The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 147 It's a bit too smooth

The negotiations between the Ming Dynasty and the Edo Shogunate went very smoothly.

The shogunate's senior councilor, Tanuma Okitsugu, agreed to all of the Ming's demands.

The entire territory of Japan was open to the Ming Dynasty, and Ming people and Japanese were allowed to travel freely.

Invite the Ming Dynasty to set up a recruiting envoy in Japan to recruit Japanese immigrants and manage Ming immigrants.

This made the Ming Dynasty representatives led by Fei Chun and Zheng Ruian a little bit unbelievable.

Finally, Tanuma Okitsugu expressed on behalf of the general his hope to be enthroned by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and become the King of Japan.

Although this item was not included in the discussion plan prepared by Fei Chun and others, they did not refuse it.

The Ming court originally regarded the Shogun as the King of Japan.

Originally, every generation should be canonized once, and now holding a ceremony makes it more formal.

The other shogunate officials were all angry but dared not speak out.

No one dared to come out and reject what the two sides were discussing.

After the main cooperation plan was drawn up, Tanuma Okiji stood up and made a personal request:
“Since I was young, I have admired the civilization and education of the Ming Dynasty, so I named my eldest grandson Yiming.

"I admire the living Lu Ban, His Majesty, the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty, so much that I wish I could follow His Majesty and learn science and technology in person.

“But as a senior councilor of the shogunate, I must assist His Majesty the King in handling government affairs, and I cannot go there in person.

"So I beg His Royal Highness the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty to allow my grandson Yiming to go to the Ming Dynasty to follow His Royal Highness in my place."

As Tanuma Okitsugu said this, he turned around and waved. A young man sitting in the corner of the hall stood up and ran quickly to Tanuma Okitsugu.

Then he knelt down directly towards Fei Chun and other Ming envoys, and greeted them loudly:

"I am Tanuma Imi, and I am here to greet all the angels of the Ming Dynasty!"

After Zheng Ruian's introduction, Fei Chun and others knew that the Shogunate's Elder Councillor was similar to the Cabinet Grand Secretary, and this Tanuma Okitsugu was even more like the Prime Minister.

Fei Chun could now see that Tanuma Okitsugu truly admired the Ming Dynasty.

As for arranging for his eldest grandson to go to Ming Dynasty, one reason might be that he really wanted Shun to study and at the same time improve his resume of studying in Ming Dynasty.

It may also mean protecting grandchildren.

According to the explanation of the staff of the Duke of Min's Mansion, Tanuma Yoshiaki actually had many political enemies, and he had just received news that his son had been killed.

Fei Chun and Shen Chu felt that there was no need to refuse, but they could not agree on behalf of Zhu Jianxuan.

Fei Chun carefully considered his words and said:
“I can convey your feelings to His Royal Highness the King of Wu and bring your eldest grandson to pay a visit to His Royal Highness the King of Wu.

"But whether to take in the eldest grandson of the old master, or how to arrange with him, all need to be decided by your Highness."

Tanuma Okitsugu immediately prostrated himself and thanked him:

"Thank you, angel."

Tanuma Omiaki was a little confused. Originally, he was agreed to go to the battlefield, but now it sounded like he was going to be arranged to be the King of Wu's servant.

This arrangement is not bad, but after being encouraged by his grandfather, Tanuma Omiaki wanted to go to the battlefield even more.

But at this time, I didn't dare to question anything and just followed suit and thanked him honestly.

The surrounding shogunate ministers felt even more uncomfortable, especially those who disagreed with Tanuma Okitsugu's political views.

Many people complained in their hearts at the same time that the powerful official Tanuma Okitsugu was so shameless that he had connections with the Ming Dynasty right inside this hall.

Now that Tanuma Okitsugu has the support of the Ming Dynasty, and Japan will continue to cooperate with the Ming Dynasty in the future, it will definitely be more difficult to bring him down.

Tanuma Okitsugu's political enemies originally thought that they would be able to get rid of Tanuma Okitsugu at least after the shogun's death.

However, after Tanuma gained the support of the Ming Dynasty, even the change of shogun could not directly dismiss him.

After the main issues were settled, Fei Chun took out the imperial edict of the Ming Emperor that he had prepared in advance and symbolically announced it to the Japanese officials headed by Tokugawa Ieharu.

The general meaning of the imperial edict was to establish the post of Japanese appeasement envoy and at the same time request the Japanese king to relax entry and exit restrictions.

Then, according to Zhu Jianxuan's request, Tokugawa Ieharu gave the order to execute it directly on the spot.

It was signed using both the identities of the King of Japan and the Shogun, with the seal of the King of Japan placed in front of that of the Shogun.

It means that the Shogun is another identity of the King of Japan.

There is no need to sign Western-style agreements for matters between the Ming Dynasty and its vassal states.

Usually the relevant imperial edict was issued by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the king would issue an order in his own country after receiving the order.

The combination of these two wills is an unquestionable divine command.

Zheng Ruian and Shen Chu served as acting Japanese appeasement envoys, leading other representatives and fleets to stay along the coast of Japan and officially began recruiting Japanese ronin warriors.

It is not necessarily required to have formal samurai status.

As long as one is young, strong and can read, one can be selected, but it is best to be a warrior with his own weapons.

Tanuma Okitsugu actively cooperated at the official level, and Zheng Ruian used the connections the Zheng family had accumulated among the Japanese people to be responsible for occasional translation, communication and screening matters.

The local feudal lords in Japan did not obstruct and were generally relatively cooperative.

Zhu Jianxuan's request for Japan to open up to the Ming Dynasty would certainly promote the development of industry and commerce and damage the interests of Japan's traditional feudal landlords. But this is like cutting meat with a blunt knife and is a threat to the future.

However, Zhu Jianxuan's recruitment of ronin warriors in Japan took away the biggest destabilizing factor in Japan, which was also beneficial for the feudal landlords to maintain their rule.

This is something that can produce immediate results.

Because of the two-year-long Tianming famine, the domestic pressure in Japan was extremely high and civil unrest could break out at any time.

The Japanese feudal lords were not very afraid of ordinary peasants rebelling.

Because of Japan's comprehensive and substantial feudal system, it was difficult for Japanese peasants to revolt on a large scale.

These peasants had no weapons to begin with, and if the ronin who could serve as the leaders of the rebellion were sent away, they would also lose their organization.

The best option is to keep the farmers and allow them to continue working after the famine.

The feudal lords will certainly not object now.

As for the ronin himself, he had almost nothing to begin with.

The chance of becoming a bannerman of the Ming prince is worth a try, even if the success rate is very slim.

At least if you are selected, you will be provided with food, and you don’t have to worry about your livelihood for the time being.

Even some samurai families with decent financial conditions allowed their illegitimate sons, whom they might not be able to support in the future, to sign up.

Even those families with no financial worries saw this as an opportunity.

Many people chose a plan similar to Tanuma Osamu's, and arranged for their descendants and retainers to sign up.

Therefore, the process of King Wu of the Ming Dynasty recruiting warriors in Japan was quite smooth.

In just over a month, 20,000 warriors and more than 20,000 young and middle-aged people with similar warrior abilities were recruited.

In the end, nearly 10,000 young women were recruited.

Before the end of November in the 38th year of Xianning, the Ming navy fleet and the later armed merchant fleet, carrying about 50,000 Japanese, officially set out south.

They will proceed directly to the Indian Ocean and begin combat operations in the Red Sea region.

The Ming Navy will be responsible for fighting against the warships of the Omani Navy, and the Japanese samurai will be responsible for seizing ships and landing in the melee.

Young Japanese women would be sent to the Wu Kingdom to serve as wives or concubines for single Ming immigrants.

On the other side, Fei Chun, the secretary of the Wu State Secretariat, returned to the capital of the Wu Kingdom first, carrying a copy of Tokugawa Ieharu's order, letters from Tokugawa Ieharu and Tanuma Okitsugu to the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty, and Tanuma Okitsugu and his party.

On November 20th of the 38th year of Xianning in the Ming Dynasty, the steam sailing ship that Fei Chun was on arrived at the capital of King Wu.

Zhu Jianxuan met Fei Chun in Chengyun Hall. He first listened to his report on his trip to Japan and was a little surprised at how smooth their trip went.

Zhu Jianxuan had indeed judged that Japan would most likely give in in the end when faced with the irresistible Ming fleet.

But most of the time, there will be some struggle, at least in form, some resistance.

As a result, they really did nothing. After the Ming envoys came, they simply obeyed the orders.

It was as if they were originally vassal states directly governed by the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Jianxuan was not very clear about Japanese history. Only after hearing about the attitude of Japan's Chief Elder Tanuma Okitsugu towards the Ming Dynasty did he understand the reasons a little.

Ming Chui has a minister who is equivalent to the prime minister of the current dynasty. Now things are indeed much easier to handle.

But this does not mean that other Japanese ministers or other Japanese would not oppose such a full opening to the Ming Dynasty.

It is now just being suppressed by the Prime Minister, but it will explode sooner or later in the future.

The assassination of his eldest son was a sign.

When this minister, who is already in his sixties, dies, it may be time for the opposition to launch a counterattack.

Zhu Jianxuan kept these thoughts in mind and asked someone to recruit Tanuma Omi.

Tanuma Omiaki prostrated himself on the ground very respectfully:
"I, Tanuma Omi, pay my respects to His Majesty the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Jianxuan did not let him stand up and directly told him the arrangements he had made for him:
"Tanuma Yiming, this name "Zhu" is not very good, during the Ming Dynasty, we should call him Tian Yiming.

"Your grandfather arranged for you to study in the Ming Wu Kingdom, but I recruited Japanese warriors for combat.

“I don’t want to reject your grandfather’s plea, so I’ll let you decide for yourself.

"Do you really want to stay here and study, or would you rather go to the battlefield with the other warriors?"

Tian Yiming was overjoyed, and felt that His Royal Highness the King of Wu was indeed wise, and immediately said what he wanted to do in his heart:
"Thank you for the name, Your Highness. I hope to make great achievements on the battlefield!"

Zhu Jianxuan then ordered:

“With your grandfather’s request, you also brought your family’s official samurai with you, so you don’t need to start as an ordinary soldier like ordinary ronin.

"I will now appoint you as a captain of the seventh rank. Lead your retainers and samurai to Java to wait for the Ming fleet and report to the First Division of Japan.

"If you can really make achievements on the battlefield, you will naturally be rewarded. If you want to become my direct bodyguard, you will also have the opportunity."

Tian Yiming thanked again very excitedly:

"Thank you for your cultivation, Your Highness."

(End of this chapter)