The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 294 Zhengde Xinwei Clause
Ouchi Yoshioki died.

But the debt of the Ouchi family cannot be let go just like that.

Tang Hao looked coldly at the brothers Ashikaga Yoshihide and Katsuhito.

"I'll give you two a chance to make merit."

"I will give each of you a 2,000-man army to destroy those local daimyo who disguised themselves as Japanese pirates and plundered the coast of our Ming Dynasty!"

"Shengren, right? When you have wiped out all the enemies, I will hold a ceremony to enthronize you!"

"And Ashikaga Yoshihide, when you have killed all of them and come back to Kyoto, I will let you sit on the position of Shogun!"

After these words were spoken, brothers Ashikaga Yoshihide and Katsuhito were both shocked!

Ashikaga Yoshihide was overjoyed, but what he feared most was that his own father, Lord Nakayama, would forcibly support him to become the shogun and then lead his troops away. Then he would definitely tear the remaining forces of the Hosokawa and Ouchi clans into pieces!

Since the Onin War, the army directly under the shogun was completely disbanded and shattered. This is the real reason why the ruling power of the Muromachi shogunate declined and local daimyo fought on their own and no longer obeyed the call of the shogunate.

Without its army and weapons, what could the shogunate use to suppress the local daimyo?

And it is precisely because of this that the shoguns of the shogunate after the Onin War, including Ashikaga Yoshitane, Ashikaga Yoshizumi and others, all became puppets controlled by powerful ministers. For example, Hosokawa Masatoshi is the best example. Relying on the family armed forces of the Hosokawa clan, he was able to depose and enthronize shoguns and manipulate the shogunate!
Therefore, if Ashikaga Yoshihide wanted to secure his position as shogun and avoid becoming a puppet, he had to first eliminate the Hosokawa clan and the Ouchi clan, and take the opportunity to build an armed force of his own, so that he could maintain long-term stability!
By then, even if his biological father, Lord Nakayama, was gone, Ashikaga Yoshihide could rely on his own strength to subdue the local forces and restore the glory of the Muromachi shogunate!

Not to mention that his own father gave him such an opportunity at this moment, leading the invincible Ming soldiers to eliminate dissidents, which was simply a timely help!
Ashikaga Yoshihide knelt down at Tang Hao's feet again and wanted to lick his father's shoes to express his excitement and gratitude.

Fortunately, Tang Hao reacted quickly and kicked him again, so he was not disgusted.

Brother Shengren was also extremely excited at this moment. He also wanted to kneel down and lick the shoes of his biological father, Marquis Zhongshan.

In fact, the situation of the imperial court was even more miserable than that of the shogunate.

Although he is the noble descendant of the Sun God, since the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate, all the power of the Yamato Kingdom has been stolen by this shogunate, so that it is almost a well-known fact that the emperor has gradually become a puppet mascot.

If Shengren wants to restore the monarchy and revive the royal family, he must have his own armed forces, preferably one that can subdue the daimyo of the world!
It's a pity that he doesn't have it now, but his biological father, Marquis Zhongshan, gave him such an invincible army!
What else can you say?
Start eliminating dissidents right away!

Neither of them is stupid, and both of them have their own ambitions.

One wanted to revive the shogunate, and the other wanted to restore the monarchy, so they were both excited and thrilled when faced with the opportunity given by Tang Hao.

Anyway, those local daimyo neither respect the imperial family nor the shogunate, so they can be killed without any regret.

As for whether they really disguised themselves as Japanese pirates and went out to sea to plunder the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty, Ashikaga Yoshihide didn't care, the elder brother Katsuhito didn't care, and Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao didn't care even more.

In fact, Tang Hao wanted these two ambitious guys to take advantage of this opportunity to eliminate dissidents and cultivate their own factions, and then form two forces within the territory of Japan, one is the imperial court, and the other is the Muromachi shogunate, both of which are ruling centers recognized by the people of Japan!

There will be something interesting to watch next. Japan will not be able to rest in peace for at least the next hundred years.

Furthermore, after this incident, these Japanese daimyos will learn a lesson and the fear of the Ming Dynasty will be engraved in their bones.

Forget about disguising themselves as Japanese pirates to plunder at sea again. After such a bloodbath, they would even tremble when they heard the word "Ming Dynasty". This is exactly the effect that Tang Hao wanted to see!

Tang Hao calculated the time and then gave a deadline.

"Three months limit!"

"You two must work together and not fight each other. Do you understand?"

Well, a biological father is a biological father. He even considerately set restrictions for them, so they are not allowed to fight at this moment.

In other words, their father was telling them that except for the two of them not to fight each other, they could kill and purge the other local daimyo at will.

Brothers Ashikaga Yoshitsugu and Katsuhito thanked Tang Hao again profusely, and then each set off with two thousand soldiers.

Ashikaga Yoshihide's side remained the same, with two thousand soldiers led by Ma Yong and Deng Boyan.

Brother Shengren was good at choosing after all. He selected Lei Xiong and Chang Kuohai, two reckless men who hated the Japanese, to lead 2,000 soldiers to go into battle.

Tang Hao gave only one order to these four generals, which was to kill as many young and strong Japanese as possible, to plunder as much wealth as possible from Japan, and to spread the reputation of the Ming soldiers as much as possible... In summary, it was just one request, to kill as many as possible!
After they left, there were still 6,000 soldiers in Kyoto, so they were naturally not idle.

Under the leadership of generals such as Tang Mu and Zuo Yidao, these 6,000 soldiers went door to door to liquidate and massacre the Japanese nobles!

It has to be admitted that the capital of every country is where nobles gather.

Even though the Japanese royal families like Brother Shengren live a miserable life and don't even have the money to hold ceremonies and bury the dead, these Japanese nobles are all extremely wealthy.

Just like the local gentry and court officials of the Ming Dynasty, these Japanese nobles in Kyoto are actually the spokespersons of the local daimyo in the ruling center. They protect the interests of the local daimyo, and there are basically one or two daimyo forces standing behind them.

Of course, there are also old-line Japanese aristocrats like the Japanese royal family, such as Ise Sadamune, the shogunate minister, who was of noble birth and had a high prestige among the Japanese aristocrats.

When he saw that Marquis Zhongshan was about to attack the nobles in Kyoto, the old man immediately made a wise choice. He hurried to the Muromachi shogunate to ask to see Tang Hao, and knelt down and begged for mercy directly on behalf of the Japanese nobles.

"Ming Dynasty angel, we are willing to offer our property in exchange for the safety of our whole family. Please show mercy..."

Not only did Ise Sadamune kneel, the aristocratic group he represented also knelt, and they knelt thoroughly.

There is no other choice but to give up all the property just to survive.

After all, the heads of powerful ministers such as Ashikaga Yoshizumi, Ouchi Yoshioki, Ashikaga Yoshitane and Hosokawa Takakuni were all hanging at the gate of the Muromachi shogunate. Anyone who saw this scene would be terrified and frightened!
These damn Ming people are simply tyrannical and unjust!

Isn’t it said that the Ming Dynasty is a country of etiquette?
Isn’t it said that the Ming Dynasty has always been magnanimous?

Isn’t it said that the Ming Dynasty has always sacrificed itself for others and supported its vassal states?
Look at the crimes committed by the Ming army in Yamato. They are simply butchers and executioners!

It was not until this moment that all the Japanese people finally understood a truth.

The reason why they emphasize benevolence, righteousness, and morality to the outside world and act like a kind and friendly good guy is that they don't bother to settle accounts with you vassal states.

However, local daimyos in Japan repeatedly disguised themselves as pirates and went out to sea to plunder the coast of Ming Dynasty, which made this honest man completely angry. Not only did he massacre Tsushima Island, but he also sent troops to settle accounts directly. Now Japan can no longer hold on.

They just want to donate money as soon as possible and send these Ming troops away as soon as possible!

This is the unanimous thought of the Japanese nobles.

Even though Ashikaga Yoshihide and Emperor Go-Kashiwahara were causing trouble at the moment, everyone could accept the power struggle between the shogunate and the emperor. After all, this was something that had been talked about all along.

At worst, after the Ming army leaves, these Japanese nobles and local daimyo will work hard to eliminate one of the forces, and Yamato can then regain stability.

So, you have to kneel, and you must kneel smoothly!

The servility inherent in the Japanese people was fully displayed at this moment!

Tang Hao had nothing to say about this. He could only select and slaughter some nobles who were related to the Japanese pirate daimyo, and then suspend the liquidation of them.

These nobles would be good tools if kept as they are, they are all good leeks with good growth potential now, and we can harvest another batch in ten years.

Three months passed in a flash, and Ashikaga Yoshihide and Katsuhito returned to Beijing on time. However, compared with their previous cautiousness, they walked with a straight back now.

In fact, after massacring several daimyo families that still tried to resist, almost everyone surrendered wherever the two men went, and it became a disguised fight for territory.

Thanks to the previous reminder from his father, Lord Nakayama, Ashikaga Yoshihide and his elder brother Katsuhito also maintained a certain tacit understanding, so Ashikaga Yoshihide went westward and took Kyushu, Chugoku and Shikoku regions into his pockets. All the local daimyo who were unwilling to surrender were slaughtered by him. These three regions were also the places where the Japanese pirates were entrenched because they were close to the south. Ma Yong and Deng Boyan did not show any mercy in their killing; while the elder brother Katsuhito turned to the northeast and took the central region, Kanto region and northern region into his pockets. As for Hokkaido further north, he did not have time to go there due to limited time.

As for the Kansai Kinki region where Kyoto is located, the two of them remained restrained. If you subdue one daimyo, I will go find another one. Anyway, the two of them are now equally powerful. And this time they returned to Kyoto with a force of 10,000 samurai. On the one hand, it was to intimidate the other side, and on the other hand it was to intimidate the Ming army.

After all, the two of them had a total of 20,000 troops when combined, while the Ming army had only 10,000 troops, and they were fighting in different locations, so their chances of winning were slim no matter how you looked at it.

Brothers Ashikaga Yoshihide and Katsuhito are not fools. They can certainly see that their father, Marquis Nakayama, has some bad intentions, and there is no sign of him leaving Yamato and returning to Ming in the short term. How can they tolerate this?

If Marquis Zhongshan continues to lead his troops here, what kind of country will Yamato be?
Could it be that Marquis Zhongshan became the emperor emeritus of Yamato?
So after the two of them communicated with each other, they began to act like they were about to "force the emperor to abdicate."

Of course, because Kyoto was still under the control of the Ming army, these 20,000 troops could not enter Kyoto and could only temporarily station outside the city.

Both of them returned to Kyoto with the Ming army and met their father, Marquis Zhongshan, again.

After listening to their report, Tang Hao's eyes flashed coldly, but he did not speak.

He was not a fool, so he could see the demonstration of these two guys.

So, this is the ungrateful wolf who can never be tamed. Once he grows wings enough, he wants to curse!
Tang Hao didn't waste any time and arranged the water torture gift package again.

This time, the two were much tougher when they struggled and screamed, but as expected, they were beaten severely and then dragged away to be subjected to water torture.

After arranging these two idiots, Tang Hao looked at the generals.

"Ma Yong, Boyan, Lei Xiong and Kuo Hai, forget about the four of you. Your achievements are enough."

"Other brothers, who wants to go out and practice and slaughter those 20,000 Japanese soldiers outside the city?"

For a time, all the generals competed with each other and knelt down to volunteer, hoping to gain more merit.

In the end, they shared the credit. An Guo and Tang Mu each led 4,000 soldiers and other generals into battle.

Why do people say that the brothers Ashikaga Yoshinobu and Katsuhito are idiots?

Because they started to become arrogant as soon as they had a little military force.

Because they simply did not realize the huge gap between the Japanese army and the Ming army.

In front of the Rumi gun and the three-eyed gun, these hastily assembled Japanese troops, even with a strength of 10,000, were no match for the 4,000 Ming troops. The only thing the Ming army feared was the Japanese heavy bows, but unfortunately their range was far inferior to that of the Rumi gun.

That night, the Ming army launched a war on two fronts. An Guo and Tang Mu each led an army to raid the Japanese camp outside the city.

The Ming army was well-rested while the Japanese army was tired. The Japanese army had traveled a long distance, and their morale was unstable and their warriors were exhausted, so they were easily defeated by the Ming army in a hurry.

Suddenly, there was a burst of gunfire and flames shot into the sky. These hastily assembled Japanese troops habitually formed family groups and fought on their own. In the end, they were defeated one by one by the Ming army. Faced with the sharp Rumi gun and the terrifying three-eyed gun, they had no power to fight back and fell in a pool of blood one after another.

Three days later, when the numb-looking brothers Ashikaga Yoshiwone and Katsuhito had once again enjoyed the water torture package and walked into the Muromachi shogunate, they saw the heads of the daimyo they had just recruited neatly placed in front of them.

In an instant, endless terror and fear swept over the two of them. Before they had time to think, their bodies reacted instinctively and they collapsed to the ground, with an unknown liquid flowing out from underneath.

Tang Hao looked at the two people's ugly appearance expressionlessly and sneered: "This is the first time, and the last time!"

"If you dare to do it again next time, I won't mind killing you and replacing you with two more obedient puppets. Do you understand?"

puppet!
Still a puppet!
They struggled for so long but never expected that they were still puppets of others!
The difference is that in the past the emperor was a puppet of the shogunate, and the shogun was a puppet of the shogunate's powerful officials.

But now, they are all puppets of the Ming Dynasty, puppets of the Ming Dynasty’s Zhongshan Marquis!
In other words, the Yamato Kingdom is probably finished this time!
The Ming Dynasty directly intervened in the political affairs of the Yamato Kingdom with a brutal and overbearing attitude, and wanted to manipulate their emperor and shogun into puppets!
The two looked at each other and saw endless regret in each other's eyes!
They will become... the eternal sinners of the Yamato nation!
Tang Hao chuckled and without further ado, called out the noble representative, Ise Sadamune.

"Okay, now that everyone is here, let's talk about the future of Japan!"

Tang Hao looked at the three people and took out the treaty that had been drafted long ago.

"You three, one is the King of Japan, one is the Shogun of Japan, and one is the representative of the Japanese nobility. You are all the most powerful people in Japan at this moment."

"Then let's get started!"

Tang Mu stepped forward and handed each of the three people a treaty.

"The Treaty of Zhengde?"

The three of them flipped it open and looked pale and desperate.

"First, from now on, Japan will abolish the title of 'Emperor' and call itself 'King of Japan' instead. All changes in the King of Japan must be reported to the Ming Dynasty and conferred by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Anyone who calls himself a king without the emperor's order will be punished by the Ming army!"

"Secondly, the entire territory of Japan is stationed by our Ming Dynasty all year round, including but not limited to major ports, mining areas, etc. The Ming soldiers of the Ming Dynasty can freely mobilize local materials in Japan for their own use, including local Japanese laborers. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"

"Third, the defense of Kyoto will be handed over to the Imperial Army, including the Imperial Guard of the Japanese ruler and the Imperial Guard of the Muromachi shogunate. There will be no more than a hundred armed forces in Kyoto, including the Japanese ruler and the shogun!"

"Fourth, as a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, Japan must fulfill the obligations of a vassal state. Every year, the Shogun personally pays tribute to the Ming Dynasty and listens to the teachings of the Ming Emperor. As the Ming Dynasty is the suzerain state of Japan, Japan must serve the Ming Dynasty unconditionally, including but not limited to providing money, food and supplies during wartime..."

"Fifth, Japan enjoys the right to govern its people independently, but the garrison soldiers are not Japanese citizens. Japan cannot dispose of the garrison soldiers without authorization. The Ming Dynasty will send a minister and a general to Japan to unify the command and dispatch of the garrison soldiers. Japan has no right to interfere..."

"Sixth, all minerals in Japan, including gold and silver mines, belong to the Ming Dynasty. Japan is not allowed to mine without permission. Anyone found will be killed without mercy..."

"Seventh, the daimyo of each region of Japan are not allowed to have an armed force of more than a thousand people. If they are found, their property will be confiscated and their clan will be exterminated and killed without mercy..."

"Eighth, from now on, Hyogo-jin will be the port of the Ming Dynasty and the base of the Ming Dynasty navy stationed in Japan. No Japanese ship is allowed to leave from Hyogo-jin..."

"Ninth..."

The three pages of densely packed clauses completely destroyed the psychological defenses of the brothers Ashikaga Yoshihide, Ise Sadamune and Katsuhito.

Even though they hadn't finished watching it, they all understood one thing.

That means Yamato...it's completely finished.

Once these terms are agreed to, Yamato will become a slave state of the Ming Dynasty. Not only will it lose all sovereignty, but all its wealth, resources and even its people will be taken at will by the Ming Dynasty!
What kind of country is Yamato like this?
"Of course, you don't have to agree."

Tang Hao sneered and spoke.

"If you really have the guts, I will lead the Ming army to slaughter all of you Japanese, starting with the bloodbath in Kyoto!"

"As for the three of you, your entire clan will be slaughtered and your heads will be cut off as a sacrifice to the heavens!"

When the three heard this, they fell into complete despair!

(End of this chapter)