Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 359: Jiajing proclaims his power and asks you to kneel down to welcome him!

Royal study room.

Zhu Houcong sat on the throne, turning the wooden gavel in his hand while listening to the verdicts given by the three judges after the case was closed.

"According to the Ming Dynasty law."

"Anyone who falsely accuses someone of a crime of flogging shall be punished with an additional penalty of two levels of the crime he falsely accused of."

"The punishment of caning an exile is three times greater than the crime he was accused of."

"Each crime shall be punished by 100 strokes of the cane and exile for 3,000 miles."

"If the person who was falsely accused of a capital crime has already been sentenced to death, and the person who was falsely accused has already been executed, the criminal, although sentenced to death, shall be ordered to pay for travel expenses, redeem land and houses, and give half of his property to support his family."

"For those who are still undecided, they will be caned 100 times, exiled 3,000 miles, and forced to work for an additional three years!"

"Now Ma Lu falsely accuses Zhang Yin of treason, and also accuses the nobles and relatives of colluding with the bandits, hoping to frame him for a capital crime. Since he failed, he should be sentenced to 100 strokes of the cane, exile for 3,000 miles, and three years of additional labor! However, I have secretly communicated with the prince's relatives and plotted to establish the King Yi. I have alienated the royal family and planned to commit crimes, so I should be executed!"

"He should be sentenced to immediate execution for multiple crimes!"

"Former Minister of Justice Tong Rui, former Left Censor-in-Chief Wang Shizhong, Supreme Court Justice Dang Chengxue, Shanxi Provincial Governor Li Zhang, Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Li Jue, Assistant Official Zhang Lun, Commander-in-Chief Ma Zhi, and Prefect Du Rui ignored many doubts and insisted on following Ma Lu's opinion, falsely accusing the nobles and relatives of colluding with the bandits, and wanted to frame them for the death penalty. Since they failed, they should be sentenced to 100 strokes of the cane, exile for 3,000 miles, and an additional three years of hard labor!"

"However, Dang Chengxue, together with the Deputy Chief Censor Min Kai, the Imperial College Priest Wu Jing, and the Imperial Secretary Du Tong, colluded with the prince's relatives and plotted to establish Prince Yi, so he should be sentenced to immediate execution along with Min Kai, Wu Jing, and Du Tong!"

After Zhang Cong, the Minister of Justice who represented the three judicial departments, finished speaking, Zhu Houcong struck a bronze chime to show his approval, and asked the cabinet to issue an order to the Ministry of Justice to detain the exiles in prison first, and to decide on the place of exile after the inspection of Japan was completed.

Because Zhu Houcong planned to send some exiled prisoners to the future Iwami Silver Mine, after all, there would be a need for some administrators there.

An innocent official would certainly not want to go that far.

After all, even in many remote or cold places in the country, many Jinshi and even Juren were unwilling to become officials.

What’s more, it is Iwami across the sea.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong could only send these Jinshi there in the form of exile of criminal officials, and planned to restore certain official positions for them in the future on the grounds that they had passed the reform, and let them stay in the local area to work for the court.

According to the "Essentials of Coastal Defense" compiled by Wang Zaijin, a minister of the Chongzhen period of the late Ming Dynasty, "It is said that to reach Goryeo in the north, one must sail from Tsushima, with a favorable wind of only one day; to reach Susho in the south, one must sail from Satsuma, with a favorable wind of seven days. Moreover, tribute envoys must sail from Hakata, passing through the five islands and entering China, because the sailors who built the ships were all in Hakata."

In other words, following the monsoon, it would take seven days to reach Ming from Japan, and only one day to reach Korea.

Generally, there is favorable wind from Japan to Ming Dynasty from November to December, which is the winter and spring time. Therefore, the tribute dispute between Japan and Ming Dynasty in the second year of Jiajing took place in February of that year.

The wind is favorable from Ming Dynasty to Japan in summer and autumn, so historically the Portuguese fleet would depart from Macau to Japan in May and June.

It is now the tenth day of September in the fifth year of the Jiajing reign, a time of clear and crisp autumn weather.

After ten days of patrolling the East Ocean, the fleet arrived at Funai Castle in Bungo Province in Japan, following the monsoon.

After Huo Tao, Zhang Tong and Yu Dayou arrived here, they ceremoniously fired cannons at Dafen Harbor.

This was the inspection procedure set by Zhu Houcong, which was to fire cannons to show authority before arriving at each foreign port, telling the people here that the imperial envoy had come with the benevolence of the great Ming Emperor, and asking the people here to welcome him with piety to show their obedience.

Therefore, after the fleet patrolling the East Ocean arrived at Funai City, more than 50 large ships with double-deck gun decks were laid across the sea outside Funai City and fired at the city.

Boom boom!

Boom boom!

The huge cannons weighing thousands of pounds on the ship roared, and the deafening sound of the cannons echoed inside and outside the city.

The whole earth seemed to be shaking with the rising and falling tides!
The wooden and stone structures of the Fu Nei Castle also seemed to be crumbling.

However, because it was a display of power rather than a formal armed attack, these shells only fell on the coastal land outside the city of Funei. Apart from damaging a few Japanese red seal ships in the port, it did not cause any major casualties.

However, Funai Castle was the residence of Otomo Yoshiaki, the lord (daimyo) of Bungo Province.

Therefore, Otomo Yoshiaki soon learned about this matter and also heard the rumbling of cannons.

This made him both frightened and angry, and he hurried to the highest point of the city and looked out at the sea.

Suddenly.

Otomo Yoshiaki saw Ming warships covering the sea. Moreover, the tall masts and multi-layered gun turrets of those Ming warships made him feel daunted, especially when compared with his red seal ships.

"Why did they come anyway?"

Otomo Yoshiaki asked his retainer Otomo Kanren (Tachibana Dosetsu) about this with trembling hands.

Otomo Jianlian also replied solemnly: "It seems that the soldiers we sent did not succeed in stopping the people from Shuangyu Island from patrolling us!"

Otomo Yoshiaki nodded with a look of disappointment on his face.

"Right now, the Ouchi family is invading us. We cannot fight against the Ming Kingdom, which has such a large navy, at the same time!"

"Let the Han people who stayed in our city to do business go to meet them on my behalf and ask them why they bombarded our inner city and whether there is any misunderstanding."

After careful consideration, Otomo Yoshiaki announced his decision.

Otomo Kanren did as he was told.

About half an hour later.

The Ming fleet also stopped bombarding.

Otomo Yoshiaki also sent a Chinese envoy accompanied by several Buzen-shu (Otomo retainers) on a red seal ship, holding a pole.

Huo Tao, Zhang Tong and Yu Dayou met these people.

"I am Shen Suhe, a Han Chinese who has been living abroad."

"I am here on guard orders to ask your army why they bombarded our city?"

The Han Chinese man Shen Suhe asked with a humble smile.

Huo Tao, who was sitting on a chair, replied: "We are here to show our power by imperial decree. When you hear the cannon fire, you should greet us politely as we enter the city for inspection! As for how to greet us politely, we have the rules and regulations drawn up by the Ministry of Rites by imperial decree. You can follow them!"

After Huo Tao finished speaking, Zhang Tong handed Shen Suhe a copy of the memorial that was stamped with the official seal of the Ministry of Rites and approved by the emperor.

After learning that the Ming envoys requested a courtesy reception, Otomo Yoshiaki first frowned in dissatisfaction and said, "The Ming country was rude first, but now they want us to receive them with courtesy. Does the Ming country really think it is a superior country?"

"He said setting off fireworks to show respect is also a kind of courtesy."

Shen Suhe replied.

"hateful!"

Otomo Yoshiaki drew his sword and pointed it at Shen Suhe.

His retainers, such as Otomo Kanren, also drew their swords and glared at Shen Suhe.

Shen Suhe smiled and said, "I'm just delivering a message, don't kill me."

Otomo Yoshiaki put away his knife and picked up the notebook on the table and started reading it.

The more Otomo Yoshiaki looked, the heavier his breathing became.

"hateful!"

"hateful!"

"How despicable! The Ming people are too bullying. They actually want me, a dignified guardian, to kneel down and greet them!"

Otomo Yoshiaki couldn't help but curse as he watched.

At this time, Otomo Kanren said, "But we don't seem to have the money to fight against them now. After all, the 3,000 people and 5,000 foot soldiers we just sent out are missing. We still have to guard against the Ouchi family. We really can't stand fighting against the Ming navy with such a large fleet!"

"In addition, the most terrifying thing is that if they join forces with the Ouchi family, then we will really be destroyed."

Snapped!
Otomo Yoshiaki slammed his palm on the table, gnashing his teeth as if he was about to break them and said:
"Then kneel down and greet them in their way!"

"Let all the people in Bungo follow Shen Suhe and shout "Long Live the Emperor of the Great Ming!" One hour later, follow me out and kneel to greet the King's Master!"

(End of this chapter)