Treaty of Edo

At this moment, the Shogunate found itself in a truly awkward predicament: they could neither win a fight nor escape. To the Shogunate, the entire Austrian Imperial Navy fleet appeared as a fortress of black iron, leaving them with no way to strike back.

However, what truly drove them to despair was a typhoon that had struck the day before. A rare typhoon had visited Edo Bay, and the townspeople throughout Edo Castle were complaining about the terrible weather.

Yet, inside the palace, Abe Masahiro was dancing about as if possessed by madness.

"Heaven helps me! The Divine Wind has come! The Divine Wind has come! Shinatsuhiko! Protect your people!"

(Shinatsuhiko, the name of the Wind God.)

At first, the samurai within the castle thought their Chief Roju had lost his mind, but they soon understood the situation and joined in the frenzy.

That night, the lights in Edo Castle never went out, and the singing and dancing continued until dawn as people toasted to this hard-won victory.

The next morning.

Edo Castle was in shambles from the passing typhoon, but the high-ranking officials of the Shogunate were in no mood to organize disaster relief; they were all impatient to climb into their kago and head to the seaside to see what had happened.

(The so-called kago is a Japanese palanquin, but the space inside is extremely small, allowing only one person to sit cross-legged; it is more like an instrument of torture than a means of transport.)

The Divine Wind held a sacred status in the hearts of the Japanese. The Mongol Empire had once swept across the Eurasian continent, but they suffered a crushing defeat when they attempted to invade Japan, with losses no less severe than those at the Battle of Ain Jalut (the battle where the