I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 404: One Thought to Enlighten
Konoe Maehisa, Hosokawa Fujitaka and Akechi Mitsuhide, who were kneeling on the ground, looked at each other and couldn't help but feel secretly happy.

The most difficult first hurdle has finally been overcome, and the rest will be easy.

Hosokawa Fujitaka immediately said: "Your Highness, the Crown Prince, our country has reached a peace agreement and asks the Great Ming to enthrone our ruler as the King of Japan. Anyone who dares to claim to be the ruler without being enthrone by the Great Ming is a traitor and can be killed by anyone."

Zhu Yijun heard the sound of Ashikaga Yoshiteru's abacus beads.

Pa la, pa la, the fighting was very clever.

The family of the Heavenly King was thrown out as the culprit, and no Heavenly King would be appointed in the future. Then the only person in Japan who was qualified to be crowned as the King of Japan was the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru.

Once he is canonized as the King of Japan by the Ming Dynasty and the small Japanese court is re-established, Ashikaga Yoshiteru will have a backer. If he offends me, he will offend the Ming Dynasty father!
If you local lords dare to rebel again, I won’t have to deal with you. The Ming Dynasty father will.

I just want to ask you if you are afraid!
Zhu Yijun turned his gaze to Konoe Maehisa's face and saw that he was very happy and supportive, and he also knew that some officials had made their choice.

In the past, they followed the king and had to go hungry three times a day, which was a very difficult life. Now they abandoned the king, followed the Ashikaga family, supported him to become the king of Japan, and the newly established small court was stable.

With the endorsement of the Ming Dynasty's father, the local lords will have to pay some taxes. Then everyone can hold tea parties and poetry gatherings and live happily.

This is the good day that the ministers have always dreamed of!
Zhu Yijun turned his attention to Akechi Mitsuhide.

Will the local lords, who are the real power holders in Japan, agree to this?
The local lords such as Oda, Takeda, Hojo, and Mori, who had grown stronger by overthrowing their superiors, actually least wanted the emergence of a unified and powerful imperial court.

In the past, there was a king who was like a clay statue and a shogun who was a crappy person. Everyone at the bottom was able to get along with everyone. If they did something bad, they would pay some money to the people above, which was like buying a ticket to get out of jail free. Then they would be promoted to higher positions and everyone would be happy together!
But it’s no longer possible now. If we don’t change the current situation, everyone will be doomed and no one will have fun!

No matter how unwilling they were, these guys had to bite the bullet and agree to the conditions, beg for mercy and forgiveness from the Ming Dynasty first, and then restore normal people's livelihood and economy.

The Ming Dynasty is too powerful, and these local lords can’t stand it.

The most important thing for them is to protect their own family business, stabilize their foundation, develop well and strengthen their strength. They can talk about the future later and get through the current crisis first.

As for whether it is the Utahara or the Shogun who becomes the King of Japan, it does not mean much to them, they are just mascots.

Zhu Yijun did not say anything and continued to listen to Konoe Maehisa talking about Japan's conditions for mercy and peace.

"We recognize that the Osumi Islands, Goto Islands, Tsushima Island, Oki Islands, and Sado Island are the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and lease the ports of Nagasaki and Yokohama to the Ming Dynasty in perpetuity, renting a certain amount of money each year to open trading ports such as Hakata, Hiroshima, and Kai to the Ming Dynasty.

The coastal defense is entrusted to the Ming Navy. Ming people can travel freely throughout Japan, and can trade, open mines, set up factories, buy land, run schools, give lectures, buy houses, etc. The local government must guarantee the safety of the people and their property.

Except for not asking Ming to help build a new army, the peace terms proposed by Japan were similar to those of Korea. At this time, he was in a state of giving up if he couldn't win, just like Sister Pomegranate, and fell to the ground.

Don't pity me just because I am a delicate flower!
The conditions are good!
Nagasaki Port was designated by the Koroji Temple as the commercial center of western Japan. It was located in the Hirado area. The lord there had long been replaced by Tao Mingxiu from the Matsuura family, who claimed to be Tsurujumaru, the grandson of Tao Harukata who died in the Battle of Itsukushima with Mori Motonari.

The only reason he could become the lord of Hirado was that he clung the tightest to the Ming Dynasty. Now among the dozens of lords in Japan, he was the one who lived the most comfortable life.

Yokohama Port was the planned commercial center of eastern Japan, located on a peninsula on the right side of Edo Bay in Kanto. The entire peninsula was permanently leased, and the Ming Dynasty only needed to build a castle at the narrowest part of the peninsula to separate itself from the Japanese territory.

In addition to being a commercial and trade center in the east, the Navy Bureau also designed it to be an important transit port for Ming Dynasty to reach the New World.

Zhu Yijun got down from his chair, put his hands in his sleeves, paced back and forth, and listened to the other conditions that Konoe Maejiu read out.

After listening, Zhu Yijun said: "I would like to add a few points. First, Ming Dynasty goods entering the Japanese market are exempt from any tariffs. Second, Japan must compensate Ming Dynasty for its losses and the military expenses of the navy's demonstrations around the island in recent years. Ten million silver dollars, in exchange for Japan..."

What is the collateral?

All Ming Dynasty goods are tax-free, so why are there still tariffs?
The maritime merchants of other countries can collect tariffs. Japan entrusted the coastal defense to the Ming navy. Do you think the Ming would allow the maritime merchants of other countries to interfere?
Salt tax?

Japanese people always have to eat salt.

Business tax?

There is no tariff on Ming Dynasty goods sold from trading ports, but Japanese middlemen should be charged taxes when resell them.

The local lords are independent, how to collect these taxes? Let's discuss it slowly. You dare to owe the Ming Dynasty money, have you never tasted the iron fist of the Ming Dynasty navy?
You hide inland and don't go near the coast. Now the Ming Navy has officially established a Marine Battalion, which is specially used for landing and island warfare. Isn't Japan just three slightly larger islands?
Zhu Yijun mentioned the collateral and saw the surprised faces of the three guards, so he waved his hand and said, "The 10 million taels of silver is a friendship price given to you because of your sincerity. I know you are not rich at the moment and it is difficult to repay, but it doesn't matter. You can pay it back in ten years, and you only need to add a little interest every year."

Konoe and Zenjiu looked at each other.

You also have to pay real money to the Ming Dynasty.

Akechi Mitsuhide summoned up the courage to ask, "Your Highness, Japan is poor, can you show some mercy and exempt us from this indemnity?"

Zhu Yijun smiled slightly, with a cold look on his face. "What do you think?"

Seeing the attitude of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Ming, the three of them knew that it was impossible to reduce the amount even a little, let alone pardon. Then they thought again, Japan doesn't have much other things, but it has a lot of silver. The Ishimi Silver Mine alone can produce nearly one million taels of silver a year.

As long as the Ming Dynasty agrees to negotiate peace and allows Japan to restore people's livelihood, everyone can use less silver and more copper coins, and at worst barter.

When leaving Japan, Ashikaga Yoshiteru and representatives of the lords all expressed their willingness to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty at all costs.

Ten million taels of silver, it's not paid by any one family anyway, so everyone can share it and no one can expect to get less.

Not giving?

Haha, speak louder!
Zhu Yijun observed the expressions of the three people and could roughly guess what they were thinking.

I know you have a lot of silver, especially the Iwami Silver Mine. It's rare for me to rob it, so I'll just use compensation to make you come to my door.

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "The main conditions for the peace talks have been discussed, and the remaining details will be discussed slowly between the Honglu Temple and the three of you.

Get up! "

Hearing Zhu Yijun calling out, the three imperial guards kowtowed in gratitude and then slowly got up.

I knelt for too long and my legs are numb.

The three of them sighed deeply. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty finally nodded in agreement to peace talks and even negotiated the main terms personally. It was not easy, but the three of them knew in their hearts that the dawn of peace was just around the corner.

After comforting them, Zhu Yijun sent the three out of the garden first, and asked Wang Zhigao to stay.

"My Lord, the peace treaty between Ming and Japan must consist of twenty-one articles."

Wang Zhigao was a little curious, "Twenty-one Articles?"

"Yes, this number is auspicious!"

"I obey your order!"

"Mr. Wenchang, let's go back to the Qinzheng Hall and discuss the matter of Tumen Khan and Altan Khan."

On the way, Xu Wei looked at the excited Zhu Yijun and said something jokingly.

"Your Highness is in a good mood!"

Zhu Yijun put his hands in his sleeves and looked up at the sky. The sky was clear and blue, and the white clouds were like faces, some old, some young, some male, some female, some happy, some sad, as if they were traveling through time and space, staring at him.

Zhu Yijun looked solemn and bowed deeply towards the blue sky and white clouds.

“I understand everything in one thought!”

It was also under this blue sky and white clouds, two thousand miles northwest of the capital, in the lower reaches of the Xilinge River (Selenge River) south of the North Sea, that Xiao Ruxun led a team of three hundred scouts, chasing Tumen Khan for thirteen days.

(End of this chapter)