On the evening of the same day, Fuso Kyoto, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's residence, Kitayama.
General Ashikaga Yoshimochi faced his father Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and said, "Father, do you really want to replace His Majesty the Emperor?"
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu said: "In the daytime today, you also heard what the envoy of the Ming Dynasty said. If His Majesty the Emperor is not deposed, we Fuso will not be accepted as a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty."
"It's just that we can't become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. What's more important is that the Ming Dynasty has opened up the sea in Shanghai, and our Nagasaki Port has lost sixty-seven tenths of its merchants. To do business in Shanghai, you must be a merchant from a vassal state.
.We Fusang people are very different from the businessmen in Nanyang and North Korea, so it is difficult to fake them. If this continues, we will not have any money in our hands."
"Although since the Emperor of the Southern Dynasties gave up the throne, the daimyo from all over the country dare not disobey our orders, but this is because we have money. With money, we can support a large number of samurai and buy good things for them.
Weapons and armor.”
"Now we still have the savings we had before, and we can survive for a while, but what happens when all the savings are gone? Even if each weapon family has its own heirloom, armor does not need to be purchased frequently. But now there are people coming from the road.
The big guns (cannons) and iron cannons (guns) all cost money to build and repair."
"When we run out of money and can no longer afford these things, how can the big names from all over the country not be ready to take action? It is not that our ancestors have never used the name of 'respecting the emperor and begging for rape'."
"But," Ashikaga Yoshinori said: "Since the arrival of Emperor Jimmu, Fuso has been an emperor for nearly two thousand years, and has never professed vassalage to any dynasty on the mainland. Now after my father deposed the emperor, he established himself as emperor, but he also
If the dynasty above me becomes a vassal, I'm afraid it will force the daimyo everywhere to rebel."
Ashikaga Yoshimochi is still a little hesitant. It is nonsense to say that Fuso's throne belongs to the eternal lineage, but it has indeed been passed down among the emperor's close relatives. Although they are also descendants of the emperor, they already have their own surnames (Fuso
The emperor has no surname), and since there was no precedent for the emperor's situation, he still couldn't make up his mind.
In fact, why is Ashikaga Yoshimitsu willing to depose Emperor Komatsu now? Although Ouchi Yoshihiro raised troops in the Western Kingdom last year and was suppressed by him (Oinaga Rebellion), there is no daimyo in the west of the Gyeonggi region who can compete with him, but in the Kanto and Northeastern regions
The daimyo still have strong strength, he has not yet dealt with them, and now Emperor Komatsu is a little too hasty to depose them.
But he had no choice but to look at the deficit in his accounts every day and he became restless. He calculated it for himself. If he delayed it for another three years, he might not even have the money to fight the war. The farmers under him were also already exhausted.
They were squeezed to the most severe level and had to trade in 80 percent of the year's harvest. If a disaster occurred somewhere, it would be a major famine.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had no choice but to usurp the throne immediately. Otherwise, he would have to give up usurping the throne and become a minister of the emperor.
Of course Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was unwilling to give up usurping the throne, so he said: "Today's world is not very respectful to His Majesty the Emperor. Decades ago, wasn't there a samurai who said: 'If it doesn't work without the Emperor, just carve one out of wood or out of gold.
Cast one and exile the living emperor somewhere else to save yourself the trouble, is that so?"
"What we need to worry about most is that the daimyo from other places rebel in the name of respecting the emperor and punishing traitors. However, we still have some money in hand. This time we are going to pay tribute. Because we are obedient, we also received some rewards, which are enough to deal with daimyo from all over Kanto."
Seeing that his father had made up his mind, Ashikaga Yoshimichi no longer tried to dissuade him, but simply said: "Then how can we depose Gokomatsu as emperor?"
"Tomorrow I invite Emperor Gokomatsu to come to Kitayama, prepare a cushion for me with a pattern that only the Emperor and the Emperor can use, and ask him to abdicate."
"I am already old, so I will no longer be the emperor. Yoshitoshi, you can become the emperor, and I will continue to be the minister of government."
Ashikaga Yoshitomichi said: "Let Yoshitsugu be the emperor, and I will continue to serve as the general who conquered the barbarians."
Just kidding, once you become the emperor, you have no power in your hands. Who doesn’t know that you Ashikaga Yoshimitsu likes Yoshitsugu? If I become the emperor, Yoshitsugu will become the general of the conquest of barbarians. In the future, when Yoshitsugu’s son grows up, he will not depose me.
Make your own son emperor?
Ashikaga Yoshinori saw this very clearly. Since the emperor's dethronement was inevitable, his current goal was to kill Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and then make his son the emperor, while he has been serving as the general to conquer the barbarians.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu looked at Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and Ashikaga Yoshimochi looked at Ashikaga Yoshimitsu without any sign of weakness. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu thought well. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu really liked his second son Ashikaga Yoshitsugu and wanted to pass on his power to him.
he.
However, Ashikaga Yoshimochi has served as the general who conquered the barbarians for many years, and his power is not small and will not be easy to deal with. More importantly, we are at a critical moment now. If there is another quarrel in his family, even if he destroys Ashikaga Yoshimochi,
, and was unable to suppress the local daimyo.
So after a moment of silence, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu said: "Okay, let Yoshitsugu be the emperor."
…
…
At dawn the next day, a group of people walked out of the palace in Kyoto. Although this group of people was gorgeously dressed and very powerful, they seemed to be capable of fighting; but if a veteran general who had experienced battles saw this group,
With so many people in the team, it was immediately obvious that they were nothing more than show-offs.
This team was the one that escorted Emperor Gokomatsu out of the palace to Kitayama Prefecture. Emperor Gokomatsu yawned and said to himself in the car: "Why did Ashikaga Yoshimitsu suddenly ask me to go to Kitayama Di so early? Recently?
Is there nothing wrong?"
"If there's something going on, it means that the Ming Dynasty has sent envoys to Fuso again. Could it be that the Ming Dynasty has something to say and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu wants to discuss it with me?" He wondered.
After a while, the carriage arrived at the gate of Kitayama Di, and Emperor Komatsu got out of the carriage and walked in. At this time, he vaguely felt that something was wrong: if it was normal, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu would definitely greet him at the door at this time.
However, Emperor Gokomatsu still couldn't imagine what Ashikaga Yoshimitsu wanted to do now. He just thought that he was becoming more domineering, and he was unhappy, but he could only endure it.
Then Emperor Gomatsu walked into the place where Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was. When he entered the door, he saw that the pattern on the cushion on Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's seat was for the exclusive use of the emperor. He became even more angry, but he greeted Ashikaga Yoshimitsu quietly, and then said: "Mr.
What do you want to tell me today, Minister of State?" He still had to endure it.
Unfortunately, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu no longer gave him a chance to endure. He said: "Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty's envoy came to Kyoto yesterday."
"I know. Could it be that they have something going on?" Emperor Gokomatsu said.
"Your Majesty, the envoy of the Ming Dynasty once again rejected the request to accept Fuso as a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, unless the emperor of Fuso is willing to take the initiative to remove the title of emperor and reduce himself to the king of Fuso." He said.
"How, how can this be done? Fuso's two thousand years of emperor's inheritance cannot be lost in my hands." Emperor Gokomatsu said.
He expressed that he could not accept being demoted to King Fuso.
Unexpectedly, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu nodded and said, "Your Majesty, I think so too."
Emperor Gokomatsu was very puzzled by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's attitude. He knew that because of the opening of the sea in Shanghai during the Ming Dynasty, Fuso businessmen could not make much money now. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu could not support the current samurai and ministers with agricultural taxes alone.
How could he give up so easily and force himself to be demoted to the King of Fuso?
But he was no longer puzzled immediately. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu said: "I also believe that Fuso's two-thousand-year-old tradition of the emperor not being a minister cannot be left in the hands of His Majesty."
"Therefore, I request your Majesty to abdicate."
Emperor Gokomatsu was silent for a while and said: "If I abdicate, who will take over as emperor? Can it be Crown Prince Tsunehito?"
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu said: "The minister's son Ashikaga Yoshitsugu will take over as emperor."
At this time, Emperor Gokomatsu finally understood Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's purpose and said in disbelief: "Your son Ashikaga Yoshitsugu will take over as emperor?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. Your Majesty can immediately adopt the adopted heir as his adopted son, then pass the throne to the adopted heir and abdicate himself."
"I, the Kiyokawa Minamoto clan, am also a descendant of the then Emperor Kiyokawa. I was given the surname Minamoto, and with Ashikaga as my surname, I can also be the emperor." Ashikaga Yoshimitsu said.
Emperor Gokomatsu knew at this time that the situation was inevitable. When he was in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, he had been prepared to lose the throne if the Southern Dynasty defeated him, so although he was surprised, he was not panicked.
But fear is always unavoidable. Emperor Gokomatsu said in a trembling voice: "What will happen to us in the future?"
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu said: "His Majesty and Crown Prince Akihito will be resettled in Shikoku. Your Majesty will be resettled according to the emperor's treatment. After your majesty passes away in the future, Crown Prince Atsuhito can also be resettled according to the emperor's treatment."
In the fight for the highest power in Fuso, there was rarely anything about killing everyone, and everything was done until the end. In history, when the last great general who conquered barbarians, Tokugawa Yoshiki, handed over power during the fall of modern times, he was able to enjoy his old age in peace, and his descendants later became high-ranking officials in the Meiji government.
The struggle for the highest power in China is much more brutal.
However, this has nothing to do with quality. Any struggle for the highest power in a country where a centralized monarchy is a dictatorship must be extremely cruel. This is what must be done in order to retain the power in hand.
Therefore, Emperor Gokomatsu believed what Ashikaga Yoshimitsu said, asked a few more questions, and accepted his fate of losing the throne.
What happened next is easy to tell. That day Emperor Komatsu recognized Ashikaga Yoshitsugu as his adopted son and passed the throne to him the next day.
The succession ceremony was very grand, and envoys from the Ming Dynasty were invited to watch the ceremony. Many traditional ministers thought it was illegal, but they were dismissed by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. These ministers had no power and could only complain behind their backs.
That’s all.
After a period of preparation and a grand ceremony, Ashikaga Yoshitsugu officially announced that he would remove Fuso's title of emperor and accept the title of King Fuso conferred by the Ming Dynasty.
