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Chapter 1221 Emergence
The emperor was merciful, yes. If he was not merciful, he would have attacked Korea and Japan long ago. The Tokugawa shogunate would not give up power, yes. Once you sit on the throne of a country, there are basically only two ways to go. Either continue to sit on it, or be killed.

It is more reliable to have many people die. Any monarch will do his best to resist before his death, even if it means dragging the entire nation to be buried with him. But the key to untying this knot cannot be pinned on himself no matter how hard he tries.

When it comes to the extent of understanding of Japan, there are special intelligence personnel in both the Navy and the Army Statistics Department. Compared with them, I have no advantages except that I was born in Japan.

"It is not clear how to contribute specifically yet. I want you to return to your father and give him advice, so that we can unite more daimyo in Kyushu to put pressure on the shogunate."

Regarding the issue of Japan, Hong Tao had no short-term plans. He just left it alone and slowly infiltrated it with economic means. Sooner or later, it would collapse on its own and then the Ming Dynasty would take over.

But plans cannot keep up with changes, and the American Plan was forced to be brought forward. At this time, just take a look at the map and you will find that the location of the Japanese archipelago has a significant promoting effect on the American Plan.

If Japanese ports could be used as a transshipment point, the distance to the west coast of North America could be reduced from more than 10,000 kilometers to more than 7,000 kilometers, shortening the voyage by one third. It would be even closer to the Hawaiian Islands, at only 6,000 kilometers.

But the Tokugawa shogunate would definitely not agree to lend any port in the east to the Ming Dynasty. Even if it was willing to lend it, the Ming Dynasty navy would not dare to use it.

Military ports not only need to berth warships, but also have many supporting facilities, such as material warehouses, ammunition depots, shipyards or shipyards, as well as a complete defense system and stationed troops. These are not blown by the wind, but require massive resources to build bit by bit.

Investing massive resources to build a military base in a place where they have no say, if the Tokugawa shogunate ever makes some unacceptable demands, wouldn't this military port be given away for nothing?

Therefore, the only way to use Japanese ports as a base for eastward expansion is to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate. Whether the Japanese archipelago will become a vassal of the Ming Empire will be decided at a later time. At the very least, the new shogunate will have to obey the Ming court. To put it bluntly, it will be a puppet, just like the Joseon Dynasty, which existed in name only.

To achieve this without relying mainly on armed aggression, one must work hard from within Japan. The simplest and most thorough way is to encourage local daimyo to seize power and usurp the throne, and replace the Tokugawa family with forces that can be controlled by the Ming court to control the Japanese shogunate.

To be honest, the Ming Dynasty court has put a lot of effort into Japan over the years, sending a large number of intelligence personnel in the form of monks, scholars, businessmen, and engineers to reside in Japan for a long time with legal status, taking the opportunity to bribe the local people in various ways, and achieved certain results.

However, these levels of infiltration are still far from influencing the shogunate, and the concept of hierarchy and bloodline in Japanese culture is a rigid requirement. Without a relatively noble birth and bloodline, no matter how great one's ability is, there is a ceiling. At most, one can be a non-staff counselor for a more enlightened daimyo, and cannot make it to the top level at all.

So, can we encourage and support the Japanese people to launch an armed uprising to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate from the bottom up? Anyone familiar with Japanese history would never have this idea.

Japan had not seen a nationwide peasant uprising for thousands of years, and there were only a handful of cases where tens of thousands of people rebelled. Moreover, the uprising was not led by the lower classes, but by retainers and samurai of the daimyo. Strictly speaking, it was still a struggle for power among the nobles.

In other words, the Japanese people do not have the concept of "kings, princes, generals and ministers are of different species" in their bones. Everything is based on hierarchy. There is a saying that oranges grow in the south of the Huai River and tangerines grow in the north of the Huai River. Without suitable soil, no matter how good the seeds are, they will not bear fruit. Infiltrating the upper levels and inciting the lower levels will not work. If you want to cause chaos in the country, there is another trick, that is religion. Can you use religion to influence the Japanese people and then slowly achieve your goal?

The answer is no, because Christianity has been tried before, and it has achieved some results, but its influence is limited to a few port cities, and it was short-lived and was soon suppressed. It is said that the shogunate army killed tens of thousands of people in Kyushu Island and almost wiped out all the people who participated in the rebellion in a city.

Neither this nor that works. Is Japan a piece of iron plate with no cracks to drill into? Hong Tao had to say no. He was known as the big green bean fly, and his specialty was finding cracks to lay maggots. Even if it was a piece of iron plate, he would drill a hole.

The problem is that there is really no ironclad government in the world, including the Ming Dynasty. That is why he, this big green bean fly, can always succeed, and he can lay maggots wherever he goes. And he also drilled a few small holes in Japan early on.

Otani Mitsuji was one of them, and he was also the most influential one so far. After lying dormant in the Ming Dynasty for several years, he returned to Japan as an illegitimate son of Xianru, established Guangming Temple in the old site of Higashiharima Province, and became the first abbot.

He declared his illegitimate status so openly and built a temple. Could it be that East and West Honganji and the shogunate did not care? Of course not. Unfortunately, they were unable to eliminate Otani Mitsuji, or they did not dare to.

The daimyo of Higashi-Harima Province was the Bessho clan, and Otani Mitsumichi's mother was called Bessho Eko. Yes, the Bessho clan was the maternal family of Otani Mitsumichi. Although this daimyo was annihilated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi because he chose the wrong side, and the Bessho clan's territory also disappeared, but it did not become extinct.

Since the Bessho clan had very good personal relations with the Hatano clan, the Araki clan, and the Mori clan of Yakami Castle, especially the Mori family which had great influence in Kansai, it was not difficult to hide the descendants of a few old friends.

With the secret support of the descendants of the Bessho clan, the blessing of his identity as a monk of the Ming Dynasty, and the assistance of the Mori, Araki and other families who turned a blind eye, Otani Mitsumichi was able to own a small territory near the sea where his ancestors had lived and fought, and then build a temple under the guise of religion.

It is also worth mentioning that the Hyogozu and Osaka merchant groups also played a big role in the construction of Komyoji Temple and the accommodation of Otani Mitsuji. It was their constant lobbying at the top of the shogunate through various means that made things ambiguous.

Why did the merchants from Hyōgo-zu and Osaka support Otani Mitsuji so much? In one word, money!

When Otani Mitsumichi returned to Japan, in addition to being the illegitimate son of Honganji, he also had a new identity, the abbot of Longfuji Temple in the capital. Longfuji Temple was a royal temple of the Ming Dynasty, and the status of the abbot of a royal temple was not low.

A high status alone can only scare people, but it cannot play a decisive role. What really attracts merchants from Hyogozu and Osaka is the imperial edict in his hand.

(End of this chapter)