Edo Castle, Japan
Late December 1836
The report reached Edo before dawn.
It didn't move through the usual channels. No waiting, no delays, no passing hands. It was carried straight to the top, delivered with urgency, and placed directly before the shogun.
The moment it was read, everything changed.
What they had been trying to contain… was no longer contained.
The council was called again, but this time the mood inside the chamber felt heavier. There was no uncertainty, no room for debate about whether the situation mattered.
It did.
And everyone knew it.
This wasn't about foreign ships anymore.
It was about control.
Tokugawa Ienari sat at the center, the report laid out before him. His expression remained calm, but the silence around him carried weight. The men gathered could feel it.
Abe Masahiro knelt forward.
"It was a small group," he said. "Three men. They entered the enclosure at night and damaged one of the machines."
Matsudaira Nobuaki didn't wait.
