The situation in Japan was more complicated than that in the Ming Dynasty, especially at the class level.
In today's confrontation with the Ming Dynasty, they seem to be united, but in fact they are all ulterior motives.
Especially now, the emperor's status is in a state of decline. After the wars between the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the emperor's status is the lowest in the history of Japan.
This situation was not only reflected on the emperor's side, but even the shogunate could not ignore it.
Just as the shogun ignored the authority of the emperor, there were often phenomena in Japanese society where the guardian daimyo despised the shogun, local lower-class lords and samurai challenged the guardian daimyo, and even the samurai did not take the emperor seriously - people called this phenomenon
“The bottom overcomes the top”.
For example, Emperor Guangyan of the Northern Dynasty met the guardian of Meino, Toki Norihara, when he was on a patrol.
The emperor's ministers shouted: "The emperor's sage is here, get off your horse quickly!"
When Tuqi Laiyuan heard this, instead of dismounting, he said angrily: "Please tell me clearly whether it is the horse driver or the dog driver. If it is the dog driver, shoot him with an arrow."
As he said this, he really drew the arrow and shot it.
His followers rushed forward, tore off the curtains on the emperor's car, overturned the car, and beat up the ministers beside the emperor.
Afterwards, Toki Noraito was executed by the shogunate, but this caused greater dissatisfaction among the lower-class samurai.
Someone said: "If it doesn't work without the emperor, just carve one out of wood or cast one out of gold, and exile the living emperor to another place to avoid trouble."
Someone lamented: "When a phoenix is born in the last days, it is miserable to be down and out; a pheasant is driven away by wildfire and has no nest to return to."
At this time, the power of the emperor's court had declined, and it was like a small prince.
Historically, Emperor Jianwen of the Ming Dynasty called Ashikaga Yoshimitsu the "original morality of the king of Japan" in his imperial edict to the Japanese state.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu also called himself "King of Japan, Minamoto" in the letter of credence to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The shogun has become the representative of the country's highest power. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu calls himself "Minamoto no Yoshitsune" because the Ashikaga clan is a descendant of the Qinghe Minamoto clan, that is,
A direct descendant of Emperor Seiwa.
Even the later Tokugawa shogunate family also came from the Qinghe Minamoto clan, so the shogunate was just a matter of another branch of the emperor replacing this one.
After the reunification of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu did not fulfill his original promise, that is, he still restored the tradition of successive emperors of the Daikakuji sect and Jimeiin sect.
The royal family, ministers, and soldiers of the Southern Dynasties were extremely angry, and Emperor Kameyama also regretted it endlessly.
In the original history, Hou Kameyama escaped from Kyoto and established the Southern Dynasty again in the Yoshino Mountains, which was known as Hou Nan Dynasty in history.
The royal descendants and ministers of the Southern Dynasty continued to fight for nearly half a century in order to restore their old business.
Later, a group of thugs sneaked into the palace, took away the divine sword and the divine seal, and used it to support the Southern Dynasty Emperor Yin against the shogunate. After the defeat, many descendants of the Southern Dynasty royal family were killed.
Later, there was another similar incident, which almost wiped out the royal family of the Southern Dynasties.
The forces represented by the Southern Dynasties were the Japanese pirates who mainly invaded the Ming Dynasty.
For example, Zhu Di's work in capturing the Japanese country belonged to the Southern Dynasty.
During the split period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, during this period, the struggle between the various feudal lords of the Japanese Kingdom reached a fierce stage, and they attacked each other. In the process of this struggle between the North and the South, the feudal forces of the Southern Dynasties began to be defeated one after another and had to withdraw.
The native land of Japan.
Some of the feudal lords of the Southern Dynasties, and of course the samurai and ronin under the rule of the feudal lords, also chose to leave in order to avoid the pursuit of them by the Japanese mainland. They took boats to the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty, and they carried out activities along the coast.
Smuggling, and even worse, burning, killing and looting.
With the continuation of the Southern Dynasty in the Japanese country, the Japanese pirates along the coast of the Ming Dynasty continued to import wealth to the Southern Dynasty forces as a way to resist the Northern Dynasty.
The struggle between the Southern and Northern Dynasties in Japan did not end with the unification of the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Rather, it has been entangled in history for hundreds of years.
The power of the Southern Dynasties has never been completely eliminated.
Some people say that the Northern Dynasties controlled most of the country, so they were the de facto rulers and should be orthodox.
But some people say that the artifact handed over by Hou Daigo is fake, so the orthodoxy is still on the side of the Southern Dynasty.
Even hundreds of years later, some people would plausibly say: "Isn't the current emperor the descendant of the usurper who snatched three artifacts from the Queen of the Later Southern Dynasties?"
For a time, it caused an uproar in the Japanese country.
Finally, Emperor Meiji, who was the descendant of the Northern Dynasty emperors, made a ruling that the Southern Dynasties were orthodox and that the emperors of the Northern Dynasties were not included in the emperor's inheritance series, but the emperor's status and treatment remained unchanged.
Therefore, Ashikaga Takauji was regarded as a traitor and traitor, while Kusunoki Masashige became a model of loyalty to the emperor.
The current Japanese kingdom appears to be unified, but is actually on the verge of splitting.
The shogunate was unable to suppress the daimyo in various places.
In this special era, the guardians, the people of the country, and the people related to them all became daimyo due to their strength, and they competed to expand the territories of the sub-states, each one dominated one after another, and became daimyo of the Warring States Period.
As a result, a divided situation was formed where the heroes were divided into separate kingdoms. From then on, the Japanese state was in constant war.
In Kanto, Kamakura Duke Ashikaga Shigei was dissatisfied with Uesugi Kentada, the governor of Kanto, and assassinated him.
This move triggered a long-term confrontation between the Kanto governor and the Kōkō, which led to the shogunate sending Suruga to protect the Imagawa clan to crusade and forcing the Ashikaga Shige clan to move to Shimoso Furukawa and become the first Kogawa Kōkō.
After the war, there appeared in Kanto the Horikoshi Lord Ashikaga Masaichi, who was supported by the Uesugi clan, the leader of Kantō, and the Furukawa Lord, who was supported by the wealthy families of Northern Kanto.
Nagao Keiharu, an important minister of the Yamauchi Uesugi clan, rebelled, which gave the Ogidani Uesugi clan the opportunity to expand their power, prompting the Yamauchi Uesugi clan to choose to reconcile with Koga Koga to fight against the Ogidani Uesugi clan.
In order to fight against the Yamauchi Uesugi clan, the Ogidani Uesugi clan formed an alliance with the Yoinsecho clan.
Due to civil strife in the Horikoshi clan, the Tonsecho clan was eliminated, and the Gohojo clan of the Tonsecho clan increased in strength.
Soon after, the sudden death of Uesugi Sadamasa led to the decline of the Ogidani Uesugi clan. The Hojo clan turned to attack the Ogidani Uesugi clan, eliminated the Sagami Miura clan and occupied Odawara Castle, which led to a new situation in which the two Uesugi jointly fought against the Hojo clan.
Later, Uji Tsusara, the second generation governor of the Hojo clan, invaded Musashi Country and replaced the old Ashikaga and Ryougesugi clans, becoming the strongest daimyo in the Kanto region.
In addition to the rise of the Yin Shichang clan in the Kanto region and becoming the representative of the new era daimyo, new powers began to appear in various parts of the Japanese country that could defeat the superiors and even become the heroes of one side.
The Izumo guardian Dai Nizi usurped the real power of the guardian Kyogoku clan. In the future, his great name Nizi replaced the Kyogoku clan and became the guardian of Izumo.
During Nizi's lifetime, Nizi's clan expanded to keep pace with Ouchi's family governor, Ouchi Yoshihō, which prospered due to overseas trade.
During the struggle between the two heroes for hegemony, Mourimoto, a native of Aki, gradually absorbed the power of Nizi and Ouchi. Later, he took advantage of the internal strife of the Ouchi clan and defeated Tao Qingxian, the powerful minister of the Ouchi clan, in the Battle of Itsukushima and became the new overlord.
In addition, the Toki clan, the guardian of Mino, was expelled by the important minister Nagai Norihide and declined. Nagai Norihide later succeeded the Saito clan and changed his name to Saito Hideryu, with the religious name "Dosan".
It can be said that the current Japanese state is in chaos.
In the face of constant threats from the Ming Dynasty's official army, but without starting a war, the Japanese country has already experienced serious civil strife.
This is also the reason why it is said that Kyushu Island is about to be occupied by the Ming Dynasty, but the Japanese army has yet to make any move.
On Zhu Di's side, after a short period of repairs, he personally led the army to the expedition the next day.
Under the raging hurricane, although the people of the Japanese country have long been used to it, they still cannot avoid casualties.
Let’s not talk about the personnel situation for now, but in terms of city defense, it can basically be said to be a blank.
In just three days, Zhu Di's army achieved great success.
Wherever he went, there was no decent resistance at all. It could be described as pushy and pushy.
But as the army continued to advance, a very difficult problem was placed in front of Zhu Di.
"Your Majesty, our army doesn't have much food left."
"In all the villages currently occupied, these Japanese have almost no food rations."
"After interrogation, I learned that there were Japanese officials who levied large amounts of food here before and then transported all the food away."
"Not only the food, but also some young men and elites were basically transported to Honshu Island."
Zhang Yu was on his horse and reported to King Yan.
Zhu Di, holding the reins, frowned as he sat on his horse and looked at the city in front of him that was being easily conquered by the soldiers.
"These Japanese are so cruel that they don't even care about their own parents, wives and children, and they just run away."
"They want to use the entire Kyushu Island as a prison to trap us."
Zhu Di said with some sigh.
Zhang Yu replied again: "Your Majesty, this Kyushu Island is the place that is most severely hit by hurricanes every year. According to what the Japanese people said, whenever a hurricane strikes, they must seek help from Honshu Island."
"Now the Japanese are still transporting all the food away, but we have left so many prisoners behind. It's a shame."
Zhu Di said nothing.
Even if it is said that on the battlefield, one general will make thousands of bones wither.
But of course Zhu Di would not say anything about massacring Japanese people.
The problem now is that if the food is taken away, the army can naturally be sustained, but the Japanese will starve to death in large numbers.
Unless you say, kill prisoners.
After thinking deeply, Zhu Di gave up the idea of killing prisoners.
Because too many people were killed, there would be no one left, and the territory conquered would become wasteland, and it would be of no use.
"What are the arrangements for King Jin now? The Qunying Chamber of Commerce has sent food to King Jin." Zhu Di did not answer the previous question, but asked Zhu Han.
Zhang Yu shook his head and said: "No fleet has come yet. Even some merchant fleets changed their sailing routes when they learned that our Ming army was conquering Japan."
"On the Duke of Song's side, there was a fleet going back to transport food before the hurricane. I think it won't take long."
"But if we take the Japanese people into consideration, our own soldiers will not have enough to eat."
The consideration Zhang Yu mentioned refers to the situation when the Japanese people are starving to death.
But compared to the people and the army, the population is a very large base.
Wherever Zhu Di's army passed, except for sporadic resistance, almost all villages surrendered directly. In less than three days, there were 70,000 to 80,000 Japanese people.
If the war continues, as the territory expands, the population will increase and food will become increasingly scarce.
"Put all the Japanese people under jurisdiction, except those who first surrendered to us."
"Give them a small amount of food, a bowl of porridge every day, and strictly control everything. No special arrangements are allowed."
"If there are Japanese people who provide food hiding places, they can get two full meals a day."
"We also send orders to the soldiers on the front line to slow down the pace of the conquest."
After thinking about it, Zhu Di gave the order directly.
Population cannot be discarded. Without people, what is the point of ruling? How can we rule the mountains, rivers and wild beasts?
At this moment, the change of power on Honshu Island is also undergoing rapid changes due to the external pressure from the Ming army.
The Imperial Residence of Japan.
Different from the name of the imperial palace, the word "ju" reflects the difference between the Japanese state and the Ming Dynasty.
"Tell me, if I contact the Ming army and secretly help them defeat Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, will the Ming emperor continue to let me serve as emperor?"
Emperor Gokomatsu asked his ministers.
The title "Emperor of Japan" actually only came into existence during the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Strictly tracing it back to the time after Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty.
Prior to this, the Japanese country did not have the title of emperor, only "King" or "Wonu King".
The term "Japanese Nu King" was given by Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty. It is recorded in "Book of the Later Han·Biography of Dongyi" that envoys from the Japanese state paid tribute to the Han Dynasty and asked Emperor Guangwu to grant him a name.
Emperor Guangwu saw that the envoy was particularly short, so he gave him the "Japanese Nu Kingdom", and the king was naturally named the "Japanese Nu King".
Although this name does not seem very good at present, the Japanese people were very happy at that time and continued to use it for more than 600 years. Later generations even unearthed the seal of "Japanese Nu King".
Even those who called themselves "I" were brought to the Japanese country.
Of course, for the Ming Dynasty or the Central Plains Dynasty, even the Emperor of Japan called himself a minister.
Then the reason why Emperor Komatsu asked his ministers like this was because he really couldn't stand Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who currently controls the power, had already prepared to abdicate in favor of his nine-year-old son Ashikaga Yoshimitsu before the Ming Dynasty conquered the country.
It only starts after the construction of the huge luxurious mansion Luen and the glorious Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto is completed.
Of course, this does not mean that he wants to abdicate and give up power, but that he wants to become a minister of Taizheng. This ambition is very clear.
In Emperor Gokomatsu's view, the Ming Dynasty's conquest of Japan at this moment was not a conquest against itself, but a conquest against these disobedient people.
Therefore, he wanted to join forces with the Ming Dynasty to overthrow the shogunate rule of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and restore the rule of the emperor.
Upon hearing this, the minister hesitated and said, "Perhaps Your Majesty has already sent someone to contact one party to try, but now General Ashikaga has completely ignored Your Majesty."
After hearing this, Emperor Gokomatsu nodded solemnly.