The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 552 Honmaru Goden’s cry
In Musashi Province, Edo Castle, the audience room is located in the middle of the throne room. This is where the Tokugawa Shogun met with his ministers and handled government affairs.

The current tenth shogun, Tokugawa Ieharu, is actually also a good grandson.

It is said that the reason why his father Tokugawa Ieshige was able to become the ninth shogun was because his grandfather, the eighth shogun Tokugawa Muneyoshi, hoped that Tokugawa Ieharu would also become the shogun in the future.

This good grandson was indeed very smart, otherwise he would not have been able to make his grandfather Tokugawa Muneyoshi so happy.

Moreover, he was not only smart but also obedient, and he implemented the policies formulated by his father and grandfather without hesitation.

For example, before his father Tokugawa Ieshige died, he instructed Tokugawa Ieharu to tell his sidekick Tanuma Okitsugu that he was a genius and asked him to make use of him.

So Tokugawa Ieharu took it to heart and quickly promoted Tanuma Okitsugu from a side position to the position of elder councilor.

This side servant was actually the personal secretary of the Shogun, a bit like the Grand Council of the Qing Dynasty and the Hanlin Attendant of Mo Zibu's Imperial Household Department.

Directly promoting one's secretary to CEO is probably something that many company bosses would not dare to do, but Tokugawa Ieharu, the Shogun, dared to do it.

Of course, Tanuma Okitsugu did not disappoint Tokugawa Ieharu, although many of his strategies seemed too radical to later generations, disregarding productivity and forcing things to grow.

But at this time, the major problem of the Tokugawa shogunate was solved, and the shogunate's finances at least seemed to be "healthy".

"It's here, it's here. Lord Ieyasu said back then that Satsuma's invasion of the Central Plains would bring great risks to the Land of the Rising Sun, and today it has come true."

Tokugawa Ieyasu was still capable. Even in Chinese history, he could be regarded as a man who would rather be cooked in five different pots after death than eat in five different pots.

Although he did not expect that the Han people would sink into decline for two or three hundred years, his prediction was not wrong, because in the new century of the Republic, Ryukyu eventually became a time bomb for Japan.

Defending Ryukyu was essentially impossible. If they failed, the morale of the people and even the dignity of the nation would be devastated by this catastrophe, sending them back to the Nara period. All the efforts of the past few hundred thousand years would have been in vain.

Of course, the retribution in this time and space comes even faster!

After hearing what Tokugawa Ieharu said, Tanuma Okitsugu didn't have any good response strategy for the time being. He could only simply remind him: "In the same way, to resist the invasion of the Tang bandits, we must mobilize all the troops in the world.

But now, the daimyo of the Ōrokuta, Ōhiroma, and even the Ōmyou are not very satisfied with the shogunate's policies. If all their feudal soldiers were to be summoned to Edo, it would be very problematic."

The daimyo mentioned by Tanuma Okitsugu is daimyo, which is the full name of daimyo. Its original meaning is a group of feudal lords who have daimyo status in the false court of the Tokugawa shogunate and Yamashiro Province.

The Dairoxia, Daihiroken and Ryuuma are classifications of the daimyo's status.

The Grand Corridor refers to those who come to serve the emperor, that is, those who can be received in the Grand Corridor closest to the Tokugawa Shogun when paying homage to the Shogun.

It mainly includes the three Tokugawa families, Mito Tokugawa, Owari Tokugawa, and Kishu Tokugawa, who are theoretically qualified to inherit the Shogunate, as well as the Maeda family and Echizen Matsudaira family, which are very close to the Tokugawa family.

Ohiroma refers to the outer-style large domains with a land area of more than 100,000 koku, such as the Satsuma and Choshu domains, which were the main forces in the overthrow of the shogunate at the end of the shogunate.

As for the Tayuuma clan, it refers to the Aizu clan, which was the Tokugawa family's own hereditary clan.

I have to say that Tanuma Okitsugu is really a talent. Among the daimyo between Dairoshita, Ohiroma and Taru, except for traitors like Satsuma and Choshu in Ohiroma, the rest are the confidants of the Tokugawa family.

Tanuma Okitsugu was able to alienate the Tokugawa family's confidants to the point that he summoned their feudal troops to gather in Edo, fearing that these people would plot to purge the court.

Of course, this does not mean that others can take advantage of or even recruit these Tokugawa family's confidants, because they only oppose Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu, not the Tokugawa family.

They might not even oppose Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu, but would just want to get rid of Tanuma Okitsugu and abolish his policies.

Because Tanuma Okitsugu was making money for the shogunate, his policies, which seemed to stabilize the shogunate's finances on the surface, were actually sucking the blood of these daimyos. The closer they were to the shogunate, the more they were sucked.

Of course, the degree of bloodsucking is no less in areas directly controlled by the shogunate.

Tanuma Okitsugu had a famous order asking farmers to be more frugal and donate the saved food rations to the shogunate.

Well, in Japan today, many places are implementing the "five public and five civilian" policy, and the people rarely have enough to eat. Even so, they are still asking farmers to save on food.

When Tokugawa Ieharu heard Tanuma Okitsugu's reminder that he was worried about the troops from the various domains causing trouble in Edo, he felt a little sad. He thought for a moment and said weakly, "Then let's go to Osaka and gather our troops there."

Tanuma Oji sensed Tokugawa Ieharu's sadness, but still shook his head cruelly, "Osaka is not an option either. Osaka is too close to Kyoto. If anything happens, we won't be able to make it in time."

Tokugawa Ieharu became even more depressed, and his energy and spirit were declining at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Not long after, the most powerful Shogun in Japan, who seemed to be the ruler of Japan and was extremely domineering, actually began to sob.

"I know, I know, I know that this world has not improved, it is still full of all kinds of evils that are enough to destroy it, but there is nothing I can do.

On this throne, the throne of the Shogun, there are countless hands, they are holding me back, they are binding me, leaving me unable to do anything but watch the Tokugawa family's legacy slowly slide into a swamp filled with mud.

Tokugawa Ieharu's feeling was correct. The Tokugawa shogunate, the ultimate conservative form of Japanese politics, was quite perfect under the continuous design of Tokugawa Ieyasu and his son, the second-generation shogun Tokugawa Hidetada.

If there is no external force to break this balance, the system designed by the old turtle Tokugawa Ieyasu can last forever, and at most the shogunate will need to go bankrupt and reorganize its finances a few times.

In fact, if you look closely, Tokugawa Ieyasu's shogunate design is quite similar to the Northern Song Dynasty's Bian policy in Chinese history.

If there are no external enemies, these systems can continue to function forever, and at most their finances will need constant patching and bankruptcy reorganization.

What is even more similar is that during the Edo Shogunate, when the shogunate and all the daimyo in Japan were so poor, the population of Edo Castle was likely to have exceeded one million.

The current Edo is the largest city in the entire Eastern world, with a population exceeding that of Chengtian Guangzhou Prefecture, Nanjing Yingtian Prefecture, Suzhou Prefecture and Hangzhou Prefecture in Dayu of the Central Plains.

This is simply terrifying. What is even more terrifying is that Bianliang in the Northern Song Dynasty was called Tokyo, and Edo City will also be renamed Tokyo in the future.

Hearing Tokugawa Ieharu sobbing, Tanuma Okitsugu felt uncomfortable as well. It could be said that he had watched Tokugawa Ieharu grow up.

When the Shogun was still called Takechiyo, Tanuma Okitsugu was by his side. He was eighteen years older than Tokugawa Ieharu, and they were like father, teacher and friend.

Tanuma Okitsugu knew even better why Tokugawa Ieharu was so fragile and out of control, because three years ago, something extremely tragic happened to Tokugawa Ieharu that was extremely tragic for human beings.

His beloved son, seventeen-year-old Tokugawa Ieharu, had gone hunting and returned with a sudden onset of severe abdominal pain. He died soon after, before a doctor could even arrive. This devastating event for the shogun was so severe that he rolled on the ground wailing in agony, unable to eat for days and nights, and quickly fell into a state of collapse.

What's even more cruel is that before this, Tokugawa Ieharu's eldest daughter Chiyohime died at the age of two, his second daughter Manjuhime died at the age of thirteen, and his second son Sadajiro died at the age of five.

Seventeen-year-old Tokugawa Iemoto is the only grown-up son of Tokugawa Ieharu and his only heir.

What's even more cruel is that Tokugawa Ieharu's eldest son, Tokugawa Iemoto, did not die of natural causes, but was poisoned!
"Like above, the Land of the Rising Sun is just like this. It is destined to make life difficult for people. The daimyo will not have an easy life, the hatamoto will not have an easy life, the lowest-ranking followers and associates will not have an easy life, and as for the common people, they will have an even harder life.

Because if they were better off, the Tokugawa family would not be better off and the shogunate would not be able to survive.

Therefore, we must make those rats in Edo eat fat and plump, so that we can have the leverage and basis to control them and drive them around."

At this time, Tanuma Ojiji explained the reason why he implemented such a policy, indulged the wealthy merchants in Edo Castle, and helped the shogunate to absorb the whole world.

Because while the finances of the Japanese daimyo were ruined, the finances of the shogunate were also bankrupted by this complex system, the luxury that had to be maintained, and the maintenance of the huge Edo Castle.

As for the money, it naturally and inevitably flowed into the pockets of many businessmen.

However, the Tokugawa shogunate could not simply find an excuse to kill these merchants like fat pigs.

Firstly, the Tokugawa shogunate needed these merchants to collect and store money from all over Japan so that they would have enough gold and silver to lend to the daimyo at high interest rates and control their finances.

These businessmen are also needed to serve as a reservoir of funds to prevent funds from flowing into land and other aspects.

Secondly, if the Tokugawa shogunate treated the wealthy merchants like fat pigs, then other daimyo would follow suit and kill the fat pigs when they were penniless.

In this way, the financial problems of each feudal domain would be alleviated to a certain extent, and the economic control of the Tokugawa shogunate would fail.

However, in this way, not being able to kill the fat pigs of the wealthy merchants is equivalent to putting a protective shield on these "fat pigs". It will be difficult for the shogunate to drive them.

It was for this reason that Tanuma Okitsugu tolerated them using various means to make money while implementing policies for the shogunate.

Therefore, in history, Satsuma's default on its debts was actually a very serious political event, indicating that the Tokugawa shogunate was unable to stop Satsuma from killing the fat pigs of wealthy merchants and could no longer control the powerful clan far in the southwest.

Of course, the Satsuma clan improved its finances after that and had money to train a new European-style army. Together with the Choshu clan, which also discovered the potential, they overthrew the shogunate.

After listening to Tanuma Okitsugu's words, Tokugawa Ieharu slowly recovered from the death of his eldest son, Tokugawa Iemoto. He knew that Tanuma Okitsugu's policy was actually correct.

Now it is almost impossible to control the various feudal lords, so this kind of tough approach is needed. Once the feudal lords become impoverished again, the policy will be relaxed.

In extreme cases, you can even kill two extremely evil merchants to thank God for stabilizing the situation.

However, just as he thought of this, Tokugawa Ieharu was overwhelmed by endless sorrow again, and he sobbed.

"Takechiyo, my Takechiyo, my son, you died for me, you died for the Tokugawa family's world, wuwuwuwu!"

When Tanuma Okitsugu heard Tokugawa Ieharu's crying, he also burst into tears. He watched Tokugawa Ieharu grow up, and also watched Tokugawa Ieki grow up.

The reason why Tokugawa Iemoto was killed was because the Star-Absorbing Technique designed by Tanuma Okitsugu for the shogunate caused dissatisfaction among a large number of samurai classes.

They could not deal with the general Tokugawa Ieharu, nor could they deal with themselves with their tight security and three burrows, so they lured out Tokugawa Ieharu's only son, Tokugawa Iemoto, and secretly poisoned him to death.

"Yes, Nishimaru died for us, for the whole world. I'm sorry for Nishimaru, I'm sorry for Nishimaru!"

This 63-year-old shogun, who had held power in Japan for 28 years, was finally broken down by Tokugawa Ieharu and burst into tears in the palace.

After the king and his minister cried bitterly, it seemed that their emotions were released and their minds became much clearer.

This is actually a very normal physiological adjustment of the human body. After crying, the brain will secrete a lot of substances to calm the mind in order to protect itself, and will also excrete toxic substances produced by emotions such as sadness.

So, after the two of them cried, the real response began.

"First, convene a meeting to gather the lords of the major and powerful domains to Edo and control them. At the same time, abolish several policies that have recently caused dissatisfaction among many samurai to ease the discontent.

Finally, after the daimyo have responded to the above call and are truly prepared to resist the Tang invaders, we will send people to the Kyoto Imperial Palace in Yamashiro Province to ask for the Emperor's instructions before we can dispatch a large army to resist the Tang invaders."

After hearing this, Tokugawa Ieharu stopped wiping his tears and asked, "Isn't this a bit too slow? It will take at least eight months or even a year to complete everything. By that time, the Tang invaders will have already arrived."

"Then we should first send someone to apologize to the Great Emperor Guangzhong. The Ryukyu Islands are indeed a tributary state of the Great Emperor. The Satsuma Domain took advantage of the chaos in the Central Plains and occupied them for nearly two hundred years. Now it is time to return them to the people.

As long as we return the Ryukyu Islands and send someone to apologize, the Great Emperor will lose all excuses to invade the Land of the Rising Sun. We can then call on all warriors to fight him together, just as we did when we repelled the Mongols."

Tokugawa Ieharu now felt that he had handled the situation much better, but he still had one last hesitation. He asked hesitantly, "But if that's the case, it might still be too late.

What if the Tang invaders arrive quickly and reach Kagoshima before we even get there? Even the Shimazu clan might defect to the Tang invaders, as they are immigrants anyway."

Tanuma Okitsugu had a cruel expression on his face, "If the Satsuma Domain is gone, it won't hurt the shogunate at all. It would be better if the Mori family's Choshu Domain was also gone.

Moreover, the Tang invaders were so powerful that if they were to invade, how could they be resisted in Kyushu? If they really had to fight, the decisive battle would be in the Kansai region, or even near Osaka.

Firstly, it will extend their supply chain, and secondly, we won't have to worry about sudden betrayal from the powerful vassal states in the southwest."

"Yoshi!" Tokugawa Ieharu finally felt relieved. "The First Lord is indeed Prime Minister Zhuge of the Land of the Rising Sun. Let's do this. If we can withstand the Tang invaders, the Tokugawa family's rule will be stable again."

As he spoke, he smiled and looked at Tanuma Okitsugu, "Master, then who should we send to the Central Plains to meet the Great Emperor Guangzhong?"

"Let my son know what's going on. Only he can represent the will of the Lord and understand the Lord's needs."

Tanuma Okitsugu's eldest son, Tanuma Ochitomo, had already become his important political assistant and was also deeply trusted by Tokugawa Ieharu.

"Okay, it would be perfect for Taro to go." Tokugawa Ieharu agreed immediately without any hesitation.

(End of this chapter)