The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 242 "Warring States Reappears?"

The original ten divisions of the Ming Dynasty's Japanese vassal army were changed to the Ming Dynasty's Japan Garrison Corps after filling the vacancies.

After the Spring Festival in the 44th year of Xianning, they began to rush to Japan by ship in batches.

The fleet carrying the first batch of garrison troops entered Edo Bay on the seventh day of the first lunar month and docked directly at Edo Pier.

As more and more troops landed, the atmosphere in Edo, which had gradually relaxed, became depressing and tense again.

Japan's current de facto ruling minister, Tanuma Okitsugu, looked at the growing number of Ming troops and realized that the Ming's goal was definitely not just to maintain the status quo.

So on the 15th day of the first lunar month, during the Lantern Festival, Tanuma Okitsugu asked his grandson Tian Yiming directly:
"What does the Ming Dynasty want to do?"

Tian Yiming looked around and saw that he and his grandson were the only ones in the living room, so he explained the situation to his grandfather:
"The purpose of the Ming Dynasty is very simple. We will no longer allow the Tokugawa family to continue to be indecisive. The Kyoto court headed by the usurper emperor cannot be retained any longer."

Tanuma Oji reacted instantly:

"So many troops are being sent here to force the samurai of the Edo shogunate to break with the nobles and the imperial court in Kyoto? To suppress all the daimyo who refuse to obey?"

Tian Yiming nodded gently:
"The Tokugawa family wants to be the king of Japan and a vassal of the Ming emperor, so of course they have to break with the usurper court in Kyoto."

Tanuma Okitsugu muttered with a complicated expression:

"In the world of Shenzhou, the emperors of every dynasty have hoped to be the only true dragon emperor.

"Now the Ming Dynasty has successfully eliminated the feudal lords and conquered the north, and has reunited the world of Shenzhou.

"Then, apart from the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, no one else can be allowed to be crowned as the Emperor.

"In the past dynasties, the situation in Shenzhou was complicated and it was difficult for ships to travel to Japan, so the emperor of the Celestial Empire did not insist on controlling Japan.

"The Ming Dynasty's navy and army are now unrivaled in the world, and of course we will not continue to allow an usurping emperor to exist on the Japanese archipelago.

"Now the Tokugawa shogunate can either pledge allegiance to the Ming emperor or destroy the emperor and his court in Kyoto.

“Either continue to be loyal to the Emperor and be the enemy of the Ming Emperor.

"Under the current situation, no matter who is the shogun, they can only choose the former.

“The Ming court was the real imperial court, and the emperor and the nobles in Kyoto, Japan, were just a troupe responsible for granting the status of shogun.

"But the emperor is nominally the Son of Heaven of Japan, and the shogun is also a subject of the emperor.

"From the perspective of the Kyoto court, the daimyo who were spiritually loyal to the emperor saw the Tokugawa family's actions as treason and rebellion.

"Maybe... Japan will be in chaos again, and the Warring States period will come again..."

When Tanuma Yici said this, he realized something again and suddenly looked up at Tian Yiming:
"Is this the real intention of the Ming Dynasty?"

Tian Yiming could feel that his way of thinking was different from that of his grandfather.

My grandfather is still a Japanese in essence, and subconsciously he should still respect the Japanese emperor as the Son of Heaven.

I feel that although Japan is weaker than the Ming Dynasty, it is only a weak country at the same level.

The relationship between the Japanese court and the Ming Dynasty was equivalent to the brotherly relationship between Liao and Song, rather than the father-son relationship between the Ming Dynasty and Korea before Chongzhen.

So facing the current situation, he will feel regretful and lost.

In addition to his grandfather, there should be many other high-ranking officials in Japan, as well as local daimyo and samurai, who have a similar mentality.

Therefore, these people must be completely cleared out, or at least sent to Africa to open up wasteland, but it would be best if they were completely eliminated.

Because the facts are not what they think at all. The gap between today's Japan and the current Ming Dynasty is even greater than the gap between the original Korea and the Ming Dynasty.

There was no possibility for Japan to be independent in the face of the Ming Dynasty. The result of its attempt to be independent was to be completely wiped out.

Tian Yiming did not answer his grandfather's question directly, but asked back:

"From the perspective of the people of the Ming Dynasty, how can the head of the imperial court in Kyoto, who is like a troupe of actors, be qualified to be the emperor?

“The Japanese emperor should not have existed in the first place.

“If the Japanese king had not been so self-righteous and imitated Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty by changing the king to the emperor, there would not be the current trouble.

"Great chaos will lead to great order. The court of nobles in Kyoto must be abolished, and the existing system must be completely changed.

"Fully integrating into the Ming Dynasty is Japan's only way out.

"This is the general trend of the world—"

Tanuma Okitsugu sighed weakly:
"Grandpa understands. Grandpa will make the king accept the arrangement..."

Tanuma Okitsugu knew long ago that once the Ming Dynasty was completely revived, especially after the revival of its maritime power, Japan would no longer be able to continue to remain isolated overseas and protect itself.

I just didn't expect this to happen so quickly. Tanuma Okitsugu originally thought that he would need to leave a buffer zone of at least a few decades to allow the Japanese king to slowly gain popularity before dealing with it.

What the Ming Dynasty is doing now is to deliberately create a chaotic world and consume the power of the Japanese samurai.

Although I don't want to see it, I have no choice but to cooperate.

For the status of my family and the future of my descendants.

On the 25th day of the first lunar month in the 44th year of Xianning, all 100,000 Ming troops stationed in Japan arrived in Edo.

The 100,000-strong garrison controlled the Japanese royal palace, important institutions inside and outside Edo Castle, and important roads and checkpoints around it.

Liu Biao, governor-general of the Ming Dynasty's garrison in Japan, Zhou Dahu, deputy governor-general of the garrison, and Shen Chu, grand secretary of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet and special envoy for enthronement, also arrived in Edo Castle on the same day.

The three of them joined Tian Yiming, Edo Pacification Envoy Liang Xu, and Japan's Chief Councilor Tanuma Yiming, and went to the Japanese Royal Palace together.

Shen Chu brought the imperial edict, seal and crown that the Ming Dynasty court bestowed on the King of Japan.

Everyone met Tokugawa Ienari in the large hall of the main hall of the palace.

According to the arrangement made by Shen Chu and Tanuma Okitsugu after discussion, Shen Chu, Liu Biao, Zhou Dahu and others, on the one hand, and Tokugawa Ienari on the other, stood face to face in the middle of the hall and bowed to each other.

It symbolizes that the envoys of the Celestial Empire are equal to the monarchs of lower countries.

The saying "Ministers of a superior country do not bow to the ruler of an inferior country" cannot be applied here, because when the Ming Dynasty and Japan appeared at the same time, there could only be one "ruler", the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

The King of Japan and the officials of the Ming Dynasty were all subjects of the Ming Emperor.

Then, in the middle of the hall, he sat on the chair specially prepared by Tanuma Okitsugu, instead of kneeling on the ground according to Japanese tradition.

There was quite a bit of formalities involved in the meeting, but this meeting was just ceremonial in nature.

After greeting each other, confirming their appearance, getting to know each other, and exchanging a few polite words, the meeting is over.

Then, under the arrangement of Tanuma Okitsugu, Liu Biao, Shen Chu and other Ming officials moved directly into the side courtyard of the Japanese royal palace, which is the "Ninomaru" of Edo Castle.

Liu Biao arranged the soldiers he brought with him to completely control the defense and entry and exit of the palace, and all the internal personnel were replaced by those he brought with him.

In the following period, the military generals led by Liu Biao, with the cooperation of the appeasement envoy, trained and expanded the vassal troops stationed in Japan.

Recruited unemployed and down-and-out samurai from around Edo, gave them a smoothbore musket from the Ming Dynasty's inventory, and trained them in the style of line infantry.

The civil servants headed by Shen Chu, with the cooperation of Tanuma Okitsugu, began to prepare for the enthronement ceremony of the King of Japan.

On the fifth day of February, the King of Japan summoned all his important subjects, including all the daimyo of the feudal domains in Edo, in the Ohiro-ma, the main hall of the royal palace.

Tokugawa Ienari led the crowd to kneel down, and Shen Chu asked for the imperial edict of enthronement and read it out in public.

Then take out the prepared seal, golden book, and crown, and perform a handover ceremony.

Tokugawa Ienari went back and put on a Ming-style crown, sat on the newly prepared throne, and accepted the worship of his subjects.

This was the first time that Japan held a formal ceremony to confer a title on a feudal lord.

In past history, there are many records of Japan paying tribute to the central court of the Shenzhou Dynasty.

However, due to inconvenient transportation, the court of the Shenzhou Dynasty basically only granted the seal to the envoys symbolically and did not send anyone specifically to Japan to confer the title.

The Japanese shoguns received the seals of the Japanese kings, but most of them would not hold public ceremonies to commemorate them. Instead, they would keep the seals and imperial edicts they received in private.

Of course the shogun wanted to be king, but the king and the emperor were in conflict. To become king, the emperor had to be destroyed, which would affect the stability of the shogunate.

The ministers of the Tokugawa shogunate and the local daimyo who remained in Edo would not refuse to pay homage to the head of the Tokugawa family.

But many people have already felt that this ritual and arrangement seems a bit problematic.

The title of King of Japan is a real title for the monarch. After publicly enthroning the Tokugawa family as kings, where will the shogunate place the emperor?
Tokugawa Ienari was quite excited throughout the whole process, as he had never seen such a ceremony before.

It was not the puppet nobles in Kyoto who conferred the title on him, but the real court of the Divine Continent who conferred the title on him.

He was not given the title of a general, but the real king of Japan. In the system of Shenzhou Tianchao, he was the official monarch of Japan.

After the ceremony of enthronement and worship was completed, Tanuma Okitsugu ordered someone to read out Tokugawa Ienari's decree of succession.

The content was simple, which was to publicly declare that the Ming Dynasty was the legitimate dynasty under the heavens and confirm that he, the King of Japan, was a vassal of the Ming Emperor.

Then he publicly denounced the court headed by the emperor in Kyoto as a false dynasty and tyrants, and said he would lead all civil and military officials to attack and eliminate them.

The Ming Dynasty representative, Wadanuma Okitsugu, already knew all this, so he didn't react at this time.

Everyone at the scene, including Tokugawa Ienari himself, was shocked.

The Wu Dynasty shogunate is about to break with the court officials!
(End of this chapter)