Prime Minister Bizen

The North Korean envoys came and left even more hurriedly. They had already seen Hideyoshi's attitude towards North Korea and the Ming Dynasty, and they were afraid that they would be trapped in Japan, so they chose to return to North Korea overnight.

After the two returned to North Korea, they informed the North Korean king Li Yan of the situation in Japan. When Li Yan heard the news, he was afraid that Japan would really call the ministers to discuss immediately.

As a result, in the face of this kind of military affairs, the ministers who had their own ideas didn't even dare to fart, and pushed the ball back to the two envoys.

The first answer was Zheng Shi Huang Yunji, although he was submissive when he was in Osaka City, but after returning to Wangjing, he firmly believed that Japan would definitely launch an attack on North Korea and the Ming Dynasty, because he strongly advocated the preparation of the army.

If North Korea is wary of Japan at this time, at least there is still a year of preparation time. Unfortunately, the Korean court is so interesting, and the supremacy of the party and government is their core philosophy.

After hearing Huang Yunji's idea of ​​preparing the army for war, in line with the principle of "I will oppose whatever the enemy agrees with", Kim Sung-il, who had performed well in Japan and advocated resistance, uncharacteristically stated that "the Japanese are not enough!"

He even said: "The Japanese are all paper tigers, they are just a group of barking wild dogs. Has Your Majesty ever seen a barking dog bite someone?" Such words came out as arguments.

In fact, he still has some opinions of his own. Among them, the Japanese are still small and thin, not as strong as our soldiers, and their military equipment is not as neat as our soldiers.

As the chief and deputy envoys reported previously, he highlighted Kim Sung-il's outstanding performance in Japan's negotiations, especially his attitude of fighting for reason in the letter of credence, which deserved Li Yan's appreciation.

In addition, at this time, the Western Party was weak and the Eastern Party collectively promoted Kim Sung Il as a good minister, which made Li Yan even more partial to Jin Sung Il's words.

As a result, the matter of preparing for the war was settled amidst the quarrels between the Eastern and Western parties. In the end, it was just an order to let Toyama to rectify and guard.

This kind of order was conveyed from the King of Korea to Fushan. First, there was no imperial envoy to supervise it, and second, there was no one tael of silver.

The question of whether the Japanese pirates would come or not came to a conclusion during the discussions between the wise and wise king and his ministers, but the court meeting was not over yet, and they still had to discuss whether to inform the suzerain Mingguo.

The conclusion of the final discussion was "Although the North Korean side sent diplomatic envoys in a polite manner, after all, there are suspicions of collaborating with foreign envoys, and theoretically it is beyond the distance."

In line with the principle of more things and less things, the North Korean monarchs decided to press it, as if they had never heard of it. After all, even Japan's conquest of the dynasty is just talking about it, let alone "Invade Daming, change customs four There are hundreds of states."

In fact, it was Hideyoshi's words that made the North Korean monarchs and ministers misjudge, making them think that Hideyoshi was just a boastful fool.

However, Zong Yizhi's visit again soon after, completely broke the prejudgment of Japan by the North Korean monarchs and ministers.

Zongyi Zhi went to North Korea in person at the suggestion of the Xiu family. The reason of the Xiu family was to let Zong Yizhi completely give up his illusions and completely throw the pot of resisting Hideyoshi to North Korea. He said that he found out after going to North Korea again. The Koreans betrayed their promises and were unwilling to be the vanguard of the invasion of Ming Dynasty. …

Anyway, Hideyoshi can't understand Korean, and Zongyizhi has been needed as an interpreter. Not only will Zongyizhi not be deceived by the time, but he can also give credit for discovering the North Korean conspiracy in advance.

Zongyizhi arrived in Pusanpo in the spring of Tensho 19, because Zongyizhi has always been Hideyoshi’s diplomatic envoy to the DPRK. Last time he fell for such a big trick, he felt that he was a big liar, so he rejected him. entry request.

It can also be seen from this that although the kings and ministers of North Korea do not think that Japan will attack the Ming Dynasty, they still think that Japan's Sekibaek Hideyoshi is a psychopath, and it is better to deal less with him if he is a plague god.

Since he was unable to enter the country, he could only tell the North Korean border guards: "Guan Bai wants to attack Ming Dynasty, and your country will inevitably be harassed. Only by reining in the precipice as soon as possible can we avoid trouble before I enter the DPRK."

Historically, Soyoshitomo also went to Joseon under the order of Hideyoshi in June 1591, but was also stopped at Pusanpo.However, his plan had not been exposed at that time, and he still wanted to avoid the military disaster and resume Tsushima's trade with North Korea.

Therefore, in history, he said that "Guan Bai wants to attack Ming Dynasty, and your country should be harassed. If your country can inform Ming country and make peace, you can avoid trouble."

But this is just Zongyi Zhizhi's unilateral fantasy. He also hoped that Ming Dynasty could beg Japan for peace in exchange for peace. For fear of trouble, he didn't know that since Yongle, there has been a tradition in Ming Dynasty that the emperor guards the country and the king dies.

Xiujia asked Zongyi Zhizhi to bring Hideyoshi's idea of ​​being pro-DPRK to North Korea again, hoping that North Korea would pay attention to it, and prepare the army as soon as possible to deal with the Japanese invasion of North Korea.

At the same time, it is best to inform Da Ming so that Da Ming can prepare early.

After the Korean court heard Zong Yizhi's report, the Korean monarchs and ministers finally looked at Japan across the sea again.

Or to put it this way, the last unification of the idea that "Japan is just a paper tiger talking about it" is nothing more than their self-deception. It is the self-consolation of the North Korean monarchs and ministers.

This time Zong Yizhi came to warn again, which made Li Yan completely at a loss, and once again called a group of ministers to discuss.

As long as the court of North Korea holds a court meeting, there will inevitably be party disputes. The Western People's Party, which was forced to press down last time, took the lead in launching the attack. The chief minister Kou Yin Doushou said that it should be reported to Ming Dynasty, while Li Shanhai, the leader of the Eastern People's Party, said that it should not be reported to Ming Dynasty. .

His reasons are also very clear: "This report to Ming Dynasty will inevitably involve the affair of the foreign envoy last time, and North Korea will definitely be punished by Ming Dynasty."

The bosses on both sides had already spoken, and the officials below naturally stood up in line and rolled up their sleeves to start arguing.

To say that North Korea really deserves the title of "Little Daming", even the party struggles are well-behaved.At this time, the Joseon court was roughly divided into two parties, the East and the West, but in fact the dominant Dongren Party also had divisions within it, known as the Southern Party and the Northern Party.

This time, Liu Chenglong of the Southern People's Party, who worshiped the left to discuss politics, put forward a third point of view, that is, Daming must be notified, but the report must be cautious.

Historically, Li Yan was evaluated as "talented and courageous", but judging from his historical performance, he not only lacks a smart mind, but also lacks the perseverance that a monarch should have.

To put it bluntly, this guy is a coward. He is well aware of the magnitude of Japan's invasion of North Korea and the Ming Dynasty, and knows that it cannot be suppressed, but he is also afraid that the Ming Dynasty will punish him for private diplomacy. …

Therefore, he selected an envoy named Jin Yingnan to go to Beijing, and told him face-to-face, "You go to the north in the name of paying tribute, and when you arrive in Beijing, don't spread the word, and inquire about the news there.

If Daming doesn’t know anything about Japan, you can come back. If Daming already knows about it, you can play it under the banner of reporting Japanese affairs.

If they ask how such information came about, you must not say that we heard it when we sent people to Japan, but you said you heard it from the fishermen at sea. "

Leaving aside the facts, the news that the Japanese pirates were going to attack North Korea and the Ming Dynasty was heard from the fishermen was actually taken seriously by the North Korean monarchs and officials, and even reported to Daming without any investigation. No wonder the Ming Dynasty monarchs and officials suspected North Korea in history. It's over.

In fact, Zongyizhi was instructed by Xiujia to issue an ultimatum to North Korea in name, but in fact, while reporting to Daming, Xiujia was also looking for channels in Japan to inform Daming.

Historically, there were two main ways to pass back information about Japan’s attack on Ming Dynasty. One was Shimadzu’s doctor Xu Yihou, and the other was the Ryukyu king who heard the news from his envoy and informed Daming through Ming merchants in Fujian.

However, although Xu Yihou's news was detailed, it was too late to reach Ming Dynasty due to various Japanese official blockades, and the news of the Ryukyu King was not taken seriously by the Ming court.

At that time, the whole court had just quarreled with Emperor Wanli over the establishment of the crown prince. The affairs of the whole world are not as important as the country itself, and all other matters have to be postponed.

It wasn't until after Xu Yi's information spread to Beijing through Jinyiwei that it was valued by the college student Xu Guo, and Daming began to pay attention to Japan.

But what is interesting is that the news that the King of Ryukyu heard was that Hideyoshi himself said that he had won over North Korea, so he tricked Ryukyu into joining the army that invaded Ming Dynasty.

This also affected the distrust of North Korea in the Ming Dynasty in the early days of Japan's invasion of Korea.

This life of Ryukyu has already been taken care of by the Xiu family. As the saying goes, "a single evidence cannot stand". The Xiu family fears that Ming Dynasty will not be able to pay attention to it based on a memorandum from North Korea or Yihou alone, so he urgently wants to find the first one. Two voice channels ruled the Ming court.

In fact, the Xiu family already had a candidate in mind, and that was Yang Jitang, one of the doctors of Balang.

As early as when he was summoned to Jule, Xiujia felt that this person was very surprised. It was different from another doctor named Li Huai who was frightened when he saw him. Although the first meeting with Xiujia seemed awkward, thinking No fear.

You must know that the Xiu family at that time was already famous with millions of stones, no matter in terms of strength or fame, it was an existence that was unparalleled in the world.Coupled with the habit of ruling Ukita for so many years, he always treats people and things without anger.

Even Ming Shang, who has been acquainted with the Xiu family for many years, now has a great change in his attitude when he sees the Xiu family, and Yang Jitang's performance that day made the Xiu family feel that this person must not be an ordinary person.

In the past few years, after investigation by San Zhicheng, it was found that he had been in contact with a Ming merchant who sold porcelain and silk cloth in Jiecho.

Although Xiujia and Ningning have hired him to heal Husong, his annual income is 20 guan, and the reward will not exceed 50 guan, which is 50 taels of silver. …

With such income, it is rare to go to the Ming Merchant Hall once. How could it be possible to go in and out of the Merchant Hall so often? All the performances prove that he is not a pure Ming Merchant.

Especially in the recent period, it may be that Hideyoshi entertained the North Korean envoys in Osaka Castle, and the contents of his reading of the credentials were leaked. There have been rumors around Osaka and Kyoto that Hideyoshi is about to fight against Ming. In the intelligence gathering work, the flaws were involuntarily exposed.

Just a few days ago, Husong officially completed the ceremony of joining the Gifu family in Juledi. Two Ming physicians accompanied Husong to Xiuchang's mansion, and the Xiu family finally had the opportunity to communicate with this elusive doctor.

The Xiu family called the two of them to their mansion in the name of asking about Husong's condition. After dismissing Li Huai, Yang Jitang became alert.

In fact, although the officials of the Ming Dynasty have always paid little attention to the surrounding countries, Jin Yiwei, as an intelligence agency of the empire, has been performing its duties for thousands of years.

Including but not limited to inquiring information from maritime merchants who go out to trade, and even personally sending people to foreign countries to spy, etc. Zhu Junwang, who helped Xu Yi and brought the information back in history, was from Fujian Jinyiwei, but he was sent to Japan earlier. It has been 15 years.

Almost after investigating Yang Jitang's situation clearly, the Xiu family had already associated him with Zhu Junwang in history, and believed that he was probably also a pro-army in brocade clothes.

The Xiu family decided to brew a cup of Longjing for him, and asked him straightforwardly in Chinese, "Doctor Yang came to Japan not just to practice medicine, did he? The information was sent to the Minning Chamber of Commerce in Jieding, and it was brought back to Daming, right?"

Although he had expected it when he saw Xiujia's posture, when he heard Xiujia directly uttered his question, he still resisted and said in Hokkien, "I don't understand what you are talking about."

Maybe Fujian people really don't understand Wuyu, Xiujia expressed his meaning in Japanese, which caused Yang Jitang's emotions to fluctuate rapidly, and Xiujia could even hear his excited heartbeat.

At this time, Yang Jitang was quickly thinking about what he would do next.

I'm afraid I have been exposed. The young man in front of me is a character who stops crying after hearing the news. If he can be culled here, maybe he has done his best with his remnant body.

It's just that now that all the weapons in my hand have been confiscated, it may not be easy to kill this person in front of me.

Xiujia didn't know that Yang Jitang was trying to pull him back at this moment, so he directly took out a piece of paper from his arms and handed it to him. It was written by Xiujia about the current situation in Japan.

It includes but is not limited to the current state of Japan's national power, the situation of mobilizable troops, the description of Hideyoshi's personal character, the number of troops expected to be dispatched, the time, and the basic situation of the daimyos involved in the war.

Hideyoshi specifically marked it above, North Korea and Ryukyu will not send troops with Hideyoshi, this is just Hideyoshi's means of bluffing.It also provided some military suggestions for the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, Hideyoshi's specific order to send troops has not yet been issued, but according to history, the Hideyoshi family must still let the west country send people and the east country send goods to support their war of invasion. …

Therefore, the situation above the Xiu family is roughly in accordance with the historical arrangement, deliberating on the names of the Western Kingdoms, and giving their own guesses about this battle.

Yang Jitang unfolded the paper, read the contents above, looked at Xiujia in surprise, and still pretended to resist and said: "What does your Highness mean, this is not something that I, a doctor, can participate in."

And Xiujia said calmly, "You quickly write down the above content, and disclose the news that Guanbai Hideyoshi is about to launch an attack on Daming, so that Ming can prepare well. I won't say a word when I leave this door." I will admit it."

After finishing speaking, he got up and took a candlestick from the side and lit it, and burned the letter by the way.

Hearing this, Yang Jitang read the letter quickly, and was amazed at the details of the information on it, and it was all the key points, some of which corroborated with the information he had found out now.

For those who came out to be spies, shorthand is their most basic skill. After a while, Yang Jitang wrote down the contents of the letter, handed the paper back to Xiu's family, and watched Xiu's family destroy his body.

Seeing his skillful movements, Xiujia was even more convinced of his identity as Jin Yiwei.

After the paper of the information was turned into ashes, he asked the Xiu family in doubt, "Your Highness, I don't know one thing. Why would you tell me such important information in your capacity. I mean, You are the son of His Highness Guan Bai, we have a natural confrontation."

It is impossible for Xiujia to tell him: I have a Chinese heart, and it is even more impossible for me to tell the news about my time traveler. Even if I tell him, people will not believe it.

Although it's all true
The helpless Xiujia could only make up a reason that seemed more logical, "I did business with Ming merchants when I was in Okayama, you know about it, right?"

Yang Jitang nodded, this is the reason why he sneaked into Okayama and got close to Xiu's family, including later entering Juledi and becoming Husong's doctor, and now in Xiuchang's court, all of the above are the most powerful families in Japan at the moment. Help them get first-hand information.

It's just that he had always regarded the Xiu family as an enemy before, and what he didn't expect was that the Xiu family would turn into a comrade one day and take the initiative to provide information to him.

"Through trading with Ming Dynasty, I know very well the gap between Japan and Ming forces. Even if our country wins this battle by sneak attack in the early stage, the victory rate of Ming Dynasty with a population of tens of millions is still slim.

Instead of more people dying on the battlefield and procrastinating for a longer period of time, it is better to quickly inform the Ming court of this information, so that they can prepare accordingly, and put an end to Guan Bai's idea of ​​​​invading Ming in the first battle.

The sooner the war ends, the sooner the Riming trade resumes.It's a pity that I can't persuade Guan Bai to covet the Ming Dynasty, and I can only achieve my goal through this way. "

This reason is acceptable to Yang Jitan. At this time, the Ming Dynasty was a "kingdom of the Celestial Dynasty", and there were not many foreigners around who were immersed in the Chinese culture. Now that the Xiu family admires the Chinese culture, it is possible to help the Celestial Dynasty to collect information. .

It's just that he ignored the identity of the Hideo family. The Hideo family is the third in command of the Toyotomi family, and one of the top five figures in Japan's actual authority. Such a person's interests are deeply bound to Japan. It is actually very easy for him to do things that infringe on Japan's rights. Can't stand scrutiny.

In fact, Yang Jitang did bring this information back to Daming one and a half years after Xu Yi, and reported it to the imperial court through the Zhejiang General Soldier.

It was precisely this description that made Daming think it was a conspiracy by Japan, and refused to accept his report. Neither Xiujia nor Yang Jitang thought that their actions were clever but were misunderstood by their cleverness.
Yang Jitang obtained such important first-hand information from the Xiu family, and he was so anxious that he left without stopping. The Xiu family sitting in the house looked at his back and murmured sadly, "Goodbye, Dawa." Richter"