Emperor Ming Dynasty

"Patriarch, something is wrong—"

Satsuma Clan, Kagoshima Castle, the current Patriarch Mitsuhisa Shimadzu finished his one-year service in Edo, returned to his feudal domain, and was leisurely enjoying ochazuke.

The Tokugawa shogunate's attendance system requires the family members of the local princes to be hostages in Edo. He himself stays in Edo for one year and stays in the vassal for one year, so as to restrain his rebellion.

The princes not only made pilgrimage, but also brought a large number of warriors and servants to settle down.

Just like Shimadzu Mitsuhisa, he took thousands of samurai to the capital Edo for a year to eat, drink and have fun. Half of the feudal wealth was spent in it, making the population of Edo exceed one million and contributing a lot of consumption economy.

Later, most of the daimyo feudal lords were born in Edo and regarded it as their first hometown, so that the generals had to return the daimyo to go home and fight for power with the samurai.

After the Meiji Restoration, it was so easy to abolish feudal clans and set up counties.

"What's the matter?" Mitsuhisa Shimadzu reluctantly put down the bowl and chopsticks, raised his head and asked, his brows and eyes were full of anger.

"There is news from Ryukyu that the envoys sent by the Ming Dynasty will come to this country to congratulate the general on his succession."

The samurai knelt on his knees and bowed his head.

In June of the fourth year of Qing'an (1651), Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third-generation shogun, died at the age of 47. His second son, Tokugawa Ietsuna, who was only ten years old, held a general announcement ceremony in Edo and became the ruler of Japan.

"Ryukyu, Ming Envoy—" Shimadzu Mitsuhisa fell into thought.

After losing 120,000 koku land in Ryukyu, the Shimadzu family immediately dropped to 600,000 koku, but their income increased instead of decreasing.

Without him, due to the rise of the Ryukyu trade, the Shimadzu family secretly did business with it, and thus gained huge profits. A small amount of land and population is nothing.

Soon, the old Shimadzu Hisami came.

"Patriarch, Ming people are not kind." Shimadzu Hisaichi said in a deep voice.

"Of course I understand." Mitsuhisa Shimadzu nodded and said, "This is not long after the general passed away, the general is young!"

"Then my Shimadzu family?" Shimadzu Jiutong raised his head and asked.

"Naturally, the two don't help each other."

Mitsuhisa Shimadzu took it for granted: "The Ming people have thousands of troops in Ryukyu, and the navy will crush us even more. If we help the shogunate, we will be the first to be unlucky."

"As it is."

Then, a letter went to Edo Castle.

At this time, the shogun was assisted by his uncle Masaoyuki Hoshina, Tadakatsu Sakai, Nobuzuna Nakamatsuhira, and Tadaaki Abe.

When the four of them heard the news about Satsuma, they were shocked and felt uneasy.

Originally, after Tokugawa Iemitsu's death, there was an uproar about the Qing'an incident (the Ronin Rebellion), and soon after it subsided, Mingren came.

"What is Ming people doing?" Bao Ke Zhengzhi sat upright and asked.

"If it's as expected, it's nothing more than benefits."

"When the general was young, he wanted to subdue us."

The old man Sakai Tadakatsu said in a deep voice: "There are more and more Ming merchants coming and going from Nagasaki, saying that the Ming country quelled the rebellion and even surrendered the Mongols."

"At this moment, his eyes are probably aimed at us, Japan."

"Aren't people afraid of kamikaze?" Matsudaira Nobutsuna narrowed his eyes in disbelief.

"The shogunate has [-] banners, hundreds of vassal states in the world, and millions of soldiers. I can see if people will come."

Banner is a direct minister of the shogunate. The territory is less than [-] shi, basically two or three villages, and it is only a food town, so it cannot be directly managed.

They are the ruling foundation of the Tokugawa shogunate.

"Since Ryukyu was occupied last year, didn't the Ming people talk about the king of Japan?" Abe Tadaaki spoke, which directly woke everyone up:

"Pay tribute to the Ming people, just like North Korea."

The old middlemen straightened their backs instantly.

From an independent country to a dependent country, in the East where legal principles and names are valued, it is a matter of life and death.

If you accept the title of King of Japan, where will the word go to the emperor?Isn't it the case that the shogun is the minister and the Ming emperor is the king?
If the ministers have no two masters, the emperor will inevitably be abandoned, which will shake public opinion.

You know, although the Japanese emperor is a mascot and the imperial court is just a seal, it has existed for thousands of years, and its influence cannot be underestimated.

"What if you don't accept it?" Sakai Tadakatsu said in a deep voice.

"I'm afraid there may be an accident." Abe Zhongqiu bowed his head and bowed down: "The general is young, and the vassal states have been coveting for a long time. Once we lose both with the Ming Dynasty, only those foreign daimyos will benefit."

The external daimyos, that is, the daimyos who surrendered and kept the vassal land after the Sekigahara War, are juxtaposed with the pro-vassal daimyos (such as the Royal Sanjia) and the Pudai daimyos (the daimyos who followed before the Sekigahara War).

For example, the Satsuma, Changzhou, Hizen, and Tosa domains that fell in later generations are the foreign daimyos.

"I heard that the explainers are in Beijing. They have 200,000 banners. They are called Yuying. They are all elites who followed Emperor Shaowu in the southern and northern wars."

Baoke Zhengzhi shook his head and sighed.

As soon as these words came out, everyone was dumbfounded.

The shogunate was Taiping for 50 years, not to mention the loose banners. Even if the 200,000 banners of the Sekigahara Battle were still there, it would be difficult to fight against [-] people.

For a while, they fell into a stalemate.

Half a month later, Nagasaki received news that the envoy had arrived.

Afterwards, the envoys of the Ming Dynasty had to abandon the ship and leave, and came to the famous Edo Castle.

Zhu Jing looked up at the city, quite amazed.

At this time, Edo City was about ten miles long from east to west, eight miles wide from north to south, and surrounded by inner and outer moats. The circumference of the outer moat was about 32 miles, about three times the size of the Forbidden City.

I thought it was a remote and desolate country, but I didn't expect to be able to build such a big city, which is no less than an ordinary city.

What surprised him the most was that a tower stood tall, with white walls and green tiles, together with the stone seat, about ten feet high, with six floors.

"This is the Tianshou Pavilion. When the big names from all over the world come to visit, they will meet the general here."

The samurai who led the way proudly introduced, his face full of pride.

Such a height is rare in Daming.

It's just that Zhu Jing doesn't understand, isn't it too dangerous to live in the castle tower?A fire can burn everything, and there is nowhere to run.

However, when I came to China and Austria, I met the Japanese cabinet (Zhu Jing privately thought) and explained my intentions.

Recognize the status of the suzerain of the Ming Dynasty, pay tribute, and trade.

Three simple conditions.

Hoshina Masaoyuki, elder Sakai Tadakatsu, elder Nakamatsuhira Nobuzuna, and Abe Tadaaki, all had solemn faces and remained silent for a long time.

Baoke Zhengzhi learned Chinese well, and said bluntly: "These conditions are too harsh, and Japan has never been a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty."

"As far as I know, the Ashikaga family of your country was canonized as the king of Japan and traded with our country for 200 years. Decades ago, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who offended North Korea, also accepted the canonization."

Zhu Jing didn't panic, and said like a few treasures, and then said with great interest: "Don't your lord want to admit it?"

"No matter how you change dynasties in Japan, your subjects can't run away anyway."

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