The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 243 Declaration of War
When Tokugawa Ienari's succession decree was announced, the Japanese shogunate ministers, feudal lords, and even Tokugawa Ienari himself were all stunned.

After a brief silence, there were exclamations and shouts at the scene:

"No, General!"

"We can't do this!"

"How can you call the Emperor your enemy?"

The scene suddenly became very excited, and Tokugawa Ienari himself was completely stunned, not knowing how to react.

Tanuma Okiji suddenly stepped forward and shouted at everyone at the top of his voice:
"Are you going to be an enemy of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty?"

The turbulent atmosphere at the scene suddenly stagnated, and most of the ministers and daimyo finally fully understood the current situation.

The Ming Dynasty asked them to choose between the Ming Dynasty and the Emperor.

Theoretically speaking, directly surrendering to the Ming Dynasty and getting rid of the emperor would result in the least actual conflict.

There will be no real change in the actual situation in Japan.

However, many of them, who had grown up in Japanese samurai families, could not accept it psychologically.

However, considering the strength of the Ming Dynasty, most people did not have the courage to stand up and oppose immediately, at least they did not dare to oppose on the spot.

There are Ming Dynasty soldiers outside.

In this quiet moment, Tanuma Okitsugu once again loudly declared:
"From now on, there will be no more Shogun in Japan, only the Great Ming Japanese King.

"The king will soon send out troops to wipe out the false emperor and tyrant.

"All Japanese daimyo must be loyal to the Ming Emperor and the King of Japan.

"Those who are unwilling to pledge allegiance can step out now. The king will allow you to leave, but you will be an enemy in the future."

In the view of Ming officials headed by Liu Biao and Shen Chu, under the current situation where the Ming army is at the forefront, no local small vassal state should stand up.

But some Japanese are very stubborn.

More than a dozen people actually stood up on the spot, most of them were daimyo from other places, but there were also three who were retainers of the shogunate.

Shen Chu and the others were immediately shocked, and then they couldn't help but sneer:
“There really are people who are not afraid of death…”

Tanuma Okitsugu ordered on the spot that the three shogunate officials be dragged out and beheaded:
"If a subject disobeys an order, he shall be beheaded!"

Then he continued to announce to a dozen foreign celebrities:

"From now on, the Ming Dynasty and Japan have declared war on all of you. You can return to your own countries to prepare for the war and fight it out on the battlefield tomorrow."

Shen Chu also added:
"In order to protect the vassal state of Japan and to defend the territory of the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty declares war on you countries from now on until you are completely wiped out."

A dozen or so daimyos from other places stood upright after hearing Tanuma Okitsugu's declaration of war, ready to turn around and leave to prepare for war.

But after Shen Chu's words came out, several daimyos almost lost their balance and swayed on the spot.

The daimyo were not actually very afraid of declaring war on the shogunate, because the shogun was essentially the biggest daimyo as well.

As long as enough daimyos unite, the shogun will have no way to win.

But fighting with the Ming Dynasty is not a matter of the same level.

But now that things have come to this, there is no way to regret it. It would be too embarrassing to surrender now.

The daimyo who refused to swear allegiance to the King of Japan at this time was a rather stubborn person, and would not cry until he saw the coffin.

Now he still took stiff steps and left the hall as quickly as possible.

After hearing Tanuma Okitsugu's order, the remaining daimyos at the scene realized that they seemed to be able to escape alive, and were about to get up and leave.

At the very least, he should return to his hometown in the feudal domain, observe the wind direction, and then decide whether to be loyal to the king or the emperor.

As a result, just as someone stretched his legs, he heard Shen Chu’s announcement of Ming Dynasty’s declaration of war.

Many people shuddered violently, and then quickly lowered their heads and knelt back down.

In the view of Shen Chu and Liu Biao, someone needs to rebel against the King of Japan and stand on the side of the Emperor to fight against the King.

However, we cannot allow most daimyos to stand on the side of the emperor.

People tend to follow the crowd. If most of them ran away one after another, it would be like the Ming Dynasty helping Japan to overthrow the Qing Dynasty.

So when Shen Chu found out that some vassal states dared to leave in front of the king, he immediately announced that the Ming Dynasty would also declare war on them directly, and asked the rest of the people to think carefully before making a decision.

The final effect is pretty good.

After the reading of Tokugawa Ienari's succession decree, Tanuma Okitsugu announced the end of the enthronement ceremony. The remaining ministers and daimyo left the Japanese royal palace and returned to their own residences under the supervision of the Ming Dynasty's garrison in Japan.

Tokugawa Ienari saw that all the daimyo outside had left, so he approached Tanuma Okitsugu and asked:

"Mr. Tanuma, do we have to break with the Emperor?"

Tanuma Okitsugu carefully explained to Tokugawa Ienari the concept of the Son of Heaven of the Celestial Empire.

Let Tokugawa Ienari understand that the Ming Emperor and the Japanese Emperor cannot coexist, and the people of Shenzhou can only choose one.

Choosing the emperor means declaring war on the Ming Dynasty, and the Tokugawa family cannot declare war on the Ming Dynasty.

Then Tanuma Okitsugu arranged for people to deliver Tokugawa Ienari's succession decree, as well as his own orders and notices, to the daimyo who were not in Edo.

The daimyo who had not come to Edo were required to choose sides immediately.

Be loyal to the King of Japan and follow the Emperor of Ming, or continue to support the Emperor and be the enemy of Ming and the King of Japan.

Those who have decided to follow the Ming Dynasty with the King should prepare defenses and training in their own domains, waiting to join forces with the Kingdom's army to defeat the enemies who follow the Emperor.

All daimyos who refuse to follow the king will be regarded as enemies of the Ming Empire of Japan from now on.

In the next few days, Tokugawa Ienari, under the protection and supervision of Tian Yiming's troops, first summoned the hatamoto and retainers of the Tokugawa family.

At the same time, the daimyo who decided to follow the king were asked to gather their samurai and retainers.

Take inventory of the current shogunate's combat forces and reorganize them.

According to the laws of the Edo Shogunate era, only samurai were considered soldiers in Japan at that time.

The Tokugawa family had 5,000 hatamoto samurai. Hatamoto samurai were actually military officers, and hatamoto's retainers were ordinary samurai, totaling about 80,000 people.

The number of samurai among the daimyo and their retainers in Edo Castle may be greater than that of the samurai of the Tokugawa family if counted directly.

In other words, there may be 160,000 to 170,000 samurai in Edo Castle now.

However, the Edo Shogunate had been at peace for a long time, and the military affairs of Sankinkotai had now become an official activity to show off wealth.

Most of the daimyo in Edo Castle now brought with them all the samurai and servants they could, and many of them had only a few retainers left in their hometowns.

There were also many daimyo who did not have enough people of their own, or could not afford enough money to send enough samurai to Edo, so they simply hired ronin and farmers near Edo to make up the numbers.

Therefore, the number of samurai of the daimyo in Edo Castle was very small.

Now they gathered together to count the numbers and openly declared their intention to go to war, and the daimyo immediately began to squeeze the water.

The hired soldiers were dismissed directly, and the trusted samurai were arranged to return to the feudal state immediately and organize an army to guard their own nest.

The number of samurai brought to Edo by the daimyo dropped by one third.

At the same time, the King of Japan now announced that he would take them to the false emperor and tyrant, and to wipe out the daimyo and samurai who were loyal to the false emperor.

Among the king and the daimyo's retainers and samurai, there were a number of people who simply could not accept it.

The daimyo was a semi-independent feudal monarch who could not accept such orders. He could also declare war on an enemy country and decide the outcome on the battlefield.

However, if the warriors as individuals and subjects cannot accept it, they can only be eliminated.

So after squeezing out the water, there is another round of cleaning.

Outside the Ninomaru Gate of Edo Castle, a large number of samurai were executed one after another as a place of execution.

Finally, excluding the samurai taken away by the daimyo who chose to be loyal to the emperor and left, the King of Japan finally organized 120,000 samurai soldiers.

After the Japanese soldiers assembled, they immediately rushed out in full force according to Liu Biao's request, leaving no one behind and taking them all away.

The 120,000 samurai were divided into several groups to take over the surrounding feudal states that were loyal to the Japanese king, and to eliminate and annex the feudal states that chose to be loyal to the Japanese emperor.

The Ming Dynasty's garrison in Japan was also divided into two parts, with Liu Biao leading 40,000 people to garrison and control Edo Castle.

The other 60,000 troops were divided into several groups and followed the Japanese king's soldiers to supervise the Japanese king's soldiers in combat and to control the reception and seizure of the feudal states.

All the retainers and samurai of the local daimyo in the feudal states that were loyal to the Japanese king would be driven away by the army stationed in Japan and follow the Japanese king to fight.

After the feudal states loyal to the emperor were conquered, if all the local daimyo, retainers, and samurai were still alive, they would all be escorted to the Edo dock and sent to Africa on steamships to open up wasteland.

Regardless of whether they were loyal to the Japanese king or not, the garrison tasks of the local vassal states were all handed over to the Ming Dynasty’s Army in Japan.

Continue to recruit wandering warriors from all over the country and form servants using muskets.

(End of this chapter)