It was a huge venue, and everyone had different thoughts.
"Mr. Zhang, it's almost time. All the famous people from the Japanese country have arrived. We can start."
Liu Jin looked at the sun in the sky. It was already May of the thirteenth year of Hongzhi. It was the transition between spring and summer, and the weather was starting to get hotter.
Liu Jin didn't like to bask in the sun, so he decided to get things done early, and a letter had already been sent from Daming. Liu Jin's son was born, and he also wanted to return to Daming to see his son as soon as possible.
"Hmm~"
Zhang Mao nodded, then coughed lightly, and someone next to him immediately took out an imperial edict that had been drafted as early as the Ming Dynasty capital and went to the side of the Japanese king, the shogunate, and the great names.
"The imperial edict has arrived, please ask the Japanese king and the shogun to receive it~"
The person holding the imperial edict had a very loud voice, stood upright, held the edict in his right hand, and raised his head high.
When he appeared, the whole place immediately fell silent. Everyone looked at him and the imperial edict in his hand, and when they heard his words again, they immediately fell silent.
There are still many people who understand the Ming dialect. Many of the famous names and nobles in the upper class of the Japanese country are proficient in Chinese. Not only can they write beautiful calligraphy, some can even write poems and poems. Chinese characters are the official writing of the Japanese country in this era.
"Xiao Wang accepts the order~"
When Emperor Gotsuchimikado heard this, he quickly stood up and respectfully came to the person who announced the decree, bending slightly and lowering his head. He had already learned this etiquette.
The Japanese state is a vassal state, and the Ming Dynasty is the suzerain state. Even if the Japanese king sees the Emperor of Heaven, he does not need to kneel. Seeing the imperial edict is like seeing the Emperor of Heaven, so he only needs to bend slightly and lower his head to show respect for the Emperor of Heaven.
That’s it.
"I accept the order~"
As for the shogunate general who conquered barbarians, he had to kneel down, because he was nominally a minister of the Japanese king, and naturally he was also a minister of the emperor of tomorrow. It is natural for ministers to kneel before the emperor.
Although Ashikaga Yosumi was somewhat reluctant, he had no choice at this time and knelt down very respectfully.
As the Japanese king bent down and lowered his head, the shogun knelt down, and all the shogunate ministers, daimyo, etc. behind him also knelt down in unison.
Many daimyo showed reluctance, but when they saw that most of them knelt down and knelt down, and then looked at the Ming army who were watching eagerly around them, they immediately knelt down and knelt down in a sensible manner.
"The Emperor of Heaven has decreed that the Ming Dynasty and Japan are countries separated by a strip of water and have been friendly for generations. The Ming Dynasty has been the suzerainty of Japan for generations... Today, Japan secretly imposes heavy taxes on Ming Dynasty merchants, loots Ming Dynasty merchant ships, kills Ming Dynasty merchants, and even condones Japanese pirate attacks.
In the southeast of the Ming Dynasty, there is no king and no father. The people below are guilty of the superiors, and the eyes have no king and father..."
The person who recited the imperial edict had a very loud voice. Every time he recited a sentence, there was someone nearby who was proficient in Japanese and translated it immediately, so he recited it very slowly.
But as the imperial edict was read out, the Japanese kings, shoguns, and many other famous people finally understood why the Ming Dynasty wanted to mobilize troops to attack the Japanese country this time.
Some of them already knew about this, but there were still some daimyo who couldn't understand why the Ming Dynasty came to attack the Japanese country. Now they understood it immediately.
At the same time, everyone also knows the meaning of this imperial edict. The Emperor of Ming Dynasty is admonishing the Japanese country, and the meaning is also very simple. The Ming Dynasty and the Japanese country have been friendly for generations, and they have always had a good relationship because of the relationship between the suzerain state and the vassal state.
Therefore, the Ming Dynasty never said anything to the Japanese country. Every time the Japanese country came to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty would return the tribute several times. It can be said that it was extremely benevolent and righteous to the Japanese country.
But now the Japanese country levied heavy taxes on Ming merchants without the consent of Ming Dynasty, looted Ming merchant ships, and killed Ming merchants.
This is an act of committing an offense against one's superiors, being treasonous, and having no king or father.
Liu Jin listened carefully, with a smile on his face and joy in his heart.
That is to say, it can be like this now. The Ming Dynasty in this era is so awesome. The relationship between the Ming Dynasty and Japan, Korea, Annan, etc. are the same.
That is, the Ming Dynasty is the suzerain state, and these countries are all vassal states. According to this relationship, the Ming Dynasty is the king, and they are the ministers. It is a monarch-minister relationship, a father-son relationship.
Therefore, even if it was written in the imperial edict and scolded severely, these Japanese people did not have the slightest intention to object, because the Ming Dynasty was indeed the suzerain state of Japan and the father of the vassal state.
Now you, a son of the Japanese country, dare to tax the father of the suzerain country, Ming Dynasty, and kill the businessmen of Ming Dynasty's father. You are simply treasonous, unfaithful, unfilial, unkind, unjust, a bastard who has no father and son, no monarch or minister.
The core meaning of Emperor Hongzhi's imperial edict is this, to severely admonish these Japanese people, admonish the Japanese kings, shoguns, daimyo, etc. of the Japanese country.
After hearing the contents of the imperial edict, the Japanese king sweated on his forehead. Although this had little to do with him, after all, he was a mascot and did not have any power or influence.
But nominally he is the monarch of Japan, so he needs to bear the most pressure.
As for the shogunate's general Ashikaga Yosumi, he is still at a loss. As a puppet and a waste, he certainly doesn't understand this. Whether it is tax collection or other matters, it seems that he cannot make the decision.
On the other hand, Hosokawa Masamoto, Hino Tomiko, and Yin Shizhong frowned. They were ambitious and controlled the power of the shogunate. They also lacked awe for the Ming Dynasty.
Sovereign states and vassal states are all nonsense. The reason why they paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty in the past was not because the rewards from the Ming Dynasty were particularly generous, and they could get a sum of money every time they paid tribute.
So for the sake of money, calling Daming Dad seems to be a very cost-effective thing.
But who could have known that one day the army of the Ming Dynasty would come to the Japanese country and beat the Japanese shogunate and the local daimyo without any temper. Now they are not only beating you, but also justified. A father will teach you a lesson just like he beats his son. The key is that the beating is over.
You also need to tell you that I am a father beating his son to teach him a lesson for disobedience.
This makes people feel very angry and helpless at the same time.
There is no other way. Who would have fought to become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty before? If you are a vassal state for one day, you will be a vassal state for the rest of your life. If you call me daddy, you will all be sons from now on.
Behind them, many daimyo had different expressions, and some felt that it was natural that as a vassal state, the Japanese country should not harm the interests of the suzerain country, the Ming Dynasty.
Now being ordered by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is natural. This just proves the power of the Ming Dynasty. It also proves that their Japanese country has a good vision. Of course, to recognize a father, you must recognize a powerful father.
For these Japanese people, the Ming Dynasty was so powerful that they were even more happy when they were pressed to the ground and rubbed, because this proved that their choice was right and that they were right to learn from the Ming Dynasty.
Some daimyo felt that it was a bit excessive. Although the Ming Dynasty was the suzerain state, the Japanese state was also a country after all. To criticize the Japanese state like this would really hurt the Japanese state's face.
But think about it, if it weren't for the relationship between the suzerain state and the vassal state, would the Ming Dynasty's army now be sweeping across the land of Japan? They might officially invade Japan and stay in Japan from then on.
.
But because Ming Dynasty is the suzerain state, if the son of the Japanese country is disobedient, just come over and give him a good spanking and teach him a lesson. It is impossible to say that he really invaded the Japanese country.
Thinking of this, I suddenly felt that this father of Ming Dynasty was not in vain.
"Accept the order, King of Japan~"
Soon, the edict was finished.
"Xiao Wang accepts the order~"
Emperor Gotsuchimikado received the imperial edict tremblingly. He felt uncomfortable in his heart. After all, he was the nominal monarch of the Japanese country. He was severely scolded by the Ming Emperor, and his face turned red.
"Can Japan know its sins?"
Emperor Gotsuchimikado received the imperial edict, and the person in charge of announcing it asked loudly.
"Go down to the country and admit your guilt~"
Emperor Gotsuchimikado quickly bowed his head and said.
"Just admit your guilt~"
The other party nodded with satisfaction, and then said: "Now that you are aware of your guilt, let's start peace talks."
"Yes~"
Emperor Gotsuchimikado nodded respectfully.
Zhang Mao and Liu Jin also came over at this time, and at the same time, the venue began to be decorated. The long table was moved out, covered with red cloth, and chairs were placed next to it.
On the Ming side were Zhang Mao, Yang Yun, Liu Jin, and Wang Shouren, plus the garrison eunuchs sent by Emperor Hongzhi and the eunuchs who had just read out the imperial edict.
On the Japanese side, there were the Japanese king, the shogun, and the shogunate ministers Hosokawa Masamoto, Hino Tomiko, and Yoshitaka. As for the many daimyo, they sat in the back and could only listen, without any right to express their opinions.
"I won't waste time. What happened this time was entirely caused by your Japanese country being disrespectful to our Ming Dynasty, imposing heavy taxes on our Ming Dynasty merchants, attacking our Ming Dynasty merchant ships, and killing our Ming Dynasty merchants. Therefore, all consequences and responsibilities are yours.
bear."
Zhang Mao looked at the Japanese country, the shogunate and others, and spoke slowly.
"Sir, this is just the private behavior of some big names in our Japanese country. It does not represent our entire Japanese country."
Hosokawa Masamoto spoke, he argued.
"Really?"
"It seems that your shogunate is also the one who levied heavy taxes on our Ming Dynasty merchant ships. In addition, Japanese pirates have been harassing our southeastern coast of Ming Dynasty. Why didn't your Japanese shogunate restrain and crack down on them?"
"In addition, the Otomo family looted our Ming Dynasty merchant ship Kunlun Mountain and killed all the crew members on board. Don't tell me that you don't know about this. Why don't you punish the Otomo family?"
Liu Jin looked at the other party and said coldly, wanting to shirk responsibility and dream.
After hearing Liu Jin's words, Hosokawa Masamoto had nothing to say. He could not shirk this responsibility, especially since the shogunate also imposed heavy taxes on Ming merchant ships. This was very important.
If it were just a tax imposed by the daimyo of various places, the shogunate could have excused it, but the shogunate also imposed heavy taxes, which is unjustifiable.
"This is our condition. If we want to withdraw our troops, we must agree to the above conditions."
Liu Jin pushed over a drafted agreement. He didn't have much to say to them. Neither the shogunate nor the Japanese king had much influence on the Japanese country and their control was weak. What's the point of being with them?
Talk about.
The Japanese king took it and began to look at it carefully. As a Japanese king, although he could not speak the Ming Dynasty dialect, he knew Chinese characters.
The content of the agreement was written by Liu Jin according to the habits of later generations. It is very concise and straightforward. It is not written in classical Chinese, so it can be understood at a glance.
Article 1, once again reiterate and confirm that the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Japanese state is the relationship between the suzerain state and the vassal state. The Ming Dynasty is the suzerain state of the Japanese state, and the Japanese state is the vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.
Based on this relationship, starting from the 13th year of Hongzhi, all Japanese kings in the future must be formally canonized by the Ming Emperor to have legitimacy. Japanese kings who have not been canonized by the Ming Emperor cannot represent the Japanese country and have no legitimacy.
Seeing this, Emperor Gotsuchimikado's eyes suddenly lit up and he was slightly happy. The current Japanese king did not have any power or influence.
If every change of Japanese kings must be canonized by the Ming Dynasty, this can actually strengthen the influence of the Japanese kings in the Japanese country. At least for the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty only recognized their Japanese kings as the monarchs of the Japanese country. This can also be greatly strengthened.
The influence and presence of Japanese kings in Japan.
As for other things, he didn't think too much about it for the time being. It was a vassal state anyway, so he could just be canonized, which was almost the same as the king of Joseon. All the kings of Joseon were canonized by the Ming Dynasty, so it didn't matter.
It used to be inconvenient to travel to the Ming Dynasty, but it is different now. Ships travel between the Ming Dynasty and the Japanese Kingdom almost every day. Maybe there will be an opportunity to visit and learn from the Ming Dynasty in the future.
Article 2: In order to enhance the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Japanese Kingdom, the Ming Dynasty and the Japanese Kingdom should be open to each other. Merchants from the Ming Dynasty can freely go to the Japanese Kingdom to do business, and similarly, Japanese merchants can also freely go to the Ming Dynasty to do business. Neither side shall restrict the free exchanges of the other party's merchants.
, no additional commercial taxes may be levied.
This article seems to be very good and equitable, because the two sides seem to be very equal. Businessmen from the Ming Dynasty can come to Japan to do business, and you, Japan, can also do business in the Ming Dynasty. Both sides have to restrict and are not allowed to levy additional commercial taxes.
But this is the foreshadowing laid by Liu Jin. The sprouts of capitalism in the Ming Dynasty are already developing rapidly. The Ming Dynasty not only needs the gold and silver of the Japanese country, but also needs the market of the Japanese country.
This clause can greatly facilitate the Ming merchants to enter the Japanese market in the future. The two sides nominally open their markets to each other, but in the end, the cheaper one is the Ming Dynasty, which has budding capitalism. After all, in this era, Japan cannot compare with the Ming Dynasty in all aspects.
of.
It’s a very simple thing. Now merchants from the Ming Dynasty can travel between Japan and the Ming Dynasty every day, but can merchants from the Japan Kingdom travel between Japan and the Ming Dynasty every day?
No, because they don’t even have ships going back and forth. They want to go to Ming Dynasty to do business, but there are no ships. How can they get there?
What's more, the Ming Dynasty was a vast land and rich in various products. How could the Japanese country compete with the merchants of the Ming Dynasty?
Regarding this point, Emperor Gotsuchimikado couldn't help but nod his head. Ming Dynasty was relatively fair in doing things. Both parties were equal and open to each other, fair, and there was nothing to say.
Article 3: In order to facilitate exchanges between the two countries and promote trade between the two countries, Japan must allow the silver coins and banknotes issued by the First Bank of the Ming Dynasty to be circulated in Japan, and allow the First Bank of the Ming Dynasty to open branches in Japan.
This article is very overbearing and is a typical currency control.
You may not be able to tell it now, but the silver coins and banknotes discovered by the First Bank of the Ming Dynasty are also very popular in the Japanese country. Especially the silver coins are of good quality, abundant, and beautifully made, so they are very popular during transactions.
It is convenient and deeply loved by the Japanese people.
As for banknotes, the Japanese also like them very much because they are easy to carry and conduct transactions. Moreover, the First Bank of the Ming Dynasty has a good reputation. All merchants in the Ming Dynasty like to use banknotes for settlement.
With the trade exchanges between the two sides, silver notes and silver coins also became popular in Japan.
Now that it has been determined in the form of a treaty, if we slowly get used to it, the currency issuance rights of the Japanese country will be in the hands of the Ming Dynasty and the First Bank of the Ming Dynasty.
Let alone anything else, just printing some banknotes can rob the Japanese country of massive wealth. The bald eagles of later generations will plunder huge amounts of wealth from countries around the world every year by relying on the green banknotes.
Therefore, Liu Jin has been quietly promoting banknotes and silver dollars.
Silver dollars are nothing. They are real gold and silver and cannot be faked. However, silver notes have a lot of moisture. After everyone gets used to them, they will slowly become currency.
Liu Jin not only plans to implement it on the Japanese side, but also in Korea, Annan, and wherever the Ming influence touches in the future, Liu Jin will promote the silver coins and silver notes of the First Bank of the Ming Dynasty, and let the silver coins and silver coins of the First Bank of the Ming Dynasty be used.
Become the world's currency. Once you master this, you will have endless money to spend in the future.
"This is not too much~"
Emperor Gotsuchimikado didn't see any problem with this. He had heard about silver coins and banknotes. The silver coins issued by the First Bank of the Ming Dynasty were very good, and so were the banknotes. It could indeed greatly facilitate trade.
If the First Bank of Ming Dynasty opens a branch in Japan, it will indeed facilitate trade between Ming Dynasty and Japan.
On one side, Emperor Gotsuchimikado was reading the treaty carefully. On the other side, someone also began to send copies of the treaty to the shogun, ministers of the shogunate, and many daimyo.
Everyone also began to look carefully and study it carefully.
"The first three treaties are not excessive. Whether it is the canonization of Japanese kings, reciprocal exchanges, or the use of silver coins and banknotes, these are all acceptable."
Just after reading the first three treaties, the shogun, the ministers of the shogunate, and many daimyo all felt that this condition was not excessive, not excessive at all. The Ming Dynasty was still very benevolent to the Japanese country.
The Japanese kings had little influence, and it didn't matter whether they were canonized or not. Anyway, in history, the Japanese kings were also canonized by the emperors of the Central Plains Dynasty, and now they have just been restored.
It was good to have reciprocal exchanges. Many famous Japanese people and businessmen also wanted to go to the Ming Dynasty to do business. The Ming Dynasty was very big and very rich. You could make a lot of money just by selling something.
As for the use of silver coins and banknotes, there is no problem. Many famous people have silver coins and banknotes. The silver coins and banknotes issued by the First Bank of Ming Dynasty are really good, everyone likes them, and it greatly facilitates trade.
In the past, silver had different qualities and weights, making transactions very troublesome. Now that there are silver coins and banknotes, it is very convenient.
Everyone nodded one after another, and then looked at the treaty below, and everyone suddenly looked sad.
