I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 403: The Attitude of Confession Is Acceptable
Konoe Maehisa, Hosokawa Fujitaka, and Akechi Mitsuhide knelt on the ground and bowed. When they heard Zhu Yijun's question, they turned their heads to look at each other. Finally, the most witty Akechi Mitsuhide spoke.

“Reporting to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, our country’s royal way is not prosperous, and there are separatist regimes in all directions. Soldiers are everywhere, some wreaking havoc in the localities and endangering the people; some are tempted by profit and go out to sea to become pirates.

Now the Shogun has revived the military power, consulted with the locals, and imposed strict control, and no longer allowed the rebellious soldiers to wreak havoc. For the many crimes we have committed before, the whole country feels deeply ashamed and extremely guilty, so we have specially sent the three of us to apologize to the monarch, ministers and people of our country!

I beg you to be magnanimous, consider that all evil has been eradicated and the rest of the people are innocent, and forgive the sins of my country."

Zhu Yijun said calmly: "The Japanese pirates wreaked havoc in the southeast, killing hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians. The living cannot ask for forgiveness for the dead. What we can do is to send the murderers to the dead and let them decide the judgment themselves.

I know that among the Japanese pirates in the southeast, only 30% are real Japanese pirates, and the rest are local pirates and bandits. Foreign enemies are hateful, and internal thieves are even worse. Now the southeast coast is full of heads, some are real Japanese pirates, and some are these bastards who seduce foreign thieves and harm their own people.

The Ming navy goes north twice a year to surround your country and bombard it to avenge the blood feud. The local authorities are also investigating the culprits who have fled and hidden. All those involved, whether they are wealthy and powerful families, Confucian scholars, officials, common people, or merchants, will be beheaded without mercy.

Regardless of whether he hides his identity or flees to another place, the Jinyiwei Zhenfu Division of the Ming Dynasty will spare no manpower or material resources to bring him to justice, uphold the law, clarify justice, and appease the people's grievances."

Zhu Yijun's powerful words made Konoe Maehisa, Hosokawa Fujitaka, and Akechi Mitsuhide understand the Ming Dynasty's determination to eliminate the Japanese rebellion in the southeast.

Going north to Japan twice a year was just one of the measures. The southeastern regions of the Ming Dynasty had been investigating those culprits who colluded with, bribed and instigated pirates and the real Japanese pirates to wreak havoc in the local area in the name of Japanese pirates.

Regardless of their identities, whether they were local tyrants, families of scholars, or wealthy merchants, the Ming Dynasty would spare no effort to track them down, and if caught they would be killed.

Even if they hide their identities or flee to another place, we must pursue them to the end and bring them to justice.

Regardless of manpower and material resources!

Zhu Yijun looked at the three people kneeling respectfully on the ground and listening to his words honestly, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

External enemies are hateful, but internal enemies are even more hateful.

Those guys who bribed and instigated pirates and Japanese pirates to cause chaos for their own selfish interests; and those officials who only cared about their own future and interests, shirked and neglected actual government affairs, and finally caused chaos, are not good people.

These bastards are no more merciful than the Japanese pirates in harming their own people.

In the past few years, the military and political officials in the southeast were all Xiyuan's confidants, and they had been resolutely carrying out Zhu Yijun's orders to investigate the internal thieves. They traced back twenty years, obtained information from the captured pirates, and tracked them down one by one.

Who is the source?

Who first bribed and instigated these pirates and Japanese pirates, who was involved in the process, who sold the stolen property to, and who sold the looted people to?

Pirates and Japanese pirates wreaked havoc in the southeast, looting property and abducting countless people. Only a small number of them went to Japan, while most of them were sold for cash in the southeast of the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, everyone who is interested knows what exactly happened in the Japanese invasion in the southeast.

Forty years after the Jiajing reign, after more than a decade of Japanese invasion, a complete industrial chain was actually formed. Most of the people in the entire chain were Ming people, and the Japanese pirates, including the real Japanese, were all hired to do the dirty work.

The focus of the Jinyiwei Zhenfu Division in recent years has been to investigate these. A special investigation department has been set up, and a large number of experts with rich experience in detection and pursuit have been organized to trace various clues, and the farthest places they have been traced are Yunnan, Shaanxi, Guangdong and Guangxi, and Siam.

During the past six years, the Investigation Office arrested 2,175 main culprits of the Japanese rebellion, including gentry, aristocratic families, wealthy families, merchants, officials, etc., and all of them were sentenced to be executed by public execution without exception.

Rescued tens of thousands of women, children and young people who had been abducted and trafficked.

The names of these culprits were included in the "Catalogue of Culprits of the Japanese Invasion" in the "Nanjing Political News" and "Commercial News", and were kept in the archives, leaving a bad reputation for eternity.

Their heads, along with those of pirate leaders, were hung on the gate towers of counties in the southeastern states.

Zhu Yijun wanted to use these heads to tell certain people that some money can be earned but not spent. He also wanted to gather the hearts of the people in the southeast, who had lost their hearts due to the Japanese invasion for more than 20 years.

Zhu Yijun glanced at the backs of the three people, and finally said: "Now the remnants of the Japanese invasion in the southeast have been completely cleared. From the memorials you have submitted repeatedly, it can be seen that you are aware of your guilt."

The three people kneeling on the ground hurriedly said: "Our country, from top to bottom, sincerely admits its sins and will make amends for its past mistakes. Please be merciful and forgive us."

"Sincerely plead guilty. It's not just words. What matters is the actual actions. What practical measures have you taken?"

Konoe Maehisa immediately responded, "We received a letter of reprimand from our superior country and immediately investigated and punished 5,167 pirates who committed crimes at sea. All their heads were handed over to the superior agency on Tanegashima.

We followed the imperial edict to track down the culprit who ordered the Japanese pirates to go out to sea and cause chaos. First, some big merchants in Jiecheng and Kyoto were beheaded and confiscated. Finally, we traced it to Kyoto and found that some nobles were involved in the case. Finally, we found that the king and the prince of our country were involved in the case.

Konoe spoke passionately and eloquently.

In fact, everyone knew that he was talking nonsense in a serious manner.

The Ming Dynasty imposed a sea closure order on Japan for several years, and carried out coastal bombardment attacks twice a year, which seriously affected the country's economy.

The nobles could not eat marine fish, which was one of the few sources of animal protein in this Buddhist country where killing of animals is not permitted.

Trade is difficult. Japan is mountainous and has rough roads. In the past, the transportation of goods from various places, especially long-distance goods, relied on sailing in the coastal waters.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has closed its seas, no ship is allowed to go out to sea. The circulation of goods across Japan can only rely on people carrying them on their backs or on horses, which is extremely inefficient.

In the past, it only took about ten days to travel from Kanto to Jiegang along the coastline, which was fast and cost-effective.

Now, relying on land transportation, it takes about one or two months to transport one stone of grain from Guandong to Jiegang. The cost of food for people and horses along the way is two or three stones of grain.

Who can bear this!
In addition, the businesses affiliated with the Ming Dynasty's Honglu Temple, Shaofujian, and Taifu Temple secretly adopted "unconventional" economic warfare methods.

For example, they bought large quantities of grain at "high prices" by selling wine, frosted sugar and other goods that local nobles and lords liked, pushing up grain prices step by step and then seeking huge profits; they mixed steamed seeds with normal grain seeds and sold them; they planned to hoard daily necessities, such as candles, salt, cotton cloth, etc., and raised their prices in turn.
Now Japan's people's livelihood is declining, the economy is on the verge of collapse, and the lords of various places have no spare energy to fight and expand their territory.

We must beg for mercy and peace with the Ming Dynasty, and ask for forgiveness, otherwise we will all die sooner or later.

However, begging for mercy and negotiating peace with the Ming Dynasty, the first step is to hand over the culprit, which is a big hassle.

Who should I hand over to?

Shogun?
Ashikaga Yoshiteru said, if you dare to hand me over, I will say that you are all my accomplices and we will die together!

Hand over to the local lord?
The weight is not enough. How can we hand over all the dozens of lords in the country? No one can do it!

After much deliberation, under the guidance of some people with ulterior motives, Ashikaga Yoshiteru, local lords and some nobles finally reached a tacit consensus that for the sake of the Japanese people and the future of Japan, you and your family will have to suffer.

But you have to add some fat to the lean meat!

After everyone discussed it again, they decided to hand over some of the ministers who had close relations with the king, were overly arrogant on a daily basis, and were hated by everyone, as accomplices, and handed them over as the culprits together with the king's family.

Konoe Maehisa was the representative of some court nobles, Hosokawa Fujitaka was the representative of the shogun, and Akechi Mitsuhide was the representative of local lords. The three of them took turns speaking, scolding the emperor's family and some court nobles, saying they were unforgivable and that they wished the Ming army would immediately kill these bastards to relieve the hatred in the hearts of millions of Japanese soldiers and civilians.

Seeing that they were so tactful, Zhu Yijun nodded, "Well, seeing that you are so sincere, I think you have passed this level. Continue!"

(End of this chapter)