Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1322 East Asian Civilization Circle

Hearing that the people from the shogunate had arrived at the martial arts hall, Shinsuke Takasugi showed a little panic, but after a while, he calmed down and said: "Teacher, don't worry, the disciple will take responsibility and will not let the shogunate implicate the dojo."

After talking about Takasugi Shinsuke, he was about to get up and go out, but Yoshida Matsuyo was very calm, "Takasugi, don't be impulsive, I can handle it here, you can't stay in Japan anymore, go to Nanyang."

Although there are many problems in Japan at present, they have not reached a particularly serious level. The daimyo who surrendered to the Tokugawa family are still very loyal. A samurai can be shaken.

Takasugi Shinsuke obviously had his own ideas, "Teacher, since the matter has been exposed and the shogunate has found the dojo again, I can't just walk away. It's a cowardly act. The disciple must take responsibility. I would rather do seppuku in front of the Imperial Palace and wake up the people of the country." Consciousness, and I don’t want to drag out an existence.”

Takasugi was too young and too radical. After hearing his words, Yoshida Matsuyo suddenly scolded: "A meaningless death is a shameful death. Takasugi, the shogunate is also undergoing reforms now, and the Tokugawa family has not yet reached everyone. The point of spurning, meaningless suicide, is the act of a coward, do you understand?"

Yoshida Matsuyo glanced at Takasugi who was prostrate, and slowed down his tone, "The shogunate is in contact with the Wude Bank of the Ming Dynasty, using tariffs and sulfur mines as collateral to borrow 500 million silver dollars from the Ming Dynasty. With the support of this money, Germany The Kawa family’s rule in Japan cannot be shaken by you.”

The shogunate will sign a loan agreement with the Ming Dynasty again, betraying the interests of Japan. Yoshida Matsuyo is also very dissatisfied and deeply ashamed, but he knows that it is not the time to confront the shogunate head-on.

When Takasugi heard that the Tokugawa shogunate used tariffs and mines as collateral, he felt even more angry, "Shame, the Tokugawa family is drinking poison to quench their thirst! This will only harm Japan."

Yoshida Matsuyo looked at him and said in a deep voice: "Gaoshan, do you understand now? The career you chose has a long way to go, and the enemy you face is unprecedentedly powerful. I hope you can keep going. , I, a disciple of Yoshida Itto-ryu, am not a reckless man who only uses death to escape responsibility."

Yoshida Matsuyo did not approve of the behavior of Takasugi Shinsuke and others at first, thinking that the shogunate would try to reform again, and the samurai riots would only bring trouble to the Edo shogunate, which would affect the reform of the shogunate and make the reform fail.

He thinks that Takasugi Shinsuke is too young and too radical, and they only proposed to respect the king and fall, all based on enthusiasm, and there is no practical solution to the Japanese problem. Will the problem of Japan be solved by just falling?
Yoshida Shoyo obviously didn't think so, but with the failure of the Edo Shogunate's reforms and no results, and the Tokugawa family signed a treaty with the Ming Dynasty again, Yoshida Shoyo gradually became disappointed with the Edo Shogunate.

While he was talking, the sound of footsteps of clogs smashing on the ground suddenly came in from outside the house. Yoshida Matsuyo's expression changed slightly, and he glanced at Shintaro Watanabe, and then said: "Taro, Shinjiro went to Nanyang. Let Takasugi go and join him."

When Watanabe Shintaro heard the footsteps approaching and knew it was not a word, he hurriedly bowed to Yoshida Matsuyo, pulled Takasugi Shinsuke, and slipped out from behind.

Seeing that the two of them had left, Yoshida Matsuyo silently picked up the samurai sword that had been wiped just now, and placed it on the thigh of the kneeling seat.

Suddenly, the Japanese-style shoji door was violently opened, and more than a dozen Tokugawa samurai rushed into the house. The leader only saw Yoshida Shoyo who was kneeling and sitting with his back straight. He couldn't help but sternly said: "Yoshida Your Excellency, where is Shinsuke Takasugi?"

······
In Edo Castle, in Honmaru, there is a lot of wine and music.

The Tokugawa shogunate is hosting a banquet for Wu Shizhao, head of the Lifan Academy of the Ming Dynasty. He can be said to be the representative of the Ming Dynasty in Japan and has been stationed in Edo, Japan for the past two years.

In the main hall, more than a dozen Japanese dancers danced in the middle, and musicians in the corner were playing Japanese-style music. The atmosphere was very warm and harmonious.

Wu Shizhao was sitting on the left in a Ming Dynasty official uniform. The shogunate Tokugawa Ietsuna, with a tasseled crown on his head, a black red robe on his body, and a flat thread around his waist, with a fan in his hand, sat on the tatami as a companion , on both sides of him, sat the big and middle men of the Tokugawa family.

The song and dance performance went on for a while, and after everyone had a few drinks, Tokugawa Ieyasu waved the fan in his hand, and the dancers dancing in the middle and the musicians playing in the corner retreated one after another.

Tokugawa Ietsuna waited for them all to retreat outside the hall, then raised his wine glass, gestured to Wu Shizhao, and said with a smile: "This time, I was able to establish a relationship with Wude Bank and obtain a huge loan of 500 million Daming silver dollars. Thank you for connecting gone."

Wu Shizhao hurriedly picked up the wine glass, "Da Ming and the Shogunate are friendly states, and it is naturally obligatory for Daming to help the Shogunate."

Both of them had smiles on their faces, but between countries, the main thing is to look at their own interests.

The Tokugawa family knew that Japan's current problems had a lot to do with the Ming Dynasty, but the Edo shogunate was currently financially strained and needed huge sums of money to stabilize the situation and continue to promote the reform of the shogunate, so they could only greet them with a smile.

The Ming Dynasty did not want turmoil in Japan, but needed the stability of the Japanese market. At the moment, only the Edo Shogunate could control Japan. The Ming Dynasty naturally wanted to help the Shogunate stabilize Japan's rule.

Moreover, the money was not borrowed in vain, and a certain interest was charged, and there were tariffs and sulfur mines that the Ming Dynasty needed most as collateral, which was actually a great thing for the Ming Dynasty.

The firearms of the Ming Dynasty developed rapidly, but the output of sulfur was not high. Only Taiwan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Qinghai and other places had few sulfur mines. The sulfur in the Ming Dynasty was mainly imported from Japan. This is why the Ming Dynasty hoped that Japan would be stable. One of the important reasons for maintaining good relations with the shogunate.

At the beginning of the year, Wudehao proposed to Wang Yan a loan to Japan, and Wang Yan asked Wudehao to write a detailed note, and asked Jin Yiwei to sort out the news about Japan in recent years, and sent them all to his hands.

After more than half a month of research, Wang Yan and his staff realized that there were many problems in Japan, and there were even many voices against the Ming Dynasty.

This made Wang Yan, who was not very interested in Wude's proposal to lend to Japan, changed his attitude towards lending to Japan. It is very necessary for the Ming Dynasty to help the shogunate stabilize the current situation.

If there is turmoil in Japan, or the current Edo shogunate falls, it is unknown what attitude the new Japanese regime will have towards the Ming Dynasty, and whether it will abide by the treaty between the Edo shogunate and the Ming Dynasty. Trouble, the Edo shogunate is very necessary to exist, and Wang Yan does not want the idea of ​​respecting the king to appear in Japan in terms of his own interests.

Wang Yan carried out innovative policies in the country. From the perspective of future generations, he is a representative of the advanced reformers. However, when dealing with the Japanese issue, he stood on the side of the decadent Edo shogunate and maintained the feudal rule of the shogunate. Another full-fledged imperialist reactionary.

However, although the Ming Dynasty helped the shogunate, the social conflicts in Japan have not been resolved. The footsteps of history are rolling forward. It may not be able to suppress the contradictions. At that time, the feudal rule of the Edo shogunate will either complete its own transformation, or the rule will collapse.

The loans from the Ming Dynasty to the Edo shogunate also helped the shogunate solve its current financial problems while making profits for itself, but in fact, the loan was a temporary solution to the Edo shogunate, and it could even be said to be a chronic poison.

The Edo shogunate may eventually be finished, but as long as it is not finished for the time being and Japan is not in chaos, then the goal of the Ming Dynasty will be achieved. When the conflicts in Japan erupt like a volcano and the Edo shogunate cannot hold back , then the Ming Dynasty abandoned the Edo Shogunate and chose other forces in Japan to cooperate.

However, there is another problem here. The Ming Dynasty stood by the Edo Shogunate for a long time and signed many treaties with the Shogunate. Once the Japanese awakened, they would inevitably hate and be hostile to the Ming Dynasty. Japan might become the enemy of the Ming Dynasty.

Right now, there are voices in Japan that respect the king and resist the Ming Dynasty. It can be said that it is an inevitable historical development. It is said that the Japanese are awakening. This is not what Ming Dynasty wants to see, and it will affect the entire strategy of Ming Dynasty.

After the old world view was broken, Wang Yan re-acquainted with the sphere where he was, and divided the countries and forces on it into four parts, Europa, Ottoman (Arab civilization), Mughal and Ming.

According to the Western vocabulary, then these four civilizations ruled the earth and had a strong influence on an area.

The entire East Asia and Southeast Asia are drawn into a circle by Wang Yan. The most influential in this circle should be Daming, and the surrounding countries should work together with Daming to fight against the other three civilization circles.

This does not allow anti-Ming voices to appear in Japan. The entire Far East can only have one center and cannot be divided. To achieve this, Japan’s rising national consciousness must be strangled and Japan’s reverence for China in the Han and Tang Dynasties must be restored. .

Wang Yan came here on purpose, and several ministers discussed the matter, and finally came up with several strategies.

To sum up, it is to attack Japanese culture, tout the Central Plains culture, destroy Japan's national self-confidence, make them blindly worship Han culture, and take pride in being part of the Chinese cultural circle just like North Korea.

This is also easy to do. First of all, it is to buy some Japanese, let them question the history of the Japanese, question all the achievements of the Japanese in history, hit their national self-confidence, and then praise the Han culture and the Ming Dynasty.

This is just like what the West did to China, South Korea, and Japan in later generations, which undermines national self-confidence and cultivates a style of worshiping foreign things and fawning on foreign countries.

Over time, Japan will also develop this kind of atmosphere. In the future, there will be no need for secret spies of the Ming Dynasty to compile any books. Some Japanese will question themselves, dismiss their own history and achievements, and yearn for the Ming Dynasty wholeheartedly. , to live in the Ming Dynasty and be proud of being a Ming person.

Of course, it is not easy to achieve this. The Ming Dynasty must also show a friendly side in its policy towards Japan. After the handicraft industry of the Ming Dynasty becomes strong to a certain extent, it will gradually give up the right to negotiate tariffs against Japan and cancel some privilege, treat Japan with a friendly attitude, then Japan's pro-Ming style and worship of the Ming Dynasty in Japan will make Japan willing to follow behind Daming.

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