding within an hour. What they didn't know was that at this time, the looter Osaka, who was idle in Osaka, had also set off northbound.

  Now there's nothing to do, with the advance of those 5,000 fully armed mercenaries, the entire Osaka has become a sea of flames. The only place still controlled by the Japanese is the Osaka Castle. Before leaving, Yang Feng let the looter fire several hundred rounds of toxic gas shells at the castle walls and then ignored it. He turned east and sailed over the destroyed Yura fortress, satisfying his nostalgia for the beauty of destruction. Then he began to sail north along Japan's coastline, destroying all visible railway bridges and stations within range of his ship's guns.

  The young Prince Komatsu no Miya on the train immediately stopped the speeding train without hesitation when he found that strange warship with a yellow dragon flag on the sea. As soon as the train stopped, shells arrived from the other side. More than 1,000 soldiers rushed to escape from the train and fled into the nearby mountains under the firelight of exploding shells, watching it blow up the train and then turn around and leave.

  At that time, Osaka had also been looted almost clean. Although it was a big city, Japan's economic level at that time was far lower than China's. Yang Feng described it as the Shanghai of Japan, but it couldn't be compared to the real Shanghai. In fact, under such efficient looting, in just one day, everything that could be done had been done.

  The main targets are just a few, the banks opened by Japanese people, the headquarters of Sumitomo Financial Group, the Osaka branches of other Japanese financial groups, several famous temples, and then there are those rich people who live in Osaka. However, since the Japanese like to hide their gold and silver deeply, it brings some difficulty to the collection work. Fortunately, many of these rich people have not had time to escape, just catch them and torture them severely.

  During this period, something unexpected happened. After all, the Japanese couldn't just watch as their homes were looted. After Governor Yamada and his sword-wielding team were smoked out with poison gas and then killed by naval gunfire, several batches of brave Japanese people spontaneously organized to try and drive these invaders out of their homes. However, they clearly underestimated the fighting strength of these guys. Not to mention those warriors who mainly relied on swords, even if they were replaced with real Japanese army troops, they wouldn't have any advantage in the hands of these guys. One by one, they were almost immediately turned into sieves by dense and accurate gunfire as soon as they faced each other.

  The real Japanese army did come, should be the garrison in Kyoto, but there were only a few hundred people, taking the train through the Keihan line to rush over, even pulling two small cannons to confront the three destroyers and six landing ships, unfortunately, the train was hit by a barrage of shells as soon as it arrived, both sides had not yet faced each other when they were bombed to destruction.

  In addition to the news, Wu Zhen's guard house also dispatched four small torpedo boats, attempting to attack the fleet on the narrow Yodo River waterway. As a result, as soon as they entered Osaka Bay, they were named one by one by the destroyer left outside on guard. A minelayer also sneaked out of the Naruto Strait, wanting to drop sea mines in the Kitan Strait, but coincidentally collided with the returning Raider and then blasted into the seabed without hesitation. Just when Yang Feng was about to pass through the Kitan Strait, he really encountered a sneak attack.

  Watching the small gunboat emerging from the Myeongryang Strait while firing, Yang Da Boss, who was drinking water, spat out a mouthful of water.

  This is the Feng Xiang, a gunboat left to guard Wu Harbour, now the most powerful naval force of the Japanese Navy on the Inland Sea, a three-hundred-ton wooden paddle steamer, this twenty-year-old antique was shaking and trembling like an old man waving his walking stick as it approached at less than ten knots, then was lightly pushed by the Plunderer with its cannons and sank very neatly to the bottom of the sea.

  The sinking of the Fengxiang marked the end of Japanese resistance, but Yang Feng was still uneasy and called out the destroyer responsible for sentry duty to patrol the Ki Channel before returning to Osaka. Looking at the city in front of him, which was full of scars, he nodded with satisfaction, then casually found a few factories that looked relatively intact, confirmed that there were no friendly forces inside, and let the Plunderer practice its shooting with naval guns before notifying each unit to prepare for withdrawal.

  However, the withdrawal process took a bit longer than expected. It was clear that the soldiers were somewhat reluctant to leave, especially since many of them had already indulged in destruction and couldn't help but have other thoughts on their minds. Seeing the Japanese women cowering before them like helpless lambs, it was easy for people to feel a twinge of sympathy. Yang didn't usually pay attention to such things, so it was understandable that many were still busy with their tasks and couldn't withdraw immediately.

  Yang Feng looked at those hastily returning soldiers in dismay, and quite a few of them were even carrying women.

  "This is outrageous! They're nothing but a bunch of pirates!" he said with a scowl.

  The pirates withdrew with satisfaction, leaving the Japanese a burning city. When Ito Hirobumi arrived here by naval torpedo boat the next day, the flames of Osaka had not yet been extinguished. Almost all factories were destroyed, countless properties looted, and tens of thousands of people killed or injured, including the governor of Osaka Prefecture. The most heartbreaking thing was that several famous schools were burned to ashes, and teachers who did not have time to escape were all killed. Compared with property losses, this is the most heart-wrenching.

  What's more important is that the fortress of Yoshino was destroyed. This fortress, which has been under construction since 18**, and still hasn't been fully completed, was blown to smithereens. The Seto Inland Sea was left wide open, and it can be imagined that those pirates won't just come once to plunder. It's likely that not only Kobe, but also Tokyo, and even Sendai will become their targets in the future.