After the incident at Hong Bin Tower, the mission became much more peaceful. There were no more troubles and no more going out. An Xin spent a few days in the Huitong Hall to learn etiquette.

Three days later, he finally received Zhu Yuanzhang's order and went to the palace to see him.

Royal Palace.

The Hall of Nourishing Heart.

Pang Yuhai slowly walked into the hall and bowed respectfully.

"Your Majesty, the representatives of the Japanese mission, Kuroda Yoshitaka, the Prime Minister of the Ministry of Administration, and Zhou Tong, the Minister of Rites, are waiting outside the palace, requesting an audience with Your Majesty."

Pang Yuhai said respectfully while saluting.

"Xuan."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and answered slowly, with a serious expression.

Pang Yuhai agreed and slowly stepped back.

Soon, Kuroda Yoshitaka and Zhou Tong slowly walked into the hall under the leadership of Pang Yuhai.

"Foreign Minister Yoshitaka Kuroda, here comes His Majesty the Ming Emperor!"

"Weak minister Zhou Tong, please see Your Majesty!"

After approaching, the two of them bowed respectfully to Zhu Yuanzhang at the same time and said loudly.

"No need to pay tribute."

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his hand and said slowly.

The two agreed and stood up slowly.

"I have long heard that His Majesty the Ming Emperor has pine-shaped crane bones and extraordinary artifacts. I am honored to see them today."

Kuroda Yoshitaka smiled, cupped his hands, and said respectfully.

"Your Excellency has given you too much praise."

"The mission has been living in the Huitong Pavilion for many days. I don't know how everything is going. Are the food and accommodation still getting used to it?"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and asked slowly.

"If I get back to His Majesty the Emperor, everything is fine. Lord Zhou has arranged everything. Thank you very much for your concern."

Kuroda Yoshitaka cupped his hands and replied with a smile.

"This is very good, very good."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, seemingly not having much enthusiasm for Kuroda Yoshitaka.

"But there is something that I wonder if His Majesty the Emperor knows about?"

Kuroda Yoshitaka hesitated for a moment, glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang, and asked tentatively.

"Oh? What did you say?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Kuroda Yoshitaka and asked slowly.

"A few days ago, the foreign minister took people to the famous Hongbin Tower in the capital city, but unexpectedly met Hu Fei, the commander of the Jinyi Guards of your dynasty. Commander Hu seemed to be very dissatisfied with our Japanese mission. In Kyoto

When I was in Wei Zhong, I deliberately made things difficult."

"After meeting the foreign minister in Hong Bin Tower, he intensified his behavior. He actually intended to attack the foreign minister and used swords with the foreign minister's guards. He completely ignored our Japanese mission. It is unreasonable and unreasonable!"

"I wonder if His Majesty the Emperor knows about this?"

Kuroda Yoshitaka thought for a moment, looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with an indignant look, and said loudly.

After listening to Kuroda Yoshitaka's words, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but frown slightly. He didn't expect that Kuroda would mention this matter again today. The villain complained first and then slapped him down.

"I did hear something."

Zhu Yuanzhang hesitated for a moment, nodded and said.

But after hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's answer, Kuroda Yoshitaka couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, because he originally thought that Zhu Yuanzhang would pretend not to know.

"It turns out that His Majesty the Emperor knew, but since he knew, why didn't he punish Commander Hu? To be disrespectful to the mission is to be disrespectful to the Japanese country. Is this how His Majesty the Emperor usually controls his ministers?"

Kuroda Yoshitaka frowned and couldn't help but ask.

"Master Kuroda, please be careful what you say!"

As soon as he finished speaking, before Zhu Yuanzhang could speak, Pang Yuhai on the side reminded him loudly.

Zhou Tong on the side looked stiff, lowered his head, and did not dare to talk.

Hearing Pang Yuhai's words, Kuroda Yoshitaka coughed. Knowing that his words were a bit harsh, he raised his hands and saluted Zhu Yuanzhang, but did not take back what he just said.

"But from what I heard about the whole thing, it seems that you were the one who started the trouble. In this case, the responsibility should not be solely on Hu Fei."

"If we want to talk about punishment, should the person who caused the trouble have to be punished?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Kuroda Yoshitaka and asked with a majestic look.

After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Kuroda Yoshitaka was stunned for a moment. He was speechless and didn't know how to answer.

"But I also heard that it was just a fair duel between Hu Fei and your bodyguard. Since it was a mutual discussion and no casualties were caused, why make a fuss about it?"

"It's unlikely that this trivial matter will alarm Emperor Chokei of your country and make it known to the whole world, right?"

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Yuanzhang changed the subject, looked at Kuroda Yoshitaka, and asked in a deep voice.

"What His Majesty the Emperor said is absolutely true. It was the foreign minister who made a fuss out of a molehill. In this case, there is no need to pursue the matter. I ask His Majesty the Emperor for your understanding."

Kuroda Yoshitaka forced a smile, cupped his hands and said.

"That's the best, but there is one thing I want to ask you."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said loudly.

"Your Majesty, please speak."

Kuroda Yoshitaka looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and said seriously.

"Our dynasty once sent envoys to the Japanese country with an imperial edict, asking the Southern Dynasty to restrain the Japanese pirates along the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty. Why did it fail to achieve results for a long time, and instead became increasingly rampant?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Kuroda Yoshitaka and asked in a deep voice.

"this..."

After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Kuroda Yoshitaka was speechless for a moment and frowned slightly, not knowing how to answer.

"What? Could it be that the Japanese country ignored our imperial edict and turned a deaf ear to the rampant Japanese pirates?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's face darkened and he asked with some dissatisfaction.

"His Majesty the Emperor has misunderstood. This is not the case."

"Our court attaches great importance to His Majesty the Emperor's request. However, most of the Japanese pirates who roamed the territory of the Ming Dynasty were rogues. They were homeless and idle people at first. It is not easy to manage them, and our court also has a headache."

Upon hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's question, Kuroda Yoshitaka hurriedly explained.

"Do you want to control it or not? If you don't control it, I'm afraid the friendly relations between Korea and Japan will have to be re-examined."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Kuroda Yoshitaka, his voice suddenly became cold, and he said sternly.

"Take care! Of course you have to take care of it!"

"However, this matter must be made after the foreign minister returns to Japan and reports His Majesty the Emperor's wishes in detail to Emperor Changqing and Prince Huairiang. I'm afraid the foreign minister cannot make a commitment on this matter."

"But His Majesty the Emperor can rest assured that our government will not sit idly by and ignore this."

After hearing the threat in Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Kuroda Yoshitaka immediately panicked and said hurriedly.

But from beginning to end, he didn't say a single useful word, it was basically all empty talk.

Looking at Kuroda Yoshitaka who was prevaricating, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly, his heart gradually grew dissatisfied, and his face became pale.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, the Japanese country really wants to make friends with the Ming Dynasty. The foreign ministers came here this time and brought many of the treasures of our Japanese country. I hope His Majesty the Emperor will accept them."

Kuroda Yoshitaka noticed the change in Zhu Yuanzhang's expression, hesitated for a moment, bowed his hands, and said slowly.

"Your Majesty, I have already counted all the tributes. Here is the gift list."

Zhou Tong also took the opportunity to stand up, and while speaking respectfully, he took out a gift list from his arms.

Pang Yuhai walked out slowly, took the gift list from Zhou Tong's hand, and respectfully presented it to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang took the gift list, glanced at it casually, and threw it directly on the table without showing any interest.

The Central Plains is vast and rich in resources, so how could he value the so-called treasures in the tiny land of Japan?

The reason why he was willing to establish a friendly neighbor relationship with the Japanese Southern Dynasty was just that he did not want to make too many enemies. At the same time, he wanted to use the Japanese Southern Dynasty to restrain the rampant Japanese pirates along the coast. However, seeing Kuroda Yoshitaka being so perfunctory, he had no interest in continuing this war.

meet.

"Forget about the tribute, you should take it back intact."

"After the tributary trade is over, I hope that you will return to the Japanese country as soon as possible and inform Emperor Changqing of your dynasty of my intentions. I hope that the rampant Japanese pirates along the southeastern coast of our country will be solved as soon as possible!"

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a moment, looked at Kuroda Yoshitaka, and said in a deep voice.

After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Kuroda Yoshitaka's expression changed obviously, and the smile on his face disappeared instantly, revealing a hint of dissatisfaction, but he did not dare to say anything.
To be continued...