The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 238 Tian Yiming Returns Home

When Liang Xu, the Edo envoy, met Tian Yiming, he calculated the days and realized that the court decided to send them here shortly after he sent back the news about Qu Xian.

The envoy briefly explained what happened in Japan after that:
“The Japanese King Tokugawa Ieharu died five days ago.

“The new chief elder is Matsudaira Sadanobu, who claims that the king dismissed your grandfather and appointed him before his death.

“But they only dismissed your grandfather without imposing any additional punishment on him, and they also promised not to change the current relationship with Ming.

"I wonder what mission His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has assigned the general to come here for?"

Tian Yiming was a little surprised, but not too shocked. He knew that with the background of the Ming Dynasty, those insects would not dare to go too far, so he immediately bowed and said:
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has ordered that I will be responsible for controlling the situation in Edo. After the army arrives in the spring, I will handle the affairs of Japan's disbanding of feudal domains and establishing provinces. Please cooperate with the envoys."

The envoy was also a little surprised. Japan used to be an independent feudal state, not an internal vassal of the Ming Dynasty. The so-called abolition of the feudal system and establishment of provinces was to expand territory.

But if I thought about it a little, I felt that this kind of thing was completely reasonable.

After the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition and the relocation of fiefdoms, the entire west coast of the Pacific Ocean, except for the Japanese Archipelago, is now the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and the Japanese Archipelago is still in the most core area.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is an unprecedented warrior, so how could he allow a semi-independent island nation to exist in a place like this?

After hearing this, the envoy Liang Xu smiled and bowed, saying:
"General, please feel free to arrange anything you need. I will fully cooperate with you."

Tian Yiming thanked him again and asked the recruiting envoy for more specific information about the Edo Castle, and asked the recruiting envoy to start recruiting more samurai.

Then Tian Yiming said goodbye and returned to his home after several years with his personal guards.

This time, Tian Yiming returned home in glory.

Tanuma Okitsugu had not been liquidated, so his own retainers and samurai were also paying attention to the situation inside and outside Edo Castle and knew that the Ming fleet had arrived in Edo.

However, Tanuma Okitsugu, who had just received the news, was not too happy.

Tanuma Okitsugu also believed that for the Ming Dynasty, Japan only needed to maintain the relationship, and it did not matter who became the Ming Dynasty's spokesperson in Japan.

Besides, he is too old. Even if he doesn't lose power now, he won't have many years left to live.

His grandson was still too young, far from the age to be able to control the situation in Japan, and it was already an exaggeration for him to be a regiment commander in the Ming army.

On the contrary, as long as Matsudaira Sadanobu is willing to cooperate, he would be a good candidate for the Ming Dynasty.

So when he learned that the Ming fleet had docked and the Ming soldiers had taken control of the dock, Tanuma Okitsugu began to worry.

Until the warrior guarding outside ran into the house excitedly and reported:
"Master, the young master is back!"

Tanuma Okitsugu stood up directly:

"Yiming is back!"

As Tanuma Okitsugu was speaking, Tian Yiming came in with eight soldiers.

The grandfather and grandson were very excited to meet each other again after several years.

Tanuma Ichiji grabbed Tian Yiming's arm and looked him up and down with his eyes wide open:

"Good...good grandson, you have grown up too..."

Tian Yiming said very proudly:
"My grandson is back. He is back with the Ming soldiers!"

Tanuma Oji was obviously stunned, then he looked around briefly.

The people following Tian Yiming were all wearing Ming military uniforms. Eight of them knelt on the ground when they met Tanuma Okitsugu's gaze:

"See the head of the family!"

Tanuma Okitsugu suddenly realized that these were the eight warriors he had arranged to protect Tian Yiming.

This surprised Tanuma Okiji again.

Personal bodyguards protect their masters and have the obligation to block knives, so the mortality rate is inherently high.

Tanuma Okiji initially thought that most of them would die.

I didn't expect that they all came back alive now.

How smoothly was the battle that my grandson fought with the Ming army?
In fact, the main reason is that Tian Yiming has a special identity, and his superiors did not assign him tasks that are prone to casualties, such as suppressing rebellions in the city.

Always put him in the main force to fight on the front battlefield, so that he can gain merit quickly and is not prone to casualties.

Because the Ming army had a great advantage in weapons and equipment.

As long as there is no close-range sneak attack, the damage on the front battlefield will be very small.

Tanuma Okitsugu was thinking about something, and waved his hand to let the warriors stand up:
"You are all fine, you are all doing well, it's great to be back, everyone go and have a rest."

As a result, although these people stood up after hearing the order, they did not leave and continued to stand behind Tian Yiming.

When Tanuma Okitsugu saw this, he was stunned for a moment, then he couldn't help laughing. He knew that he was no longer their master, but his grandson was.

Tanuma Okiji simply ignored them and looked at Tian Yiming in front of him again:
"Why did the Ming Dynasty arrange for you to come back? What is the Ming Dynasty's attitude towards Japan's current situation?" Tian Yiming subconsciously wanted to tell the truth, but changed his mind when the words came to his lips:
“His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Ming sent me back to control the situation in Edo and ensure that the Japanese court would not do anything that went against the interests of Ming.

"If Grandpa needs it, I can lead the army to put pressure on the Japanese court to restore Grandpa's position as the Elder of the Central Court."

Tanuma Okiji had a feeling that it was as he expected, and then he said with a bit of disappointment and a bit of happiness:
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty is indeed the most practical person. He should not care who is ruling Japan, right?
"But His Highness arranged for you to come back, and he also allowed the shogunate to reinstate me, which can be considered a kindness to our family."

Tanuma Okitsugu thought that the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty deliberately sent Tian Yiming back instead of other Ming generals in order to protect him as a collaborator.

Although he might not live long, the Crown Prince of Ming Dynasty was still willing to protect his power and status while he was alive.

Instead of abandoning themselves as long as the situation in Japan can remain favorable to the Ming Dynasty.

Tanuma Okitsugu was very grateful and bowed four times in the direction of the Ming Dynasty.

Tanuma Okitsugu returned to the inner courtyard to change his clothes, and under the escort of Tanuma's guards, he went to the palace of the Edo Shogun, which according to the Ming Dynasty was the Japanese royal palace.

After discussing with his grandfather, Tian Yiming arranged for his five samurai guards, each with a battalion of soldiers, to invite the Gosanke, Gosankei, and Matsudaira Sadanobu to discuss matters.

Due to the Sankinkotai system of the Edo Shogunate, almost half of the daimyo of the feudal domains under the Japanese shogunate lived in Edo at any one time.

At the same time, the wives of all the daimyo of the feudal domains had to live in Edo.

The shoguns and the daimyo's subordinates, as well as their families and the servants who served them, totaled more than half a million people.

In theory, these are all "Wu family members".

There were about 500,000 ordinary civilians living normally in Edo.

The total population of Edo Castle at this time exceeded one million, making it one of the largest cities in the world.

Although Tian Yiming was very confident in the soldiers he brought with him, he did not take the hundreds of thousands of old samurai in Edo seriously at all.

But he also did not think that the 10,000 people he brought with him could forcibly and violently suppress the entire Edo samurai clan.

According to the experience Tian Yiming learned in Africa and the northern part of the Ming Dynasty, Japan's samurai were similar to the Manchu city residents of the Qing Dynasty and belonged to the ruling group of the entire country.

They will not surrender because of a few direct defeats, nor will they easily and completely submit to foreign conquerors.

When foreign conquerors want to completely wipe them out, the resistance will be very fierce.

Therefore, Tian Yiming still has to show a compromising attitude and show that he is controlling the situation on behalf of the Ming Dynasty, and at most restore his grandfather's power and status.

Instead of violently destroying the entire existing shogunate samurai ruling system.

After the two sides have reached a "compromise" and the Wu family members have relaxed their vigilance, they will wait for the arrival of the imperial court's 100,000 main forces, and then completely suppress them by surprise.

The whole of Edo was in panic at this time, and there was no one on the streets.

However, at the gates of the various high-rise buildings surrounding the Shogun's Palace, there were many warriors peeking around and observing the situation.

The guards around Tian Yiming all took Chinese names like Tian Yiming.

The samurai named Yanagi Wei, who was in charge of inviting Matsudaira Sadanobu, was now the battalion commander and led more than 300 soldiers under his command, running to the street where Matsudaira Sadanobu's house was located.

Liu Wei divided his troops into three groups at the street entrance. He asked one company to disperse at the surrounding street entrances to maintain vigilance, and one company to go to the back door of Matsudaira's house to block the exit.

Liu Wei himself took a company to the front door of Matsudaira's house to "invite someone".

Liu Wei led his team to the door of Matsudaira Sadanobu's house and ordered more than 100 Japanese soldiers who had returned from the Ming Dynasty to line up and raise their rifles, aiming at the samurai in front of Matsudaira Sadanobu's house.

Some of the Matsudaira family's samurai immediately ran back to report to Matsudaira Sadanobu. The remaining samurai immediately drew their swords and looked at these people wearing Ming military uniforms with great vigilance:

"This is the residence of the Matsudaira family head of the Shirakawa Domain in Mutsu Province. What are you doing?"

Liu Wei opened his throat and shouted:

"General Tian Yiming, commander of the First Division of the Ming Dynasty in Japan, invites the Gosanke, Gosanqing, and Mr. Matsudaira to the palace for a discussion."

The samurai of the Matsudaira family did not dare to relax, and of course they did not dare to take direct action, as that would be tantamount to seeking death. After all, the opponent did not take direct action, so there was no need for them to seek death.

So he immediately arranged for another person to go back and report:

"Please wait here for a moment. We will go and report to the head of the family."

Matsudaira Sadanobu received a series of bad news. A large group of soldiers blocked the front and back doors of his house, and then came to "invite" him to the palace for a meeting.

Especially the person who invited him to go, surprised Matsudaira Sadanobu very much:

"Tian Yiming? Tanuma Yiming? The grandson of Tanuma Yici? He should be only sixteen or seventeen years old this year, right?
"How did you become the division commander of the Ming Dynasty? You have to command 10,000 soldiers, how is that possible?

"The point is, hundreds of people holding muskets blocked the front and back doors. Is this really an invitation?"

Several of Matsudaira's retainers almost instinctively advised Matsudaira Sadanobu not to go:
"This must be a Hongmen Banquet. The head of the family cannot go..."

(End of this chapter)