Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 149: Treaty of Naniwa-kyō, Going to Kyoto with a Sword
In the evening, after running for another day, Date Masamune finally returned to Heian-kyo and reported the matter to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Upon hearing that the Ming army could raze a hill to the ground in an instant, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was frightened. Faced with the Ming army's request, he hesitated and did not dare to agree.

Many officials in the court also remained silent.

In the end, it was only after Hino Suken's analysis and persuasion that we decided to set off.

In fact, after analysis, there were only two choices before Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

One is resistance.

The second is to kneel down and apologize to the Ming army.

The former is a dead end.

The Ming Dynasty's military force is enough to sweep across Japan, so there is no point hiding anywhere.

The latter is also dangerous, but it is the only way to survive.

It depends on whether the Ming army is reasonable.

If it were reasonable, the Ming army would have dealt with the Southern Dynasty that killed their envoys, rather than the innocent Northern Dynasty.

In this way, they can also achieve their original goal of driving the tiger to devour the wolf.

The only problem was that the Shogun of the shogunate had to kneel down before the Ming army, which obviously made Ashikaga Yoshimitsu lose face, and the generals and samurai who supported them might even lose morale.

But what does face mean when it comes to life and the Shogun's regime?

Therefore, after careful consideration, Hino Sukenori told Ashikaga Yoshimitsu that this was the only way to survive. If he did not choose it, the fish might die but the net might not be broken.

Under such circumstances, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had no choice but to do so.

The next day.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu set out and arrived at Naniwa-kyo.

He saw the Ming army's seaside camp, five warships parked in the distance, and a hill flattened by artillery fire.

The heart that had been hanging in the air along the way finally died.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu obediently came to the Ming army camp and led all the court officials to kneel and kowtow.

Liao Quan then announced the treaty in public according to Zhu Yuanzhang's instructions.

'First, this war was fought by the Ming Dynasty against a rebellious country, and it was a just war. Japan should submit a letter of apology for killing Yang Zai, Wu Wenhua and five other Ming Dynasty envoys.'

'Second, Japan allowed the Japanese pirates to repeatedly plunder the coast of the Ming Dynasty, causing huge losses to the Ming Dynasty. Japan should compensate the Ming Dynasty with 2.3 million taels of silver to make up for the losses.'

'Third, the Ming army personally attacked and Japan was defeated. As a country that started the war and was defeated, Japan lost its sovereignty and ceded Kyushu Island to the Ming Dynasty. The Japanese king was abolished and replaced by the shogunate, which was supervised by the Ming Dynasty.'

'Fourth, all the kings of Japan, no matter how many there are, will be taken to Nanjing for trial. Anyone who has killed the envoys or killed the Han people will be sentenced to death and will not be forgiven.'

"Fifth, Japan will open seven trading ports to the Ming Dynasty: Heian-kyo, Naniwa-kyo, Satsuma, Iwami, Izumo, Sado Island, and Dewa."

'Sixth, the scope of navigation rights on all inland rivers of Japan.'

"Seventh, the Ming Dynasty will station troops in many places in Japan, including Tsushima Island, Sado Island, Iwami Province, Naniwa-kyo, and Heian-kyo. Japan will be responsible for all military expenses."

"Eight"

There are a myriad of clauses, as many as fourteen in total, covering all aspects, including politics, business, military, etc., and are almost aimed at destroying Japan.

When he heard that he had to pay so much silver as compensation, Ashikaga Yoshi's face turned green.

You have to know that the Iwami silver mine and the Sado gold mine had not yet been discovered in Japan at that time. The whole country was so poor that many people didn't even have clothes to wear. Where could they get so much silver?

However, Liao Quan and Wu Liang ignored all this and just told him with a sneer that the silver would be available after signing, but if he did not sign, the people would be left on the island but not on the island.

They even launched another round of bombardment in front of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Under the intimidation of the Ming army's powerful military force, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had no choice but to sign the Treaty of Naniwa-kyo.

The Ming army then entered Heian-kyo and arrested Emperor Go-Komatsu.

Two days later, the Ming army marched south to He Mingsheng and captured Emperor Go-Kameyama, thus catching both the northern and southern emperors in one fell swoop.

The news spread quickly throughout Japan.

A stone stirred up a thousand waves.

Many local daimyo and shugo denounced Ashikaga Yoshimitsu for selling out his country for personal gain, even betraying the Emperor.

So they recruited soldiers and horses, ready to go to Luoyang and the capital to defend the king.

This is surprising.

Liao Quan and Wu Liang thought that after they had killed more than a dozen daimyo guardians and thousands of samurai along the coast, Japan had already become obedient.

As a result, there are still so many people who are not afraid of death.

But that's normal.

In ancient times, information was closed. Although Japan is not large in area, the straight-line distance between Dewa in the northeast and Satsuma in the southwest is more than 1,300 kilometers, and the actual distance is about 2,000 kilometers.

The Ming army fought all the way from the southern coastline. The people in the north and inland areas had never seen the strength of the Ming army and had only heard some rumors.

Rumors are often heard but seen. Without seeing it with their own eyes, they naturally did not believe that the Ming army was really a group of heavenly soldiers and generals. Instead, they thought that this was an opportunity to overthrow the Muromachi shogunate.

The tradition of the inferior overthrowing the superior originated in the Kamakura shogunate period, developed in the Muromachi shogunate period, and was popular in the Warring States period, the Edo period, and even in modern times.

The Muromachi shogunate conquered many local daimyo.

However, there were many daimyos who were not convinced in their hearts, and the first one to stand up was Mino guardian Toki Yoshiyasu.

Toki Yoriyasu was the nephew of Toki Yorito, who shot arrows at Emperor Go-Komatsu's father. Because Toki Yorito had no children, he inherited the position of Guardian of Mino Province.

Back then, Toki Yoshitomo was killed by the shogunate of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's father, so there was a blood feud between the two sides.

After learning that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had defected to the Ming Dynasty, he immediately felt that the opportunity for revenge had come, so he raised his arms and headed for Kyoto with his sword.

He even imitated Cao Cao and forged an imperial edict, falsely sending it to invite daimyos from all over the world to fight against the Ming army and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and support Japan.

There was a surge of responses at once.

Except for more than a dozen feudal states along the southwestern coast that were frightened by the killing and did not respond, almost all the daimyo and shugo of Japan actively participated, bringing their troops to Mino for the alliance.

In fact, even among those feudal states that were frightened by the killing, there were some warriors who were not afraid of death and took up their swords and set out. The character of the people of Xiaoshi is extremely contradictory. The Chrysanthemum and the Sword says that they are "both gentle and cruel, modest and prudent, reckless and arrogant, obedient and rebellious, conservative and narcissistic, and admiring foreign things. They are both inferior and ambitious."

Even though many samurai had seen the tyranny of the Ming army, the emergence of the Ming Dynasty almost hit the entire samurai class. If the Ashikaga Yoshimitsu shogunate fully accepted the conditions of the Ming army, they would become mining slaves in the future and would no longer be able to tyrannize.

This is unacceptable to the samurai class.

So when they learned that the daimyo of the world were gathering troops to attack the Ming army, they naturally responded in unison and went there one after another.

soon.

On February 24th of the 16th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, countless samurai, led by daimyo and family heads, arrived at Matsubara in Echizen Province, eyeing Heian-kyo.

During the Muromachi shogunate period, Japan's population was about several million. By the early Warring States period, it was about seven million. By the late Warring States period, it was about twelve million.

This is because the Southern Song Dynasty had frequent exchanges with Japan, and a large number of agricultural technologies and advanced farm tools were introduced, including the double-harvesting Champa rice, which greatly improved productivity. Therefore, even though the upper class had their brains beaten out, the population did not decrease but increased.

However, during the Warring States period, the daimyo of various places fought like villages. Although the population was so large, a large battle involved hundreds or thousands of people. There were only a few large battles with tens of thousands of people, and only the Battle of Sekigahara had 200,000 people participating.

The reason is that Japan is too chaotic internally.

Local power is not just determined by the daimyo and guardian of a country. There are many aristocratic families within the feudal state who divide up the population and military strength of the feudal state.

Although Japan has a population of several million, there are more than 60 Ritsuryo states, and within each state there are several or even more than a dozen families fighting for power. In addition, with the protection of local daimyo, the power is even more dispersed.

Each family and daimyo guardian can have a population of at least a few thousand or at most tens of thousands, and naturally the number of soldiers they have is only a few hundred.

Any force with several thousand soldiers is considered the top force in Japan.

The Toki clan was one of them.

Because their family was not only the guardian of Mino, but also occupied the three domains of Owari, Ise, and was extremely powerful.

Therefore, a few years later, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu regarded the Toki clan as a thorn in his side, and used various means to divide and suppress them. Finally, he sent troops to defeat Toki Yoshiyasu and disintegrate his power.

At this moment, outside the Matsubara Castle in Echizen Province, with the call of Toki Yoriyasu, more than fifty daimyo guardians, more than four hundred family heads, and countless other samurai families gathered in just half a month.

A rough estimate is that at least 100,000 people came.

It was not just the local forces, even Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's trusted generals betrayed him, such as Ouchi Yoshihiro, the head of the Ouchi clan, who was once a powerful general under Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

There is also the Totomi guardian Imagawa Ryotoshi, who was previously a general under Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Therefore, at this time Songyuan can be said to have "everyone gathered together" to participate in the grand event!

It was the end of February and the spring breeze was blowing.

Matsubara Castle is the area around Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture, Japan in later times.

It is located north of Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake, while Heian-kyo is located southwest of Lake Biwa, just over 50 kilometers away from Matsubara.

There is the sea to the north of Songyuan and high mountains to the south, and only around the city there is a vast plain.

There were tents everywhere on the plains. Countless warriors came with their men and horses one after another and were accommodated outside the city.

Many military commanders, led by Toki Yoshiyasu, gathered in the castle's mansion.

Those who can be here are basically the strongest forces in the various feudal domains of Japan. If they don't have a thousand people under their command, they would be embarrassed to show up in the city.

In addition to Toki Yoshiyasu, there is also the Yamana clan, who is known as the "sixth group".

This family is very powerful. They are the guardians of eleven countries, including Tamba, Tango, Inaba, Hoki, Mimasaka, Tajima, Izumi, Kii, Izumo, Oki, and Bingo.

Although the Eleven Guardians were not like Ouchi Yoshihiro, who served as the guardian of both Suo and Nagato, and had a solid rule and strong strength.

Instead, the guardians of these eleven countries all came from the Yamana family, and some of them had stable rule, while others were only guardians in name only, and were actually still restrained by their own families.

But even so, they are already very powerful. When united, they are the strongest clan with more military forces than the Toki clan and the Ouchi clan.

At this moment, the heads of top aristocratic families such as Toki Yoshiyasu, Ouchi Yoshihiro, Imagawa Ryotoshi, Yamana Tokihiro, Isshiki Norimitsu, Hosokawa Yoriyuki, Sasaki Yoshimasa, Kyogoku Takahide and others gathered here.

Many of them were local daimyo guardians and powerful family heads who had previously pledged allegiance to the Muromachi shogunate.

However, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu surrendered to the Ming army, handed over the emperor, and signed a humiliating treaty, which made them feel betrayed.

Under such circumstances, in order to regain the emperor, even the daimyo and shugo, or family heads and chiefs who had former grudges against each other gave up their hatred and joined forces to fight against the Ming army.

As one of the top forces and the initiator of the alliance, Toki Yoshiyasu was quickly elected as the leader of the alliance.

Although there were some who were dissatisfied, some believed that if they could defeat the Ming army and overthrow the Muromachi shogunate this time, the leader of the alliance would most likely become the new shogun.

But the situation is stronger than the people.

As the first person to come forward to form an alliance to attack the Ming army and forged the emperor's edict, Toki Yoshiyasu's prestige among the lower-level samurai was unparalleled. Many wandering samurai came to join him, and his power increased greatly.

Therefore, everyone could only accept it with a pinch of their nose.

Inside the Matsubara Castle mansion, as the mansion was too small, it could not accommodate so many people. The forty or fifty heads of various guardian families could only sit cross-legged in the yard, waiting for Toki Yoriyasu to give orders.

Toki Yoshiyasu was carried out of the house by slaves. He was already in his 60s, with an old face. He looked at everyone and said in a deep voice: "Many people present here have served the lord and have been loyal to him for decades. However, the lord is unjust, has lost power and humiliated the country, and even gave His Majesty to the Ming Dynasty. This is a shame for Japan. I heard that there is only the principle of loving one's own country in this world, and there is no such thing as selling one's country to foreigners. Now the Ming army is about to send His Majesty to the Ming Dynasty. We must go to Luoyang to rescue His Majesty and defeat the Ming army!"

"Yes, the Yuan people were so arrogant back then, but they were defeated by us in the end. My country of Japan is blessed by God, so why are we afraid of death in a battle with them? There will definitely be a divine wind when the time comes!"

Ouchi Yoshihiro also stood up and raised his arms, shouting.

"Kamikaze! Kamikaze! Kamikaze!"

Hearing his words, the audience cheered.

The two sea breezes that year caused heavy losses to the Yuan army. The whole of Japan believed that the two typhoons were divine help. Since then, kamikaze has become an extremely sacred title in Japan.

After a while, when everyone gradually quieted down, Toki Yoshiyasu said again: "This is a battle that concerns the survival of Japan. It is more dangerous than the battle against the Yuan people. But don't be afraid. The number of Ming troops is small. According to our internal observations, they are only a few thousand. As long as we can break into the city and fight them in close combat, they will surely die. When we kill all the Ming troops, execute Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and rescue His Majesty, you will all be heroes of Japan!"

"Shangluo!"

Yamana Tokihi shouted.

"Shangluo! Shangluo! Shangluo!"

There was another huge wave of cheers in the venue, and everyone became excited.

This battle.

They want to let the Ming army know how powerful their Japanese samurai are!

(End of this chapter)