Satsuma Domain, Kagoshima Castle, the current head of the clan, Mitsuhisa Shimazu, has returned to his domain after a year of service in Edo, and is enjoying tea and rice leisurely.
The Tokugawa shogunate's participation system required the family members of local princes to serve as hostages in Edo, and they themselves stayed in Edo one year and in the feudal territory one year, thus restraining their thoughts of rebellion.
The princes not only performed the pilgrimage themselves, but also brought a large number of warriors and servants to settle down.
Just like Shimazu Mitsuhisa, he took thousands of samurai to the capital Edo for a year to eat, drink and have fun, spending half of the domain's wealth on it, making Edo's population exceed one million and contributing a lot to the consumer economy.
Later, most of the daimyo lords were born in Edo and regarded it as their first hometown, so that the shoguns had to send the daimyo back home to fight for power with the samurai.
It was not until the Meiji Restoration that it was easy to abolish feudal lords and establish prefectures.
"What's the matter?" Shimazu Mitsuji reluctantly put down his bowl and chopsticks, raised his head and asked, his eyebrows full of anger.
"There is news from Ryukyu that the Ming Dynasty will send envoys to our country to congratulate Shogun on his succession."
The warrior knelt on his knees, lowered his head and said.
In June of the fourth year of Qing'an (1651), the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu passed away at the age of forty-seven. His second son, Tokugawa Ietsuna, who was only ten years old, held a shogunate ceremony in Edo.
became the ruler of Japan.
"Ryukyu, Ming Envoy——" Shimazu Mitsuhisa fell into thought.
After losing 120,000 koku of land in Ryukyu, the Shimazu family immediately lost 600,000 koku, but their income did not decrease but increased.
Without him, due to the rise of the Ryukyu trade, the Shimadzu family secretly did business with it and thus obtained huge profits. A small land and population were nothing.
Soon, the old man, Shimazu Hisumichi, came.
"Master, it's not a good idea to come here." Shimazu Hisamichi said in a deep voice.
"Of course I understand." Shimazu Mitsuhisa nodded: "This is taking advantage of the fact that the general passed away not long ago, and the general is young!"
"What about my Shimazu family?" Shimazu Kutou raised his head and asked.
"Naturally, the two don't help each other."
Shimazu Mitsuhisa said matter-of-factly: "Akito has thousands of troops in Ryukyu, and the navy is crushing us. If we help the shogunate, we will be the first to suffer misfortune."
"That's the way it is."
Then, a letter went to Edo Castle.
At this time, the people assisting the shogun were his uncle Masayuki Hoshina and the elders Sakai Tadakatsu, the elders Matsudaira Nobutsuna, and Abe Tadaki.
When the four of them learned the news about the Satsuma clan, they were suddenly shocked and felt uneasy.
Originally, after the death of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the Kei'an Incident (ronin rebellion) broke out. Soon after it subsided, Akito came.
"What is Mingren doing?" Baoke Zhengzhi sat upright and asked.
"If nothing goes wrong, it's nothing more than profit."
"He took advantage of the general's young age to try to subdue us."
The elder Sakai Tadakatsu said solemnly: "There are many Ming merchants coming and going from Nagasaki, and the Ming Dynasty quelled the rebellion and even surrendered the Mongols."
"At this time, his eyes are probably set on Japan."
"Akito is not afraid of the divine wind?" Matsudaira Nobutsuna narrowed his eyes, a little unbelievable.
"The shogunate has 80,000 banners, hundreds of vassal states in the world, and millions of troops. Let me see if the Ming people will come."
Hatamoto is a direct minister of the shogunate. His territory is less than 10,000 koku, which is basically two or three villages. Moreover, it is only a food town and cannot be directly controlled.
They were the foundation of the Tokugawa Shogunate's rule.
"Since Ryukyu was occupied last year, hasn't Akito talked about the King of Japan?" Abe Tadaki then spoke, directly waking everyone up:
"Pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, just like Korea."
Several old men straightened their backs instantly.
From an independent country to a dependent country, in the East, which values legal principles and reputation, it is a matter of life and death.
If you accept the title of King of Japan, then where will the Emperor be? Wouldn’t it mean that the Shogun is your minister and the Ming Emperor is your king?
If the minister has no two masters, the emperor will inevitably be abandoned, thus shaking public opinion.
You know, although the Japanese Emperor is a mascot and the imperial court is just a seal, it has existed for thousands of years and its influence cannot be underestimated.
"What if you don't accept it?" Sakai Tadakatsu said solemnly.
"I'm afraid there is an unexpected worry." Abe Tadaki bowed his head and said: "The general is young and has been coveted by various vassal states for a long time. If we and the Ming Dynasty both lose, only those famous names will benefit."
The external daimyo, that is, the daimyo who surrendered and retained the domain after the Battle of Sekigahara, are juxtaposed with the daimyo who are close to the domain (such as the Gosan Family) and the gendai daimyo (the daimyo who followed before the Battle of Sekigahara).
For example, the four feudal clans of Satsuma, Choshu, Hizen and Tosa that collapsed in later generations were all external daimyo.
"I heard that Mingren has 200,000 flags in Beijing, called Yuying. They are all elite soldiers who followed Emperor Shaowu in his campaigns in the north and south."
Hoshina Masayuki shook his head and sighed.
As soon as these words came out, everyone was speechless.
The shogunate had been in peace for fifty years, and not to mention loose flags, even if the 80,000 flags from the Battle of Sekigahara were still there, they would still be unable to defeat 200,000 people.
For a while, there was a stalemate.
Half a month later, news came from Nagasaki that the envoy had arrived.
Later, the Ming envoy had to abandon the ship and go to the famous Edo Castle.
Zhu Jing looked up at the city and was quite amazed.
At this time, Edo Castle was about ten miles long from east to west and eight miles wide from north to south. It was surrounded by inner and outer trenches. The circumference of the outer trench was about 32 miles, which was about the size of three Forbidden City.
I originally thought it was a remote and desolate country, but I didn't expect it to be able to build such a large city, no less than an ordinary city.
What surprised him most was that a tall tower stood with white walls and green tiles, together with a stone base, about ten feet high and six floors.
"This is the castle tower. When famous people from all over the country come to visit, they come here to pay homage to the general."
The samurai leading the way introduced it proudly, with a look of pride on his face.
Such heights are rare in Ming Dynasty.
It's just that Zhu Jing doesn't understand. If you live in the castle tower, wouldn't it be too dangerous? A fire can burn everything, and there will be no place to run.
However, when I arrived in Central Austria, I met with the Japanese cabinet (Zhu Jing privately thought) and told me my intention.
Recognize the status of the Ming Dynasty suzerain, pay tribute, and trade.
Three simple conditions.
The four elders, Masayuki Hoshina, Sakai Tadakatsu, the middle elder Nobutsuna Matsudaira, and Tadaki Abe had solemn expressions on their faces and remained silent for a long time.
Baoke Zhengzhi learned Chinese well, and said bluntly: "These conditions are too harsh. Japan has never been a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty."
"As far as I know, the Ashikaga family of your country was canonized as the king of Japan and has been trading with our country for two hundred years. Decades ago, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who offended North Korea, also accepted the canonization."
Zhu Jing didn't panic, she spoke like a treasure trove, and then said with great interest: "Don't you want to admit it, your lord?"
"No matter how Japan changes its dynasty, its subjects cannot escape."