Xinshun 1730

Chapter 174
As soon as the ship arrived in Nagasaki, the first to board the ship was to check the banned books.

The four Japanese who were in charge of inspection were all dumbfounded when they saw several large boxes full of books.

Liu Yu spent a lot of money to collect these large boxes of books and "gift" them to the Japanese.

Carefully selected, its heart can be "good".

Printed the original geometry of Christian proverbs, the theory of exorcising evil, Zhu Zi's Confucianism-style encyclopedia of ethics, and the translated "On Government" and "On Free Will" given to him by Hannibal...

Either it is carefully selected dross, or it is the content that deliberately binds Christianity and geometry, etc., or some enlightenment ideas that can scare the shogunate feudalism into a cold sweat.

A few years ago, a man named Nakane Yuangui boldly suggested to the shogunate that all calendar techniques and the methods of the Tang Dynasty were ineffective and difficult to use. After the Western calendar began to enter the Tang Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty, many things were clarified.Protestantism is strictly prohibited in this state. Books with words such as God and Matteo Ricci were burned in Nagasaki. There are very few books that are helpful for the study of history.

After this suggestion was adopted, a large number of books on the spread of Western learning entered Japan.

In addition, after the chaos at the end of Ming Dynasty, Dashun did not use Zhu Zi's Neo-Confucianism, but also studied Western learning and practical learning.

It is precisely because the west is dark and the east is bright, and the flowers inside the walls are fragrant outside the walls. Many dull and inflexible Confucian scholars of Zhu Zixue fled to Japan. Zhu Zixue's Confucianism has become more and more prosperous in Japan these years.

However, with Ogyu Sorai's exegesis, practical studies, and the lifting of the ban on Western books, Zhu Zi's Neo-Confucianism was also greatly impacted in Japan.

Liu Yu "couldn't bear" to see Zhu Zi's Neo-Confucianism being attacked in Japan, and felt deeply "regretful" that Japan lifted the ban on books such as "Original Geometry" and "Taixi Water Method". Here comes plenty of food for thought.

Especially after the ideological ban was lifted in recent years, there were also many reflections on the moral decline and hedonism caused by the lifting of the ideological ban in the late Ming Dynasty. Liu Yu carefully selected some Dashun's extremely moralistic etiquette books and sent them here.

Then there are books such as the theory of government and the theory of free will that made the shogunate full of fear of the West.

These books cannot be read by ordinary people, so they will definitely be sent to Edo first, and evaluated by Confucian scholars in Edo. Liu Yu need not be afraid of enlightening his mind.

Although it is not possible to let the local aborigines "get the Bible and lose their land" like the Europeans did in colonization, Liu Yu is happy to see the ossified Neo-Confucianism spread in Japan.

After all, Japan can be messed up: Zhu Zi's Confucianism is an ideology, so the legitimacy of the shogunate is very problematic.

As long as Dashun can continue to move forward, the distance is so close, it is absolutely possible to bring Japan back to the chaotic era.The shogunate lost power and the daimyo became independent, and enough external force could maintain this balance.

The more radical John Locke books were more closed in order to scare the shogunate.

The people inspecting the banned books were already familiar with Liu Yu's fleet, and even made a joke with Lin Yunwen, saying that they might have to study hard for several months with so many books.

None of these ships had trade credit cards, and they could enter the port just because they were familiar with them.

Not long after, Nagasaki Fengxing seized Liu Yu's boxes of books first.

After meeting Liu Yu, he arranged for someone to accompany Liu Yu to Edo Castle.

This route is the route that the Dutch take to visit Edo every year, and the time is just right. The Dutch depart in February of the Gregorian calendar every year and return around May, which happens to be staggered with Liu Yu's time.

He doesn't want to deal with the Dutch for the time being, and he doesn't want any conflicts.

The Dutch are very good at making rumors, and there is an opportunity to visit Edo once a year, so maybe they will corrupt themselves with the shogunate.

The Dutchman's gambling addiction is much greater than Liu Yu's, and his gambling courage is also greater than Liu Yu's.

During the Hirayama Changchen incident during the Apocalypse years of the previous dynasty, the Dutch dared to directly detain the Japanese ship, betting that there were Spanish Catholic missionaries hidden on it.

At the risk of being attacked for "piracy and seizure of Japanese ships", he won the bet in one fell swoop and took the opportunity to explain the merger of Spain and Portugal, which made Japan cut off trade with Portugal.

Whether it is the grasp of opportunities or the gamble that dares to gamble everything, Liu Yu is full of vigilance against the Dutch, at least for now he does not want to conflict with the Dutch - before the Hirayama Changchen incident, the Portuguese have been talking about the Dutch pirates act.If the Dutch lost the bet that time and there were no missionaries on board, basically the Netherlands would have no chance to trade in Japan.

After all, it was a Japanese ship, and if it was seized and inspected casually, the Japanese shogunate must have murmured in his heart: The Portuguese were right, this is not a pirate, what is this?
However, the bet paid off.

Now after more than a hundred years of wind and rain, the Dutch can go to Edo every year.It is said that the shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune was also an enlightened man. When he met the Dutchman, he asked a lot about sailing and the like without using a bamboo curtain.

Liu Yu knew that if he had a conflict with the Dutch now, he would definitely not have the advantage.Being able to see each other every year is not the same as spending so much effort to meet each other.

A group of people passed Kokura, changed boats, sailed along the sea along Kokura to Osaka, and went to Edo by land after landing in Osaka.

Along the way, Mantou and others dressed up as servants who followed. Mantou was proficient in business. The samurai who accompanied Liu Yu and monitored Liu Yu did not see any problems.

Some sensitive experiences along the way, such as ordnance, morale, forts, key points, etc., were also recorded by Liu Yu and others in Chinese pinyin that the Japanese could not understand.

Maps of the coastline, routes of the Seto Inland Sea, hidden reefs, islands, etc. are also drawn on white paper with onion and ginger juice.

After arriving in Edo, Liu Yu went directly to Shi Shiyong's home.

This child army spy who is skilled in horse bow and horse is now doing well in Edo. As a "queen" samurai instructor, he teaches some samurai bannermen in Edo city how to ride and shoot.

There is a special residence in Edo Castle. After all, Shi Shiyong was sent by Liu Yu, so it is a matter of course to live with him.

As soon as we met, Liu Yuxian was happy.

Shi Shiyong was wearing a kimono with a Japanese sword hanging from his waist. Except for the fact that his head was not shaved, he looked like a samurai.

"Brother Pingcheng!"

"Brother Shouchang!"

Although he lived in Edo for the past few years, the emperor felt that trust was too much and quality was useless, so he let his wife live with him.

Western women were not allowed to live in Edo City, nor were Western women allowed to follow them, but Tang women were not included in this list, especially Shi Shiyong had already won the status enough to live here with his wife by relying on his own ability.The two spoke in Chinese on weekdays, and there were also some Confucian scholars who had fled here in Edo City, and they finally did not forget their local accents.

Shi Shiyong was very excited to see Liu Yu, but he didn't express all the excitement. There were outsiders around, so he only expressed the excitement of meeting acquaintances.

"Why did Brother Shouchang come to Edo?"

"Ah, let's meet the shogun. For the time being, I will live here with Brother Heisei, and I will return in half a month. How is Brother Heiseri here?"

"Okay, very good."

Shi Shi smiled and asked his wife to serve tea, and then told the story of how he taught the samurai to ride and shoot.

Smart people know what to say when they speak, and they didn't speak too bluntly, so they told Shi Shiyong about the collected armaments and other information.

The speaker was interested, and the listener was interested. The two chatted for a while, and news came from Japan that Liu Yu would have an audience with the general in three days.

As soon as the person left, Liu Yu said: "Brother Pingcheng, this is also my first time in Edo. I wonder if I can take a stroll outside the city? If so, why not go out and see the scenery."

Shi Shi used Wen Xian to understand, knowing that it was inconvenient to talk in the room, so he took Liu Yu out for a walk.

Knowing that someone would be watching, Shi Shiyong first took Liu Yu to see the recently popular elephants in Edo Castle.A few years ago, the Ruan family in Vietnam sent the first elephant in Japanese history to Japan. In order to allow the elephant to "visit the emperor", they also gave the elephant an official title of "Four White Elephants from Guangnan Cong".

According to Liu Yu's understanding, maybe only fourth-rank officials are eligible to see the emperor?He was the most merciless, and told the story of "Wei Yigong loves cranes", and Shi Shiyong laughed wantonly.

After laughing, he led Liu Yu to wander around until he found an empty place where no one was there. Shi Shiyong said, "I don't know if I know everything and just describe it? Or is it because you ask me to answer?"

"Let me ask you an answer. From what you've seen, how do Japanese people feel about me?"

Shi Shi shook his head with a wry smile and said, "It's not good. Some people who fled here back then still think that our dynasty is a rogue, and it's wrong to win the country."

Liu Yu also smiled and said: "This is all nonsense. The Japanese think that Ming Dynasty is the country's righteousness, and they dare not attack North Korea and take Daming until the year of Renchen. It's okay to deceive fools, don't care about this."

Shi Shiyong sighed, extremely helpless.

"Having said that, there are also many people among the Japanese who are deeply concerned about the fact that they did not agree to the puppet Ming's begging teacher. At that time, Emperor Taizong followed the example of Zheng Boke and Duan Yuyan, and he never completely eliminated the false Ming. He was denounced as a traitor, and some Confucian scholars who fled here also harbored resentment towards the evaluation of the word 'traitor'. They had a very bad evaluation of Guochao."

"Furthermore, the merchants who went to Nagasaki for trade said everything in order to get a trade letter. Naturally, they praised the Japanese people fiercely, and there were many "overstepping" in their words, which further encouraged the Japanese people to be arrogant."

Shi Shiyong is not a businessman, but a spy, and he looks at the problem from the perspective of the court.Furthermore, because he is a person close to the emperor, he takes matters such as "overstepping" very seriously.

The people he comes into contact with on weekdays are many descendants of Confucian scholars who fled here in the past, and they can be regarded as starving to death without eating Zhou Su.

This hidden hostility can be felt palpably through contact.

The relationship between Dashun and Japan is very poor.

There are no official exchanges at all, and there is some unofficial trade in Nagasaki.

In the past, Dashun used Zheng Boke and Duan Yuyan's method for the sake of legitimacy. He could destroy Nanming first, but he never destroyed it, just to force Nanming to borrow troops from foreign countries.

Borrowing troops from foreign countries cannot be considered the same.

Ask Ryukyu, Burma, North Korea, etc. to borrow troops. This is the fulfillment of feudal obligations by the vassals, which is understandable.

But asking Japan and the Holy See to borrow troops can be used to make a big fuss.

With the borrowing of soldiers, Nanming was criticized with radical ideology, and the ideology of Yongjia Yongkang School deliberately supported by Dashun completely defeated Nanming's orthodoxy.

This is political wisdom.

Huang Zongxi once said that when the Song Dynasty fell in the past, Zhang Shijie sent envoys to borrow troops, and Chen Yizhong also went to Champa to borrow troops.Therefore, the situation at that time was no different from that in Song Dynasty.Besides, Tang also borrowed the words "Uyghur soldiers" and "traitors", which need to be reconsidered.

At that time, some people in the Southern Ming Dynasty also said: "If Japan is successful, the islands will be cut off. The sea and the sky are not like the Yangtze River. Even if the islands are cut off, how can they compete with me for the Central Plains?"

It's hard to evaluate this matter, and the end of the road, naturally one can't expect a feudal dynasty to have any national consciousness.

Liu Yu is well aware of the shamelessness of the ruling class, and doesn't think there is anything to make a fuss about.

However, the subsequent letters of borrowing soldiers raised a big problem.

"Compliment to the great country of Japan, everyone is righteous, everyone is brave, everyone is trained in bows and blades, everyone is used to boating, the land is next to the Buddha country, the king knows the sky... talk like crying for seven days, begging for three thousand teachers .”

"Stealing admiration for the great power of Japan, its prestige is so great that it covers all countries; respectfully compile the memorial book, and ask for three thousand soldiers: one is to unite with lips and teeth, and the other is to avenge the king and father. Let the power be respected and send troops to help."

At that time, there were many letters about borrowing soldiers, and they had different attitudes towards different countries.

For vassals like Ryukyu, the attitude is to let the vassals fulfill their feudal obligations.

And these few letters of borrowing soldiers used three very taboo words.

"Big country".

"The friendship of lips and teeth".

"Calling for Seven Days of Crying".

The former is easy to talk about, but the latter's friendship and crying for seven days is equivalent to comparing the relationship between Japan and China to Qin and Chu.

This made Japan very inflated, thinking that it was already on an equal footing with China.

Of course, as far as this matter is concerned, Liu Yu's "equal diplomacy" seems to be about the same, not to mention the second brother.

In terms of traditional ideology and equal diplomacy, Liu Yu is labeled as a "traitor" and "Qin Hui", which is not injustice.

But there is actually another thing here.

Within the East Asian system, there is no equal diplomacy, because it is all within the Chinese cultural circle.

Engaging in equality diplomacy with France, Russia, and the United Kingdom stems from the fact that they are not countries in the Chinese cultural circle, so even if they are equal, they can't do anything, because they can't win "orthodoxy."

The tributary system can be transformed into the Westphalian system, but within the scope of the tributary system, there can only be one orthodox emperor, and this orthodox emperor cannot be a Westerner.

The reciprocal diplomacy between China and Japan also involves an issue of "orthodoxy".

If everyone is a vassal, Japan feels that since the Celestial Dynasty recognizes that they are "crying for seven days" as a relationship between Qin and Chu, then why is China the orthodox emperor?

When engaging in foreign exchanges, Dashun's title is "Son of Heaven".

In other words, it is not China that communicates with the Western countries, but the entire empire of China and its surrounding vassals, and the Western countries.

The emperor of North Korea is the son of Huaxia, and the emperor of Ryukyu is also the son of Huaxia. When communicating with foreign countries, they knead the entire Chinese cultural circle into one ball.

When the treaty with Russia was concluded, Liu Yu also wrote very clearly: the vassal state is not qualified to directly negotiate and contact Russia. When the vassal state signed the contract, Liu Yu included Japan, and Russia also accepted it. .Anyway... Russia couldn't reach it, and it was very refreshing when it was signed.

Although it is temporarily impossible for Japan to fight for this orthodoxy because of its strength, the internal thought of "I am also orthodox" is very popular.

In addition, some Confucian scholars who fled back then settled in Japan, which adds a bit of argument to this truth.On the one hand, Dashun "gained a country that was not righteous" because the hungry people revolted; on the other hand, Dashun abandoned Zhu Zi's Confucianism, but added a lot of Western learning content, which made Dashun lose its "orthodox" qualification.

There are also many elders who have fled here, advocating that "orthodoxy is in Japan".Confucian scholars in Japan have also gradually accepted this kind of thinking. Although they are powerless to invade, they keep their doors closed and enjoy themselves.

The war against Japan that Liu Yu has been planning, on the one hand, is to make money, and on the other hand, it is also the time for Dashun to transform from the tributary system to the Westphalian system. The scope of this vassal includes Japan.

What Shi Shiyong said was exactly what Liu Yu wanted.He hoped that Shi Shiyong would be very dissatisfied with this, and add fuel and vinegar when he returns in the future.

(End of this chapter)