Emperor Ming Dynasty

"Could it be that your country wants to change its family and leave the country of etiquette to the barbarians?"

"Impossible—" ×4
The people said in unison, their faces extremely ugly.

At this time, in the entire East Asian cultural circle, it was Confucianism who had the right to speak, and the center of Confucianism was Ming Dynasty.

Just like Annan, North Korea, Ryukyu, etc., what they have been striving for is the title of Little China, and they all claim to be a civilized state.

Those who do not belong to the Confucian cultural circle are barbarians, such as Mongolia and Jurchen.

Even Japan is no exception. They also call themselves a civilized country, and their worldview follows Confucianism. For the Ainu people in Hokkaido, they call them Einu.

The shogun is the general who conquers barbarians, commanding the warriors of the world.

Once they were expelled from the cultural circle and became barbarians, wouldn't they be ridiculed to death?
Thinking of those North Koreans scorning themselves as Japanese barbarians, Bao Kezheng and others felt ashamed and angry.

"Your envoy, please rest, the general is still in charge of such important matters."

Tadakatsu Sakai can only use dragging tactics.

Zhu Jing wasn't in a hurry, and stayed openly.

The reception maid also spoke rough Chinese, which made him feel less embarrassed.

Several members of the 'cabinet' sat down, their faces full of helplessness.

The general is only ten years old and knows a lot of shit.

Everything is not up to them.

It's a trivial matter to be expelled from the cultural circle, and it's nothing to be ashamed, but I'm afraid of war.

Once the shogunate fought against the Ming people, it would be nothing more than a victory. With a slight loss, those powerful foreign daimyos would definitely take advantage of the vacancy and shake the foundation of the shogunate's rule.

Therefore, the best way to maintain the majesty of the shogunate is not to fight any battles. The [-] flags are enough to suppress the world.

"What do you say about the court (Emperor and Minister)?"

Sakai Tadakatsu asked.

"Nowadays is the world of warriors, and the imperial court is useless without a single soldier."

Abe Tadakatsu shook his head.

"But I'm afraid that the general situation will overwhelm people."

Baoke Zhengzhi said softly: "Now that the general is young, the Ming people took advantage of the opportunity to enter. If there is another disturbance in the court, the shogunate will be in turmoil."

The fifty-year rule of the Tokugawa shogunate has already been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

At this time, there are 20 million stones in Japan, 8 million stones for generals and banners directly, plus genealogical daimyos and pro-vassal daimyos, totaling more than 5 million stones.

There are two or five real appearances, and the total is only about 6 million stones. The key is that the people are not in the same place.

Therefore, it is easy to defeat the shogunate, but it is difficult to conquer Japan!Just the few hundred names of the shogunate is enough to make people vomit blood.

If you catch the general, the next day those pro-vassal daimyos will be able to support the new general, relying on a strong foundation, they can still rule Japan.

More importantly, Japanese firearms are prevalent. When they invaded North Korea, their firearms were much more advanced than those of China, and they also imitated a large number of Francois cannons.

Even in the siege of Osaka, Tokugawa Ieyasu had dozens of large European-style naval guns, winning in one fell swoop,
And the precious imperial battalion was wasted like that, and both sides would suffer.

Even if there is chaos in Japan, I am afraid that another shogunate will be established in a few decades. The new shogunate will not be as comfortable as the closed-door Edo shogunate.

Japan, on the other hand, has a barren land and competes with North Korea, and its only advantageous industry is gold and silver mines.

Instead of consuming a large amount of troops, manpower and material resources, it is better to directly subdue them, so as to bring them into the Ming Dynasty's tributary economic circle.

To put it bluntly, if you simply rely on venting your anger, it is definitely the most stupid way to let tens of thousands of imperial battalions consume the shogunate. If you have this energy, you might as well fight Tsarist Russia to occupy territory.

Accepting Japan and making it a minister for generations, this kind of complete spiritual conquest is far easier and more natural than war.

Zhu Jing naturally didn't know what the emperor thought.

He thought in his heart that if Japan was surrendered like North Korea, not only the Japanese pirates would be gone, but the whole world would really be a bright land.

"Although Japan was crowned king before, it was only greedy for trade. This time it must subdue the country..."

He thought about it, but it didn't feel right.

Japanese books are in Chinese characters, officials also understand Chinese, and even for some, Confucian classics are clear and clear, and they understand it better than him. What needs to be changed?

"That's right, etiquette—"

He turned over and sat up: "It should be like North Korea, where the royal robes and official uniforms are given, and the etiquette conforms to the Zhou etiquette, so that they can be regarded as the real vassal state..."

Two days later, the news that the Ryukyu Navy passed through the Kagoshima Domain to suppress the bandits reached Edo, which directly shocked the veterans.

"The ship of the Ming Dynasty is several times that of the Anzhai ship of our country. Even the Kagoshima Clan said bluntly that there are Nanban cannons on both sides of the ship's string—"

Bao Kezheng's face was so ugly that he said.

The so-called Nanban artillery refers to the dozens of heavy artillery that Tokugawa Ieyasu bombarded Osaka back then. Their powerful power is still shocking.

With such cannons, Edo Castle could hardly be defended, and the navy could not withstand ships several times its size.

Now, the powerful deterrence of force made the group of four completely succumb.

In a blink of an eye, Zhu Jing negotiated with him about Japan joining the tributary system.

Like North Korea, three conditions.

First, buy grain at a low price; Daming buys 20,000 stones of grain with [-] yuan silver dollars every year.

This will greatly improve the food shortage situation in Ryukyu.

The second trade: allow Ming and Japanese merchants to trade with each other without restriction.

Third, control the navy.

Just like North Korea, Japan doesn't care about being the first to give money to buy food. Although it suffers a bit, this benefit is nothing to the shogunate.

At this time, the annual taxation of the shogunate was about 50 to 80 stones, 30 to 60 taels of gold, and 2 guan of silver (which always weighed seven catties).

If converted into silver, the annual income is nearly 8 million taels, which can be said to be rich and powerful.

But rewarding currency represents its circulation, which means that Ming can indirectly exploit Japan through currency weapons, but he doesn't know it.

In the second article of trade, Japan allows Ming merchants to live and trade freely in Nagasaki, but they cannot travel around at will, and restrict them to death.

The third rule is to control the navy, which is not approved.

Military power is the most sensitive at any time.

Zhu Jing puffed up her chest and said: "The Great Ming Navy is the best in the world, as long as we are here, no Western barbarians will come to bully you."

"Besides, I, Da Ming, don't look down on your offshore naval divisions. It's just the name of the joint command."

Seeing that the Japanese were still unwavering, Zhu Jing could only take a step back, and said temptingly: "Then, take an island as a naval station, and your country can afford half of the military expenses to defend against the enemy."

"How about the Fukue Islands near Nagasaki, Kyushu?"

Fukue Island, one of the five islands, is an archipelago off the west coast of Kyushu, Japan. It is relatively barren, but it is an island chain outside Kyushu.

"Hondo Island is also fine—"

Bendo Island is opposite Nagasaki.

"Just Fukue Island!"

The shogunate compromised and agreed to spend 50,000 taels of silver every year as military expenses to protect Nagasaki's trade.