Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 148: Japan's Sustainable Exhaustion
Until his death, Shimazu Shimakyu never understood how the Ming army managed to kill him at such a long distance.

The remaining Satsuma samurai no longer had the mighty and domineering spirit they had when they bullied the peasants in the past, and all they could do was flee desperately in panic.

The Ming army's performance was like that of gods descending to earth, killing all the evil spirits and forcing them to flee in panic. The scenery on the island, which was like a purgatory on earth, seemed to have become much more beautiful.

As for Wu Liang and Liao Quan.

In fact, they didn't quite understand why the Japanese pirates were so confident.

Faced with the arrival of the royal army, they were not afraid at all and even dared to go against the powerful Ming Dynasty.

However, they knew that this was the current trend on the Japanese island, and people were arrogant and rude to the Ming Dynasty.

Because as early as the twelfth year before the Hongwu reign, Your Majesty sent envoys to Japan to question it.

In their reply letters to Your Majesty, they compared themselves to the remnants of the Celestial Empire of the Tang and Song dynasties.

He also wrote poems to boast that their Japanese "country is comparable to that of the Central Plains, and its people are the same as those of ancient times. Their clothing and customs are like those of the Tang Dynasty, and their rituals and music are like those of the Han Dynasty's rulers and ministers."

He also said that the current Ming Dynasty lacked the style of the Tang and Song dynasties and was not worthy of being the orthodox Chinese dynasty.

When Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and threatened to attack, he even said arrogantly, "I heard that the Celestial Empire has a plan to start a war, and our small country also has a plan to defend against the enemy."

From this we can see that in the minds of Japanese aristocrats, the once powerful Tang and Song empires had collapsed.

However, the Ming Dynasty, as the successor of the Central Plains dynasty, was not the successor of the Tang and Song dynasties, but the successor of the extremely rude Yuan Dynasty with pigtails.

In the eyes of the Japanese, the Yuan Dynasty was not the orthodox Celestial Empire, so the Ming Dynasty was not the orthodox Celestial Empire. The orthodox Celestial Empire was not in the Central Plains, but in an island country in the East.

Even if the Ming Dynasty comes to attack, it doesn’t matter. It’s a good opportunity to see who is the true orthodox Chinese.

This may sound incredible, but it is actually true.

This view was held by the mainstream academic circles in Japan at that time.

When they arrived in the Ming Dynasty, they found that the people of the Ming Dynasty all had the hairstyle of the Yuan Dynasty, and their clothing had lost the gorgeousness of the Tang and Song Dynasties.

So they feel that the Central Plains has now been enslaved by foreign countries and is no longer the heir to Chinese culture.

Therefore, in response to Zhu Yuanzhang's rebuke, they not only killed the Ming envoys, but also sent envoys to ridicule the Ming emperor. Their attitude could be described as extremely arrogant.

However, they did not know that Zhu Yuanzhang had just restored China not long ago, and it was normal for Yuan Dynasty customs to be maintained throughout the country. It was not until the mid-Ming Dynasty that the people completely cut off the Yuan Dynasty braids and restored the Chinese etiquette system.

Perhaps they themselves understand this truth.

However, they estimated that the Ming Dynasty was just established and did not have the ability to launch an expedition to the East, so they dared to be so presumptuous.

But what Wu Liang and Liao Quan couldn't understand was that the other party felt that the Ming Dynasty could not launch a long expedition, but now that the Ming Dynasty's fleet had arrived and the heavenly army had descended, the other party still dared to maintain such an attitude.

Do you really think that the Ming Dynasty is weak and can be bullied?
That being the case.

I've already come to your door. If you don't apologize for your behavior and arrogance, I'll have to make you pay the price.

Liao Quan did not tolerate this and directly ordered the shooting, killing more than a hundred people.

The rest all fled.

The Ming army docked their ships and chased after them.

But he didn't expect that those dwarfs could run so fast. They ran like monkeys and quickly disappeared into the distant mountains and forests, which made Liao Quan very regretful.

Wu Liang then ordered the ironclad ships to stop on the sea and allowed thousands of Ming troops to dock in small boats. Led by a guide, they marched towards Tofukuji Castle, the headquarters of the Satsuma domain.

The most feared problem during this Ming Dynasty expedition was getting lost.

When at sea, there is navigation to keep records of the journey, which can locate their position in real time, so as to determine the direction and avoid going to other places.

But it didn't work after we landed on the Japanese island.

After all, the Chinese seem to think that the size of the Japanese island is just that, but if Japan is placed in Europe, it will be a real big country, larger than Japan and Germany.

Therefore, during this voyage, the Ming Dynasty brought a number of Ming merchants who were familiar with the situation in Japan to act as guides.

Under their leadership, the Ming army entered Tofukuji Castle.

At this time, the Tofukuji Castle was in a state of panic, with people fleeing everywhere. After the Ming army entered the city, they killed all the Shimazu samurai, set fire to the Shimazu mansion, and then left.

In the afternoon, the Ming army set out again and headed towards their next target, Osumi Province.

This is also the territory of the Shimazu family. The guardian of Osumi is named Shimazu Ujihisa, and the headquarters is located in Himeki Castle.

By the time the Ming army arrived, it was already night.

The Ming army did not set out at night, but waited patiently until the next morning. Since Tofukuji Castle was more than 100 kilometers away from Himeki Castle and there were mountains along the way, Shimazu Ujihisa did not know what was happening over there.

After seeing the Ming army, Shimazu Ujihisa was also very arrogant, so the Ming army rushed into the city, killed Shimazu Ujihisa again, and almost destroyed the entire Shimazu family.

Then the Ming army rushed towards Hyuga Province again.

This is still the territory of the Shimazu family. The guardian is named Shimazu Iku, the cousin of Shimazu Morahisa and Shimazu Ujihisa. The location of the domain office is called Miyakonojo Castle.

The ending was no surprise.

The entire Shimazu family dominated the southern part of Kyushu Island at that time, and later became one of the top aristocratic families in Japan. However, they were easily uprooted by the Ming army and had no ability to resist at all.

The news of the Ming army also spread quickly to the surrounding vassal states, and then rushed to Heian-kyo.

More than ten days later.

When the news reached Heian-kyo, nearly a thousand kilometers away from Satsuma, the Ming navy had already visited several feudal domains including Satsuma, Osumi, Hyuga, Iyo, Tosa, and Awa, and was heading towards Naniwa-kyo, which was later known as Osaka.

"what?"

At this moment in Heian-kyo, the third shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, looked at the messenger in shock, his face full of disbelief.

His grandfather, Ashikaga Takauji, founded the Muromachi shogunate. After years of conquests, he had recovered most of Japan and made the feudal clans in various places submit.

Now in his hands, the Muromachi shogunate has become even more powerful.

When the Northern and Southern Dynasties were about to be unified and a great feat was about to be accomplished, the Ming army suddenly appeared and burned, killed and looted everywhere in the coastal cities.

After listening to the messenger's story, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was greatly surprised at the terrifying fighting power of the Ming army.

The warriors had no chance to get close at all and were killed from a distance. Up to now, the Ming army had suffered no casualties.

Such exaggerated military force terrified Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

He asked tremblingly, "Is this true?"

"It's true, General!"

The messenger also looked pale and said: "When I think about it now, I am still scared. I saw with my own eyes that the Ming people picked up a long pole and pointed it at us, and then our people fell one after another."

"This"

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's eyes were full of confusion. As far as he knew, he had never seen this kind of weapon before.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty did not have firearms, but fire guns, which were as thick as mortar barrels. Fire guns were made in the Yuan Dynasty, starting with the appearance of fire guns in the Southern Song Dynasty. Fire guns were introduced to Europe, and then the matchlock gun was developed.

It was not until the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty that the Portuguese cannon and matchlock gun were introduced to China. As for Japan, it was not until the 16th century, during the Japanese Warring States Period, that they were introduced.

So they didn't even know about the matchlock rifle, let alone a groundbreaking product like the bolt-action rifle.

"This is a magic trick, the magic trick of the Ming army."

The left minister, Fujiwara no Kaneki, showed fear on his face and said, "We must use magic to break it."

The regent, Nijo Yoshiki, scolded: "Where did this magic come from? This must be the fire gun of the Ming army. I heard about this thing from the merchants of the Ming Dynasty."

"What kind of musket has only a long and thin shaft?"

"That's definitely not magic. If it was magic, why would we need that long pole? The problem must be with the pole."

"Nonsense!"

"Okay, stop arguing."

The Minister of the Interior, Minamoto no Yoshishige, interrupted the quarrel between the two men and said to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, "General, I think the most urgent task now is to send someone to contact the Ming army."

Seeing the court officials in chaos, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu fell into deep thought.

Japan's structure is actually similar to that of the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

The emperor is like Emperor Xian of Han, Liu Xie, who himself had court officials. Japan also has court officials.

The Regent is the Prime Minister, and the rest are mainly assisted by the Left and Right Ministers of the Interior.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was the Cao Cao of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Even Emperor Go-Komatsu himself said, "Yoshimitsu is the Cao Cao and Sima Yi of our dynasty."

Like Cao Cao, the officials in the court were all Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's confidants. After all, Emperor Go-Komatsu was a puppet and had no power to appoint officials.

Therefore, on weekdays, Japan's political affairs did not actually come from the Imperial Palace of Emperor Go-Komatsu, but from the Shogun's Palace in Heian-kyo Muromachi.

Therefore, this era is also called the Muromachi shogunate, and officials all gathered around Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Now people are divided.

Fujiwara no Kaneki believed that the other party was casting a spell of witchcraft and needed to find a monk or Onmyoji who could break the spell.

However, Nijo Yoshiki strongly opposed it.

Only Minamoto Yoshinari proposed a barely feasible plan.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu asked: "But now the Ming army kills everyone they see, what should we do?"

“Engage them no matter what.”

Minamoto Yoshinari said: "Now the Ming army has come to Japan to ask for punishment, and we are unable to defeat them. We should surrender to them and do what they ask."

"How can Japan maintain its dignity in this case?"

Hino Sukeyasu, the Right Minister and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's brother-in-law, who had remained silent, said with dissatisfaction.

"At a time of life and death, how can we talk about dignity?"

Hino Sukenori, the brother-in-law of Gon Dainagon and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, did not stand on his brother's side this time. Instead, he calmly analyzed the situation and said, "I think we can divert the blame to someone else."

"Oh?"

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu hurriedly asked, "What should we do?"

Hino Sukenori said: "This is all because of the killing of the Ming envoy by Prince Huailiang of the Southern Dynasty. Later, when the Ming envoys went to Kyushu and other places, the local daimyo guardians despised the Ming people and wrote to the Ming Dynasty in the name of Prince Huailiang, ridiculing the Ming Dynasty. We only need to push the blame to the Southern Dynasty, lead the Ming army to He Mingsheng, tie up His Majesty Emperor Kameyama and His Royal Highness Prince Huailiang and take them to the Ming Dynasty to plead guilty, then we may be able to eliminate this disaster. And we can kill two birds with one stone, that is, solve the Ming Dynasty's crime and solve the Southern Dynasty."

"This"

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu opened his eyes wide, then said with ecstasy: "Hahahaha, Zijiao is truly our Zhuge Liang."

Hino Sukeno smiled modestly.

Xiao Rizi worships the culture of the Central Plains, not only the Tang and Song dynasties, but also the Three Kingdoms. Hino Sukekyo must have read a lot of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" to come up with this strategy of driving the tiger to devour the wolf.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu no longer hesitated and immediately sent his uncle, Date Masamune, who was the Daizen no Daifu, to lead a delegation to Naniwa-kyo to negotiate with the Ming army.

Heian-kyō is very close to Namba-kyō, only about 50 to 60 kilometers away, and the road is mostly plains, so it can be said that there is no obstruction. The delegation set out at noon and arrived early the next morning.

At this time, the Ming fleet was already in Naniwa, but because they were still afraid of running aground on reefs, they did not dare to approach the coastline. Instead, they fixed the ships at sea and used small boats to dock.

On the main ship, Liao Quan and Wu Liang were looking at the navigation. Liao Quan pointed at the navigation and said, "This place is called Osaka on the map, but the locals seem to call it Nanba-kyo. I don't know what's going on."

"Don't worry about what it's called, just get there."

Wu Liang said.

"What do we do next?"

"Let's ask the court what it means."

Wu Liang then dialed the shortwave radio station, and after a while someone answered, "Nanjing Telecommunications No. 1."

"We are the East China Sea Fleet. We have now arrived in Osaka, Japan. I would like to ask Your Majesty what we should do next. Should we attack their capital?"

"Hold on."

The person at the Telecommunications Department connected to Zhu Yuanzhang's security department intercom and replied after a moment: "Your Majesty said that if we capture their king alive and bring him back to the Ming Dynasty for trial, we can support their shogunate as a puppet and let them dig gold and silver mines and transport them back to the Ming Dynasty."

"Why support the shogunate's puppets? Can't we just kill them all?"

Liao Quan asked in confusion.

The person at the Telecom Department replied, "His Majesty said that killing them all would cause chaos in Japan. Now that the Ming Dynasty cannot completely occupy Japan, we should first force them to transport gold, silver, sulfur and other minerals."

This is actually what Lao Zhu meant.

According to Zhu Yunfeng's idea, they should all be killed.

Eliminate the Japanese emperor, shogunate, local daimyo, aristocratic families, and samurai class.

Because Zhu Yunfeng felt that once the Ming Dynasty did this, it would inevitably cause fear among the entire Japanese samurai class, and they would gather troops to attack the Ming army.

The Ming army took this opportunity to sweep across Japan, killing hundreds of thousands of people and leaving only a bunch of civilians as mine slaves.

But Zhu Yuanzhang felt that this was not in the interests of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty launched an expedition to Japan. Japan's killing of the Ming envoys was just an excuse. What they really wanted to get was Japan's rich gold, silver and sulfur deposits.

For example, Sado Gold Mine, Iwami Silver Mine, etc.

If the Ming Dynasty digests these mineral deposits, it will no longer need to get silver from the modern world. This will reduce its dependence on the modern world and also reduce the risk of exposure.

If we do as Zhu Yunfeng suggests and eliminate the entire social class, the Ming Dynasty will need to reconstruct a new system.

Whether sending officials from the Ming Dynasty to manage or selecting people from the local area to manage, it would take a lot of time and would not be conducive to the Ming Dynasty making immediate profits.

Therefore, the best way is to learn from the Western colonizers.

Support local pro-Ming forces and let them take care of the Japanese civilian natives. The Ming Dynasty only needs to continue to drain the pond and squeeze Japan to death.

Simply put, Zhu Yunfeng's approach was simple and crude, killing everyone and then killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, causing internal turmoil in Japan, which prevented the Ming Dynasty from mining and making money for a long time.

Zhu's approach was a long-term, steady approach, and his colonialism against Japan. Although he couldn't kill too many people in a short period of time, it was more beneficial to the Ming Dynasty in the long run.

This method was given to him by Zhu Yunfeng, which made Zhu Yunfeng feel a little regretful.

Although Zhu Yunfeng also knew that this was the best way to do so and would maximize the benefits for the Ming Dynasty, Japan must be treated differently.

But Old Zhu is no longer so easy to fool. He believes that the interests of the Ming Dynasty are paramount. In this regard, Zhu Yunfeng's plan damages the interests of the Ming Dynasty, so he will naturally not choose it.

Therefore, this is the order that Wu Liang and his team received now.

"Yes."

After hearing the reply from Nanjing, Wu Liang responded and then said to Liao Quan: "Did you hear it? Prepare to attack Kyoto."

"I heard that Japan now has the Southern Dynasty and the Northern Dynasty, and there are two kings."

"All caught."

"Ah."

Liao Quan nodded: "Just send a team when the time comes."

As they were talking, someone reported on the intercom outside: "Report, General, a group of Japanese envoys are coming from a distance. They kneel down and kowtow from a distance. What should we do now?"

"Oh?"

Wu Liang and Liao Quan looked at each other, and then Liao Quan said, "I'll go take a look."

"Ah."

Liao Quan immediately got off the boat and went to the shore.

The Ming army on the shore was looking for a camp.

They planned to use Osaka as a landing point and sweep across Japan.

At this moment, all the fishermen around Naniwa-kyo had fled, leaving only scattered fishing villages. The Naniwa-kyo Castle on the banks of the Yodo River was closed and silent.

Date Masamune led the delegation and knelt down from a distance.

He had heard that the Ming army could kill people from a distance, so he did not dare to get close. He could only kneel far away and ask the Ming army to come over.

After Liao Quan got off the boat, he walked over with dozens of people.

When they were about 20 meters away, everyone raised their guns and aimed, frightening Date Masamune so much that he kowtowed and begged for mercy, stammering in Chinese: "General, please spare my life, spare my life."

"who are you?"

Liao Quan asked.

"I, the minister of the lower province, the great minister of the lower province, Date Masamune, have come to the shogun. I have come here on the orders of the great shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu to pay homage to the Ming dynasty."

Date Masamune said hurriedly: "The general admires the Ming Dynasty very much. The person who killed the Ming envoy before was Prince Huailiang of the Southern Dynasty. It has nothing to do with us in the Northern Dynasty."

"It has nothing to do with it?"

Liao Quan sneered and threatened: "No matter what, killing the envoy of the Ming Dynasty is a capital crime. No matter whether you are from the Southern Dynasty or the Northern Dynasty, as long as you are the King of Japan, according to the order of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, you should be sent to the Ming Dynasty for trial, but anyone who obstructs will be killed without mercy."

Date Masamune's face turned pale, and he kowtowed with the rest of the envoys, saying, "General, please understand this. This is really not your business. You must distinguish right from wrong and not blame a good person."

"Oh?"

Liao Quan pretended to think and said, "In that case, let your general come here in person, kneel down and apologize to us, and explain what happened. Otherwise, we will massacre the Japanese and leave no one alive!"

"Ah, this"

Date Masamune looked hesitant.

During the Muromachi shogunate period in Japan, people did not respect the emperor.

For example, Emperor Go-Komatsu's father, Emperor Go-Saga, went on a tour outside Heian-kyo and met a daimyo named Toki Yorito.

The emperor's attendants said, "The emperor is here, please dismount and greet him."

As a result, Toki Yoshito was furious and said, "What emperor? Dog emperor, look, I'm going to shoot him with an arrow."

The scene was similar to that of Dog-Footed Emperor.

At that time, Toki Yorito drew his bow and shot an arrow at Emperor Go-Saga, then ordered his samurai to rush over and beat up Emperor Go-Saga and his accompanying court nobles.

From this incident, we can see that the emperor of the shogunate era was basically just a mascot. Not only the daimyo, shugo, and samurai, but even the common people did not necessarily look up to him.

There were many voices among the people calling for the abolition of the emperor. If there had not been so many factions within the shogunate and some people who needed to use the emperor's name to hold on to power, even Ashikaga Yoshimitsu would have deposed the emperor and become emperor himself.

But the Shogun was different.

The emperor has no real power because he has no army under his command.

The shoguns were supported by the army, and they fought wars in all directions, conquering the daimyo in various places and becoming the de facto rulers of Japan.

Therefore, it didn't matter if the shogunate sent two emperors over and took them to the Ming Dynasty for trial. They could just appoint another emperor. There were so many members of the royal family anyway, so there was no need to worry about not having an emperor to appoint.

But if the Shogun were taken to Ming, Japan would be in chaos and would once again become a country where many warlords were fighting for supremacy.

Therefore, Date Masamune did not dare to agree.

Seeing him hesitate, Liao Quan sneered and pointed to the hillside in the distance and said, "Do you see that mountain?"

"I saw it."

"Old Wu, raze the small hill on the east side of the sea to the ground."

Liao Quan took out the walkie-talkie and spoke to Wu Liang.

"it is good."

Wu Liang responded and immediately gave the order to the five warships: "Hill to the east, prepare all gun ports!"

"Hangzhou is ready."

"Suzhou is ready."

"The Changzhou ship is ready."

"The Yangzhou ship is ready."

"The Huai'an ship is ready."

"emission!"

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!"

In an instant.

Hundreds of artillery pieces fired at the same time.

Under Date Masamune's shocked gaze.

A huge explosion suddenly erupted from the small hill in the distance.

Smoke filled the air.

As the sea breeze blew, the dust passed away.

The small hill, which was originally about four or five meters high, had all the trees on it blown away, and even the ground was shortened by half.

It's really about to be razed to the ground!

Seeing this, Date Masamune trembled and said, "I will go back immediately and ask the general to come and apologize to the Ming Dynasty!"

After saying that, he crawled backwards for a few meters, and then ran away while rolling and crawling.

Seeing his departing back, Liao Quan looked around, exchanged a glance with the soldiers, and then burst into laughter.

(End of this chapter)