The sea is vast and has an end. Zhou Hezhi and Zhou Lingao, the Pingyi Marquises of the Ming Dynasty, arrived at the Osumi Strait in Japan.
"Father, Tsurumaru Castle (Kagoshima Castle) is ahead of us. Do you want to send someone to inform your adoptive father?"
Zhou Lingao was a little excited. For him, Satsuma Domain was like his second hometown.
"No, don't rush to Kagoshima now, go north to Nagasaki," Zhou Hezhi said lightly, but couldn't hide his trembling.
Zhou Lingao was a little strange: "Father, what are you doing in Nagasaki?"
"Meet someone".
"Meeting whom?"
"Uncle Ru Zhu".
"Uncle Zhu? Are you talking about Uncle Zhu Zhiyu?"
"Exactly".
Zhou Hezhi's face flushed with excitement. Brother Chu Yu, I haven't seen you for many years!
At that time, Zhou Hezhi and Zhu Zhiyu were both ministers of Lu Supervisory State and had a very good relationship.
Zhu Zhiyu, courtesy name Chuyu, was born in Yuyao County, Shaoxing Prefecture, Zhejiang Province. He was a famous scholar and educator in the Ming Dynasty. He was proficient in ancient studies, especially "Poems" and "Books".
He was born into a family of officials and had an upright nature. In the last years of Chongzhen, when he saw that "the world was deteriorating day by day, the state was changing day by day" and "officials were obtained by money, government was obtained by bribery", he gave up his official career and focused on learning.
When the Qing army captured Nanjing, he could no longer stay at home and defected to the Lu Jianguo rebel army to fight against the Qing Dynasty. He floated in the East China Sea three times and went to Japan to raise funds for the rebel army. Among the ministers, he had the closest relationship with Wang Yi.
Good. I heard overseas that Wang Yi died for his country on the Mid-Autumn Festival. I was heartbroken and vowed not to live this festival for the rest of my life.
Although Japan is rich, it is not easy to get Japanese to donate to the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Zhiyu has a way to teach Japanese Confucianism and etiquette for a fee.
Japan is deeply influenced by Chinese culture and attaches great importance to etiquette. Zhu Zhiyu is a great Confucian and is particularly proficient in ancient sacrificial vessels such as Gui, Xi, Dou, and Den. The local Japanese nobles have large-scale etiquette activities, and they all ask him for guidance. His help is not free of charge.
; He also accepted many Japanese nobles as disciples for a fee; the most important thing is that the Tokugawa shogunate also supported him and gave him money.
The Tokugawa shogunate supported him mainly because the doctrine he advocated was very beneficial to maintaining the rule of the shogunate. The center of Zhu Zhiyu's doctrine is four words: "respect the king and unify". The reason why Japan is not strong is that it is a mess and does not know how to listen.
Who should support the emperor and establish a unified country?
The shoguns of the Tokugawa shogunate thought this theory was good. The emperor was just his own puppet. Supporting the emperor meant supporting himself. It would be better to establish a unified country! There were more than 200 famous people in Japan, big and small, who were unified.
I, the Tokugawa clan, am the only one in the family, how wonderful! So I strongly supported him, and ordered my uncle to protect him, and his cousin Mitsukuni Tokugawa, the lord of the Mito domain, hired Zhu Zhiyu as a national teacher. He also had a good relationship with a Japanese Confucian official in Xiaozhai, and the scholar An Jidanbo
, Kinoshita Michiojun, and Yamaga Soyuki became good friends. They became prosperous in Japan for a while, raising some money, it was a trivial matter.
Zhou Hezhi, Zhou Lingao and his son arrived at the machiya where Zhu Zhiyu lived in Nagasaki.
There are many types of machiya. This type of machiya is a "machiya" specially used for living. It has an entrance hall and an "earth room" on the outside, and the inside is used for living. In this era, it was the residence of those who received general salaries. Originally, Zhu Zhiyu was
Japan's popularity makes it possible to live in a mansion, but he said, "As long as the shame and rebellion are not eliminated, the sacrifice of pain and sacrifice will be limited. If I want to live in peace and prosperity, it is not my ambition." He insisted on living in an ordinary machiya.
When the father and son met Zhu Zhiyu, Zhu Zhiyu was packing his bags and preparing to return to China. Due to the lockdown order of the Tokugawa shogunate, Nanjing had been liberated for two years, and they only got the news now. Ye Luo returned to his roots. He was fifty-three years old and planned to return to his hometown in Zhejiang.
Spend your remaining years peacefully.
"Brother Chuyu", Zhou Hezhi burst into tears when he saw Zhu Zhiyu.
"Brother Jiuxuan, why are you here?"
Meeting an old friend in a foreign country made Zhu Zhiyu so excited that he burst into tears.
The two were like children, crying and laughing, hugging each other tightly.
After a long while, Zhu Zhiyu asked: "How is your highness's dragon body?"
His Highness refers to King Zhu Yihai of Lu. Zhu Zhiyu is the minister of Lu Supervisory State, so he is naturally concerned about the situation of Lu Supervisory State.
Zhou Hezhi said: "His Royal Highness has abdicated the throne and became a vassal, and was entrusted to Fuzhou by Emperor Guangwu of the Ming Dynasty. Now the dragon body is An Tai. This is a letter from Your Highness to my brother."
Zhu Zhiyu opened it and looked at it. In addition to caring about the old days, this letter from King Lu also contained sentences such as "The merits of our ancestors will never be forgotten. We will revive the glory and wait for your return." He couldn't help but feel excited. "I will return to the country immediately to serve the imperial court."
!"
Zhou Hezhi smiled and said, "Brother Chuyu, wait a minute to return home. I came to Japan this time on the orders of the Holy One to ask the shogunate to open more places such as Hyuga, Shimonoseki, Hirado, Kochi, and Osaka to trade with me in the Ming Dynasty. Brother, I am here
I have been in Japan for many years and am familiar with the inside story of the Japanese people. I should lend a helping hand to my brother!"
Zhu Zhiyu thought for a while and said seriously: "Brother Fool has a duty to do this. It just so happened that Tokugawa Ietsuna sent someone to invite me to give lectures in Edo. I should look for an opportunity to persuade him."
"Thank you, brother!"
??
Kagoshima Castle is a flat mountain castle located in Kagoshima. It was built in the second year of Kangen (1244) in Japan and is also known as Tsurumaru Castle.
The reason why it is called Tsurumaru Castle comes from the family crest of the Shimazu family. The Shimazu family crest has a "ten" character inside and a circle outside (there was no circle at first, but it was added for beauty in the Edo period), which is often still there
Above the "Cross Maru" coat of arms, a crane is painted. Hence the name Tsurumaru Castle.
This cross pattern was originally an ancient pattern and was very famous in history. In addition to the Shimazu family, the Ogasawara family, the Yoshimi family, the Tazawa family, and the Shimura family, they all used it, but it was abolished because they avoided the Shimazu family.
It's snowing, and the 37-year-old second-generation lord of the Satsuma clan, Shimazu Mitsuhisa, took his son Shimazu Tsunahisa to the city to enjoy the snow.
Tsurumaru Castle is built on a mountain that is tens of feet high in Kagoshima. It is surrounded by cliffs and is solid and precipitous.
Climbing the city and looking at the snow, from a high position, has the artistic conception of "climbing the mountain and overlooking the plains, all the valleys are covered with white clouds".
Shimazu Mitsuhisa sighed and recited a Japanese haiku. Haiku is developed from the ancient Chinese quatrain poetry form. The Japanese are deeply influenced by China, and almost all the upper-class nobles can compose Chinese poetry, which evolved from it.
Published many poetry genres such as haiku and waka.
The snowy sky is sparsely populated,
Lonely White Lotus Falling Stone Bridge,
Gone for a moment.
Lotus fell on the stone bridge, but no sound was heard.
The city wall is deserted and silent, why is there no sound of the bridge falling?
The white snow was flying and the cold wind was biting. Shimazu Mitsuhisa chanted a haiku with a sad expression, standing in the wind and snow, motionless, like an ice sculpture.
When Shimazu Tsuna heard this, he knew that his father was in a bad mood. Doesn't the silence mean that there is no hope? The Tokugawa family is disgusting. They are locking the country and not allowing gold mines to be mined. They are trying to force me, Shimazu, to
Die!
He was not yet twenty years old and was in his prime of life. He immediately held his head high and followed his father's haiku and chanted loudly:
The wind is strong and the crowds are crowded,
White lotus falls into the ancient city wall,
Still no sound.
The winter scene is almost like spring, and countless white lotuses have melted.
Water drips down the ancient city, and the sound of water can be heard.
Okay, now there is sound. Hear the sound of water, life is full of hope!
Seeing that his son's haiku poems were very ambitious, Shimazu Mitsuhisa was overjoyed and praised Shimazu Tsunhisa: "My son's poems are very good! He deserves to be my Shimazu Mitsuhisa's son!"
"Thank you, father! Cough~cough~" Shimazu Tsunahisa suddenly coughed a few times.
Mitsuhisa Shimazu looked at his son worriedly. His son was not yet twenty years old, but he was frail and sick, which was really worrying. "My son is the legitimate son of the Shimazu family. For the sake of the future of the Shimazu family, he must take good care of his health."
"Yes, father."
They were a loving father and a filial son. Suddenly they reported to Zhou Hezhi, the Marquis of Pingyi in the Ming Dynasty, and Zhou Lingao and his son asked for an audience.
"Huh? My adopted brother and adopted son are here, please come quickly!"
While Shimazu Mitsuhisa ordered the invitation, he thought to himself: What are they here for? Could it be that they are here to borrow troops from Satsuma Domain again?
This chapter has been completed!