In the Wenhua Hall, in addition to Wen Tiren, the chief minister of the cabinet, and Yang He, the minister of war, there was also the new minister of rites, Li Tengfang.
Emperor Chongzhen knew that Zhong Jinwei didn't understand the situation, so he asked Li Tengfang to introduce it to him first.
In today's officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, it can be said that no one does not know the famous Duke Xingguo, and no one has not benefited from the changes proposed by Zhong Jinwei. Although Li Tengfang is the newly promoted minister of the Ministry of Rites, he is also very respectful to Duke Xingguo.
I only heard him introduce to Zhong Jinwei: "My lord, yesterday the Ryukyu envoy came to the court and begged me with tears and blood, the Ming Dynasty, as the suzerain country, must stand up for the vassal country and eliminate the Japanese pirates in their country."
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he was stunned for a moment. The word Ryukyu was a little unfamiliar to him. But then he remembered that it should be the Okinawa Islands in later generations.
At this time, it was still called Ryukyu, and there was a Ryukyu kingdom with the Ming Dynasty as its suzerainty. But Zhong Jinwei didn’t know the specific situation.
"What's going on? Can you tell me more specifically?" Zhong Jinwei frowned slightly and asked further.
Li Tengfang glanced sideways at Emperor Chongzhen, then complied with Zhong Jinwei's request and began to explain to him in detail.
It turns out that the Ryukyu Kingdom paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty during the Hongwu period and became a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Hongwu also sent thirty-six people from Fujian to move to Kume Village in Ryukyu.
Since then, Ryukyu officials have been deeply influenced by Chinese culture, and the official language is Chinese. The traditional clothing of Ryukyu people is Ryukyu suit, which is similar in appearance to Chinese Hanfu. As a member of the Chinese cultural circle, Ryukyu people also respect Confucianism and respect
Confucius and other Confucian saints.
In the 22nd year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, Yuan Keli, who was still an official at the time, was ordered to patrol the Ryukyus to investigate cases and redeem the Ryukyus' enemies.
All in all, no one would be surprised if someone said that the Ryukyu Kingdom was a province of the Ming Dynasty. After all, everything has been Chineseized.
In the thirty-seventh year of Wanli, Shimazu Iehisa, the lord of Satsuma Domain in Kagoshima, which was adjacent to the Ryukyu Kingdom, sent Hisaka Kayama and led 3,000 soldiers to invade Ryukyu. They captured the Ryukyu King Shonin and more than 100 princes and officials and withdrew their troops back to the country.
The Satsuma Domain claimed that the reason for invading the Ryukyu Kingdom was because Ryukyu did not pay for the military expenses of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea. Instead, the Satsuma Domain paid for it on his behalf, but Ryukyu "will not repay it."
Ryukyu also sent envoys to the suzerain country to ask for help at that time, but at that time, the Ming Dynasty was trapped in the Liaodong war and could not escape. It was still capable of helping Ryukyu solve the Japanese pirate problem, so it did not send troops.
After the Satsuma clan invaded Ryukyu, the clan sent officials to measure and allocate fields, draw national boundaries, formulate taxes, and blackmail Ryukyu Satsuma into paying tribute. The Ryukyu government was also forced to grant official positions to the personnel sent by Satsuma.
Until the end of last year, King Shangfeng of Ryukyu heard some recent developments from the Ming Dynasty businessmen, and heard from his own fishermen that the Ming Dynasty fleet was huge. That is to say, after seeing the huge fleet led by Yan Yingyuan, he secretly sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty for help again.
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After Zhong Jinwei heard the cause and effect clearly, he couldn't help but said: "What is there to discuss? Since Ming Dynasty has the power now, it should send troops to teach the Japanese a lesson."
Emperor Chongzhen now has enough power in his hands to do this. As an emperor who has just gained great power, of course he cannot tolerate the Japanese violating his authority.
Therefore, he also nodded and said: "Sending troops to Ryukyu is certain, but there are still some things involved. Master Zhong is in Guangdong, so we don't know."
After speaking, he motioned to the Minister of War to explain to Zhong Jinwei.
When Zhong Jinwei heard that there was something hidden, he couldn't help but be very curious and looked at Yang He, ready to hear what he had to say.
"My Lord, I, the Ming Dynasty, forced the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan to withdraw the Japanese from Hokkaido into the country, and then began to relocate and capture prisoners of war to build large supply points. Unexpectedly, they were repeatedly attacked by the Ezo people of Hokkaido, so they organized a
The troops fought back and captured a large number of Ezo people."
When Yang He said this, seeing that Duke Xingguo wanted to speak again, he speeded up and continued: "While interrogating the Ezo people, I accidentally discovered that behind all this, there are Japanese people who are causing trouble. They are not
I was willing to give up the Ezo land, so I encouraged the Ezo people to attack our supply point of the Ming Dynasty."
"Then how was this matter resolved?" Zhong Jinwei couldn't help but ask after hearing this.
Yang He would tell this matter even if he didn't ask. So he immediately replied: "The imperial court sent envoys to Edo to explain the matter to the Tokugawa shogunate and strictly required them to give an explanation."
Zhong Jinwei nodded when he heard this. He should do this. Then he was a little curious and didn't know how the Japanese would respond.
"The Tokugawa shogunate, based on the power of the Ming Dynasty that had just wiped out the Jianlu, did not dare to disobey, and finally handed over the Japanese who instigated it. However, I heard that this matter was not smooth sailing, and it aroused fierce resistance." Yang He told Zhong Jinwei.
reminded.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen also spoke from above. He said to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Zhong, because this matter has already been resolved, I did not mention it to you again after you returned to Beijing."
Zhong Jinwei nodded, and then asked Emperor Chongzhen: "Then, Your Majesty, what worries do you have now?"
Emperor Chongzhen did not speak, but Wen Tiren, the chief minister of the cabinet, said to Zhong Jinwei: "If the Ming Dynasty sends troops this time, or sends envoys again to Edo to ask the Tokugawa shogunate to punish the Japanese pirates in Ryukyu, it may cause more riots in Japan.
"
"Because of the last situation, Japan has accumulated a lot of dissatisfaction. And this time it is the Satsuma Domain that is causing trouble for Ryukyu. It is a large domain, and this is not comparable to the previous domains."
After hearing this, Zhong Jinwei turned to Emperor Chongzhen and asked: "What does your Majesty mean?"
Emperor Chongzhen looked serious and said seriously: "This matter must be resolved, but I am worried that the Japanese will not succumb this time. A war may break out between the Ming Dynasty and Japan, so I sent Master Zhong here just to ask
I would like to ask Master Zhong what he thinks about this matter and how to deal with it?"
The focus of the current affairs of the Ming Dynasty is still on the feudal North America. If there is a war with the Japanese, the feudal North America will definitely be postponed. It may even be postponed until the conquest of Japan, so that Japan will not be able to harass the feudal North America.
After an incident.
But Japan is not a small country after all, and its combat power is not as bad as North Korea. If the Ming Dynasty officially goes to war with Japan, it will definitely win. Regarding this, from Emperor Chongzhen to all the ministers present, there is no doubt.
Discuss.
But the monarchs and ministers present were unsure of how long the battle would take, how much food would be consumed, and what would happen after the victory. Therefore, they sought out Zhong Jinwei, the Optimus Prime of the Ming Dynasty, to hear his opinion.
Zhong Jinwei figured out the problem, and after thinking about it for a while, he came to a conclusion.