Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 106: Japan declares war, the cuckold war!
After the Battle of the Tokara Islands.

Japan sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty to express its dissatisfaction on the grounds that Japanese merchants were on the island, and used this as an excuse to demand that the Ming court resume tribute and start mutual trade between Ming and Japan.

Zhang Juzheng's cabinet received the Japanese envoys, but after hearing the envoys' dissatisfaction and demands, Chen Yiqin, the cabinet elder and Minister of Rites who presided over the meeting, left after leaving an eight-character comment.

"The Japanese are short because they have no brains!"

Subsequently.

The officials of the Ministry of Rites expelled the Japanese envoys from the country. The Japanese envoys wanted to stay, but were thrown into the sea by the Jinyiwei.

The Japanese envoy ships rushed to rescue and saved the leading Japanese ambassador from drowning in the sea.

Not long after the Japanese envoy left and returned to Japan, Japan sent another envoy to the Ming Dynasty to deliver a declaration of war.

Zhang Juzheng's cabinet could no longer hold back after seeing Japan's declaration of war.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Zhang Juzheng, wrote "I understand" in his own handwriting and threw the Japanese envoy into the sea again.

The Ming Dynasty court did not know much about its neighboring countries, but it was not completely ignorant of them.

In Japan today, civil war is raging and the authority of the shogunate is declining.

Some of the shugo daimyo who were originally appointed to various places by the shogunate gradually had their power usurped by shugo deputies (lieutenants), retainers, and local people.

The Warring States Period belonging to Japan was about to end, and a new chaotic era had just begun. Zhang Juzheng and his cabinet thought about it for ten days and ten nights, but still could not figure out how Japan dared to declare war on the Ming court.

However, he did not take it too seriously and sent a letter to the Jinyiwei in the name of the cabinet, asking the Jinyiwei to infiltrate Japan as much as possible, and then give them free rein to do what they wanted.

That’s right, although the Jinyiwei was only responsible to the imperial power, in terms of system, it still belonged to the court system and not the inner court.

The orders of the central cabinet, which was in charge of the civil and military affairs of the Ming Dynasty, could be sent down to the Northern Pacification Office.

However, whether the Northern Pacification Office would obey orders is another matter.

However, Zhu Houcong supported this matter. After ordering the immediate verification and distribution of bounties and military merits to the southeastern army, he also ordered the national treasury to allocate two million taels of special silver to the Jinyiwei for use in dealing with Japan.

A hidden-front war, with the support of the emperor and the cabinet and the execution of the Imperial Guard, quietly unfolded in the chaotic Japan.

Then, Zhang Juzheng opened the urgent military report sent over a distance of eight hundred miles in his hand.

It said that the grandfather and grandson became enemies because the grandfather was greedy for his grandson's wife, who turned out to be his own granddaughter.

After seeing this confidential military report, Zhang Juzheng's cabinet felt like their brains were about to burn.

If this had not come from Wang Chonggu, the governor of Xuanfu and Datong, Zhang Juzheng would have thrown it into the trash as if it were a piece of unofficial history written by a novelist that had sneaked into the military newspaper.

After repeated verification, Zhang Juzheng's cabinet studied this confidential military report in detail.

Bahanaji of the Tatars in the north, the grandson of the current Tatar Khan Aldan Khan and an absolute high-ranking Tatar, wants to bring his wife and children into the territory of the Ming Dynasty to seek asylum from the Ming court.

The reason was very simple. The elderly Altan Khan coveted his grandson's wife and wanted to steal her away from him, forcing his grandson, Hanaji, to choose to turn to the light.

By the way, Altan Khan’s granddaughter-in-law, Bahan Naji’s wife, is Altan Khan’s granddaughter.

Although the Ming Dynasty knew that in the northern grassland tribes, the son would inherit the power and women after the father's death, without any ethics or morals.

However, the fact that ethics and morals could be in such chaos made Zhang Juzheng's cabinet sit up straight.

Wang Chonggu, the governor of Xuanda, chose to accept the surrender of such a great Tatar figure, but after accepting him, troubles also came to the Ming Dynasty. Who is Altan Khan?
He has been a hero who has been roaming the grassland since the early years of the Jiajing period, occupying the Hetao area. Until now, he has been the undisputed king of the grassland.

To the Ming Dynasty court and the people, he was the number one enemy whom they wished to cut into pieces.

In the 21st and 22nd years of the Jiajing reign, Altan Khan led his troops to massacre more than 200,000 Ming civilians in Datong, Taiyuan and Pingyang cities, and looted more than 2 million livestock, countless women and property.

In the 29th year of the Jiajing reign, Altan Khan, under the bribery of Qiu Luan, the general of Datong in the Ming Dynasty, bypassed Datong, causing Qiu Luan to march eastward, plunder the capital, and kill at the foot of the capital, almost causing the Battle of the Capital to reoccur.

Based on the Ming Dynasty's hatred for the Tatars and Altan Khan, and based on the most simple emotions, the generals of Xuanfu and Datong were determined to execute Bahannaji and his dozens of wives and children immediately.

However, he was stopped by Wang Chonggu, the governor of Xuanda. Wang Chonggu's hatred for the Tatars and Altan Khan was no less than that of other border generals.

But the protracted war between the Ming Dynasty and the Tatars could not be resolved by killing a few or a dozen Tatars.

Being in a high position, of course one can see higher and farther. The living Bahanaji, the living grandson of Aldan Khan, is far more valuable than the dead one.

The complete victory of the Southeastern Army over the Japanese pirates and the peace on the sea cannot conceal the fact that for thousands of years the Central Plains Army had found it difficult to resist the iron cavalry of the grassland tribes.

Don't let hatred get to your head!

Although the imperial court replenished the military pay and food wages of the soldiers at the border and allowed the soldiers in the nine borders and nine towns to resume training, military training cannot be completed in a day or two.

Moreover, maps, scouts, enemy situations, etc. have undergone significant changes over the years, and these all require time to re-explore.

If we launch an attack and charge into the grassland at this moment, it is very likely that not a single Ming army will return.

Naturalize Hannaji.

This gave Wang Chonggu new ideas for attacking the Tatars.

In the military report, Wang Chonggu elaborated on the value of Han Naji, but he also had a minimum of vigilance against this sudden naturalization.

Datong gave Bahannaji great preferential treatment, but restricted all of Bahannaji's actions to prevent any fraud.

Based on the current situation of Datong and other border towns, Wang Chonggu provided the court with three strategies: best, medium and worst.

The best strategy, if Altan Khan comes to ask for his grandson, is to let Altan Khan escort all the traitors who defected from the Ming Dynasty to the Tatars back to the Central Plains, and return the people who were abducted from the Ming Dynasty over the years.

If Altan Khan refuses to change his evil nature and insists on fighting the Ming army, then we should adopt the middle strategy.

The best strategy would be to threaten Altan Khan with the lives of Hananji, his wife and children before he surrendered.

Even if we take a step back and say that Altan is so cruel that he doesn't even want his grandson, then we have to take the worst approach.

Use barbarians to control barbarians!

According to the old precedent of the Southern Xiongnu submitting to the Han Dynasty, Han Naji will be placed at the border as a chess piece and supported.

When Altan dies in the future, I will use this chess piece to turn the Tatars upside down. Then, my Ming Dynasty can reap the benefits.

Wang Chonggu's military report covered every detail, but the entire cabinet, including Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, Li Chunfang, and Chen Yiqin, were all silent.

I think of another green hat in the 36th year of Jiajing...

(End of this chapter)